As we prepare for our final week of April and beginning of May there are just a few reminders we want to share.

We sent home our Family Life letter for you to read.  Family Life will be our focus in religion for the fourth quarter.  This program focuses on family relationships with God.  On Wednesday, May 2,  Healthworld Outreach in Barrington will come to St. Cletus and present their Boy/Girl talk that follows our Family Life Curriculum.  There were permission slips sent home for participation in this activity.   The forms need to be returned with the money ASAP.  As a follow-up to their presentation the students will be separated into boy and girl groups to discuss any questions or concerns.  These groups will discuss developmental changes that  are a part of puberty.

Nicor will be coming to give a short presentation and to award Wren Decker and Anthony Orloff for their winning poster entries  on Monday, April 30, at 1:00 PM.

In social studies, we are studying Colonial America.  Both classes are beginning Chapter 6 and will be doing diverse activities in completing this chapter. ( For example, room 116 students are creating notes for the chapter on the smartboard and will present to the class.  Room 117 students are working on projects.)   The students are connecting their social studies  to the novel, The Witch of Blackbird Pond  in reading.  It is a great experience to connect their literature experience to social studies.

In reading, we are completing the novel, The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  The students have been working on their final assessment for the novel in school.  Their final project is an ABC book describing and illustrating main ideas, characters, and the setting of the novel.  In language arts, we are writing our first drafts of our Black History Reports and are anxious to publish the reports.  Our April/May poems  our first attempt at poetry using two different voices.  The students will write on a passionate subject, and  create a venn diagram, showing two different sides to a topic, or two voices.  In spelling, we continue to work with contractions.

Have you been seeing science experiments coming home?  Your child is required to complete four at home experiments this quarter.  The due date is May 21.   Our science classroom is bursting with activities.  We continue to monitor our habitats, observing and taking notes on the changes within the habitat.  We are not only learning scientific principles, but learning how to work within a group.  We will be working on cells again.  Our focus will be on mitosis, cell division.  We will also be involved in studying and comparing moths and butterflies.  We are  waiting for our caterpillars and our Luna moth cocoon to arrive.  We will  research and present  a report about one butterfly and one moth.    Information will follow this week.   It will be due May 19.    After that we will conclude the year be studying matter.

We are continuing our decimal work in math by learning how to multiply decimals.  Right now we are learning how to change fractions into decimals and percents.  After completing our decimal work  we will focus on fractions.  We continue to review using our starters, stumpers and independent task cards.

Last but not least, please remember the 5th grade service project is collecting cans and donating the proceeds to our St. Vincent de Paul Society.   We have been collecting cans throughout the school; however, we can also use cans the students bring from home.  Next time you go to put them in YOUR recycling bin, stop, and put them in a bag for your child to bring to school.

Thank you for your continued support and cooperation,  Mrs. Clancy and Mrs. Kensek