Month: April 2024

Dear Parents,

Thanks for coming to the D.C. trip planning meeting on Wednesday. I received the finalized itinerary today and have attached it to this email. Our trip is just a little over a week away! The kids have been working on tying rosaries since early this school year. We decided to donate these rosaries to the military, since tied, soft rosaries are the only type allowed to be carried by Catholics in the military. Fr. Moore will bless them before we go, and we will bring them to Arlington National Cemetery when we visit. If your child is still working on a rosary, please encourage him or her to finish it by next week so that Fr. Moore can bless it.

In religion this week, Fr. Moore continued his lessons about the sacraments. He focused on the Sacrament of Matrimony yesterday and the kids had many questions. I even learned a thing or two about this sacrament! In our classes about the history of the Church, we learned about monastic life and the Rule of St. Benedict – those guidelines by which monks live in the world (or apart from it, as it were).

In language arts we learned more about prepositions and know that they have objects that immediately follow them that make up prepositional phrases. We learned about adjective (adjectival) phrases and adverb (adverbial) phrases. We also learned to distinguish between the use of some tricky prepositions. We nearly completed another lesson in Latin and will test on that next Friday.

We are making our way through To Kill a Mockingbird and are encountering injustices and prejudice everywhere in the novel. We’ve been talking a lot about what the culture was like back then when we come across certain ugly phrases and never say these phrases aloud when reading. There are many themes in the book, and we talk about these as we encounter them. We are in the middle of the trial for Tom Robinson, and it will be interesting to see if justice is served in the end.

In social studies the kids have been divided into research groups to study different topics related to the Industrial Revolution. They will present their topics next Wednesday while the rest of the class takes notes. This will be a testament to their note-taking skills, as this time I will quiz them on each presented topic and allow them to use only their notes to answer the questions. I will be sure to create my quiz based upon what I heard in the presentations. Note taking is such an important skill, and I want to be sure they are ready for high school.

Thanks to those who signed up to accompany us to the WeGrow garden. We have one volunteer for each day, but it would be great to have another. This Monday looks like it will be nice, so please consider signing up on the SignUp Genius I sent.

Next Wednesday we have a Mary prayer service at 8:15. Your child should wear dress uniform. To prepare for the service, we are asking you to send in a flower or two from your garden so that we can put together some bouquets to adorn the statue of Mary that will be crowned. Please bring these in on Tuesday morning so that we can get the bouquets to the church and ready for Wednesday’s service.

MAP testing begins next week and is on Tuesday and Thursday. Please be sure that your child gets plenty of sleep and eats a healthy diet those days. You may consider providing an extra special, healthy snack, too.

Reminders:

April 29-May 3, then May 20-24 – MAP testing, please be sure your child has plenty of sleep and good, nutritious food/snack

May 1, 8:15AM – May Crowning prayer service, dress uniform, bring a flower or two Tuesday for bouquets

May 6 – May 10 – 8^th grade trip to Washington, D.C.

May 13-17 – Missoula Children’s Theater

May 28-29 – 8^th grade retreat at Camp Lutherwood (overnight), I will ask for drivers after D.C. trip

May 31, 7-8:30PM – Multicultural Fair, 8^th graders share LP albums in classroom

June 3, 10AM – 8^th grade graduation farewell assembly in gym (parents welcome)

June 5 – Last full day for 8^th graders (free dress, party in afternoon – students plan this)

June 6 – Graduation Day! Rehearsal in church 8:30-10AM; brunch with parents (or two other adults) 10-11:30; be in Stafford Room no later than 4:40 (already in gown) to assemble for graduation (5PM); reception to say goodbyes afterwards.

Have a great weekend,

Chris  

Dear Parents,

This week has flown by. I heard several kids say the same thing, and this will only accelerate as we get closer to graduation. Until then, I am trying to keep the kids focused and on track with their academics and behavior. They are an awesome class, so they need few reminders.

The kids finished and handed in their autobiographies for the Legacy Project today. I will be grading these over the weekend and giving them back on Monday (hopefully). They should make corrections and print these for inclusion in their albums. The next task is the poem about themselves – due next Friday. We took a Latin test yesterday, so look for that in student work that should come home today.

In literature we are reading “To Kill a Mockingbird”. We have encountered prejudice, racism, and classism. All is not dour as we have also discovered acts of courage, social justice, integrity, and loyalty. This book has so much to offer, and it certainly promotes many interesting discussions. I hope to be able to watch the movie when we have finished the book (because who doesn’t love Gregory Peck?!).

In religion we have been learning about the challenges of discerning between authentic faith and teachings and practices that do not reflect Christ’s truth. We learned about the deep schism between the Church centered in Rome (the Catholic Church) and the Church centered in Constantinople (the Orthodox Church) in 1054AD. The Pope and Patriarch excommunicated each other. We also learned about the differences between the two and subsequent (more recent) popes’ attempts at reconciliation.  

In social studies we finished learning about Jackson’s Era with a focus on Native American relations, Westward Movement, and Oregon Territory. We learned about Manifest Destiny and then took the Topic 6 test. We will move into an abbreviated unit on the Industrial Revolution next week as we lead up to our study of the Civil War.

SAVE THE DATES:

April 24, 6PM – D.C. trip planning meeting in gym with parents and students (immediately prior to general PTC meeting)

April 26, 7PM – Variety Show in gym (some 8^th graders are helping with this for service hours)

April 29-May 3, then May 20-24 – MAP testing, please be sure your child has plenty of sleep and good, nutritious food/snack

May 1, 8:15AM – May Crowning prayer service, dress uniform

May 6 – May 10 – 8^th grade trip to Washington, D.C.

May 13-17 – Missoula Children’s Theater

May 28-29 – 8^th grade retreat at Camp Lutherwood (overnight), I will ask for drivers after D.C. trip

May 31, 7-8:30PM – Multicultural Fair, 8^th graders share LP albums in classroom

June 3, 10AM – 8^th grade graduation farewell assembly in gym (parents welcome)

June 5 – Last full day for 8^th graders (free dress, party in afternoon – students plan this)

June 6, 8:30-10 – Graduation rehearsal in the church

June 6, 10:00-11:30 – Brunch in the gym (for graduates and two adults only)

June 6, 5PM – Graduation in church (students arrive no later than 4:40 to Stafford Room to get lined up and ready – don’t forget robes!); sharing of Legacy Projects, photo ops, last goodbyes in gym afterwards

Have a great weekend!

Chris

Dear Parents,

Every year it seems like once we are back from spring break the time until graduation flies by! I am trying to slow down in class and enjoy these kids before they leave me. I got a lot of joy from reading their Legacy Project biographies over break. I told them how proud I was of their ability to write and to tell the narrative of their relative. Their next project, rough draft due for peer review next Thursday, is the autobiography. We have already brainstormed how to break this into manageable parts so that they can write a bit each day. This should not be overwhelming at all since they should be quite familiar with their own lives! Along with studying our Latin lessons, we also finished up our study of pronouns (personal, possessive, interrogative, indefinite, demonstrative, reflexive, and intensive). Who knew there were so many? We will review and take a short test on Monday.

In literature we began reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. We began by researching and learning more about the author before beginning our reading. This is a powerful novel that deals with issues of racial justice, fatherhood, integrity, preconceived notions based on gossip, and other social issues. I hope that reading this novel will help the kids to have a deeper understanding of these themes and how they present themselves not only in literature, but in life. Please remind your child to turn in a reading log on Monday.

In religion, we finished a chapter on the Eastern versus the Western Church. We continued preparing for the ACRE test which will take place next Friday, April 19^th. Finally, we put our knowledge of social justice to work by visiting the WeGrow Garden. We performed a variety of tasks including prepping beds for planting, composting, weeding, and planting both seeds and seedlings. The Bellingham Food Bank is undergoing a food shortage crisis and will be grateful for whatever fresh food we will be able to provide them with this summer. We are still in great need of volunteers to accompany us to the garden. We had to enlist Mr. Anderson’s help last Monday, so please see if you can sign up this Monday or another Monday on the SignUp Genius. If we do not have at least one extra person, we cannot go.

Your children brought home a white 5-gallon bucket this week. Please help them to drill several holes in the bottom for drainage, and another several about an inch from the bottom around the sides. They should bring these buckets to school on Monday. We will carry them to the garden Monday afternoon and will fill them with good soil and bring them back for a Kinder buddy planting project.

We have been focusing on the growth of our nation and its push westward in this history unit. We learned about Jackson’s presidency and the Indian Removal Act with its consequent Trail of Tears. Kids worked in groups to create buffalo hides with pictograms to tell the Trail of Tears story. They learned that early Native Americans did not have an alphabet (a syllabary) system until Sequoyah, a Cherokee, created one in the early 19^th century. We will finish this Westward Movement topic and test next week.

SAVE THE DATES:

April 16 – Class pictures, 8^th graders have free (appropriate) dress

April 24, 6PM – D.C. trip planning meeting in gym with parents and students (immediately prior to general PTC meeting)

April 29-May 3, then May 20-24 – MAP testing, please be sure your child has plenty of sleep and good, nutritious food/snack

May 6 – May 10 – 8^th grade trip to Washington, D.C.

May 28-29 – 8^th grade retreat at Camp Lutherwood (overnight)

May 31, 7-8:30PM – Multicultural Fair, 8^th graders share LP albums in classroom

June 3, 10AM – 8^th grade graduation farewell assembly in gym (parents welcome)

June 5 – Last full day for 8^th graders (free dress, party in afternoon – students plan this)

June 6, 8:30-10 – Graduation rehearsal in the church

June 6, 10:00-11:30 – Brunch in the gym (for graduates and two adults only)

June 6, 5PM – Graduation in church (students arrive no later than 4:40 to Stafford Room to get lined up and ready – don’t forget robes!); sharing of Legacy Projects, photo ops, last goodbyes in gym afterwards

Have a great weekend!

Chris