Dear 4A Families,
I hope you all enjoyed the first weekend of spring. We had an excellent inservice day on Friday. I was in the group that stayed at Holy Rosary for the reading program users group. We learned about some wonderful new online components to our program that will enhance our lessons. We also spent some of the afternoon time on our STEM focus. Many of the teachers attented a workshop at St. Matthews to learn more about some engineering STEM projects. I know I always appreciate professional development for planning and meeting with teachers from around the Archdiocese.
Lent: Some reminders for the last two weeks of the Lenten season!
Focus: All students (and teachers) at Holy Rosary are asked to focus on outreach in three ways during Lent.
- Everyone is asked to bring in at least one can of food for the St. Vincent de Paul food bank.
- A monetary collection. Each class chooses their area of focus, and 4th grade’s chosen organization (all year) is the St. Vincent de Paul Society. We have a little jar in our classroom to collect your donations. The proceeds from 4th grade’s charity bake sale in May will also go to this organization.
- Specific items to collect for a chosen organization. Again, St. Vincent de Paul is the 4th grade organization we will collect for. This portion of a letter explains items they have requested.
St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which offers person-to-person service to the poor and uses donations to support our Food Bank, Home Visits, Case Management, Help Line, and other social service programs. “When people need help, we’ll be there.”
Our food bank and homeless drop in center is currently in need of toothbrushes, deodorant, socks, multivitamins, diapers and wipes. It would so helpful to us if you could collect these items in your classrooms.
Please collect and send in any of the above items from now until Holy Thursday, April 2nd. It would be wonderful if the students could do some extra chores at home to earn their own money to purchase items. Anything you can donate is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
“It’s not how much we give
but how much love we put into giving.”
— Mother Teresa
Oral Biographies! The big week has finally arrived. Last week the students enjoyed hearing an excellent presentation on Jane Goodall by Ellen. Be sure to let me know if you have any last minute questions. I look forward to an entertaining and informative week! Thank you all for your hard work assisting your child in preparing for this big project. Just a reminder, the times listed for your child’s presentation are estimates. They may vary up to 10 minutes depending on the length of those students presenting ahead of yours. Better to be a bit early just in case.
Report Cards will come home this Friday. So much great work and growth has taken place this trimester. It is hard to imagine we only have one trimester of 4th grade remaining! You may keep the report card, but please return the report card envelope. Thank you. Please check your child’s filer this week for a large collection of corrected tests and assignments.
Math: “Fraction Action” continues in 4th grade. Equivalent fractions, simplest form, mixed numbers, improper fractions, adding and subtracting are all in the lessons this week. There will be some math homework this week.
Spelling: The test for lesson 18 will take place this Friday.
Reading/LA: On Monday the students will be reading Flat Stanley in preparation for our Flat Stanley Journal projects. Next week the students will come home with their “Flat Person” and a special journal in which they will record the fun adventures and outings they have in the next six weeks. Full directions for this project will be in your child’s filer and in the Flat Stanley tab above.
The remainder of our reading class time until spring break will be spent on a fun unit based around Greek myths.
Social Studies: We will be moving into our study of the Oregon Trail and the early settlers of our state, including the amazing story of Mother Joseph.
Religion: The students did a great job with the second section of the Nicene Creed and we have only the final section to learn by next Thursday. Our class work will focus on Holy Week and preparations for our upcoming reconciliation service next Monday the 30th. This will be an individual reconciliation. We will review the process in class and the students will have an examination of conscience to prepare with at home.
There is a Spanish test scheduled for next Tuesday, March 31st. Click on the link for information/study sheets if needed.
Brown Bag Fridays for St Martin de Porres continue this Friday. The extra items this week are travel size toothpaste and toothbrushes (singles).
Have an excellent week everyone!