Classroom Happenings

Look What is Going on in Pre-K this week (5/12 - 5/16)

Our Theme is: Animals

Our Letter of the week is: Z (for zoo)

Special Theme Projects this week: zoo animals, zebras, farm animals, barns, circus animals, reptile book, paper plate snake, graphing our favorite animals, Z is for zoo and painting our school bags (for the last time this year)

Religion: We will be participating in crowning Mary every Monday this month.  We will review the basic prayers of the rosary (Hail Mary and Our Father).  God created and cares for the animals.

Our Show and Tell is: Bring in a stuffed animal, an animal book or anything that begins with the letter Z

Our Show and Tell Days are: Tuesdays for last names: A to J and THURSDAY for last names: K to S. (Please note the new day for last names K to S)

Special Announcements:

1). Thank you for your participation, patience and cooperation with the Mother's Day Tea on Friday.  The children worked very hard on making this a special day.  Hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day!

2). Happy Birthday to Christopher Kolen who celebrates his birthday on 5/19/08!

3).  Please sign and return progress reports by Friday, May 16th

4). With the warmer weather upon us, please make sure your child has packed an extra water bottle. The children will be allowed to have a drink when they come in from outside play, if they have a packed water bottle. Also, with the tick season upon us, you might want to send them in with a hat for outside play time. Thank you.

5). Please mark your calendars for these important dates:

Spring Concert: Thursday, May 29th at 7:00 PM. More details to follow. Dress code will be black pants/skirts, white shirts and nice shoes (no sneakers, please)

The last day for Pre-K is Thursday, June 5th.  More information will follow soon 

6). Communication folders are sent home every Wednesday. Please make sure they are returned by FRIDAY. Full day children (or older siblings) ordering lunch, must have the lunch envelopes returned by FRIDAY

7). Please send in any Campbell Soup labels, Box Tops for Education, Old Cell Phones and Old Printer Cartridges. We collect these items to help raise money for our school. Every little bit helps. Please visit: www.boxtops4education.com and www.labelsforeducation.com for more information on participating products.

8). If anyone has any baby food jars at home, please send them in. Thank you for your support of recycling your baby food jars at St. Martin's Pre-K.  Thank you!!

9). A reminder that no toys should be brought into school unless it is your child's show and tell day. Toys can be a distraction to the children and toys can often be lost or misplaced. Please remember also to empty school bags every night. We send home important papers or work throughout the week and we don't want anything to be misplaced or forgotten. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Thank you for all you do for your children. I look forward to a fantastic, fun filled week in Pre-K!

Mrs. Giorgi

May 5, 2008

 

Dear Parent (s),                                                                                                       

 

Our Religion lesson continues with the bible story of “The Good Samaritan”. The children will also learn about Pentecost.

 

In Math the children will measure using non-standards units. They will compare objects as shorter and taller using objects from the classroom.

 

In ILA the children will listen to realistic stories about Rain Forest animals. Our letter is Uu and the high frequency word is give.

 

For the Spring Show on May 29, 2008, the children are asked to wear black and white. Black skirt, jumpers, or pants and a white shirt or blouse is fine. Please no sneakers.

 

I hope to see everyone very soon and thank you for keeping me in your prayers.

 

Happy Mother’s Day!

 

Have a wonderful week!  We are VERY BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!

 

Yours truly,

 

 

Mrs. Kathleen Smith                                                                                                                                

 

Hello everyone! 5/05/08 - 5/09/08

Welcome to first grade's classroom happenings page.

Our subject focuses this week are as follows:

Religion - We will be learning about Mary and the saints. 

Math - We will be starting measurement this week. We will be moving a little quicker with this. Our focus this week will be capacity, weight, and the metric system with the test to follow on Monday, May 12.

ILA - We will be starting Lesson 23 on Monday. It will include the stories "Hang On Rose" and "On Saturday". Our spelling list will focus on the long o sound, as will our phonics practice. Grammar and writing will focus on -er and -est and story retellings for main idea and details. All work for test review is in your child's ILA copybook. The Lesson test will be on Monday, May 12.

Science - Matter (solids, liquids, and gases).

Social Studies - 

Test Schedule for the week:

Reading - Lesson 23 on Monday, May 12

Spelling - Lesson 23 on Friday, May 9

Religion - none

Math - Chapter 9 on Monday, May 12 

A Few Reminders:

- First grade is in need of both Clorox wipes and tissues. Any donations would be greatly appreciated.

- Plastic communication folders are due back to school by Friday.

- Tests are sent home on Wednesday and due back to school signed by Friday.

- Library books are due back on Tuesday.

- Check your child's classwork folder as anything sent home and marked may stay home for review.

Enjoy the upcoming week and the warm weather.

Miss Lacey

We welcome May!  First Holy Communion was beautiful!  The boys and girls did such a fantastic job!  I was so proud of them all.  All the practicing they did surely paid off. 

Last week I sent home the Terra Nova Test results.  They are yours to keep.  Please discuss the results with your child.  They were all very anxious to find out how they did.

We are going to be making a special Mother's Day gift this week.  Mother's, please look for it to come home on Friday, May 9th.

On May 5th, we started our next story.  We have two more stories to do before the end of the year.  Meantime, we will be reviewing for finals in the upcoming weeks. 

On Thursday, May 22nd, we will have the May Procession at 11:30.  I would like ALL Second Graders to wear their First Holy Communion Attire.  A parent may come in around 10:50 am to help get your child dressed.  We will be starting promptly at 11:30 am. 

We are off on May 26th in honor of Memorial Day!  We will be discussing ways we honor those who served our country and the ones who still are. 

Right after Memorial Day, we will be reviewing all material for Finals.  There will be little to no homework that week of the 26th--however, they are to use that time to study for the tests.  I will be typing up review sheets in the next 2 weeks so the boys and girls know what to study.  The week of June 2-6 is finals week.  Our class will be having finals on Wed., Thurs., and Fri. of that week. I will also send home a sheet of which finals are on certain days.  So please continue to check your child's green folder for all this important information. 

When I have all finals marked, I will send home a sheet with your child's grades on it.  If you would like to see  a certain final, please just let me know. 

This looks like it will be the last web entry for the year.  What a great year it has been!  I thoughly enjoyed each and every child in my class.  They have made me proud in so many ways.  It has been a pleasure watching them grow.  Thank you to all parents who helped along the way this year.  A special thank you to Mrs. Scaliti and Mrs. Peluso for organizing our classroom parties.  We have one last one to go.  It will be an Ice-Cream party! Thanks again for a great year.

Welcome to third grade! Below you will find some details about what we are doing this week.

Week of 5-05-08/5-09-08

**Friday 5-9-08 We will perform Readers' Theatre for the 1st and 2nd grade.

**  Friday 5-16-08 is our class trip to the Constitution Center.

***Parents:  For extra practice of various skills your child can go to Portaportal.com.  This site has links to computer games that will reinforce what your children are learning. They would go to guest and use the following sign-in name: stmartin 

In Religion we will be learning about how The Church Teaches Us in Chapter 9.  On Friday we will have a test on Chapter 9.

Math: We will be learning about Geometry.  This week we will focus on tpyes of lines and angles.

ILA:  We will be reading the story "Yippee-Yay!" and performing Readers' Theatre for the 1st and 2nd graders.

*Parents, please make sure your children drill multiplication a little each night as it will help as we begin division.

* We will be skipping around in our math book. As I mentioned at Back to School Night may not always follow the book in order due to my following the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Guidelines in sequential order.

Social Studies: We will learn how communities solve problems through local government in Unit 5.  We will learn about local government leaders and national leaders. We will begin our school election this week "Who is your favorite Author?" 

Science: We will finish learning about different types of soil. We will have a test on Chapter C-3 on Monday 5-12-08.

Test Schedule

Friday 5-9-08

Spelling

Reading

Religion- Chapter 9 

Spelling Words:

1.  liked

2.  taking

3.  getting

4.  filled

5.  swimming

6.  shared

7.  using

8.  leaving

9.  rolled

10.  hoping

11.  promised

12.  moved

13.  wrestling

14.  grazing

15.  charging 

Vocabulary Words:

1.  ranchers

2.  tending

3.  profit

4.  corral

5.  stray

6.  market

Special Schedule

Monday-Gym

Tuesday-Art

Wednesday-Spanish

Thursday-Library

Friday-Music and Technology

Thank you for visiting our "Classroom Happenings", stop by again soon!

Have a great day,

Mrs. Leahy

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

 Dear Parents,

            Spring has sprung!  And, the warm weather is upon us!  We will still be working very hard in the classroom.  During the third trimester, we will be discussing the following material in each of our subjects.  Please check SchoolNotes.com for classroom updates and homework, projects, and testing schedules!

 

Miss Bello

 

ILA-

In ILA we will continue to work on our poetry.  We will be creating a poetry booklet as a culmination of the different types of poems we have learned about this year.  We will also be continuing our work on different types of writing!

 

We have returned to our reader after a fun time with Literature circles.  Please keep up with your Reading Log!  The monthly reading response activities have returned.  Don’t forget, I will be checking the Reading Logs periodically.

 

In Grammar, we will continue to work on sentences, sentence structure, answering questions in sentence form , and parts of speech.

 

Math:

In Math, we will be continuing working with fractions.  We will be adding and subtracting them, and changing improper fractions into mixed numbers!  We will also be working on some basic geometry concepts as well as division and decimals.

 

Religion:

In Religion, we will be studying the different ways that we can use prayer.  We will be creating our own prayer books.  We will also be studying Mary and her feast days as well as other important saints.

 

Social Studies:

In Social Studies, we will be studying Pennsylvania as a Developing Nation and Government in Pennsylvania. We will also be taking a field trip to Philadelphia to see the Constitution Center and go on a walking tour of the city.

 

Science:

In Science, we will be studying the animal structure and life cycles.  We will be covering life cycles of plants and animals.  We will also be covering some of the systems of the human body.

     

 YEARBOOK NEWS

Dear Parents of St. Martin of Tours School,

            This is just a reminder that the Yearbook is in production now!  If you have not placed an order, there is still time to do so.  The cost is $30 per book.  Please send in your order form and a check made out to St. Martin of Tours School.

            Thank you in advance for your support and cooperation!

 

Miss Bello

 

Dear Parents, Welcome to our website!

News and Updates: 

Our field trip to Honey Hollow Environmental Center should be fun! We have been learning about ecosystems and watersheds and will get to use some of our knowledge during our hands on activities there.  We have been watching some terrific educational videos on United Streaming network sites that have really made this concept come alive.

Homework Reminders: Please check your child s notebook for the assignments, and ask them to show you the completed work. You do not have to correct it, just check if it appears to be adequately done, neat and legible, and all subjects have been completed.

Test Folders: I will try to send this home once a week on Wednesdays. Occasionally, it will be on a different day. I will place all the tests in a folder, and I ask that you initial each one after reviewing it. If it contains a rubric, I will always provide a signature line for you. Please feel free to jot a note right on the test if you have a question or e-mail me directly if you prefer. (drepak@stmartinoftours.org)

Neatness and Spelling Always Count!

I will be providing a packet of cursive writing practice to students who need to polish their skills. Several pages will be assigned each week. They can be done in spare time in school or at home. We will put due dates on top of each page.

Scholastic News, Dynamath and Super Science

All Fifth graders are receiving Scholastic News (weekly) and Super Science (monthly). We will read some of these magazines together and some independently. Students must complete all questions in both these magazines and turn them in for a project mark. Both of these magazines provide current events and real world applications for school subject matter in a high interest format. Dynamath provides extra enrichment to students in my Math class and is also collected as a project grade.

What are we learning??

As you know, I teach the entire class Religion, Social Studies, and Science and Mrs. Hogan and I teach Math. Mrs. Fox teaches ILA, (integrated language arts - aka, Reading, Grammar and Spelling)

Here is an update of what we are learning in my class:

Social Studies:

We finished our Canada and Greenland Chapters and now its South of the Border!  We'll be studying Mexico and South America this month, and doing some in-class projects!

Science: We have been studying Ecology - Ecosystems and Biomes in preparation for our field trip.  Together with Super Science Magazine's coverage of Earth Day and our field trip, it's made us more aware of our wonderful earth!

Want to extend and enrich? Check out the amazing website: learningscience.org for wonderful interactive games to teach important concepts.

Religion: 

 We have just completed a test on the Call to Discipleship and the Sacrament of Marriage (Chapters 23, 24.) We will be beginning the Sacrament of Holy Orders and will be studying Mary's role in tlhe Church and the Rosary during May.

Mrs. Repak s Math:

We have just finished a great chapter on percents, fractions, decimals and proportions.  Check out our great projects in and outside the classroom on the bulletin boards.  We will be starting a chapter on Algebraic expressions and equations.  We will learn how to add, subtract, multiply and divide algebraic equations and integers.  In mid- May we will begin an exciting unit of geometry using hands on K'nex.  Your children have been doing great problem solving with Dynamath!

Extra practice on the game website is a great idea!

We are reviewing, practicing and extending our skills by using the wonderful website available to all (sponsored by Council Rock District) CRSD.org/mathmoments. If you are unable to access this address, try this path: crsd.org - look for the drop-down menu, choose school, select Goodnoe School, look for, resources, in the toolbar, select, Math Moments, then, Intermediate activities. We've used this many times in class, so the students should know the path. Math specialists have gathered the best interactive websites from many different sponsors all in this one place. We select the intermediate activities and go to the topic we are learning. Ask your child to show you the fun we are having learning with this site. I encourage you and your child to explore this website for great review, reinforcement and extension activities.

As always, I would be happy to speak with you about any and all matters concerning your child s success in our class family. Email me at drepak@stmartinoftours.org, write a note, or give a call.

If you are using a private tutor, please have him/her contact me so we can coordinate efforts. When the tutor reviews what we learn in school, it provides the greatest help to your child.

Your child and family are always in my prayers,

Sincerely,

Mrs. Repak

Week of April 28th, 2008

5th and 6th will have a Vocabulary Workshop Test on Thursday, May 8th. 

5th and 6th grade will not have a spelling test this week....as it is a short week.

Our Field Trip on Friday the 25th of April was a lot of fun and we learned a lot....our walk-a-thon was also a large success and we all had a great time.

The 5th and 6th grade received their Book Report directions on Friday, April 18th...the Book Report is due Friday, May 23rd...Have Fun!

Have a great 4 day weekend!!!

Mrs. Jeri Fox

Weekly update, week of November 12th thru the 16th

Dear parents & students,

Thank you for your outstanding patience while this web space was vacant. In the future this will be updated frequently and with all the necessary details of 7th grade as well as our weekly classroom activities.

This week in class we are covering:

Math 8- The class, or rather, Caroline and Alex, have been working on the fundamentals of Geometry and continue to be exposed to the use of variables in Math. A pop quiz might be expected within the week.

Math 7- The seventh grade Math class has been learning about greatest and lowest common multiples, prime and composite numbers as well as prime factorization. A pop quiz might be expected within the week.

Theology- Students have been taking copious notes on the kingdom of God and how it should be lived out in word and action, for 'from the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaketh'. (Luke 6:45)

Geology- We are making our way through a chapter on the movement of the Earths tectonic plates and how they interact with each other, both on the surface of the crust and deep within the Earth itself.

Biology- The class is finishing up a chapter on the cell cycle and mitosis. There will be a chapter test near the end of the week, tentatively on Thursday.

History- We are studying the development of the English colonies in America, from shortly after their founding to their early thirst for autonomy. Students are encouraged to bring in supplementary material that is related to what they are reading in class.

As always if you have any questions or concerns email me at either the school email box or my Villanova box dermot.curtin at Villanova.edu.

All the best,

Mr. Curtin

April 22, 2008

Hello to all of you!

We are in England with my brother and his family. I have had some difficulty getting through to my website, so I do hope this works. So here are my diary entries for the past week that will interest both of my classes.

Saturday, April 19

Arrived safe and sound in Paris. We proceeded to go directly to the underground Catacombs of Paris from our hotel. These Catacombs were the burial places of the dead during the plague of the 17th Century that devastated Paris. The tour is self-guided and takes approximately 45 minutes. The last fifteen is extremely intense...with bones and skulls on both sides piled at least five feet high. I cannot tell you how structured these piles were...it was totally amazing! We spent the rest of the day just strolling through the streets of this beautiful city.

Sunday, April 20

Today, once again, the beauty and unity of our Catholic faith was extremely evident.  We attended the 11:30 Liturgy at Notre Dame Cathedral. It never ceases to amaze me how our liturgy is always the same...ever ancient...ever new...no matter where we are...in what language...Christ is the reason for our coming together.  Not just the presence of Our Lord, but our common belief that Jesus is present to us in the Eucharist at every moment of every day.  We are truly blest!

Monday, April 21

Lisieux, France

This morning finds us in Lisieux, France, the home of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, also known as the Little Flower. We immediately set off from the train station to the shrine and Cathedral honoring her.  The cathedral dominates the entire town...I had no idea it was so large.  Just as we arrived at the lower church, the Bishop of Barcelona was beginning to celebrate mass with a group of young pilgrims from Spain.  Once again, that same sense of unity that surpasses any and all language barriers was present.  After mass, we went to the upper cathedral where the Little Flower is entombed.  I cannot wait to show you the pictures of this beautiful church.

After leaving Lisieux, we headed to the first of the Normandy Beaches, Sword and Juno.

Tuesday, April 22

My brother and his wife picked us up bright and early this morning as we began our journey along the Normandy Coast.  I am very fortunate because my brother, Malcolm, is extremely well-informed about all of this history.  It was as if we had our own private tour guide.

Where do I begin?  I really was not prepared for the emotions that I experienced as I revisited the places where so many men sacrificed their lives for freedom.  After all, it was so long ago...it should not have an effect...but it truly did.

No words are adequate for the thanks and admiration to these many brave fathers, sons, husbands, brothers, who landed at all of the beaches that day in June of 1944. I had no idea of the immense expanse of the operation...forty miles of coastline.  We traveled from Ponte du Hoc, where the Rangers and the Royal Marine Commandos climbed vast cliffs to overcome the German embankments, to Omaha Beach where the greatest loss of life occured.  Omaha Beach, where our American forces valiantly continued in spite of many obstacles.  

Without a doubt, the most moving moment came in the American cemetery.  Before you enter the cemetery, there is a film depicting the events of that day...real footage. Watching this film, you cannot help but cry as you see these young faces, who are now grandfathers and great-grandfathers.  These young faces...now gone, or withered and old, are the ones to whom we owe much gratitude. 

Those of you who are doing the Normandy cities, look at Port en Bessein and all of the others just to get a greater understanding of this huge operation.  

I will save the rest until I return home.

Wednesday, April 24

This morning my husband and I walked over to see the Bayeux Tapestry. Actually, it is a seventy-five foot long tapestry that depicts the death of William the Confessor and the battle between his nephew, Harold and his brother for the crown.  Here is a task for you who are doing Bayeux....find out all about that transfer of power!!

Our time in France is over.  This evening we board the ferry in Cherbourg to sail across the English Channel to Poole and spend some time with my "English Family". 

Au revoir!!

Tuesday, April 29

My brother took us into London today for a brief little sightseeing tour.  There were some places that we had missed on previous visits. 

What a rich history is here.  The Tower of London is actually a small village that has many towers and dungeons.  As you may or may not know, it was the place that Henry VIII disposed of a few of his wives.  You remember from our Religion classes that Henry was once called the Defender of the Faith because of his great devotion to Catholicism.

Later in the afternoon, we visited Westminster Abbey.  This is the main cathedral of the Anglican church.  It is the burial place of Elizabeth I, both Marys, and a whole section of writers.  Among these writers are Dickens, Chaucer, and Rudyard Kipling.

A real treat was finding Westminster Cathedral, which is the center of the Catholic Church here in England.  Remember Henry and his establishment of the Church of England, which forbade Catholicism.

Wednesday, April 30

Just a quick note before we leave for Italy early tomorrow morning.

I have no idea what the conditions are for internet in the small hill towns where we are staying.  I will try as best as I can to get to you.

Needless to say, I miss you all and I know you are making me proud each day by your dedication to your schoolwork and your behavior.

Know that I pray for you when we go into any of the many, many churches over here. 

See you soon!!

God bless you,

Mrs. Seaver

Grammar

Mrs. Welch will be working on Sentence Structure and Subject -Verb Agreement

Reading

Both classes will be reading from the Literature Anthologies.

Grade 7- Amigo Brothers and Exploring the Titanic

Grade 8- Diary of Anne Frank in Drama form

Vocabulary

Vocabulary Workshop Editions C and D

Grade 7- Units 3 through 7

Grade 8- Units 7 through 10

Assesments on Wednesday and Friday

Wednesday: Spelling; Definitions; Synonyms; Antonyms

Friday: Book Vocabulary Test

Writing

Both classes will be doing a short journal of quick writes. These will be the basis of essays to be worked on when I return.

Last week seventh grade completed their free verse poety. Mrs. Florian and I were extremely impressed with their finished products. You can be really proud of their writing....it has progressed so much!

The eighth grade has completed the most challenging writing project of the year. They put so much effort into their research papers and it truly shows. They are well-written,and very informative. Each one of these students has grown as a writer this year. I am so very, very proud of each of them.

Religion

Mrs. Welch will finish up the Commandments-Eighth and teach the Unit on Christian Prayer and the Our Father.

Social Studies

World War II- Chapter 27;

Assessments

Vocabulary- Wednesdays and Fridays

Religion-Tuesday, April 22 Eighth Commandment

We are in great need of tissues (allergy season!!) and Clorox wipes in eighth grade. If you can, please send some in.

Have a wonderful week. God bless you and your families

Sincerely,

Mrs. Seaver