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Dear Parents,
==I want to thank Bella’s Mom for sending the beautiful flowers 💐 with the precious note to my Mom at Penn. She was thrilled as was my family. My sister, Maureen, sent me some pictures which I shared with class at our morning meeting. As of 5:30 today, my Mom will be transferred by ambulance to the Villa. My sister, Gina, will ride with my Mom in the ambulanice. Angel, Maureen and I will wait for her arrival at the Villa. Please continue to keep her in your prayers as she has a long road ahead of her. She feels like she is coming home because we live so close to the Villa.🛌==

The children will receive in their Communication Folder today a blue paper with their Final Testing Schedule as well as study guides for Religion, Math and ELA. Yesterday,
==They all recieved all of their Religion and Math Tests to help them prepare for their Final Testing. They are to keep their Tests in their H Folder and bring them back and forth from school and home. They know the consequences if they are left at home.==

Dear Parents,
==My Mom has been transferred to HUP as of Tuesday evening. I will not be here tomorrow but the children will still have their trip as planned. Mary’s Mom, Annie’s Mom, Hayden’s Mom and Caroline’s Dad are the chaperones. Only 15 children will be going on the trip as the others already had plans in place for the long weekend. Gym clothes are to be worn and lunches are to be in a disposable bag. There will be NO visits to the Gift Shop. I know you will all have wonderful time.🏢==

I told the children they could bring in water bottles especially for the afternoon and after lunch recess. They are trying their best to keep cool and not overheat.👍
==The class is busy working on their Book Reports. I have provided time for them during class time. This week, they will use their iPads to word process their book reports on Thursday and Friday. It is my hope that they will do their covers on next Monday, May 14th. I have 3 students already to use their iPad.👩🏻‍💻==

==I will be collecting their Respect Books tomorrow. They know what pages needed to be completed. They have had them since April 26th and I have given them time to work on them in class. I am trying to teach them time management. Some of them are making good use of their time. ⏰==

I noticed some of the children do not know how to read a clock. They have small clocks to practice with and I am encouraging them to use them.⏰
==Some of their work habits are slipping. I know is is baseball and track season but they need to get a good night of sleep and make sure all of their homework is done. I am still telling them what they need before lunch and telling them how many books they should have on their desk at the end of the day. Yet, some are not taking home the correct books or even the necessary books to complete their homework. They have been progressing so nicely.📓⚾️==

The class is in the process of creating their “Earth Day Posters!”
==We are reviewing our tables and division facts via bingo! The children need to continue to study their tables every night as the should be able to tell me the answer immediately. We will beginning a new chapter in math and it will be about telling time on a clock and measurement. ⏰==

==I hope enjoyed their “Energized Guys” books. They shared their stories with their book buddy! We had a wonderful time with the students from Chestnut Hill Coolege last Wednesday in the convent. The students were very impressed with their “Blue Book.”==

I am in need of hand sanitizer as we are running low.👍
==On Thursday, May 3rd, we will have our annual “Festival of the Arts” Evening in the Parish Hall from 6 - 8 PM. The first hour will feature music presentations and the second hour will feature an art masterpiece from each student. It should be a delightful evening for all!🎹🎨==

Dear Parents,
==I am excited to share with you wonderful news about one of my students. I nominated Gianna for “most improved reader“ and Adam as the “best reader” in a contest sponsored by the Phillie Phanatic About Reading Program sponsored by Comcast. Gianna has been selected to be awarded a prize 🏅when the Phillies play the New York Mets on Saturday, May 12. Gianna will be awarded her prize 🏅before the game begins right on the field. If you are interested in attending please contact Gianna’s Mom (Kara) at K789m@aol.com. and we can all be seated together. Tickets cost $37.00 per person. You would need to let Gianna‘ s Mom know by Thursday, April 19th. If you would like to get your own tickets you can use http://m.mlb.com/Phillies/tickets/info/phanatic-about-reading-night.⚾️==

The weather was nice today and tomorrow promises to be even better!☀️
==We have been working on being more independent in class. I am working with the class to complete their work by themselves with some guidance. When you sign their math mid chapter you will see where they read and followed the directions. In their ELA copybook, 📓they had some independent work to do. I even give them some hints as to what they needed to do. Unfortunately, the work is getting harder and more is expected from the children. I told them I am getting them ready for the fourth grade.👍==

==I have been telling the children what they need to have on their desk before lunch time and then at the end of the day the number of books they need to have on their desk. Again, some have their listening hears on and others are busy chatting and may not have all of the needed papers/books. They have been told from now on they will be able to do the missing work but they will be getting check marks in the back of their homework book.==

Pretzel Orders are due tomorrow in an envelope with the money and order form.🥨
==Spring may not be outside but you would think it has sprung in our classroom. There is a lot of talking. We had a class meeting as to how to solve this problem. The children decided if their name goes on the board and they get a check beside they will get check marks in the back of their homework book. Today, we had 3 names but no checks next to the names. Hopefully, the system they devised will work.==

I hope you were able to spend some time with your child and their wonderful report card. I was so proud of them and their hard work! May it continue!👍
==Today, we did 2 practice tests in preparation for the Terra Nova. The children were able to ask me any questions. I think they enjoyed taking the practice tests. The tests will be given every morning. Some will be longer than others. If you noticed in tonight's homework book I had them record get a good night of rest, eat a good breakfast, bring in a good snack and get their pencils sharpened. Most nights that will be their homework and if they should have work to do I will try to provide time for them to do it in school.✏️==

Thursday will also be MARCH MADNESS DRESS DOWN DAY! The children are to wear their favorite teams color. They can wear SGS Basketball team shirts as well as college shirts IF they already have one!
==We are moving along in the world of fractions! They children have each recieved a bag with fractions strips. Today, we played with our fraction strips and did comparisons. I found the children seemd to grasped the concept better.==

== Friday is the end of the second trimester. Where has the time gone? Starting Monday, the children will be more accuntable for their Homework Book. I will be giving checkmarks for the following: not recording homework correctly, not setting up their homework book correctly, not recording their nightly reading, not setting up the spelling copybook correctly and not getting the BACK of their homework book signed. I have discussed all of this with the children today. They should know what is expected of them and how to do it corrrectly. It is their responsiblity to get their homework book signed. They will also being seeing their actual grades on all of their papers. This way they are being prepared for the fourth grade. So, instead of 10/10 it will state 100 on the paper. I have explained all of this to the children. Therefore, Friday's tests on lesson 19 will refm == ==TERRA NOVA TESTING starts on Friday, March 16th. The children will need to get a good night of rest, sharpened pencils and a goood snack. I will provide them with small tissue packets and little baggies to put their dirty tissues in when finished when done. All testing wil be done in the morning.==

==Last week, the children got to meet students from Chestnut Hill College. The students made a character for them, shared a book and the children wrote responses to their story they read/shared together in a college "blue book." The students will be back again in April. In the meantime, the class will read to their book buddy and write responses to what they have read to share with the students when they return.==

Many thanks to Gregory's parents for creating the THANK YOU note for Hayden's Mom for all of her hard work in creating our Masterpiece for the Auction.
== The children have a Lenten calendar in the back of their Religion CB to help them on their journey. Each week, they will journal to tell how their journey is going and if they need to make any adjustments. The class wrote meaningful "LENT" acrostics which will be hung up shortly. ==

On ASH Wednesday, we will make our Lenten cross to remind of what Jesus did for us.
== We will also create a Lenten Calendar as well as keep a Lenten Journal about our journey during this Lenten season. We will recieve ashes on Wednesday after the 8 AM Mass. We will attend Stations on Friday at 2 PM. ==

= WE ARE IN NEED OF TISSUES BOXES. I ONLY HAVE 2 BOXES LEFT AND WE ARE GOING THROUGH A BOX A DAY. SO, IF YOU ARE ABLE TO DONATE A BOX THE CHILDREN AND I WOULD BE MOST GRATEFUL. =

= THANK YOU! =

Sunday:THANKS ~ celebrating our Parish. A student speaker was at each Mass speaking about our Mission Statement and bookmarkers colored by all students were given out when leaving Mass.
== Monday: LEARN ~ Celebrating our Communities and Families. Each grade will be doing a STEAM Activity. Grades 3 and 4 will work together in the morning. Look for a note from your children when they come home from school. ==

Tuesday: SERVICE ~ Celebrating our Students. The children will have DRESS DOWN DAY in school colors. They will also enjoy a Dance in the afternoon for grades K -4.
== Wednesday: LEAD ~ Celebrating our Nation. The childrens' Spiritual Bouquet that they created will be delivered to the residents at the Villa. In the afternoon there will be a Program entitled "Power of One." ==

== Thursday: SUCCEED ~ Celebrating Volunteers at SGS. Annual Giving Campaign Kick Off! A small toke of appreciation will be given to the bus drivers and volunteers. There is a EAGLES DRESS DOWN DAY in anticipation of the Super Bowl. ==

Dear Parents,
==I apologize for not keeping you up-to-date but I have been fighting a terrible cold and cough. In fact, we have been going through a box of tissues a day. The past 2 weekends I have spent in bed even watching our beloved EAGLES and their awesome victory!!!==

==I will not be in tomorrow. The children are aware of the fact. My sub is Mrs. Madge McLaughlin and she is an experienced third grade teacher. I went over the schedule with the children already so they are prepared to have a great day!==

==On Friday, Mrs. Danielle Smith, will begin work on our project for the Class Gift for the Auction in March. You will have to ask your child what is is they are creating. I have reserved the Science Lab for them to work their magic.==

UPCOMING EVENTS
Wed. 1/10 Hot Dog Day Thurs. 1/11 Sketchbook Fri. 1/12 Spelling, Vocabulary and Comprehension Tests on Lesson 12. Mon. 1/13 Martin Luther King Day of Service Wed. 1/14 #|Pizza Day Thurs. 1/16 Religion Test Chapter 10 Fri. 1/17 Spelling, Vocabulary and Comprehension Tests on Lesson 13.

Have a good week! It promises to be warmer! Maria Foley

==It is hard to believe that Christmas will be here in just 4 days. I hope you liked the wreath they created as well as the Nativity Story. I am sure you will enjoy the beautiful letters they wrote to you for Christmas.==

==The children will be going to the Santa Shop on Thursday at 10-10:30 AM. I already have sone of their envelopes. Please remember to send it in with your child so they know whom they are shopping for and how much to spend on each person. They will be doing their shopping by themselves as they do not have their Prayer Partners anymore as they are now in high school.==

==The class has been chatting quite a lot lately and I not sure if is is because of the excitement of the holdiay season or not but I would be grateful if you would have a little chat with your child reminding them of the importance of staying on task and listening and following directions.==

==I am sure you were surpised as the children in all of the work we have done so far. I have kept their Religion and Math tests so they can use them at the end of the year to study for their final testing. I had child each pick out a spelling and handwriting sample to keep for the first trimester.==

==There will be a HOLIDAY PARADE on Saturday, December 16th in Chestnut Hill. If you are interested in participating in this fun event you can meet in the parking lot at Our Mother of Consolation Parish at 8 AM. The parade begins at 9 AM and ends at 10 AM. It starts at Germantown and Rex Avenues and ends at The Market at the Fareway(Chestnut Hill Hotel).==

==Thank YOU all for sending in the permission slips for our practice at the Mount on Monday, December 18th. The children are to report to the gym at 6:40 dressed in their black and white attire that evening.==

Please feel free to use it with your families on this wonderful holiday.
= THANKSGIVING PRAYER = =Gracious and generous God,= =We come before you today with grateful hearts .= =In the beauty and bounty of creation we see the work of your hands;= =In the loving faces around us we know your own love for us .= =May this meal nourish and strengthen us,= =So others may know your plenty of kindness, = =And see your care and concern in our witness.= = Let us live true lives of gratitude ,= =As we pray in thanks to you, our God= =Who lives forever and ever. Amen.=

==I am going to move the Math Test to Tuesday after Thanksgiving, 11/28. I am afraid they won't be as focused as I would like due to the Thanksgiving Holiday and being off on Wednesday. Some are already to celebrate!==

== CONGRATULATIONS to the Third Grade Class as they won the BOX TOPS CONTEST with a total of 914 box tops collected by the class! They were rewarded with a FREE DRESS SOWN DAY to be determined at a later date! Many THANKS to Kevin's Mom for all of her hard work for us! ==

==For their weekly reading comprehension test, I always tell and write on the smartboard how many sentences their essay answer needs to be on their paper. I told them this week, if they didn't follow the directions I was taking off for it.==

November 9, 2017
=Dear Parents,= =I have discovered that if you send me an email via your iphone when I respond to you the message is returned to me as unable to deliver. I had one returned yesterday after 4 hours and 2 returned today after 4 hours.=

=Please send emails via a computer or iPad as my responses are not getting back to you.=

=Thank YOU!= =Maria foley=

== The children and the chaperones had a wonderful time on our Class trip to the Camden Adventure Aquarium. MANY THANKS to our Parent Chaperones.The children all wrote a Journal Entry about the Class Trip and drew a picture to go with their writing piece. ==

== Many thanks to Annalyse's Mom, Addison's Dad, Gregory's Mom and Trey 's Mom for being our chaperones for our Class Trip on Tuesday. I ask that all chaperones park at the top of the parking lot by the storage sheds. Remember to bring a bag for the lunches and each of you will have 5 children. There will be NO VISITS to the Gift Shop at the request of the Home and School and as stated on p 10 in the student Handbook. ==

==I hope you were able to check out our Saint Poster in the narthax this weekend. They will also be on display next weekend as well. The children worked hard on gathering all of the paragraph information about St. Peter Faber. They helped to put all the letters and symbols on our poster too! They have also chosen a Saint to do a report on for class.==

Dear Parents,
== Thank YOU for coming to our Parent Teacher Conferences. I enjoyed sharing your child's success and look forward to continuing on that path. If you should notice any change or difficulty your child might be having please send me n email so I can help you and your child. I want the children to feel successful and be their BEST SELVES! ==

==We have already started to review for our Chapter TEST in Grammar on Wednesday. I stapled together their spelling lists as a study guide for the theme test. I have also put their vocabulary test behind their quiz on their vocabulary words to use to study for the theme test.==

==I will be working with the children getting them ready for their first Social Studies and Science Tests the following week or the next. I will let you know the exact date. They will have a study guide for Social Studies and will use their Lab Learner book for Science.==

Maria Foley
==

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==Many thanks to many of you who have sent in your permission slips and have volunteered to chaperone our CLASS TRIP to the Camden Aquarium on the 31st of this month. I am missing just a few - please send them in as soon as possible.==

Dear Parents,
==I am not sure what season we are in at the moment! Hopefully, it will cool down Tuesday afternoon but then again it is suppose to come back over the next weekend. SO, don't go putting away the summer clothes just yet!==

== I was so proud of my children as they contributed $65.00 for the Student to Student Campaign for the students affected by the hurricanes. I matched their donations and they looked wonderful for their first dress down day! I took pictures of them! ==

==We had a good week in school. We are making progress with our math lessons. I am hoping to have a chapter test on Thursday, 10/12. IF, it should change I will let you know. We did a mid chapter check up and they did well. We will do a chapter review in prep for our test.==

== The class needs to work on less talking especially when we are changing from one subject to the next. They seem to feel that is an opportunity to chat with their neighbor and I find it hard to get them back on task. ==

==We worked on subtraction today in math using rounding and compatible numbers. All of the problems that are circled means that they need to show their work. They need to highlight their word problems and circle in red the label that needs to go with their answer. There will be a math test at the end of next week and I will let you know the definite date early next week.==

==I went over all of the math homework from last night and did another worksheet for a better understanding. What amazes me is the fact I go through all of the problems, showing all of the work on the board and tell them to make the corrections and they still DO NOT MAKE the corrections on their homework. I do check all of their work and they are shocked when I express my disappointment at the fact they have made no corrections. I asked them haven't they noticed that I check everything they do? For tonight's homework I told them what problems they had to show their work and which ones they just had to add up. But, I noticed my CARES Bears didn't follow directions. I told the class that the math is harder in third grade and more is expected of them.==

==Yesterday, I gave back their spelling CB with the new list. No one noticed that it was missing the challenge words! Please tell them to look at their pretest for the challenge words as I did write them in if they were misspelled.==

I hope all of you had an enjoyable 3 day weekend! It is hard to believe it is autumn! Hopefully, there will be only a couple more days of summer!
==The children did a great job on their first set of assessments. I was so proud of them I sent to Sr. Theresa their Religion, Spelling and Vocabulary to see what a great start they have had already!__ All of their papers will be in the communication folder for you to sign and return to me the next day. __==

==The children receive a Scholastic Book Order form on Friday. I ask them IF you choice to purchase any to please send the form and the money back to me by this Friday and I will send them home with Caroline to give to her Mom. You can also order on line as the code it a sticky on the paper.==

==I discovered at CARES again that some of the children were having difficulty. I realized that t hey are not reading what they are suppose to do even though I do examples with them to make sure thy understand their homework. I told them that they are now in third grade and more is expected from them. I told them they are not just adding up the numbers like they did in second grade I told them that the fourth grade are doing the same math concept. My CARES Bears chimed in and said the fourth grade said it is easy and I said it was the fact that they were taught it last year. So, we went over all of the homework again and to my dismay some did not make any corrections on their homework when I checked it. Tonight they have a worksheet to do and we practice orally what to do.==

== Please be sure to sign their homework book front and back. Some children are not doing their nightly reading or are forgetting to record it. They should have 4 days recorded already~ 2 from Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I told them if they wanted to they could record Ruby the Copycat for tonight's reading log.==

Please initial their Homework Books each night. Also, check the back of their Homework Book for their +.
==When checking the homework at CARES yesterday I noticed the children having problems. The problem was that they were not reading the problem and noticing they only wanted estimates ~ not for them to just add up the numbers. Therefore, I took the full class period and went over each problem and answered all of their questions. Tonight for homework, I ran off a math worksheet and went over it with them in class to make sure they understood what to do. Hopefully, this evening will be easier.==

==This week, we will be having our FIRST tests; Religion Chapter 1 on Thursday, Spelling Lesson 1 and Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary on Ruby the Copycat on Friday. I will read all of their tests in the beginning so they get use to the format as well as review with them.==

==Milk can be ordered ~ chocolate or white milk. It is $32.00 for half a year and $64.00 for the entire year. Please send in your order in an envelope attention Mrs. McDonnell. MILK WILL BEGIN ON THIS MONDAY 9/18.==

Maria Foley
mfoley1@stgens.com

==Please do not forget to send his their picture with your child so I can have it hanging up for Back to School Night, which is scheduled for Thursday, September 14th. You will come directly to your child's homeroom on the second floor and we are located next to the girl's bathroom after we meet in the Parish Hall.==

==I want to remind that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are full days of school. Please do not forget to send in a morning snack, their lunch and a drink for lunch. Placemats and napkins are required for lunch.==

Please remember to send in their 3 Book Reports to school.
=YOU DO NOT NEED TO SEND IN THE ROLL OF PAPER TOWELS YET. I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN THE NEED ARISES.=

==Most of our books are consumable and soft covered. I am asking you to please cover them in clear contact paper. You will have ample time to cover the books as I will send home a few at a time, unless you request they all come home at once!==

==The children will get a homework book to record all of their homework in and I ask that you initial or sign it each night on the place indicated. I will put each night's homework onto the wiki page until October 1st.==

==If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via email or a message left with Mrs. Murray. I will return your call/email within 24 hours. PLEASE NOTE MY NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: mfoley1@stgens.com==