Today's Monarch

The 8th graders visited Marian College on Wednesday.

From Mrs. Groves...

• Great things are happening at St. Joan of Arc:
Middle School Finalist for 2008 Intel Schools of Distinction Award

SJA has been chosen as a finalist for the Intel Schools of Distinction Award - Math Excellence category. As a finalist we receive a $2500.00 grant. There are 9 finalists from across the country, and 3 will be chosen as the winning schools in June (See article in today’s school newsletter).

We are in the middle school math category. The winning schools receive $10,000.00 in grant money and $150,000.00 in tech products!

• Indians Game – April 30th

As part of our Sports Connection Program the middle school will be attending the Indians vs. Columbus baseball game at Victory Field on April 30th. We have openings and tickets for 2 chaperones. We will leave here at about 9:30 AM and return by 3:00 PM. If you would like to join us, please send a note to school.

• Finance Park – May 15th

The 7th & 8th graders will be visiting Finance Park on May 15th. They should have brought an information packet home concerning it on Tuesday. Please let us know immediately if you can volunteer to help. The details were included in the packet.



From Mrs. Hasbrook...

• The 6th and 7th graders just finished up the chapter and will test on Tuesday the 22nd. They have had lots of review time with flashcards and a game of Jeopardy, but still need to study, study, study!! After the chapter test, they will begin their dialogues and enter the next chapter (our last chapter for the year).
• The 8th graders have already written, memorized and performed their dialogues and are well into the next chapter. They will be quizzing over new classroom vocabulary on Tuesday the 22nd.


From Mrs. Bryant...

• Students enjoyed a visit from Professor Donovan and his traveling science show last Friday as he explored changes in gas volume, force, and temperature. The students were very enthusiastic about The Challenger Learning Center’s show. Ask your son or daughter not only about our student participation, but also how Mr. Carlstedt and Mr. Heneghan contributed to the performance.

• Mitosis and meiosis are the topics for eighth grade students this week. Ask your son or daughter to show you the computer game that they played which reinforced their understanding. If you are in the school, please take a stroll down our middle school hallway and see their detailed sketches, the students did an excellent job.

• Seventh grade students are studying heredity this week and will extract a sample of their own DNA from their cheek cells in their lab on Friday. Ask them to explain to you what a Punnett Square is used to predict.

• Sixth grade students have started learning about our world’s biomes and their plant and animal resources. Students are preparing Power Point presentations on their chosen area of the earth.

From Mr. Heneghan...

• We’ve been celebrating National Poetry Month by exploring some of Shel Silverstein’s children’s poetry, learning a little about the poet himself, and are actually creating and analyzing our own poems. Look for them in the halls in the week to come.
• Interested in some book suggestions? Not a reader, but would like to become one, and thus help your child be more engaged in reading? Check out the post after this week’s Monarch. It has some book suggestions for kids and adults, as well as an introduction to a cool reading community website called “Library Thing” (www.librarything.com).
• 8th graders learned loads at their Marian College visit yesterday. We toured the Catholic campus, sat in on Theology, Marketing, and Writing classes, had a roundtable discussion with current Marian students, and enjoyed a tasty lunch.