Week of February 15th

Dear 4A Families,

I hope you all are enjoying the winter break and the snow! Such a rare and wonderful treat.  It was so beautiful! We had a fantastic Valentine’s Day Celebration last Thursday. Thank you so much to all the parents that helped out with creating and assembling the boxes and cards (early!).  I was so impressed with the creative Valentine boxes.  We have a short week this week, but we still have lots of important work going on!

Thank you so much for all of the sweet Valentine cards and treats!  You are all THE BEST!

Wednesday we begin the season of Lent with the Ash Wednesday. We will start our day with Mass as usual at 8:45. Lent is a time when we are compelled to ask forgiveness for our sins and change our lives for the better. The ashes we receive are a sign that we are ready to change our lives. Fr. Oakland will be distributing ashes outside from 1:45-2:30PM during pickup, just for school families, or from 4-5:30PM open to all.  This will be walk up only, and we ask you to please wear your masks and social distance. We will be focusing on three types of sacrifice and practices during Lent that will help us grow in our faith: prayer, fasting from excess and unkind actions, and good works or almsgiving. During Lent the students will be reading special Lenten prayers and Bible readings for the season.   In class this week we will be reflecting on our plans for Lent. One way we will be incorporating prayer will be in the memorizing of the Memorare. We will recite the prayer daily at school, each student will have a copy in their filer, and it will be included in this week’s pick up as well.  This is a nice prayer to keep by your beside and recite each night as well.  As a school we will be participating in several service related activities to share our gifts with those less fortunate.  Each family will receive a rice bowl.

A few notes from the office about illness and vacations:
1)  Our school policy is that we encourage all families to travel outside of school times and make all efforts to follow the school vacation calendar.   We recognize that this year is unique with access to a remote educational program and we will do our best to support families who may be traveling during school days by providing materials so your child can Zoom in remotely.   Due to the nature of flexible planning and responding to student academic needs as they arise, it is likely that some lessons may not be accessible to students who are traveling and may need to be excused or made up upon your return.  Thank you for your understanding of this and for following the school’s travel policy if you travel outside of state.
2) Likewise, we will make all efforts to support students who are home ill and we thank you for your strict adherence to the COVID screening flowchart.  If your child goes home sick or has a sudden sickness in the morning when they wake up, they are welcome to join remotely if they feel up to it and if you would like for them to do so. However, they will likely not have all of their materials to begin with and we will encourage them to just participate as best they can.  We will gather materials for sick students to work from home if they are up for it, but will need at least one day to prepare these items.  We will communicate with families when they are ready to be picked up.
Questions about vacations or illness can be directed to the office (office@holyrosaryws.org).

Spelling: There is no spelling test this week, or next.  The students should use the time to review for their Sacrament and 50 State tests.

Social Studies: The  50 state test is next Thursday, February 25th. The students were given review sheets that they should have in their filers.  There are also many links for online practice in the Map Skill tab at the top of the webpage. We will be wrapping up our Lewis and Clark unit by the end of the month and moving into our unit on the Oregon Trail in March.

Science: Next week, we are going to start a new fourth grade topic using the Mystery Science curriculum! We’ll be discussing the rock cycle and starting with the question, Can a volcano pop up where you live?

Math:  Keep up regular practice on fact practice.  Our class lessons will remain focused on long division and interpreting remainders in story problems. Thank you for your continued support at home in practicing and encouraging your child!

Religion: Along with our focus on Lent, the students are learning about the Sacraments. All students will need to be able to name from memory the Seven Sacraments and the categories of each sacrament. Study sheets should be in the students’ filers and can also be accessed in the religion content tab above and on Google Classroom. This test will take place February 24th.

Students should be sure to come to school Wednesday with their iPads fully charged.  I sent all the lap blankets students had at school to be washed.  They will probably appreciate having them this week as it will still be chilly.

Here’s to a great short week ahead.

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