St. Christopher School

“But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom” (Isaiah 11:1)

We have kicked off our Advent season with a focus on the Jesse Tree.  The Jesse Tree is a pictorial representation of the genealogy of Jesus’ family.  It begins with Jesse, King David’s father, and continues to Jesus.  The sixth graders are creating their own Jesse Trees and they will be on display outside of 6E.

We will hear the words:  Peace, Waiting, Hope, “The Coming”, Preparing, Anticipating, and Joyful Expectation throughout this Advent season.  We are waiting for the arrival of the Prince of Peace, Jesus.

Literature has us preparing for Christmas with “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens.  We read a six scene condensed version of his very famous play.  The children focus on peace, kindness, and goodwill.  For our December book report we will practice reading aloud a children’s storybook.  Students will work on reading aloud clearly, loudly, and with expression.  Their actual book report will be to read their story to their buddies in 1M.

In Spelling we will test on Lessons 11, 12, 13, and 14.  All lessons except 12 can be found on www.spellingcity.com.  Lesson 12 is a review of Lessons 8, 9, 10, and 11.

Our student teacher, Miss Anna Cooper from Rivier College, will be teaching all four math classes.  The fifth grade students are working on a recipe project involving adding, subtracting, and multiplying fractions and mixed fractions.  Miss Cooper is teaching fractions using notes, practice, and interactive games.  Step-by-step, as they learn a new skill, they will add a piece to their project.  The sixth grade is finishing the integers unit with a “Connect-the-dots” project in which they graph their own design of an animal on the coordinate plane and list the coordinates to recreate the animal.  The sixth grade will begin a fraction unit with divisibility rules, prime numbers, greatest common factors, and least common multiples.  These skills will help them add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions and mixed fractions into simplest form.

Please continue to drill your children daily on their mathematical facts.  They are an essential part of every lesson we do.  Without having them memorized, they will find it difficult to perform more complicated tasks.

Don’t miss the sixth grade prayer service on December 23^rd at 9:15 AM.  6E will be preparing this event.  Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas holiday!