Happy New Year!

Wow! The 2011-2012 school year is off to a great start! I had a wonderful time this week reacquainting myself with the students and getting to know the students that have joined our school this year! They all seemed very excited to be back at school! We did a few "getting to know you" activities and learned a lot about each other. We have some very interesting things in common! I am very excited to see all of you at Meet the Teacher Night on Thursday!

This is going to be a great year!!

Cinco de Mayo

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Our Special Guest

Today we were delighted to have a visit from a very special person to both the fourth and fifth grades! Zach Waara, the marine that we sponsored, returned from Afghanistan and came to visit us! Zach thanked the kids for all the prayers and care packages that they sent to him and took time to answer questions. He also brought along a slide show to share with pictures from Afghanistan! We are so happy that he is back with us safe and sound. Please continue to keep Zach and all of our military in your prayers. He will be returning to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina tomorrow.

Thank you to all who sent food and toiletries in to send to Zach. He said that it felt like Christmas every time he received a package and he shared his good fortune with all of his fellow marines. Any items not used were left for the group that came in to relieve Zach's company.

Reading Month

Reading month was quite an event! We had three guest readers: Mrs. Martin, Sister Joan, and Mrs. Krause. Mrs. Martin shared a St. Patrick's Day story with the kids and then we made prayer boxes; Sister Joan read a book about peace and gave us bookmarks to write our peace pledge on. Finally, Mrs. Krause read 1-minute Easter stories. The kids had a read-in in Miss Blanton's class, we had a read a hat/shirt day, and a pajama day (always a crowd pleaser!). We buddied up with the preschool and read stories in the gym. The preschoolers then drew a picture to go with the story and dictated a sentence to the fourth graders. I was so proud of my students. They worked so well with the little ones! They asked questions, made predictions, and even explained the important aspects of a sentence! Unfortunately, we did not meet our 500 hour reading goal but we are still plugging away at it!

March Has Been an Exciting Month!!

The month started with the setting of our Reading Month goal. The Fourth Graders have set a goal of reading 500 hours in the month of March! If they meet this goal we are going to celebrate by throwing a Beach Party! So far we have only read 50 hours so we'll have to get reading if we are going to head to the beach!

We then had our field trip to the University of Michigan's Museum of Natural History. The kids really seemed to enjoy this very educational field trip. We just wrapped up our unit on fossils and the museum houses a wonderful collection of dinosaur fossils, rocks & minerals. The students wowed us with their knowledge of dinosaurs!! We also visited the planetarium - this was really exciting since we just began our unit on the Solar System. Again, your kids know a lot about the planets!! The kids were really well behaved and I was very proud of all of them.

Thursday was our Grandparent's/Special Person's Day. This is one of my favorite days of the year! I love meeting all of your special people and they love seeing your child's friends and school. I think it is wonderful that we all get to go to Mass together and share our faith with one another!

Friday we began our Lenten Stations of the Cross. The students love taking this journey with Jesus. We are truly blessed to be able to spend this time together preparing our hearts for Easter.

Whew, we're only have way through the month! Still to come this month: St. Patrick's Day with a special guest reader, pajama day with a read-in, and reading with the preschool. Please also remember that there is a link on the left to a wonderful site that will take you on Jesus' journey. Please take some time walk this virtual Stations of the Cross.

Feb 7 Newsletter

Catholic Schools Week

What an exciting week it was! Monday we were fortunate enough to celebrate Mass. The Fourth Grade did a wonderful job doing the readings, petitions, and gifts. We had a special opening of Catholic Schools Week read by Kaitlyn and a wonderful closing prayer by Jacob. All of the students were reverent, participated fully, and represented the Fourth Grade with flying colors!! Tuesday we were all feeling a little lazy since we got to wear our P.J.'s to school! Our read-in was a lot of fun as the kids pushed back the desks and camped out on the floor with a good book and a favorite stuffed animal. Wednesday was a special treat - SNOW DAY!! Thursday we found ourselves with crazy hair, crazy hats, and mismatched clothes. What a wild day!! The students enjoyed a talent show in the afternoon. I didn't know we had so much talent in the fourth grade!! Congratulations to George, Natasha, Jacob, Dominic, Cmaeron, Kaitlyn and Mary for doing a wonderful job in the Talent Show. You were amazing!! The PTO held a funtastic carnival in the evening. Dominic and I competed in Just Dance. I am sorry to say that Dominic beat me to the 80's tune of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I thought I had it in the bag with that one!!! Friday was the kickball and volleyball competitions. 4th Grade prevailed over the 5th Grade, however, I heard the 5th Grade gave them a run for their money! I was very sorry that I wasn't there to see it as I was at the Academic Olympics at Cabrini High School with the 7th and 8th grade. School is back to normal this week....Ho Hum!!