Our Lady of Fatima
Parish School News
February
2016
RELATED ARTS
There is excitement in the art room this month as we prepare for our Reverse Raffle Silent Art Auction. Each class and
every student at Fatima is busy preparing a collaborative artwork and the students are really engaged in the process. The
entire Preschool is working on a hand and foot print that we will turn into a collage of a tree while the kindergarten
students have formed the “human loom” to weave a large canvas to paint an apple tree on. The first graders are making
a flower garden mandala design with drawings and tissue paper. The second grade is creating a hanging butterfly-print
quilt in acrylic and fabric. The third grade is creating a multiple canvas “flower blooms” group painting in the style of
Georgia O’Keeffe. The fourth grade is also doing a multiple canvas group painting of dogs and cats in the style of the
late graphic artist, Laurel Burch. Our fifth grade is sawing and drilling away at a modern wood wall sculpture after the
style of American sculptor, Louise Nevelson. The sixth grade will make a multiple canvas painting in Pointillism of
birds and fish. The seventh graders are working on two beautiful mosaics chosen out of designs created by all the class.
After a tie in the voting, we decided to make both. The eighth graders are working on three sculpture pieces: a clay
dinosaur diorama, a wire and bead butterfly with moveable wings, and a clay, paint and copper pipe/wire underwater
fish scene. –Mrs. Anderson
Music: The kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders are busy learning a song which they will sing at
10 A.M. Mass on Sunday, March 6th. Our middle school band students did very well at the All County auditions. Here
are the results: Ella Ransbottom-grade 7, 2nd chair flute, Zoe Kelley-grade 7, 4th chair flute, Audrey Pickett-grade 6, 9th
chair flute, Armaan Karimpour-grade 8, 1st chair clarinet, Sophie Agrawal-grade 7, 2nd chair clarinet, Emilie Charlesgrade 8, 1st chair alto saxophone, Ben Mattam-grade 7, 3rd chair alto saxophone, James White-grade 7, 8th chair
trumpet, Neil Loftus-grade 7, 9th chair trumpet, Maggie Robinson-grade 6, 12th chair trumpet, Seth Racer-grade 7, 3rd
chair trombone, Matthew Klim-grade 8, 1st chair tuba. At the high school All County auditions our alumni did well,
also: Magdalena Bialk-grade 9 at SJHS, 13th chair flute, Bojena Gross-grade 9 at SJHS, 2nd chair clarinet, Parvanee
Karimpour-grade 11 at SJHS, 1st chair French Horn, Stanley Mattam-grade 10 at SJHS, 8th chair trombone, Emily
Branam-grade 11 at CMHS, 1st chair percussion. The concert will take place on Tuesday, March 29th at 7:00 P.M. at
Huntington High School. All are welcome to attend this free concert. –Ms. Finney
Physical Education and Health: February kicked off with Catholic Schools week, so in Physical Education, we had
the experience of having Pump Up The Fun come to us. The children had a great time and definitely got a good
workout. Tradition continued during Catholic Schools Week with the playing of the teacher vs. the 8th Grade in
volleyball (the teachers won). So, in Physical Education that week, we practiced our volleyball skills. We continued on
into the next weeks, playing kickball, sideline soccer, "pin knockdown", 4 Square, and had our annual Jump Rope for
Heart event. The final money count is not in, but I do believe that we have surpassed our school goal of $4000 dollars
for the American Heart Association. In Health Classes, Kindergarten-2nd grade students have continued to learn the
different body systems, including the parts of the system, its function, and how to keep it healthy. Students in 3rd-8th
grades have been working through their nutrition chapter, studying nutrients, food groups, making healthy food choices,
and eating disorders. The middle school students have ended this chapter with the viewing of the documentary called
Super Size Me. –Mrs. Day
Spanish: The elementary students are studying the customs, culture, and continent of South America. They have
played traditional children's games of Chile and Peru. In upcoming classes, students will make rainsticks. The 6th
graders are busy learning how to use action verbs and subject pronouns. The 7th graders are creating a family tree and
the 8th grade students recently completed a Spanish-language mystery. –Mrs. Patterson
OUR LADY OF FATIMA
PARISH SCHOOL NEWS
PAGE 2
In PreK 2 we have been learning about bears and how they prepare for
hibernation. We made a feast for our teddy bears and completed a bear cave for
our bears to sleep in until the first day of spring. We will read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
By, Bill Martin JR and Eric Carle and explore different colors and animals –Mrs. Haynes and Miss Freeland
PRESCHOOL
The 3 year old Pre-school class has started working on sequencing activities and making predictions. We
have made it through the letter U in our “letter of the week” series. We have been experimenting to see what
happens when we mix primary colors together. We enjoyed a visit from the Dentist as part of Dental Health
month. We are a busy group and enjoy our time together. -Mrs. Vassar and Mrs. Sam
Preschool 4-It has been an exciting month full of learning. We have worked on letters R, S, T, U and V. Our
Valentine’s Day party was so much fun and thanks to all the parents who helped. The children learned about
dental hygiene from Dr. Kelly and Dr. Raja. We really appreciated them coming to visit. It is the Lenten
season and the children are trying to make an extra effort to help out at home and be nice to others.
-Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Bates
Lenten greetings from the
kindergarteners at Our Lady of
Fatima Parish School. We have been working very hard to get ready for first grade. We have completed our
writing handbook and have learned to form each letter in the correct way. In math, we are learning how to
write addition sentences and solve word problems. Our reading time has been full of learning weekly sight
words, taking spelling tests, and reading short stories then responding by drawing pictures. We are learning a
lot together and are blessed to do so.
KINDERGARTEN: MRS. SIAS AND MRS. YOCKE
February
Fun!
FEBRUARY 2016
PAGE 3
FIRST GRADE: MS. GATEOnce again, our first graders are excelling in
reading. Their AR points are climbing, and
their ability to recognize words have
improved tremendously! We have been
working with money values, measurement,
math facts, and started fractions, too! In
Social Studies, we have learned about United
States symbols, presidents and voting!
It's been a very busy and exciting time in
Second Grade! February always brings thoughts of
Presidents, and we've enjoyed a George Washington/Abraham Lincoln Contest in our room. We've learned
lots of facts about these two Presidents and divided into teams to answer questions about them. Our contest
ended in a tie so all will have Ice Cream Sundaes as a prize!! We have been working hard on our skill levels
to be ready to be more independent third graders in the fall. We are practicing formulating ideas and answer
essay type questions as well as developing more critical thinking skills. We are learning about the church
season of Lent as well as participating in Stations of the Cross every Friday. Please remember us in your
prayers as we prepare for our First Communion with our CCD friends in May. This will be another big step
in our faith journey as our second graders receive Jesus during this Sacrament.
SECOND GRADE: MRS. BREWSTER
THIRD GRADE: MRS. O’CONNOR The 3rd grade class celebrated President's Day by picking
one president and presenting an oral and written report. A
couple of the students even dressed like their president. We also finished our Mr. Popper's Penguins unit and
are beginning to start our new unit on The Whipping Boy. We are learning many new things in math. We
have also learned that math can be very tasty! We have learned area and perimeter with cheez-its,
multiplication and division with skittles, and graphing and fractions with conversation hearts. Math is
awesome in our class! In Religion, we are learning the meaning of Lent and preparing ourselves for Holy
Week and Easter.
Fourth Grade will be busy the first week of March with Dr.
Seuss week. Math we are continuing to work with fractions
and decimals. Students are researching famous Inventors and Scientist and creating Power points to present to the
class using their chrome books. We will be starting a new novel this month. Trumpet of the Swan by E. B White a
famous author. In Social Studies students will be learning about our Government and how things are ran. We have
learned many things in 4th grade this year and will be finishing up our year strong.
FOURTH GRADE: MRS. DAILEY
FIFTH GRADE: MRS. MCMILLIAN In Fifth Grade Reading and social studies - We have
begun our Westward Expansion unit by reading Caddie
Woodlawn and exploring the Wild West during the Gold Rush of 1849. Math - We will begin our geometry
unit soon by exploring Euler's Theorem and creating 3-dimensional shapes. Geometry will continue for a
few weeks before going back to review fractions and decimals. Writing - we are combining everything we
have learned this year to write letters and create documents form the Westward Expansion period of history.
PAGE 4
The Black Death; what is it and how did it
affect the church? The middle school students
conducted a bone chilling investigation to answer these questions. They became a member of the Center for Disease
Control to complete this task. They had to write up an Official Briefing report to sum up their findings and explain
several falsehoods. The students also looked at the Great Schism of the West and how the church suffered. They took a
tour of the Sistine Chapel and discussed the role of art in our faith. The students discovered how the church faced the
Protestant Reformation and responded with the Counter Reformation. They are busy completing their service hours for
this nine week, and they are working on the first phase of their Wax Museum which will be in May. Forty Bags for Lent
is the middle school Lenten Project. The goal is to gather 40 bags of clothing, toys and bed clothes for ECCHO.
MIDDLE SCHOOL RELIGION: MRS. WHITE
MIDDLE SCHOOL LANGUAGE ARTS: MISS LAFFERRE
Middle school Language Arts students are continuing
their study of grammar, currently focusing on adjectives
and adverbs. Additionally, the sixth and seventh graders
are working on personal narratives, while the eighth
graders are finishing compare/contrast essays. The
students also continue to study novels: the sixth grade is
reading Tuck Everlasting, the seventh grade is reading
The Outsiders, and the eighth grade is reading To Kill a
Mockingbird. Students are also reading individually for
Accelerated Reader.
Spirit Stick Winners! Congratulations to the Eighth Grade!
The middle schoolers have been really busy this month
in math learning many new things. The sixth graders
have been studying about fractions, polygons, probability, and quadrilaterals. The seventh grade class has been learning
about integers and linear equations. In both prealgebra classes, the students have been concentrating on ratios,
proportions, percents, and probability. In the algebra class, the eighth graders have been focused on linear systems of
equations and inequalities. Finally, the geometry class has been learning about special right triangles and properties of
rectangles, rhombuses, and other types of parallelograms. At the Cabell County Math Field Day, Maggie Piaskowski
won first place and the sixth grade team placed third overall, and Armaan Karimpour won first place, Emilie Charles
third place, and the eighth grade team placed first overall. Congratulations to these students.
MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH: MRS. COLE
MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES: MR. BURDICK
6th Grade Science - The students are learning about the ocean. The first thing we covered was how the oceans formed.
Then the students learned how climates are affected by ocean currents. We are about to begin learning about ocean
waves in the first few weeks of March. The last topic we will be learning about is life in the ocean. 6th Grade Social
Studies - We are just about finished learning about capitalism, socialism, and communism. The students had to
determine how each one of these economic systems function. They had to create a list of advantages and disadvantages
for each system, and finally had to state which system they thought was the best. The next unit the students will be
learning about deals with the United States Constitution. 7th Grade Science - The students have been learning about
cell process in the current unit. They will soon come to know how cells trap and use energy to perform life functions.
The next unit we will cover is how cells reproduce. 7th Grade Social Studies - The students are almost finished learning
about medieval Japan. They learned about the geography of Japan and its islands. They also learned about Shoguns and
Samurais. We will be moving on to medieval Europe in our next unit. 8th Grade Science - We are currently learning
about earthquakes and volcanoes this month. In this unit the students learned about primary, secondary, and surface
waves. They will also be learning about the three different types of volcanoes and how the form. Their final project for
this unit will be to create a model volcano.