What's Up at St. Mark's?
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Last week 75% of the students in PreKindergarten 3 and 4 and Kindergarten enjoyed an evening of Fall fun. We had our 1st Student-Parent Activity Night (SPAN) of this school year. The children and their guests played games, made art projects, and tasted yummy treats. We plan to have more SPAN's later in the school year.
1st Grade made an M&M candy graph. They found that normal M&M's had 18 or more M&M's in a package. Peanut M&M's only had 7-13 M&M's in a package. Each bag had different numbers of each color.
In regard to the 1st Grade plants, Julia wrote, "Our seeds have grown so big! The colors are red and green. They grew in a bag in our classroom." Some of the seeds have leaves on the stems. In phonics, the class learned about "sneaky mommy e." When one vowel is followed by a consonant and e, the e makes the vowel "say its name"-the long vowel sound!
2nd Grade has had another busy week. The students painted pumpkins and wrote spooky stories. They talked about Martin Luther and did a special Reformation word search. The class is also studying money in math and reading about nature.
On Monday, Nov. 3, the 3rd and 4th Grades toured the "Between Fences" Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibit on display in Pinckneyville. They learned about different kinds of fences that have impacted American history. They also toured the Perry County Jail Museum and learned about different historical aspects in Perry County, IL.
4th Graders have continued to study about Moses as a leader in their current lessons. Moses offered many excuses to avoid God's call to lead Israel out of Egypt. He feared returning to Egypt because he was wanted for the murder of an Egyptian. He had the proper preparation for the job through his upbringing, first in his own home and then in the Egyptian home of the Pharaoh's daughter. In math, multiplication facts have been replaced by subtraction facts for the present time.
5th Grade is having a debate about the merits of year-round school. The class is painting with Clorox in art class. In history, the students are discussing explorers from Spain, Portugal, France, and England. Do you know whose expedition was the first to sail all the way around the world going west to get east? Which explorer was put in a small boat and set adrift in a large northern bay when his crew mutinied? The answers are below if you don't know what the 5th Graders have learned!
6th Grade has moved on to ancient India in social studies. They found out that some ancient cities found by archaeologists in the Indus River Valley had well-planned streets and some houses even had indoor plumbing! In science they are talking about elements, compounds, and diffusion. Their final New Testament stories before a test have shown Jesus' power over storms and demons!
7th Graders have been busy in the computer lab researching information about the planets and preparing presentations about them. Some of the students plan to do power point presentations. The class listened to "Waltzing Matilda", an Australian folksong, ate a special Australian treat, and has a stuffed platypus and koala visiting during this chapter in geography.
7th and 8th Graders in Constitution class went around to all the students and teachers last Wednesday and registered everyone to vote in the school election on Tuesday, Nov. 4. School voters had to be at least 5 years old, residents of Illinois, and enrolled or teaching at St. Mark's! We'll let you know if the results of St. Mark's election match the national election results.
8th Graders are studying many types of energy, including potential energy and kinetic energy, and fossil fuels. As they approach the French and Indian War in history class, they are discussing typical house and farm work in those days and are realizing how much easier their lives are now.