Christmas Outreach
When you are out doing your Christmas shopping, remember to send a present to school for our Lower School Project to benefit SCAN. Our class is collecting presents for a 15 year old girl! How fun is that? The girls themselves suggested makeup (shock!), nail polish, bracelets, earrings, books, journals and music cards. Target is your friend! Thank you so much for supporting this wonderful project!
Something about math.....I don't know what it is, but it consumes this class! The girls are starting fractions, and they are doing a great job. Understanding the concept of a fraction is no small thing so it will take a lot of work and hands-on projects to begin to comprehend it. Ask your daughter what trick they learned to decide if a fraction is greater or less than 1/2. It's pretty cool! There is lots of good news about basic math facts. The girls are doing so much better! Keep up that nightly work at home. The pay-off is in the classroom, and if you have looked at some of the math your girls are doing you would see why this is critical!
Before we even think about Christmas, we have to honor the Advent season, which is what we are doing in the lower school. This is above all a spiritual season, so Advent will be front and center in our class. It's hard when it seems as if Christmas has started and is all around us.
Kara Finley is representing our class at the Robotics Championship at JMU this weekend. She is part of the winning team Chemical Crushin' Saints! Let's all congratulate Kara for her hard work this year and wish her luck!
Friday, December 1, 2017
Friday, November 17, 2017
Thanksgiving...Hello? Not yet! Celebrity Among Us? Mary Mac!
Time does not stand still at St. Catherine's, EXCEPT when one of our own Roberts' Fourthies becomes a celeb for the day! Wow! Mary Mac Starke rocked it on Mix 98.1 Thursday morning for TWO HOURS! Why, you ask! Mary Mac raised almost $5000 dollars for Juvenile Diabetes by participating in the JDRF One Walk Fundraiser. Now, we already knew she was a rock star in our class for lots of other things, but now, we know that not only can she raise a whole lot of money for a worthy cause, but this girl is also a natural DJ! This morning on the radio Mary Mac played the trombone, she talked about the sports she loved and about St. Catherine's, plus she picked a fabulous playlist. So what did our class do? We delayed our ERBs for an hour and just listened to 98.1 and Mary Mac! In case you were wondering if the girls had fun doing this, here are a few pictures!
Our rock star DJ Mary Mac Starke and her fan club!
Can you imagine taking an ERB after all of this excitement? Well, these girls took a zen moment, and the beat went on! They are busy finishing up their ERBs with the distinction of being the first lower school class to take them on the computer. Thanks to fine planning by the Tech Department, all has gone well. We have learned how to cope with internet loss, girls needing to leave the classroom, and other complications, and so far so good!
Since the beginning of the year, the girls have been introduced to different types of writing. Some of it has been fun and creative, and some of it has been related to what we are learning. This week they are either writing a comic strip or Storybird, while incorporating vocabulary words they've learned in the past two months. This is more challenging than it sounds, but not for these Fourthies... every day they beg to work on their writing assignments. They are also in the initial stages of writing a news story, but more on that later!
As for math, it's all about problem-solving, which the girls do every day. As their computation skills evolve, their ability to solve problems improves. I must say that this group of girls are enthusiastic learners. They never complain, and they have done a ton of math! Now, they realize how much they need automatic recall of basic math facts because it is just too challenging without that knowledge. These girls are also multiplying three digits by two digits and dividing into four digit numbers, plus they have started looking at basic fraction concepts.
Week of November 20
Monday - Girls join fifth graders to see Wonder - We leave at 12:00.
Tuesday - Fourth Grade St. Christopher's boys come to St. Catherine's for a Math Expo. Each class shares a different activity with the boys. We are pairing with Mrs. Carlson's class, and we are excited!
Wednesday - Thanksgiving vacation begins with no school until Tuesday, November 28!
Big Sister/ Little Sister Fun
As promised, here is the FlipGrid we did with Mrs. Crook's eighth grade girls last week!
Have fun watching it!
https://flipgrid.com/0ec4fc The password is biglittle.
Our rock star DJ Mary Mac Starke and her fan club!
Can you imagine taking an ERB after all of this excitement? Well, these girls took a zen moment, and the beat went on! They are busy finishing up their ERBs with the distinction of being the first lower school class to take them on the computer. Thanks to fine planning by the Tech Department, all has gone well. We have learned how to cope with internet loss, girls needing to leave the classroom, and other complications, and so far so good!
Since the beginning of the year, the girls have been introduced to different types of writing. Some of it has been fun and creative, and some of it has been related to what we are learning. This week they are either writing a comic strip or Storybird, while incorporating vocabulary words they've learned in the past two months. This is more challenging than it sounds, but not for these Fourthies... every day they beg to work on their writing assignments. They are also in the initial stages of writing a news story, but more on that later!
As for math, it's all about problem-solving, which the girls do every day. As their computation skills evolve, their ability to solve problems improves. I must say that this group of girls are enthusiastic learners. They never complain, and they have done a ton of math! Now, they realize how much they need automatic recall of basic math facts because it is just too challenging without that knowledge. These girls are also multiplying three digits by two digits and dividing into four digit numbers, plus they have started looking at basic fraction concepts.
Week of November 20
Monday - Girls join fifth graders to see Wonder - We leave at 12:00.
Tuesday - Fourth Grade St. Christopher's boys come to St. Catherine's for a Math Expo. Each class shares a different activity with the boys. We are pairing with Mrs. Carlson's class, and we are excited!
Wednesday - Thanksgiving vacation begins with no school until Tuesday, November 28!
Big Sister/ Little Sister Fun
As promised, here is the FlipGrid we did with Mrs. Crook's eighth grade girls last week!
Have fun watching it!
https://flipgrid.com/0ec4fc The password is biglittle.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Mount Vernon and Big Sister/Little Sister-Highlights of the Week
What a week this was! Even though the weather was dismal for Mount Vernon, the good news is that it did not rain! I have been there, at least, ten times, and I never get tired of seeing the view of the Potomac from the piazza. It's amazing to think that George Washington enjoyed that same view. The girls were as in awe of the experience as I was. We said a prayer at the tomb of George and Martha, and the docent on duty said that made his day...all of those yellow capped heads bowed in prayer. This is such a special group of girls, and I mean that!
Big Sister/ Little Sister
St. Catherine's has a long standing tradition of the girls partnering with older classes. Up until this year, the Fourth Grade partnered with an upper school student and walked to St. Stephen's for St. Catherine's Day, as well as partnering with classes for various activities to celebrate Miss Jennie's birthday or just to work on projects. This year we are partnered with Susan Crook's middle school class for a Big/Little activity. The fun part about this--I taught Susan Crook, as well some of her students! Susan and I had a ball coordinating things with our girls. Yesterday we made Thanksgiving cards to accompany the cans for the Food Drive. We also made a FlipGrid! As soon as I get the link, I will let you see it! Meanwhile, enjoy these pictures from yesterday and ask your daughters what a FlipGrid is!
Big Sister/ Little Sister
St. Catherine's has a long standing tradition of the girls partnering with older classes. Up until this year, the Fourth Grade partnered with an upper school student and walked to St. Stephen's for St. Catherine's Day, as well as partnering with classes for various activities to celebrate Miss Jennie's birthday or just to work on projects. This year we are partnered with Susan Crook's middle school class for a Big/Little activity. The fun part about this--I taught Susan Crook, as well some of her students! Susan and I had a ball coordinating things with our girls. Yesterday we made Thanksgiving cards to accompany the cans for the Food Drive. We also made a FlipGrid! As soon as I get the link, I will let you see it! Meanwhile, enjoy these pictures from yesterday and ask your daughters what a FlipGrid is!
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