5/19/2008

Dear Families,

Greetings from Carnival Central! We are immersed in preparation for the big day on Friday. We all owe Kate O’Brien Rourke a HUGE thank you for all she has done to get this Carnival off the ground.

As we prepare for and “run” the Carnival, I place an incredible amount of trust in the students. The success of the Carnival truly rests on their shoulders. Talk with your student in the next two days to be sure they have game logistics, prizes, etc. planned and ready for Friday.

CARNIVAL DAY NOTES: 1. We will provide each 8^th grader with a piece of pizza, a drink and a cookie. 2. If your child is working outside and the weather is nice please send a water bottle and sunscreen. 3. If your child plans to be a “dunk-ee,” send a towel. 4. 8^th graders are NOT allowed to participate in the raffle or guessing jar contests.

� ACADEMICS

HISTORY

Students are working on an Oregon Trail game and writing project. The rough draft is due Thursday, May 22.

We will continue our work in Chapter 6, Statehood next week.

RELIGION

The final draft of the St. Francis Mission brochure will be due next Friday, May 30. Students will have time to complete this work at school.

Wednesday or Thursday, students will begin writing a personal church history.

On Wednesday May 28, 8^th grade students will take a standardized religion test. The test results will allow us to evaluate our religion curriculum.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Spelling Test - Lesson 31 – workbook sections B and three sentences that include a spelling word and hyperbole. We will have a spelling test Thursday 5/22.

The St. Francis Mission brochure will earn both Language Arts and Religion project grades.

LITERATURE

The final Haiku poems are due May 22. Please remind students to print 2 copies and to follow the directions for mounting the poem.

Students will begin writing a narrative poem this week.

MATH

On Tuesday and Thursday, both math classes will meet together from 11:30-12:45. They will be working, cooperatively, on a set of five problems. On Monday and Wednesday the algebra class will continue working on factoring trinomials and the Math 8 class will continue their geometry unit.

Progress reports will be sent home on Wednesday, May 21.  Please sign and return by Friday. 

SCIENCE

Updates about Science are posted in the Science section of school web page.

COMMUNITY UPDATE

Thank you for enjoying the Spring Concert – your students were terrific!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

Ann Christianson

annc@saintbrendan.org