Catholic School’s Week 2019

Sunday January 27 – St. Madeleine Sophie Open House (9:30 am & 12:30 pm) Wear a school uniform at Mass and get a free dress pass!

Monday January 28 – School Spirit Dress Up Day

Tuesday January 29 – Pajama Day

Wednesday January 30 – Grandfriends Day / Pancake Breakfast – Full Uniform Day

Thursday January 31 – Dress up: “Who I look up to” / “My Hero”

Friday February 1 – Matching Day! (Match with your friends and classmates!) Global Reading Challenge @ 1pm

Update 5/18

Happy Friday, Everyone!

I am so excited to share with you all the fun we have been having in 4th Grade. Although we are close to the end of the year, the learning has not stopped!

In Science, students are learning about energy. They’ve explored electrical, light, and mechanical energy so far. They had a blast learning about circuits and making catapults.

In Math, we dove head-first into fractions and I love how interested the students are to learn new concepts like comparing fractions, converting to mixed numbers, and more!

In Social Studies, we continue to learn about Washington’s history. The students are learning about the process of becoming a state, and what groups of people contributed to agriculture, business, and more.

In ELA, we had a blast exploring puns. Students did a lot of work manipulating words and interpreting them in different ways. I hope you saw all their hard work with puns on their Mother’s Day Cards!

Each month, the class focuses on a value. This month, the students have been learning and exploring the value of Self Confidence. We’ve done a lot of great activities and I’ve learned so much more about each of them.  Building on that, as an end of the year celebration, we do a countdown to the last day of school. Each day, we pop a balloon containing a mystery student’s name. That day, they are our VIP and get celebrated all day long! It’s a great way to end the school year on a high note.

The VIP gets a special desk, fun materials to use, and a personalized note from Ms. DiGirolamo!

Important Dates:

May 25 – No School (Teacher Accreditation Work Day)

May 28 – No School (Memorial Day)

June 1 – Fly Up Day & Field Day (send 4th graders to school in sunscreen and a blue shirt!)

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!

Ms. DiGirolamo

Update 4/27

Hello Fourth Grade Families,

Thanks for your patience in these busy spring weeks! I’m excited to tell you all about what the 4th Graders have been up to. After we got back from Spring Break, we attended our much anticipated Field Trip to MOHAI in Seattle. There, students were able to explore Washington’s history in a hands-on and engaging way. It was so fun!

Each small group was given an artifact that they had to investigate and decide if it belonged to explorers, pioneers, native peoples, emigrants or farmers.
It takes skill to make it all the way to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Many of us died of snakes bites, cholera, and exhaustion! How exciting!

The 4th Graders have been excited to learn all about the Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion these last few weeks. It was so great to see the level of engagement and deeper understanding they experienced after playing the original 1992 Oregon Trail Game! Anyone else remember playing this in school?

In Religion, we have started learning our last prayer for the year, the Memorare. The Memorare is a beautiful prayer to Mary often prayed as part of the Rosary. Students are also learning the Beatitudes and even heard a super cool rap about them! 😉

In Writing, we have been exploring Figurative Writing. From alliteration, hyperbole, and idioms to metaphors and similes, the class has been having a ball! They are like mini Einsteins with their writing and use of figurative language. I am a terribly tickled teacher!

I hope you’ve been enjoying this beautiful weather!

Upcoming Events/Deadlines:

  • May 4th – Scholastic Order Forms Due & T-Shirt Orders Due
  • May 11th – Spring Fling
  • May 16-17th – Spring Musical – “High School Musical 2” (Can’t wait to see you there!)
  • May 25th – No School. Accreditation day for Faculty
  • June 1st – Field Day

Have a great weekend!!

 

Ms. DiGirolamo

 

Update 3/23

Hello All! It’s been a while since our last update, but we are as busy as ever! Where do I even begin? I want to give a shoutout to our 4th/5th Grade  Global Reading Challenge team “The Night Readers” for making it all the way to the finals! They came in at a close 2nd place. Way to go Night Readers!

4th Grade also attended a field trip to the St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank in Seattle. Students sorted, packaged, and distributed food to our neighbors in need. By the end of the day, the students were begging me to let them stay longer! They really enjoyed encountering others and living out the SLE’s in their community. Thank you again to all who volunteered with us.

In Math, students have really tackled the challenge of Long Division! They were intimidated and overwhelmed at first, but now they are experts! Their assessment this week is to make a video explaining each step in the process using the app “Explain Everything.” I can’t wait to let them share their expertise.

Students wrote division problems on balloons and solved around the room!

In Religion, we are very focused on Lent. Students write in a Lent Journal each day and reflect on the various aspects of this liturgical season. We have also been encountering our neighbors in need around the world through the CRS Rice Bowl lessons. Students have encountered amazing people from Nicaragua, Haiti, Burkina Faso, and Malawi. The money YOU donate to the CRS Rice Bowl this Lent benefits our neighbors around the world.

In Social Studies students have had a great time exploring Washington history. We’ve compared and contrasted the 2 groups of native people – coastal and plateau. We created a class totem pole after learning about symbolism and story telling. Students even

Our class totem pole
They even recreated a mini one!

wrote journal entires from the point of view of Washington’s first inhabitants. We are now learning about the early explorers of the Pacific Northwest, the Fur Trade, and Westward Expansion.

 

In Writing, students explored their own opinions. Their assignment was to choose the character trait most important to them, and write why. They had some pretty interesting/insightful thoughts!

 

Upcoming Events:

Monday March 26th – please send in CRS Rice Bowls and 30 Pieces of Silver

Friday March 30th – Good Friday Stations of the Cross, simple meal (provided lunch), afternoon service projects and quiet dismissal

April 2-6th – SPRING BREAK!

Friday April 13th – Field Trip to MOHAI

Tuesday April 17th – Class picture day

Update 2/02

Happy Friday, all! What a week we just had. Catholic School’s Week is always one of my favorites but can feel pretty crazy!

Here’s what we’ve been learning this week:

In Math, students are working on Chapter 6: Multi- Digit Multiplication! They are learning multiple strategies for solving multiplication problems. In Science, we have been exploring erosion and types of rocks. Students loved learning about the Rock Cycle and making comic strips to show how sediment becomes sedimentary rock. They have also been working in groups to make stream tables, where they witnessed how water erosion deposits sediment. The 4th Graders also came up with models to prevent erosion after learning of the challenges humans face due to erosion. So fun! In Reading we started a new Novel “The Name of This Book is Secret.” Its so fun and mysterious, and they are hooked already. The class is still exploring Growth Mindset and this week learned about the “Power of Yet.” The idea is that there are many things they cannot do YET, but with practice and patience, they can get there. Here are a few notable examples:

Here are some upcoming dates to add to your calendar:

Feb 13th – Valentine’s Day Celebrations

Feb 14th – Ash Wednesday (Lent Begins)

Feb 16th – NO SCHOOL

Feb 19-23 – Midwinter Break

 

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!

 

♥ Ms. DiGirolamo