Here Ye Here Ye 7th grade Parents:  Our 7th graders have built a beautiful sukkah or booth - we hope you will be able to stop by and see it for yourselves.  We've had many people ask about it and even Father Jeff stopped by to say how well the class did.  Don't forget about our Feast of Jewish Foods on Wednesday afternoon from 1-2 P.M.  Hope to see you then.  Thank you for your help and support.

Thoughts from Mrs. Smith

October 14, 2008

It is hard to believe that we are in the middle of October – the leaves in Burlington are turning much earlier than last year and are beautiful.   I hope everyone gets the chance to spend time outside listening to the leaves fall, smelling autumn in the air, seeing the vibrant colors of the foliage and taking advantage of the warm days and crisp cool nights.   I love this time of the year – what a beautiful gift from God!

Speaking of gifts from God, I have had the opportunity now to spend quality time with my classes -   getting to know the 7^th and 8^th graders -   and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them!   I’ve found the kids to be hard workers, appreciative of others, and really fun to work with.   I am also finding the parent community to be as considerate and understanding as the kids and I thank you!

As a new teacher to St. Mary’s, I very much appreciate the staff here – so many people have been helpful to me personally.   As a staff at our faculty meetings, it is very evident that the faculty works together and supports one another.   We have had very productive meetings and discussed many topics – one topic that deserves mentioning was student manners.   Do our students say “Please” and “Thank- you” and “Good Morning” and do they pick up after themselves?   Are they patient?   Do they listen to instructions or talk when someone else is talking?   I really think that overall the junior high is doing well and improving significantly – I’m not sure about the lunchroom and I know that we are all working on the talking! This is an area that can definitely be reinforced at home!

Last Friday, October 10, the teachers attended the Milwaukee Archdiocese Conference for Educators.   We had an opportunity to hear various speakers and attend a luncheon with a keynote speaker.   What a great day – the speakers that I heard were fantastic.   I had the opportunity to hear Bill Collar – Retired Teacher of the Year and Coach of the Year.   As a football coach he had so many positive things to say about getting kids to want to learn and do their best – not just for a number in the win column, but for the sake of knowing you did your best and moved forward in life.   The keynote speaker was wonderful – she spoke about 4 pillars of the Catholic educational system, which we all need to work toward.   These pillars are 1) Being conscious of what your mission is   2) Getting connected with the school and others 3) getting uncomfortable ( challenging yourself outside your comfort zone) and 4) getting skilled (serious about learning and extending the learning lessons).  

 Speaking of our mission – when is the last time you saw or read our school’s mission statement?   It is posted in every room and it was one of the first things I noticed last year when I began subbing here.   It is a beautifully written mission statement, but one line really caught my attention – “Thus, let it be known to all who enter here, that Christ is the reason for this school.”   As the religion teacher for the junior high students, I am mindful of this everyday.   You might have heard your son or daughter mention that we’ve talked about how people misuse God’s name all the time on TV.   How many times have you heard “O my God” uttered without any thought given?   I remind myself as well as the kids that we need to always say God’s name with love and respect.   I also have talked about how we talk to each other – saying “Shut up” is not what I want to hear in class.    It is also important to worship the Lord with our whole heart – praying and singing at Mass is not just for the little kids – participating at Mass is something we can all be better at.   Last week, Father Bob talked about the invitation that we all received to “Come to the Feast” – we are blessed here at St. Mary’s because we have the opportunity each week to celebrate with the Lord.   I am hoping that the kids realize that their faith is truly a gift.   

Class highlights/Information – Weeks of October 13 –24, 2008

**All students need a rosary – we will try to say a decade with the appropriate mystery every day during the month of October**

Religion 7             We are reading about the early life of Jesus in Chapter 2 – look for a new study guide.   We are in the process of researching the recent Jewish feasts – specifically the Holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkoth.   As a class project, we will build a class sukkah and plan a sukkah feast.   Each student will be responsible for contributing to our booth and our feast.   Please look for a letter coming home by the end of this week with more information and watch for the date and time of our feast – parents and grandparents are invited to join us.

Math 7                      We are working in Chapter 2 on equations and inequalities.   This is a very important chapter – building skills for later success in algebra.   We are learning how to write and evaluate algebraic expressions, solve 1 and 2 step equations and write equations from story problems.   I am available after school on Thursdays from 3-4 P.M. for extra help.   Please let me know if you would like your son/daughter to stay in writing.

Social Studies 7 We are finishing up Chapter 2 – discussing the early explorers to the Americas and the impact the Europeans had on our country.   We’ve had excellent discussions in class.   You can expect a quiz after each of the 4 sections.   Study guides for each section are given and should be filled out.   Please note that I also include some geography terms and skills in each chapter that is in addition to the text – map skills are also tested.

**Each student needs a folder for every one of my classes – they should not throw anything away.   I consider any handouts that are copied as resources which may be needed at various times.   You will probably need 2 folders for math as the year progresses.**

**At times you may notice that I have given Bonus opportunities for students – these are optional.   The kids are not penalized if they choose not to do them, the grade shows up as an x – it is not a 0 – it does not hurt their overall grade.**

Religion 8             We are at the end of the Acts of the Apostles – we have traced Paul’s first two missionary journeys through Asia Minor and Macedonia, which are modern day Turkey, and Greece.   Each student has a map and will be asked to identify many of these cities and areas for the final test.   We will watch a movie next week called “Peter and Paul” – it highlights many of the events that we read about in the Acts and is a good review for the test which will most likely be the week of October 30^th.   Coming Up:   November is the month to remember those who have died – I will be scheduling a walking field trip to the St. Mary’s Cemetery for a short prayer service.   This is an old tradition of our church – venerating the graves of loved ones began in the early church. It is an important reminder that we are connected with all the saints – we call this the Communion of Saints.   Please let me know if you have a family member buried in the cemetery so that we can be sure to stop and pray for them.

Math 8                      We are working in Chapter 2 on equations and inequalities.   We are currently working on solving multi-step equations, which may involve simplifying sides with the distributive property, combining like terms and getting terms on the same side of the equal sign.   We have worked on writing equations from story problems and have worked on writing equations for consecutive number problems.   It is very important that the kids keep up and try their best on their homework – homework is important practice, which is needed in order to pass a quiz or test.   I am available after school on Thursdays for extra help from 3-4 P.M.   Please send a written note if you would like your son/daughter to stay.   The textbook website www.PHSchool.com is also very helpful – especially the tutorial.   Many of the kids got an opportunity last week to work on this website and explore other sites which have great tutorials – even the Algebra kids can use these sites!

Other news:

Look for pictures of the 7^th graders compass projects on this webpage – more of the class playing an equation bingo game coming soon!

Updated chapter study guides available soon to download and print.

Upcoming events to watch for:

Wednesday October 15 – Welcome Bishop Matthias from our sister parish in Uganda.   We meet him at an assembly in the afternoon.

Thursday October 16 – All School Mass 8:30 AM with Bishop Matthias

Thursday October 17 – Afternoon Assembly – Professor Numbers