Week of November 1 - 5

Announcements for this Week:

Halloween Festivities 
I hope all of the students enjoyed a safe and happy Halloween weekend! I know we all had a wonderful time at our school celebration on Friday. I want to extend my personal thanks to all of the parents who donated treats, refreshments, supplies, and decorations, as well as those of you who dedicated your time to preparing treat bags, decorating the classroom, and helping out at the party. I feel particularly grateful to our devoted and hardworking Room Parents, Mrs. Daniels, Mrs. Jackson, and Mrs. Antoine, for planning and organizing such a memorable celebration. I hope the students will always look back fondly on our "Great Pumpkin" party. I know that my first Halloween at St. Jerome was truly unforgettable!

All Saints' Day Mass
We will have a Special School Mass on Monday, November 1 at 8:00 AM in honor of the Feast of All Saints. Please be sure that students arrive at school at 7:45 AM on Monday so that we may store our backpacks in the classroom and arrive at Mass in a timely fashion. Since we will be celebrating Mass together on Monday, there will be no school Mass this Friday, November 5.

A Quick Note about Math
As I reviewed our weekly Math quiz this weekend, I noticed that quite a few students had problems with understanding a specific concept in place value. I plan to review this concept in class this week, but I am also sending home a review assignment for homework on Monday night. Please take a moment to make sure that your child understands the difference between the digit in a particular place and the value of that digit. For example, the number 52 has 5 tens and 2 ones. The digit in the tens place is 5. However, the value of the 5 is 50 because it is in the tens place and represents 5 groups of ten. If a problem asks, "how many tens does 51 have?", the correct answer would be 5. If a problem asks, "what is the value of 5 in 51?", the correct answer would be 50. Expanded form is a way to break down a number to show the value of each digit. The expanded form of 52 is 50 + 2 (the value of the tens digit + the value of the ones digit). If you would like more information, please check out the "Math" link on the sidebar of our blog and look for activities to supplement Chapter 2. One of the games featured is a great review of this topic and can be accessed here. Click on the game for Chapter 2 "Expanded Form".

Our Star of the Week is: Sandra Rosas

Curriculum Update:
Reading: A Close Look at Snakes, Using Expository Text
Math: Review of Place Value, Comparing and Ordering Numbers
Religion: Review of the Ten Commandments, particularly those that
               deal with treating others with respect, kindness, and honesty
English:  Plural Nouns (-s, -es, -ies)
Social Studies: Landforms and Intermediate Directions (i.e. northwest, etc.)
                         (landform, valley, island, peninsula, lake)
Science: Vertebrate Animals (animals with backbones)
              (mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians)

Looking Forward:

All Souls' Day Mass
There will be a special school mass on Monday, November 8 at 11:15 AM in honor of the Feast of All Souls. This will take the place of our usual school Mass next week.

Parent Conferences
Conference times may be scheduled for November 8 - 10. Please see the sign-up sheets in Building A to reserve a time slot. I encourage you to do your best to work with the time slots available, but I will make accommodations by special request. School will be dismissed at 12:30 PM on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Veterans' Day Holiday
There will be NO SCHOOL on Thursday, November 11 and Friday, November 12 in honor of the Veterans' Day Holiday.

Animal Habitat Diorama
The Animal Habitat Dioramas will be DUE on Monday, November 15.

Field Trip to the California Science Center
We are still missing a few permission slips for our field trip to the California Science Center. Please return the completed slips as soon as possible along with $10 to offset our transportation costs. (Checks may be made out to St. Jerome School.) The field trip will take place on Wednesday, November 17 from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Students should bring brown bag lunches from home on the day of the trip.

Casino Night
Save the date! Our St. Jerome Casino Night will be Saturday, November 20!  If you have not yet made a contribution to our "Hooray for Hollywood!" Silent Auction Basket, please send in your donation as soon as possible.

Homework for the Week of November 1 -5

Monday - All Saints' Day Mass
Math Worksheet
Spelling Word Sentences
Bring in a book about your animal by Friday
     (Please bring in a book from home or from the library about the animal
      you have chosen for your Animal Habitat Diorama by Friday, Nov. 5.
      We will be working on research and writing this week.)

Tuesday 
Practice Book p. 140
Math p. 24
Spelling Words in Reverse ABC Order and Dictation Sentence

Wednesday
Practice Book p. 146
Math p. 25
Spelling Word Clues
     (For each spelling word, write a brief clue as if for a crossword puzzle.
     Synonyms, antonyms, rhymes, and brief definitions are all acceptable.)

Thursday
Practice Book pp. 133 - 134
Math p. 26
Study for Spelling Test

Friday - Spelling Test

Spelling Words

below
coat
owe
soap
sold
woke

animals
between
before
knew
why

everywhere
nighttime

Dictation Sentence

Students will be graded on capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and word order.

Why do some animals roam outside at nighttime?

Have a blessed week!