Monday 2/1: Community Day
Tuesday, 2/2: Student Appreciation Day, PJ Day, Game Day
Wednesday, 2/3: Crazy Hair & Sock Day
Thursday, 2/4: Unit STREAM Project & Team Jersey Day
Friday, 2/5: CSW Mass hosted by NJHS at 9:30am, Teacher Appreciation Day, Movie Day, 12PM Dismissal
On Novemeber 18th, the fourth grade came together in celebration of the mass. It is a school tradition that all classes celebrate our faith and belief together as one class family. Our in-school students hosted the mass with reading and intercessions while our virtual students attended via Google Meet.
Father John gave a beautiful homily reminding students that our faith, belief, and service are the foundations of the Church. He explained how we as a community of followers are to recognize that with that faith, belief, and service comes sacrifice just as Jesus sacrificed himself for us. We thank Father for his time in serving our class mass and for his overall service to our school community.
In Science, students have been studying the ecosystems of our planet. In this week's activity, we used climate data of different cities around the world and color coated their year long climates by making a key. Using the data and colors, students colored the map and discovered that warmer climates tend to appear near or at the equator line while colder temperatures were located near or at the poles. Students enjoyed examining the data and finding patterns in the earth's temperatures.
This STREAM project was completed through Mystery Science.com. It has been a wealth of awesome projects for all of our in-school and virtual students.
During this STREAM, students learned that leaves turn color in the fall because the tree absorbs the chlorophyll from the branches to preserve for new growth in the springtime.
Students found two different kinds of leaves from their neighborhood. In class, students were taught how to make leaf rubbings. They traced and cut them out. Students identified their leaves form a leaf guide and figured out which type of tree each leaf came from. All leaf rubbings were collected and added to branches to make our own class living tree.
Midterms:
Monday: Social Studies
Tuesday: ELA
Wednesday: Math & Religion
Thursday: Science
Friday: NO SCHOOL
January
Specials Schedule (Schedule due to change depending on circumstances):
Monday: Music 11:30-12:10
Tuesday: Gym 12:50-1:30
Thursday: Art 12:50-1:30
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that you have remained safe and healthy during this time. December was a crazy, but festive month! Fourth grade did a spectacular job for the Christmas pageant, the Nativity, and our school mass. The students worked so hard and I was very proud. We were very productive in December and covered so much despite other responsibilities and holiday traditions.
In ELA, students learned the process of researching and writing reports. These skills will be used in correlation with our Genius Hour project. Students also practiced skills in finding the main idea and supporting details, analyzing story characters, drawing conclusions, and using context clues to understand unfamiliar words. In January, we will be focusing more on cause and effect, comparisons, and building vocabulary with multiple meaning words.
Mathematics has focused on multiplication properties and working with word problems using bar models. This month students will be learning multiple strategies for multiplying. Students will use area models, arrays, distributive method, and regrouping strategies.
In Science, we have wrapped up our focus on plants and animals and their different ecosystems. Students found adaptations of animals and plants as well as defense mechanisms to be quite interesting. In January, we are moving our focus to the human body discussing the different systems of the body. Students are already excited about our upcoming PBL project where they get to be a physician’s assistant and help diagnose 3 different patient files.
Religion during December incorporated discussion about Baptism and it’s symbols, Advent, and Christmas. In the New Year, we are discussing the difference between the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. Students will be able to examine each Beatitude and how we can live these guidelines in our everyday lives.
Social Studies was very interesting with our focus on Lenni Lenape, the first settlers of New Jersey, and how their differences led to a fall out that caused Native Americans to move westward. We are now beginning our examination of how our government was formed. Students will be discussing the Bills of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and how our country found its independence from British rule.
January will be a busy month with our midterms and end of marking period, but also a time where we really see students growing in their work ethic and learning to take responsibility for their own success. Cathiloc Schools Week ends our January month with many fun activities for our students to celebrate what makes Saint Joseph so special. Please check your ClassTag daily and check student grades on Powerschool weekly. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to personal message me on ClassTag.
*These rules were adapted from the Live Stream Virtual Learning Guidelines sent out to all families and signed in August of 2020.