1 - 100 Years Old

Estimation

Are there more than 100 m&ms in the jar?  Make a guess in the comments section before 3:00 PM Tuesday and check back to get the final count!

Family Night - Wednesday, January 28

Dr. Mike Lockett 

6:00-7:00 

We are fortunate indeed to have the guest storyteller, Dr. Mike Lockett join us at SMS Family Night on Wednesday, January 28th.  He is the author of ten children's picture books, a teacher in Normal, Illinois for 21 years, and has traveled the world telling stories.  He is known as the "normal" storyteller.  Dr. Lockett's appearance is made possible through the Fine Arts Grant from the Tracy Family Foundation.

Dinner

5:00-5:40

Nachos (Tastee Treat Recipe!)

Ice Cream Cones

Friends of St. Mary School is furnishing dinner for students and their families.  This is a great opportunity not to cook!

Leader in Me

5:45-6:00

Information on how the 7 Habits and The Leader in Me philosophy can be carried over at home will be shared with families.  7th and 8th grades have created a video to show what The Leader in Me means at St. Mary School.  

Book Fair

5:00-6:00

The Scholastic book fair will be open for browsing and purchases.

Door Prizes

Will this be your lucky night?  

Catholic Schools Week

St. Mary School teachers and staff want Catholic Schools Week to be a special week of celebration for your child.  We hope the students find the activities fun and that you are able to fully participate.  

MONDAY 

• Wear athletic clothes to school 
• Bring gently wore clothing for our Clothing Drive (all week)
• Students will be making luminaria with Bible verses about light written on the outside to decorate the gym for Tuesday

TUESDAY

• Wear pajamas!  If you wear slippers, bring shoes for recess
• We will be watching inspirational videos together in the gym in the afternoon
• 2:00 Dismiss

WEDNESDAY

• Crazy Dress or Hair Day
• 5:00-7:00 Family Night - Storyteller Mike Lockett , dinner, book fair, and Leader in Me informercial

THURSDAY

• Wear a shirt for your favorite sports team
• Anna Koch will speak with students about her mission trip to Africa as a nurse

FRIDAY

• 8:30 Mass
• 9:30 Volunteer Breakfast sweet rolls
• 1:00 Bingo

Music Theory

The students are beginning to read music with Mr. Andy.

Martin Luther King Day

Why Can't Penguins Fly?

Diving Chamber

Diving Chamber

Penguins may not be able to fly, but they  are excellent divers.  We divided into 4 groups and each student made a 3D shape from of small piece of play dough (sphere, rectangular prism, cylinder or cube).  Then we dropped each shape through the chamber to see which shape was fastest.  We did have several problems with our experiment.  The chamber leaked terribly and the sychronization between student dropping the shape and Mrs. Weronko pressing the "start" button on the stopwatch was not very good.  However, the students were able to make the conclusion from observation that the cylinder was visibly faster than the other shapes.  Also we made the connection that the penguin's cylinder-shaped body makes it just the right shape for diving.

Penguins

Why Can't Penguins Fly?

These are the student responses to the question above.

Then our tech savvy group made the following  list of resources where to check our answers:

• Read a Book
• Computer
• Look around the classroom (posters)
• Phone, iPad, tablet, DS, (electronics)
• Siri
• Go to Antarctica and watch penguins
• Go the the zoo and ask the zookeeper

Then we went through the tubs of books in the classroom to look for books that may have the answer to our question.  Through the course of the week, students have found others books with penguin information and brought them to me to share.  I know that some students have been talking about penguins at home and we have shared those finding as well.

Addition and Subtraction (Focus on Explanation)

 Will and his brother were in his backyard.
3 friends came over to play.
How many kids are in the backyard now?

Common Core State Standard K.OA.2    I can add and subtract to solve word problems.

When is Telling Tattling?

I am really glad we had this discussion, because the students did not seem like they were very clear on this topic.  After a lengthy discussion, we decided that:

It is not tattling if...

• someone is getting hurt or about to get hurt.
• you have tried to solve the conflict yourself (avoiding or talking).

Now when someone begins to tell me something about another student, I ask two questions: Is someone getting hurt or about to get hurt? Have you tried to solve this conflict yourself?  I really see them beginning to think about the situation.  I don't want the students to be afraid to come to me with real problems, but part of growing independence is being able to solve some problems yourself.

Next, we will brainstorm and role play ways to solve conflicts independently, keeping in mind the win-win attitude.