Please be advised that our phone lines will be down today through Friday, July 28th due to a system upgrade. Please feel free to email the principal, Mr. O’Brien, at jobrien@gscabk.org or Mrs. Del Gaizo in the main office, at mdelgaizo@gscabk.org.

From Miss Andrezzi – Pre-K B: Pre-K B started our unit on Babies this week. We learned that babies need food, water, love and lots of sleep!  We began to turn our dramatic play area into our very own baby nursery. We were also lucky to have a visit from one of our moms who brought in her baby and taught us a lot about how the baby needs to be cared for in a special way. Nurse Joanne also visited us and talked to us about pediatric nurses, who are nurses that care for babies. Nurse Joanne read us a book about nurses and how important they are in caring for babies. We will begin learning about baby animals next week so we are excited to watch our ladybug larva grow. We ended our week with a very special Mother’s Day Tea. We enjoyed singing, eating and making a special craft with our moms and grandmas.

 

From Mrs. Suhovsky – 3rd Grade: Our third grade play has finally arrived. We have our costumes and know our lines and songs. Tuesday is our big day! Join us if you can at 9am.

Thursday we visited the Prospect Park Zoo. We engaged in a scavenger hunt and had a great day.

We are learning about Spain and have used our chrome books to gather information about the country.

In Science we are studying ecosystems. We are learning about how the plants and animals interact  with each other. We have also viewed several videos to learn more about them.

 

From Mrs. Gomez – 6th, 7th, and 8th Grades: and followers of Islam.  Students will be learning about the interactions across the eastern hemisphere.  We will have a culminating project in which we will create our own maps and explain how ideas and items spread along the Silk Roads, Indian Ocean and the Trans Saharan trade routes.

 

7th Grade SS:  Students are nearing the end of the unit on Westward Expansion.  I look forward to our small in class webquest on the Trail of Tears by the Cherokee Indians and how they impacted the people and the culture during this time.  The following topic we will be the reformation movements in which we explore influential peoples that took part in the abolitionist movement.

 

7th Grade Religion:  Students recently completed a project about Religious Tolerance.  They researched a different faith, learned about the culture, compared it to Catholicism and wrote a letter to a religious leader in order to promote religious tolerance.  Students will be studying about the changes that occur during adolescence.  We will focus on living out our vocations and how to answer God’s call.

 

8th Grade ELA:  Students have been reading “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare.  The focus of in class discussions is around the cause and effect relationship between events that lead up to the tragic end to our play.  Students also have been evaluating the impact of big and small decisions that we make and how they affect the main characters in our play.  Students will continue to read the final act in our books and will celebrate with watching the movie in class.  At the end of the movie, students will compare and contrast the play to what we viewed.
8th Grade SS:   Students conducted a short research project about WWII and its causes.  Students also researched the history of William Shakespeare by selecting topics of interest and working in small groups.  The project was turned into a newspaper article with creative aspects added by the group.  Students will continue to learn about WWII and how it transformed the US and its effects globally.  We will soon learn about the struggle of nuclear superpowers that occurred during the period of the Cold War.  

From Miss Resciniti – 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade: The 6th and 8th Grade are all done with the State tests. In 6th Grade Religion, we are starting the “Family Life” series. This series is meant to assist our children and their families with support as we reflect on our Catholic faith. This includes understanding family influences, the uniqueness of individuals and much more. In 7th Grade Math, we are using our protractors and learning how to draw shapes with given conditions.

 

From Mrs. Federico – 2nd Grade:  This week the second graders are looking forward to receiving communion for the first time on Saturday, May 6th. We are excited to grow closer to Jesus and to form a special bond with him. Please keep them in your prayers.

 

In Reading, we are learning about comparing and contrasting texts. We learned that reading more than one text about the same topic can show us that not one author has all the answers on any topic. They have different opinions and we can learn more if we read more than one article.

 

In Math, we are learning how to read and interpret data from a Tally Graph to make a Pictograph and a Bar Graph.
In Social Studies we are learning about wants and needs. We learned that managing money is important and making a budget plan is a great way to figure out how much money should be spent on our needs and wants and how much of our income we should save.

From Mrs. Robin – Kindergarten – The children have just completed their segment on Life in the Rainforest and Under the Sea.  They are experts on the layers of rainforest, reptiles and mammals just to name a few.  They created an amazing environment in Mrs. Karolee’s Room and completed the segment by performing many songs and poems for their parents on Friday.  We are very grateful to Mrs. M, who works with the children every week teaching them the songs and poems that align with their specific segments.  We are very proud of the children, they did a wonderful job on the show.  Thank you to all the parents for arranging your work schedules to be at the show.  We are now  going to travel back in time to the Cretaceous, Triassic and Jurassic Period!

 

In Math the children have successfully completed our chapter on subtraction and are eager to explore money.  We are continuing our Lenten Journey by attending Mass and reading the Bible every week,  The majority of the class has already been “Caught Being Kind” and their fish are happily swimming in our pretend pond.

 

From Mrs. Seliste – 4th and 5th Grade : Grade 4 just finished a unit on  magnets and electricity in Science. We are working on fractions in Math and preparing for our Math State  test . Both grades 4 and 5 were excited to have Father Mel come and teach us about Passover and the Last Supper. Mrs. Seliste brought in grape juice and matzoh to share.

The fifth grade is just finishing a short unit in Math on coordinate geometry and Two- dimensional figures. In fact they have a test on Monday. In Science the 5th grade has  been learning about how animals interact with  their  environment and each other and one of our activities was to cut open an owl pellet and see what the owl had eaten. The students found skulls, jawbones, ribs, etc. from such animals as voles, shrews, mice and rats. I think this was their favorite lab so far this year.

 

From Miss Rampulla – 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade:

 

The 7th grade are beginning a new novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell. In Science the 7th grade is finishing up asexual reproduction.

 

The 8th graders continue to reviewing for the Science state test. In Religion the 8th grade​ are learning about how the faith of the Church was shaken by the Black Death.

 

The 6th grade is learning about Plate Tectonics and the different boundary Plates.

 

From Mrs. Grech – Computer: 2nd Grade is learning the basics of Coding with Blockly.  They have learned how to work within the Workspace and how to create algorithms to make characters move around the Stage.

 

3rd through 8th grade are learning Coding to create their own video games.  They are using Blockly and HTML.  They have learned how to move characters around the Stage and perform functions to earn or lose points using algorithms, loops and repeats.  They are learning to create characters and props using pixels.

 

The Students are catching on quickly and moving through the assignments with ease.

 

From Mrs. Neuner – Jr. Pre-K: Jr. Pre K has been busy learning many new things. We are practicing holding a pencil. In ELA we are working on the recognition and sounds of the letter Ii and naming things that begin with Ii.  We are also tracing the letters and beginning to write them.  In Math we are learning how to count objects to match the number.  In Religion we learned the Hail Mary prayer.  We learned that the cross is a sign of God’s love for us and that we belong to God’s family.  In Science we learned what a rainbow is, how they are formed, and where they can be found.  We had fun making rainbow rice and playing with in.  We are making our own rainbow book.  We have been busy getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day making a pot of gold, hats, shamrocks, and leprechauns.

 

From Mrs. Mangano – 1st Grade: First Grade is learning about the weather. On March 1, all the students made predictions if there would be more lion or lamb days. We are keeping a tally chart and recording each day. Every morning they copy a paragraph from the board about the day’s weather. Each student is getting a chance to be a classroom meteorologist. They report the weather using describing words and the daily temperature. We wrote about what you can do on rainy days and sunny days. So far we had more lion days than lamb days.

 

From Mrs. DeNonno – 4th and 5th Grade: Fourth and Fifth grade are finishing up their poems about the woman they admire most for a Poetry contest held by Councilman Alan Maisel. The students have just finished a Poetry Unit and the contest came at the right time! Both 4th and 5th Grade also completed their Poetry booklets. They did a nice job making the booklets filled with Figurative Language. Good job!

From Miss Amaya – Pre-K A: Where do we begin?  Pre-K A has begun the next unit on Water.  We took time to brainstorm on what is water, where can we find it, and different uses of it.  We learned water comes from rain that falls from the clouds and waters flow in streams, rivers, lakes, sea, and down waterfalls. We learned we can use water to create beautiful art using water colors palettes. In science we learned we can use water to make rainbows! On a sunny day, we went outside and using a spray bottle we were able to make our own rainbow, as the water reflected the sun rays. In Dramatic Play we are excited to be “going to the beach” and enjoy the ocean.  

In Building Blocks Math we continuing developing counting concepts and skills by producing the correct number of items and by figuring out hidden numbers in ordered sets using our “Xray glasses”!

 

From Mrs. Federico – 2nd Grade:   Once again second grade had an exciting and busy week. In reading, we  starting learning the beginning steps to writing a research paper. We learned we should carefully research our topic first and look at different sources to collect important facts about the subject before we start writing.

 

In Math, we began a new unit on money. We learned the value of coins and how money can be used in our daily lives.

 

In Science, we also began a new unit on “How People Grow and Change.” This week’s lesson was on what our bones and muscles do for us. We played games, watched videos, and participated in various activities to reinforce the concept of how our body parts help us.

   

In Religion, we are working on our Lenten promise. Each day, we come up with a good deed we want to accomplish. We began a new chapter titled “The Liturgy of the Word” and learned the first part of the mass and all the different ways we listen to God’s word.
From Miss Resciniti – 6th Grade: The 6th grade is working hard preparing for the state tests. We will begin our next novel, Bud, not Buddy next week.  In Religion, we are trying to remain focused on our Lenten promises.  In 8th grade Math, we will be moving on to our next unit, Geometry. The 7th grade will be finishing our unit on Expressions and Equations and begin Geometry next week.

Academic Highlights

 

From Mrs. Neuner – Jr. Pre-K: In ELA the children are working on the recognition and the sound of the letter Gg.  They are identifying pictures of things that begin with the sound of Gg, and tracing the letter Gg.  In Math they are counting 4 objects in a group.  In Religion we are learning that we belong to God and that God loves us very much.  The Cross is a sign of God’s love.  We say the Sign of the Cross when we pray.  In Social Studies we are learning about the presidents Abraham Lincoln and George Washington and what is the job of the president.  We made Washington and Lincoln crafts.  We are also learning about Valentine’s Day and how we show love to our families and friends.  We are busy making Valentine’s Day crafts.  We also learned about caring for our teeth and about going to visit the dentist.  Our friend Samarah’s mommy, who is a dentist assistant came to visit us and talk to us about our teeth.

We are learning so much and having fun!

 

From Mrs. Mangano – First Grade: Mrs. Mangano’s first graders: In Science this week the first grade learned what can keep you warm in the freezing cold. We read an article in our Scholastic News, “Snug in the Snow”. It told us that an igloo is a house made of snow. The students learned that an igloo can keep you warm because the walls of an igloo trap heat inside. Keeping heat in is called insulation. Next, they learned the steps it takes to build an igloo. We watched a video “What Do You Know About Snow”?  Mrs. Mangano read them the book “The Biggest, Best Snowman”. Then, they did a step-by-step snowman worksheet. Good Shepherd had their first snow day on Thursday. Finally on Friday, they did an experiment with ice cubes. Will ice cubes melt faster in a bowl of hot water or a bowl of cold water? They made predictions and then tested it out. The first graders’ predictions were 100 percent correct. Ice melts faster in hot water.

 

From Mrs. Seliste – 4th and 5th Grade: 5th grade is just finishing up mobiles on the different biomes of the earth. They did research in school on the chromebooks and then assembled a mobile with their facts and pictures. The groups were very creative! In Math we are multiplying fractions and mixed numbers.And in Religion we have been learning about the sacrament of Confirmation.

4th grade is working on measurement in both Science and Math. They love going to the Science lab to “play” with the measurement tools (pan balance, measuring cup, thermometers, etc). In Religion, we have been talking about the third commandment and the parts of the Mass. The fourth grade did a wonderful job with their school Mass. Congratulations!

From Miss Amaya – Pre-K A: This week was a busy one for PreK A! We wrapped our unit on Transportation by welcoming family members and community workers to come in and discuss their jobs and how it deals with not only different forms of transportation, but the importance of their jobs in our community!  We also celebrated the Chinese New Year by making our own boarding passes and took a plane ride to China, making lanterns to “bring light” for the New Year.

In science we were introduced to the concept of a prediction, as we learned about groundhogs. Thanks to Phil and Chuck all of our predictions about winter were right!

Through our Building Block math program the children sorted various shapes, identifying them by certain attributes and connected geometry with number by discussing the number sides and angles of different shapes.

 

From Mrs. Federico – 2nd Grade: Our second graders enjoyed a week full of fun activities. We started the week off with a mass and Open House. We enjoyed all the projects and work displayed throughout the building.

This week in math we are finishing up our Unit on Subtraction with Regrouping . We learned different ways to take apart and recombine numbers in a variety of ways for finding the difference.

In Language Arts, we are currently working on verbs. Our parents and grandparents watched us participate in groups as we learned different ways of reinforcing the verb concept.

In Reading, we are learning about the Authors Purpose of writing a text: to inform, to persuade or to entertain.

In Religion we just ended our chapter on “Jesus Gives Us the Eucharist”. We are preparing to receive Jesus in May by learning more and more about Jesus and creating a special bond with him.

From Mrs. Neuner – Jr. Pre-K: The children are working on the recognition and sound of the letter Ee.  They are also learning to count 3 objects in a group.  We are tracing lines to get ready to trace the letters with a pencil.  We are enjoying winter poems, singing winter songs, and making winter crafts.  We are learning about the five senses that God gave us to help us learn about our wonderful world.

 

From Mrs. Suhovsky – 3rd Grade: In third grade we are just beginning our unit on fractions. We hope to learn much and have fun doing so.

We have begun to plan for our Wax Museum. We are all reading biographies about famous people and will present  

our biographies at our Wax Museum during Catholic Schools Week.

We are looking forward to dressing up as our characters!

We are also going to make bottle people of our famous people. We are looking forward to seeing you there.

From Miss Resciniti: In Math, the 6th grade is starting a new unit on algebraic expressions and equations. In Religion, we are working on a project about the Ten Commandments and how everyday life is affected when people do not follow them.  We are also continuing our Adventures with Huck and learning about society, friendships and loyalty. In the 7th grade, we are working on the Order of Operations using rational numbers. In the 8th grade, we are finishing up linear equations and we will start on Functions next week.

 

From Mrs. Robin – Kindergarten: The children are enjoying the season of Advent.  Each morning we light the advent wreath and profess our love to Baby Jesus along with a promise to give him a gift from our heart.  The children impressed Father Mel with their knowledge of The First Christmas.  Each child has written a letter to Santa identifying a time when they showed love.  In math we are busy counting and writing our numbers. We even did a presents on a sled counting paper and we had to compare and identify the group with less.  We are counting down the days to our upcoming Christmas Concert and French Show.  We can’t wait to make our parents proud!

From Mrs. DeNonno – 4th and 5th Grade: December 7th was the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  4th grader Claire Rhatigan’s grandfather, Mr. McKinney,  gave a fascinating presentation on Pearl Harbor, WWII, and The Civil War that 4th and 5th grade both attended and learned interesting facts.

5th grader Reagan Murphy’s mother donated artifacts that Mr. McKinney used in his presentation to make history come alive. Thank you both for adding to our learning experience in both 4th and 5th grade.

4th Grade just completed a unit on the Iroquois of New York. Students researched information in the computer room and on Chrome books and applied this information into a 4 paragraph essay. They also built a LongHouse that the different Native American families used to share together as living space. 4th Grade learned about these first people of New York in different ways. They are ready to present their unit projects. We will proudly publish the reports by putting them in the classroom and hallways for all to read.

5th Grade just completed a research paper on the early explorers. Students worked hard gathering information in the computer room and on Chrome books. They applied the information they gathered by writing a 5 paragraph Informative essay on an explorer of their choice. We will proudly publish them by putting them in the classroom and hallways for all to read.

From Ms. Rampulla – 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade: The 6th grade will end the unit with the water cycle. The 7th grade will be making slides of plant and plant and animal cells.The 8th grade will begin plate tectonics and continue preparing for the state tests