The Monarch for Thursday, January 17, 2008

"Moo Moo" Evans of the Globetrotters spoke to SJA students about working hard in the classroom through the acronym C.H.E.E.R.



In Mrs. Bryant’s class...
Please call or e-mail me with questions that you may have about your son or daughter’s grade for science. All students were given the opportunity to turn in extra credit, but less than one-half, or only 39%, of all middle school students chose to take advantage of this opportunity.
Sixth grade students are learning about the oceans this week.
Seventh grade students are learning about how scientists classify life.
Eighth grade students are learning about electricity.
All students will be learning about blood typing in their laboratory tomorrow, where they will type artificial blood. If you know your son or daughter’s blood type, please tell them what it is before they come to class tomorrow.
The eighth grade science fair will be Thursday, January 31st, beginning at 8:30a.m. Please plan to stop in the gym and see the students’ exhibits. The judges will choose the top exhibits to represent our school at the CYO Science Fair March 1, 2008 at the CYO Center, where students will compete with other seventh and eighth grade students from schools in the archdiocese.


In Mrs. Groves’s class...
This week in Sports Connections the middle school students explored the dimensions of an NFL football field. They found the diagram on line, and then answered questions concerning it. They figured out the area and perimeter of the field. 8th graders used the Pythagorean Theorem to determine the diagonal distance of the field. They also learned that every NFL field is identical in its markings and size. For instance, every numeral on the yard markers are 4' wide by 6' tall. It was a valuable lesson in reading diagrams and using them to problem solve.

Lighting the Way for Math in Everyday Life
On Wednesday, January 23rd, St. Joan of Arc School is having our 3rd annual Math Fair. This year's theme is Lighting the Way for Math in Everyday Life. Honor students from Bishop Chatard High School will partner with our students in their exploration of several areas of everyday mathematics. They will have booths set up in Doyle Hall with activities involving retail shopping, medical careers, zoo keeping, athletics, etc. In addition, we will have an "Estimation Hallway" where students will respond to several different estimation activities. Feel free to drop in between 8:00 AM and 1:30 PM to see this exciting event in action.

In Mrs. Hasbrook’s class...

This week in Spanish we will be wrapping up the chapter. In this chapter we have learned classroom vocabulary, how to tell time, and the plural of the verb ‘Ser’. We should test over this material sometime next week. Please make sure that your student has and brings his/her Spanish notebook to class every Tuesday and Wednesday. Our text has to remain in the classroom and his/her Spanish notebook is like a text for them to bring home and study as they take all grammar notes and enter all vocabulary into these notebooks. A "buen trabajo" (good job) goes to Rebekah Johnson and Stephanie Tinsley in 7th grade and Amber Trimpl and Khristen Crowe in 8th grade for receiving A's on their famous Central American projects!

In Mr. Heneghan’s class...
Students have been focusing on editing and revision in English class over the last week. We made connections between a Central American recipe book and one on mythology. One way that we tried to vary our sentences was through the use of the “ABC” method. We tried to begin each sentence with a new letter of the alphabet. It’s challenging, but it makes students think of new and interesting ways to state their ideas.

In Mr. Carlstedt’s class...
6th grade – moving farther south into South America
7th grade – moving in an easterly direction in Asia following the monsoons from the Arabian Sea
8th grade – examining the first Presidency