Week of January 23, 2012

Hello students & families,

Please continue to study for next week's Spelling Bee! We have been practicing in class, but the only way to get down all of the words is to continue the practice at home! Ask a parent, sibling, cousin, or anyone available to quiz you on the spellings of the words.

Next week is Catholic Schools Week. The theme is "Faith. Academics. Service". Think about what it means to go to a Catholic School and develop your faith, have high expectations for academics, and give back to the community & those in need, too.

This Sunday is Family Mass and Open House! Come dressed in school uniform and support our school community!

The new spelling and vocabulary words for our story "Yang the Second and her Secret Admirers" have been posted on the blog. The spelling & vocabulary packets are due on Monday. 

Let's have a great week!

Computer Lab Assignment 1/24

Look through the following websites and answer the questions on the form at the bottom of the blog.

• http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/subjects/colonialtimes.htm
• http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/graphics/13mapnew.htm

Then, look through the website below, and in the window that will pop up try to understand how colonial life was different from our lives now in the year 2012. On the form, one of the questions will ask you to compare one part of colonial life (church, school, farm, park, food) with what it is like now.

• http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13colonies1.htm

Week of January 16, 2012

Hello students & parents,

Welcome back from the long weekend! Here's what we have in store in the coming weeks:

• Friday is noon dismissal
• Next Wednesday, January 25th, is mass with the 1st grade
• The Spelling Bee is the week of January 30th, also Catholic Schools Week

Language Arts
In Language Arts, we have taken a break from our Houghton Mifflin Reading Program and have started a writing workshop wherein we are working on Persuasive Essays. The students have chosen their own topics and it is their job to convince the reader to believe what they do throughout the essay. Your child should be completing a new draft with corrections from the day's peer editing workshop each night. Visit the following websites for help with Persuasive Essay writing at home:

• http://www.slideshare.net/cindytko/5th-grade-writing-strategies-classpersuasive-writing
• http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr4.htm
• http://www.writeexpress.com/persuasive-essay.html
• http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/king/native/persuasive_essay.htm
• http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/writing/minilessons.asp?topic=Persuasive

Social Studies
In Social Studies, we are studying the original 13 English Colonies in the Americas. We have studied the geography of the colonies as well as the New England Colonies. This week we will be learning about the Middle Colonies, and eventually the Southern. Visit the following websites for some 13 colony fun!

• http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/graphics/13mapnew.htm
• http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13colonies1.htm
• http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/subjects/colonialtimes.htm

Let's have a great week and remember the values Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us!

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." -MLK