Unique Upper Elementary!

Fourth Grade Family (Trees)
 
By Catherine Dang
Layout/Design Editor
 
            In the second quarter, the fourth graders have been busy working on many projects. In science they made a planet project where they made a model of a planet and typed three paragraphs about their planet, and presented the planet in class. They also had a family tree project in social studies. They made a model of their choice depicting their family and they interviewed members of their family for information to put on the tree. After that, they presented their family tree to their class.
            Right before Thanksgiving, the students took part in a service project where they collected socks, blankets, shirts, and toiletries. They were distributed on Thanksgiving morning to the homeless. Preparing for Christmas, the students in music class have been playing Christmas songs on their recorders. For the Christmas play, they performed many songs for their parents and other students at our school. What a busy and exciting quarter for our fourth graders!

Thankful Third Grade
 
By Tess Hefty
Sports Editor
 
            The third graders have learned a lot this quarter. During Thanksgiving, the third graders made “Thankful Pumpkins” and wrote what they were thankful for on strips of orange paper. They then formed the paper into a pumpkin. They showed these to their grandparents on Grandparents’ Day along with playing a game with their grandparents. For Christmas, the students made “Gingerbread Glyphs” where they cut out and designed gingerbread men, and wrote a short description of themselves, leaving out their names. Other students traveled around the room and guessed whose gingerbread was whose. They also wrote prayers to St. Nick called “Deer St. Nick” and pasted them on paper in the shape of a deer’s head. 
            In religion, the students completed their studies about the Rosary and started working on learning about the saints and the difference between canonized saints and the communion of saints. They also started watching the movie Jesus of Nazareth. In science, the students learned about rocks and minerals, weathering and erosion, rapid and slow changes to the land, and a little bit about the solar system. They completed a project about the moon phases where they watched and recorded the moon cycle. In math, the third graders learned about fractions and multiplication. Since this year was the Presidential election, the students received an election booklet as they talked about the election in social studies. In reading, the students have begun reading Sarah Plain and Tall. The students have warm-ups every morning which are either about something that they have recently learned, or holiday-themed worksheets. The hardest thing for the third graders is their essay and story writing. Things such as writing in complete sentences and editing and revising their papers are hard for them. Looks like these students have had a busy second quarter!
 


























Fifth graders enjoy learning about archery at Camp Allen.

Fifth Grade Busy Bees!
By Jade Garrido
Layout/Design Editor
             
                  The fifth grade students were working nonstop last quarter. In Mrs. Philips’s class, the fifth graders have been diligently working on multiplication and division rules, and factors! Also, in their science class, they’ve been studying the sun’s layers, matter, and elements. The central topics in Mrs. Philips’s class were matter and using the division rules to find factors. A typical class in Mrs. Philips’s room included checking homework, then checking vocabulary, and reading and discussing new topics.
                   In Mrs. Yager’s class, the students focused on the events of a timeline, the order of events in history, and good decision making. In social studies and religion classes, the students have been understanding the Liturgical Calendar, the types of Sacraments, and the causes of the Revolutionary War. Also in her class, the students worked in groups and wrote notes in their notebooks.
 In Mrs. Kim’s class, the students have been learning pronouns, informational text, and they read The Tale of Desperaux. The central topics in Mrs. Kim’s class were to read for comprehension and to apply their grammar rules. Lastly, in Mrs. Kim’s class, they worked together in groups, and then they wrote in their notebooks.
In a good student, the teachers look for student that participates and a student that completes his or her homework on time. Some special projects that the fifth graders did were making Christmas factor trees, book talks, and the iSymbols iPads project.     
                Recently, the fifth graders went to Camp Allen. The fifth graders tried out canoeing, archery, and shelter-making. The fifth grade teachers evaluated the fifth graders during the quarter by completion of classwork, quizzes, and tests. Also, the teachers graded them on their participation, learning, and listening. When you are in the elementary hallway, you may hear some buzzing, because there are some busy bees getting the job done!