Saint Ann School News

“God is ready to give blessings to all who come to Him.” Luke 4:19

Spelling List
This week we are taking assessments so there will not be a spelling list.

Calendar of Events
First Holy Communion Retreat – Apr. 28, 2012 – 9am-11:30am
FHC Practices- May 8, and May 11 – 5:30pm
First Holy Communion Mass – May 12 – 10am
Please mark your calendar!

Communion Retreat
The First Communion Retreat is this Saturday, April 28, from 9 to 11:30. This is a “child only” event. Please remember that Mrs. Walters is looking for some parents to stay and help put together banners while the students are in their workshops. During this time your child will work with the other Communicants, including the CCD students. They will be placed in groups and move from activity to activity. These activities include making unleavened bread, making the altar banner, a craft project, practicing receiving, and practicing music for Mass. This event is only open to those who are receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Thank you!

May Crowning
At the beginning of the year (Back to School Night) I told you that May Crowning would be on May 4 this year. We have decided to change it to MAY 18. This will give you an extra weekend to purchase dresses and suits for First Communion.

Here’s What We Are Learning This Week
Every week I highlight what I am covering in class. This will give you an opportunity to talk with your child about specific subjects that we are covering. Not all topics are covered every day. Be sure to always check to see what we are doing in 2nd Grade!
Reading –We are reviewing all the stories from this past unit.
Phonics – Reviewing all phonic sounds from this past unit.
Writing – We are working on poetry.
Grammar - Reviewing all grammar topics for this unit.
Health -We are talking about alcohol.
Math –We are working on telling time.
Spelling – Reviewing words with spelling patterns from this unit.
Religion – This week we are learning about the Our Father.
Science – We are testing our knowledge of energy and motion.

Third Grade News

April 16, 2012

Dear Families,

I hope you all had a peaceful and blessed Easter break. Welcome back to the last quarter of school. We have a lot to accomplish in seven weeks of instruction as we get ready to become 4th Graders!

Our visit to St. Andrew’s Abbey was fun, interesting and great exposure to life in a monastery. Brother Bede Hazlet, OSB was our tour guide with Cheryl Evanson assisting. Many thanks to our drivers: Diana Sliva, Laura Howells, Danny Baca and Cheryl Roquemore – and – chaperones: Irma Ponce, Nicki Tharp, Nicki Johnson, Traci Wilcox and Kirstin Schlichting.

Reminders:
Ice Cream $1 is back on Wednesdays!
Tuesday, 4-17 PTG Meeting 7 pm School Library
Thursday, 4-19 Hot Lunch hosted by 3rd Grade. Please call Nicki Tharp if you can help.
Friday, 4-20 School Mass, 8:15. 3rd Grade will serve.

Week Agenda:

Religion: Easter Time will continue through Pentecost Sunday, May 27. After Jesus rose from the dead, the Bible tells us that he stayed with his friends for a little while to teach them. Fifty days after Easter, we will celebrate the Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit is sent to the followers of Jesus to help them continue their work. In class, we will learn about different kinds of prayers in the church: prayers of petition, prayers of intercession, prayers of blessing, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of praise and what prayer groups are.

Language Arts: We will read “Storm in the Night” (Genre: Realistic Fiction) in our anthology. We are practicing to improve phonics, fluency, accuracy and comprehension. Our vocabulary words are: streaming, mantel, siren, scarcely, drench, brave, errand, scowling, overcome, and natural. Our spelling words will focus on homophones, homographs, long-vowel sounds, words with /oo/, plurals, irregular plurals and high frequency words.

Spelling Words:
they’re, there, geese, moose, cue, train, owner, throat, steal, steel, weighty, cries, bright, rubies, lead, statue, hyena, swallow, thought and through.
We will take our spelling pretest on Monday …. 100% means no spelling test on Friday.

Math: We are working on multiplication and division fact families. We will add 8’s to our multiplication table. We also continue to practice 9 tricks. We will learn how to describe and classify polygons.

Social Studies: This week we will form 4 groups to study and report on California coastal, valley, mountain and desert Native American groups – looking at food, housing, art/music, beliefs/customs, clothing, tools and ways of travel.

Science: All About Matter – and, how matter can be changed.

Call/text/email me if you have any questions. Tina Rockdale 760 793 4498

Saint Ann First Grade Newsletter

April 16, 2012
Dear Families,

Happy Easter season to you! The Catholic church celebrates the season of Easter for 50 days! We will celebrate by having a party this Friday at 2 p.m. I will need a couple of parents to volunteer to help out at the party. Also, if you would like to bring in snacks for the party, this would be greatly appreciated.

This week in phonics we will continue to focus on the short and long /e/ sound. The students will be reading about the different types of homes around the world.

In math the students will learn about measurements. We will practice measuring length using paperclips and an inch ruler.

We will begin our unit entitled “Earth Day” with the objective that the children will follow the SLE of being a Responsible Citizen and demonstrate responsibility to the environment. Our natural resources are gifts from God and He calls us to care for those gifts.

Math: measurements (inches)
Language Arts: long & short /e/
Science: types of matter (solid, liquid, gas), recycling
Religion: Christ’s Resurrection
Social Studies: learning about community helpers
Physical Education: Jump Rope
Activity: painting crosses to celebrate Easter

God Bless You,
Mrs. Nguyen

Week of April 16 Fifth Grade Newsletter

Dear Parents and Students,

Welcome back to school! We are looking forward to our Field Trip to Riley’s Farm on Friday, April 20. An itinerary with complete details will be sent home on Wednesday, April 18. Please return your child’s permission slip tomorrow. Students have been doing outstanding work. We need to work together to keep students moving forward for the remaining eight weeks of school. Together we can help keep “Spring Fever” to a minimum!

Mrs. McMahon’s Math: Students will review angles/triangles/and congruency on Monday. Emphasis will be placed on the relationship between triangles, quadrilaterals, and angle measurement. Students take a geometry quiz on Tuesday, April 17. We will then move to Lesson 12 to focus on the perimeter and area of complex figures.

Mrs. McMahon’s Physical Education: Students will run a timed mile on Monday. We will test strength and flexibility on Tuesday. Students plan their own physical education activity this Wednesday, and on Thursday we will practice basketball skills.

Mrs. McMahon’s Science: We will do two science activities this week which will explore how heat energy affects matter. Students will answer questions on Wednesday night for homework. On Thursday students will define the science terms: kinetic energy, temperature, and heat, melt, evaporation, condensation, and freezing, then read section C25 to C28 which contain the above science terms in context. We will answer questions from expository text next Monday.

Mrs. McDonald’s Religion: We will study the first and second weeks of Easter. We will recognize that every Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection, a little Easter. We will also look at St. Thomas who is also called “Doubting Thomas.”

Mrs. McDonald’s Language Arts:

• Reading/Language: The story from this unit is called “The Quest for Healing.” It is an Iroquois folktale about a man’s quest to save his village from certain death. Characters in folktales often overcome challenges and are rewarded in the end. Students will practice making inferences and discuss how this story relates to the theme of a call of duty. We will also review prepositional phrases and comparative and superlative adjectives. This week’s vocabulary words are task, quest, twitched, sport, lumbered, hacked, loyalty, descended, exhausted, spring, fitter and beaded. We will also start the next chapter book called “In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson.” It is about a girl who comes to America from China. She learns about this great land of opportunity and develops a love of the game of baseball in 1947 Brooklyn.

• Spelling: This week’s spelling words have the suffix –ness, and some words share the same base. The words are happiness, tiredness, timeliness, wickedness, coarseness, willingness, stiffness, sluggishness, laziness, selfishness, colony, colonial, colonist, colonization, company, companion, accompany, carried, carriage, carrier, thoroughness and companionship.

Mrs. McDonald’s Social Studies: We will start the next unit which will cover the people and events that have shaped the U.S. Constitution, our state and national governments, and our rights and responsibilities as citizens. Please note that the correct date for “Walk Through the American Revolution” is Friday, June 1 right after Mass.

God bless,
Mrs. McMahon and Mrs. McDonald

• I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter break. Teachers and staff members certainly appreciated having some family time (although I did see many of them working here at school).

• Welcome to our newest members of Saint Ann School–the Stone family! Gabriella is in Kindergarten, and Daniel is in Second Grade.

• Please join me in praying for our Middle School students and chaperones during their week at Saint Anthony’s for the Science Camp/Retreat.

• Please check our lost & found in the school office this week for any items belonging to your child. We will be donating the remaining items to the Salvation Army.

• Congratulations to all our students who participated in Junior Olympics last week. We will announce the results as soon as we get them.

• Please turn in your Rice Bowls this week. Thank you for encouraging your child to contribute.

• There will be a Pizza Factory fundraiser on Thursday, April 26. You will receive the coupon in next week’s Monday Envelope (remember—the coupon may even be used for delivery orders).

• Our Elementary CCD Coordinator, Pat Walters, is holding a fun, interactive support meeting from 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturday, April 21, for siblings of children with disabilities. Call Pat at 375-7332 for more information.

• 5th Grade Basketball – Wednesday, April 18, vs. Gateway at Cerro Coso (Girls at 6:30 PM, Boys at 7:30 PM). Admission is: $1.00 for Adults; $.50 for students age 12 & over; free for children age 11 & under. Come cheer for our teams!

PTG News:
• The PTG Meeting will be tomorrow, Tuesday, at 7:00 PM in the school library. Please join us as we discuss playground improvements, the PTG obligations for next year, nominations for PTG officers, etc.
• The Fiesta Dinner/Dance on April 28 is the last big PTG fundraiser of the year. Tickets are now available in the school office. All the food will be freshly made, restaurant quality. We need a little help to make this a great event. The sign-up sheet for helping out is posted in the school office. Food preparation will begin on Friday at 2:30 PM. Then more help will be needed starting on Saturday afternoon. Please sign up for a shift or two. We are looking for donated desserts and candy for the piñata (which you may drop off after 12:00 PM in the Parish Center on the 28th). Donated desserts also count for one parent participation hour. If you have any questions, contact Greg Perry or Marissa Aralar (see Family Roster for phone numbers).

Reminders – Registration forms and fees are due tomorrow (Tuesday, April 17). Please remember that your child’s spot is not considered “held” unless you are officially registered. Contact me if you have any concerns related to tuition or registration fees.

Upcoming Events:

Tues, April 17
PTG Meeting, 7:00 PM, School Library

Wed., April 18
5th Grade Basketball, Girls at 6:30 PM, Boys at 7:30 PM

Fri., April 20
Student Mass, 8:15 AM, Church, 3rd Grade

Sat., April 21
YES! (Young Engineers and Scientists), Middle School Boys

Mon., April 30
Advisory Council Meeting, 7:00 PM, School Library

KINDERGARTEN NEWS
April 16-20, 2012

Dear Kindergarten Families,

I would first like to welcome everyone back!!!! I hope all of you had a wonderful, peaceful Easter. We are now in our last eight weeks of school, and there is still a lot to do before June 8th! We would like to welcome G S to our class! Her family moved here from Chicago. G has a brother who will be in 2nd grade.
BIG THANKS YOUS go out to the Blubaughs for donating caterpillars to the kindergarten class. We look forward to watching them transform into beautiful butterflies which we will later release in front of the Parish.
Please continue to practice reading with your child. Students are struggling with switching between short and long sounds. Practice identifying sounds in words and continue reading. “Practice makes permanent !”
I have included extra High Frequency words in students homework folders today. They are words students have used often in their writing, or are in the Dolch word list. Please add them to your child’s stack as an added challenge!
I am sending home our last book order of the year. Book orders are due by April 27. If you would like to order online, the class activation code is: J2QYC. If you pay by check, please make checks payable to Scholastic.
I have several students who have summer birthdays. If you would like your child to bring in a birthday snack/treat prior to the end of the school year, please let me know so we can celebrate !

Have a wonderful week and God Bless! Belia Chávez

BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes go out to
A R who turned 6 on April 7 and
S C who turns 6 on April 18!

This is what we’ll be working on this week in Kindergarten:

Language Arts: We will finish our unit “Red, White, and Blue” in Open Court. We will work on phoneme blending: final sounds, listening for initial, medial, and final sounds, number words and pronouns. We will also work in our writing journals, using new and previous high frequency words in our sentences. We will review the long /o/ and long /u/ sounds. Our new High Frequency Words are: then and when. Our Decodable is #19: The Cutest Pet.

Math: We will continue chapter 7, which deals with addition concepts. We will add 2 to numbers 0-8 and create vertical and horizontal addition problems. We will be using dice and 2 sided colored beans to create addition problems.

Religion: This week, we will learn more about Easter and the meaning of Alleluia (which means “Praise God.”) We will begin Chapter 16 which focuses on how we thank God at Mass. Friday’s school Mass will be at 8:15a.m. Please come and join us!!

Science: We will continue discussing living things. We will plant a lima bean and watch it sprout. The Blubaughs have also donated caterpillars which should arrive this week. We will watch them go through metamorphosis, we can’t wait!

P.E: We will work on our aiming with frisbees, with a partner. We will also work on some skillastic skills and run.

Our Students of the Week are:
A J
and
P T!

Week of April 2 Fifth Grade Newsletter

Dear Parents and Students,

We really enjoyed parent/teacher conferences this week-thank you! Thank you also for driving to the concert at Burroughs High School. The students were excellent at the concert, and they were a huge help at the fish fry. We are always so proud of them! Mrs. McMahon will be contacting parents who indicated they were available to drive on our field trip, in order to finalize plans. We will have our last Lenten Soup meal together on Wednesday. We will have Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup and Spagetti-Os. Please remember that this does not have to be the last time your student brings in food for the St. Ann Food Bank. The need for food in our community is a year-round need. You all have been so generous!

Mrs. McMahon’s Math: We continue working on Chapter 10 (Geometry and Measurement) this week. We will be drawing and classifying angles. On Thursday we will have short quiz on drawing angles, labeling then, and identifying them as an acute, obtuse, right, or straight angle.

Mrs. McMahon’s Physical Education: This week we will focus running intervals, strength, and let the students lead some workouts which they developed.
Mrs. McMahon’s Science: Our investigation this week is entitled “Weight Watchers.” We will be estimating and measure mass. The key question will be “Can your order objects from heaviest to lightest using only visual cues?” Students will be observing, measuring, predicting, and recording data. They will compute ratio, determine percentage of error, and round numbers off to the hundredth place. We will use calculators for some portions of the activity.

Mrs. McDonald’s Religion: We will prepare for the most sacred time of our Church year by looking at our Lenten promises and the road that Jesus took to Calvary.
Mrs. McDonald’s Language Arts:

• Reading: We will read the Greek myth, Jason and the Golden Fleece. We will discuss the fact that many Greek myths involve a journey a character takes to prove himself/herself worthy. These Greek gods often had many negative human qualities that prove devastating to human subjects. Greek myths have a lesson for the readers. We will study the vocabulary words: glistening, mustered, strait, throb, hideous, bristling, assassins, pity, gaping, worthy, challenged and destiny.

• Language: We will review subject and object pronouns, possessive pronouns and compound sentences.

• Spelling: The words this week have Greek roots and some have the prefix un-: nautical, cosmonaut, nautilus, astronauts, aeronautical, geometry, geographic, topography, geometric, cardiograph, unfinished, unexpected, unguarded, uninterested, unmerciful, unprotected, unlucky, unknown, untangle, unthinkable, aeronautics and geographical.

• Social Studies: We will begin discussing the upcoming “Walk Through the Revolution Program.” We will review past lessons on the Revolution and make plans for an exciting day on May 5!

God bless,

Mrs. McMahon and Mrs. McDonald

Saint Ann First Grade Newsletter

April 2, 2012
Dear Families,

This week in phonics the students will focus on the short /e/ spelled e, _ea_, and long /e/ sound spelled e, e_e, ee, ea, _y, and _ie_. Also, we will review the long /o/ spelled ow and oa. The students will continue to review contractions (I’m, weren’t).

In math, we will use fact families (9+4=13, 13-9=4) and doubles (9+9=18, 18-9=9) to help us subtract. Please practice memorizing math facts up to 20.

This is the holiest week of the year. The Catholic Church enters the three holy days of the Triduum. From Holy Thursday evening through the Easter Vigil, we try to attend the liturgies celebrating our Catholic faith: the mass of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, the reading of the Passion and the Communion service on Good Friday, and the celebration of the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening. These days recall the final days in Jesus’ earthly life and we try to grow closer to Him in prayer during these days.

May you have a happy and holy Easter!

Reminder: No School Friday, April 6. Spring Break April 9-13

Math: use fact families and doubles to subtract
Language Arts: long & short /e/, long vowels, ow, and oa
Science: review the three types of matter (solid, liquid, gas)
Religion: Lent, Resurrection Eggs, Seder Meal, Station of the Cross
Physical Education: Jump Rope
Activity: drawing and decorating eggs

God Bless You,
Mrs. Nguyen

April 2, 2012 Middle School Newsletter

Dear Middle School Parents and Guardians,

• We enjoyed meeting with everyone last week during Parent-Teacher Conferences! Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns!

• 3rd Quarter Report Cards were sent home in last week’s Monday Envelope.

• Service Logs for March are due tomorrow.

• Please continue to donate to the Rice Bowls; they should be returned to your homeroom the week after Easter vacation. Thank you!

• We will be participating in the schoolwide Seder Meal this Thursday afternoon.

• For Language Arts classes, the last three AR quizzes for the quarter are: April 24, May 14 and May 30.

Science Camp Info !!!
• There will be a Science and Nature Camp Parent Meeting TOMORROW, Tuesday, April 3, at 7:00 P.M. in Room 6.

 We encourage all parents to attend.

 This meeting is mandatory for all chaperones and drivers.

 At this meeting, we will discuss expectations of the camp/retreat AND hand out the finalized, up-dated Science and Nature Camp Handbook, the chaperones’ emergency phone numbers, driver assignments, etc. We will have a check-off list indicating which parents/guardians picked up their packets. If you cannot make the meeting, please contact Mrs. Wadley to make arrangements to pick up your packet. Please don’t ask someone to pick one up for you because we want to make contact with every family.

 Enclosed in today’s Monday Envelope are the following documents. These documents should be filled out and brought to tomorrow’s Parent Meeting:
• Diocese of Fresno Permission Slip for Science Camp/Retreat
• Santa Teresita Youth Conference Center Youth Health and Permission Slip Form
• Parent Agreement (covering behavior, cell phones, electronic devices, general policy)

• Enclosed in today’s Monday Envelope is an up-dated Bring-Along List.

• Thank you to everyone who volunteered to be a chaperone! Mrs. Sherrick and Miss Rossi will be our staff chaperones and Pam Pearson, Michelle Blubaugh, Greg Ostrom, Jason Monroe and Vince Sherrick will be parent chaperones. Our driver chaperones will be Jennifer Sepulveda and Paula Welsh.

• If you would like to donate snacks to share for the Science and Nature Camp trip, please bring snacks to school this week or on Monday, April 16. Snacks must be given to the teachers for storage and distribution. Students are not to carry food, candy, gum, etc. for safety reasons.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Sherrick, Mrs. Wadley and Ms. Kreitner

6th Grade
Language Arts: Spelling workbooks are due on Wednesday, and the Spelling Unit 30 test is Thursday. Students will take a quiz over Chapters 1-5 of Where the Red Fern Grows (WTRFG) on Wednesday.

Social Studies: We will finish and review Chapter 10 (The Ancient Israelites). The Chapter 10 exam will be Wednesday.

Religion: The Chapter 14 Test (David, King of Israel – A Scripture Story) will be on Tuesday. Students are encouraged to take the Chapter 14 practice quiz on-line at www.FaithFirst.com. Make sure to click on the ‘Legacy’ edition. Later this week we will cover in depth the Passion and death of Jesus.

Earth Science: Students will continue working on their ocean projects. Students must be ready to give their presentations on Wednesday.

Math: Concepts & Applications: Students will begin Chapter 10 (Geometry). Students will measure angles using a protractor, identify acute, right, obtuse and straight angles and use angle relationships to solve for missing angles. Reminder: POW is due Thursday (remember the Problem of the Week will be available on Gradelink).

7th Grade
Language Arts: Spelling workbooks are due on Wednesday, and the Spelling Unit 30 test is Thursday. Students will take a quiz over Dragonwings (DW) Ch 1-5 on Wednesday.

Social Studies: Students will continue Chapter 16 (The Political Development of Imperial China). The Chapter 16 test is Thursday. Students will be allowed to use their review for this exam.

Religion: Students will review Chapter 10 and take the Chapter 10 test on Tuesday. All Chapter 10 extra credit quizzes are due Tuesday. On Wednesday, students will begin Chapter 11 (The Letter to the Hebrews). Students will learn about the structure and the purpose of the Letter to the Hebrews. Students will also create raps or songs that encourage positive thinking. Reminder: Blessing Books will be collected Thursday for the dates of 3/29 through 4/4

Life Science: We will study Chapter 13 (Animals and Behavior). There will be a short quiz over this chapter on Thursday.

Pre-Algebra: The Chapter 7 (Sections 3-5) quiz was postponed until today. On Tuesday, students will begin Chapter 8 (Functions and Graphing). Students will learn how to identify a function, graph linear equations and determining the slop of a line. Reminder: POW is due Thursday (remember the Problem of the Week will be available on Gradelink).

8th Grade
Language Arts: Spelling workbooks are due on Wednesday, and the Spelling Unit 30 test is Thursday. On Wednesday, students will take the Chapters 1-3 Quiz over Across Five Aprils (AFA).

Social Studies: Students close out Chapter 11 (Causes of the Civil War) with a vocabulary quiz Tuesday and a chapter test on Thursday.

Religion: Students will review the book of Jonah and take the Chapter 10 test on Tuesday. On Wednesday, students will begin Chapter 11 (The Church in the New World). Students will learn about the Spanish, English and French missionaries that helped spread the Gospel in North America. Reminder: Blessing Books will be collected Thursday for the dates of 3/29 through 4/4.

Physical Science: Students will review Chapter 11 (Introduction to Electricity). The Chapter 11 quiz will be Wednesday.

Algebra: Students will learn how to factor binomials that are a difference of two squares and perfect square trinomials. Students will have a test on Chapter 9 (Sections 1-6) on Thursday. Reminder: POW is due Thursday (remember the Problem of the Week will be available on Gradelink).

PE – We will continue our basketball unit this week playing games.

Tuesday: High Frequency Spelling Test #88
Wednesday: Library Book; Incorrect Words from Pre-Test 29 written 3 times, see hand-out
Thursday: Bring Recorder; Spelling Connection Test 29; Spelling Connection Workbook 29; Group M Ch. 7 Math Test; Group N. Ch. 6 Math Test
Friday: No School
April 16, 2012: Spelling Pre-test #30; Early History of Mission Rough Draft due

Religion
Students will be learning about Holy Week.

Math
Group M will subtract like denominators and review all lessons on fractions. Their test will be on Thursday.
Group T will be simplifying, comparing, and ordering fractions.
Group N will continue to work on measurement. If ready, they will have a test on Thursday.

Science and Social Studies
Due to our short schedule last week we did not work on science or social studies.
In science, we will be reviewing the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle and learning about the water cycle. The focus for social studies is on how the movement of people and ideas changed in CA

Fourth Grade Fish Fry Appreciation Lunch
Due to the basket ball practices at lunch, the lunch for the students is on April 20th.

Language Arts
The students will be listening to various anthologies, reading short daily reads, taking notes, and writing paragraphs. It is important that your child brings his/her purple and yellow folders to school. Your child will be working on his/her mission report daily.

Spelling
The spelling test for Unit 29 will be on Thursday. Spelling books are still due Thursday.

Easter Break
There will be no school from April 6th to April 15th. Have a wonderful break and I will see you on April, 16th.

Thank You,
Mrs. Lloyd