4 Weeks Until Christmas !

Good Morning Families,

Thank you again for all of your help and support with the St. Vincent de Paul Service Project. It was very successful and the students felt proud of themselves. We hope you all enjoyed the extra long weekend and Thanksgiving holiday! These next few weeks will be very busy for us in the classrooms and around our school community. Please be sure to stay connected by reading our weekly blog and weekly eblast. 

Looking ahead...

• Tuesday, November 28th - Students will view the play, A Christmas Carol
• Wednesday, November 29th - 3-5 Mass at Brophy and 4th grade is leading
• Wednesday, November 29th - Salt Dough Map Project
• Saturday, December 2nd - Breakfast with Santa 

English Language Arts

There will NOT be a spelling or reading test this week. Our reading focus this week will be from our Arizona textbooks.

Grammar - This week, we will focus on Pronouns. There will be a short quiz on Friday, December 1st. Students will have homework to use as a study guide. 

Writing - We are continuing our planning and rough draft writing of our persuasive paper. Every student is at a different stage, so we will be using a good portion of our class time to have writing conferences, writing groups, and work time. 

Social Studies

At the beginning of the week, we will prepare for our Salt Dough Map project. We will continue to read about the different regions in Arizona. Students will complete an in-class activity to show their understanding of the regions. 

Math 

We are starting the third module and the focus is multi-digit multiplication and division. We are using the formula for area and perimeter to solidify the notion of arrays. 

Science

We are starting a new chapter in Science; Shaping Earth - Chapter 5. This will go nicely with our Social Studies chapter and our upcoming field trip to Kartchner Caverns. 

Religion 

The first Sunday of Advent is Sunday, December 3rd. We are going to focus on Reconciliation and making an Examination of Conscience. We will be reviewing and memorizing the Act of Contrition. 

With Gratitude

Happy Monday Families!

**Please note this blog post will serve as the post for the next two weeks.**

Happy 'almost' Thanksgiving! We all have so much to be grateful this time of year. Remember to take a moment to pause in the craziness this time of year brings and reflect on all that is good in your life. We are beyond grateful for your children and you all for the many blessings that are given and shown to us daily. 

Important Dates to Remember

• Tuesday, November 14th -  Both 4th Grade classes will visit the Book Fair. (The Book Fair will be open all week and available for Grandparents and Grandperson's to shop on Friday.)
• Friday, November 17th - Grandparents and Grandperson's Day begins with 9:00 AM Mass followed by refreshments, classroom visits, and the Junior High Concert. Dismissal is at 11:30 AM. 
• Monday, November 20th - Pumpkin Pie Baking Day 
• Tuesday, November 21st - St. Vincent de Paul service project in the morning. We will return to school by 11:00 and have lunch like regular. 

English Language Arts

There will be a spelling test on Thursday, November 16th. There will NOT  be a grammar or reading test this week. 

Homework for this week: Spelling is due Thursday (regular nightly task) and Writing: students will be given a prompt each day that will be answered into a Google Doc. By the end of the week, students will have a mini journal of Thanksgiving. Students will turn it in via Google Classroom. 

We will work with the story from Lesson 10 this week.  We will work on the skill of Author's Purpose, text features, and supporting details in class as a partner activity. Follow us on Instagram @ezellsfx to see what the finished product will look like! 

Social Studies

We will finish learning about the 5 Cs and move into learning about different types of maps and what they tell us. Look for an email later this week to come out regarding an upcoming in-class project, which will require some parent volunteers. 

Math 

We are working with the metric system. We are exploring meters, liters, and grams. The students are solving problems using tape diagrams. They are also practicing metric unit conversions.

We will also measure out the dry ingredients for the pies. 

Religion 

The students are finishing their Joyful Mysteries, their messages of encouragement, and paper chain in preparation for St. Vincent de Paul service project. 

Hello November

As we enter into November, let us show gratitude for all things and people in our world. Life is so crazy and especially during the holidays, so please take time to pause and reflect and give thanks.

Looking ahead...

• November 13th to November 17th - Book Fair is open!
• Friday, November 17th - Grandparents and Grandperson's Day with mass at 9:00 AM and dismissal at 11:30
• Monday, November 20th - Pie Baking Day for 4th grade
• Tuesday, November 21st - St. Vincent de Paul Service Project
• Wednesday, November 22nd to Friday, November 24th - NO SCHOOL: THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY 

English Language Arts

There will be a spelling test on Thursday, November 9th. There will be a grammar assessment and comprehension assessment on Friday, November 10th. 

Reading - We are working on the skill of drawing conclusions and making generalizations with the clues given to us in a story. 

Grammar - We will be working on understanding when and how to use complex and compound sentences. 

Writing - Last week, we began learning about persuasive writing. We will continue to work on this type of writing. You might hear your students begin talking about something they want for Christmas and even try to persuade you into getting it for them. Their project from now until Christmas is doing research on something they really want for Christmas and trying to convince me that it is a good idea for them to have it. I did tell the students that even if they do a fantastic job at convincing me, I cannot promise anything for Christmas :) I encourage you to have conversation with your children about what they do want and why and see if they can back up their reasoning with evidence. 

Social Studies 

We will finish learning about the 5 Cs this week by completing our virtual tour and filling in our Arizona 5 C's book. 

Math 

We are beginning module 2: The Metric Unit. Students will solve addition and subtraction word problems involving metric length.

Religion 

We are working our projects for our service project to St. Vincent de Paul:

• Messages of Encouragement
• Paper Chains
• Joyful Mysteries