Steinkamp's Scoop

Hi All! This will be the last post of 2018! Hard to believe it's that time of the year. It has been a busy last few weeks! The 6th grade is just starting their poetry unit. I had them water color a poster and write a poem about the landscape they painted. They aren't doing too shabby with their poetry! They also did an activity where they read Matthew chapters 1 and 2 and put a puzzle together. These chapters told the birth of Jesus. The 8th grade made 3D settings for the Lord of the Flies . I think they did pretty good! Triplets :)  Congratulations to all who participated in the Geography Bee! Our Rosie got 3rd! Woohoo Rosie! Christmas Masa was a success!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Parents, Geography Bee is next Wednesday, the 19th, after Mass, so around 10:15. You are more than welcome to come and watch. We have two 8th graders, Rosie and Cade. Next Friday I will be throwing a Christmas party for the 8th grade. It will be a party that would be found in Moldova, the country I used to live in. We try to Skype my host mom as well just to chat. I will be asking the students to bring a food item. This is volunteer base only. If you are unable to get a food item, don't worry about it! Please join us in singing Christmas carols next Friday, the 21st, at 12:15. It is the best part of the year!! Next Friday will be a sack lunch day for everyone and is an early dismissal. Merry Christmas!

Today was our annual Code Day where students took some time to do coding, work with technology such as robots, iPads, drones, etc... and use their engineering skills. Here are a few pictures from my room, coding.  And I also included a picture of the 8th grade at the Christmas concert just because they are too cute. :)

Dates to remember: Dec. 5th: Christmas Concert at the high school Dec. 7th: Middle school Code Day and Spirit Day Dec. 21st: 2 hour early dismissal and Spirit Day Dec. 24-Jan. 2 Christmas Break No School!! The 8th grade finished their novel on Monday. They are in the middle of their test for it and will begin their 3D projects on Thursday. Again, I encourage students to use things from home rather than buy them. Their next unit will be poetry so they will take a couple of weeks off from novel reading. They also had visitors on Monday. The 1st grade stopped by to read their 8 page book summaries. The 7th grade just started 12 Angry Men  to wrap up their novel unit. Once they are done reading the play, they will have a persuasive presentation using Google Slides or some sort of presentation format.  The 6th grade is just about to wrap up their unit of theme before heading into poetry. We are also really hitting on their writing lately. Run-on sentences seem to

Here's What's New: November 30th: Spirit Day December 5th: Music Concert-- Be looking for permission slips to go to the high school to practice Wednesday afternoon. December 7th: Spirit Day January 19th: TRIVIA NIGHT! BE thinking of your teams! More information to come! The 8th grade is well into their novel Lord of the Flies.  We should wrap up next week. They then will take a test, watch the movie, and create a 3D model of the setting. (I will post pictures when they are all done.) I have been telling them to bring things from home for their models. They do not have to buy things. I am there are plenty of things from home they can use, and then we will return them when we are done. The 7th grade just started their unit on theme. This unit is a little tricky usually. They are my guinea pigs by experimenting with a new digital notebook all done on Google slides. I am hoping to get good feedback from it! The 6th grade is also into their theme unit. They will read a s

Hi all,  I am a tad behind, sorry! Reminder: Tomorrow we do not have school Monday Nov. 26 Board of Ed. meeting Wednesday Nov 28 Advent Night. All are welcome. Friday Nov. 30 Spirit Day Wednesday Dec. 5 Christmas Concert at the Creston High School Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Parents,  don't forget conferences are next Thursday! Dates to remember:  Halloween Parade is at 2:30 on the 31st. 8th Grade Mass is November 1st. That day is also an early out.  November 2nd: NO SCHOOL The 8th grade recently went to SWCC for Career Day. I think they really liked going to the campus and seeing the different courses and degrees offered.  Ella taking some dents out of a car hood. Mikaela practicing painting a car. Kyle won the hammering contest! Although there may have been some cheating going on...   Kyle won the tire changing challenge! The 8th grade just wrapped up their murder mystery story Lamb to a Slaughter . They started out their unit with a pre-reading activity where they visited different stations throughout the room that gave them clues to the story. At the end they had to predict what actually happened in the story. I don't think any of them predicted what actually happened... 

8th Grade Parents, Don't forget that the 8th grade needs a sack lunch for their field trip tomorrow. They will be going to SWCC for career day. Also, don't forget to sign up for conferences. The link is posted below.

8th Grade Parents,     I have sent out email invites inviting you to conferences. If you did not get the email, the link below will take you to the conference sign up sheet. If this day does not work for you, let me know a time that will and we will get it scheduled.  Thanks! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f044da8ac29a4fe3-parent1 Here is what is happening:  The 8th grade is going to head to SWCC on Tuesday the 23rd for the career day.  They just wrapped up their novel unit on Animal Farm. They are currently working on allegory books, which always turn out neat. You will see these at conferences. In this unit they focused on figurative language, allegories, and the general elements of the plot.  Their new unit is focusing on mood and the tone of the writer. They read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson yesterday where they focused on the tone of Jackson. Today they will be digging deeper into the real meaning behind the story by writing mini essays. 

Important Dates to Remember: Oct 5- Spirit Day Oct 11- 8th Grade is headed to SWCC to learn more about community development Oct 12- The public school is closed, but we are open. Oct 13- Spaghetti Super Oct 15- The public school is opened, but we are closed. Oct 19- Spirit Day Oct 23- SWCC Career Day for the 8th grade (They will need a sack lunch) Permission slips will be sent home next week. The 8th grade is wrapping up their novel Animal Farm. They will take the test, watch the movie, and have an allegory project next week. I think they enjoyed reading this novel and making connections between the animals and their Russian allegories. The 7th grade just wrapped up a unit dealing with the plot elements, suspense, and mood. They wrote mystery short stories to conclude this unit. They will be taking a test next week over it. It will be a little different in that they will read a mystery story, answer comprehension questions, then do a small project based off of the story.

Morning Parents,  I sent the class shirt order to Lora yesterday. If you plan on paying by check you can make it out to Lora Pellman or As You Wish Designs. They are $20 and very neat! Thank you to all of you who donated candy for our Homecoming float!

Parents,  We are asking all middle school students to bring one bag of candy for the St. Malachy float for the Homecoming parade. Friday the 21st is an early dismissal, but lunch will still be served. September 23rd is the Color Run. September 25th will be the middle school leadership retreat at the St. Thomas More Center. Please sign BOTH forms (one is yellow and the other is white) and it cost $5. Your child will also need a sack lunch for this field trip. That's it for now. :)

Dates to Remember:  September 9th is the Food Fair September 14th is the school's moving day. We are asking for volunteers to help move. September 17th the public school is closed but we are OPEN. There will not be busing.  September 21st is Homecoming with an early dismissal.  September 23rd is the St. Malachy Color Run. Be sure to register by Sept. 10 to get a T-Shirt! The 8th grade watched a video on EdPuzzle. While they watched the video they paused to answer comprehension questions. They had just finished reading The Tell-Tale Heart  by Edgar Allan Poe so they were comparing the video to the story. They will be doing a mock trial next week debating whether our narrator is guilty or not guilty. We have a few 3D puzzles in the classroom for students to work on when they are done with their homework. The boys finished the Statue of Liberty. A couple of the girls are working on a dog. We also have a hamburger and cupcake being constructed.  The 7th gra

School pictures are tomorrow!

Welcome Back!! I hope you all had a great summer!  Here are some dates/things to keep in mind:  The school WILL be serving lunch and breakfast next week. Students are still able to bring their water bottles until the water situation is resolved completely.  Our first 8th grade Mass is next Wednesday the 29th. Your child already has his/her part.  There will be a PTO meeting the 30th.  No school September 3rd due to Labor Day. Spirit Day the 7th of September. Dress for your favorite team, Iowa or Iowa State. Go Hawks!! International Food Fair September 9th.  I am so excited to see all of the kids again! I kind of missed them. And it is so great to see so many new students.  The first few days are adjustment/assessment days. So I won't actually start teaching language arts until next week some time. Their first assignment will be a speech over themselves. It's a good way for me to get to know the 6th grade and see how much the 7th and 8th grade remember f

Can you believe TWO weeks from now will be our last day of school?!  We have a few things coming up...  May 23rd: Spring concert at the High School May 25th: 8th grade graduation Mass that night. Remember, each family will have a pew reserved for them. There will also be a reception held after Mass downstairs. If you have presents for the grads, you can bring them downstairs. Each graduate will have their own table.  May 28th: No school! May 31st: Field Day from 1:00-2:45 June 1st: LAST DAY OF SCHOOL-- Students should bring a sack lunch plus a drink. We are also having our last Mass this day.  Parents, on the last day of school we will be having the 8th grade's "final drive". Please stand in the halls with us as the whole school sends them off. The 8th grade will start at 1:00 before dismissal.  Civil War Wax Museum was a hit!