Today's Monarch

A painting from African-American artist William H. Johnson called "Off to War".
From Mr. Heneghan’s class...
• My wife is going to have a baby in the next day or so, therefore, I am taking a paternity leave for the next two weeks. Brandi Mickens, who works with NYO, will be my able replacement. I will be checking back in with school periodically to see how everyone is progressing.
• 6th and 7th graders have been studying artists from the Harlem Renaissance, including Zora Neale Hurston (writer), Bessie Smith (Blues singer), William Henry Johnson (painter), and Langston Hughes (writer). By Friday, they will have created a PowerPoint slideshow including all they’ve learned about their chosen artist.
• 8th graders will complete a Black History Month mural on Friday. In groups, they were assigned certain themes, including politics, religion, sports, food, civil rights, music, etc. They will convey these themes using a variety of different mediums, including watercolor, photographs, magazines, the web, and their own writing.

From Mrs. Hasbrook’s class...
• The 6th and 7th graders are well into the next chapter which focuses on school supplies, clothing and the conjugation of AR verbs. They also just received return pen pal letters from the students in Honduras! We are in the process of reading and translating these letters.
• The 8th graders are going to test over the chapter on Tuesday the 11th. After completing this chapter's test, all students will begin to compose and later perform a dialogue in front of the class that will take place in a clothing store or a bookstore. One student will be the salesclerk, the other the customer.
• Overall, students are doing a great job. They need to remember to bring their copy of the prayer, their notebooks, and all completed homework to class!

From Mrs. Bryant’s class...
• Sixth grade students learned how to calculate speed by measuring distance and time of Hot Wheels race cars on Monday. Students will next explore plant and animal cells.
• Seventh grade students are doing a fine job with probability as they estimate the likelihood of a desired outcome in comparison to all the possible outcomes. Stars and galaxies have been our major focus this week. Ask your son or daughter the following questions: What color is a star? What does the color of a star tell us about a star? What is parallax? --- Ask them to demonstrate. What is the closest star to earth?
• Eighth grade students were tested on Newton’s Laws of Motion this week as they were asked to calculate speed, acceleration, and force. Overall, test results were very disappointing, and I believe this to be chiefly a preparation issue. Often questions missed were taken directly from the notes students took in class. Only 25% of the class indicated that they had even read a portion of the textbook. The grasping of new science terms, formulas, and concepts can usually be greatly increased if a student completes the daily assignments as well as being on task in class.
• Congratulations to Phillip Bates, Payge Fowlkes, and Christian Williams, who did an excellent job representing St. Joan of Arc at the CYO Science Fair on Saturday. I received many positive comments from the judges.

From Mr. Carlstedt’s class...
• Check out Mr. Carlstedt’s RADIO SHOW this Saturday at 1pm. You can get to this radio show via a link from his Social Studies eClassroom (blog).

From Mrs. Groves’s class...
• Back from Honduras!
Mrs. Groves returned from her field assignment in Honduras bringing letters from our partner school Escuela de Carlos Roberto Reina. The 5th through 8th grade students were thrilled to receive them. She hand delivered them because mail is practically non- existent in the remote mountain area in which the school is located. The school is a small two-room building for 70+ students. It has no electricity or water. The only restroom is an outhouse in the back. The students walk hours to get to school each day, so the day is quite a bit shorter than ours. Consequently, they work very hard while they are there.
Although the team from HETO (Hearts in Education Teacher Outreach) delivered 3000 pounds of supplies for the fourteen schools they visited, Escuela de Carlos R. Reina School is sill in need of many things. Tania, the teacher there, gave Mrs. Groves a list of needed materials. Our students would like to do a fundraiser so that we can send the money to a HETO representative there, to purchase the necessary materials. We will pursue that in the near future.
Meanwhile, the students are learning to translate their letters from Spanish and will write back. They will be hand-delivered by our HETO representative.
• Sports Connections
Monday the students will play 3 on 3 basketball to give them some practice in keeping statistics. On Tuesday, the middle school students will go to the Pacer game at Conseco Fieldhouse. There they will follow a player, tracking his personal stats. Upon return to school they will figure out shooting percentages, and compare their performance to their overall season statistics.
• Drivers Needed For The Pacer Game on Tuesday, March 11th
We are in need of a few more drivers. We will leave the playground at 6:00 PM and return at 10:00 PM. If you are available to go with us to the game, please call the school office (283- 1518) and let us know how many students you can take in seat belts. You will need to provide a valid driver’s license and proof of insurance. These can be brought to the office anytime to be copied. We have great tickets thanks to Mr. Morris!