Dear Parents,

October 7th is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, and the month of October is traditionally the month of the Rosary.

Here is a thoughtful reflection from Living the Rosary by Father John Phalen:

The Rosary starts with Mary’s human experience, and it encourages us to learn from our own. The Rosary is:

· Remembering Christ with Mary

· Learning Christ with Mary

· Being conformed to Christ with Mary

· Praying to Christ with Mary

· Proclaiming Christ with Mary

This also reminds me of how much our own children honor Mary as they pass the grotto at school each day. They make the Sign of the Cross, or stop to say a prayer. The grotto is definitely a sacred place for our entire school family.

As October begins, let us look to Mary as a role model of faith and courage, especially during this month of the Rosary and with our new KEYS focus for October of “Every ACCOMPLISHMENT needs courage.”

--Mrs. Sandra Jimenez

ST. PETER’S ATHLETIC SWEATS

The last day to order the gray athletic sweats is tomorrow—Thursday, October 5! Don’t miss out, or you’ll have to wait until next year to place an order. Order forms are still available in the school office.

IMPORTANT INCOME SURVEY

Going home today is an important Income Verification Survey. The information gathered from this survey is CONFIDENTIAL, and is necessary for our school to receive funding for useful services such as reading and math programs that help our children. If we don’t collect these surveys on time, we could lose this funding! Please help the school and complete this survey by Tuesday, October 10.

EMERGENCY KIT

Last week’s Que Pasa included a letter about providing 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. Please have your child bring these emergency kits to school by this Friday, October 6.

SPECIAL PROCESSION AND MASS

This Saturday, October 7, is a special march, called “The Procession for the Streets of our City.” Father Moises would really appreciate our school’s participation! The procession will begin at St. Peter’s Church at 7:00 AM, and we will join with people from the parishes of St. Anthony’s and St. Charles. If you’re unable to make it to the procession, you can join the group for 10:00 Mass with the Archbishop at St. Mary’s Cathedral to celebrate the Consecration of our Archdiocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. If you and your family come, wear your St. Peter’s green or gray sweatshirt to represent our 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.

ST. PETER’S KEYS UPDATE

At school, teachers and staff have been distributing KEYS (vouchers) to help promote living the KEYS:

Knowledge feeds GROWTH.

Every ACCOMPLISHMENT needs courage.

You are LOVE.

SERVICE UNITES.

During September, teachers and staff awarded 740 KEYS to students! That’s AMAZING! We can see students in every grade living our core values and the KEYS. Keep up the great work!

If a student receives KEYS with all 5 core values in one month--which is called KEYS Bingo—he/she will be put on the list for a popcorn and movie party!

Our KEYS store will open this month, where students can trade in KEYS for prizes. Students can see their teacher to trade in KEYS for free dress passes and homework passes once they’ve earned enough KEYS!

IN THE CLASSROOM

KINDER - This week in KA, we will review what nouns are and work in groups to make a "nouns poster." Each student in a group will have a job to do in order to make a poster. The poster will have a title as: Person, Place and Thing. Students will be asked to draw at least 3 pictures in each category. Lastly, each group will take turns sharing their poster together in front of the class. Parents, please have your child refer back to their individual poster that they made last week. This will help them review what nouns are and feel more comfortable participating in a group activity that involves nouns.

1A - This week in first grade we are reading and talking about pets and what makes them special. In religion we are continuing to work on the Our Father and learning new songs to sing our prayers. In science we are continuing to experiment with air and its effect on objects. In social studies we are talking about communities and the different members of a community.

2A - Second grade will be reading and learning about how animals survive in nature; finishing up subtracting and beginning place value; learning different ways of praying and praying the first decade of the rosary; and building bridges in science.

3A - This week, we are continuing to learn about the Sacraments of Initiation during Religion class. In Science we are beginning to learn the bones of the body. Please help your son/daughter by going online for great resources, especially, YouTube.

4A - This week 4A will learn the Scripture story of the Last Supper, review the four kinds of sentences by correcting errors in punctuation and capitalization, and use rounding to estimate sums and differences.

5A – This week, 5th graders will design experiments to separate mixtures in science and analyze the motivations of Marco Polo & other explorers in social studies. We're continuing to work on our persuasive writing and our novel study of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

6AReligion – 6th Graders are defining the word: Covenant, and looking at examples of Covenants in the Old Testament. Language Arts – 6th Graders will begin looking at how characters' action drive the plot of the story. We'll be reading the Rudyard Kipling classic "Rikki-Tiki-Tavi" and practicing writing our own stories with a special focus on developing suspense during the rising action. Math - The 6th graders will continue their journey through the introduction to rational numbers and decimals, exploring how decimals are used in our world. Social Studies - 6th Graders are reviewing their Mesopotamia Unit and taking a Mesopotamia Test on October 5th. Science - 6th graders will begin studying the Earth's atmosphere & how it affects weather this week in science.

7A/7B Religion - 7th graders are studying the Infancy Narratives, and the two different stories from Matthew and Luke about the birth of Jesus. Language Arts - Students are continuing to read Walk Two Moons. They are in anticipation of what will happen next to the Winterbottoms' Family! Math – 7th graders are exploring how variables are used to represent mathematical ideas. Social Studies – 7th Graders are spinning the globe over to the physical geography of Africa and looking at the early civilizations in Western Africa. They will also begin reading “A Long Walk to Water.” Science - Students will discover how to effectively use a microscope to take a look at microscopic things called cells!

8A Religion – 8th Graders will be finishing their Apostolic Chapter and breaking about the Apostle's Creed. Language Arts - Students are continuing to read Mockingbird and completing assignments related to their reading. Math - The 8th graders are seeing how expressions can be put together to tell a story of a situation, then exploring squares and roots. Social Studies - 8th graders will begin to look at the deeper details of the Causes of the American Revolution.

Science - Students will discover what it is that allows for elements to bond with other elements in the creation of molecules.

REMINDERS

October 4 Free Dress for students with No Tardies

in September

October 5 Last day to purchase St. Peter’s Athletic

Sweats

October 6 Field trip to the Exploratorium for

Summer Learning Challenge Winners

October 7 “Procession for the Streets of

our City” (See attached flyer)

October 9 No School—Columbus Day holiday

October 10 Income Survey Due