St. Joan of Arc School

If you have newsworthy items for the Fall edition of the PSO Press, please submit them for consideration to Amy Forassiepi (amyfora@sbcglobal.net) no later than Friday, October 24, 2008.

Thank you!

We are into the month of October with so many different things to think about. There is Halloween, diversity, fire prevention, Our Lady of the Rosary, Saint Francis, Columbus Day, Officer Friendly and a favorite of our dads – Donuts for Dad’s. This special event will take place on October 31^st at 8:00 – 9:00A.M. in the PAR.

In math, we will still do some patterning, but have completed the basic lessons. Now, we have begun sorting. We have learned a new word – attributes. See if your child still remembers what attribute means. We used it many times over the past couple of lessons. We look at the attributes of an object, determine how those attributes make it alike or different than other objects and then sort the objects into groups. We will also continue to study numbers and numerals. We will compare them, order them, count with them and eventually begin adding them. Remember to keep counting and identifying numerals at home.

In Language Arts, we will be reviewing the letters Hh and Ll. Last week the letters reviewed were Ww, Oo, and Rr. Last week’s high frequency words were of and in. The two high frequency words for this week are was and said. Continue to review the past words as you begin to practice the new words. We practice all the words in some way daily in school. We have been encoding three and four letter words. At home, you can practice listening for the beginning, middle, and ending sound in words. When reading, every so often stop and have your child count how many words there are in a sentence. Be sure they can identify where a word begins and where the word ends. Children should be able to accurately point to the words they are reading in their little readers or poems they are practicing.

Computer volunteers have begun to come in and we are very grateful for their help. The children really enjoyed the first lesson.  The first lesson will continue for the children who did not receive the lesson on Thursday. Half of kindergarten attends a session on the first day of a lesson and the other half attends the second day of the lesson.

Just a few of the children have been wearing some items that are not listed on the acceptable items for uniforms found in the Parent Handbook. Be sure to read over those pages and perhaps the uniform website. It would be a shame for you to purchase an item for school and find out that it can‘t be worn as part of the uniform.

Please sign and return tests that are sent home and stamped for your signature. Thank you for returning the lower portion of the Mid-term report with your signature.

This week is Iowa testing week. Both Ms. Brown and I are on the same testing schedule. We do anticipate that there will be some testing this Friday morning. Please let me know if this conflicts with your 4-day weekend plans.

Please make sure your child brings a healthy snack each day, gets to bed on time, and eats breakfast each morning. The children will not have any homework or coursework tests this week.

Also, every effort will be made to ease the stress of the testing schedule. There will be frequent breaks and stretching opportunities. We will get some extra recess time as well. How wonderful we have a 4-day weekend coming up!

Reading: No regular reading class this week due to the testing schedule. No new stories. No Friday spelling test or story comprehension test.

Math: No math class this Tuesday due to the testing schedule. The Wizards will continue in Chapter 4 and begin Chapter 5. Their Chapter 4 test is scheduled for next week. The Bubble’s Buddies will continue in Chapter 3 and begin Chapter 4. Their Chapter 3 test is scheduled for next week.

Religion: We will continue working on our service project and create cards and letters for the parish shut-ins and military heroes overseas.

Social Studies: We will work on Chapter 2 material. Please let me know if you have any questions about the state project which is due October 20th. If your child completes their 3-part report before the due date, they may turn in all 3 parts at one time and be among the first to give their report. Please be sure your child’s name is on all 3 parts.

English: We will continue in Unit 2 and learn about nouns.

Writing: We will continue narrative writing. Please refer to English textbook pages 253-256 for an idea of expectations for assessment of their writing pieces.

Spanish: Pages 17-18 are due this Thursday.

Accelerated Reader: The children are doing an excellent job of surpassing the required number of 3 passed quizzes. The quarter ends Oct. 29th.

Tuesday, October 7th, there will be a Unit 3 Vocabulary Test for 7A.
All 7th Graders will be taking the Iowa Basic Skills Test each morning this week. They will have their afternoon classes each day.

8th grader Religion students are reminded their final Peace Prayer Assignment is due Monday, October 6th.

Well, we are fully into the swing of things and are becoming great readers in Kindergarten!  A big thanks to all our parents who volunteered to be reading parents.  The children are so excited to read to new faces.  I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised at each of the student’s reading progress.
This week we will be focusing on two new letter sounds, /Hh/ and /Ll/. The students will do many different literacy activities with these letters and will begin to write words using “sound boxes.”  The children are becoming very excited to write.  I am very pleased with the progress of each of my students ability to read and recognize their high frequency words.  I can tell everyone is practicing at home.  YAY!

Also, this week is Fire Prevention Week.  We will be doing some simple activities reminding children of the ways to stay safe in a fire.  We will also be having a fire drill that the firemen will come to.  Be prepared!

During our afternoon enrichment time, we will begin more activities to emphasize the importance of seeing all the differences in each of us.  This helps us to understand others and allows us to to show respect for people’s differences and feelings.

REMINDERS FOR THE WEEK:

Thursday: Hot Lunch (pizza)

Friday: GYM DAY (Some children are still forgetting gym shoes.)

October 31st 8:00-9:00 am– Donuts for Dad’s in the PAR

** Please remember to label all of your child’s belongings.**

Have a happy and safe week,

Miss Mayor

It seems that as soon as I put up the October calendar, the children can only think of Halloween!  Long time to go, yet.  However, we are starting to look forward to our annual Donuts For Dads, on Friday, October 31.  It will be in the PAR from 8:00 to 9:00 A.M.  This will give the Dads time to get to work a little later than usual.  Dads will be receiving the official invitation in the Wednesday Envelope.

In Language Arts, we will be reviewing the letters H/h and L/l, easy letters to print.  We are starting to do some phonetic spelling of 3-4 letter words.  We have 3 vowels to work with, and it is amazing how many words can be formed with the letters we have introduced so far.  The 2 high frequency words for this week are “was” and “said”.  With the former, I will be talking about past tense (although I won’t call it that).  With the latter, I will be introducing word balloons and quotation marks.  The children love the balloons!  This brings to total 12 words that you should be working on with your child each day.  Please don’t fall behind, as it is much too difficult to catch up.    

Just another reminder that Friday is gym day.  Some children are still coming without gym shoes.

Please make sure that your child’s name is in his/her sweater, sweatshirt, jacket, etc. 

There is no school on Monday, October 13, and Tuesday, October 14.  

The Lisle Fire Department loved their Thank You Cards and Cookies. Thank you Mrs. Lynch for picking up the cookies for us. Sometime this week we will be practicing our fire drills at school. We will also be talking about fire safety plans that we have at home, and how to check to make sure our smoke detectors are working at home.

The three year olds took home their Religion Journals for the first time. We had lots of fun talking about how God might look and how we all see God differently. The students are very excited to share their journals with you and can not wait to see what you wrote in them. Just a reminder the Religion Journals will go home on Thursdays and are due back to school on Tuesday. Please make sure to put the journals back into the large plastic bag. Thank you for your help.

The three year olds this week will be doing many different activities to do with fire safety. We will be making fire collages and working on our fine motor skills by ripping paper to make our collage.

The four year olds learned about the letter Aa and we reviewed the letter Ss. We even used a little reader about A picnic. We talked about how important it is to use our pointer finger to point to each word as we say it. This week we are even going to make our own little reader.  We will learn the letter Tt this week. Thank you for the wonderful things you have been writing in your child’s Religion Journal. Just a reminder the journals will go home on Wednesdays and are due back to school on Fridays.  Keep on writing at home. Homework went home in a homework bag, please remember to return the done homework in the homework bag on Wednesdays. Thank you.
A great big thank you to everyone who has given to the fish fund. We bought four new fish last week. You can donate to the fish fund anytime during the school year. Thank you again.

Remember we have Monday, October 13th off and Tuedsay, October 14th off of school.
Happy Fire Prevention Week,

Mrs. Clark

This week is our Iowa testing week. We will begin all of our tests at 8:00 in the morning. Please make sure your child brings a healthy snack to school and gets to bed on time. The children will not have any homework or tests this week in order to insure that they have plenty of time to go home after school to play, eat dinner, and get to sleep.

There will not be any Reading class this week due to our testing schedule and we may also have fewer Math classes as well.

Spanish: pages 19-20 due Friday October 10.

Religion: We will work in Chapter 5 this week which is about worship. We will have the Chapter 5 test next week on Thursday, October 16. We will also have our first third grade mass on Friday, October 17 so watch for an Invitation to Worship to be coming home.

English: We continue on in Chapter 2; common, proper, plural, and possessive nouns.

Writing: We have finished up our Best Birthday stories and are currently working on a summary of September activities and our  story about the first time we did something.

Science: We begin Chapter 2 Lesson 1 Plant Life Cycles. This week we will look at the parts of a seed, a conifer, and a flower. We will be dissecting flowers soon. Look for a note to come home which you will need to sign and return to school in order to give your child permission to dissect flowers. Flowers contain pollen so if your child has an allergy to pollen I will give them an alternate assignment to do in another classroom.

Math: The Calculators will finish up Chapter 4 this week, review and begin Chapter 5. We will take the Chapter 4 test next week. The Rulers will finish up Chapter 3 this week, review and begin Chapter 4. We will take the Chapter 3 test next week.

Accelerated Reader: The children are doing an excellent job of reading their books and taking quizzes. Many of them have already met their first quarter goal and are working beyond that. The last day to take a quiz for the first quarter is October 29.

For this week of Iowa testing I will be sure to keep our classroom in a relaxed mode. The children will be put at ease about the testing and its purpose. We will take frequent breaks and be able to stretch and move around in between tests.  We will also be sure to add some extra “fun” activities into the week. The week will fly by and the children will be happy for the four day weekend that awaits them.

Have a great week!

Voc. 6

Unit 4 test October 10th

Social Studies 6

Ancient Egypt–quiz–Oct. 7th

Artwork –Due Oct. 9th

Social Studies 7

New Unit: Causes of the American Revolution

Social Studies 8

Topic this week is Children at work at the turn of the century.

Test on Industrial Growth–October 16th.

All Grades:  notes should be gone over every night!!!!!  This is homework all year.

They will be registering to vote and must have their  card in order to vote on Election Day .

They will have letters encouraging people to vote.

USA(Friday) only

They should be studying the location of the states and their capitals.

Have a Jesus filled week.  Mrs. Haeger

“Be still and know I am God.”   Psalm  46:10

Reminders:

There will be a 4B mass on Friday.

Religion:  The Chapter 2 test is Tuesday.  Students can write this week’s bible verse on the back as a way to earn up to 5 extra credit points on test.
This week’s bible verse:  Psalm 25:10
“With faithfulness and love he leads all who keep his covenant and obey his commands”
Reading:  Read!  Read!  Read!

English:  We will continue on with chapter 2; combining two sentences by using an appositive, writing the plural form of irregular nouns and forming singular and plural possessive nouns.

Writer’s Workshop:  The students will continue to work on their descriptive paragraphs.

Spelling:  Spelling list went home on Friday; test is on Thursday, October 9.

This week’s spelling assignment:

1.  Choose a topic and write a paragraph using at least 10 of your spelling

words.  Highlight or underline each spelling word.

2.  Write each spelling word in crayon or pen. Write each consonant in red and

each vowel in blue.