Mrs. Gray
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Written by Marge Gray
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Monday, 13 October 2008 13:33 |
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Don’t forget!Sunday is Children’s Choir!Picture Day is Monday!Uniform Holiday on Monday!Conferences are next week!Book Orders due Wed.!No Bus next Thurs & Fri!Sack lunch on Thurs!School out at noon on Fri! This was a busy week!The City of Winfield gave us a natural gas demonstration on Monday. They blew up some gas several times- it was exciting. The Winfield Fire Department came today and gave us a demonstration on fire safety. Each student has a homework assignment from the fireman: Check smoke detectors at home Work out a family escape plan Set a family meeting place Make sure you can open your window In Religion, we took our Chapter 2 Quiz on Monday. We prayed the Rosary in class on Tuesday in honor of the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Thanks to Matt, Jordan, Chance, Michael, and Tyler for leading the rosary. We went to Adoration on Wednesday and learned to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. We worked on Chapter 3 this week. 5th graders are studying the Father as 1st Person of the Trinity, the Creator of heaven and earth. 6th graders are learning about prayer: mental, vocal, adoration, petition, sorrow, and praise. In Reading, we finished reading our chosen poems and we read our limericks to the class that we created for the Conservation District contest. We studied our vocabulary for the next story and then started reading it. 5th graders are reading about a Chinese girl trying to fit into a new school. 6th graders are reading an autobiographical story from Jerry Spinelli about his childhood sports activities. We finished the 2nd unit in Phonics and took the test on Thursday. We have been doing handwriting worksheets for the last two weeks, to practice our handwriting on things we are actually studying. In Math, 5th graders are learning about different parts of multiplication and its inverse, division. Today, we wrote problems three ways. 6th graders studied fractions and mixed numbers, factors and prime numbers, rounding, and how to find averages. In Social Studies, we worked on finishing our conservation posters. 5th graders are studying the first explorers to the United States, including Christopher Columbus. 6th graders are studying the dawn of civilization and the early civilizations in Mesopatamia. I provide a study guide and go over each question before the chapter test, but many of the 5th graders are not studying it and failing the test. Please remind your student to study at home, especially right before a test. We are still working on a poetry unit, stopping to complete our limericks and get them made into posters for the contest. Copies of the limericks are on the wall outside our classroom. We are studying ecosystems in Science and will do an experiment next week. We took our Art test on color on Monday. Have a great weekend! |
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Written by Marge Gray
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Monday, 06 October 2008 14:22 |
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This week was quite exciting! We had several visitors. On Monday, Trevor’s cousins came to tell us about the special 2 year field trip they are taking. Bella, Cyrus, and their family left this week and will travel all over the world. They have set up a website so that students can keep in touch with them and find out about the places they will be visiting. We will check it out regularly. www.TheBigFieldTrip.com On Wednesday, Sr. Ursula came to talk to us about the missions and the Holy Childhood Association. She said there are three things we need to do to help the missionaries: pray, sacrifice and donate. We must also be missionaries here at home. We have a donation box in our classroom, so students can bring in their change any time. Parents can help by suggesting ways to earn save or earn extra money for the HCA. We have been reading poetry all week in Reading class. Each student found one or two poems they liked and read them to the class. We listened for the rhythm and for rhyming words. Surprise, most were funny poems! I read a few more serious ones. We tried putting together the lines of a cut-apart poem just by finding the lines that rhymed (interesting). For handwriting practice this week, we used worksheets of spelling words, our names, and art words. We may as well practice something useful! Starting next week, most assignments will have to be in cursive. We worked on our posters for the Cowley County Conservation contest this week. Each student had to plan out their ideas and draw a rough draft, which I checked, before beginning the actual poster. They had some great ideas! We also started working on a limerick for the limerick part of the contest. All entries have to be turned in next Thursday. We completed our tint wheels in Art this week. The students had a great time making the paint samples and putting this project together. We will have a test on the Art vocabulary next week. We reviewed Chapter 2 in Social Studies this week and took the test. I always have students fill out a study guide to take home and study 1-2 days before the test. Again, very few actually did it- most said they didn’t know where it was when I gave them time to study before the test. This is an important part of test taking and study skills that needs to be learned- always keep your notes until after the test and study at every opportunity. Please ask your student to see their study guide when a test is coming up- and help them study, if possible. In Language Arts, we studied puns and idioms this week. Both are used extensively in poetry, especially limericks. We discussed what several of them meant and made up our own- some were very funny! We started our next Scripture verse- Isaiah 55:8. It’s a short one and should be easy. Many students are waiting until the day of the test to start studying. Ask your student to tell you the verse a few times a week, so they don’t wait until the last minute. I also tested the students on the Apostle’s Creed this week. All those who memorized the first 8 prayers on the enclosed list received a bracelet. The list shows all the prayers required by the diocese. Please remember that I don’t require the exact wording listed- there are often slight variations in different regions. The important part is to know one of the versions of the prayer, to be able to pray it alone or in community. We will be working our way through the list. Starting next week, we will work on the Rosary Mysteries, since October is devoted to Mary and the Rosary. We went to Confession on Thursday, and to Adoration with the 1st-4th graders on Wednesday. We also managed to study part of Chapter 2 in our book, but probably won’t finish it until next week. In Math, 5th graders looked at lines, rays, and segments, especially number lines. We also reviewed multiplication as repeated addition. We reviewed addition and subtraction as inverse operations and how to use them to solve problems with missing numbers. Today we studied the Properties of Multiplication and made a multiplication table. 6th graders have been studying word problems and strategies for solving them all week. We’ve also looked at place value up to the trillions and negative numbers. Every ten lessons, we will have a cumulative test. Enclosed is a Sentence Map form to be used as a book report for October. The Book It program starts today. Each month every student will set a goal (with my input) of how many books/pages to read during the month. A Book Report will also have to be filled out correctly and turned in to get the pizza certificate. The letter from Pizza Hut is attached. Also enclosed are the book order forms for October. Orders are due by the 15th. It usually takes about a week after that to get the books. We earn points to order books for the classroom from each order. We have all the Battle of the Books copies in the classroom at this time. Rules and directions will be coming home soon. Several students have gotten a head start on their reading already. Holy Name School will be hosting this year. Parent Teacher Conferences are coming up. Be sure to sign up! We really need help for the Carnival on October 26, as well as donations of all kinds- baked goods, prizes, etc. This is an important fund raiser for the school (as well as a good time for everyone) and it takes all of us working together to make it happen. Please consider how your family can help- and let Miss Gretchen know! I think that’s all for now! Have a great weekend- enjoy the good Fall weather while we have it! |
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Mrs. Gray
