Greetings and happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed the holidays. May the good cheer of the season and the message of Jesus remain with us always. Read on for what will be happening in fifth grade this month.

In religion class we will continue to study the Eucharist and the mass parts. I encourage children to pay attention at mass and follow along in the missal. Students will need to know the parts of the mass. The last week of January is Catholic School's week, so lessons will be devoted to celebrating our Catholic identity and our excellent school. St. Leonard School will have an Open House January 25 from 11:OOAM-12:30PM. We hope to see there you then.

Geometry has been the focus of math class. The class seemed to catch on and did well on homework and in seatwork. However, most did poorly on the quiz. We will review the material and try again when they are ready. Grades are low in math this quarter for several reasons. The new series is more challenging and the students have not been asked to apply math as much. Students have also done poorly on the math review sheets. I encourage students to get help as needed from you or me. By the end of the second quarter, students will be given two more review sheets, one retake of the

geometry quiz, and one cumulative test. Hopefully, students can do well and demonstrate they understand all the math concepts to the best of their ability. We will also be practicing multiplying decimals and understanding fractions this month.

We will review molecules and compounds in science class. Making mixtures and solutions will also keep us busy in science. Activities that prove that air is matter because it has mass and volume will also be explored. Then we will move on to experimenting and learning about Newton's Laws of Motion.

Students continue to read daily in the classroom. They are given time to read silently and independently to read a book for a book report. The next reports are due 1/12. Students finished reading Tuck Everlasting and we have returned to the reader. We have resumed with workbook pages and quizzes form the workbook. We concluded a story, "Fury of a Hurricane", before break and the assessments will be in this week's folder. This week we will read "Dwaina Brooks" with a focus on recognizing fact and opinion. Reading from the reader and reading Scholastic News are more ways we will practice reading.

We are concluding unit 7 in vocabulary. If students did not have their books at home to complete the lesson or prepare for the test, they may have extra time. Students and I will discuss what would be fair. I will also be assigning unit 8 in vocabulary. Spelling pre-tests and post-tests will follow the same schedule :this week a pre-test next week a post-test and alternating every week.

Keep in mind that there are two weeks left to the second quarter, and report cards will go home 1/23. I hope the Wednesday's folders keep you updated on your child's progress. I also hope we all have a blessed, rewarding, and successful new year. May Jesus' message stay with us always. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact me.

Thank you,

Mrs. Thoner