Dear Families,

 

Quick Calendar Updates, Community News, and Academic Items for your reading pleasure!

 

-End of the Year Scantron assessments will be Wednesday, May 11 (Reading), Monday, May 16 (Math) and Tuesday, May 17 (Language). 

-Battle of the Books is on Tuesday, May 17 - it is a virtual Battle this year (the past two years it was cancelled, so this is a big deal!) and the Battle students will take the Scantron at a different time (Language is usually the shortest test so that works out pretty well for them.)

-The traditional May Procession (a lovely tradition, I might add) will be Monday, May 16 at 8:30am in the Cathedral. 

-LET THEM EAT CAKE is also BACK!  It will take place on Wednesday, May 18th. Oh, how we have missed it!  "Let Them Eat Cake" is a fundraiser that was brought to STM by STM parent Mrs. Jill Fahey (of Sugar, Inc. fame). Parents purchase tickets (I'd advise buying 10 or 20, or 5, whatever is in your budget) and students put their tickets in a collection bag in front of the cakes they'd like to win and take home. At the end of the day the cakes are (usually) brought to the students in their classrooms with lots of fanfare and excitement. It is such a fun event. A form is REQUIRED for ticket purchases.  You can access the form here: https://www.stmschool.org/apps/news/article/1605059 and I will send home copies of the form at the end of the week. 

-The STM Band trip is Friday, May 20th. That day is also an 11:30 am dismissal. 

 

Last week was a tough week, and certainly not the norm (is there a norm anymore?) I'm not sure how many of the readers of this newsletter are on the Parent FB page but Jen Daulby and Nurse Burnside pretty much summed up that it was a bit of a tough week. However, we (as we do) persevered and we are doing so well with middle school Covid numbers- I think it was 4% or something happily low.  I am grateful to PTO and the class for the sweet gifts, lunch, minibundt cake, and gift card - thank you. For the present, we are masked and once the rates go down I'm sure more information will be sent. I will be out Wednesday and Thursday this week for a (non-emergency!) surgery for my husband (right arm bicep rupture). I am not usually out so this has been a change in routine for the students. 

 

Academic News. 

In 7th Grade Reading, the "small groups" are reading the fiction novels Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Please check PowerSchool by May 15 for accurate updates on assignments. 

In 6th Grade Reading, the classes are split between The Inquisitors Tale by Adam Gidwitz and The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. Please check PowerSchool by May 15 for accurate updates on assignments.

In 6th Religion, we have completed Chapter 18, The Kings of Israel, and will begin Chapter 19, David and Solomon. 

In 6th LA, we are working on Unit 6, Sentences. This is a very difficult grammar unit for the students as the skills they have been learning in isolation (locating parts of speech, punctuation, etc.) are all included. Again, please look for updated assignments in PowerSchool. 

 

 

A note about PowerSchool: My "screen" when I enter assignments and grades looks like a basic spreadsheet. I have seen the parent app screen and it looks TERRIFYING as it generates a letter grade for your student. FYI:  If there is a 0 entered, it doesn't mean an F. I understand that PowerSchool generates a percentage grade, which is irrelevant unless it's apparent that the assignment is lost/missing, etc. It means its a 0 until the work is found, completed, etc. and turned in.  Also, late work gets graded when I get to it.  If it's late I get to it as soon as I can.  For my part I know that there are Reading assignments which need to be entered and test retakes in LA that need to be entered. I'm working on it!!!

 

Thanks so much for your time!

 

Mrs. Morgan