SBCS Eagle's Nest
October 2021
PRINCIPAL NOTE
October is “Respect Life” month. The value of human life comes from the act of creation. We are important because God created us. Each of us has a mission or a purpose to perform. “The moments of our life are opportunities to use and build upon our special talents and abilities.” (Bishop Sheen).
We all have an impact on everyone with whom we come in contact. The impact may be great or small. The very way we choose to live our lives has an effect on those around us. Each of us can make our work a gift to the world. The opportunity is right before us.
Social justice issues are a part of our religious instruction at St. Benedict Catholic School. Through our classroom lessons and liturgical celebrations, children are reminded of the importance of life. They are reminded to respect the life and dignity of each person, the call to family and community, the rights and responsibilities of Christians, the importance of offering service for the poor and vulnerable, and taking care of God’s creation and the environment.
As we reflect on the value of life, it is also important for us to express our care and respect for our children. Our children are unique individuals, with unique talents and gifts that should be encouraged and celebrated. We must model to our children the sacredness of human life. They need to see us being honest and respectful with other people. Modeling respect includes complimenting our children and trusting them, being fair to them, keeping promises, paying attention when they have something to share, valuing their thoughts and opinions, helping them set and achieve personal goals and showing love, forgiveness and acceptance. Children aren’t perfect and they need to know their actions have consequences. When they make mistakes it is important to let them know that they are always loved.
ELC
St. Benedict Early Learning Center
Daycare
St. Benedict Daycare opened its doors on Tuesday, September 7th! The excitement was in the air as our littlest learners and their families were welcomed into the St. Benedict Catholic School community. The teachers quickly got into the “groove” and started many fun activities, lessons, and art projects to engage and enrich the learning process for our infants and toddlers.
One learning experience that our children and teachers have enjoyed is participating in the “Adopt a Cow” program. Our host family is the Deetz Family at Four Pines Farm Ltd. in Sugarcreek, Ohio. Over the next seven months, Farmer Mackenzie, from our host farm will help us learn about our cow (Maisy) and the farm she lives on.
Our infants and toddlers had great fun making their own cows with stampers and crayons. This art project was used to create our classroom farm. As the school year proceeds we will create and add new animals to the farm.
PK 1
September was back to school month and PK 1 kicked it off with lots of fun projects to get hands on. During our vegetable unit, we discussed the different ways we eat our favorite vegetables and even tried some out in class, like popcorn and mashed potatoes! During our fruit unit, we made smoothies, tried different types of grapes, and concocted our own fruit salad! Our apple unit kept the ball rolling as we learned about how one of the most popular fruits keeps us healthy, comes in many different colors and sizes, and tastes yummy in many different ways! We tried green, yellow, and red apples, made applesauce, and made caramel apples! Our busy little chefs also worked with their alphabet, and developed fine motor skills like cutting and writing. There is never a dull moment in PK 1!
PK 2
This October in Preschool we have been talking about farms, fall, friends & family. While we work on a new letter each week, we also have been having Friday Show & Tell! This activity goes along with our letter of the week. Our classroom is beginning to look pretty spooky, as we get excited for our Halloween Party! We will be having a children’s author come to our classroom on October 20th to read his book & sign a classroom copy. Also, we will be ending the month with the Fire Department coming to visit as we begin to work on Community Helpers.
Kindergarten
The Kindergarten children have been busy since day one getting
into and practicing the school/classroom routines & procedures.
They have had the opportunity to practice safety drills.
The Kindergarteners have also been working on many concepts and skills. In Religion they have been practicing making
the sign of the cross properly, reciting prayers and following in Jesus’ footsteps by treating others with respect. In Reading they are identifying letters and the sounds they make at the beginning and at the end of words, building a word wall and practicing rhyming words. In Math we are counting by ones and tens to 100, counting & naming sets with numbers, sorting sets and reading & extending patterns. In Social Studies and Science we are learning about the seasons, identifying living & nonliving things and about holidays & customs. The children are also working on printing in proper form, coloring neatly and cutting. These are just a few of the MANY concepts and skills we will be working on daily in class!
Our days in kindergarten will be filled with many fun activities as well as educational experiences.
We are all excited about this new year and look forward to working together as a team with our parents and kindergarteners as they begin their educational journey at Saint Benedict Early Learning Center.
Grade 1
Happy Fall First Grade Families! It has been an exciting start to the school year for our little ones. From reacquainting with past friends and making new ones, it has been wonderful to see everyone back in the classroom setting. During the first quarter, our students have been very busy learning their new classroom routines, while engaging in their daily studies. In Religion, we began the school year introducing ourselves to St. Benedict and learning how much God loves each one of us. In Math, we are exploring our math facts by means of a variety of hands-on manipulatives. These include number racks, dominoes, and number lines. We even introduced non-standard measurement by measuring one another with giant paper apples. In Reading, we are exploring a variety of story genres, such informative texts, folk tales, and fables, all while discussing story structures and character development. For Phonics, our students have reviewed the unique sounds our letters make and are now working on blending these sounds to form familiar everyday words. In English, our students pretended to be Johnny Appleseed and wrote sentences describing an apple’s color, shape, and taste. For Science, we identified the specific needs all living things, such as food, water, shelter, and sunlight. Finally, in Social Studies, we have been learning different strategies on how to get along with our fellow peers in school.
Overall, it has been a very fun filled first quarter and we look forward to our first field trip to Patterson Fruit Farm in the coming week! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this crisp pretty weather!
Grade 2
The students in Grade 2 have been very busy working on their lessons and learning a great deal. They of course are “geniuses. Students are happy to be back in school with their friends! ”The students are working on researching their patron saint or favorite saint and will be dressing up as this saint on the feast of All Saints Day. Each week, they attend Mass, and are learning the prayers and responses, of the liturgy. In Math the students have been reviewing number sense and working with the classroom manipulatives. They are enjoying the many stories in Reading class. The students have been sharing what they have been learning with their families!
Grade 3
Third Grade has been amazing this year! They have attended Mass each week and have had so many wonderful questions about our church, Jesus, St. Monica, St. Augustine, and so much more. They are very inquisitive and ready to soak up lots of learning! Just take a walk down our hallway to see their beautiful displays!
We have already started learning the Rosary and the prayers represented by each bead and the beautiful dedication it holds to Mary and Jesus. It teaches us so much about our faith and the faith and love that Mary had for God.
In Science, students are learning about soil and how different types of soil are specific for growing certain plants. They are also learning about the nutrients found in the soil and how important it is to farmers and in our lives as consumers!
These students love to read! They have been “Reading Machines” and they even keep a reading log to prove it! We packed our suitcases and went on a “Journey” through a very fine school, a courtroom with some very funny characters, and now we are headed to the Golden Gate Bridge! They have been able to visit the library and take out chapter books weekly. So we are off to a great start!
In Math, students have been measuring almost anything that they can see in and around the classroom. This hands-on experience is always more fun! They are reviewing addition and subtraction facts and will soon be ready for the big “M” word, that is... Multiplication!
These students love to look at maps and are learning about the continents, oceans, and the ways we locate places on a map. Many of them are able to find places that they have already visited or hope to visit some day! We even made a map of our own classroom!
And of course, who could say “October” without thinking of Halloween. These little ones are so excited about the class projects, puzzles, spooky stories, and cute little pumpkins that pop up throughout the month! Of course, costumes and treats are the best part of this fun holiday!
Miss Fantacone
Ms. Dileno
Grade 4
Fabulous Fourth Grade
Fourth grade has had an amazing start to the year. Since returning to school we have been busy adjusting to life on the second floor, switching classes, making friends, and learning new things every day!
In Religion students have been learning ways to practice their faith. We are happy to be back attending Mass every Tuesday with the whole school community. The fourth graders have been doing a fantastic job participating and singing at Mass too! Students have been learning all about Latitude, Longitude, and about all the different Geographical features in the State of Ohio. In Reading we have been looking at informational texts and short stories. In ELA students have focused on learning the types of sentences, objects, direct objects, and writing personal narratives.
It’s been a busy 1st quarter but we are eager to see where the rest of the year takes us!
Grade 5
We have had a great beginning to the new school year in fifth grade. There are 45 students with seven new students who have joined us and decided to call St. Benedict Catholic School home.
We attend Mass weekly, have specials every day and shop at the SOAR store as well to see how we can use our dojo points for good behavior. We have taken the MAP tests, visit the library weekly, have Spanish once a week, and have seen all of our Specials teachers at least once. We have even taken our school pictures, had a practice fire drill and lock down drill, made art for the Church, and had a visit from Father Haren.
Some of the best sales for the World’s Finest Chocolate fundraiser has come from the 5th grade! Way to go 5th grade! With so much going on we still manage to switch with our four different teachers to learn all kinds of new concepts. We are off to a fabulous start in fifth grade and can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for us. Growth is going on in everything we do. Check here next month to see just what that is.
Grade 6
Sixth graders are off to a wonderful start in English. They have been reviewing basic grammar and punctuation on a daily basis, and are practicing correct paragraph format by answering responses to journal questions. They must have a topic sentence, three supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence. Students had the story If You Spent the Day with Henry David Thoreau and Walden Pond by Robert Burleigh read to them. Then the students used their imaginations to write a narrative describing what they would do if Henry visited them. They need to include dialogue and descriptive detail.
What can you learn from maps? Probably a lot more than you think, our 6th grade students have been hard at work exploring all the information that maps can tell us. They also began an investigation into the various forms of government that have existed in the world, including Monarchy, Dictatorship, Oligarchy and Democracy!
Math class has been fun but challenging. We are learning about different types of shapes. Once we have identified the shape, we have learned how to find the area. We then moved on to three-dimensional shapes by finding the surface area and volume. We have used many different manipulatives to help us find the area-digital tools, snap blocks, grid paper, rulers, and foam shapes. We have also been practicing our multiplication facts and multiplying large numbers. We are looking forward to our next unit on ratios, and wondering what fun we will have.
Our class started the year with a prayer service outside and a nature scavenger hunt. Pictures are included. In Religion we have learned about Creation, Adam and Eve and a number of other things.
In sixth grade science we started off the new school year by learning about motion, energy, and forces. We conducted many experiments and demonstrations to understand how energy and matter are never created or destroyed, only transferred or changed from one form to another. Regarding forces we learned about Isaac Newton's three Laws of Motion, and engaged in numerous demonstrations and experiments with this topic as well.
In sixth grade reading the students have been reading a piece of historical fiction. Historical is realistic fiction that is set in the past and includes real places and real events of historical importance. Details about the way people lived in other times and cultures are included. Historical fiction includes the basic elements of fiction—setting, character, plot, conflict, and theme. It is a type of realistic fiction, which means fictional characters behave like real people and use real human abilities. While reading an excerpt from the novel "The Breadwinner", the students examined the elements of historical fiction.
Grade 7
The seventh graders started the year off with prayer service outside and a beautiful group picture. We discussed our theme S.O.A.R. (Safety~Ownership~Achievement~Respect) and how we need to S.O.A.R. in all parts of our lives. We created an eagle with our names, so the seventh grade can soar like an eagle. In Religion, we are learning more about Jesus, Mary, and the Saints plus different national holidays-Patriot Day, International Day of Peace, and more. When we learn about one of the many saints, we are learning how to live our lives to be closer to God. Each Religion class starts with a meditation, where we relax and focus on God.
Math class was fun drawing scale copies and learning about scale factors. We spent a unit on scale drawing where we learned about making scale copies and using corresponding sides and angles to draw a scale copy. This unit led us into our next unit on proportions and writing equations. When we write an equation, this helps us to determine if we have a proportional relationship. We are solving equations using a table to help us. This table makes it easier to determine if there is a proportional relationship. Learning about relationships will help us in our next unit of circles.
What helps people rise up to face difficulties? That has been the focus question for our current unit in seventh grade Reading. We started to explore that question by reading the short story “Rogue Wave”. The aim of a short story is to interest and entertain readers. Authors achieve this aim by crafting compelling characters who experience events and situations that readers want to follow until the conclusion. Short stories may be based on real-life, everyday situations or on imaginary and unusual ones. They can be funny or serious, and they usually have something meaningful to say about life. In an adventure story, the characters usually face extremely dangerous situations in exciting settings. We have also looked at various informational texts focused on the 20th Anniversary of September 11 and the start of fall.
Students in seventh grade English are off to a wonderful start. They are perfecting their writing skills by responding to thought-provoking journal questions. Also, students researched the 188 artifacts from the Thoreau Collection found on the Concord Museum web page. They chose the one that appealed to them the most and drew it. Then the students wrote a personal narrative from the artifact’s point of view as it tells the story of its experiences in the Thoreau household. Students also review basic grammar and punctuation on a daily basis.
In addition, seventh graders are reading the novel The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Students are involved with many writing activities based on this novel including identifying them, symbolism, and literary devices. They are also comparing and contrasting Henry David Thoreau’s words with the themes present in this short novel. After completing the novel, students will write an expository paper explaining the ways the novel reflected the values and actions of Thoreau.
In social studies, 7th-grade students began the year by taking a virtual field trip to Greece. Students are learning all about the vast accomplishments that the Ancient Greeks achieved. The Greeks are well known for advances in science, mathematics, art, and most importantly for developing the world's first democracy. This achievement still influences our own society today!
It has been an exciting start to our school year in science. In seventh grade, our students have been learning about the various stages of the water cycle. We've watched videos read, and even conducted several experiments in our science lab to learn more about this topic. The experiments we conducted involved making it rain, by using boiling water, a glass container, a glass plate, and some ice cubes. The students predicted what would happen when the warm air came in contact with the colder air. Just like in nature the liquid evaporates into the atmosphere where it condenses, forms clouds, and then begins to precipitate Another experiment involved placing a plant in a sealed plastic bag and placing it on a window sill. After a while students were able to observe tiny droplets of water forming on the plastic bag. The process is called transpiration and it's when plants release water back into the atmosphere! Plants are amazing things! We are now moving into studying the various layers of our atmosphere, and exactly what happens in each. Stay Tuned!!!!
Grade 8
Grade eighth students have had a wonderful beginning to the new school year. They are happy to be in the classroom setting with their classmates as well as their teachers.
In English, students have been perfecting their writing skills by reviewing grammar and punctuation on a daily basis as well as writing responses to thought provoking journal questions. They read and discussed the lyrics to “House on Pooh Corner” by Loggins and Messina, as well as the poem “Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas. Students then wrote an original poem expressing their sentiments about leaving childhood behind. This was done as preliminary work to the reading of Thoreau’s Walden.
Students also researched the 188 Thoreau artifacts posted in the Collections of the Concord Museum web page. They chose the one artifact that intrigued them and drew it. Next, they wrote a narrative from the artifact’s point of view, expressing its experience of being in the Thoreau household.
A very spiritual day was spent on September 29 when the students went to Camp Christopher for an all day retreat sponsored by the Got Prayer team of Trinity High School. Students enjoyed being outside in the beautiful setting and listened to witnesses by the high school students, engaged in a nature hike, and did various activities. They experienced various types of prayer and were quite enthusiastic with song and dance. Father Haren culminated the retreat with the celebration of Mass.
In Religion, the eighth graders learned about the characteristics of being Catholic. They have also discussed beliefs found in the Apostles and Nicene Creeds. Father Haren teaches Religion classes once a week and is explaining the basic tenets of our faith. Also, students have spent time researching a saint of their choice and will present their findings in a power point to the entire class.
Students in Reading have also been very busy. Does technology improve or control our lives? That question is the current focus in Reading. We have read the short science fiction story "A Brave Little Toaster". A short story includes all the basic elements of fiction, such as setting, characters, plot, conflict, and theme, but the text is limited in length. Science fiction is a genre of fiction that combines real scientific information with imaginary elements. Science fiction often raises questions about issues facing the world today by describing potential outcomes in the future. In this lesson, students analyzed the elements of plot in “The Brave Little Toaster” to draw conclusions about the author’s message about technology. We have also looked at an informational text piece titled “Are Bionic Superhumans on the Horizon?” The purpose of informational text is to present factual information. The article may use text patterns like main idea and details or question and call-to-action. Features, such as headings and captions, also point to main ideas and details. In this lesson, students used text organization to explore the article “Are Bionic Superhumans on the Horizon?”
It has been an exciting start to the school year in Science. Our eight graders were introduced to the earth's interior by reading excerpts from the Jules Verne class, " Journey to the Center of the World." They traveled and explored the various layers of the earth. They used a loaf of bread, a hard boiled egg, and play doh to demonstrate all four layers of the earth. Next, they wrapped up the unit by researching, compiling, and presenting a slide show presentation, answering the SOLE question, " What would happen if earth's core cooled down?" This is an area where the eighth graders s excel! They are beginning a new unit on Pangea, plate tectonics, and continental drift.
In Social Studies, the eighth grade students have been exploring the settlement of the Americas, and the various groups responsible including the Spanish, French, Dutch, and British. They have learned about the different colonies and the governments and economies that developed.
In Math, the students are working on a chapter that talked about rigid transformations such as translations (slides), reflections (flips), and rotations (turns). They also discussed the angles in triangles and with parallel lines. They decided one day to find out how to finger out the measure of the insides of any polygon if the class knew how many sides it has. Instead of just learning a formula they figured out how to do it by drawing triangles inside. Soon, the eighth graders will work on dilations, similarity and slope. The first two relate more to geometry and the last one will relate more to algebra eventually.
STREAM
S.T.R.E.A.M
(Science Technology Religion Engineering Art Math)
We have had an excellent start to our year in STREAM! STREAM is our expanded “STEM” program here at St. Benedict. We are excited to include religion and art in our projects, challenges and exploration topics.
So, what is STREAM or STEM? STREAM/STEM based programs focus on the development of teaching and learning “Strategies That Engage Minds.” This quarter in STREAM, students engaged in activities as members of a collaborative learning community or “team.” The lessons, challenges and activities completed also incorporated Social and Emotional learning standards. These standards help students to appreciate more deeply their own identity, as well as fostering appreciation of the unique identity of their peers.
Kindergarten students engineered with the alphabet this quarter! Students rotated through centers in which they built Chicka Chicka trees and balanced letters on the popsicle stick leaves, built their names with Lego blocks, created an alphabet city and constructed alphabet gems. They were excellent engineers!
First Grade students learned what it means to be a maker and participated in a team cup stacking challenge. For our second week of classes, students heard the story The Crayon Man by Natascha Biebow. We learned about the invention of the modern crayon and then used Legos to engineer a crayon box of our own that would fit 8 crayons...the same number of crayons that appeared in the first colorful crayon box made by Edwin Binney!
Second Grade students read the book The Pigeon Has to Go to School by Mo Willems. After reading, we researched different ways to get to school and brainstormed other more exciting ways to travel. The second graders decided that the pigeon should zip-line to school. They designed, created and tested their own zip line contraptions and successfully got the pigeon to school on time! For our second week of class, we created spinning ghosts and engineered our own free standing monsters! It was a spooky good time!
Third and fourth grade students learned about the 3 pillars of respect. These pillars remind us to have respect for ourselves, our peers/teachers and our classroom materials and spaces. Students made predictions and experimented with three different pillars to determine the strongest. Each pillar had a different shaped base; triangle, square and circle. Each pillar was made from a single sheet of computer paper. We found that the circle base was the strongest. In some tests, the pillars held a stack of 10 books! In our second week of classes, we heard the story The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. In this story the main character learns an important lesson about her name and friendship. Students then created an identity stamp using cardboard and Wikki Stix! We learned about reflection and making sure that our stamps were printing letters and numbers the correct way using playdoh. We loved learning what makes each of us special and unique through our stamp designs!
Fifth Grade also completed the 3 pillars challenge during our first week of STEM. For our second week, fifth graders researched and learned about claymation. Students worked with clay to create interesting characters and brainstormed ideas for a claymation mini-movie. Students planned for their mini-movies by sketching a storyboard. We will use a program called Animate It Lite the next time we meet to record our claymation mini-movies!
Sixth Grade used teamwork to break out of several digital escape room challenges. They did an excellent job of communicating and thinking out of the box to solve some pretty tricky puzzles. In our second week of classes, students learned about pocket museums and began making a personal interest pocket museum of their own! Our hope is to submit our collection of pocket museums to the Hattiesburg pocket museum in Mississippi for consideration for one of their monthly displays! I have been blown away by the hard work of our students on these mini-museums!
Seventh Grade learned about Rube Goldberg and the creation of Rube Goldberg machines. We watched a music video by the band OK Go and identified the simple machines that were used, as well as the triggers throughout the machine that begin the next reaction. We used tutorial videos from Doodlechaos to learn how to set up different chain reaction triggers. Students will be tasked to create their own unique Rube Goldberg machines the next time we meet. We are hoping to enter one of the upcoming Rube Goldberg challenges when more information is released next month!
Eighth graders honed their teamwork skills in challenges like the limited lego look build and by building a “Pringles Ring!” (That’s a free standing ring of potato chips! This challenge took research, patience and skill to complete!) They practiced communicating with clarity and sharing responsibilities during these challenges. In our second week of classes, the eighth graders have been working on a STEM service project. They are learning sewing skills as they assemble St. Benedict bookmarks with Blessed medals of St. Benedict, which were gifted to the students of St. Benedict by Fr. Lou. I am so proud of their leadership in this area of faith and service!
Music
Art
In Art we continue to focus on the Elements of Art.
In first grade, we are learning to control our fine motor skills in order to form lines and shapes into recognizable objects. We are also refining our fine motor skills by practicing our dexterity with scissors.
In second grade, the Elements of Art we are learning about are warm and cool colors, as well as positive and negative space. We have just completed a fall composition overlapping leaves and pumpkins and applied these concepts.
In third grade, students tried to use shapes to create the feeling of form as they drew self-portraits. They then used their artistic license to create a colorful composition inspired by the book “A Bad Case of the Stripes”.
In fourth and fifth grade, students are learning about the Day of the Dead. They are then using this knowledge to inspire their own creation of a sugar skull, paying close attention to symmetry, shape, and line.
In middle school, students have created an Elements of Art square. In the future these squares will be used to critique famous works of art, as well as, help students to improve their own compositions.
Physical Education
Drama Ministry
Junior High students from sixth, seventh, and eighth grades have been busy rehearsing for the Christmas play North Pole’s Got Talent, which is directed by Mrs. Donna Przybojewski.. They are using their dramatic abilities to present this very funny play to our school children. The students are very enthused and are excited to be back on stage. Over twenty of our junior high students are giving of their time after school practicing. There will be elves, reindeer, and even the big guy himself Santa with his wife Mrs. Claus.
Jr. Holy Name Society
Junior High students were inducted into the Junior Holy Name Society on October 19 during the all school liturgy. The goals of the Junior Holy Name Society is to respect the holy name of Jesus and model Him through their actions and words. Members also promise to do acts of service at St. Benedict Catholic School. These members will be responsible for preparing the Thanksgiving Prayer Service and will be learning a liturgical movement to the song “All Good Gifts.” They will also be involved in preparing g Advent and Lenten activities throughout the year.
Spiritual Advisor: Father Thomas Haren
Moderator: Mrs. Donna Przybojewski
Members:
GRADE 8
Madeline Lewis
Brooklyn Scott
Hope Sherman
GRADE 7
Madelynn Boehnlein
Carlee Koerner
GRADE 6
Kylah Armstrong
Devyn Edmond
Aamiah Hatcher
Jazmyne Morgan
Student Council
After a one year absence we are excited to bring back the Student Council this school year. We are led by an energetic team of officers from the 7th and 8th grade who will facilitate school-wide events and philanthropic endeavors. We will kick our school year off with two events, our annual Halloween sale, and Thanksgiving baskets for those in need in our school and parish communities.
These young people have major plans for events that benefit our school and local community. We can’t wait to see what this year holds!