Weekly Update

Last week was quite a week with all of the sickness. I am proud of the girls for their resilience and flexibility because our schedule changed around quite a bit. I know we all look forward to getting back to a normal week!

We have our final Lower School Outreach project to support the Autism Society of Virginia and especially Mrs. Dorion and her team, Ty's Trot, in honor of her son, Ty. We hope many St. Catherine's families can come out for the race on Saturday, May 18. If not, we hope to raise money for her team!

 

 

To raise money, we will have a Read-A-Thon on Monday, May 13 in our classroom. Details are here and the girls were given a pledge sheet on Friday. The pledge forms are due by Friday, May 10.

Here are some updates to our schedule:

• Growing Up Healthy Class: Hopefully you saw the email from Mrs. Mastin about the schedule adjustments
• Thursday, May 9: Spring Book Fair and our class will visit from 2:10 - 2:30. Please join us or feel free to send in money with your daughter
• Friday, May 10: Read-A-Thon pledge sheets due
• Week of May 13: ERB and end of year assessments 
• Monday, May 13: Read-A-Thon
  
• Saturday, May 18: Autism Society of Central Virginia 5K
• Tuesday, May 21: Rescheduled Middle School visit from 8-12
• Thursday, May 23: 4th grade End of Year Party from 11:00 - 2:15 just for girls and parent volunteers
  
• Thursday, May 30: Final Assembly at 11:00 for grades 2-4. The girls should wear nice clothes for this occasion. They may wear a dress, skirt, or nice pants. They do not need to wear white for this. Following the Assembly, there will be a reception just for Fourthies and their guests.
  
• Carpool helper next week: Reese
• Scavenger hunt question - answer this

Weekly Update

The girls are working hard and staying focused despite all of the extra things happening. Here are some curriculum updates and reminders.

Math: Over the last few weeks we have been working on order of operations using the mnemonic GEMS.

We also discussed another mnemonic, PEMDAS, that will be used in Middle School and we saw that they are both ways to help remember the steps to solve an equation with more than one operation and groupings.

We have also been working on adding and subtracting decimals, and ordering and comparing decimals. To wrap up our decimal unit and incorporate money, the girls will design a faux wardrobe and create a wish list with pretend money!

Writing: The girls have created some friendship machines and written descriptive paragraphs about how theirs work. Our last step is to design a business card. They did a great job on this writing lab. 

Social Studies: The girls did so well on their region quiz on the northeast states and capitals. I was really impressed! We are now studying the southeast region and will have the quiz on that next Thursday.

Reminders:

• Names for Final Assembly due by April 29
• 5th-grade advisory buddy due by April 30
• Wednesday, May 1: Visit the Middle School for an orientation from 8 -12; please arrive to school on time; by 7:50 would be ideal!
• Due by May 1: Please email me a mother/daughter picture for an upcoming project - it can be an older picture or a recent one
• Growing Up Healthy Class begins May 1 - here is the letter from Dr. Kapetanis and it provides the book your daughter will need for this class

• Thursday, May 9: Spring Book Fair and our class will visit from 2:10 - 2:30. Please join us or feel free to send in money with your daughter.
  
• Thursday, May 30: Final Assembly at 11:00 for grades 2-4.The girls should wear nice clothes for this occasion. They may wear a dress, skirt, or nice pants. They do not need to wear white for this.

• Carpool helper next week: Maggie
• Special Week: Ella
  
• Scavenger hunt question - answer this

Weekly Update

I have enjoyed meeting with all of you to discuss your daughters. It is hard to believe there is just 6 weeks of school left. I will really miss this class! We have so many fun things coming up so I want to make sure I include all of the important reminders.

• Tuesday, April 23: Northeast region states and capitals quiz
• Wednesday, April 24: Outdoor Adventure Day - Please make sure your daughter:
• Wears athletic clothes and shoes (no boots or sandals)
• Dresses in layers
• Has a helmet - many have already come into school so thank you
  
• Lunch will be provided from the school
• Bring a water bottle and sunscreen
• Due by April 26: If your daughter wants to apply to the competitive robotics team, the application is here
• Wednesday, May 1: Visit the Middle School for an orientation from 8 -12; please arrive to school on time!
• Due by May 1: Please email me a mother/daughter picture for an upcoming project - it can be an older picture or a recent one
• Growing Up Healthy Class begins May 1 - here is the letter from Dr. Kapetanis and it provides the book your daughter will need for this class

• Thursday, May 30: Final Assembly at 11:00 for grades 2-4.The girls should wear nice clothes for this occasion. They may wear a dress, skirt, or nice pants. They do not need to wear white for this.

• Carpool helper next week: Ruth
• Scavenger hunt question - answer this

Weekly Update

Wow! The girls did an amazing job on both performances of The Jungle Book this week. I am so proud of them and impressed with their skills. 

 

 

The solar eclipse on Monday was a really neat experience!

 

Reminders:

• Carpool helper next week: Della
• Friday, April 19: Parent/Teacher Conference Day; Sign Up Here 
• Wednesday, April 24: Outdoor Adventure Day: Details Here; Helmets due in school by Thursday, April 18
  
• Wednesday, May 1: Visit to 5th grade for a Middle School Orientation- details to follow 
• Thursday, May 30: Final Assembly at 11:00 am
• Scavenger hunt question - answer this

Weekly Update

We are in full musical mode and the girls are excited to perform the 4th musical next week! Today's blog post will include reminders of upcoming events.

• Wednesday, April 10 at 9:30 am in Endeavour Hall: Parent performance of the musical followed by....
  
• Rising Fifth Grade Parent Meeting, April 10th at 10:30 a.m. in the Kenan-Flagler Auditorium (KFA) in Washington Hall, directly following the fourth grade musical
• Information from Middle School Director, Sharon Arne: This email was already sent to you but I am linking it again because it is full of lots of important information about Middle School
• Costume pieces needed from home - details here - these need to come to school on Monday!

Eclipse information: On Monday, April 8, we have the exciting opportunity to witness the rare event of a solar eclipse! The eclipse will occur from approximately 2 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. with the maximum coverage in this area occurring around 3:20 p.m. 

With safety in mind, it is our intention to help our Lower School students explore and experience this important event.

• Glasses have been purchased for every student so that they can view the eclipse safely. 

• Prior to the event, teachers are spending time reviewing the critical importance of wearing our eclipse glasses while looking at the sun. We suggest that girls do not look directly at the sun even with the glasses on - they should glance up then look down and follow this process while viewing the eclipse. Please reiterate this message at home and remind your children that directly viewing the sun without protective glasses can cause significant harm to eyes.

• Dismissal will be indoors and proceed as usual with carpool beginning at 3:00 p.m. for EL-Grade 1 and 3:30 p.m. for Grades 2-4

• We understand that many of you may want to view this event with your children. Should you choose to pick up your child early, please make sure to notify lsattendance@st.catherines.org well in advance of dismissal time to help us get the children safely dismissed.

  We are very excited for this historic event and look forward to sharing it with your children!

  Reminders:
  
• Carpool helper next week: Wells
• Special Week: Camille
  
• Wednesday, April 10: Fourth Grade Musical at 9:30 am in Endeavor Hall 
• Friday, April 19: Parent/Teacher Conference Day; Sign Up Here 
• Wednesday, April 24: Outdoor Adventure Day: Details Here
• Wednesday, May 1: Visit to 5th grade for a Middle School Orientation- details to follow 
• Thursday, May 30: Final Assembly at 11:00 am
• Scavenger hunt question - answer this

Weekly Update

Happy Easter to you all! I wish you a peace filled and happy holiday! We have hit the point in the school year we are extremely busy so please read below carefully!

Next week is all about the 4th grade musical. We will practice an hour and half each day following this schedule.

Curriculum Updates

 

Reading: We are reading Flora and Ulysses, which is about a little girl and a squirrel she encounters. Every 7 chapters, the girls respond to comprehension questions and use context clues to figure out certain vocabulary. 

Math: We assessed fraction computation and they did a great job. We are now working with decimals. The girls had a lesson about the Dewey decimal system to make the decimals concrete. We will add, subtract, compare, and order and compare decimals. 

Language Arts: The girls continue to learn new vocabulary with our Wordly Wise lessons. They love to share when they have hear the word being used or seen it in a book. Our current spelling pattern is about words with the /qu/ spelling pattern.

Social Studies: We are learning about the northeast region of the United States. To help learn the states and capitals, the girls have flash cards to help them as well as digital resources.

Reminders:

• Carpool helper next week: Kensi
• Wednesday, April 3: Gold/White Cup announcement and lunch. Girls may wear their gold and white this day. We will have picnic on the green with pizza for all of Lower School. Feel free to pack a different lunch if your daughter does not like pizza. 
• We will also make a trip to flower the cross which will be on the Portico on April 3rd. If your daughter would like to add to the cross, please send in flowers that morning.
• Wednesday, April 10: Fourth Grade Musical at 9:30 am in Endeavor Hall 
• Friday, April 19: Parent/Teacher Conference Day; Sign Up Here 
• Wednesday, April 24: Outdoor Adventure Day: Details Here
• Wednesday, May 1: Visit to 5th grade for a Middle School Orientation- details to follow 
• Thursday, May 30: Final Assembly at 11:00 am
• Scavenger hunt question - answer this!

Weekly Update

We had a great week back following spring break. The girls were excited to share highlights from their week off.

 

On Wednesday, our field trip to The Frontier Museum in Staunton was fun and informative.

Today, we had a great time walking to Gelati Celesti to celebrate 125 class compliments.

 

Curriculum Updates:          

Reading: In reading we started a novel study with the book, Flora and Ulysses. As a preview, we researched about squirrels and created cute illustrations. The girls also read about the author, Kate DiCamillo, and took notes on things they learned about this clever author.

Math: We continue our practice with fraction computation. Next week, we will also begin a unit on decimals and establish the relationship between fractions and decimals. In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, we enjoyed some Lucky Charms cereal while brushing up on our graphing and data skills. We reviewed different types of graphs and recorded data. Completed work was sent home in your daughter's Friday Folder today. 

Language Arts: Our time this week was spent on investigating affixes for our Wordly Wise unit #14. 

Social Studies: We began the a unit on the US regions by seeing what we know about the states and their locations on a map.   

Reminders:

• Carpool helper next week: Andie
• Special Week: Kensi
• Next Friday, March 29: Half day dismissal at noon for Good Friday
  
• April 10: Fourth Grade Musical at 9:30 am in Endeavor Hall
• May 30: Final Assembly at 11:00 am
• Scavenger hunt question - answer this!