Dear 4A Families,
Happy 3rd week of Advent, and last newsletter of 2014!
The Christmas Program last Thursday was a lovely event. It is so nice to see all the students dressed up and perform. It is such a special way to celebrate the Season—and our wonderful community.
On Monday the students will take part in a communal penance service, which is perfect way to celebrate the third week of Advent—the week of Joy—and prepare for the birth of Jesus. We spend time last week reviewing the Sacrament of Reconciliation and examining our conscience. All students do have an examination in their filer—perhaps they can take them out and read them to you before school on Monday? This is a perfect uniform day.
Last Call for our Advent Giving/Outreach!
All students are asked to bring in the following by this Thursday:
- Canned food for St. Vincent de Paul Pantry
- Gloves or socks for St. James ministry
- Monetary donations for St. Vincent de Paul society. All donations will be used to help those in need this holiday season.
Thank you all so much—your generosity is so appreciated.
On Thursday we will all gather in the Church to collect and bless all of the items brought in by the students.
Hopefully, all students have completed their handmade cards for their prayer partners. All students should bring their completed cards to school no later than Wednesday. Remember, the cards should include a thoughtful message or prayer to say Merry Christmas and they should also include both the name of their partner and their own name.
This Friday is a half-day and students are invited to wear Christmas colored or themed clothing that day. Hats are okay as long as they fit the theme. No face paints or hair color please. We will exchange cards in our Faith Families and have an All School Sing-Along to end the day.
Religion: Our focus this week is all about Advent/Christmas. On Monday we will take a bit more time to prepare for the Penance Service as well as learn about Gaudete Sunday and the meaning of the pink candle. The remainder of the week will focus on the Christmas narrative. Look for corrected Liturgical Year tests in your child’s filer.
Spelling/ LA: The spelling test for Lesson 11 will take place this Friday. In class the students are finishing up their reindeer writing. They will be sent home at the end of the week. These cute stories are mostly self-edited by the students. I did help them with the first section and offered limited spelling/wording support on the final two sections.
Reading: Quote posters are due on Tuesday. I am looking forward to seeing the final projects. We will be finishing up our Charlotte’s Web unit this week. All students have a study sheet for the vocabulary portion of the test. This part of the test will have a word bank. They need to be able to match definitions with the words. The comprehension/quote portion of the test will be reviewed for at school.
Social Studies: The students will be taking their Western State test this Thursday. Our class lessons are focusing on Lewis and Clark. Remember, the 50 State test will take place in January. I encourage the students to visit the online practice sites located under the “Map Skills” section of the links on the right side of the 4A webpage. There are a couple of sites that review just the abbreviations too! There are lots of fun sites to review the states.
Math: Look for math homework on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Continued work on mastery of multiplication and division facts is expected.
Christmas vacation should mostly be a time for family, friends and fun, but… it is also a great time to master math facts with short but consistent practice sessions. The students have been making such great progress with their facts, but without practice, much of that progress can be lost. It is imperative that all students know their multiplication and division facts with automatic recall so that they can move into the more challenging skills to come with confidence. Remember, you can access sites to create your own worksheets, use Xtramath, Digit Whiz, Fact Dash and many other sites, use flash cards and other games to get those facts into long-term memory! The bottom part of the homework page has helpful links as well as those under the math section to your left. Thank you.
All students should take time to read regularly over their Christmas holiday as well.
I want to wish you all a Christmas filled with joy and peace, and a very Happy New Year 2015. Thank you all for sharing the gift of your children with me, and for your support, generosity and kindness.
