St. Christopher School

January News

Third graders will be very busy in Science this month. We will begin the month by learning about the earth's surface and changes that can affect it such as earthquakes and volcanoes. Then we will move on to forces and motion. We will use plastic balls to study the effects of friction and force on moving objects. We will test magnets to see which poles attract one another. We'll even get to observe how magnetic forces can travel through solid objects as well as water. Later in the month we will study the effects of simple machines on force and motion. Using classroom materials we will make various simple machines. We will make inclined planes and study the relationship between height, distance, and speed.

Our Religion classes are also keeping us busy. We just finished learning about the four marks of the Catholic Church as well as leaders in the Church and their roles. We will begin the month learning about the meaning of the Apostle's Creed and Catholic Social Teaching. Moving forward, we will discuss the different types of prayer. We will get to survey our friends on their favorite prayers as well as their favorite places to pray.

We will be studying folk tales from around the world in our literature series. As we do so we will use our wonderful Eno boards to pull up maps of where the stories take place as well as pictures and clips of the animals and people in these regions. This will surely boost comprehension as well as the interest of the children. It will also help lay the foundation for creative writing experiences.

We are still plugging away at our times tables in Math. We will also be using hands on manipulatives as well as our Kidspiration computer program to explore concepts in division.

Thank you for visiting our web page. See you next month!