Week of October 11th

Dear 4A Families,

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Thank you all for your generous support of the Magazine Sale–You still have two days to sell! The last day is Tuesday, October 12th.In-Person Mass: This Wednesday, October 13th, 4th grade will be attending mass in-person. Please make sure your child is in perfect uniform and arrives on time to school–they should be in the classroom by 8:30. We will begin walking over to the church promptly at 8:35. 

Touching Safety Program: Holy Rosary School, along with all the schools in the Archdiocese, will continue teaching the sexual abuse prevention program called Touching Safety. This program is provided to us by the Archdiocese of Seattle and is part of our ongoing effort to help create and maintain a safe environment for children and protect all children from sexual abuse. We will be teaching two lessons again this year. The first will be this month (October), the second in March. For more information check the information on this page. The topic of the October lesson is Boundaries: Students learn about personal boundaries and how identifying and honoring those boundaries can give a child or young person the self assurance needed to speak up when someone tries to step over the line.   If you do not wish your child to take part in these lessons you will need to fill out this opt out form and return it to school by this Wednesday, October 20th.  Thank you.

Religion: On Monday, November 1st at 8:45am, all 4th grade students will participate in the All-School Mass dressed as their Saint. Each 4th grade student can have one or two family members sit with them during the Mass. Due to space restrictions, each child may have up to 2 adults sit with them. We are asking that all families please fill out the  Google Form before Monday, October 18th. If you do not have any adult family members able to attend, please mark “0” on the form. We will use this data to make a seating chart that keeps everyone safely distant. 

 This week, we will begin the process of teaching the students about the All Saints’ Day Mass. By Monday, October 18th, all speaking parts for the All Saints’ Day Mass will be selected.  Even though all students will not be able to have individual speaking or singing parts, they will each play an integral part in the Mass as a representative of their Saint when they “March In,” stand when their name is called during the litany,  and by reciting the Prayer of St. Francis following Communion. We will be practicing in the Church beginning next Friday.

Continue to practice the Prayer of St. Francis.  It is a great bedtime prayer, and practicing right before you go to sleep helps with retention!  

Reading: We are enjoying getting to know the characters in Charlotte’s Web. The students are working on their own Postcards from the Barn, which they will share with you at their conference in November. They will also be on display in the hallway. 

Spelling/LA: Spelling lists for Unit 2 ; vowel-consonant-e, were sent home last Friday, and the test will be this Thursday the 14th.  The students are doing lots of writing at school! In addition to the Postcards from the Barn, we are also creating Halloween Haikus and we are hard at work on our Saint Reports.

Math:  We will be taking the Chapter 2 test this week. We will be reminding students about the habit of striving for accuracy. Most students have mastered the algorithms and just need that little push to make sure all of the addition and subtraction facts are correct. When we start  chapter 3 next week, I will move all students to multiplication on Xtramath, and I would like them to visit Xtramath at least 4 times each week as part of their homework (in 7 days) until all facts are mastered. It is best to complete only one session each visit, rather than doing several sessions in one sitting.

Social Studies: I got a bit ahead of myself with last week’s SS overview, we are actually starting our next unit learning about the Native People of Washington State (Coastal and Plateau People).  We will then begin our study of the early explorers of Washington State.  The NE state test will take place next Friday, October 22nd.  The students should know both the locations and abbreviations of each of the NE states.  The students have all used the online practice sites to assist them with both the locations and abbreviations. 

Science: Last week, we wrapped up our senses stations. This week, we will return to our models of the brain to understand sensory inputs and outputs. You could quiz your child on which senses are associated with different parts of the brain! We will also test our short and long term memories with some memory-rich activities. 

Have a great week everyone.