6th Grade Newsletter
-Safety Patrol for this week is Alex K, Nicholas, Michael M,
and John.
-Outdoor Education information was sent home Friday, April 4th. Please return all forms and bring in T-shirts!
-Archdiocese Math Contest: Saturday, April 19th at St. Pat’s
-8th Grade
-Progress Reports will be sent home on Thursday. We ask that you sign and return one copy on Friday.
-Please read the letter from Mrs. Rehn about the spring concert at the
bottom of the newsletter.
DWP Note: Last week we had much discussion about the way the 6th graders have been treating each other. Some of the comments made by students were very eye-opening as their behavior has been quite hurtful. One student said, “When I have to join another table at lunch because mine is full, the other people at the table turn their chairs so their backs are to me.” Another added, “There is a social pyramid. People want to climb to the top, and they don’t care who they hurt to get there.” They admitted to gossip, rumor spreading, and other hurtful behavior. Much of this occurred in the lunch room. There have also been recent reports of loud and disrespectful behavior by all middle school students in the lunch room. In an effort to help break the “social pyramid” and teach the 6th graders to interact with those outside of their “circles” we have instituted a seating chart in the cafeteria. We will periodically change the seats so that the students can learn about their classmates. On Friday, we had the first of our 6th grade team meetings. All 6th graders joined together to discuss our plans to become a more unified and cohesive group. The students were very open and both Mrs. Nelson and Mrs. Simons were proud of their commitment to positive growth. We will continue to have a 6th grade team meeting once per week for the remainder of the year. This is a great group of kids, who just need a reminder that everyone has a story; when we are open to hearing the story each person has to share, we are opening ourselves to Christ.
Cell Phones—There has been an increase in cell phones coming to school. As you will remember from the handbook, cell phones and other electronic devices should not be at school. Please be reminded that your child should not bring his/her cellular phone to school unless there is a justified need for it. If you feel your child should have his/her phone at school, you must provide a written note indicating that need. This note will be placed on file. Any student found with a cell phone before, during, or after school without a note on file will have his/her phone confiscated. The confiscated phones will be given to Mr. Ridder and will have to be retrieved by a parent. Thank you for helping us solve the problem and eliminate unnecessary phones at school.
Outdoor Ed—We are in need of some supplies for Outdoor Education. Please take a look at the list, and let your child’s homeroom teacher know if you can donate an item or two. Please also remember to send your child’s plain white T-Shirt to school soon. Supplies needed:
*12 large make-up brushes (to use for a fossil dig)
*6 chisels (also for the fossil dig)
*6 hammers (fossil dig)
*Healthy snacks for 4 different snack times
6th Religion – This week the students will begin to prepare for the Unit 6 Test. They will highlight, make flash cards and review all of the material. The test will be on Friday, April 18th.
6th Social Studies – The students will finish their studies over
Science- We will finish up our work on the Archdiocesan assessment this week. We will work one last day on creating our tools (Monday). Tuesday and Wednesday we will work on creating a Power Point presentation to showcase our tool. Thursday and Friday will be presentation days.
English- We will finish up our work on the “Ultimate Skip Day” papers. We will forgo the presentations because students are presenting in two other classes this week. We will move on to diagramming adverbs and adjectives and we will also explore writing newspaper articles.
Vocabulary- The new list of vocabulary can be found on the middle school webpage under Nelson links. We will review the words early in the week with the test on Friday. Students will be asked to create flash cards and picture clues for the words this week.
5th-8th grade parents:
The spring program will soon be here! The 5th-8th grade students are preparing a 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s review entitled “Josh and Sara’s Groovy Adventure,” which we think you will really enjoy. The program will take place on Tuesday, May 6th at 6:30 at
5th grade-Students may wear 50’s clothing or a costume or they may wear their Sunday best. Please remember that students can wear jeans, but they need to be full-length jeans (no shorts), and they should not have any holes in them.
6th grade- Students may wear 60’s clothing or a costume or they may wear their Sunday best. Please remember that students can wear jeans, but they need to be full-length jeans (no shorts), and they should not have any holes in them.
7th and 8th grade- Students may wear 70’s clothing or a costume or they may wear their Sunday best. Please remember that students can wear jeans, but they need to be full-length jeans (no shorts), and they should not have any holes in them.
This should be a very fun show. Thank you for your help.
Mrs. Jennifer Rehn
7th Grade Newsletter
Week of April 14-18
English – Students will complete a unit on participles, gerunds, and infinitives this week. We will not have a quiz over this unit however due to its short length. This unit will lead into our next diagramming unit on participles.
Vocabulary/Roots – Students will have their cumulative test this Friday. It covers lists 11 and 12.
Math – This week we will be opening up Chapter 6 over “Percents.” We will be advancing our knowledge of the subject matter and trying to make real-life applications using those percent tools. We will have homework 3 nights most likely because we have to finish the vocab and introduction Monday in class.
Science – In science, we will continue presenting our “student taught lessons.” The kids are really doing a fine job on this, but need a little push to be more enthusiastic. The learning curve is there. After we finish this set of lessons, we will be assigned to write a tale of space using some of the information we have learned throughout.
Social Studies – This week the students finish their study of the empires and cultures of Ancient Africa. They will have an open notes test on Tuesday, April 15th. They will then begin Chap. 14, The empires and cultures of Ancient Asia. They will begin this chapter with mapping the major landforms, bodies of water, and ancient cities. They spend time this week studying the Ottomans and the Moguls.
Religion- We met the guidelines for turning in our “Pay it Forward” video. WOWT will consider our video, but weren’t able to load it to the website. Winners of the grant money will be announced during the 10:00 news on Monday night, April 14. This week, we will finish our assessment task (Power Point presentations outlining the miracles of Jesus found in the gospel of Luke).
Dates to Remember
Apr 17 Progress reports sent home
Apr 19 Archdiocese Math Contest at St. Patrick’s
Apr 20-22 8th Grade Visits
Apr 26 Open House for Accepted 2008-2009 Pre S (2 Day) Only Students
8th Grade Newsletter
Week of April 14-18
English – Students will work on the
Vocabulary/Roots – Students will have their cumulative test this Friday. It covers lists 11 and 12.
Math – We will be continuing to work through Chapter 7 by exploring more ways to solve “Linear Equations.” We will have homework 3-4 nights this week. The kids are doing very well at this time and need continued encouragement as the materials gets harder.
Science – We will be finishing Chapter 1 in our new book and quizzing over the material. We will then enter Chapter 2 late this week and continue to talk about chemical reactions. We will be conducting many experiments that will be fun for the kids to watch and participate in.
Social Studies – This week the students will present their monument power points. They will take turns sharing the information they found out about places we will visit on our
8th Religion-This week we will finish up Session 8 in our Confirmation texts. We will have a test over the session on Thursday. The recite this week will be over the Precepts of the Church, and it will be on Friday.
Dates to Remember
Apr 16 Candidate/Sponsor retreat in the church at 7:30
Apr 17 Progress reports sent home
Apr 19 Confirmation retreat 12-6 at Pro-Sanctity
Apr 19 Archdiocese Math Contest at St. Patrick’s
Apr 20-22 8th Grade Visits
Apr 23 Confirmation candidate interviews 7:30
Apr 26 Open House for Accepted 2008-2009 Pre S (2 Day) Only Students