Regarding conferences and homework…

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to meet with Mrs. Town and me.  (Students, I’ll give you bonus points on D.O.L. if you can tell me why it’s me rather than I.)  The conferences were a great way to communicate and become a stronger teacher-parent team.  If you would like to take part in the optional conferences later in the year, please send an email to me.

Notes Regarding Homework:

  1. I heard from at least four parents that their children told them that parents CANNOT help with homework.  That is not true in this class.  I’d actually appreciate it if you would look at the homework and check it against the homework emails that I send each afternoon just to make sure that it is done.  Some students may need to physically present the homework to you so that you have tangible proof that it is completed.  IF there is too much homework on a particular night, write your signature on the homework where your child had to stop, and I’ll grade the homework accordingly.  If your child is completely independent and does not need any of this guidance, God has blessed you and you are clearly his favorite.  But if you are like normal parents whose children need some guidance, please meet your child where he or she is at right now and slowly back away as they get older, more responsible, and/or more independent.

2. If you see, for example, that four of the math problems are incorrect, you could simply circle the problem and tell your child to redo it.  Other children might need your help to solve a math problem.  If your child tells you that your way isn’t the way that the teacher does it and that you and your ancient math ways are wrong, let your child know that there are multiple ways to solve problems.  If they still don’t believe you, just YouTube Khanacademy.org because the internet is more believable than you are.  That’s not my personal belief, but I’d imagine that some fifth graders might think that’s true.

3. You are the parents.  You are the ones whom God has entrusted to lead these children to Him.  They are blessed to have you in their lives, to lead them, to mentor them, to help them, and to LOVE them.  I’m grateful to you for fostering their talents and God given gifts.  Someday they will glorify God by using those gifts to make this world a better place.  God bless you and all that you do!

Classroom Newsletter for the Week of October 25, 2021

Happy Halloween!  A BIG THANKS goes out to our Room Parents Mrs. Dennis, Mrs. Luz, and Mrs. Sidhu.  They provided the popcorn, juice, candy, and a movie for the fifth graders.  Thanks to Ms. McIntosh as well for providing the gym mats and the movie screen.  See you at Trunk or Treat!

Thank you again for the Hope House food donations!

What’s Up?

Math: Ordering decimals,  understanding that decimals are a tenth, hundredth,  or a thousandth of a whole, writing decimals in word form, standard form, and expanded form

Literacy: Students are finishing The Birchbark House and will begin new books on Monday.  Students have taken their final reading comprehension exam. The new books they will begin next week are:  A Year Down Yonder, Among the Hidden, and The Great Gilly Hopkins.

Writing: Descriptive writing. Students are finishing their “Greatest Fear” composition papers.  Their goal was to write a paper that depicts their greatest fear in such a way as to paint an image in their readers’ heads and make their readers feel the fear.  We are sharing some of the incredible October book reports of scientist/mathematicians.

Spelling/ELA: Short vowel sounds, compound vs. simple subjects, subject and predicate review.  Ch. 5 test with a chicken theme…thanks to Terra.

Religion: Chapter 4 Sacramentals.  Students read about sacramentals and how they help Catholics in our traditions, in our celebrations, and in our prayers.  Students attended mass in the church, and they are working on their saints report.

Social Studies: Students are finishing their Causes of Conflict projects.  They worked in three categories: The Navajo Code Talkers, Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte, and Lummi Nation Salmon.  They studied the causes of conflict within the lives of people who are currently working hard to overcome conflict or successfully overcame incredible conflicts in their lifetime.

STEAM: Students had a budget of $150 to purchase materials to make parachutes.  Step 1: They watched humvees drop from military planes 2. worked in 2-3’s to draw blueprints of parachutes 3. did a gallery walk to view all of the groups’ blueprints and write comments/suggestions/questions 4. bought and made their parachutes that held plastic eggs with black beans inside to simulate the weight of real eggs 5. tested their parachutes to make sure that when they landed on the floor, the eggs didn’t break and release the beans.  When all of the eggs have been tested, they will go back to the blueprints to make modifications and we will likely test real eggs.  (Why am I doing this?!?)

Upcoming:

November 1st All Saints Day Mass (K-8), 12:30 pm

November 4th– Early Release for Parent-Teacher Conferences (11:45 am dismissal)

November 5th– NO SCHOOL to accommodate Parent Teacher Conferences

November 11th– NO SCHOOL, Veteran’s Day

November 12th– Veterans’ Day Mass (2nd-5th), 8:15 am. Boy and Girls Scouts may wear scout uniforms.

November 22nd Human Food Chain/Prayer Service 8:15 am, Pizza Lunch

November 24th– Early Release for Thanksgiving (11:45 am dismissal), NO EDP today

November 25th-26th– NO SCHOOL, Thanksgiving holiday

November 29th Boys’ Basketball begins (6th-8th)

 

 

Newsletter for the Week of October 18, 2021

Unsung Heroes: I want to extend my gratitude to Kaleb and Yuri.  When asked if anyone would help clean the library tables, they were the first to jump up and take the reigns…or the rags and spray bottle.  I want to thank Dominic and Maddie for bringing the milk to class and composting the cartons.  And I am appreciative of Sydney’s help in making sure that the contents of the closet are given to their rightful owners at the end of each day.  Thanks to Ethan for consistently giving encouragement to his classmates for jobs well done!  And a big shout out goes to Meleah for spraying and Darren for distributing rags to clean desks.  There are many things that make the classroom run smoothly and helpfulness is appreciated!

Also, a big thanks to all of those students who worked to bring food for the Hope House bin.  Parents, thank YOU for supporting our brothers and sisters in the community.  Gratitude goes to Mrs. Lawrence for the huge bag of socks!

What’s up?

Math: Long division with remainders, test on Friday

Literature: Figurative language, reading comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, all tied in with social studies and social emotional learning about grief.

Spelling/ELA: /Ô/ sound, compound sentences and conjunctions

Writing: Essential Question- How do writers paint pictures with words?  Students could tell a story by writing, “I am scared of spiders.”  Better yet, they could create a picture of their story by saying, “When I see the hairy little beasts with eight spindly legs skittering toward me, my heart jumps up into my throat!”

Social Studies: Mrs. Town shared beautifully  intricate Colville, Nez Perce, and White Mountain Apache beadwork, a White Mountain Apache burden basket, and a  Yakima cradleboard that she actually used when her children were babies!  Students are working mostly in pairs on their Causes of Conflict project.  They have chosen their presentation mediums: Power Points, posters, or timelines.  They will spend the next few weeks putting their projects together.  In the end, they will see what people do when they are faced with conflict and how people persevere through it.

 

        

 

       

Religion: Second Step: Being assertive.  Archdiocese Lesson: Protecting God’s Children- Safe Friends.  Lesson by Deacon Kheriaty: The Saints, what is a saint, purgatory, heaven, free will, and sin.

STEAM: Students watched a video of a military plane dropping Humvees attached to parachutes.  Students worked in trios or pairs to draw their own blueprints to design their own parachutes from which eggs will be attached and dropped.

5-PS2-1. Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.
Cooperative Work (Like real life!): Students learn to work together in pairs or trios.
Students are sharing ideas to create a parachute design.       

 

 

Upcoming:

October 19th to 22nd– Holy Hoops 4-on-4 Tournament for Grades 5-8 this week

October 25th Pizza Lunch (rescheduled)

October 26th– Picture retakes

October 27th– PTC General Meeting via Zoom

October 28th– Orange & Black Day; Pumpkin-Carving Contest (drop-off your submission after 7:30 am in the gym)

November 4th– Early Release for Parent-Teacher Conferences (11:45 am dismissal)

November 5th– No School to accommodate Parent Teacher Conferences

Newsletter for the Week of October 11, 2021

Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Please read:

 https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/informational/columbus-day-myths

 

Thank you for all of the donations.  Our bin is overflowing with donations from you and from teachers as well!  We will take it all to Hope House next week.

Religion: Students read about Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and his devotion to the poor.  Fifth graders studied the Beatitudes and how they can demonstrate them in their own lives.

Math: Students are working on long division with one and two-digit divisors and remainders.

Yuri teaches long division steps.

Literacy: Students are reading The Birchbark House, taking notes, and getting used to answering literal and inferential questions.  Some are making connections to other books they’ve read.  It is quite a large step to go from reading for entertainment to analyzing literature, but we will get there!

Writing: Students are writing the rough draft of their five paragraph Greatest Fear paper.  Next week we will get into peer editing.

Social Studies: (OSPI: Since Time Immemorial): Students are in the beginning stages of their Causes of Conflict Unit.  They are presented with various problems for which they must find the causes.  They will also study the civic, geographical, historical, and economic impacts of those problems.  We will be working on this for quite a while.  The three subjects they chose from were the Navajo Code Talkers, Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte, and the low salmon population and its impact on the Lummi.

STEAM: Students put their finishing touches on their shadow projects and worked on a problem solving, team building activity.  Students had a limitation (no verbal communication), a time constraint (10-30 seconds), and one goal for a team of three (put a rubber band around the cup using only yarn).  Students did observations to see what tactics worked and afterwards, they discussed why they were able or not able to achieve their goal.  Erick said that it wasn’t just a STEAM exercise, but a religion lesson as well!

Students observe the shadow length of the sundial in the afternoon.
VICTORY! Can you sense Maggie’s happiness?

 

Upcoming:

Upcoming calendar items:

October 19th to 22nd– Holy Hoops 4-on-4 Tournament for Grades 5-8 this week

October 20th Early Release at 11:45, casual uniform (ACS tee and jeans)

October 25th Pizza Lunch (rescheduled)

October 26th– Picture retakes

October 28th– Orange & Black Day

November 4th– Early Release for Parent-Teacher Conferences (11:45 am dismissal)

November 5th– NO SCHOOL to accommodate Parent Teacher Conferences

Fifth Grade Newsletter for the Week of October 4, 2021

Blake, Sydney, Dominic, and Maggie offered a warm welcome to those attending mass on Friday.  Terra and Alex reverently brought up the gifts.  Erick gave a resounding warning from the Book of the Prophet Joel, Nikolai beautifully delivered the  Responsorial Psalm and the Alleluia, and Luz graciously read the Prayers of the Faithful.  With the direction of Mrs. Roland, these incredible fifth graders prepared for a last minute change in the mass with only one week’s notice.  My heart was soaring on Friday morning as I watched these faithful students glorify God in their special ways.

Thank you for your generosity in donating to Hope House.  Our bin is nearly half full.  Perhaps your hard-working child would like to do a chore to earn a can of food for the bin?  That would be a great way to continue our service learning project!

What’s up?

Math: Students reviewed math concepts and began their Chapter 1 Test.

Literacy: Students began reading, The Birchbark House.  They are answering inferential and literal questions about the text, taking notes to go along with their nightly reading assignment, and doing daily work on vocabulary and literary devices.

Writing: Students have begun the rough draft of their second essay of the year.  A large spider, a 3-D drawing of a house on fire, and a beautifully colored picture of a bee have been brought to school to be used as visual aids to go along with the final drafts of the “Greatest Fear” papers.  Please bring in those visual aids! P.S. William, it is not funny to have a giant spider on your head when your teacher greets you in the morning!

ELA/Spelling: Students studied conjunctions and reviewed some cursive letters this week.  Thus far, subjects and predicates, fragments vs. complete sentences, and conjunctions have been studied.  Students did a D.O.L. (daily oral language) and asked very good questions about why commas are inserted in certain places and why your and you’re are different.  They also can tell me what types of sentences they are reading: interrogative, declarative, imperative, and exclamatory.  Watch out!  They might be correcting your grammar soon!

Students took the Unit 2 test: Long o and Long i

STEAM: Students worked on their Shadow Unit and graphed their data.  To be continued next week…

Social Studies: Students watched interesting videos on Navajo Code Talkers, Doctor Susan LaFlesche Picotte, and Lummi salmon.  Next week, we will be using these educational videos to do a project around the issues of conflict and their economic, civic, geographical, and historical significance.

Religion: Students prepared for the mass and presented their Seven Sacraments projects.  They also studied for the ACRE Test that they’ll take in the spring.

Odds & Ends:

Thank you for remembering  music sheets and instruments every Wednesday and Friday!

I don’t think that we will be getting agendas this year as I thought we would.  Therefore, I will continue to send students their homework via email and have their homework written on the board so they know what books to take home.  I’ve had some positive feedback about that, but I have had a few students who are not accustomed to checking their email.  This may be the first time that they’ve had their own 1:1 devices, so it will take some getting used to.

Thank you for your emails, notes about homework, and the positive phone calls.  School is always better when communication flows!

Upcoming:

October 15th NO SCHOOL, Staff Retreat

October 19th to 22nd– Holy Hoops 4-on-4 Tournament for Grades 5-8 this week

October 20th Early Release @ 11:45 am

October 26th– Picture retakes

October 28th- Orange & Black Day (Follow school guidelines.  IF exercise pants/leggings THEN skirt/shorts/dress.)

 

5th Grade Newsletter for the Week of September 27, 2021

Thank you once again for your generosity!  Our Hope House bin is full and we will be able to take food to Hope House on Monday.

This week…

Most students finished the last of our MAP tests.  For any students who did not begin or finish MAP tests, they’ll have an opportunity to do so next week.

🙂

Math: Numerical expressions and Order of Operations (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication/Division, Addition/Subtraction from left to right: PEMDAS)

Literacy: Students finished the book, Because of Winn-Dixie.  Next week, Mrs. Town’s literature and writing students will split from my literature and writing students.  This is done so we can have small literature circle discussions and teach students about reading comprehension.  We will be reading The Birchbark House next week.

Writing: Students finished writing their “Power in Weakness” papers.  Next week they will be able to share them in class if they want to.  We went through the writing process: prewriting exercise, rough draft, peer editing, teacher editing, rewriting, teacher editing (again), and writing a final draft. Students wrote about trials and tribulations they have experienced and how God has allowed them to use these experiences to make them wiser.  They have come to realize that when they experience hardships, they can use that experience to help others.

Religion: Students are studying the Seven Sacraments.  They worked in groups to create a presentation that they will give next week.  I have been enjoying their creative processes: skits, drawings, and posters.

STEAM: Students started their Shadows Unit.  They understand that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.  Next week we will be using a protractor, a Lego figure, and a flashlight to discover why the lengths of shadows change over the course of a day.

Social Studies: Students worked in groups to look at history from various perspectives.  We looked at our old textbooks to see whose history is prominently told.  They are using their critical thinking skills to ask questions and have interesting discussions.

Upcoming calendar items:

October 5th– Feast of St. Francis, Blessing of the Animals starting at 8:00 am.  (In case you are new to ACS, on this day you can bring  your pet or a picture of your pet.  Fr. Moore will bless it.  Anyone who does not bring a pet can stand with me because I will not be bringing my evil dog.)

Her cuteness is deceiving.

October 8th– School Mass in English led by the 5th graders (This was changed from the original Spanish mass.)

October 15th NO SCHOOL for students,  Staff Retreat

October 18th- Pizza Lunch (Please order ahead of time, not on Friday.)

October 19th to 22nd– Holy Hoops 4-on-4 Tournament for Grades 5-8 this week

October 20th Early Release @ 11:45 am

October 26th– Picture retakes

October 28th- Orange & Black Day  (Students, leggings are not pants.- Mrs. Blas)

October 30th- Parish Trunk or Treat, traffic circle at 6:15 pm (after the 5 pm Mass)

 

5th Grade Newsletter for the Week of September 25, 2021

REMINDER: Bring water bottles, spoons/forks, and napkins to school.

What a beautiful day!  I hope that you are able to get out and enjoy the sunshine before it rains tomorrow.  I took my youngest children to the park while my oldest son ran with his XC team, I saw my wonderfully healthy friend and her dog run at the same park, and then I ran to Starbucks to get a soy chai.  I’m not sure that counts as running, but it was delicious.

Thanks again for donating so much food last week.  If you would like your child to do another job this weekend, please have him or her work for a can of food.  If all twenty-six students do one chore each for one box or can of food, that will be twenty-six food items we can donate to Hope House!  It feels good to give! This is a year-long service learning project that helps our brothers and sisters in the community.  God bless you for your generosity.

Thank you to Mrs. Harbick for donating SEVEN books to the fifth grade literature circle collection!  I feel so incredibly appreciative of the families who have donated such great items to the classroom.  Thank you so much!

This week:

MAP testing: We took two tests this week, and we will take the final two next week.  For those who did not finish the tests, we will have a make up day, so don’t worry!!!  Please be sure that laptops are charged and brought to school daily.

Literacy: Students did a great job answering literal and inferential questions!  When we discuss the book we find that there are some of us who can relate to the protagonist on various levels.  No lie- some of us admittedly cried while reading Chapter 24.  I did!  When children place themselves in the character’s shoes, I can see that they really love literature.

Math (Blas): Students reviewed double digit multiplication with regrouping.  Example: 396 x 85.  We did some estimating. Example: 295 rounds to 300 and 53 rounds to 50.  We also looked for patterns while multiplying by powers of ten. Example:

7 x 10° = 7 x 1 = 7.

7 x 10¹ = 7 x 10 = 70.

7 x 10² = 7 x 100 = 700.

7 x 10³ = 7 x 1,000 = 7,000.

Social Studies: We completed the “Encounter, Colonization, and Devastation” article and responses.  We are learning how Sacred Spaces of indigenous peoples were taken by colonists.

No spelling due to MAP testing schedules and little/no homework.  Grammar: Students reviewed subjects and predicates.  Each sentence must have both a subject and a predicate.  If a subject or predicate is missing, it is just a fragment, not a complete sentence.  The subject is who/what the sentence is about and the predicate is what the subject does.  Example: Mrs. Blas screamed when she saw the gigantic spider.  Mrs. Blas is the subject and screamed is the predicate.

Religion: Students read Chapter 2: The Seven Sacraments.  Students read about Fr. Miguel Pro and his dedication to practicing his faith when it was illegal for him to do so.  Students are in groups researching the Seven Sacraments.  They will have an opportunity to teach their classmates what their sacrament means and how it is performed once the projects are finished.

Writing: The students wrote their “Power in Weakness” papers, they peer edited, they rewrote, then I edited their papers.  On Monday, they will rewrite their papers for a final draft and they will be graded.  Phew!  That writing process is long!

STEAM: Students made a universe in a box.  Ask your child why certain constellations can only be seen during certain seasons of the year.  So far, we have done a little bit of learning about the Moon and its phases, how it orbits around the Earth, how small the Earth is in comparison to the Sun, and why we see only certain constellations in the night sky during certain seasons of the year.

I know that it’s hard to encourage kids to study, but I really appreciate those who’ve encouraged their children to study those times tables!  It really shows on their Mad Minutes and their classwork.  In the long run, you are making math much easier for them!

Junior Orchestra: This week, orchestra students are learning play and rest positions on their instruments, the preliminary “bunny” bow hold, and about how to practice effectively at home.

Physical Education:

I’m not sure…
Game: Pizza in the Oven

Some of the students are asking about the book reports and how they are to be done.

 

Monthly Book Reports (excluding food reports for pandemic year 2021-2022)

Month Theme Samples
 October

25

Scientists/

Mathematicians

 

Mae C. Jemison, Marie Curie
November

29

Saints/Religious Pope Francis, Mother Teresa, Kateri Tekakwitha
January

31

Holocaust

Fiction

February

28

 

Civil Rights Leaders Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,

Angela Davis, Dolores Huerta

March

28

Women Malala Yousafzai,

Rosa Parks, Ellen Ochoa, Amelia Earhart

April

25

Artists or Athletes

 

 

 

Georgia O’Keeffe, Salvador Dali, Misty Copeland, Maya Lin, Jim Thorpe, Michelle Wie,

Naomi Osaka, Michael Jordan

May

30

Students’ Choice Due Dates: Last Monday of the month

Use each book report option only once.  Here are some options:

PowerPoint (at least 5 slides with at least one paragraph per slide, include images, include bibliography) Remember: 1 paragraph = 5 sentences.

Rainbow Report (include at least 8 sections with one paragraph per section, image of subject is centered on paper, include a bibliography)

Oral Report (3 minutes, show the book, include bibliography)

Diorama (include a paragraph of a scene from the book and a bibliography)

Timeline (include at least 15 facts on the timeline with at least 7 images, include bibliography, and how this person has inspired you)

Stop-motion movie (3 minutes, include bibliography, use a scene from the book or a summary of the book)

Cartoon/Comic Strip (no stick figures, include at least 7 frames with at least 2 facts per frame, include bibliography and title of book)

Traditional Book Report (must be typed, 5 paragraphs, double-spaced, font size 14, include bibliography)

Other Options: Please see teacher

 

 

Upcoming:

October 5th– Feast of St. Francis, Blessing of the Animals starting at 8:15 am

October 15th NO SCHOOL, Staff Retreat

October 19th to 22nd– Holy Hoops 4-on-4 Tournament for Grades 5-8 this week

October 20th Early Release @ 11:45 am

October 26th– Picture retakes

5th Grade Newsletter for the Week of September 13, 2021

I want to thank the students and teachers who donated food, diapers, and wipes to Hope House! There’s so much food that our bin is overflowing!

I also want to thank the Dennis family for donating an entire box of gift cards for the fifth graders to write their Thankful Thursday cards each week!

We have…count ’em…4 bean bags for alternative seating! They’re so comfortable that I melt into them and get too cozy.  I can’t use them for just that reason.  Thank you to the Dennis (5th gr.), Sidhu (5th gr.), and Thomas (6th gr.) families for the comfort!

Thanks for making Curriculum Night so great!  If you weren’t able to Zoom in on Curriculum Night, please read the curriculum overview on my school webpage to see what was discussed.

BE EARLY!  For the next two weeks the school will be in MAP testing mode.  Please be sure that kids are getting plenty of sleep and that they get to school promptly by 8:00.  We will begin testing at 8:15 and they need time to log on.  Fifth graders will be responsible for charging their laptops each night.  There are four tests, so we’ll do two tests the first week and two the next.

Friendly reminder: Don’t forget those water bottles, spoons, and forks.  I don’t have any cups and we can’t drink directly from water fountains. If kids pack their lunches, they may want to make a check off sheet to be sure that they’ve included water bottles, forks/spoons, napkins, etc.

This week:

Math (Blas): Lessons 1.1-1.4 powers of ten, properties multiplication & division, and standard, word, and expanded forms of numbers.  Please see Mrs. Evan’s webpage to see what her 5th grade math class covered.

Math quiz

   

Literacy: Because of Winn-Dixie, main ideas and supporting details, hyperboles, similes, inferential and literal questions

Writing: editing and writing final drafts of “Power in Weakness” paper, handwriting: cursive A-H

Spelling/Grammar/ELA: Spelling Unit 1: Long a and Long e, 4 Types of Sentences: declarative (I ate pizza.), interrogative (Did you eat pizza?), imperative (Give me your pizza.), and exclamatory (I love pizza!).

STEAM: Finish studies of the Moon.  How far is the Sun from the Earth?  Students stood 65′ away from each other and held up proportionate images of the Sun and Earth to get a feel for their relative sizes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Religion: “Blest Are We” Chapter 1: God’s Wonderful Creation, being good stewards of the Earth, understanding that Jesus is the Incarnation as the Word of God who became Man, understanding that the Blessed Trinity is the mystery of one God in Three Divine persons, understanding St. Damien of Molokai and the love and hope that he gave lepers.

Social Studies: OSPI’s Since Time Immemorial lesson about colonization, how so many first peoples died from smallpox and other diseases, resistance to colonization, and how land was claimed by settlers.

Junior Orchestra (5th/6th Grade): This week, Orchestra students are learning the 12 commandments of instrument care, the parts of their instruments, rest position, and preliminary “bunny” bow hold.

P.E.:

Upcoming calendar items:

September 18th Italian Night To-Go!

September 20th MAP testing begins (2nd-8th)

September 23rd– Individual Picture Day, Preschool & K-8

September 24th Individual Picture Day, PreK

October 15th NO SCHOOL, Staff Retreat

Lunch…before the rain:

   

 

5th Grade Classroom Newsletter for the Week of September 6, 2021

May all of the souls who were taken on 9/11 rest in the radiant light of Christ. God bless America.  

This week we learned…

Math: Lesson 1.1 & 1.2: Place value: periods; standard, expanded, and word forms; 10 times as much as means 10 x (insert a zero), 1/10 of means 1/10 x (remove a zero)

Literacy: Reading Because of Winn-Dixie: Students were answering inferential and literal reading comprehension questions.  The focus is on setting, inferred character traits, and predictions.  Students should be taking notes when reading: what is the main idea, what happened, why it happened, etc.

Writing: How to write a proper thank you card: The focus is on handwriting, format, giving thanks, telling the recipient what the gift was and why it’s appreciated, writing a closing sentence about something to look forward to, and showing and expressing gratitude (not via text/email).

IF you happen to have extra card stock, thank you cards, or stationery at home that is not being used, please donate it to the 5th grade class as we will be writing thank you cards every Thursday.  Thankful Thursdays!

Social Studies: Since Time Immemorial lesson by OSPI: Students discussed what they feel are Sacred Spaces to them. We will continue this lesson next week.  Interestingly, Maggie’s Sacred Space is the same place where I went camping this summer.  Nik shared his Sacred Space with me.  I took it with unpopular results.

Religion: We prepared for the first 5th grade-led mass.  Luz had a prayer of the faithful for those lives lost during the September 11th attacks, but the visiting priest began speaking before she had a chance to do the prayers. Miscommunication.  Please talk to your children about 9/11 in any way that you feel is appropriate for them at their level.  We did not cover it in class, but I will be talking about it with my own children today.  Students wrote study cards for the ACRE test that they will take in the spring.  The ACRE test is a nation-wide test given to all Catholic school students.  Next week students will use their religion texts. 

STEAM: Students studied the phases of the Moon.  They used their heads as the Earth, a Styrofoam ball as the Moon, and a flashlight as the Sun in order to understand the phases.

Notes: Please have your children pack an extra mask in their backpacks just in case.  Masks should fit comfortably from the nose to chin and not gap on the cheeks.

Please bring instruments every Wednesday and Friday for orchestra class.

If you’d like to donate to Hope House, please have your child do a chore and be paid in one of the following: canned fruit, canned veg (not beans), cases of water, fruit cups, packages of peanut butter crackers, baby wipes, size 5 diapers, new socks for all ages, or new underwear for all ages.  This is part of our 5th grade service learning project that continues throughout the year.  Generosity, work ethic, service!

Upcoming calendar items:

September 11th– Protecting God’s Children class for volunteers, 9 am, Assumption gym

September 15th Early Release at 11:45 (Casual Uniforms); Curriculum Night via ZOOM at 6 pm

September 18th Italian Night To-Go!

September 20th MAP testing begins (2nd-8th)

September 23rd– Individual Picture Day, Preschool & K-8

September 24th Individual Picture Day, PreK

October 15th NO SCHOOL, Staff Retreat

 

Welcome to 5th Grade!!!

First Newsletter of the 2021-2022 School Year

Hello parents and students!

I hope that you had a great summer!

My name is Lisa Blas and I am the fifth grade teacher at Assumption Catholic School.  I have a husband, three sons, one daughter, and a dog.  I was born in Tacoma, raised in Seattle, and I’ve been living in B’ham since 2003.  I have a B.A. in English Literature and an M.A. in teaching from Seattle University.  I am a member of the Educators for Change through the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle. That’s all there is to know about me.  What about you?  I can’t wait to meet you all or see you again!

I will be teaching 5th grade along with Karen Evans (math teacher extraordinaire) and Jane Town (literacy & writing teacher extraordinaire).  I am so excited to work with these teachers because we’ll be teaching small groups of students.  Small groups = more individualized attention = win for everyone!  Although Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Town will be doing their own grading, we will be using the same text books and lessons.

Along with literacy, writing, religion, social studies, STEAM, spelling, ELA, and math, students will be in music class (either choir or orchestra), art, Spanish, and P.E.  They’ll have library once a week.  Specialist classes will begin next week.

Our service learning project is for Hope House.  Hope House is located right behind the gym.  Cheri Woolsey leads a team of volunteers who provide support for people in the community.  For fifth grade, our service project lasts throughout the year.  What I typically ask students to do is to ask their parents for a job. Then they earn a can of food or a pair of socks that they can donate to our 5th grade Hope House bin.  When the bin is full our class will take the donated items to Hope House.  Right now, Hope House needs are:

  • Canned fruit
  • Canned vegetables (NOT BEANS)
  • Cases of water for the homeless bags
  • Fruit cups
  • Packages of peanut butter crackers
  • Baby wipes
  • Size 5 diapers
  • New socks for all ages
  • New underwear for all ages

Please do NOT feel pressured to buy these items.  This is optional if you would like your child to participate in our service learning project.  Otherwise, he or she can write a prayer for Hope House.

There are so many questions that parents have.  You will receive a ton of information at the beginning of the year.  It will all be sorted out and we’ll hopefully be in a routine soon enough.  Let’s thank God that we’re all in person this year!