Dear Parents,
December is here--the last month of 2019! Even though we’re near the end of the year, this past Sunday marked the beginning of a new liturgical year and the beginning of a church season—ADVENT. Advent is a time of preparation for Jesus’ birth.
The teachers and I will be teaching the students about Advent, and how our preparations could include special acts—such as saying extra prayers, reading the bible, attending an additional Mass, giving to the school’s weekly Missions collection, or doing extra good deeds—because doing those special acts will make more room in our hearts for Jesus. Some classes are following an Advent calendar or constructing Advent wreaths, yet some classes might also be planning special service projects to help those in need. Whatever your child and your family do during Advent, remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. The children have heard this at school, but continue this lesson at home. Let’s all be examples of open hearts and open minds, and know that we wouldn’t be celebrating if it wasn’t for our savior, Jesus Christ.
--Mrs. Sandra Jimenez
REPORT CARDS
Report Cards for Trimester 1 are being sent home with each child today. Parents must sign and return report cards to teachers by this Friday, December 6. If you have questions about anything on the report card, please contact the teacher ahead of time to schedule a conference or phone appointment.
CHRISTMAS SHOP
St. Peter’s School will be hosting a Christmas Shop for students on December 9-10! This will be a safe Christmas shopping experience for children, right here at school. Extra budget envelopes are available in the office. Students can bring their spending cash in these envelopes.
ST. PETER’S FOOD DRIVE
The 8th graders are leading the school in a SERVICE project of collecting dry or canned foods and cash donations for the SF Marin Food Bank to show LOVE to the thousands of hungry families who live in the Bay Area. Last year, we collected 1,000 pounds of food. Let’s UNITE to match or beat that goal! The homeroom that collects the most donations will win a special prize.
SCHOOL MASSES NEXT WEEK
Next Monday, December 9, we will celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception with a school mass at 8:15 AM. Next Thursday, December 12, we will celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe with a school mass at 9:30 AM. Parents are welcome to join us at these masses. Students must be in complete uniform on these days; no free dress passes.
BVCC SPECIAL EVENTS
All are welcome to celebrate La Posada, hosted by our BVCC Program. La Posada will be on Friday, December 13 from 6:00-8:00 PM, upstairs in the Parish Hall. There will be Christmas song presentations and food & drinks for sale!
BVCC is open for Winter Camp on the following dates: December 23, 26, 27 for Week 1; and December 30, January 2, 3 for week 2. To register, please go to the BVCC office after school.
TUITION POLICY
All student tuition accounts must be up to date and paid through December 2019 in order for your child to return to class on January 6, 2020. If your tuition is not up-to-date before leaving for Christmas vacation, your child will not be able to return to class on Monday, January 6, 2020.
Please plan ahead so your tuition is received on time. If you have any questions, please call the Tuition Office at (415)647-8662.
UNIFORM CHECK-IN
As the weather gets colder and you bundle up your child, please ensure that he/she follows uniform policy as posted by the school office and stated in the school handbook. All undershirts, including long-sleeve undershirts, should be white. If your daughter wears tights, they should be solid black or white and extend to the ankle. Socks must be black or white and extend above the ankle. Boots may not be worn.
IN THE CLASSROOM
KINDER - As we lighted the first candle on our Advent Wreath, we bring hope to the season! May we use these weeks of waiting to work on all that will make us successful! Use each day to sing the ABCs or spell words like bat, map, pan, ran, pin, tip, sit or sat, or count to 10 backwards and forwards. And if you want to help plan a fun end of the year Christmas celebration, please send me a message on ClassDojo.
1A - This week, we are reading, writing, and learning about maps, directions, and how we find our way around. We are also focusing on the /ch/, /wh/, and /ph/ sounds and preparing for our Unit 2 sight word test on Friday. In religion, we are learning about how we show love for God's Creation. In math, we are continuing our work on subtraction and related addition facts. In social studies, we are learning about the continents and oceans.
2A - We will be reading the story “Biblioburro.” In Math, we will work on place value again, especially counting by tens. During the season of Advent, we are preparing for Jesus' birth, their favorite bible story!
3A – This week, we begin oral presentations on our saint projects. We will learn many facts about a variety of saints. Also, during this first week of Advent, 3A students will make an Advent wreath for each of their desks. In Language Arts, we will start our first class read. It is a wonderful Christmas chapter book entitled The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson.
4A - Happy Advent! During these coming weeks, 4A will be working to prepare their hearts for the birth of Jesus. In Religion, we will be focusing in the season of Advent and learning important sacramentals and feast days during this time. In Reading, we will practice our skills of comparing and contrasting as well as learning to make inferences during our fairytale unit. In Math, we will focus on adding multi-digit numbers using tape diagrams, place value charts, and regular algoritms. In Social Studies, we will continue to use our online program to learn about California Native Peoples. In Science, we will continue to talk about the differences in soil. Thank you for all that you do!
5A - This week, 5th graders are reviewing all of the decimal operations we've learned this year and applying those concepts in word problems. We will also use mentor sentences from Harry Potter to build our grammar knowledge as we continue our class novel study. In honor of the Advent season, we will begin a special religion project.
6A Religion – Students will begin a Jesse Tree project for Advent, begin to prepare for leading the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass on December 12th, participate in Advent Reconciliation, and be visited by Paula Pardini for their Building Bridges Program. Language Arts – 6A is on to the next stage of our Writer's Workshop: as students complete their rough drafts, we will begin exchanging stories with peers to get feedback on story structure, writing style, and grammar. We'll continue to look closely on how to include more imagery and detail in our writing. Math - Hello families, I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving break. 6th grade students will be working with unit rates this week. 6th graders will use rates of measurement to convert to other forms of measurement. Students are welcome to come in for some extra math support Monday and Tuesday morning during recess. Social Studies - Students will begin to read some stories from Ancient Egyptian mythology. Science - Scientists will re-commit to classroom expectations and policies. They will learn about convection in water and perform an experiment about heat and density.
7A Religion – Students will be visited by their Program Manager for their Caritas Creek retreat from December 9-13 and will participate in Advent Reconciliation. Language Arts - Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful and filling Thanksgiving! Students are beginning to read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. They are participating in small and whole group Reader's Theater to incorporate the element of drama. They are also taking a deeper look into the play's content with a variety of lesson extensions, starting with "Marley's Ghost." Math - Hello families, I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving break. 7th grade students will be working with creating equivalent fractions, percentages and decimals as well as working with graphs and equations to represent proportional relationships with fractions. Students are welcome to come in for some extra math support Monday and Tuesday morning during recess. Social Studies – Students will continue reading A Long Walk to Water as a novel study, part of their West African Civilization Unit. Science - Students will present their movies on two life processes this week and advance into a conversation about the cycles that are present in life science.
8A Religion – Welcome back! I hope everyone had a relaxing and delicious Thanksgiving! Students will conclude how Christendom looked like and how we will be discussing it in this current unit. They will also explore and explain the meaning of Advent. Language Arts - Students are beginning to read Night by Elie Wiesel. They are also preparing Cornell Style Notes to record the novel's content and personal observations. They are continuing their HSPT preparation with a presentation of strategies, general hints, tips and advice to ensure success in January. Math – Hello families, I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving break. 8th grade students will be working with scientific notation and working with integers. Students are welcome to come in for some extra math support Monday and Tuesday morning during recess. Social Studies – Students will study details of battles of the American Revolution and will begin a project about the Constitutional Convention. Science - Now that students know about Lewis Dot structures, the next step is to study types of chemical bonds and how they occur!
REMINDERS
Dec. 4 Report Cards sent home with students
Dec. 5 9:00 AM, Advent Reconciliation for grades 5-6
Dec. 9 8:15 AM School Mass, Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Dec. 9-13 7th grade retreat, Caritas Creek at CYO Camp
Dec. 9-10 Christmas Shop at St. Peter’s School
Dec. 10 9:00AM, Advent Reconciliation for grades 3-4
Dec. 11 Free Dress for No Tardies in November
Dec. 12 9:30 AM School Mass, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Dec. 12 12:45 PM, 4A Field trip to mission Branch Library
Dec. 13 6:00-8:00 PM, BVCC Las Posadas in the Gym
Dec. 20 9:00 AM, Christmas Prayer Service and Program
