Weekly Update!

Stuffed Animal Pyramid

It was nice to have a full week and get back into a regular routine! The girls earned a class reward and celebrated by choosing where they wanted to sit for the week. The comfy chairs were a hot commodity. We wrapped up the week with bagels, O.J. and other breakfast goodies on Thursday, and the girls brought in their favorite stuffed animal. We connected this to History by reading about Teddy Roosevelt and how the teddy bear got its name.

In math, we reviewed subtracting fractions from whole numbers, how to convert an improper fraction to a mixed number, and a mixed number into an improper fraction. The remainder of the week was spent reviewing for the test that's coming up on Wednesday, January 16th. I was happy to see several girls join me for an extra review session during recess on Friday. Make sure to visit the math page on my blog for additional practice for the test.

In Language Arts, at the beginning of the week. we discussed the prefixes il-, im-, ir-, in-, non-, and un-. We did a word splash to see how many words we could think of that begin with these prefixes, and then the girls glued in notes in their composition notebooks. The girls were given a challenge to find as many words as they can, which contain these prefixes. They can find words in their pleasure books, posters on the wall or in conversations. Annabelle Mayer is our winner this week...she found 41 words! Way to go Annabelle! On Friday, I introduced the prefixes dis-, anti-, de-, counter-, contra-, and the roots "graph" and "photo".  The girls glued in more notes in their composition notebooks. We also took took notes and discussed examples of simple, compound and complete subjects and predicates, and the girls completed three Google forms to practice these skills.

During our Writing Lab on Wednesday, we talked about Persuasive essays. To develop a better understanding of persuasive writing, we came up reasons why St. Catherine's is THE best school in the Richmond area. Next, the girls started thinking about topics they would like to write about individually, and they completed a graphic organizer.  For this lab, they will read background information about a topic on the Fourthies website (or they can pick another topic of interest), and then they will develop at least three reasons to support their position/argument about that particular topic.

Just an fyi...the Gold/White assembly is fast approaching! It will take place on January 25th at 8am. There will be cheer practices from 7:30-7:55 on January 16th, 18th, and 23rd. The Gold team will practice in the Lower School Assembly Room (LSAR), and the White team will practice in the basement in the Lower School Multi-Purpose Room (LSMPR). 

A huge thank you to Nira for helping coordinate volunteers and food items for our Service Project at Shepherd's Way. It looks like all of the slots are filled for food items! I am so appreciative for all of your help with this amazing project. The hope the girls will find this to be a meaningful experience as they give back to our community!

Reminders and General Information

Information needing a parent response is highlighted.

**Parent How-To Videos for accessing Quia, Newsela, and That Quiz!

***If your daughter has a change in dismissal, please send an e-mail notifying me (and attendance) of the change as soon as possible. Also, it might be helpful if you included "Dismissal change and what day the change is for etc..." in the subject heading, so I know to open it right away. Thanks so much!

** The Family Life class will be taught by Nurse Blanton in February. Here is the letter from Dr. Kapetanis, which outlines more information about this event. 

***Shepherd's Way Service Project- January 30th. Please bring your food items to school on Tuesday between 2:30-4:00. The girls can wear jeans for this field trip. 

***Gold/White Assembly January 25th at 8am. 

**Please read the message below from Mrs. Irving:

Author Russell Ginns is coming to St. Catherine's School on Monday, January 28th. He is visiting to celebrate both the paperback release of Samantha Spinner and the Super-Secret Plans and the upcoming March release of the next book in the series, Samantha Spinner and the Spectacular Specs. bbgb, our local bookshop, is offering the opportunity to purchase autographed copies of Russell's books.

Order online to pay with a credit card at  http://bbgbbooks.com/book-buzz/. We are receiving a 15% discount on the books. When ordering online, use coupon code cat15.  Please place your order by Friday, January 18th. Note: the new Samantha Spinner book (Samantha Spinner at the Spectacular Specs) releases on March 12th, so Russell will sign customized book plates during his visit and these books will be delivered to your child's classroom on release day. You may call bbgb with any questions at 804.353.5675.   

**Homework- for family planning

**Carpool Helper(s)-  Paige will represent our class.

**Special Week- Harper is our Special Week girl this week!

Class Leadership Week of 1/14/19

Ambassadors/Flag Raisers- Sirena and Mary Michael

Girls: Your blog question is...Who won the Prefix Challenge and how many words did she find? Post your answer here.