Many thanks to all who celebrated Faith and Blue by donating money, participating on Sunday during Mass, making cards, writing poems, and celebrating together during the assembly. Hopefully all students were reminded of the important role these men and women play in our communities and in our lives. We sure do appreciate them! 

This Sunday, 3rd and 6th graders will be participating in Mass, so please join us if you can!

Students completed the Unit 3 test on Friday, and are beginning Unit 4 on Monday. During the first week of the unit study, students must complete the three pages related to Set A in their workbooks.  Set B study begins the following week, with the test that Friday. Throughout both weeks, we discuss the words and go over all of the activities in the vocabulary workbook. On the day before the test, students need to have completed all of the pages for the unit, including the very last two pages in the workbook for every unit. These last two pages are the most challenging, and sometimes get forgotten…

Study Strategy Recommendations:

- Review vocabulary words daily for 10-15 minutes.

- Create flashcards or digital study tools.

- Practice using new words in sentences.

- Discuss word meanings and applications at home.

All grade levels have been working on grammar lessons related to sentence structure. We reviewed the mandatory requirements for a proper, complete sentence and did several lessons to help students distinguish run on sentences from sentence fragments. We are looking forward to seeing high quality sentences in the future. :)

Based on information from our last professional development experience, as well as our own ELA collaborative meetings, we are implementing a new activity on Fridays. In an effort to improve reading stamina and expose students to more non-fiction texts, which is primarily the type of reading on MAP tests, we will be reading an article, answering a few comprehension questions, and then taking a brief quiz on the article. For example, our first article was about Hurricane Helene and the effects on tourism in the area. Students did a great job, and we look forward to seeing an increase in both reading stamina and MAP scores! 

We have a Spirit Wear Day coming up on October 22nd, so please check out the school store to purchase items to demonstrate school spirit. 

6th graders finished their first novel, Among the Hidden, and are working on completing a collaborative, culminating project.  Students are creating a newscast to demonstrate their understanding of the plot, as well as the dystopian genre of the book. They have been working very hard and I cannot wait to see the final products! They are the first class in our school to try a new program in Google, and that's all I will say about it for now. Our class has agreed to keep it a secret until we are finished. Stay tuned for more details! 

7th graders did a great job this week of writing poems in honor of our Faith and Blue celebration. As we continue our novel, we are working on analyzing characters and how they change throughout the story, dialect, and conflicts. I have been so pleased with the growth my 7th graders have demonstrated so far this year! 

8th graders are working on annotating while they are reading, and using those annotations to analyze the main character of our novel. They will be working on a character analysis writing assignment in the days ahead. 

All 8th grade ELA classes are continuing to work on HSPT skills, and are taking timed practice tests in class. We are analyzing our practice test scores and the most common questions that students got wrong, in the hope that sharing our mistakes will ensure they are not repeated. 

Although students are participating in test prep activities in their ELA and Math classes, they should definitely be working on their own, outside of school, to review vocabulary words and practice the other skills that will be tested. 

As we are gearing up for Red Ribbon Week, students are getting excited! I can't wait to see all of the creativity our students display as they plan anti-drug messages to share with the school. 

Have a blessed week, 

Mrs. Lastner

Many thanks to all who celebrated Faith and Blue by donating money, participating on Sunday during Mass, making cards, writing poems, and celebrating together during the assembly. Hopefully all students were reminded of the important role these men and women play in our communities and in our lives. We sure do appreciate them! 

This Sunday, 3rd and 6th graders will be participating in Mass, so please join us if you can!

Students completed the Unit 3 test on Friday, and are beginning Unit 4 on Monday. During the first week of the unit study, students must complete the three pages related to Set A in their workbooks.  Set B study begins the following week, with the test that Friday. Throughout both weeks, we discuss the words and go over all of the activities in the vocabulary workbook. On the day before the test, students need to have completed all of the pages for the unit, including the very last two pages in the workbook for every unit. These last two pages are the most challenging, and sometimes get forgotten…

Study Strategy Recommendations:

- Review vocabulary words daily for 10-15 minutes.

- Create flashcards or digital study tools.

- Practice using new words in sentences.

- Discuss word meanings and applications at home.

All grade levels have been working on grammar lessons related to sentence structure. We reviewed the mandatory requirements for a proper, complete sentence and did several lessons to help students distinguish run on sentences from sentence fragments. We are looking forward to seeing high quality sentences in the future. :)

Based on information from our last professional development experience, as well as our own ELA collaborative meetings, we are implementing a new activity on Fridays. In an effort to improve reading stamina and expose students to more non-fiction texts, which is primarily the type of reading on MAP tests, we will be reading an article, answering a few comprehension questions, and then taking a brief quiz on the article. For example, our first article was about Hurricane Helene and the effects on tourism in the area. Students did a great job, and we look forward to seeing an increase in both reading stamina and MAP scores! 

We have a Spirit Wear Day coming up on October 22nd, so please check out the school store to purchase items to demonstrate school spirit. 

6th graders finished their first novel, Among the Hidden, and are working on completing a collaborative, culminating project.  Students are creating a newscast to demonstrate their understanding of the plot, as well as the dystopian genre of the book. They have been working very hard and I cannot wait to see the final products! They are the first class in our school to try a new program in Google, and that's all I will say about it for now. Our class has agreed to keep it a secret until we are finished. Stay tuned for more details! 

7th graders did a great job this week of writing poems in honor of our Faith and Blue celebration. As we continue our novel, we are working on analyzing characters and how they change throughout the story, dialect, and conflicts. We also did some great work with similes, and the students wrote some very impressive examples! 

I have been so pleased with the growth my 7th graders have demonstrated so far this year! 

8th graders are working on annotating while they are reading, and using those annotations to analyze the main character of our novel. They will be working on a character analysis writing assignment in the days ahead. 

All 8th grade ELA classes are continuing to work on HSPT skills, and are taking timed practice tests in class. We are analyzing our practice test scores and the most common questions that students got wrong, in the hope that sharing our mistakes will ensure they are not repeated. 

Although students are participating in test prep activities in their ELA and Math classes, they should definitely be working on their own, outside of school, to review vocabulary words and practice the other skills that will be tested. 

As we are gearing up for Red Ribbon Week, students are getting excited! I can't wait to see all of the creativity our students display as they plan anti-drug messages to share with the school. 

Have a blessed week, 

Mrs. Lastner