St. Benedict Eagle's Nest
January, 2022
S O A R Safety ~ Ownership ~ Achievement ~ Respect
Principal Note
Happy New Year!
We hope this New year finds you safe and healthy! We are happy to have our students back in school at the start of this new year! We continue to follow all safety protocols and monitor covid numbers while in close communication with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. We will continue to provide updates to our families and continue to keep the safety of our students and staff a top priority.
Registration is now open for both the elementary school and the Early Learning Center! Please remember to turn in your child’s tuition worksheet and technology fee. Seats are reserved on a first come first serve basis. Many classes are quickly filling up!
We celebrate Catholic Schools Week from January 30 through February 7. We have many exciting events that are planned for Catholic Schools Week. During this week, we will recognize our parents, students, teachers, staff, and community. On Monday, January 31st, we will celebrate our Police, Firefighters, and community workers of neighboring communities by sending them treats. On Tuesday, we will celebrate Mass and recognize our priests. On Wednesday, we will celebrate our faculty and staff. Thank you, PTU for providing us with a wonderful luncheon! On Thursday, we celebrate our parents with a special treat as well. Friday, we celebrate our students, the reason for the success and blessings we encounter each day!
The New Year has always been a time for looking back at the past, and more importantly, forward to the coming year. It is our opportunity to reflect on life’s experiences and the changes we want to make and resolve to follow through on those changes. May the New Year be filled with many opportunities and blessings for your family!
Early Learning Center
Happy New Year! Our littlest learners at the daycare are so excited to be a part of the St. Benedict School community! We are learning all about ourselves and how to get along with others while having fun! During the Christmas season we learned all about Jesus’ birth and even got the chance to meet St. Nicholas! Our bodies might be little, but our hearts are big and full of love for each other, our teachers, and our school!
PK 1
PK 1 learned about what it means when animals hibernation in the winter. We even brought in our own stuffed animals, fed them lots of popcorn, and gave them a nice little campfire to keep warm, before putting them in their hibernation bin! We also cracked down on our letters, writing skills, and cutting skills, but we still keep it fun! While learning about the J, we used paint to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and made some yummy jello! PK 1 is on a roll and we aren’t slowing down soon!
PK 2
Ms. Byrne’s Preschool class is enjoying the winter season. We started the season off with a winter animals theme. We have done fun crafts, waddled around the classroom like penguins, and even watched a short film on the animals that live in the arctic. We have continued to work on our letter of the week and are enjoying our Friday Show & Tell. We have been taking a trip to the church once a week and saying a prayer with Sister Jane. Each day Ms. Byrne picks a student to lead us in prayer in the morning, lunch and dismissal. Now let there be snow!
Kindergarten
Happy New Year to you and your family! It is hard to believe that we are beginning the Second Semester of the 2021-2022 school year…time sure flies when you are having fun!
KA and KB students are working hard to learn new concepts and skills using what they learned in the first semester as a “spring board.” We continue to practice naming letters and the sounds they make, blending sounds into words, building a word wall, and even reading simple sentences! In Math, we continue to practice counting by ones, twos, fives, and tens to 100. We are building a number chart to show how many days we’ve been in school! The children are learning how to solve word problems with addition and subtraction. In Religion, we continue to discuss making good choices, praying every day, and saying, “yes” to God. In Science, the children are discussing winter and all the changes this season brings to our weather, clothing, eating habits, and activities/sports. In Health, the children are learning about Healthy choices in their diet, exercise, and personal hygiene. The children continue to work on fine motor skills such as printing in proper form, coloring neatly, pasting, cutting, tying shoes, and buttoning/zipping coats.
Grade 1
Overall, it has been a very busy, but fun-filled 2nd quarter and we look forward to celebrating Catholic School's Week very soon! In the meantime, we hope you stay warm and cozy and have a blessed New Year!
Grade 2
Grade 3
January marks the celebration of the Epiphany. The Magi came to offer gifts to the Holy Family. We too, have gifts to share with Jesus. Each one of us has special characteristics that show that Jesus is within us and we can share these with others. Our third graders are always willing to share, help, and offer kind words to others. We are very proud of them.
The third graders are reading about Thomas Edison. He was just about their age when he began experimenting with new ideas that led to amazing inventions. He never stopped asking questions with the encouragement of his mother (who was a teacher also).
Even though we have not had a real “snow day” yet. The students have been reading and listening to snow stories, snow words, and even had a snowball fight inside. We are exploring the 50 states and cardinal directions as well as finding out the temperatures on a weather map to decide if that state might have snow that day.
In Math, students are learning multiplication facts and multiplication in story problems as well as rounding. Students are able to test their skills on online programs such as “Prodigy”. They love a good challenge.
In Science, students are finding out that valuable rocks and minerals that are found in our soil can be used in many ways. For instance, many are used in building materials, cars, roads, and even appliances. Our earth has so many uses and the students are learning about many of these. There is always something to learn as technology advances and new ideas arrive each day.
Feel free to enjoy our artwork in the hallway by 3 A and 3 B.
Grade 4
Grade 5
January 5th Grade Happenings
Happy New Year! We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas break and a Happy New Year!
Fifth graders are learning all about fractions in Math. We are adding and subtracting fractions and even multiplying and dividing them. Learning what to do with each of the different operations is the tricky part. We have discussed all kinds of triangles and the different attributes of quadrilaterals as well. If you miss a day, you miss a lot.
In Reading, we are working on narrative nonfiction and informational text stories. We are learning that narrative nonfiction and informational text are stories about factual information that tells a story and it features photographs and captions in the story.
In Science we are learning about what makes up an ecosystem, biotic and abiotic factors, energy flow in an ecological pyramid and symbiosis! Wow, there sure is a lot to learn about cool habitats, biomes and animals.
In Social Studies, we are learning about the Early European settlements including Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth, We are learning how small governments began in the Colonies before lending ideas to the Constitution. We have also focused on Current Events around the world, and look forward to continuing to find examples of history, geography, economics, and government in our daily lives.
In ELA, we are studying infinite and definite articles, learning how to write a business letter, and synonyms.
In Religion, we are learning about the parts of the Mass. We took a tour of the church. Fr. Haren explained the Vessels and Vestments used at mass and we really enjoyed it.
Grade 6
In Math class, we finished Unit 1! It was long a unit but fun. We learned a lot about shapes, their properties, and dimensions. Unit 2 is about ratios.Students have been solving problems with ratios and finding equivalent ratios. During our remote days, the students did fun activities with math about different Christmas topics. They had to solve different types of problems to solve a mystery, one was the case of the selfish elf and the other was the case of a zombie elf. The students had fun solving these mysteries. The students also figured out how many presents and how much it would cost to give all the gifts for the Twelve Days of Christmas. Surprised by how many gifts and the cost! Students are looking forward to more fun activities and learning!
The focus in 6th grade Reading has been on applying various reading skills to an assortment of activities and different types of literature. We have used escape rooms to apply these skills to get through tasks. The students have read informational texts on the history of Christmas, real vs. artificial Christmas trees, the science behind snowflakes and most recently they explored New Years traditions. Looking ahead we will be exploring the Winter Olympics, Martin Luther King Jr,Valentine's Day and more!
The focus in 6th grade Reading has been on applying various reading skills to an assortment of activities and different types of literature. We have used escape rooms to apply these skills to get through tasks. The students have read informational texts on the history of Christmas, real vs. artificial Christmas trees, the science behind snowflakes and most recently they explored New Years traditions. Looking ahead we will be exploring the Winter Olympics, Martin Luther King Jr., Valentine's Day and more!
In social studies the 6th grade has begun their exploration of the Great Civilization that existed in Ancient Egypt. We began our unit by taking a virtual field trip to the Nile River valley, where we learned the importance of water on the emergence of civilization. We will explore the pyramids, mummies, and the god-kings of Egypt, the Pharaohs.
In sixth grade we wrapped up our first quarter unit on physical science, and moved into the world of life science. We started studying the wonderful world of cells, the” building blocks” of all life. We first talked about how snowflakes make up a snowman or snow woman. Millions of snowflakes have to fall from the sky and gather on the ground, before we can begin to make a snowman. We on the other hand are just like snowmen. But instead of snowflakes we are made up of cells.
We learned that there are over 100 trillion cells in the average human body, and there are about 200 different types of cells. We have bone cells, brain cells, heart cells, skins cells…We also discovered that our bodies grow when more cells are produced than actually die. We looked at the difference between unicellular and multicellular organisms. We then compared and contrasted between a plant cell and an animal cell. Lastly, we investigated why it is important for scientists to know about cells.
In religion we learned about the meaning of Advent, and prepared for the birth of Jesus Christ. We learned about John the Baptist and how he was preparing the people for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and how he baptized Jesus in the River Jordan. Our students also worked on many Christmas Crafts and made beautiful Christmas cards for our soldiers overseas and for Father Haren, Father Marzel, and Father Miola.
Grade 7
The seventh graders have participated in a number of service projects to help those in need-food drive, Zelie Home, decorations for Senior Living Facility in North Olmsted Religion, and cards for the military. The students enjoyed helping those in need and brightening the holidays for the seniors. They are looking forward to projects in the third quarter. The students created their own digital Advent calendar about what Christmas means to them, they did an awesome job. The students completed different webquests to learn about saints, Christmas, and Epiphany. The webquests gives the students an opportunity to use the internet to find information about different topics and watch interesting videos.
In math class, the students completed a unit on circles. They were able to find the area and circumference of a circle plus solve word problems about circles. They have started a unit on proportional relationships. They will use ratios, scale factors, unit rates, and proportional relationships to solve problems. The unit also includes working with fractions, decimals, and percents. During our remote days, the students did fun activities with math about different Christmas topics. They had to solve different types of problems to solve a mystery, one was the case of the selfish elf and the other was the case of a zombie elf. The students had fun solving these mysteries. The students also figured out how many presents and how much it would cost to give all the gifts for the Twelve Days of Christmas. Surprised by how many gifts and the cost! Students are looking forward to more fun activities and learning!
In English class, the seventh graders have been involved in a great deal of critical thinking and reflective writing. They did an amazing job discussing the short novel The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and comparing the themes to the thoughts and writings of American author Henry David Thoreau. Students compared and concentrated quotes from the novel to quotes from Thoreau. They wrote a compare and contrast paper comparing the novel's characters and words to Thoreau's ideas and words. Students learned how to cite their supports and how to include a bibliography at the end. I must say that the seventh graders are really progressing well and inspire me daily with their insights. They have also been working very hard in reviewing grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation through Daily Oral Language as well as exercises from their English book. Students have also been introduced to sentence diagramming. This is a fun way of learning the parts of a sentence and identifying parts of speech. Students create a diagram and place the words from the sentence into their correct spot in the diagram--almost like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together. Looking forward, the students will begin reading the novel Finding Her Way by Anne G. Faigen. Also, students will be comparing the writings of the Reverend Martin Luther King to some of the writings of Thoreau. Students will be writing many reflective responses as well as being involved with class discussion.
The focus in 7th grade Reading has been on applying various reading skills to an assortment of activities and different types of literature. We have used escape rooms to apply these skills to get through tasks. The students have read informational texts on the history of Christmas, real vs. artificial Christmas trees, the science behind snowflakes and most recently they explored New Years traditions. Looking ahead we will be exploring the Winter Olympics, Martin Luther King Jr., Valentine's Day, and more!
In Social Studies, 7th graders have been transported to Medieval Europe. We have learned about how this society turned to feudalism to protect themselves from outside invasions. This system, based on loyalty, lasted for almost 1000 years. In the coming days, we will learn about the role of the Catholic Church and what life was really like for people.
In science, we learned the difference between weather (short term, daily temperatures and precipitation) and climate (long term weather and precipitation). We then learned through several demonstrations how waves are formed. Waves may be formed by: a speeding boat or jet ski; possibly animals with large, powerful tales, like whales and dolphins; underground earthquakes which can cause giant tsunamis; or the most common, wind! We learned why some waters are warmer and colder than others. Once we placed the Currents unit to rest. We then embarked on a new adventure, studying our closest neighbor in the sky, our moon! We began by learning about some amazing facts about our moon and how scientists believe it was formed. We then learned about the eight phases of the moon, and what they are called. Students will begin to track and draw the movement of the moon each night for one complete cycle. To conclude this topic, they will carve out the phases of the moon, using Oreo cookies! Naturally, there will be enough to sample at the end of the lesson!
The seventh graders have also been working on Achieve3000 this quarter. Achieve3000 is an online program to help students with literacy and math. The literacy portion provides many interesting articles with different activities for each article. The students have enjoyed reading articles on many different topics, many relating to today’s world. The students read at least one article a week. The math portion challenges the students to work on new topics and master different topics according to their ability. The students work on their math at least twice a week for 30 minutes. Achieve3000 is a program to help the students better their study skills, literacy and math skills, and improve their MAP test scores.
The Junior High is planning a special two weeks for the Winter Olympics-February 4-20. Each teacher is planning fun and exciting activities. Each homeroom will pick a country to follow and record medal counts. Looking forward to an exciting two weeks!
Grade 8
The eighth graders have been working very hard in English and are getting ready for the rigors of high school English. They began reading Walden by American author Henry David Thoreau and were involved with much critical thinking and writing. Students compared and contrasted Thoreau’s words to the poem “Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas and the song “House on Pooh Corner” by Loggins and Messina, which was read earlier in the year. Students read the first chapter “Economy” and learned how to respond to short answer questions writing in complete sentences. They also reviewed their knowledge of Greek mythology by researching Thoreau’s use of the mythological hero Hercules and explained his purpose in doing so. Students will be involved in a variety of writing of activities throughout the year with this literary work.
Students have also been involved in a variety of writing activities like a narrative about a run away pig, personal reflection about being an American, and journal responses. Congratulations to fourteen of our eighth graders, whose poems have been accepted for publication in A Celebration of Poets. The students then related the themes of two poems to Henry David Thoreau’s first chapter of Walden, “Economy”. Students wrote an original poem based on the themes present in the literary works mentioned. The theme of the poem was leaving childhood behind. We are very proud of our eighth graders because their poems were chosen from hundreds of schools and only fifty percent of all entries are selected for publication .The students are: Elizabeth Tisza, Aviae LaRocco, Courtney McCray, Hope Sherman, Devin Smith, Mia McCarroll, Sameh Nsour, Tea’Asia Wiley-Harris, Fiona Nestor, Madeline Lewis, Charity Boyd, Camila Soto, Mia McGinnis, and Sara Radosevic.
Also, the eighth graders have been working very hard in reviewing grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation. They review through Daily Oral Language as well as exercises from their English book. Students have also been introduced to sentence diagramming. This is a fun way of learning the parts of a sentence and identifying parts of speech. Students create a diagram and place the words from the sentence into their correct spot in the diagram--almost like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together.
Looking forward, students will be learning about the Holocaust and reading literary pieces written by survivors and their relatives in the book Voices of the Holocaust. They will be involved in much discussion and reflective writing. In February students will relate what they have learned to the Civil rights Movement and the words of the Reverend Martin Luther King and Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience.”
The focus in 8th grade Reading has been on applying various reading skills to an assortment of activities and different types of literature. We have used escape rooms to apply these skills to get through tasks. The students have read informational texts on the history of Christmas, real vs. artificial Christmas trees, the science behind snowflakes and most recently they explored New Years traditions. Looking ahead we will be exploring the Winter Olympics, Martin Luther King Jr., Valentine’s Day and more!
In Social Studies, our students are learning about perhaps the most significant legal document ever created, the United States Constitution. This document guarantees citizens our basic rights, and has served as a model for democracy all over the world.
In religion, Father Haren has been teaching every Friday. He presents the basic catechism of the Catholic Church. Students look forward to stories he occasionally tells to them at the end of class. In addition, they learned about the early beginnings of the Catholic Church as well as the many forms of prayer. Students also learned about the beginnings of the Bible and its parts, explaining why each part is important and the ways in which they can be inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Also, students have been using a social-emotional learned platform called BASE that allows students to reflect on issues that affect their everyday life. This introspective platform gives students an outlet for the many pressures that they face.
In Science, our students began their earth science unit on the geologic record and time scale. They began by making a time scale of their own lives, beginning when they were born and continuing through to the present. They highlighted a minimum of ten (10) important events that have already happened in their lives. We then compared them to how scientists document the “history” of life through the fossil record. Noting that instead of using years, months, and days to document events, geologists use eons, eras, and periods. We then began to examine the different types of fossils scientists uncover. We discussed what parts of an organism are most likely to be preserved and which are not, as well as what conditions increase the likelihood that a dead organism will be fossilized. We are planning on making our own fossils by using plaster paris and other materials. Lastly, we will be wrapping up the unit by researching and presenting our findings to a S.O.L.E. question, “What would the world be like, if dinosaurs never became extinct?”
The 8th grade has continued to work with Algebra doing what we call "balanced moves." We will review equations of lines and finish with solving systems of linear equations. We see if two lines cross at one point and where, if they never cross because they are parallel or if they are actually just the same line and not two different ones.
Students and their parents submitted their high school applications and are looking forward to their acceptance letters. This is an exciting time for our students. We are keeping them in our prayers as they anticipate this upcoming new journey in their lives.
STREAM
S.T.R.E.A.M
(Science Technology Religion Engineering Art Math)
All grade levels have been moving full STREAM ahead during our second quarter! Our two major focus areas were; exploring the engineering and design process and programming and coding. I have been very impressed with the students’ growth in working collaboratively with their peers! Please check out the grade level highlights below!
Kindergarten: Kindergarten students participated in holiday themed engineering centers. We created symmetry skeletons, spider thaumatropes and were challenged to build a Thanksgiving table that could hold their Thanksgiving feast! We later explored some “offline coding” activities that taught the students how to give specific directions to a device. We made snowman blueprints and coded snowmen using our walkable coding mats and colby mousebots.
First Grade: First grade students Read the story Bonaparte Falls Apart. Using this story students identified problems and solutions. Students then created symmetry skeletons. We also read The Gingerbread House. Students designed and built gingerbread houses using only cardstock and tape. The students created a blueprint from shapes and then brought their ideas to life! They did an amazing job with their build designs! First grade will begin their coding unit in the 3rd quarter.
Second & Third Grade: Our students read the story The Great Turkey Escape. We created marble mazes using geoboards and Legos. We also learned about the history of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Students mapped the parade route and created their own versions of the famous balloons. We then used the magic of magnets to move our parade balloons through our parade route! Second grade read the story All You Need for a Snowman and created snowmen blueprints. We coded a snowman using our Colby mousebots! Third grade students created a gingerbread path game in Google Classroom and then coded the path the gingerbread man would need to take to get home. When complete, we brought the game alive by creating mazes in our classroom using pictures and popsicle sticks and programming our Colby mousebots to successfully navigate through the maze!
Fourth Grade: Fourth Grade students read the story Balloons Over Broadway and dove deep into the history of STEM in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. They learned that we have a huge connection to the parade here in Akron, Ohio thanks to the Goodyear Company. Students mapped the parade route and designed helium balloons for the parade. In our second session, students reviewed basic coding using the Gingerbread coding challenge. They were then introduced to Dash bot. Dash is a programmable robot with which the students must use block coding to communicate. Their written block code program will direct Dash to complete certain tasks or actions. The students had a lot of fun working together to solve the Dash puzzles. We will continue to work more with Dash during our 3rd quarter.
Fifth Grade: Fifth Grade students were introduced to the art and technology of claymation. The students researched the history of claymation and worked hard to create their own characters and scenery out of clay. They then created a simple storyline and recorded their story, frame by frame. We have been beyond impressed with their creations! In our second session, we introduced coding using a program called Kodable. In this program, students must solve challenges using a set of symbols to create a code. We will continue our coding unit and move into working with the robots in the 3rd quarter.
Sixth Grade: Sixth Grade students learned about “Pocket Museums.” They specifically took a close look at the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. A pocket museum is a tiny collection of artifacts that revolve around a specific topic. The sixth grade students made personal interest pocket museums. Through these museums, you can learn about students’ favorite sports, foods, activities and beliefs. The students created everything from the tiny boxes to the pieces inside. We will be putting these on display in our school soon and we also plan to share our students’ creations with the Hattiesburg museum as well! In our second session, the students were reintroduced to the Dash bots. They have been working collaboratively with teammates to solve Dash challenge puzzles using block coding!
Seventh Grade: Seventh Grade students learned about Rube Goldberg and his chain reaction machines. Through research and trial and error, students worked in groups to create their own Rube Goldberg machine that would work in sync with 6 to 10 seconds of a Halloween themed song of their choice. The students showed tenacity and creativity throughout this challenge! In our second session, students were introduced to electricity and circuits through a variety of activities and challenges. Students used snap circuits to begin their exploration. They taught each other important vocabulary by using their research to create a Google Slides presentation. These were some of the best student created presentations I have seen! The unit concluded by creating a 2D house blueprint and attaching a simple circuit made using a recycled christmas bulb, 9V battery and aluminum foil. The circuit included a switch where the bulb could be turned on and off! They did a fantastic job!
Eighth Grade: The eighth grade students also explored electricity and circuits during our first session. The students explored snap circuits, made simple circuits using christmas bulbs, aluminum foil and a 9V battery and used their knowledge from creating their simple circuit to create a flashlight using recycled materials. Eighth grade’s most recent project is learning about pixels. A pixel is the smallest area of illumination on a display screen, used to create an image. Students created math pixel challenge puzzles for our 3rd and 4th graders using Google Sheets. The students began by creating a character using hands on Bloxel bricks. They then coded their design using letters. Their image was “hand painted” into the cells on their Google Sheet. The students wrote formulas that would allow only certain pixels to appear as a student answers the math challenge questions correctly. Once all 15 math equations are answered correctly, the full image will be displayed. We can’t wait to share these math practice challenges with our 3rd and 4th graders!
Our students are doing great things in STREAM!
Music
Art
In art, students continue to expand their knowledge of the Elements of Art. In kindergarten through second grade we are working on refining our drawing skills and our fine motor skills. In third grade we are working on understanding three-dimensional art or forms and creating sculptural art work. In forth grade we have just completed a project exploring color theory and experimenting with oil pastels. In firth and sixth grade we have been learning about space, form, and texture. In seventh and eighth grade students are working on sharpening their drawing skills and creating form and texture through shading and color. I am very proud and impressed with all my students progress as they learn the Elements of Art and become creative, expressive human beings!
Physical Education
Outreach To Our Community
Eighth Grade Poetry Winners
Congratulations to fourteen of our eighth graders, whose poems have been accepted for publication in A Celebration of Poets. In the fall under the direction of English teacher Mrs. Przybojewski, the students read and analyzed the poem “Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas and the song “House on Pooh Corner” by Loggins and Messina. Both deal with the themes of childhood and childlike qualities. The students then related the themes of the poems to Henry David Thoreau’s first chapter of Walden, “Economy”. Students wrote an original poem based on the themes present in the literary works mentioned. The theme of the poem was leaving childhood behind.
We are very proud of our eighth graders because their poems were chosen from hundreds of schools and only fifty percent of all entries are selected for publication.
The students are:
Elizabeth Tisza
Aviae LaRocco
Courtney McCray
Hope Sherman
Devin Smith
Mia McCarroll
Sameh Nsour
Tea’Asia Wiley-Harris
Fiona Nestor
Madeline Lewis
Charity Boyd
Camila Soto
Mia McGinnis
Sara Radosevic
Junior Holy Name and Drama Ministry
Junior Holy Name is collaborating with sixth, seventh, and eighth grade Drama Ministry students to prepare the Living Stations of the Cross. These Stations are retold from Mary’s point of view as she witnesses her Son’s suffering death on the cross, and Resurrection. It is told through liturgical movement, music, pantomime, and dramatic reading. These Stations will be presented during Lent for the St. Benedict community.