Mount Saint Mary's Academy Established 1859

February 22, 2010

Mount St. Mary Academy

68 days until our 150^th celebration! Things are looking good!  We can be proud of the teams that are working so hard to make this a fabulous event!

REMINDERS: Friday, Feb. 26: Honor Roll assembly after Mass for 4^th – 8^th grades

Friday, March 5: Min. day 12:00 dismissal; Extension open until 6:00

2^ND TRIMESTER REPORT CARDS: Some of you have indicated there is a discrepancy in attendance on report cards that went home last Friday. We are working with Option C to correct this problem as quickly as possible. If you would like a new report card once this is resolved, please see your student’s teacher.

SPORTS CORNER: The Boys' Basketball season came to an end this weekend with Tournament games at Union Hill and Nevada Union. The team played some great basketball even with some missing players due to injury or other obligations. Way to go! We now are starting Girls' Volleyball this week – our first practice will be this Thursday. Please turn in forms and fees to Mr. Ellis or to Ms. Chesley in the office. Basketball uniforms need to be turned in to Mr. Ellis asap.  Your uniform deposit will be returned to you unless you want it to slide over into volleyball. Let us know as we will abide by your wishes. Girls in the 5th through 8th grades are welcome to come out for volleyball but please get your paper work and fees in as the games start the first of March. GO EAGLES! -Tim Blaney/Barbara Hurley

CLASS NEWS

ATRIUM – MRS. VALVO: - This week in the Atrium the Pre-K and Kindergarten children will have procession and change the color of their prayer table cloth to mark the beginning the celebration of lent in the Atrium. This affords even to youngest child to learn to walk reverently carrying an object for prayer table. We will also reflect together on the parable of the Good Shepherd and Psalm 23:1-4. The First Graders, likewise will have a procession to mark the beginning of their Lenten journey in the Atrium ( the second graders did so last week) First graders will reflect on the parable of the Good Shepherd adding the elements of the wolf and the hirling. The Second Graders will reflect on the parable of the True Vine.

Lenten Craft for Children: make a crown of thorns. This craft produces a beautiful and sensorial reminder for the children during Lent and helps them live into the season. Use 4 cups of flour, a cup of salt and enough water to form a dough. Make three logs, braid and form into a circle. Insert 40 toothpicks ( Make sure you wiggle the toothpicks in your hole for easy removal later) Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Each time a family member does a kind deed, practices a virtue, makes a sacrifice during Lent they can pull out one of the thorns from Jesus’ crown of thorns. The goal: to have all the thorns removed before Easter. Place on a purple cloth for Lent as a table centerpiece. For Easter paint the crown of thorns gold and decorate with jewels signifying Jesus’ resurrection.

KINDERGARTEN – MRS. RIDENS: Thanks to all the parents who drove to Dr. Griego's office last week.  It was a great time. Dd is the letter this week. We will be finishing up our Gala project and discussing the weather.  MUFFINS go on sale this week on Wednesday and Thursday.  I am asking each student to bring in a dozen muffins not cupcakes to sell for our Food for the Poor Lenten project. It will be a great start to our Lenten season.  Thanks.

1^ST GRADE – MRS. KENT: Hello First Grade families!  It will be a full week in First Grade- no interruptions and full of learning.  In Reading and Spelling we'll be concentrating on the "long o" sound made by the combinations of "oa" and "ow". On Tuesday in Math we'll start learning about money. In Social Studies we'll talk about George Washington and American symbols, and in Science we'll talk about the Rainforest.  Our most important focus, however,  this week will be on Lent and the Stations of the Cross. For Lent we will be collecting pennies for Food for the Poor.  We haven't talked yet about what our goal will be: what we want to "buy".  But please send in all of those pennies you've got floating around your house-we'll count, roll, and put them to good use.  Have a good week!

2^ND GRADE – MRS. KEANE-STEIN: Greetings~ We begin our week with our story from our Anthology, Officer Buckle and Gloria. This book needs to be covered. We have a new focus in math and that is subtraction of 2-digit numbers! I hope you are all studying your math facts to make successful mathematicians out of all 2^nd graders!! In religion, we are learning about the first part of the Mass. Please talk to your child about how our Mass begins. Our next Sacramental Prep Workshop will be February 24^th. Our hero reports will be presented today and we are very excited to see those puppets/dolls and props some of you brought! Good thinking! Next week, March 3^rd, is our 1-2-3 Ski trip to cross country ski. Look for a permission slip to go home today. Any drivers?!! Thanks for all you do!

3^RD GRADE – MRS. REYNOLDS: We are in need of some classroom supplies. These supplies will be shared. If you can, please send: packages of pencils, packages of colored pencils, packages of markers, and classroom scissors. Please make sure your child keeps up with their Reading Logs which are due every Monday. In Religion, we will be focusing on the season of Lent, which is a time of preparation for Easter. Have your children fill out their Personal Guide for Lent for the next 6 weeks. This will be due on Holy Thursday. We are continuing to learn our multiplication facts. Parents please sign the Math Drill page as your child has mastered each numeral (sheets due Friday). This week we are doing numerals 5's-7's. Thank you for helping us with this! In Science, we are starting the exciting study of our Solar System! The Mission Projects have been assigned! For the directions, go to my Blog:

<http://web.me.com/mattr/Site/Mrs._Reynolds_Class_Blog/Mrs._Reynolds_Class_Blog.html> where you can download and print a copy of the requirements. This project is due April 14th. The 1st-3rd Ski Trip has been rescheduled for March 3rd. Parents, please let me know if you can drive.

4^TH GRADE – MRS. REYNOLDS: We are in need of some classroom supplies. These supplies will be shared. If you can, please send: packages of pencils, packages of colored pencils, packages of markers, and classroom scissors. Please make sure your child keeps up with their Reading Logs which are due every Monday. The Mystery Book Report is due March 31st. In Religion, we will be focusing on the season of Lent, which is a time of preparation for Easter. Have your children fill out their Personal Guide for Lent for the next 6 weeks. This will be due on Holy Thursday. The Mission Projects have been assigned! For the directions, go to my Blog:

<http://web.me.com/mattr/Site/Mrs._Reynolds_Class_Blog/Mrs._Reynolds_Class_Blog.html> where you can download and print a copy of the requirements. This project is due April 14th. 

JUNIOR HIGH GRAMMAR – MRS. DOERR: Hello – tomorrow the Unit 9 cards are due and exercises for vocab are due on Wednesday. The Unit test is Thursday! Next week is a review of Units 7-9. Our third trimester is rolling already! Have a fantastic one!

4^TH – 8^TH GRADE – MR. ELLIS Math: 4th and 5th grade will receive their chapter tests back this week and look ahead to their upcoming chapters with activities that will take us to the computer lab. 6th grade will begin the week with a chapter test on Monday. Pre-Algebra will wrap up chapter 5 on Tuesday and review for the test which will be on Friday. Algebra will finish chapter 5 on Monday and prepare for a test at the end of the week as well. 

Social Studies: The constitution test has finally arrived!!! We will take our test Thursday morning. The students have been studying hard for the past few months and the hard work is about to pay off! I will open my class at 6:00 am for early study sessions for all 8th grade students. 6th/7th grade will continue with chapter 11 and should be ready for a test by early next week.

4^TH – 8^TH GRADE SCIENCE – MRS. McDANIEL.  Welcome today to our newest 6^th grader, Greg Arnoldi! All classes will be busy this week with some hands on building activities.  In 8th grade science we will be building roller coasters.  Students will apply what they have learned about kinetic and potential energy to construct roller coasters that meet certain specifications.  They will also use the appropriate formulas to calculate how much of their kinetic energy is transferred to thermal energy in the form of friction.  In 6th/7th grade students will be learning about the muscular system.  Later in the week they will use this knowledge to construct models that reflect the muscle, bones, joints and ligaments at work during one specific action.  They will be using class time to work in small groups to build these models.  Our 4th/5th grade class will finish up their digital portfolio pages this week.  Our submittal deadline for the "Disney Planet Challenge" competition is this Friday.  Your students have been working hard and independently to complete their assigned tasks.  On Tuesday students will be presenting their project to other classes in the school.  If you would like to come and learn and see what they have been working on please feel free to stop by and join us up in the science lab during the regularly scheduled science time, 10:45-12:15.

SPANISH – MRS. McDANIEL: In 6th-8th grade we will finish presenting our group conversations on Tuesday and will be having a verb quiz on Thursday.  All students should have flash cards that we made in class to study for these quizzes.  In 4th-5th grade students will begin working on a story project.  In 2nd-3rd we will be adding some action words to our folios this week, while 1st grade will finish up with parts of the body.  Finally in Kindergarten we will review our weather, color, and beverage words by playing a matching game.

3^rd GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS – MR. PETERSON: After our eventful week of preparing for Lent, we will begin our new story “Trapped by the Ice”. We have finished our descriptive writing assignment and every student has made great progress. We will continue to study new vocabulary and spelling words this week with the addition of possessive pronouns. Continue to practice your spelling at home – test will be this Friday, Feb. 26^th.

JUNIOR HIGH LANGUAGE ARTS – MR. PETERSON: 6^th/7^th/8^th Language Arts: Your last and final business letters are due by Friday, Feb. 26^th. They are to be typed at home. 6^th grade will begin a new theme on readings from eye witnesses in various natural disasters. 7^th Grade will begin a theme about Greek myths and legends.

8^th Grade Language Arts: Your last and final business letters are due Friday, February 26^th – they are to be typed at home. We will begin our new theme about Greek myths and legends. We will be reviewing stories read in the past and how they connect with our new myths and legends.