Principal's Weekly Update

Dear Families,

"The flame of love much alive gives warmth and radiance to our heart and soul." These words from 6th grader Livia's poem on charity encapsulate not only the life-giving effects of the virtue of charity, but also describe the joy that the St. Mary's community has brought to my life. Since beginning my position at St. Mary's, I have realized that the staff I work alongside and the families I am blessed to serve all live with "the flame of love." From your generosity with the Thanksgiving Food Drive to the active role you take in your child's education - thank you.

Among the staff, we had the opportunity yesterday evening to join together for a Friendsgiving meal. Nourished by the community and the mouthwatering food, we feel even more excited to serve all of the students. Plus, how could we not feel excited when your children radiate as much as shown in the picture below?

I hope that you are encouraged by this week's newsletter. Be sure to check out how we honored our amazing custodians and the Grade 3 and K1 buddy activity!

November 17th

• Trimester 1 grades close (K2-8)

November 22nd

• Thanksgiving Liturgy of the Word: 10:15 a.m. in the church for PreK-8
• Early Dismissal: 11 a.m.
• No EDP

November 23rd

• Happy Thanksgiving! No school

November 24th

• No school (Thanksgiving break)

November 27th

• Return to school from Thanksgiving break
• Winter Club Preview

November 29th

• Winter Club Registration
• Report Cards Released (Grades K2-8)

November 30th - December 1st

• Parent-Teacher Conferences (Grades K2-8)

December 5th

• Christmas Tree Lighting 4-5:30 (EDP ends at 4 p.m.)
  

December 7th

• Coffee with the Principal: 8 a.m. - 9 a.m.

December 8th

• PreK-8 School Mass at 12:10 p.m.: Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Holy Day

December 12th

• Christmas Pageant: 9 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
  

December 18th - January 2nd

• No School - Christmas Break

We wish all the best to Ms. Renalyn Te, Director of Enrollment, as she begins a new position closer to home. St. Mary’s is thankful for her hard work, dedication, and commitment to our families and students. Her attention to detail when organizing and implementing both in-person and remote enrollment events such as Discovery Days, Touring Tuesdays and Online Information Sessions is remarkable. You will be missed by all staff, students, and parents and we wish you the best in your upcoming adventure!

Dear Families,

The FDA has recalled the following fruit pouches because they may contain lead: Wana Bana apple cinnamon puree pouches, Schnucks-brand cinnamon applesauce pouches and variety packs, and Weis-branded cinnamon applesauce pouches. If you have any of these pouches throw them away and if your child consumed any of these pouches reach out to their health care provider for further guidance.

Tis the season for flu, coughs, colds, and other viruses. We recommend that your child stay home from school if experiencing flu or cold symptoms. To decide whether or not to send your child to school, please consider the following guidelines:

• Vomiting/diarrhea(even once) needs to be symptom-free for 24 hours before returning to school

• Chills

• General malaise or feelings of fatigue, discomfort, weakness, or muscle aches

• Frequent congested (wet) or croupy cough

• Fever of 100.4 or higher. Students need to be fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication before they can return to school.

A child who has a fever should remain at home until "fever-free" for a minimum of 24 hours. Often when a child awakens with vague complaints (the way colds and flu begin) it is wise to observe your child at home for an hour or two before deciding whether or not to bring them to school. Your child should be physically able to participate in all school activities on return to school. Keeping a sick child at home will minimize the spread of infections and viruses in the classroom.

Here at school, please know that our custodians disinfect surfaces, door knobs, and banisters daily. Students also wash their hands throughout the day with soap and water or hand sanitizer.

For morning drop-off, please remember that the cafeteria doors open at 7:30 a.m. and there is no staff supervision beforehand. Because of this, please keep your child in the car until 7:30 a.m. for safety purposes. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!

If you signed up to donate a pie for our faculty and staff members for Thanksgiving, please bring it on Tuesday, November 21 to the Cafeteria between 7:30 and 8 a.m. Thank you so much for your dedication to our school and teachers! Thank you to Jayme Simovic, our parent volunteer, for graciously coordinating this year’s Pie tradition.

Next week you can expect your child will bring home a loaf of bread with a prayer attached. We invite you to join as a family in gratitude and prayer to break the bread together (physically and figuratively) as you eat dinner that evening or on Thanksgiving.

This week, we honored our Mr. Eddie, Mr. John, Mr. Edwin, and Mr. Ronald during Parking Lot Prayers. We are so appreciative of all that they do to make our school safe and clean, but just as importantly, to make us feel loved by their care. Be sure to thank them for their tireless work next time you see them!

Students in PreK had an outdoor adventure this week! In connection to their OWL story, A Letter to Amy, PreK students chose a special person to mail a letter to! Students in Ms. Crapo’s class have worked hard to draw and write a note to their special people! They folded their letters, put them in an envelope, and added a stamp! Finally, they walked to the mailbox next door to send them off!

This week K1 students were whisked back in time to 1620 and learned about life as a Pilgrim. Their journey began on the Mayflower, in our dramatic play area, where the children participated in activities much like the pilgrims would have: fishing, adding their names to the Mayflower Passenger List, crossing off the number of days aboard, cleaning the ship, steering the ship, playing counting games with dried beans, rationing out food (cheese, beans, dried meats, and fish) and taking care of their babies, etc. Their experience continued when our Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock and the children learned all about life as a pilgrim in Plymouth, MA., meeting the Native Americans and the very first Thanksgiving.

Over the last few weeks, students in Ms. Tiney and Ms. McAuliffe's K2 classes have been building their understanding of the 5 senses. On Thursday, students learned about taste in a fun way by tasting 5 different snacks. Each snack had a different flavor profile, helping them better understand the vocabulary of salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami. The salty pretzels seemed to be the class favorite!

Mathematics is integrated into 1st grade students' art projects. By making turkeys, students had the opportunity to practice the many addition strategies that they have learned.

In ELA, After reading Happy Thanksgiving Biscuit, Ms. Reitnour discussed the beginning, middle, and end with her students. They also learned what an adjective is and practiced describing characters in the story with adjectives.

In art, 2nd Graders worked on adding detail to their autumn birch trees! Students practiced using watercolor techniques to create this amazing artistic effect. In Ms. Fragola's class, students participated in a math crime scene! Students were tasked with different math activities that would get them closer to finding the suspect. With every activity came a different hint bringing them closer to solving the crime mystery!

Looking ahead to next week in the core classes, students will be reading "Balloons Over Broadway" by Melissa Sweetand to learn more about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Then they will take a virtual field trip to NYC to see how the parade comes to life! They will even create their very own upside-down marionette, practicing their STEM skills.

Today 3rd grade and K1 Creamer met for the first time to work as buddies! We made bracelets together with each bead representing a different aspect of Thanksgiving! We then worked together to make Thanksgiving cards for our community members.

In Ms. DeLuca’s 4th grade class, our young mathematicians learned how to conceptualize division! Students first learned the terms dividend, divisor, and quotient. Then, they used strategies such as factor tables and number lines to figure out the quotients! This will serve as an essential foundation for more difficult arithmetic this year and algebra in years to come.

5th grade students have been studying Early American Colonies throughout the trimester. They were tasked with answering the following questions. To what extent was North America a land of opportunity and for whom? And why did England have the greatest influence on the country that became America even though other countries explored it? In two-person groups, they had to collect the information they had learned over the trimester and best answer the question through a Google slideshow. The presentations were well done and very informative!

Our middle school students are feeling rejuvenated from their Nature's Classroom field trip, and they are racing ahead to the end of the first trimester.

Our mathematicians have had their game-design hats on for the last month as they have been preparing their original board games or electronic games. Connecting with their literary understanding of The Hobbit, students were tasked to create a 5-level game with various difficulties that involved Bilbo Baggins escaping Gollum's cave with the precious ring. Each level of the game tests the players' understanding of decimals, negative integers, exponents, factors/multiples, or the metric system. This Wednesday and Thursday, students brought in their creative games and the class challenged each other!

As the 8th grade continues to learn about the foundations of America, they analyzed the failures of our first government, the Articles of Confederation. In class they used visuals to understand the failures of the document and discussed why this original system of government did not succeed. Some of the failures that were discussed were having no chief executive and the federal government not having the ability to tax individuals.

In 8th grade math, students learned how to solve systems of equations through multiple methods of graphing, elimination, and substitution. By solving problems on the board, the students practiced their presentation skills problems and reinforced the concepts through teaching others. Next week, the 8th graders will move into the real-world system of equations, solving word problems and creating their own scenarios that require multiple equations to solve.

Please find the links below to our social media pages. We have been constantly uploading posts and stories so if you are interested in seeing more of our day-to-day happenings, please follow us!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/st-mary-of-the-assumption-school

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stmaryschoolbrooklinema

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stmaryschoolbrookline/