The Season of Lent

Happy Monday Families!

It is hard to believe that we are in the final stretch of the school! Let's continue to encourage our students to do their best in their daily work and attitudes. We are going to kick up the rigor just a notch as we begin to prepare them for 5th grade!

This week, we also enter into the season of Lent. We have Mass on Wednesday for Ash Wednesday, Please note the time change to 8:30 AM. 

During the season of Lent, a beautiful tradition here at SFX is that the fourth graders lead the school community in the prayer of The Living Stations of the Cross. This prayer will be prayed on Friday, March 27th at 9:30 AM in the Church. Every fourth grader will have a role. It is a beautiful prayer and the students truly rise to the occasion. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. No body will be let inside the Church once we begin, so please be prompt and sit in the  space indicated for parents. 

Looking Ahead....

• Wednesday, February 26th - Ash Wednesday Mass at 8:30 AM in the Church 
• Friday, February 28th - Arupe Marketplace and Food Truck Friday - Please send small bills for students to shop and support the 7th graders. 

English Language Arts 



We will have a spelling test on Thursday, February 27th.

Reading - This week we will be talking about Historical Fiction and the skill of comparing and contrasting.

Grammar - We are going to "unpack" our Adjectives this week!

Vocabulary - The students will look at the words in the story this week more closely. We will start this assignment in class by drawing pictures that help us to understand the meaning, write the definition, and then use the word in a sentence.

Social Studies 

We will begin using our Discovering Arizona textbook and look at Chapter 3, which is all about the Early People of Arizona.

We will be learning about the customs, traditions, and ways of the various tribes that once lived here. In about two weeks, students will be divided into groups and begin to create a Google slides Presentation on a Native American Tribe.

Math

We are starting the Fraction module. Hot topics: equivalent fractions, number bonds, addition and subtraction of fractions.

There is a timed x12 test this week that will be graded. STUDY!!! 


Geometry

The topics covered this week are symmetry and classification of triangles.

Religion

We are preparing for the start of Lent. The students will be working in their Totally Lent booklet daily, and we are also beginning practice for Stations.

Happy President's Day !

Good evening to all!

We hope you enjoyed the extra long weekend! We have a short week ahead of us, but a busy one!

Looking Ahead..

• Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 18th - Field Trip to the Musical Instrument Museum with Mrs. Nemeth. We will be back on campus in time for lunch and recess. 
• Wednesday, February 19th - Adoration at 9:30 am in the Church 
• Wednesday, February 26th - Ash Wednesday Mass - Lent begins - Mass at  8:30 am in the Church
• Friday, February 28th - Arupe Marketplace shopping at 11:30 and food trucks after school 

English Language Arts

There are NO spelling words this week. We will resume next week.

Grammar - Due to a busy schedule last week, we did not talk about irregular verbs. So, we will squeeze them them in this week to try and wrap it up.

Reading - We will continue with Lesson 15 and the story: Ecology for Kids. We will focus a lot on summarizing this week. The students will have a reading quiz on Friday, February 21st. 

Social Studies and Writing 

We will talk about President's Day and write a basic six line poem to honor a President. Students will use a QR code to access information online about a President's life.

Math

We are finishing Module 3, but will be doing daily addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to keep those skills sharp.

We will have the x12 pre-test this week and the graded post test early next week.  Practice...Practice...Practice

This trimester I want them to solve problems without using the multiplication chart.  They need to use the mastered facts in their brain now.

The next Module we will be starting is Fractions!

Geometry

The students are going to use the addition of adjacent angle measures to solve problems for an unknown angle.

Religion 

We will prepare for Adoration on Wednesday.  Then we will review the sacraments of Service--Matrimony and Holy Orders.  We will be making and playing  a Sacrament Game to solidify what we have learned.

Arizona Turns 108!

Happy Monday to All!

We have a four-day school ahead of us. On Thursday, we will celebrate Arizona's Birthday with a birthday party! Students will be allowed to pass out valentines as well during this time. All parents are welcome. The party will be from 1:45 to 2:45 in both classrooms.

Looking Ahead....

• Wednesday, February 12th - All School Mass at 9:30 am in the Church - 4 of our fourth graders will be altar serving for the first time at a school Mass. 
• Thursday, February 13th - Arizona's Birthday Party at 1:45
• Friday, February 14th and Monday, February 17th - No School 

English Language Arts



There will be a spelling test on Thursday, February 13th. There will be NO spelling homework given at the end of this week as we will not have any words next week due to the short week.

Reading - We are moving to Lesson 15 and the skill of main idea and details. We will work with this story and skill for two weeks. We will be working on how to summarize a paragraph by pulling out the most important information and putting it into our own words.

Grammar - We will continue to talk about Irregular Verbs.

Writing - We will partner up this week and write a friendship poem in honor of St. Valentine.

Social Studies 

The students will continue to work on their digital birthday card and create a QR code, so that other students can view it.

We will continue to learn about influential African American people and make our mini posters in our notebooks.

Math

We are finishing up our module. The last skill is multiplying two-digit by two-digit numbers using the standard algorithm.

We have a graded timed x10 and timed x11 on Wednesday, February 12th. PRACTICE!!!!

Geometry

We are measuring and constructing angles.

Religion 

This week we are focusing on the Sacrament of Eucharist and Holy Days of Obligation.

Black History Month

Happy February!

We had such an awesome time last week with all of the Catholic Schools festivities! We are excited to carry that energy into the month of February as we continue strong in our projects and lessons.

Looking Ahead...

• Wednesday, February 5th - 3rd to 5th grade Mass @ Brophy - 4A is reading and 4B is singing 
• Wednesday, February 12th - All School Mass in the Church @ 9:30
• Thursday, February 13th - Happy Birthday Arizona Party / students will be able to pass out valentines to their classmates from 1:45 to 2:45. We encourage the students to only give to their homeroom and no need to write out names individually. 
• Friday, February 14th and Monday, February 17th - No School 

English Language Arts


There will be a spelling test on Thursday, February 6th.

Reading - We are moving right along in our Journey's textbook and now on lesson 14. This week's story is an informational text and focuses on text and graphic features. This is a familiar skill for us. We will have a reading test on Friday, February 7th.

Grammar - We are going to begin to look at irregular verbs.

February Book Project 

Last week, students were given directions and shown examples in class of what the upcoming book project is expected to look like. The project is due Friday, February 28th. Students are suppose to be reading a book on an influential African American. Once they finish the book, they will take a cereal box and use the direction page to create a cereal after their famous person.

For example, if I read a book on Barrack Obama, then my cereal could be called Barrack O's (after Cheerios). Students are designing the front of the box with a picture, putting a simple game on the back, information about the person's life on one side, and then on the other side information about where the person is from, and what did they do in their life that impacted the world.

I have plenty of construction paper or blank white paper in the classroom for students to use. Additionally, if a student needs a cereal box, I can help with that as well. Please ask if you have any questions.

Social Studies

We will be working on 2 things in the month of February. First, we will continue to talk about our beautiful state of Arizona and celebrate its birthday by creating a birthday card. We will use the information we gathered from the webquest to create a digital card during tech time.

Additionally, we will be talking about Black History Month. We will watch short video clips and read about influential African Americans in history. Students will design posters in their Social Studies notebooks on the people we learn about.

Math 

We are moving on to double digit by double digit multiplication. The students will use the area model and partial product this week and by next week we should be using the standard algorithm.

On Wednesday, we will have the timed x9 for a grade. PLEASE PRACTICE!!!

Geometry 

Parallel and Perpendicular Lines are the topic this week. The students will construct them and identify them.

Religion

We are preparing to lead Mass on Wednesday at Brophy.

Because the Gospel is about the Sermon on the Mount, we will be studying the Beatitudes.