The Bulldog Barks
March 8, 2010
Principal – Mr. Tush
St. Mary's School will be in session on Good Friday, Friday, April 2nd.
Keep selling those Celebrate St. Mary’s tickets. We would like to make this year’s event the biggest one ever. If you have any ideas about new silent auction items, please give me a call. We would like a few more unique items.
Raffle ticket sales began last Friday. Students are competing for gift cards, a field day, and a chance to challenge me to an ice cream eating contest. Good Luck!
Thank you for all of your help with another great fish fry last Friday. Hope to see you again this Friday!
Most of our ISTEP testing is finished. If your child missed a day last week, they will be making that test up this week. Please check with your child to find out what day.
Athletic pictures will be in the Activity Center at 6:30 on Monday, March 15th. An order form was sent home two weeks ago. If your child did not get this information to you (from the number of parents who have asked me about this, I’m guessing it is still in their backpacks), we have more order forms in the office.
Have a great week!
Kindergarten – Mrs. Denning
In phonics this week we will focus on letter Ww- keyword-wagon. We only have one more letter to go to finish the 26 letters of the alphabet! We will also be working with 2 new "pop-up" words: we, will. Reader #10, "Meg's Help", will be coming home for practice.
In math we will be working with the identification and value of a quarter and a dollar bill.
Please remember we will be doing individual evaluations for report cards next week. Reviewing all skills listed on the midterm letter will be very helpful.
Show-n-Tell for next week will be the hard sound of Cc, as in our keyword- carrot.
Grade 1 – Mrs. Hurst
In Phonics this week we will be learning Diphthongs oi (as in oil) and oy (as in toy), the syllable division rule vc/cvc/cv, and final stable syllable -tion (as in lotion). We will also continue to discuss the difference between nouns and proper nouns. Our sight words this week are: any; learn; many; color; mother; could, should; would. Don't forget to study for Friday's sight word test!
Grade 2 – Mrs. Grove
We continue to struggle through subtracting 2-didit numbers. Practice at home would be a big help. Multiplication is easier for us. Everyone loves it.
Our new unit in Reading is called Good Friends. We’ve been reading about classmates, pen pals, neighbors, and baby-sitters.
So far, Mallory’s grandma is our only chaperone for our field trip to hear the symphony.
Grade 3 – Mrs. Rector
I’m looking forward to being back on a normal schedule this week. Students worked hard on their ISTEPS last week and I think are looking forward to our normal routine as well.
We want to thank Mrs. Beinkemper and Mrs. Metz for working with us on our project for the Celebrate St. Mary’s Auction. Also, a thank you goes to the Aurora Public Library for inviting us to a performance of “Buffalo Soldiers” on Friday, February 26th. It was very interesting and nice to enjoy a theater performance so close to home.
Grade 4 – Mrs. Meyer
Thank you to those students who tried their best on the ISTEP last week. Now we can get back to our normal schedule. Students will be reading a play this week in their reading book called Blame It on the Wolf. Spelling tests will be Wednesday and Friday. We will also begin a research paper this week. The whole process will take a few weeks to get through. Students will do research, write a rough draft, edit, revise, and write a final draft with a bibliography. They will learn how to cite their sources and write an outline to help keep all their information organized. This will be a multi-page research paper. The topic for their paper will be based on IN History topics.
Students need to study for their Beatitudes test which will be Tuesday. There will also be a math test Tuesday, and then we will begin dividing with two digit answers.
Grade 5 – Mrs. Baker
This week we will finally get back to a somewhat normal routine! We will have our spelling tests on Wednesday and Friday. We will also have our vocabulary quiz on Friday. We will finish our chapter in social studies this week and have our test on Thursday. Study guides for the test will come home on Tuesday. Please help students study for this test, there is a lot of material in this chapter!
We have been working on a pilgrimage project in religion and will continue working on it this week. Students are making brochures for different places that you could take a pilgrimage. They have been doing a great job so far!
A lot of students have met their AR goal with the extra time from ISTEP. Great job! The last day for AR this quarter will be Friday April 2nd. Keep reading! Have a great week!
Grade 6 – Mrs. Rice
Congratulations to the 5th & 6th grade Academic Team. They did an awesome job at the meet finishing 2nd. What an accomplishment!
The end of the 3rd quarter is Friday, April 2. There will be several more grades taken before then. Now that this ISTEP session has ended, we will hopefully resume a normal schedule.
If you have any digital pictures you would like to submit for the yearbook, please send them on a disc or memory stick to Mrs. Rice. If you only have a few to submit, you may email them to me. Sporting events, field trips, any events of St. Mary’s school are needed. The previous year’s pictures were very much appreciated.
Grade 7 – Mrs. Powell
We are moving along with our work, trying to get back in a groove after snow days and testing. The 7th grade would like to thank Mr. Jon Strautman for the copy machine. We appreciate your kindness.
There will be vocabulary in all grades this week. The 7th and 8th are continuing to read in their novels and are doing a great job. They both will have vocabulary and reading tests over their novel this week. In science, we are starting a new chapter over plate tectonics. We are doing our best to continue with adverbs and verbs in English, hopefully, we can get back into the groove.
The information for CYO Camp went home last week. Please make sure you read over all information, and if you have any questions let Mrs. Rice or myself know. There are a couple of papers that need to be returned ASAP. Money is due by April 23.
Have a great week!
Grade 8 – Mrs. Birkholtz
Thanks to everyone who worked the rummage sale on Saturday! This was the last major fundraiser for the trip. Thanks to Mrs. Fairfield for organizing the sale and to everyone who worked! Letters went home to the parent chaperones last week as well as a credit update for the students as the trip draws nearer.
The classes have been busy with ISTEPS, but we now enter a time period when we can focus on our academic classes. The Civil Rights projects with the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade social studies classes have been awesome. The students have worked very hard, and I’m very proud of their efforts! We will have posters on display upstairs soon.
A huge THANK YOU to Mr. Jon Strautman for the copy machine! We greatly appreciate his generosity and kindness.
8th grade will be traveling to SDHS on Thursday, March 18th. I need parents to help transport them to the high school where they will be from 12:45 until 2:15. A permission slip is coming home today with all of the information.
Book Fair
The Scholastic Book Fair will take place from Tuesday, April 6th until Friday, April 9th. This is a great chance for our school to earn free books for the library and classrooms. A flyer is being sent home today with information about volunteering to help out with this year’s fair. Also, each child will receive a baggie with a note attached about a program called ONE FOR BOOKS. This program allows us to collect change and then use that change to purchase books for children in need. Scholastic will match our monetary donation with a donation of books to three children’s charities. We are collecting early this year because of spring break and Holy Week. If you would like to participate, have your child bring back the baggie with change in it by Friday. Thank you.
Cafeteria Volunteers:
3/9 – Jenn Ruter, 3/10 – Marge Waldon, 3/11 – Pat Titkemeyer, 3/12 – Jennifer Taylor, 3/15 – Chris Kent, 3/16 – Tina Weber, 3/17 – Marge Waldon, 3/18 – Laurie Gray, 3/19 – Debbie Harrell, 3/29 – Cathy Hill, 3/30 – Tina Weber, 3/31 – Marge Waldon
Playground Volunteers:
3/9 – Susan Leder, 3/10 – Mo Roessler, 3/11 – Help Needed, 3/12 – Chris Simon, 3/15 – Help Needed, 3/16 – Marianne Weir, 3/17 – Kristy Murray, 3/18 – Ann Hutchinson, 3/19 – Deb Lischkge, 3/29 – John Hill, 3/30 – Marianne Weir, 3/31 – Moe Roessler
Uncomfortable with going to Confession?
That’s natural. None of us like to admit our faults. It is much easier to make excuses for our failings or simply deny them. God understands our natural human tendencies and never wants to be
separated from us. That is why he has given his people specific ways to repent from sin.
Join us for “Forgiven: Understanding the Healing Power of Confession” on Tuesday, March 9 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the parish office.
You’ll learn:
· How sin entered the world through Adam and Eve
· That God has always wanted us to accept responsibility for our mistakes
· How in the Old and New Testament shows how God has given his people specific rituals to confess and repent from sin,
· Why Jesus gave Peter the power to bind and loose sin on earth,
· The power of confessing our sins, and
· How to prepare for the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.
Please RSVP to Mrs. Meyer at 926-0060
St. Mary’s Night at the Reds – May 24th
St. Mary’s is excited to announce this very special night at Great American Ballpark. Come see a great game and watch our very own students grades 5 through 8 perform The National Anthem. We are reserving a group of 1000 seats for all of St. Mary’s Family and friends. These are field level seats we are getting for ½ price - $18.00 each. Order forms are in the school office. So call everyone you know, put a group together and come down and have a great night of fun. Support our kids at St. Mary’s Night at the Reds.
Ticket sales are due April 16th.
Fish fries Cathy Hill
Enclosed, please find the worker schedule for the remaining 3 fish fries. We welcome all workers to enjoy a meal 'on the house' but please come early and eat before serving begins, or eat after 7p.m., when serving has ended. We are working with a bare minimum of people and service will suffer, if you leave your position to enjoy a family get-together.
Thanks to everyone who signed up to support their child's school.
Academic Teams
5th/6th Grade - St. Mary's competed in six subject areas at the Oldenburg Academic Meet this past Sat. In the first four categories, we predominantly placed 3rd. Then, in the final two, we took 2nd place in Science and 1st place in General Knowledge! St. Mary's achieved 2nd place overall, just two points away from first! Way to go, 5th/6th grade team! We are so proud of you!
7th/8th Grade – These teams competed at the LaSalle Academic Invitational this week. They did not advance, despite the hard work they put in throughout the practice season. It was a tough competition, particularly for the 7th graders, who were given questions at a much higher level of difficulty than in years past due to changes in the competition. Both teams put forth a good effort! This year's teams were: 7th grade - Adam Hill, Jeremy Kelnhofer, Hunter Kent and Emily Taylor; 8th grade - Jenny Packard, Joe Rector and A.J. Wildridge.
Young Authors
Congratulations to all students who submitted a book for the Young Authors contest! This is quite an accomplishment! We had 91 students participate, not counting the Kindergarten students whose work is currently being compiled into one book. The books are being shipped off to Manchester now for judging. The judges, no doubt, will have a difficult time deciding winners as there are many clever, well written stories that have been turned in!