October 7th Newsletter

Mrs. Manfred’s

Class News

October 7, 2022

“Life is like a camera. Focus on what matters most. Capture what makes you happy. Develop from the negatives and if things don’t work out, always take another shot.”

-author unknown

Upcoming Events:

• October 10^th, Evacuation Drill to 4^th Memorial Church, 9:20
• October 13^th, All School Mass, 9:30
• October 14^th, No School, Teacher Inservice
• October 17^th, Our Class leads Monday Morning Prayer at 8:45 in Garco Gym (Join us if you can!)
• October 19th-20th, Individual School Pictures
• October 20^th, 3^rd/4^th Chapel Mass
• October 26^th, All 3^rd and 4^th classes will walk to the church from 12:00-1:00 (Father Dan is teaching us the responses during Mass as well as Mass etiquette.)
• October 31^st, Halloween party (more info. to come)
• November 1^st, All Saints Mass, 12:15 at the church (Our class leads this Mass. Join us if you can!)

Homework:Each Friday the children will bring home a homework packet that is due the following Friday. Their homework packet went home today and is due on Thursday, October 13^th since there is no school on Friday. Please do all parts of the homework! The following is included in the packet:

• Spelling Words: Study these words for the test next Thursday.
• Reading Log: Read 4 nights for at least 20 minutes this week. Have a parent sign your sheet.
• Math Log: Practice your math facts for at least 10 minutes on 4 different days this week. Third graders should be doing quick math facts for addition and subtraction. They can move onto multiplication if these are mastered. Fourth graders should be doing multiplication and division. If you want practice sheets for all facts, I have them on my website under the documents tab.
• Two-Sided Math Sheet: Please do all of the problems.

Important Information:

• Evacuation Drill: This coming Monday, October 10^th at approximately 9:20 a.m., we will have an evacuation drill. We will be leaving from Monday Morning Prayer to practice an evacuation to Fourth Memorial Church (on the corner of Indiana and Dakota). This drill will take about an hour. If your child will be later than 9:10 on Monday, please do not bring your child to school until after the drill is over (approximately 10:40). Please don’t drop off your child at 4^th Memorial either. An IRIS alert will go out to you that morning. Do not worry, it is only a practice drill. Thank you!

• Words Their Way: The 3^rd and 4^th grade teachers are very excited to begin Words Their Way groups this Friday morning. We are grateful that Jen Fisher (a parent and a teacher) is leading these mixed groups each Friday. She will pull out some kids (not all) from each of the 3^rd/4^th classes and lead them in some very intentional word activities. These activities will help the children develop strategies for spelling, writing, and reading. Thank you, Jen!

• Virtus: The 3^rd and 4^th grade classes have begun or will be starting soon our Virtus (Personal Safety) training. This is a program from the diocese that we are required to teach every year. We will be talking as a class about our personal safety (which includes touching) and what to do if we ever have that “icky” feeling from someone. Please let me know if you have any questions.

• Math Tests: I am currently grading the math tests. I will go over the tests individually with each child once they are graded and will keep them until report cards are due. Then I will send them home. Your child will know their score when I go over them in the next week. If you would like to see the actual test before conferences, please let me know. Thank you!

 Highlights from our Week:

• Math: Both classes reviewed for and took their unit 1 math tests. I will correct them and go over those with the students next week. We also took our second timed test this week and began Unit 2. Since we started a new month, we also began our new calendar grids and collectors in both classes.
• Religion: We continued to learn about the Ten Commandments and how they apply to our lives. The 6^th Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” is a tricky one for kids. We did not go into the adult meaning of adultery. We did, however, talk about adultery meaning not giving into temptations that would lead us away from God and doing the right thing. We also talked about being faithful and honest with others. We also learned the 7^th and 8^th

 We also had a fun time celebrating St. Francis with the Blessing of the Animals. Earlier that day, we read and reflected on a beautiful book about St. Francis. This led to some amazing reflections on taking care of God’s creation.

• Reading: During Literature Circles, we learned the role of the “summarizer.” We practiced this role as we read chapter 4 in our novels. During the Lit Circles the following day, the groups used their summaries as discussion ideas about the chapter. Each time they learn a new role, I collect their sheets and grade them for understanding. You should see these sheets coming home weekly.

During our comprehension skills practice, we continued to practice finding the meanings of words using our inference skills.

• Writing: We wrapped up our stories! Look for them in the hall.
• Grammar: The 3^rd graders continued to work on capitalizing their writing. The 4^th graders moved onto learning about pronouns.
• Science: On Monday, we did a fun experiment in which we went out to the garden to collect soil samples. We studied the samples to determine what was in our soil at St. Al’s. See the pictures above. On Tuesday, we began learning about the three types of rocks. Our focus this week was on igneous rocks. Ask your child where they come from. We began creating a flip book of the kinds of rocks.
• Social Studies: We continued our study of the regions of Washington state. We learned more about the coastal region and began to learn about the Puget Sound Lowlands. We used the Chromebooks to research various information for our process grids.