Students Sponsor Girl From Bangladesh

Our class is sponsoring Suma Das, a nine-year old girl from Bangladesh.
Suma Das lives with her parents. She has one brother and no sisters. They live in Wari Telegu Kanpuri, an old part of the capital of Chaka in cramped conditions. They work as common laborers. Her family is considered part of the lowest castes of Hindu society. They have a one-room house that does not have running water or electricity. They have little to eat so the children often suffer from malnutrition and a variety of skin diseases. Their main food is rice, dal (lentil soup) and spinach. By sponsoring Suma she will receive school supplies and go to school. A little money goes a long way so Suma will now have opportunities that could only have been dreamed of before.

Thank you for helping us sponsor Suma. Send in your cash donations to our class, care of Andrra, Emma, Adina and Sophia. And thank you to all of the elementary classes at Faith North who are helping us with this project!

About Suma:

Suma was born on January 7, 2000. Her favorite subject is drawing. She is in the 4th grade. She has cleaning chores. Her health is only fair.

Poetry From Our Students

December Classroom Happenings

Montessori Lessons

We are all very excited to be back in class after Thanksgiving. New lessons are well underway! Today we heard about the Story of Geometry and how the Egyptians used the triangle to measure the farmer’s land near the Nile River every year when the Nile River flooded. The students learned how this measurement was done and who came to Egypt from Greece to learn about this method, etc.

Why don’t the planets fall out of the sky? What is the special force that holds the earth in its orbit? New students are experiencing one of the class’ favorite lessons on centripetal force.

How was English spoken long ago? All verbs were strong verbs once upon a time. Second and third year students are learning how to tell the difference between a strong and weak verb.

This week we continued the story of the Fourth Great Lesson, “The Story of Communications in Signs. Students can practice writing on a clay tablet with cuneiforms just like the Sumerians did long ago. Only boys were allowed to go to school and they got hit with a switch if they made a mistake. What other ways did people use to communicate in writing?

Science Museum Free Family Membership Opportunity

We invite you to participate in The Science Museum’s Family Night at Faith North. Be present next week here on December 11 at 5:00 PM. You will be able to receive a full family one year membership if you attend that night. Click on this link for the membership form: http://www.phxelem.k12.az.us/school_sites/FaithNorth/Documents/science.pdf

Upcoming Special Dates

December
10-Theatre: “The Quiltmaker’s Gift” 9 – 11 AM
11-Family Science Night 5:00 – 6:30 PM
12-PTA Holiday Bazaar at Faith North 5:30 – 7:30 PM
16-Phoenix Center Youth Theater "The Snow Queen" 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
15-Holiday Concert at Faith North
18/19-Parent Teacher Conferences
22-Winter Break Begins

Special Thanks

Thank you so much for your wonderful support of our class! We received some of our wish list items including the guinea pig supplies and money for clay. Our class turtle has gained two new baby turtle friends. One baby is called Speedy. The students will vote on the other name at our next community meeting. We still need more sponges and china dinner plates. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Rosalinda Siciliano and Lisa Ramirez