Dear Parents,
The destruction caused by the hurricanes and earthquakes, the fear and death caused by the Las Vegas shooting, and the loss experienced due to the wildfires in the North Bay counties, all within the past few weeks, are tragic and heartbreaking events. As parents and educators, we must be present for our children, and be sources of comfort and safety through these scary, sad, and confusing times.
Then I see how our children react to these events. They open their hearts and minds; they show a sense of empowerment. The Student Council led the school in donating proceeds from Dimes from Heaven to hurricane victims, and the students actively took part in that fundraiser! The students and teachers continue to pray for hurricane, earthquake, shooting, and fire victims, showing that our faith can give us strength during challenging circumstances. And a few days ago, a parent initiated a collection for the hurricane victims in Puerto Rico. I’m so inspired by them and by you as the mission of Mercy continues to live on at St. Peter’s. I know we can continue to nurture our students and each other in our school community. I hope we can all see the hope, love, and courage in each other!
--Mrs. Sandra Jimenez
IMPORTANT INCOME SURVEY
In last week’s Que Pasa, an important Income Verification Survey went home. The information gathered from this survey is CONFIDENTIAL, and is necessary for our school to receive funding for reading and math programs that help our children. If we don’t collect surveys from each family, we could lose this funding! THANK YOU to those who have turned it in on time. If not, please complete and return the survey before the end of this week! And, students will receive a KEY for Service for turning it in!
INDOOR RECESS
Because of the reports of poor air quality due to the extensive fires in several North Bay counties, students remained inside for recess yesterday. If your child requires asthma medication, please make sure that his/her medication is not expired!
EMERGENCY KIT
Please don’t forget to provide your child with an “emergency kit”—a bottled water, package of crackers OR granola bar, and an optional small toy or game—all in a Zip-loc bag with his/her name on it. These will be stored in a closed bin in the classrooms in case of an emergency.
LIFETOUCH CLASS PICTURES
Tuesday, October 17 is school picture day. Your child must be in complete uniform. If you wish to order photos, the order form is enclosed.
HALLOWEEN CELEBRATION
See the enclosed information about the St. Peter’s Halloween celebration on Tuesday, October 31 from 1:00-3:30. Parent volunteers and donations are needed to make this event and fundraiser a successful one, so if you are able to help, complete and return the forms to your child’s teacher.
Children may come to school in costume on Halloween. However, all costume parts that symbolize weapons must not be brought to school!
SHIELD THE VULNERABLE
Thank you to all the parents who completed the online course on www.shieldthevulnerable.org this past September. They were rewarded with 6 Parent Hours (double hours) for completing the course early! This course is necessary for adults to volunteer with children, including volunteering as a field trip chaperone. The certificate of completion is good for 3 years.
Throughout the school year, if you wish to chaperone children on a school trip, chaperones who have not completed “Shield the Vulnerable” must complete the course. Parents will now receive 3 hours for course completion.
HURRICANE IRMA RELIEF
Please see the enclosed flyer to collect canned foods and supplies for Hurricane victims in Puerto Rico. Your donation and prayers will help a struggling family during this difficult time.
SAINT PETER’S ATHLETIC SWEATS
If you placed an order for St. Peter’s sweats, they are scheduled to be distributed by early November. Thank you for your purchase!
IN THE CLASSROOM
KINDER - This week in KA we will use our five senses to explore, examine and taste red apples. Then we will record our observation on a word web graphic organizer. We will respond to questions and write our results. What does the apples look like? What does it feel like? What does it smell like? What does it taste like? And what does it sound like?
1A - This week in first grade we are reading, writing, and discussing the idea of friendship and what it means to be a good friend. In religion we are discussing God's creations. In math we are continuing to work on addition, using tens frames, number lines, and counting on strategies. In science we are continuing to experiment with air and compression. In social studies we are learning about immigration and the beauty in diverse communities.
2A - Second grade will be reading and learning about what animals in stories can teach us; place value; continue memorizing our prayers and review Unit 1; learning about different cultures; and building bridges in science.
3A - This week in Math class we will be having a test on standard and expanded notation through 10,000. In Reading class We will begin a new story called, "How the World Got Wisdom. This is a West African folktale. In Religion class we are GROWING IN KNOWLEDGE by identifying the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation).
4A - This week 4A students will identify and write simple and complete subjects, check addition and subtraction, and describe the land of California.
5A – This week, 5th graders are continuing our study of European explorers with a discussion on the pros and cons of celebrating Columbus Day. We're also learning new vocabulary words for our study of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. In math, we're striving to master both place value to the billions and rounding decimals.
6AReligion – 6th Graders will be visited by Paula Pardini for Building Bridges to continue strengthening their faith community. Language Arts – 6th Grade is continuing their work on plot. After finishing up the classic Rudyard Kipling tale of "Rikki Tikki Tavi" we will read "The Landlady" by Roald Dahl. We'll look at how both authors developed suspense in their stories to lead to an exciting climax. Math - The 6th graders are discovering how decimals and whole numbers are working together to tell a complete story. Social Studies - 6th Graders are continuing to review their Mesopotamia Unit and will complete a Quest this week. Science - 6th graders are learning about the 5 layers of Earth's atmosphere and how those layers affect our weather this week.
7A/7B Language Arts - Students are continuing to read Walk Two Moons. They are also finding the connections to their reading, text-text, text-self, text-world, which furthers their comprehension of the novel's content. Math – The 7th graders will be investigating multiplying and dividing integers with positive and negative numbers. This will add to their knowledge of adding and subtracting. They will also be learning how to define a variable with those terms and write as an expression. This leads into their very first math essay assignment, “The Integer Story!" Social Studies – 7th Graders have started to read A Long Walk to Water and they are learning about the physical geography and empires of Western Africa. Science - It is time to put our knowledge to work and take a look at cells under a real microscope! Look at these biologists!
8A Religion – 8th Graders will be visited by Paula Pardini for Building Bridges to continue strengthening their faith community. Language Arts - Students are continuing to read Mockingbird and completing assignments related to their reading. Math - 8th graders are now putting their knowledge of algebraic expressions together, and will now add scientific notation and exponential powers to add some spice to their expressions! Social Studies - 8th Grade Social Studies has started to read Guns for General Washington and they are continuing through their American Revolution Unit, beginning to look at a timeline of events of the battles of the war. Science - Students are defining types of atomic bonds and explaining why they happen!
REMINDERS
October 12 Riordan and ICA presentations for 8th
Graders
October 17 8:15 AM School Mass
October 17 Life Touch School Picture Day
October 18 6th Grade Mandatory Parent Preview
Meeting for Caritas Creek Camp