I&S Newsletters

October 9, 2022

Seventh and Eighth Grade Families,

As we reach mid-October this week, be aware that the mid-trimester is coming up quickly! Take time this week to check PowerSchool and make a plan with your child/ren to complete missing assignments or redo and resubmit assignments with low scores as soon as possible so that their grades at the mid-trimester are an accurate representation of their learning.

In I&S this week, seventh graders will continue examining documents to investigate the question of whether or not the “Dark Ages” is an accurate descriptor for the Middle Ages. Students will make a claim regarding this question and then revise it as we examine more documentation. At the end of the week we will debrief the activity and how they had to use the “Think Like a Historian” skills as they revised their claims.

Eighth graders will have their fall Teaching Safety lesson on Tuesday. You should have received the opt out form from your child’s homeroom teacher late last week, but just in case, it is attached to the email sent out on October 9 as well.

Eighth graders should be working toward completing their tribal projects this week. Students who are waiting on responses from their tribes and therefore unable to complete this project by the end of the week should come talk to me about their timeline for completion, and alternative sources in case they do not hear back from their tribe in a timely fashion. Class time this week will be spent on studying industry and agriculture in Washington state. Students will work in small groups to become experts on one area of our state’s economy.

As a reminder, work students should be working on at home assigned by me can be found on this Google Doc and is also posted on Mrs. Conrow’s page of the school’s website and as an announcement in Toddle for all seventh and eighth graders to reference as needed.

Important Dates:

Tuesday – Teaching Safety Lesson
Thursday – Last Day of Fall Food Drive
Friday – No School
October 17-21 Spirit Week! (Look for more details to come home later this week)
October 18 – Saint Luke a Thon
October 19 – All School Mass in the Church!
October 20 – Washington Shake Out Earthquake Drill
October 21 – Mid-Trimester
October 21 – Middle School Dance hosted by St. Luke

Remaining Middle School Dance Dates:

October 21 – Saint Luke
November 11 – St. John School
December 2 – St. Anne
January 6 – St. Matthew
April 21 – Villa Academy
April 28 – St. Catherine

October 3, 2022

Happy Monday!

I forgot to add two important things to my email from yesterday. Our fall food drive is underway. It started today and goes through Thursday, October 13. The seventh and eighth graders have been asked to bring individually wrapped (or small group packages of) rolls of toilet paper and/or paper towels.

Second, a spring auction item was to purchase free dress on Mondays for your students. Today was the first free dress Monday. If your students come home today and ask about free dress Mondays, it is NOT too late for you to purchase this for them. It is $45 per student, and here is the link to get in on the remaining Mondays.

Blessings, Mrs. Conrow

October 2, 2022

Seventh and Eighth Grade Families,

It’s so hard to believe it’s already October! The weather still has one foot in summer, but we are solidly into the routine of school, with the mid-trimester approaching in just a couple of weeks! Don’t forget that we have implemented a new way to report absences, late arrivals, early pickups, and changes to a student’s carpool routine! Please send an email to your child/ren’s homeroom teacher and cc attendance@stlukeshoreline.org.

Please spend a moment talking to your middle schooler about the importance of respecting the space and furniture in our classroom. Last week I found a piece of gum stuck to the underside of one of our brand new chairs. I have also continually found candy wrappers on the floor in my classroom, even after reminding students that candy should not be consumed in the classroom. Now that we are eating lunch in the auditorium again, students should not be eating in the classrooms (unless an extenuating circumstance has been cleared with the front office or LRC staff). Please remind your students of the NO GUM policy in particular, and check to ensure that candy and gum are not brought to school. I was very disappointed to see the new furniture being treated in this fashion. We are so lucky to have new desks and chairs, and we must remember that this furniture will be used by future middle schoolers for many years to come.

This week seventh graders will recap their learning from the Snapshot Autobiography project they completed with Mrs. Conroy and bring that learning into a series of lessons on the fall of the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages. Over the next two weeks, students will take a close look at seven documents depicting the Dark Ages, from historians living in the first century through modern textbooks in order to gain an understanding of this period in history.

Eighth graders will continue researching a tribe from the Pacific Northwest to present to their classmates. The form of the presentation and how it will be scored will be discussed in class early this week, with the final projects due early next week. As students complete their tribal projects, they will be asked to read about fur traders and missionaries as well as early settlers and settlements in our state.

Important Dates:
Monday – Coffee and Curriculum with Mrs. Hand and Mrs. Roach in the auditorium after morning carpool
Tuesday – Parent Club meeting 7:00pm via Zoom
Friday – 7/8 Dance at Our Lady of the Lake (permission slip attached to 10/3 email)

October 14 – Non-Student Day
October 18 – Saint Luke A Thon
October 20 – Great Washington ShakeOut
October 21 – Mid-Trimester

Have a fantastic week and don’t hesitate to reach out!

Blessings, Mrs. Conrow

September 25, 2022

Seventh and Eighth Grade Families,

We are getting into the swing of the school year and your middle schoolers are in the thick of their first units of study. Mrs. Conroy will be subbing for me again on Thursday and Friday as I meet with other Archdiocesan teacher leaders at the Chancery building downtown.

I have started a homework Google Doc (click here to see it), where I will add I&S homework as it assigned, with the newest assignments at the top of the document. We will also begin using Toddle for assignments this week so students can get a feel for how their work will be populated in the class streams and on the Toddle calendar and to do list.

This week seventh graders will continue lessons designed to get them reading and thinking like historians. They will use eyewitness interviews to decide what to do in the case of a fictitious lunchroom fight, using the Saint Luke discipline policy as a guide. We will discuss the reliability of different sources and whether or not accounts corroborate one another. Students will take a closer look at corroboration by creating a brief autobiography project and interviewing a family member about their memory of an event from their lives.

Eighth graders will continue their study of Washington state by looking at different maps of our state to gather different types of information. After looking at what our textbook has to say about the tribes native to the land now a part of Washington state, each student will choose one tribe to research and present to their classmates.

Important Dates:

Monday – Student Government Campaigns begin
Tuesday – Safe Environment Training from 6:00-9:00 PM
Thursday & Friday – Mrs. Conroy to sub for Mrs. Conrow
Thursday – Student Government Campaign Speeches at 8:45 AM
Friday – Last Friday Non-Uniform
Friday – Mass in Gym at 8:45 AM
Friday – Middle School Dance at ASB (permission slip attached)
October 3-13 – Fall Food Drive
October 14 – Non Student Day (Teacher In-Service)

Have a blessed week and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!

Blessings, Mrs. Conrow

September 18, 2022

Seventh and Eighth Grade Families,

Now that we have gotten through the first MAP testing sessions of the school year, we are ready to begin diving into the curriculum of Individuals and Societies! Unfortunately, I am still sick and won’t be able to start the week with your students. However, they are in good hands with Mrs. Conroy who is having a great time being back in her old classroom while I recover.

Eighth grade families can click on the High School Application link from my webpage on the school’s website for the latest information on high school applications. A useful document detailing each high school’s admission information all on one page is also attached to the email sent on September 18.

I hope you will all be able to make it to the MYP academic night which will be held in person on Tuesday evening. The night will begin at 6:30pm in the auditorium and then move to the classrooms for grade level presentations. Go to the school’s website to RSVP!

Important Dates:
Monday – Vaccine Clinic in auditorium 8:30-11:30am
Tuesday – MYP Academic Night 6:30pm begins in auditorium
Wednesday – PYP Academic Night 6:30pm begins in auditorium
Friday – Mass for grades 2-8 8:45am in gym
Tuesday, September 27 – Safe Environment Training in auditorium 6:00-9:00pm
Friday, September 30 – Non-Uniform!
Friday, September 30 – Middle School Dance at ASB (see permission slip attached to the email sent on September 18)
Saint Luke A Thon NEW DATE: Tuesday, October 18
School Mass IN THE CHURCH: Wednesday, October 19

Blessings, Mrs. Conrow

September 11, 2022

Seventh and Eighth Grade Families,

Welcome to the first full week of school! It was fun meeting your students last week and getting to know the eighth graders outside of the classroom on our fall retreat. This week I hope to get to know the seventh graders better and kick off our year of study of Individuals and Societies with activities designed to orient students to thinking like historians and get them organized for the year.

Our main activity this week will be a teacher artifact activity where students will look at artifacts from my life to discover what they can about my life outside of Saint Luke. We will use this activity as a jumping off point to discuss how historians and archeologists know what they know, how to evaluate source materials including the difference between primary and secondary sources, and the reasons history can have gaps in information and differing perspectives.

Important Dates:

Monday – Mass of the Holy Spirit led by Grade 8 at 9:30am in Gym
Tuesday-Thursday – MYP MAP Testing 8:30-10:30am
Wednesday – Individual Student Pictures
Thursday – Grade 8 Washington DC Info Night 7:30pm in Room 213
September 20 – MYP Curriculum Night (In Person!) 6:30-7:30pm

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with questions! I am looking forward to an amazing year watching your students grow and learn.

Blessings,

Natalie Conrow