January 13th Newsletter
Mrs. Manfred’s Class News
January 13, 2023
“Everything that is done in this world is done by hope.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Upcoming Events:
January 16th No School, Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 20th, Pajama/DEAR Party
January 29th-February 3rd Catholic Schools Week
Sunday, January 29th Parish Appreciation Mass, 11:00 at St. Al’s Church
Friday, February 3rd Friends and Family Mass, 10:00 (time change) at church
Homework:
The children have packet #14 due on Friday, January 20th.
Spelling Test: Friday, January 20th
Silverwood Reading Log: Please keep the Silverwood reading log (attached to the homework packet) at home until it is completed. To receive a free Silverwood ticket, students must read 10 hours and keep a log of those hours. If you need more logs, please let me know. Logs are due by March 31st. Nightly Reading minutes count towards your Silverwood logs!
Important Information:
MAP Testing: Please look at the following schedule so you are aware of the days we will be testing this month. Please try your best to have your child at school and ready (fed & well rested) on the following days:
Tuesday, January 17th (Math)
Tuesday, January 24th (Reading)
Letters of Intent to Return: These went home this week and need to be returned by January 20th. Please return them regardless of whether your child is returning next year. These forms help us to predict enrollment for the following school year. Thank you!
Pajama Day: The children earned a party which will be next Friday, January 20th. They voted on a PJ/DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) party. They can wear school appropriate pajamas or sweats on Friday. They can also bring a small blanket, stuffed animal, and/or pillow that fits into their backpacks. This is only for our class.
Parking Lot:
Please use the crosswalk and don’t walk through the drop-off lane.
When exiting, please take a right onto Standard Street. This will help with traffic flow.
PE Shoes: To keep our gym looking beautiful, please send your child to school with P.E. shoes on our designated days (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays). If you would like to keep an extra pair of tennis shoes here, that also works. Just send them in a bag and they can keep them on their coat hook. We have found that running around the gym floor in anything other than tennis shoes (ex. boots or dress shoes) ruins the floor more quickly. Thank you for your help with this!
Uniform: Once again, this is a gentle reminder that children must wear uniform sweatshirts or sweaters inside our classroom. Our temperature in the room fluctuates and the children need long sleeves at times. I can’t allow them to wear non-uniform jackets or sweatshirts in the building. Our uniform closet downstairs is full. Check it out if your child needs additional uniform pieces.
Snack Donations: I now have plenty. Thank you so much to those who donated!!
Annual Fund: Please consider making a donation to our Annual Fund this year. It plays a vital role in our operating budget. We are in a class competition until February 3rd for the most students donating in each class. We are hoping to have 100% of our families participate with any size of donation. Thank you to those of you who have already made a donation!
Highlights from our Week:
Math: The 4th graders are continuing to learn about equivalent & improper fractions, as well as mixed numerals. The 3rd graders learned measurement vocabulary this week. They are learning how to measure mass and liquid volume. Both groups resumed timed tests this week. The 4th graders are now doing both multiplication and division.
Religion: We continued learning the Beatitudes. We learned the second one, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” It is about having empathy, feeling sorry when we cause sadness, and truly loving others and God. It also is about God loving us when we are sad. On Wednesday, we learned “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” We learned that to be meek is to be humble and not bragging.
We also celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany at Mass. The Three Wisemen also visited our classrooms and marked our doors to bless are classrooms for the year.
Grammar: The 3rd graders learned about possessive and reflexive pronouns. The 4th graders reviewed verb tense. They also learned about regular and irregular verbs, which they discovered was on their MAP test this week.
Writing: We have finished planning our essays and began writing our introduction paragraphs. We talked about what makes a good introduction, and what our thesis statements should include. For these essays, we are focused on quality writing and structure. Some kids even tried writing the first paragraphs in cursive!
Word Work: We continued working in small groups and whole groups on phonics, including multi-syllabic spelling and affixes. My goal is for this practice to transfer to their independent writing.
Reading: Both grades continued Lit Circle books this week. The 3rd graders began reading “My Father’s Dragon,” and the 4th graders began reading “Hatchet.” Both are wonderful books! As a whole class, we also continued learning about the comprehension strategy, determining importance. We read a book about Ruby Bridges to help us learn this strategy. This book tied nicely with our Martin Luther King Jr. learning we had this week!
Science: We learned about what conducts electricity and what is not a conductor. We did a fun experiment using test objects to see if they would conduct electricity. We also learned about series circuits.
Social Studies: We spent time this week learning about Martin Luther King Jr. I showed them a video I made of when I went to the MLK Center in Atlanta. They loved seeing his house and church. We also read a book about him and had some great discussions. We looked at the pledge the marchers had to sign before their protests, as well. We compared the list in this pledge to the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. We talked about how he was a beacon of hope for others and how we can also be a beacon of hope for others. We created some art to reflect this idea and it is hanging in the hallway.