My name is Jon DiLorenzo and this is my 20th year in education. I am very pleased to be teaching 3rd/4th graders at Saint Mary's Visitation School. I have over 13 years of experience in working with these two particular grades and I am excited to be working with my new students.
I graduated from Grand Valley State University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts in English/Language Arts with Elementary Distributed Minor. Before SMV, I taught 3 years of 4th/5th grade at Black River School in Holland. I have taught at various schools throughout Grand Rapids. I am a few classes shy from my master’s degree which is Educational Differentiation. I am very excited and eager to work with not only my students, but fellow teachers and parents as well. There is so much to be learned from one another!
In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my wife, Jessica, and my son, Carson. Jessica is a Radiology Systems Administrator at Metro Health Hospital. Carson is a freshman at Calvin College. I love playing and watching all kinds of sports. I really enjoy watching my son, Carson, play baseball. I also enjoy hiking. I am a huge fan of food, not only eating it, but cooking it as well. I am also a huge fan of reading. I really love a good book that I can get lost in.
I am very excited to start my third year here at Saint Mary's Visitation School and can’t wait to see what the future has in store!
Rules:
1. Follow directions the first time given.
2. Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself.
3. No bullying or put-downs.
4. Listen when somebody is talking.
5. Use your own materials unless you get permission.
Consequences:
1. Verbal warning
2. Check
3. Behavior rubric write up and email home
4. Office visit/phone call home
Responding to the Teaching Mission of the Catholic Church and embracing our Catholic identity, St. Mary's Visitation School strives to inspire, encourage, and challenge each student in its care, spiritually, emotionally, physically, and intellectually within a Christ-centered environment.
Monday:
Strings: 10:00 - 10:45
Choir: 11:00 - 11:30
Tuesday:
Physical Education: 2:20 - 2:50
Wednesday:
Art: 12:35 - 1:25
Chromebooks: 2:10 - 2:50
Thursday:
Choir: 7:35 - 8:00
Mass: 8:00 - 9:00
Physical Education: 2:20 - 2:50
Friday:
Library: 2:00 - 2:30
September - October 2nd
October - November 6th
November - December 4th
December - January 8th
January - February 5th
February - March 5th
March - April 1st**
April - May 7th
May - June 2nd**
**All Bingo sheets will be due on or before the first Friday of the following month, with the exceptions of March and May, which both will be due on a Thursday.
**All Book Reports/Projects will be due on or before the first Monday of the following month, with the exceptions of September, November, and May's Book Report/Project, which will be due on a Tuesday.
Parents,
Peanut Butter Drive
Allegan County Food Pantry Collaborative is hosting a Peanut Butter Drive from January 24-February 28 this year. We would love to help them out. While you are out grocery shopping, think about picking up an extra jar of peanut butter to donate. You can drop them off at school. We will have a collection cart that will be brought to Project Hope by Jean DenBesten.
Monday, January 18th, is a half day of school. Dismissal will be at 11:20 a.m.
We will begin MAP Testing this week. I plan to give the Language MAP Test on Wednesday and the Math MAP Test on Friday. We will finish with the Reading MAP Test next Tuesday, January 26th.
Classroom News:
We will be attending Mass on Thursday, January 21st, at 8:00 a.m. If you would like to attend Mass, be sure to call the school so they can add you to the list. Thank you!
Max is our next Star Student for the weeks of January 18th - January 29th. Please have pictures and the question sheet filled out by Monday, January 18th please.
I went over the January book project with the students on Thursday, January 7th. This project will cover tradition literature: fables, legends, fairy tales, myths, and tall tales. Students will read 10 of these very short stories. Most, if not all of these stories, will be able to be found on the internet! I have attached it to my documents section above in case your child needs an extra copy. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the January book project. The January book project will be due on Monday, February 1st.
The January Practical/Spiritual Life Bingo will be due on Friday, Febraury 5th.
What We Are Learning:
Mathematics:
3rd: Finish Chapter 9: Multiples and Problem Solving/Begin Chapter 10: Understand Fractions
Test on Chapter 9 on Tuesday, January 14th!
4th: Chapter 9: Multiply Whole Numbers and Fractions
ELA:
Ecology for Kids by Federico Arana
Grammar, spelling and word work, and comprehension questions
Spelling:
Unit 15 - Spelling words can be found below.
Unit 15 Spelling Test on Friday, January 22nd!
Science:
Unit 3: Earth's Changing Surface - Lesson 1: What are Some Clues that Earth's Surface Changes?
Review sheet for unit 4 given Monday, January 11th. Test on Unit 4 on Tuesday, Janury 19th!
Social Studies:
Chapter 7: Regions: The Midwest
Review sheet on chapter 6 given Thursday, January 14th. Chapter 6 Test on Thursday, January 21st!
Religion:
Chapter 17: Road Signs Along the Way
Chapter 17 Open Book Quiz on Friday, January 22nd!
Please have questions answered and pictures (no more than 10 please) sent in by the Friday before your child’s scheduled star student date. Please send in pictures that you don’t mind me putting a pin through to attach to the bulletin board. Thank you!
Thaddeus - September 21 - October 2
Abigail - October 6 - 23
Noah - October 26 - November 6
Luke - November 9 - 23
Virgil - November 30 - December 18
Joe - January 4 - 15
Max - January 18 - 29
Alayna - February 1 - 12
Emery - February 15 - 26
Adena - March 1 - 19
Taylor - March 22 - April 16
I am asking that students read for 20 minutes nightly, Monday through Friday, unless they have school work to complete. I would also like them to get their planner signed nightly please. I would also like the students to get into the habit of asking you to sign the planner, not you asking to sign their planner. I know this may take some getting use to, so if you need to ask for the planner until they get into the habit of remembering, then that is perfectly fine. Thank you!
Work that is not completed in the classroom will be sent home as homework. Students should not have more than 30 minutes of homework on any given night. If a student has homework, then they are not required to read for the 20 minutes.
Students will have monthly homework in the forms of Practical/Spiritual Life Bingo and Book Reports.
If you are looking for additional work, I would suggest giving your child a practice spelling test each Thursday night that we have spelling. Studying basic math facts, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, using flash cards or computer games/programs is another idea. Knowing these basic math facts will greatly improve your child's math skills! Another idea is studying states and capitals.
Review
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Challenge
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