Mrs. DeLuca: Grade 5, Grade 6 ELA

Fifth graders show off their placemats! This week has largely focused on preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving. Fourth and fifth graders came together to make Thanksgiving placemats for the families in need who will receive the gift baskets. Over the past few weeks, fifth graders have also led the entire school in our afternoon prayer at dismissal. Izzy leading us in prayer. Joslyn leading us in prayer. Raheem leading us in prayer. Lauren leading us in prayer. On Thursday, Lt. Lanni visited our class and shared his experiences from his time on the S.W.A.T. team. The students learned about the Baker Bat Shield and were even able to try on a bulletproof vest! Wishing all of our families a restful, enjoyable Thanksgiving season!

Ms. Natalie Kathol, our Director of Religious Education and the Grade 5 Religion teacher this year, says that she enjoys experiencing God in nature. This week's post will shed light on the incredible work that our fifth graders are doing in Religion class with their teacher, Ms. Kathol. The Thanksgiving Tree project, featured below, is a way for our students to visually remind themselves of all that they are grateful for in life. Each grade will complete a tree that will be brought forth at our Thanksgiving prayer service on November 26 to recognize and celebrate our blessings. In class, the students have started a long-term project that they will continue working on throughout the year: Write Your Story on My Heart . It is a reflective assignment about finding the presence of God in every day life and includes different narrative writing prompts, creative projects, and experiential learning opportunities in the form of field trips and retreats. Last week, fifth grade...

This Thursday, the sixth grade had their second visit to Sonshine Christian Academy where they read Thanksgiving-themed stories to their young friends and led a craft project. They selected a turkey craft that allowed each young child to practice their coloring and also share words that represented things in life that they are thankful for. Our sixth graders did a wonderful job helping them with their crafts. It was a great visit and again proved how dedicated our HCA students are to their motto: Actions, Not Words.

This week, students in Grades K-5 were treated to the performance, Bob the Bully Buster,  from the Walnut Theatre. The show focused on relationships and how the students can go from being bystanders to bully busters when a friend is in need. The lively performance blended humor and important messages along with a little dancing! For this week's Community Time, middle schoolers participated in "Escape the Room." Green and white teams of students from Grades 5-8 raced against the clock to be the first groups to break out of their classrooms. Code breaking, decoding hidden messages and collaborative team work helped all four groups escape in less than an hour! Monday, November 11 is a TAG Day for Pets for Vets. Students may bring $1.00 and wear free dress in red, white, and blue. Parent-teacher conferences will be held Thursday, Nov. 14 and Friday, Nov. 15. If you have not yet signed up, you can schedule your conference here...