Grades Pre-k through 8th

Welcome Parents and Students,

Remember to check teacherease to keep up on grades, assignments, and tests. Here is a brief breakdown of what the students will be studying throughout the year and current topics in the class:

5th Grade- Regional Geography of the World

The Students just finished up their chapter on Africa. We looked at the opening to the move "The Lion King" which as a lot of the landforms that we are studying including Mt. Kilimanjaro. Speaking of, my dad climb Kilimanjaro a couple years ago. He also went on a couple safaris in the Serengeti. I showed the student some pictures form his trip.

Assignments:

(5/14) Complete Chapter 20 Review on page 430 and 431 #1-13, 16,17 and Locating Places

(5/15) None

(5/16) Section 1 Review page 481 #1-5 and define key terms from the chapter

6th Grade- Ancient Civilizations

The 6th grade finished up on the Roman Empire. This unit was really fun because there is so many interesting things to study. Chapter 15 covered the rise of the Roman Empires, the Pax Romana and the decline of the Empire. We are now on the rise of Christianity. Hopefully being at St. Mary, the students can teach it to me. Just kidding.

Assignments:

(5/14) Section 1 Review page 250 #1-4 and Rewrite the story of the Good Samaritan in modern times

(5/15) Section 2 Review page 251 and Chapter 16 Geography and Map Activity Handout

(5/16) Section 3 Review page 255 #1-5

Click here to discover in depth about a lot of the ancient civilizations that the 6th graders are learning about this year

7th and 8th Grade- American History from Reconstruction until Modern Day

We finished up the Great Depression and the New Deal. We looked at the Roaring Twenties and the mobsters, flappers and speakeasies. The students had a dance off to see who could do the Charleston the best. It was boys versus girls. The boys came out victorious. The class started a stock market simulation on 4/24. They had to buy and sell stock. Ask them how their stocks did. We are now on the origins of World War II. We are reading "I am a Star" which is a book about a German Jewish girl and her turmoil during the war.

Assignments:

(5/14) None- took chapter 17 test

(5/15) Read up to page 22 in "I am a Star"

(5/16) Stock market game wrap-up essay due tomorrow

**A big thank you to the St. Mary Booster Club. They were able to find grant money for all of the teachers. As a result, I purchased a projector for my classroom. Before I was showing maps, pictures and short video clips on my small labtop. Now, I am able to show interactive maps, presentations, video clips, quizzes and other cool activities on a big screen. It will really help out the audio/visual learners and make our lessons that much better. Below is a picture of Mrs. Martindale giving a presentation of her mission work in Nicaragua to the 5th grade. The PowerPoint really gave the students an in depth look into what the presentation was all about.

A little bit about me:

I am the new Social Studies teacher here at St. Mary's Catholic School. I grew up in Flushing and attended St. Robert. I went on to Powers Catholic High School and graduated back in 2003. After high school I moved across the state to Grand Rapids where I studied Social Studies and History while earning my Secondary Education Certificate at Aquinas College. While I was at Aquinas I played soccer and eventually coached many teams in the area. After almost 8 years of living on the west side of the state I decided to move back to the Flint area. I am very excited to be back where I grew up and to be a part of St. Mary. Teaching and learning about History and Geography is a passion of mine and I hope to make it fun and interesting for the students. In addition to teaching here I also coached boys JV soccer at Powers this fall. I had two St. Mary alumni on the team and it was a lot of fun.

Check back in soon for updates and information about the fun and exciting events in the classroom.

God Bless,

Mr. Rowe