Elaine O'Rourke
Learning our Roman Catholic faith is a special privilege for which we are truly grateful. We study the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes, and learn how we can apply them in our daily lives. We learn about the lives of the holy men and women who have come before us, and the importance of prayer in our daily lives. We attend mass as a class twice a month. Fourth graders ‘discover’ our Golden State in Social Studies class. Some activities that help bring this subject to life are our trips to the Petaluma Adobe, where we live the Rancho life during an overnight stay, and to Sacramento, where we visit the Capitol; Sutter’s Fort; the Railroad Museum; and the Old Schoolhouse. We are becoming aware of proper grammar usage in spoken and written English. We are also developing our writing skills with the Step Up to Writing program. We use the Houghton Mifflin Math Program to sharpen our math skills and learn new concepts, such as long division and working with fractions and decimals. Our mission in the fourth grade is to live out the Gospel values as we work and play together in school and in our parish community. My hope is that our students will learn to rely on their own individual strengths, and feel comfortable asking friends or teachers for help with academic or social issues that may arise during the year.