Friday News 10/30

Happy Friday and happy Halloween eve!

Here's a look at what we did this week:

Math - We kicked off Unit 3 by learning how to use place value to add
3-digit numbers. Students explored the place value blocks as we
figured out that when we are adding two numbers and we get ten or more
one blocks, we can exchange 10 one blocks for a ten block stick. This
helped students understand why we carry the 1 when adding in standard
algorithm. So far, students are doing really well with Unit 3.

Social Studies - Students have been really interested in social
studies this week as we have started learning about the colonists and
the causes that lead up to the American Revolution. We made newspapers
discussing various colonial news such as early Jamestown, taxes, the
Boston Tea Party, and the American Revolution.

Science - In science this week we used paper strips to understand and
represent the relative distances between the planets. We are very
excited to go to the planetarium at the beginning of next week! We
also had a special treat when there was some left over dry ice from
Fall Family Fun night. Students experimented and explored what happens
when you mix dry ice and water and dry ice, water and dish soap.
(Pictures below)

Reading - Dream Wolf, our story this week, was a folk tale about a young boy who dreams of a friendly wolf who leads him home. We learned vocabulary with this story and focused on cause and effect.

Writing - Our personal narratives are almost all published! Yay!
Students enjoyed publishing this week as we brought lap tops into the
room and took a trip up to the computer lab to type and print our
final draft of our personal narratives. Some students are still
finishing up. We also wrote about a family hero for the 11th Ward
Democratic Party essay contest. Four students papers will be chosen
and submitted.

Religion - This week we focused on women of the Old Testament and how they showed their faith in God. We learned about Sara, Hannah, and Ruth.We also learned about Queen Esther and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. We will have a quiz towards the beginning of next week.

Reminders:
- We are going on field trip to the planetarium next week Tuesday,
Please send your child to school with a sack lunch that is completely
disposable.
- We will still accept trivia night donations at the beginning of next week, please help out if you can!
- Friday, November 6th is a staff in-service day so there will be no school.

Have a great Halloweekend!

- Miss Rizzo

10/26/15

Homework:
Reading: Summarize Dream Wolf, reading log
Math: None - did not get to math today
Spelling: Contract due Friday - will be handed out tomorrow

Friday Newsletter 10/23/15

Here's a look at what we did this week:

Math – Unit 2 is officially all wrapped up! Now we are moving on to Unit 3, where we are learning how to use place value to add and subtract. So far, students are breezing through the beginning of our new unit.

Writing – Students are moving all in their personal narratives and many students are starting the publishing stage! We have learned all about the writing process: prewriting, writing, revising, editing and publishing. It is exciting to see students acting like real writers!

*Next week we will also be doing writing about “A Family Hero” for the 11^th Ward Democratic Party essay contest – please brainstorm possible people for your child to write about

Reading – The skill we have been focusing on in reading this week is comparing and contrasting. We read a story about a little girl who builds a sand mountain and compared and contrasted the sand mountain to the real mountain in the story. Students are doing a good job of using this new skill to dig deeper into the comprehension of a story.

Social Studies – Our new unit in social studies is all about how communities change over time. We have learned about the very first communities and students grouped up to present on the Native American city of Cahokia, Powhatan’s Village, the very first settlers from England, and the start of Jamestown. This unit has a lot of information in it and I am excited to dive in!

Science – We continued science this week with learning more about the planets in our solar system and students learned a fun way to remember the order of the planets: My Very Exhausted Mother Just Served Us Nachos – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Religion – Along with learning about women from the Old Testament, we had a special guest come in this week that talked to us all about missions and showed us different nativity scenes from around the world.

A note on trivia night:

Trivia night is coming up on November 14^th. Our classroom basket theme this year will be New Year’s Eve/Day. If you are able, we are asking for $5 or more donations so we can fill our basket with fun treats to celebrate the New Year! Remember, all proceeds from trivia night go back to help the classroom.

Field Trip Information: We are planning another field trip with the fourth grade to the Alder Planetarium on Tuesday, November 3rd. I am very excited about this field trip as it will go along great with our astronomy unit in science! Field trip forms will either be sent home today or on Monday. They are due on Friday, October 30th. We will only need 4 chaperones for this field trip and I will choose at a first come, first serve basis when forms are turned in.

Reminders:

- Parent teacher conference forms are due by October 30^th

- Halloween candy may be brought in next week Friday, but it must be PEANUT FREE and there must be enough for all 24 of our students

- Halloween lunch forms were due today, if your child did not order a lunch, you must send them to school with a packed lunch on the 30^th as their will be no hot lunches served this day

Have a great weekend! Let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns!

-          Miss Rizzo

10/22/15

Homework:
Spelling - Contract due tomorrow, test tomorrow
Math - Pg. 58 #8-15
Reading - Study for vocab quiz tomorrow, Reading log

10/20/15

Homework:
Spelling: Contract due Friday
Reading: Reading log, pg. 46 in workbook
Math: Study for Unit 2 test tomorrow

10/19/15

Homework:
Math: 2-6 Quick Check, study for test Wednesday
Reading: Reading Log - read 20 minutes and record
Spelling: Spelling contract due Friday

Friday Newsletter

What a crazy week it has been! Columbus Day, field trip, fire house visit, and lock down drills!

Here's a look at what we did this week:

Math - The beginning of our week was spent on 2-7, the last lesson in Unit 2. Now, Unit 2 has officially come to an end as we work on our study guide and study for the test on Tuesday, October 20. Unit 3 will focus on adding and subtracting with place value.

Social studies - Social studies was interactive this week as we learned intermediate directions and map scale. Students had fun creating their own made up maps and then having peers answer questions on how far away the different buildings were. The field trip to the nature museum was also social studies related as students were able to see models of dams, levees, and reservoirs in the water area of the museum. It was great to see students connect what we were learning about in class to our trip.

Science – We’ve moved on from focusing on the sun and moon and are now learning how to identify and describe the planets in our solar system. We compared the number of moons of each planet and the amount of time it takes each planet to rotate once.

Religion - Chapter 3 wrapped up this week as we discussed how the Church honors Mary at the beginning of the week and took our quiz yesterday. Chapter 4 continues by discussing women of faith.

Reading - With a short week, we veered from our usual textbook story to focus on learning the QAR (question answer relationship) strategy of comprehension questions. Students learned the different types of questions and how to answer them: right there, think and search, author and me, and on my own. 

Writing - A lot of students made some great gains with their personal narrative this week! Most students are focusing on the revising stage as we go back through our drafts and add detail. Next week we will start to edit and some students may even be ready to move onto publishing!

Reminders:
- Fall Family Fun Night forms due October 21st
- Parent teacher conference forms due October 30th
- Halloween Lunch forms due October 23rd

- I sent home scholastic order forms due Friday, October 30th

Have a great weekend!

- Miss Rizzo

10/14/15

Homework:
Reading: Read 20 minutes
Religion: Study for quiz tomorrow
Science: Lesson 12 Review
Math: Pg. 48-49 #4-10

Reminders:
- Please turn in signed progress reports
- Fall Family Fun Night forms due October 21st
- Parent teacher conference forms due October 30th
- Halloween Lunch forms due October 23rd

10/13/15

Thank you to all the parent volunteers that came on today's field trip! It was a lot of fun!

Tonight's homework:
Students have "study guide due Thursday" written down for religion homework, but we did this in class today when we got back from the field trip. Instead, please have student's study and we will have a religion quiz on Thursday.

- Miss Rizzo

10/9/15 Friday Newsletter

Happy Friday!

Here's a look at what we did this week:

Math – Unit 2 has been a struggle for a lot of students, but I have been continuing to re-teach and go over the material and we’re finally starting to wrap it up! Next week is a wacky week with school off on Monday and a field trip all day on Tuesday, so we will spend next week learning our final lesson in Chapter 2 and then reviewing for the unit test that we will have at the beginning of the following week.

Social Studies – In social studies this week we have been learning about how people affect the environment. Students learned about reservoirs, levees, and dams. We discussed the flooding in South Carolina and related it to our study by talking about how many dams have failed due to all the rain from the hurricane. 

Science – We took a break from new lessons in our astronomy unit this week to check in and review what we have learned so far in science. Students made questions based on their study guide and we played a fun review game. Later in the week, students took a test and now we're ready to move on and learn more about our solar system!

Reading – City Green was our reading story this week. It was about a little girl turning an empty lot were a building had been torn down into a beautiful community garden. The skill that we focused on was cause and effect. Students did really well with this!

Writing – We're trucking along in our personal narrative writing unit. I've asked students to focus on writing about a "first" in their life and we've broken down our stories into a beginning, middle, and end. Students have also been continuing partner writing stories in their free time. Pictures of some of our most recent author sharing below. 

Religion – This week we have been learning all about Mary saying yes to God. Students have learned about the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Magnificat, the Incarnation, and the Nativity. Yesterday students wrote a prayer of praise, thanking God for what He has done in their lives. We are very excited to go on a field trip with our faith partners next week!

A note on Halloween: As you are aware, we have a strict no-nut policy in our school building in order to ensure the safety of our students who have tree nut/seed/peanut allergies. As you know, peanuts, seeds, and/or tree nuts may present a life threatening danger to children who have allergies to these foods.  Because of this, we have a preapproved list of safe foods that the students at Bridgeport Catholic Academy may to pass out to their classmates for our Halloween festivities on Halloween 30, 2015. If you need a copy or you have any questions, please let me know.

Reminders:

- No school on Monday!

- Field trip to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum on Tuesday – please send students with a PACKED lunch and in their GYM uniforms!

-Wings and Rings night on Tuesday!

-Visit to the fire station on Wednesday of next week

Have a great, long weekend!

- Miss Rizzo