Mrs McGinnis

Spring has Sprung!!

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:45:51 GMT

This week we begin the month of April. It is hard to believe how quickly this year has gone. As we get busier and busier, I will keep updates on this blog so parents can check out what is happening.

April 2 - Our trip to Althoff to see the play "Fiddler on the Roof". One of our 3rd graders is part of the cast as are I am sure many alumni of St. Mary's & St. Augustine"s.

April 23 & 24 - Shrine - We will be there both days and be very busy people. The Shrine will provide our lunch and usually have a little breakfast for us as well. They will give the class t-shirts and the seventh graders need to wear these shirts both days. Jeans are the best choice for pants to wear.We will need a few parents to drive those days. It will just be a pick up and deliver event. Any parent who drives must be in compliance with the Child Protection Policy.

April 28 - 6th & 7th grade field trip to St. Louis.

We will visit the Botanical Gardens, take a riverboat cruise & visit the Old Cathedral. We would love parents to accompany us but again you must be in compliance. Permission slips will be going out soon as we need to pay for the riverboat tickets very quickly.

Book Reports - the 6th & 7th grades need to read a Newberry Award or Honor book for their book report this quarter. They need to choose a book and begin reading. Details on the report will come out at a later date.

Big week Ahead:

Monday- Bishop Braxton will visit

Wednesday - We have the State Accreditation team at school all day. Also, 1:30 dismissal day

And, as I sit here on Saturday morning, we have 3 chicks trying to peck their way out.

Please remember to send in the $6 to cover our class auction project and to place an ad for the 7th grade in the Ad book.

The auction project is a Nativity set. It is really turning out so well as each student paints and stains their own piece to the set.

Always an exciting time!!!!

Successful Science

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:36:29 GMT

The Science Fair / Carnival is in the past but I would like to thank some of the people that made it such a success.

1) All of the students that participated in the Science Fair. The projects looked fantastic and everyone could see the hard work and dedication that went into creating these great works of science.

2) The students that were eligible and took their Fair projects to particiapte in the Greater Belleville Science Fair. They did a super job of representing SMSA.

3) The 7th & 8th grade Science Carnival students were fantastic as well. Their seven weeks of work paid off as the Carnival was very successful. We hope that everyone learned from these excited science students.

4) A special thanks to our parents who bought materials, transported students and projects, gave support in so many ways and attended the Science Fair/ Carnival. We couldn't have done it without you.

5) The Society of American Military Engineers from Scott Air Force Base for their support in judging and the prizes they awarded the winning students and teams.

6) The SMSA Faculty & Staff for their support in changing lunch times, making room in the halls, judging and countless other things that everyone did to make the day a super one.

Again, thanks to everyone but especially the wonderful SMSA science students. I am proud of each of you!

Science Fair / Carnival are Coming!!!

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:46:32 GMT

It won't be long and March 5 will be here. On that day,some students from Grades 4 & 5 and all 6th grade students will be able to display their Fair projects. The projects are due at school on Wednesday, March 4th.These students have put forth a great deal of work and would enjoy for you to see the projects.

Science Carnival will be held March 5th from 1 - 3 and 6:30 - 8:00. We hope many will come to see the 7th & 8th grade present their hands on experiments. They have been working on their projects since the beginning of January and are looking forward to "teaching" many people about their findings. Please join us that evening and see these young scientists at work.

The Science Carnival is much different from a Science Fair so we hope you will come and experience the difference.

Camp Ondessonk will have a presentation for our students on Tuesday.

Energy Club is this Thursday.

As we move into the last week of February the students will be very busy with their Science projects.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Happy Valentine's Day

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:21:20 GMT

We have a busy week ahead. Lots of great things are always happening at SMSA!

Tueday will be our Jump Rope for Heart. We will spend the afternoon doing heart helpful things and learn how important it is to eat healthy and exercise.Please remember to send your donations for this worthy cause.

Wednesday we will have our Child Protection Class for the students. The seventh grade will be having their class at 11:30.

Energy Club is on Thursday until 4:00.

Friday we will celebrate Valentine's Day. Seventh grade will be eating treats and exchanging Valentine's at 2:30. Valentine cards are welcome as long as the student has a card for everyone in our class.

Science Carnival is getting closer and closer. Please encourage your student to work on their procedures and facts.

Sixth Grade is working hard on their Young Author stories and Science Fair.

We had a great time with Ms Ruef and Father Stan at House of Chiu.

The food was delicious, the company pleasing and the students were amazing.I was so proud of their great manners and good behavior.

Have a great week and enjoy the preparations for Valentine's Day.

Superbowl Sunday

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:29:50 GMT

I am sure everyone is planning for their big day of football. It seems that the majority of the seventh graders are cheering for the Cardinals. At least we have encouraging words for them on our white board. I ,too, am cheering for them as I really think a great deal of the integrity of Kurt Warner.

Catholic Schools Week was an interesting one with the snow days but then the students may think those 2 days were the best part of the week.

We will have the Mission Carnival on Tuesday so please remember to send money for games and snacks. It is always best to send change and one dollar bills as we sometimes run out of change at the booths when we receive 5's and 10's.

Remember, Wednesday, Feb. 4, is an early dismissal day. Please remember we will be out of school at 1:30.

We are very proud of our math team and their sweep at the Belleville East Contest. Thanks to Mrs. Schaab and our 7th & 8th grade Math Team members. That was AMAZING!

Sixth Grade continues to work on their Science Fair projects and they are writing Young Author Stories.

Seventh and Eighth grades are busy with Science Carnival. Some of the groups have a good idea of what they are doing, others are still thinking.

Seventh grade Literature class is reading a novel called "Holes".

Seventh grade is hoping they will be able to go to lunch with Fr. Stan this week since we had to cancel due to snow.

Have a great week! Can you believe its February?

Catholic Schools Week

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:46:17 GMT

We are looking forward to a fun week ahead as we celebrate our Catholic Schools. It is so great to have all of the wonderful schools that we have and especially SMSA. We are grateful for the families who sacrifice to give their children a Catholic education.

Coming events for the week of Jan. 26 - 30

Monday is a celebration of First Responders with a special luncheon.

Tuesday is our Bible Trivia and a big thank you to Fr. Bill, Fr. Stan andSr. Jeannine.

Wednesday will be cake bingo.

Thursday is the Mission Carnival. Please remind your child to bring some money to spend.

Thursday, the seventh grade will be hosted by Fr. Stan at the "House of Chiu" for lunch.

Friday is our ice cream social and sock hop. Friday is also a seventh grade Mass.

We will still have classes and a reminder to all that the Science Fair/ Carnival gets closer everyday.

Energy Club will be Jan. 29, Feb. 12 and 26.

Please remember to return your report cards this week.

Sixth grade will begin work on their Young Author Books.

Jan. 12 - 16

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:40:48 GMT

Congratulations to our 8th Grade science class. On this past Thursday, all 15 students were trained in CPR. This is such valuable knowledge and is the perfect time to learn CPR while we are learning the workings of the heart in Science class.

The 7th grade did a super job with the squid dissection. They did a great job with the lab safety part of it as well, considering this was the first time for everyone to use scalpels.

The 6th grade are beginning to construct their Hot Air Balloons.

This is the final week of the 2nd quarter so we will be having some tests and looking at the goals we set for this quarter turned out.

The Althoff Seniors have completed the first week of their service project. Their home base while they are here is the seventh grade classroom. Everyone is keeping them busy with classroom work.

Please keep in mind that the Science/Fair Carnival will be on March 5. The students will come to the Carnival form 1 - 3 and adults are invited to see the boths and displays that evening from 6:30 - 8.

The Science Carnival was developed to have the older students take an active role in developing and constructing a hands on project. They work on 3 person teams and follow the Scientific Method. The Carnival then allows them to collect their data while teaching others about their project. It is another way of paricipating in a Science Project but puts the students in control of teaching younger students and by doing so, learning more of the development themselves.

Have a great week!