Vol. 8, Issue 5

January Calendar School Resumes 1/4 First Friday Mass, 9:30a 1/8 Family Fun Night 1/20 Nat’l School Choice Week, 1/25-29 Open House 1/27

In This Issue

Honor Roll 2

Student Council News 2

Principal’s Corner 2

Class News 3

2015-2016 PTG

President Melissa Brady

Vice President Carolyn Almonte

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School

127 State St. Bristol, RI 02809 (401) 253-8455 www.olmcri.org

OLMCPTG

December students of the month Congratulations to our students of the month! Kindergarten: Elizabeth Pacheco and Jonah Worth; Grade 1: Kristen Gudz; Grade 2: Mari Azevedo; Grade 3: Andrew Gudz and Avery Garcia; Grade 4: Isabella Clark; Grade 5: Olivia Almonte.

Feinstein Foundation Junior Scholar Program Our Lady of Mount Carmel School is a member of the Feinstein Foundation Jr. Scholar Program. As a member school, students will receive a grey sweatshirt with the program name and school name emblazoned on the front and back. These sweatshirts can be worn every Thursdays as part of the physical education uniform. In addition, students will receive a Jr. Scholar membership card that entitles them to discounts and free entry to area attractions. In the words of Mr. Alan Shawn Feinstein, “Helping to better the lives of others, is the greatest of all achievements.”

Classes resume Jan. 4

FACTS: Registration Open

You can now register with FACTS for

Financial Aid for the 2016- 2017 school year.

Students’ timely arrival; Note needed for dismissal Please make sure your child arrives to school on time. Supervised arrival starts at 8:30 in the schoolyard on High Street, and the school day officially begins at 8:50. The optimal start to your child’s school day begins with timely arrival. If your child is not going home in the usual way, a signed dated noted from a parent must be sent in with the student in the morning indicating the change. All faculty and staff follow strict dismissal procedures to ensure the safety of our students. (Family Handbook pg. 20)

One of the busiest months for Catholic school teachers and students is

definitely December. Preparing for the birth of our Savior brings many opportunities for celebration. From Christmas concerts, Santa’s Shop, twinkling trees, nativity sets, school presentations, community service projects, a birthday cake with singing, Christmas caroling, and classroom parties, the rejoicing is boundless and the student excitement is tangible. And I wouldn’t have it any other way! As we prepare our students to live a life of faith, it is important to teach them to rejoice at the birth of Christ.

As a Catholic school, we are able to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and share our time, talent, and treasures with the “least of our brothers” during this season of giving. Thank you to all families who donated non-perishable food to the Feinstein Food Challenge, hats and mittens to our Giving Tree, warm clothing to the sixth-grade clothing drive, gently used toys to the preK4 class, and school supplies for the fifth grade Star Kids program. In addition, our fourth grade and pre-kindergarten students visited the residents of Franklin Court Assisted Living to share their Christmas spirit. The spirit of giving is definitely alive and well within our school.

On behalf of the faculty and staff, my prayer for each of our OLMC families is that your hearts may be filled with love, fulfillment, and peace during this joyful season.

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts. Matthew 2:10-11 Merry Christmas! Mrs. Maloney

Student Council News In December, we collected nonperishable goods for the Feinstein Food Challenge. Our goal was to collect a total of 1,000 items in 15 days, because Mr. Feinstein would donate one dollar for each item collected, for a maximum of $1,000 to OLMC School. We exceeded our goal by 105 cans! All the nonperishable items were donated to the East Bay Food Pantry to make Christmas merry and bright for many people. The Student Council wishes you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Families and teachers also donated 63 sets of hats, mittens, and scarves. All the food and clothing was donated to the East Bay Food Pantry and Thrift Shop. Ms. Anita Randall, Executive Director, said “What a joy to see all your students so excited to help send the impressive all school food collection (plus mittens and hats!) off to the East Bay Food Pantry! I am so impressed with the commitment to caring for those in need exhibited by OLMC students and their families - 1,105 food items (plus hats and mittens) collected in a few short days by a small school is absolutely outstanding! Your students and their families are making our world a better place for everyone - THANK YOU ALL! Best wishes for a healthy and happy holiday season!”

Students shine in concert Fr. Zinno, Mrs. Maloney, teachers, parents and students of the O.L.M.C. school: I wish to express my sincere thanks for the best Christmas gifts that you have all extended to me this December. Yours gift of support for the Arts, your generous donations to the music program and the children's gift of song overwhelms me every year. Their beautiful voices and love for music fills my heart with the true spirit of Christmas. Now, it is back to the drawing board to get the spirit moving again and begin preparations for the “Spring Concerts! I pray Christmas brings you the light of faith, the joy of wonderful memories, the blessings of sharing with those you love and a heart full of music!

Musically yours, Mrs. M. Hewitt

Thank you to Mrs. Hewitt, our music teacher, for her expertise and dedication in producing two magnificent Christmas concerts: A White Christmas, and Guess Who’s Coming to Bethlehem. Thanks also to all the families who attended, and thank you for the generous donations that help fund our music program. Lastly, thanks to the students -who sparkled! - Mrs. Maloney

Middle School Honor Roll Breakfast During a congratulatory breakfast, Fr. Zinno, Mrs. Maloney, Mrs. Carlson, Mr. Urban, Ms. Creapeault, and families gathered to honor the achievement of middle school students who made the first trimester honor roll. The following students were recognized: Grade 8 – High Honors: Julia Almonte, Benjamin Ferreira, Evan Brady, Isabella Infante, Regina Cifune, Cassidy Mello; Honors: Sabrina Mendonca, Emma Simas, Shelbie Prew, Margaret Swift. Grade 7 – High Honors with Distinction: Abigail Ferreira; High Honors: Antonio Curran, Katlin Rensehausen, Gemma Larouche, Laura Smith, Jordan Moran, Christina Vittoria. Grade 6 – High Honors with Distinction: Liberty Harmon, Nora Predergast, Gracie Infante, Brooke Ramella; High Honors: Jospeh Garcia, Mia Padula, Jaggs Harmon, Rebecca Usher, Joseph Larouche, Ally Vedro; Honors: Megan Francis, Grace Swift, Maria Tucciarone.

Jan. 25 – 29, 2016

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Pre-K 3 Pre-K 3 has been having a lot of fun with “Wishes,” our classroom elf. They are “trying very hard” to obey all our classroom rules. They want to make sure Wishes tells Santa that they have been very good. Even though we are having fun with Wishes, we have been learning what the real meaning of Christmas is, and preparing for Jesus’ birth. We practiced very hard for our Christmas concert. To brighten up the lives of the folks at Franklin Court, we surprised them with pizzelles and a Christmas tree ornament for their rooms. We would like to wish all our families at OLMC School a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year! Pre-K 4 It’s hard to believe it’s almost Christmas. Pre-K four has been learning about Advent and getting ready for the birth of Jesus. Every week we light another candle on our Advent wreath and talk about what each one means. There is Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. The class also walked down to the East Bay Food Pantry to donate our toys to benefit needy families. We have also been reading different version of “The Gingerbread Man” and comparing which characters appear in the different stories. We made a Venn diagram and learned that the little old woman, the little old man, the gingerbread boy and the fox are the only characters in every story. We also continued to work on learning our letters and sounds. Our Student of the Week has been Jourdan. Happy Birthday to Matthew, Travis, Robbie and Ethan. Have a safe and wonderful Christmas. Kindergarten The kindergarteners have been busy learning new popcorn words and meeting new alphafriends: Hattie Horse, Andy Apple, Callie Cat, and Vinny Volcano. They are learning about word families with short “a” and writing new words every day. With the theme in reading, they are also learning about verbs. In math, the class is finishing up a chapter about numbers to 31 and learning about how to compare them, write them, and identify them in groups. Next in math they will learn tally marks, and learn about different types of graphs and how to read them and use them. The class loved making ice crystals and watching them form throughout the day! It was a great experiment and they collected data and compared their ideas. It has been a great month of leading and living their faith as they tried hard each day to prepare a place for Jesus by being Intentional Disciples of Christ and making choices that Jesus wants us to make! First Grade Souper Troopers First grade is as bright and exciting as our little Christmas tree. The children used pipe cleaners and objects from our classroom to create the ornaments. Our tree is adorned with counting cubes, magnetic letters, beads, and blocks! One fun thing we did this month is to have an extensive science lesson as we made a large bowl of green jello. We discussed many terms such as dissolve, solid, liquid, and gas. When we tasted

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it they declared it to be the best jello ever! Thank you all for the food contributions along with the mittens and hats. It is special to see the outpouring the children are experiencing as they add their items to the rest. I wish all of you a holy and happy Christmas and thank you for the opportunity to share this time of the year with your children. It is so much fun! Second Grade December has been full of Christmas cheer, fun, and learning of course! Together we created an Advent calendar that gives not daily candy, but daily acts of kindness to do during advent that will help prepare the world for Jesus’ birth. These second graders are something special! As we look towards January, it’s nothing but more fun and more learning on the horizon. In math, we will step into addition and subtraction within 1,000. In science, we will begin a unit on the three states of matter, sold, liquid, and gas. In reading and language arts we will begin a new unit focusing in on the lives of important people who came before us as we learn how to read biographies, and in religion, we will start an investigation on the seasons of the church year! I hope that everyone has an enjoyable, restful break and I look forward to the students’ return in the New Year! Third Grade In their reading series, students have begun reading Incredible Stories. These stories leave their imaginations rolling with excitement. In math, students are moving to probability and statistics. This will also include many kinds of graphs to use as they analyze different types of data. In grammar, students are learning about pronouns. In religion, students are learning about the many different kinds of groups that run a parish. In science, they will be looking at the weather a bit closer….and using math as students monitor the temperatures through the cooler months ahead. In social studies, students are learning how to read a variety of maps. They will also be starting a report on one of the states (in class). For their evening reading, students will be starting biographies. Fourth Grade During the month of December, the fourth grade was busy. They worked hard preparing for their Christmas Show. In addition, they also worked hard rehearsing Christmas Carols for their monthly visit to Franklin Court. The fourth grade has also been working hard in their academic subjects. The topics in religion were Advent and the Commandments In math, they are finishing a chapter on multiplication, and will begin a chapter on division. The theme in reading is That's Amazing. The Southeast region of the United States is the topic in social studies. The focus in science is physical science. Fifth Grade In December, the fifth graders created songs to help them remember their spelling words. They also practiced vocabulary definition by having a snowball fight in class. In math, the students worked on creating tables to help them solve word problems and they also learned how to work with exponents. In writing, the students wrote narratives using Christmas pictures. Before heading off on vacation, the students spent time wrapping items for the Bristol Animal

CLASS  NEWS  

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Algebra – Students will be learning about systems of linear equations and inequalities. They will be using three methods to solve linear systems--by graphing, substitution, and elimination. Pre-Algebra – We are moving onto solving equations with fractions and rational numbers in January. History – The students learned about Elis Island and immigrants in the early 1900s. We will be learning about World War I in January. Language Arts – The class read the Christmas Classic, Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck. The narrative explores the theme of the true meaning of love: giving of oneself. Along with seventh graders, the eighth graders also submitted essays to the Rhode Island Right to Life contest: “What can I do to build a pro-life generation?” The class examined the responsibility of all God’s children to support and care for one another and the earth-which is our home. Physical Education In physical education class students have been learning about the fundamentals of basketball. All grades have been participating in dribbling, passing and shooting drills. Since it is basketball season, many students were eager to show off their own skills that they are learning on their teams and incorporate it during our gym basketball games. Health Students have been learning all about germs, different types of germs, and how to prevent germs from spreading. Grades 4-8 had an opportunity to do a potato experiment, seeing hands on, how fast germs really do spread. This was awesome to see the different results throughout each class. Art This has been a very busy month creating a lot of beautiful Christmas projects. In addition to stockings, Rudolph, and angels, our Pre-k4 students have continued to create art from letters creating a “G” gumball machine and a “J” jellyfish. Kindergarten through eighth grade have all been very busy creating amazing Christmas art projects. There have been gorgeous three dimensional candy canes done by our middle school students. The project had students focused on composition, overlapping and shading. The candy canes jump right off the page! Some of our other students created reindeer drawings in which they had to depict all the reindeer with different personalities in a variety of circumstances. There has also been plenty of glitter! Some of the classes made sparkly miniature Christmas trees. Others created paper gingerbread houses with glitter, buttons and foam. There were elf drawings running with a string of glittery lights. All the students have really gotten into the Christmas Spirit!

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Shelter and the Star Kids Program as part of their community service project. Merry Christmas to all! Sixth Grade Language Arts – In English language arts, the class read Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. The novel is a coming of age story, which explores what it means to make a difference in the world, to live life every day, and to know that there is a time and season for everything in life. The author is a master at using sensory imagery to enable the reader to visualize each scene. The novel complemented and enhanced the December curriculum focus on descriptive writing. Math – We have been working on comparing and ordering fractions. The 6th graders also made "Christmas" factor trees using prime factorization. We will continue with fractions in January. We will be converting fractions to decimals and vice versa. Science – The students have been awesome. We just finished working on stars and our galaxy. We are now finishing up our science fair projects and I am excited to see them all being presented on Feb. 3. Also students have been outstanding in vocab and their stories they have typed have been quite exciting to read. History – The students learned about the country of Eygpt; the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and their impact on the history of the country. Seventh Grade Pre-Algebra – We currently wrapped up equations with fractions. We will be moving onto geometry in January. They will review area and volume. Language Arts – The class submitted essays to the Rhode Island Right to Life contest by responding thoughtfully to the topic, “What can I do to build a pro-life generation?” The class explored many ideas to determine what it means to truly be pro-life, and then applied all the tools of the writer to create an authentic and cohesive essay. The class performed a scene from the Christmas classic, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The play perfectly complemented the middle school trip to the Veterans Memorial Auditorium for the ENCORE performance by the Chamber Theatre. Science – In science, we have been continuing our studies in heredity and genetics along with working with pedigrees. Students have almost begun their science projects and I cannot wait to see their results. Civics – The students are learning about different types of governments and why the United States a democratic government. Eighth Grade Science – We have been learning about alkanes and building models of compounds. Students have all completed the first 6 pages of their science fair packets and are on to testing their experiment.