Having Fun at the Christmas Assembly!

SCA Band Performance & Minute to Win It Games. Thanks, PTO!

The Illuminator

January 2018

ST. CLARE OF ASSISI MONTHLY NEWSPAPER

Winter Reading Program by: Keaton Braeckel & David Powers

In thia iaaue…

Catholic Schools

Week

Winter Reading

Geo. & Spell. Bees

Sports

Electives

Winter Maze

Learning Spotlight

Calendar

Catholic Schools Week by: Ellie Kerckhoff & Makayla Plunkett

A lot of you are probably wondering when our next special event is. Well,

Easter isn’t for a while, but Catholic Schools week is right around the corner!

Catholic Schools Week is a week dedicated to Catholic Schools around the

country. It starts on January 28 and ends on February 3. We celebrate with

many fun activities. In the beginning of the week, we start with an Open

House on Sunday, January 28th starting at 1:00 pm and ending at 3:00 pm.

Then we will have an All School Mass on the Thursday of that week. We

will also have a fun school assembly for the students on an unknown date

and to top it all off, a student versus teacher volleyball game with the middle

schoolers representing the students. Though this week already sounds excit-

ing there is more to come that we can’t say, so be ready for many big sur-

prises!

December 1st through February 28th join the Saint Louis County Library

for a Winter Reading Club. The club offers all ages ranging from 0-12 and

13-adult to join in on the fun. The younger kids are encouraged to read five

or more hours to complete the program. Adults are encouraged to read four

or more books. If participants do succeed in the challenge, then they are eli-

gible for a raffle prize. Some of the prizes for the children consist of board

games, gift cards and Magic House memberships! Some of the prizes for the

adults consist of Kindle Fires and gift cards! All open SLCL branches will

choose three raffle winners from each age group.

Principal Listening &

Discussion Sessions

Tuesday, January 9

Wednesday, January 17

Thursday, February 22

Monday, March 26

Tuesday, April 24

Sessions will be held

at 7:00 pm

in the Library.

Geography & Spelling Bees

3rd Quarter Electives

by: Liz Seiler

The Geography Bee was Wednesday, the 20th of

December. It included 6th graders Ellie W, Brigid,

Charles, Max, Gabe, and Jack along with 8th

Graders Brayden, Blake, Jack D, and Tommy.

Congratulations to Charles Leighton in sixth

grade for winning for his second year in a row.

Also, the Spelling Bee is this month. It will be on

January 12th at 10:30 am in the cafeteria. Best of

luck in the competitions ahead!

by: Jack SanFilippo SCA Sports

by: Quinn Plunkett & Ryan Keith

Saint Clare of Assisi offers a variety of

sports. The students in 3R, 5H, and

7S were interviewed. 5H has a great

interest in soccer, basketball, and vol-

leyball. The majority of this class pre-

fers soccer to basketball. Those who

play basketball love the positions of

point guard, shooting guard, and down

on the block (4). 5H mostly prefer soc-

cer, and only 6 out of the 23 prefer

basketball. 3R liked basketball and

soccer. 13 kids in 3R like soccer over

basketball. Only 3 like basketball, and

the rest did not like either. Their favor-

ite positions in basketball were the

paint, forward, and point guard. 7S is

active in basketball, volleyball, and

soccer. 10 of these students prefer

basketball, the other six like soccer.

The seventh and eighth grade students

will be taking four of these electives

in the third quarter: Clay and Ceram-

ics 1, Clay and Ceramic 2, Film Stud-

ies, Get Going with Google, Improv/

Short Skit, Mix-it-Up, Props and

Scenery/Theater Production, SCA Il-

luminators 2.0, Team Sports, and

Where in the World. Classes begin on

January 8 and end on March 9. Have

fun seventh and eighth graders!

Maze created by: Mack Keating & Blake Ryle

Positive and Playful Preschool Pals:

Three year old Pre-K has been working hard on learning the uppercase

and lowercase “L”. They have also been visiting the library and checking

out books. Along with the letter “l” and the library they have been practic-

ing their art skills by making many exciting crafts. Four year old Pre-K

has been working on writing their names every morning and are getting

better each day!

Kool Kindergarten Kats:

The kind kindergarteners are learning the short vowel sound “o” and the

letter h. Every week they get a new letter. In math the students are finish-

ing up addition. In religion they are learning how Jesus grew up in Naz-

areth. They also learned about Mary and how she willingly said “yes” to

becoming the mother of Jesus even though she was very young and

scared. Their phonics story is Little Rob. The children are learning so

much and meeting many new friends at the school.

Fantastic and Funny First Grade Family:

We interviewed Delanie Jacobs in Mrs. Schimweg’s class, and she gave

us some great details about what it is like to be in first grade. She told us

that they are learning to add and subtract in math. They have a class ani-

mal. In Ms. Feehan’s class a new student every week can take home the

monkey. The monkey is named Monks. If it is their week they have to

make poster about themselves and their families. In Mrs. Schimweg’s

class you have the opportunity to take home Ribbit the class frog. That

sounds like a lot of fun. Delanie said that her favorite books are Junie B.

Jones. All in all, the first grade sounds like they are having a good year so

far. - Delanie Jacobs 1S

Super Spectacular Second Grade Scientists: Second Grade is learned about Mary the Mother of Jesus and enjoyed

touring the joyful mysteries on Mary Day. In reading class, the second

graders have been very

busy on reading Pearl and

Wagner, Two Good

Friends. In Grammar they

are learning pronouns and

how to write creative sen-

tences. In math class, they

are taking time tests over

addition and subtraction.

They are also beginning to

write in cursive.

Thoughtful Third Grade

Thinkers:

The third grade has been working very hard this year. First, the students

has been learning multiplication facts up through 12. Next, they finished

the story Symphony of Whales. They have been studying verbs. I am sure

they are pros by now! Then, in science they have been studying all about

matter. After, learning the Mysteries of the Rosary they could probably

lead us in the living rosary! They are currently working on the four marks

of the Church. Finally, in social studies they are reviewing map skills and

the beginning Westward Expansion. They are also looking forward to

their field trip to the Sheldon Concert Hall with the fourth graders on

Wednesday, January 10.

Fabulous Fourth Grade Favorites:

The fourth grade has been very busy learning. Here is a view into

what they have been learning. They have been reading the book

The Stranger and reading their AR books. AR is an abbreviation

for Accelerated Reader. The idea of that is when you read a book

that is worth so many points and take a test on it. If you score

high enough you can earn points. Eventually, they add up to your

given goal. In science they are reviewing the layers of the atmos-

phere. The students are learning some division strategies and

properties also how to solve problems when dividing by 1 digit

numbers.

Faithful Fifth Grade

Friends:

The faithful fifth graders did a

fabulous job making blankets

on Mary Day. They have been

hard at work multiplying frac-

tions in math and writing their

personal narratives in English

class. The narratives consist of

the students’ adventures and

fun stories. They have also

been spending time on their social studies projects on the thirteen

colonies. In science class, the fifth graders have been learning

about the body systems. The students’ have been reading the

book, Holes, and they will soon watch the movie. -Lydia Wiley

Super Successful Sixth Grade Stars:

The sixth graders are learning about Africa in their social studies

class and have been reading the book A Long Walk to Water to

go along with their lesson on Africa. On another note, the sixth

grade has been writing personal narratives and they will be pre-

senting them. On the topic of writing, they have also been work-

ing hard on acrostic poems. In these poems, the first letters of

each stanza will combine to make a word or a message.

Spectacular Seventh Grade Students:

The seventh graders have been applying their many skills in their

classes each and every day. In math class, they are learning about

rational numbers and fractions. Aside from the lessons on frac-

tions and rational numbers, they are using the website ALEKS,

and they prefer this learning resource over worksheets. In Litera-

ture class, they are reading Christmas Carol and they enjoy the

novel. Taking a trip to the past, the students are studying the

colonists and British taxes in Social Studies. - Quinn Plunkett 7S

Extravagant Eighth Grade Einsteins:

The eighth graders have been finishing up their high school ap-

plications and are impatiently waiting for acceptance letters that

will hopefully be coming sometime in February. In math class,

they are using the website, ALEKS with lessons on many math

topics. In social studies, the students have began learning about

World War II and are finding out how the United States entered

the war. In English and Litera-

ture, they are reading a portion

of Flowers for Algernon and

are watching portions of the

movie that are described in the

reading. In science class, the

eighth graders are learning

about elements in the periodic

table and the compounds that

they make up. They made beau-

tiful rosaries on Mary Day for

the newly baptized.

Learning Spotlight

by: Sydney Dolan, Payton Fisher & Samantha Stryker

Newsletter courtesy of the Illuminators Thu/Fri. Elective Class

January calendar: Payton Fisher, Liz Seiler, Bobby Whiting & Joey Inserra

Editors: Blake Ryle & Mack Keating

Layout editor: Jack SanFilippo

School Board Meetings Thursday, January 18 Thursday, March 22

Thursday, May 17 Meetings will be held at 7:00 pm

in the Conference Room.