St Mary Star of the Sea Catholic School

St. Mary Star of the Sea School

May 2010 Curriculum Newsletter

Dear Parents, 

Regardless about how you feel about the onset of spring, there is something quite special about waking up to God’s cacophony of birdsong for the first time every year through an open window.  I still get an almost perverse pleasure about cranking down the thermostats with a ‘devil may care’ attitude about consequences as I throw open the window sashes and feel the kiss of spring’s zephyr throughout the night.

There is no question that we are on the final stretch.  Most of our staff, and no small amount of our students have shared how fast they think this year has gone.  Believe it or not, our 8^th graders have less than a month of school remaining.  That’s not to say we are slowing down.  Mini-Culturama projects are now due.  Our students will be able to inspect the 6^th grader’s projects this Friday. We are all anticipating another great year’s efforts.

Our “Special Friends Day” was a rousing success.  Parents, grandparents and friends enjoyed spending some time ‘in the life’ of our students.  Some enjoyed presentations, some played in the computer lab and everyone thoroughly enjoyed this year’s performance of New England Percussion Ensemble.  Thanks so much to all the parents who came to help us out: Mrs. Fortini for procuring NE Percussion, Mrs. Curtin, Mrs. Harvey, Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Powers for their wonderful refreshments.  We are richer for their dedication to our students and our school.

Classes are finalizing their practice for our annual spring concert.  This year, our focus will be Disney songs.  I hope that parents get a little nostalgic reminiscing about Disney movies that were special to them in years gone by.  The students sound phenomenal!  We are performing at Memorial School this spring.  I know you will all enjoy the performance. Dr. Pearlmutter has worked up a few surprises to highlight just some of the musical talent here at St. Mary’s.

Our staff continues to finalize the last two curricula areas to be completed; math and social studies.  We’ve welcomed two doctoral students from University of N.H to our middle school science classes.  They worked with students on understanding and identifying current ecological and environmental challenges to the region and the world…pretty exciting stuff!  As summer approaches, we will begin to look at pedagogical projects that need to be completed.  This summer the staff and I will tackle creating new report cards and progress reports.

As this will be our last Curriculum News this year, I want to thank all our families for their continuing support and wish you all what you would probably call a premature ‘happy summer.’  It has been a wonderful year, fraught with challenges but all good ones.  Our teachers continue to make significant and positive differences in your children’s lives through their efforts and dedication.

If you too are happy with St. Mary’s School, I hope that you share them with friends and neighbors.  If you have any concerns, please remember that my door is always open.

Sincerely,

3 Year Old Class

     As spring arrives and all the flowers begin to bloom, we will begin a unit on flowers. The children will learn how to care for flowers and they will learn about seeds, roots, stems, leaves and petals being parts of a flower. They will learn that flowers need sunshine, rain or water, soil and air to grow. We will be doing a bit of planting ourselves - the children will be planting and caring for grass. As the grass grows they learn to care for it by watering it and placing it on the windowsill in the sun. We then watch it grow & grow & grow until it is time to mow it. We of course cannot use a lawn mower on our small cup of grass but the children have a marvelous time giving their grass a haircut by using scissors. They think growing grass is exciting  - I don't have the heart to let them know that Ms. Candy can't grow anything but grass - flowers and I just don't get along.

   May also brings Mother's Day, so we will discuss how great are our Moms!! The little ones have worked all year long making a very special book for their Mom. They will make special one of a kind wrapping paper, wrap it up, proudly present it to their Mom in the coatroom, and most likely tear it open for them. Surprise, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Before you know it summer will be upon us. The grass is getting greener and creeping around in the grass will be ants, beetles, bugs and insects. Flying around our heads will be ladybugs, bees and butterflies so we will be doing a unit on theses little critters. We will learn how these critters are alike, how they are different, where the live, what jobs they do and what they eat.

    The children will  begin to bring home many of the projects they have worked on throughout the year. They have completed their alphabet book and they are excited to bring it home and show it off to their family. They will be finishing up their ‘I Spy and Sink or Float’ science notebooks - so these will also be going home. They will make the last couple of group projects - a very large flower pot with smiling flowers ( Mom's favorite) and an enormous bug jar complete with handmade bugs and insects ( the kids favorite). During the last weeks of Pre-K, all the great group projects created throughout the year will be hung up in the hallway so parents and children can take a walk down memory lane. Each child may pick a group project to take home as a reminder of what a fantastic year we had!!

4 Year Old Class

   Although April was a short month, the 4 year old class was very busy. We began the month with a unit on rain. Children were asked how the rain makes them feel, happy or sad? Why does it make you feel that way? Their answers were put on a raindrop shape and tied to an open umbrella that hung in our classroom. Paper plate umbrellas of many different colors and glitter were made and hung in our hall. The children’s favorite activity for rain seemed to be the coffee filter rainbow. Half a filter was placed in the center of a white piece of paper, then water colored all over the filter. After lifting the filter the colors of the rainbow remained on the white sheet of paper.

   All the children completed a group project of a pond and ducks. Some made ducks; some painted the water, and some painted the sky. Turtles with colored sand shells and water colored bodies were made by some children and backed on colored paper and the other children did a colorful paper bowl turtle with a green paper body.

   During vacation week some of the children went away to places like Florida, Canada and Washington. Ms. Ruth went to Maine for opening camping season.

   We started a unit on bugs. The class helped Ms. Angela build a large grasshopper out of a box and a large coffee can. The resulting insect was painted green and gold shinny wings were placed on it’s sides. Its legs were made from very large straws. Eyedroppers were used to make some very unusual bugs of all sizes and colors. Legs and eyes will be added to them when they dry and then they’ll be hung on wall. Bubble wrap painting made our beehives come alive.

   Our science found us watching a caterpillar grow in water. How big did it get? How many feet can you count? Did the colors change?

    The letters of the week were U for umbrella and Ukulele, X for X-ray and for X marks the spot, and B for Bunny, Black, Brown, and Blue.

   We are looking forward to continuing the unit on insects, a.k.a. bugs, Mother’s Day and planting. The last letter of the week will be Z.

Kindergarten

Our wonderful school year is rapidly coming to an end, and we continue to review our class motto--- “Look, Listen and Learn”.

In religion we see how Jesus wants us to follow Him and try to always be good.  Jesus, as a young boy, listened to His parents, as we should.  He teaches us to be fair with our classmates and friends.   

Our literature book is about different types of transportation.  We each wrote about a vehicle we would like to be and told about where we would like to travel.  Some of us were skateboards going to Hilton Head, tractor wheels going to China, bike wheels going to New York, and a dirt bike going to South Carolina.  What great imaginations!!!  We are writing independent sentences using a capital letter at the beginning and a period at the end.  Some of us are writing three or four sentences in a story along with an illustration.  Our next language books will be about nighttime, life on a farm, and near or in the water.  We enjoy reading these big books with the teacher.  Primary phonics books are also read in centers.  We know all of our consonant and vowel sounds and continue to sound out little words.   Art center is a favorite with the children.  They made a clothesline scene as an art activity after reading books and poems about the weather and wind.  Vehicles were designed on paper using different shapes as a follow up to reading about traffic.  We love to color, cut and paste.  The children use the Weekly Reader magazine to help them learn about people and places of interest.  One recent issue talked about Earth Day and the different ways to help the world.  We always try to recycle in school and at home.

In Science, our marigold seeds sprouted and are watered as needed.  It is fun and exciting to watch this process.  Soon our caterpillars will arrive, and the class will be able to observe the changes that take place as a painted lady butterfly emerges. The children will decorate a class butterfly house and observe all these changes.  We hope to release three or four butterflies in honor of Earth Day.  Mrs. Adams taught us about honey bees.  We pretended a child was the Queen bee, whose only job was to lay eggs.  All the boys were the Drones and always rested in the hive.  The girls were the Worker bees and did all the chores in the hive.  We learned many facts about the honey bees in a fun and interesting way.  Did you know that honey bees are the only insects in the world to make food for humans? 

In math class we have been measuring things around the classroom and also seeing which containers hold more by filling them with cubes.  At first we guessed how many cubes it took to fill the containers, and then counted to see if we were correct.  In our next unit we will learn to tell time to the hour and half hour.  We do not want to be late for a play date with a friend!  Addition and subtraction concepts will be simply taught.  They will explore joining and separating groups using unifix cubes and counters in order to understand these concepts.

The children will soon begin to prepare for their “End of the Year Celebration” on June 14^th.  This is a fun night for our families and friends to see how beautifully we have grown this past school year. 

1^st Grade

Wow!  I can’t believe how quickly time flies!  April seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye.  The first graders have been very hard at work.  In reading, we have begun our study of the r-controlled vowel, or better known as the “bossy r.”  We learned that when a vowel is paired with an “r” it makes a special sound.  So far, we have discussed “ar” and “or.”  In the coming week, we will focus on “er,” “ir,” and “ur.”  Then we will shift our attention to vowel diphthongs.  As the end of the year quickly approaches, we will also be reviewing the many phonics and grammar concepts that we have learned throughout the year.

In math, the first graders have a solid understanding of place value: ones, tens, and hundreds.  Through their use of manipulatives, they can construct numbers in a variety of ways.  This knowledge helps us greatly as we continue to add and subtract larger numbers.  We also studied money.  To help us remember the coins and their values, everyone memorized a fun, money poem.   Using our prior knowledge of skip counting, we became very successful counting a mixed assortment of coins.  Next month, we will study clocks and measurement. 

This month in Social Studies, we have begun our Community Helpers / Workers unit.  We are studying the school and local communities.  A special guest, Diane Forsstrom, school crossing guard, visited our classroom.  She explained the importance of her job and graciously answered all of our questions.  As the unit continues, we will focus on production and consumption.

In science, we focused on liquids.  Students investigated and observed many properties including: opacity, color, feel, fluidity, buoyancy in water, and miscibility in water.  Comparing and contrasting five different liquids (water, glue, oil, shampoo, and corn syrup) we discussed shared properties, focusing mainly on the flow.  In our next unit, we study organisms. 

Through religion studies, we learned about several different scripture stories.  A favorite is the miracle in Galilee when Jesus fed a crowd of five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish.  Currently, we prepare to lead mass on May 7^th.  In the following weeks, we will also learn about what it means to be a child of God and the important presence of God in our families and community.   

Curriculum News Grade Two April-May- June 2010

The second graders received their First Holy Communion on Saturday May 1, 2010.  It was a lovely day with the sun shining brightly for the 4:00 Mass.  The children came in their beautiful outfits with clean hearts to receive Jesus for the first time.  A great job was done by our greeter, readers, and gift bearers.  In preparation for First Communion the students had a special lesson with Sister Marie at the convent to learn more about the altar.  Next, we will begin preparing for the May Procession and the First Friday Liturgy in June.  Second graders will lead both of these events.  Their final opportunity to wear their Communion best will be at the Corpus Christi procession in June.

In Reading, we have continued with Guided Reading groups and Accelerated Reader. The class finished the first Flat Stanley book and students read one of the sequels.  We made our favorite flat characters and they are proudly hanging in the cafeteria with their character descriptions. The “Flat Stanley project” is underway and we are eagerly awaiting responses from all over the U.S. (Florida, California, and Hawaii) and world (Mexico, Brazil).   For two weeks in May the students are reading and doing projects on books by the author Patricia Polacco.  Groups of students will make quilts and write postcards reflecting on the books.  They especially enjoy The Keeping Quilt, Thundercake, John Phillip Duck, and Babushka’s Doll.   At the end of May and June students will participate in “book clubs” with the books Muggie Maggie, Amber Brown is not a Crayon, Horrible Harry, and Class Clown.  Students will practice their dictionary skills, “book talk,” and taking Accelerated Reader as they work with these chapter books.   For read aloud we began Ralph S. Mouse and will read James and the Giant Peach to close out the year.  We will watch the movies once we have finished each of these books. 

In Grammar we are focusing on editing, homophones, synonyms, antonyms, and commas.  Students wrote a vacation story incorporating lists and commas. Students also wrote and typed Japanese Haiku poems.  During April students completed a biography book report.  It was great fun dressing up as the historical figure and sharing the reports. Next we will create timelines and write autobiographies.  In hand writing, the students are working hard to learn the lower case cursive alphabet as well as demonstrate consistent proper formation of the manuscript alphabet and numerals. 

During the month of April, we covered measurement and place value to one thousand in Math.  We made a 1000 quilt, played Hi-Low, and What Number am I.  Many activities were completed using a ruler to measure things around the classroom including our feet, arms, and legs.  Next the students will work on strategies for addition/subtraction to 999. Second graders are continuing to review math facts, money, clocks, and problem solving strategies.  On Special Persons day we shared a geometry activity (Tangrams) that connected to a read aloud book.  For the end of the year, multiplication and division will be introduced using manipulatives.  Students are looking forward to “Farkle Day”, a math game,  and seeing who can have the lucky roll!  We will also visit the Danversbank (formerly Beverly National Bank) to learn about the workings of this local business as well as developing an understanding of how money is processed in a bank.

In Science, the students have been working on the Soil kit. There have been many messy labs as we observe and experiment with soil, worms, sand, humus, clay, and water. We have completed experiments on drainage, composting, and worms.  The next few labs focus on how different soil mixtures effect plant growth.  The year will conclude with the study of Ocean life and a trip to explore tide-pools at Lynch Park.

 In Social Studies, we continued to explore Japanese culture, legends, and geography while comparing it to our own lives.  We practiced counting in Japanese, colored maps, made fans, made origami, learned songs, and created carp fish.  In addition, we read many non-fiction and fiction books including poetry.  In mid- April there was a Japanese food tasting activity. Each student brought in a small pillow to sit on; some brought bathrobe-kimonos, and wore Japanese headbands. Students had the opportunity to eat with chopsticks and end the unit with a little fun. This was a wonderful success thanks to the assistance of Mrs. Drillis and Mrs. Guinivan who brought the food.  Second graders also had a special visit from Japanese friends of the Antzaks: Setsko and Bill.   We are looking forward to a field trip to Peabody Essex Museum to see Asian Art and participate in a related craft activity.  Next we will discuss the places Stanley visited and learn about many different places in our own and other countries.  The Flat Stanley website will be linked to the second grade class website. Check back often for photos from Stanley’s travels.

As the year winds down, I enjoy observing the growth and many accomplishments of the students.  It is enjoyable to read the journal and math notebook entries from the fall and see evidence of remarkable change.  Have a wonderful summer and KEEP READING and PRACTICING MATH FACTS!!!  

            ………….Mrs. Maria Cunningham

Third Grade News Letter

The school year is flying by!  I’m so very proud of the St. Mary’s third grade class.  They have come a long way in the past 8 months.  I’m especially proud of how much each student has improved in writing by automatically using writing skills they have been taught.  Now that makes a teacher smile!

In religion, students learned how Jesus teaches us to pray, the church is a people of prayer, the creeds of the church and the Hail Mary.  In May and June, students will be spiral reviewing the entire workbook in addition to learning about the Talk About Touching personal safety program.

In math, students learned how to multiply two digit numbers by one digit numbers.  In May and June students will be learning to divide two and three digit numbers by one digit, customary and metric weight and capacity, geometry, fractions, and probability.  Most of the time, lessons involve using math manipulatives like base ten blocks and geometric shapes to reinforce math concepts.

In reading and writing, students are reading the book Charlotte’s Web.  Before reading each chapter, students review upcoming vocabulary words in the book.  After they read three chapters, students answer six comprehension questions.  Each question represents Bloom’s Levels of Learning: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.  The evaluation questions involve writing a paragraph or two.  After students answer the questions for the chapter they read they make up a mini-play using stick puppets of the characters in the book.  Other activities include diamante poetry, acrostics, and a Wilbur the Pig interview.  Other reading skills that will be reinforced are main idea, drawing conclusions, and predicting outcomes.  Students will watch the Charlotte’s Web movie once the book and activities are finished.  In June students will read Beverly Cleary books.

In Science, students are studying rocks and minerals.  The science labs will allow students to investigate the different properties of rocks and minerals.  Students will discover color, light, luster, hardness, magnetism, and shape of the rocks.  Students will also learn the difference between igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.  A trip to Lynch Park is planned to look at the tide pools and rocks at the beach.

In social studies, students learned how communities grow and change.  Currently, students will be learning how people work together by making, buying, and selling products.  People live together in a community, state, and nation and each has rules and laws to follow.  Students continue to improve their map skills by exploring map grids, population maps, and measuring distances. 

Remember- students need to constantly review math, reading, and writing skills throughout the summer.  I can’t stress enough how important it is to review addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts for at least five or ten minutes a day.  Students need to read and write everyday too!  Fourth grade will be a much easier transition if students are prepared and keep up their skills over the summer.

4^th grade April Newsletter 2010

As we approach the final leg of our 2010 school year, the fourth graders continue to travel throughout the contiguous United States in their quest to learn the locations and characteristics of the fifty individual states-- region by region. Having completed the eastern seaboard, we have begun traveling into the vast interior plains. Too bad we can’t borrow The Magic Schoolbus for a couple of ‘hands on’ field trips.  In May, the children are looking forward to sharing power point presentations on some of their favorite states, which were created with the expert guidance and expertise of Mrs. O’Donnell.

In math, the children completed the very challenging division unit and have begun exploring geometry. In this fun-filled unit, the children often feel as if they are actually taking a break from the everyday, computative, mathematic skills. The boys and girls will actually create a geometry handbook filled with new vocabulary terms, accurate diagrams, and important concepts.  Hopefully, they will be able to keep the journal as a handy reference tool for next year.

To begin learning about the interesting field of sound, the children used a model of the human ear. Because it was enlarged, color coded, and labeled, it was easy to diagram so as to understand the workings of the minute bones; the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. The children found it quite interesting that these three little bones are one of the only things in the human body that never grow, or change size, in an entire life span.  They then began working in the sound kit with various objects that made instruments which would produce vibrations capable of reaching different pitches.  It was fun playing a modified version of, Name That Tune, with songs ranging from “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to Bach’s “Ode to Joy”. Believe me, there is some very significant talent, that as of yet has not been discovered amongst the fourth graders! 

In language arts, the children completed their interesting (and sometimes quite comical) autobiographies. They will be presenting these with their time lines in a published form designed during computer class. In reading, we finished the novel, Indian in The Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks. The children did quite a few activities based on the text, but the one they seemed to enjoy most was the character target analysis.  This trait assessment really came to life when they viewed the video.

Celebrating the season of spring, and preparing for April vacation, the fourth graders were honored to accompany Mr.D’Agnese’s eighth grade class in presenting the Earth Day prayer service.  This was a wonderful way to supplement our Easter celebrations with a sharing of readings from Genesis, in which God told the people to,” Take care of all the beautiful things; the flowers, the trees, the fish, the birds, the animals and especially each other.”  Next, the children presented a series of Chinook Blessings in which our Native American ancestors called upon our planet home to help… “Teach us and show us the way” to care for Mother Earth and her bountiful gifts which we so often take for granted.  It was a very moving prayer service that hopefully will help us all understand the significance of caring for our Earth and the absolute need for daily recycling.

News from Mrs. Johnson’s Classroom

Science in the Lab

In the lab, both 5^th and 6^th graders got to put their knowledge of engineering to the test to complete the Museum of Science submersibles lab.  In teams, the students built a “submersible” made up of vials filled with various objects that fit a specific set of criteria- it had to float, have as many “instruments” as possible AND be as small as possible.  The goal was to design the submersible so it could retrieve three packages in a tank – with varying degrees of difficulty.  In addition to learning about the ocean and what ocean engineers do, 5^th and 6^th graders learned a great deal about the engineering design process and the steps involved:  Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create and Improve. 

Grades 5-8 were also visited by UNH graduate students who were in to share their quest to become science educators with our students.  5 & 6^th graders had a lesson on sustainable fishing practices and the lobstering industry, and how these practices affect our local environment.

Grade 5 Science

Fifth graders are now working on biomes and climate zones.  Each student had to pick a biome, and design a poster with 10 interesting facts about the biome.  Biome choices included were tropical rainforest, deciduous forest, grasslands, deserts, taiga, or tundra. Students had to include pictures of four animals and four plants from each biome in their posters.    Students now are using the information they collected for their poster to write their first science research paper of the year. 

Grade 5 Math

Students in the fifth grade are working on being able to rename fractions, and to be able to add and subtract fractions with both like and unlike denominators.  In order to help us visualize adding fractions, fifth graders broke out the “fraction strips” to see what 7/8 plus 4/5 looks like!  Students also recently finished a comprehensive review of comparing and ordering decimals, multiplying decimals, and solving word problems. 

Grade 5 Religion

Our class has been studying the Eucharist, penance and forgiveness.  We’ve talked about situations where we’ve needed to forgive someone or to ask for someone’s forgiveness; and how we need to be like Jesus, although it is not always easy.  We also learned about St. Paul and his quest to help the Corinthians show reverence for the Eucharist.

Grade 6 Science

Sixth graders are now deeply entrenched in earth science.  We’ve made and “erupted” model volcanoes, and learned about how the earth once had only one continent, called Pangaea.  Sixth graders were fascinated at the theory of plate tectonics, and how the continents have slowly shifted into their current place over millions of years, while and how fossils on opposite coasts of continents have given us clues to earth’s past.  Additionally, we’ve learned about how earthquakes occur, and about the types of waves that shake the earth (using a slinky for a demo).    We are now examining the rock cycle and learning about the three types of rocks. Students are anxious to share their own samples from home as we become junior geologists.

Grade 6 Math

Sixth graders have moved from adding and subtracting fractions to multiplying fractions.  And, you guessed it; next we’ll learn to divide fractions.  We also have begun using our skills to focus a bit on a new subject; where does pi come from?  We measured circular objects and learned about radius and diameter to understand the relationship between circumference, diameter and the constant pi or 3.14.  Sixth graders, inspired by our division pizza party late last year, are looking for a “pie- pi challenge” to celebrate the success of this chapter.    Here’s to math and baked goods!

From the Desk of Mrs. B.

5^th Grade

“How do I love you, let me count the ways…” this is how the fifth graders feel about poetry right about now.  They have been working for the last month on writing and exploring many different types of formal and informal poetry.  They love writing about topics of their choosing and learning new ways to express themselves. They will work on creating a book of poetry and possibly have a poetry reading.

They really enjoyed reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.  This epic tale (which was read and the film was watched) really helped to show children what life was like in the South in the 1930’s.  This has helped to enhance their study of the Civil Rights Movement.  They have also watched a film entitled The Children’s March, which taught them about the role of young people in ending segregation in Alabama.  They will finish studying the Civil Rights Movement and move onto studying how other ethnic groups were discriminated against in the United States.  They will read many non-fiction short stories and watch films before they complete a small research project. When this unit is complete they will end the year by reading Bridge to Terribithia.

In Social Studies the students are marching right through American History.  They are currently studying the American Revolution.  Through the use of Power Point presentations, film, and text, the students will learn how America became a nation and the role of New England in this struggle. 

6^th Grade

“WAHOOO!” was heard as sixth graders rejoiced at finishing their Mini-Culturama projects with presentations on May 7^th.  The students really embraced the research project and learned the importance of time management throughout this process.  There were so many interesting topics and the students gained a wealth of information from their research and each other.

The students are finishing up working on individual maps of regions of the world.  They have recently studied Australia and the South Pacific through the use of creating a map, studying the region, and completing a web-quest/scrapbook.  From Australia they will journey to Antarctica. They will spend May/June on drawing a map from memory of the world…it is an enormous task but they are definitely up for the challenge.

In their literature studies the students have completed their unit on the Holocaust and the discrimination of different racial groups across the globe.  They will now be reading The Secret Garden and finish the year with Tuck Everlasting.  Both novels should help the students to see how characters can grow and change in relation to themselves and the world around them.

The sixth graders are working at improving their writing by retiring overused and exhausted words.  In their classroom cemetery they have laid to rest the following words: small, big, nice, good, fun, bad, like, pretty, got, go fat, said, a lot, cool, happy, sad, very, and mad.  The “entrance” to the cemetery bulletin board reads: “Here lie many worn out and over used words, may they rest in peace, never to appear in our writing again.”  Students chose their words and created their tombstones.

On each “tombstone”:

·      Word that has been laid to rest

·      Epilogue for the word

·      At least 6 “survivors” that can be used instead of the now deceased word

They continue to study ways to write and improve their written and oral communication. 

The 6^th graders and Mrs. Boudreault have been together for three years, and it will be a bitter-sweet parting in June.  Mrs. B. has every confidence that they are prepared for 7^th grade, and will miss them immensely!

News from Mrs. Griffin

7 Science

In science, grade 7 continues their study of living organisms. We are watching frog eggs hatch and will track the development of frogs. The students will participate in the virtual dissection of a frog. Also, the chicken eggs have arrived and we are monitoring the growth of the chicken embryos. By the beginning of June the place will be hopping and chirping.

8 Science

As the 8^th graders complete their study of physics, they are applying Newton’s Laws of Motion to their favorite sport. Each student developed a poster and presented information to their classmates on the application of the 3 Laws of Motion. The final project for our 8^th graders is the design and construction of a Rube Goldberg machine. Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist whose drawings depicted the unnecessary complications of modern society. His designs showed complicated ways of performing simple tasks. Our 8^th graders need to design and build a machine that has a least 5 steps to complete a task. So far the designs include kicking a soccer ball, watering a plant, making a sundae, push an “easy button” and squirting sunscreen. Watch for more information.

7 and 8 Math

Both 7^th and 8^th grade has been focused on geometry. The class is full of shapes, angles, perimeters, areas, surface areas and soon volumes. As we say goodbye to the 8^th grade we are confident in their abilities to master algebra, geometry and beyond in high school.

Curriculum News from Mr. D’Agnese

Grade 7

LANGUAGE ARTS

     The students of grade 7 continue to build their vocabulary skills as they turn to Greek and Latin roots in the final weeks of the year as a source of new vocabulary words. Trying to be the person who will never incorrectly use whom in a sentence has been a major goal in grammar class this past month. It may take a bit of extra effort on everyone’s part. Our literature selection, The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen was completed this month and the students, having been inspired by the richness of the figurative language of this selection, wrote their own final chapter. I predict several future authors arising from the group.

HISTORY

     “All roads lead to Rome” certainly applies to grade 7. From our first map assignment (tracing the number of contemporary nations which were once part of the Roman Empire), to the legends surrounding the founding of Rome, our journey has taken us through the mystery of the Etruscans and on to the early foundations of Roman government. There will be many topics to explore as the school year ends and we delve deeper into the daily lives of these fascinating people who passed on a legacy to the modern world in the fields of language, law, government, architecture, and the arts.  

Grade 8

LANGUAGE ARTS

     Although the final weeks of the school year are upon us, the eighth grade diligently continues the quest for greater knowledge. Vocabulary skills increase each week as does the mastery of grammar. We have completed our work with participles, are in the process of completing our investigation of gerunds, and look forward to complete the role of infinitives, thus concluding the unit on verbals. Our final monthly book report will be passed in on May 25^th. This assignment will be different than usual in that it is a more personal type of writing: a book review. Having read the book, you state your opinion of the author’s work and then support that opinion with specific details taken from the book.

HISTORY

     ‘Tempus fugit’ is most applicable when summarizing our work in history this year. Not only are we counting up to one thousand and beyond using Roman numerals, we are also approaching the Renaissance and beyond. We have come full circle. We began our course with the fall of the Roman Empire and we now conclude with the revival of that very same classical world so admired and imitated by the men of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A deep investigation into the closing of the Middle Ages has brought us to a closer understanding of the significance of the Black Death, the Hundred Years War, and the Spanish Reconquista (reconquest of Muslim Spain by Spanish Christians). What a wonderful treat to look forward to the last weeks of school in the company of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci !

RELIGION

     The month of April found grade 8 students deeply involved with the role of the Catholic Church in the medieval world and the events leading up to the first major division of Christianity between Orthodox and Roman Catholics ( Schism of 1054). We will continue in the last weeks of school to conclude with the second major division, the Protestant Reformation and the ensuing Catholic Counter-Reformation. In line with what has been gained through study in our religion class this year, the students experienced an unusual (first of its kind) field trip recently. On April 13^th, we undertook a religious odyssey as we visited a Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant church as well as a synagogue. In each house of worship we were warmly welcomed by the respective clergymen and enjoyed learning first hand many things about the structure and related topics of interest. I truly feel this experience will have a life long impact on each of our students as they grow in love and tolerance towards all of God’s children.

News from Nurse Mary

         Looking back on the past school year I am pleased to say that overall, attendance was very good. We survived the H1N1 virus better than predicted during the winter months. A stomach virus affected many during  Feb. and March, however, it generally lasted just 24-36 hours. Hopefully, it should be “smooth sailing” as they say, as we head into the final months. May and June are busy times in the nurse’s office for educational issues with various classes.

Grade 5 will have Classes on Puberty and Dr. McAuliffe will visit to talk with the boys. Also in May, I will conduct postural screening for grades 5-8. In Grades K-2 I will assist the teachers with the “Talk About Touching” program. This is part of the church’s plan to Protect God’s Children. I received Virtus training in April and I am now a facilitator for the program. I conducted a class for teachers on Thurs. April 29^th. I will also hold a class in May for parents and parishioners that volunteer or have contact with our students during school or at programs associated with the school. If you are thinking of volunteering, you need to take a Virtus class. Please check the church bulletin for dates of up coming classes.

Music Notes

St. Mary School will present "A Disney Celebration" on Wednesday May 26 at 6:30 pm in Memorial Auditorium.  The concert will feature songs from Disney movies, older and newer, as follows:  Kindergarten, "Heigh Ho" and "Whistle While You Work" from Snow White, Grade 1, "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story, Grade 2, "Let's Get Together" from The Parent Trap, Grade 3, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins, Grade 4, "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters, Inc., Grade 5, "Old Yeller" from the movie of the same name, Grade 6, "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid,  Grade 7, "Beauty and the Beast" from the movie of the same name, Grade 8, "Send it On" from Disney's Friends for Change.  The finale song, "We are the World" will bring the spirit of unity to the community and the world in a special way.  Eighth graders will be contributing to the spring concert by playing recorder descants which compliment some of the songs being sung.

Music classes have enjoyed short video excerpts from two Broadway musicals recently, The Pajama Game and Oklahoma.  Both excerpts exhibit the concept of the Hollywood production number to demonstrate good examples of American entertainment on stage and film.

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