Dear Parents,
In six days, we remember the 17th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, DC, and United Flight 93 which crashed in Pennsylvania. Though this day reminds us of a sad event in history, it should act as a reminder of our responsibility to listen to our children and provide a safe space for them to learn and grow, because WE ARE LOVE. In unity and solidarity, we all help make our school a safe place for students to accomplish their goals, to combat ignorance, and to act for social justice.
I’d like to share a prayer from sistersofmercy.org to call for strength to be positive examples for our children:
Loving God,
You inspire us with love for all creation. Give us the strength and courage to transform the compassion of our hearts into acts of peace, mercy and justice. Forgive us for the arrogance that leads to moral blindness; forgive us for desires for vengeance. Empower us to shape a world marked by ways of life that lead to justice and peace. Fashion in us a people who are ready to grow in understanding, not judge those who are different from us. Form us, a people determined to heal wounds rather than inflict them. We ask all of this in the name of Jesus who came among us to show us the way. AMEN.
--Mrs. Sandra Jimenez
THANK YOU!
Thank you to all the parents and guardians who attended Back-to-School Night last Wednesday. We want to continue to work as partners to support your child’s overall growth.
If you were unable to attend, please make sure you have received any handouts and important information from your child’s teacher(s). If you were unable to attend or you forgot to pick up your Parent-Student Handbook at Back-to-School Night, your child should have brought home a handbook. Please go over this handbook with your child, and sign and return the yellow form inside.
CLASS DOJO
Last week, a parent invitation was sent home through your child to join Class Dojo, a school communication app. Please join our school on Class Dojo using the code that was provided for your child(ren). Each child has his/her own unique code!
APPOINTMENTS WITH TEACHERS
If you’d like to meet with your child’s teacher, please make an appointment. The time before the first bell rings is time that each teacher needs to prepare the lessons for the day. Please message your child’s teacher via Class Dojo, email, or a message in the office if you’d like to schedule a meeting so that he/she may plan accordingly.
BVCC
The Buena Vista Child Care (BVCC) After School Program is available to students in grades K-8. All students who participate must be registered in the program. If your child participates in a CYO sports team, attends after-school computer lab, or participates in another after-school activity, he/she must register with BVCC. Financial Aid is available.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
If your child has not yet returned all the required forms--Emergency Card, Medical Packet, Permission to walk/take public transportation after school, Photo Release form, Technology Acceptable Use Policy, Email address verification—please make sure those are submitted right away. The information provided on these forms is very important for the safety of your child.
INDIVIDUAL EMERGENCY KITS
Last week, a letter was sent home asking each child to bring an emergency kit to school. While each classroom is equipped with an emergency bag with items such as a first aid kit, flashlights, and batteries, we also want every child to be ready with food and water.
In a Zip-loc bag labeled with your child’s name, please pack: a 16.9 fl. oz. bottle of water and a non-perishable snack such as crackers or a granola bar. These kits will be stored in a closed bin in the classroom. If these emergency packs remain unused, they will be returned to your child at the end of the school year. Please bring these individual emergency packs to your child’s teacher by Friday, September 14.
STAR TESTING
September 4-14 is our first STAR Testing window. During this time, students will take the computer adaptive STAR test in both Language and Math. The results of these tests will be available to the teachers in order to help meet students’ needs. Throughout the year, students will participate in progress monitoring and universal screenings using the STAR test to provide input on academic growth.
ONLINE TRAINING FOR SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS
In order to be a volunteer at school events (such as a field trip chaperone or a sports team coach), adults must complete the online training on www.virtusonline.org.
*If you have already completed the online training by Shield the Vulnerable, your volunteer clearance is still good for 3 years from date of completion of that online course.
Follow these directions to complete the VIRTUS online training:
· Go to www.virtusonline.org
· Click on “First-time Registrant”
· Click on “Begin the registration process”
· Select San Francisco (Archdiocese)
· Create a User ID and Password for yourself
· Fill out the requested personal information
· Select St. Peter Elementary (San Francisco) **DO NOT SELECT St. Peter Parish**
· Provide your digital signatures for downloading and reading the documents: “Standards of Conduct for Those Working with Children and Young People” and “Policies and Procedures Regarding Child Abuse”
· Select the online course “Protecting God’s Children for Adults” (Online Training)
· Once you’ve completed the course, go to your Toolbox and click on “Training Report” to verify the completion of your course.
Upon completion of the online course, please email sjimenez@sanpedro.org or print out the “Training Report” page and submit it to the school office. You will receive 2 parent hours.
SCHOOL UNIFORMS
Please ensure that your child is following the uniform policy as stated in the Parent and Student Handbook. Also, several students have already reported missing school sweatshirts, so check that your child’s sweatshirt is labeled with his/her name and grade.
IN THE CLASSROOM
KINDER - This week in Kindergarten, students will share about their families. We will have a discussion about many different kinds of families, big families, small families, but the main message is that all families are unique and because of that, each family is special. After, students will create a family portrait and share with the class. We will have a gallery walk! Also, we will continue to go over the letters in the alphabet. In Math, we will work on writing and identifying numbers 0-10.
1A - This week we are continuing to work on our classroom procedures and talking about community. We are working on solving our disagreements and problems using the “I Message.” Please ask your child to demonstrate it for you. Thanks so much for all of your help.
2A - 2nd Grade will be reading “Big Red Lollipop” and "How Families Celebrate." We are continuing with strategies to add sums within 20; talking about heroes/saints; and talking about symbols of baptism.
3A – This week, we are beginning our STAR Testing for reading. In actual reading class, we are reading Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary. In math class we are setting up and learning the procedures for our STMath Centers. Last week we began our class in Spanish Mindfulness. REMINDER: the Reflection Form for Sunday Mass needs to be signed and returned each Monday even if you were unable to attend Mass. Also, since we have homework every weekend please remember to sign your child’s Student Planner.
4A – In Religion this week, 4th Grade will be focusing on mass responses and the birthday of Mary. During our Literacy Block, we will continue working on our Read to Self. We want to improve our Stamina! We will also be focusing on story structure through Winn-Dixie, our new word work, and finally formulating and writing complete sentences in Writing. In Math, we will continue to focus on place value through the Millions place. We will focus on rocks, fossils and soil in Science and begin our introductory California State history lessons. We will continue to focus on growth mindset throughout all of our course work.
5A - In math this week, our class goal will be to identify all place values through billions. We'll also continue working with ST Math and review the elements of story structure to add to our reading menu activities. Our class is reading Fantastic Elastic Brain together and discussing what neuroplasticity means for our own growth mindsets.
6A Religion – Students will explore their textbook and discuss what they will be learning this year about the Old Testament. Language Arts – 6A will continue exploring the importance of setting and how it can help drive the plot of a story, as we read a classic mystery story with Sherlock Holmes. Students have also already begun to use LexiaPowerUp to strengthen their comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar skills. Math - Students will continue to add and subtract decimals. Social Studies – Students will begin to learn the definition of civilization and start to study the first known civilization: Ancient Mesopotamia. Science – 6A students will describe the processes of fossil formation.
7A Language Arts - Students are identifying the types of conflict in a series of literary short stories. All of which will lead to the writing of their own conflict, internal or external, in a short story. Students have also successfully implemented the rotational model in the classroom! This new model will expand the learning experience, and students kept an open mind and were definitely not afraid to dive in. Math - 7A will continue to express rational numbers as decimals and decimals as fractions. Social Studies – Students will study the physical geography of the Arabian peninsula. Science - Students will begin to uncover the mystery of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
8A/8B Religion – This week eighth graders will be discussing the importance of the sacraments in students’ personal lives and in terms of church community. Significant time will be spent examining Christ's true presence in the Eucharist. Language Arts - Students are currently focusing on Personal Narratives, what it means, how it applies to everyday and literature based examples. Students have also successfully implemented the rotational model in the classroom! They kept an open mind and heart as we add this new learning experience to our ELA curriculum. Math – 8th graders will continue to solve equations with rational coefficients. Social Studies – Students will discuss the reasons why Europeans began to colonize the United States and learn about the conflicts that occurred between two cultures in the New World. Science - Students know that atoms make up everything that is matter, now we begin a more in depth exploration on what makes atoms.
REMINDERS:
Sept. 4-14 STAR Testing, Window 1
Sept. 10-14 “Dimes from Heaven” Collection
Sept. 11 Opening School Mass, 8:30 am
Sept. 12 8th Grade Parent Meeting, 7:30 am OR 6:00 pm in the
Faculty Meeting Room
Sept. 12 Recology School Assemblies
Sept. 13 St. Ignatius Presentation to 8th graders
Sept. 13 Summer Learning Challenge Grand Prize Field
Trip to Levi’s Stadium
