Principal's Weekly Update

Dear Families,

Yesterday our students attended mass at noon with the Parish in celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. During the homily, Father Bobby invited all to look up at the murals and identify the artwork. He first showed the Immaculate Conception, then students correctly recognized Angel Gabriel and Mary in the Annunciation. Students were excited to see the Nativity which we are all excitedly preparing for! Lastly, they found the Assumption of Mary, a most special mural for our Parish and School community. Father Bobby explained how Mary said “Yes” to God during the Annunciation and invited us to reflect on how we can also do God’s will in our lives.

We were excited to welcome prospective families to St. Mary's for Discovery Day. We are particularly grateful to the parents Ms. Salic, Ms. Simovic, Ms. Pereira, and Mr. Vankoski who participated on the Parent Panel to share their valuable perspectives. Word-of-mouth recommendations from parents are vital in keeping St. Mary's thriving.

It was so wonderful seeing many of our parents at this month's Coffee with the Principal. We loved hearing all about childhood educational experiences!

We love when our parents come in to read to our students. Thank you to Ms. Nosek for coming in and reading Home Alone to Ms. Fragola's Grade 1 Class!

Lastly, bring in your Baby Jesus from your mangers for a blessing during Monday's Parking Lot Prayers. This is an annual advent tradition from Rome where the Blessing of the Bambinelli was first instituted by St. John Paul II. On the Third Sunday of Advent, the children of Rome are encouraged to bring the baby Jesus (Bambinelli) from each of their Nativity sets to St. Peter's Square.

Have a lovely weekend, and I am looking to see you at our Christmas Concert on Tuesday morning!

December 12th:

• Parking Lot Prayer-Blessing of the Bambinelli

December 14th

• Grade K2 Noah's Ark Performance
  
• Grades 1-2 Shepherds, Angels, and Sheep Performance

December 15th

• Grade 4 Joshua and the Fall of Jericho Performance
  
• Grades 6-8 Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors Performance

December 16th:

• Last Day of school before Christmas break
• EDP closes at 4:30 p.m.
• Dress Down Day (grade level specific)

December 17th-January 2nd

• Christmas Break

January 3rd:

• Welcome Back!

  
  

Hi Christine,

This is for the newsletter

Message from Nurse Wu

Covid-19 cases: 0

The following is a message from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Flu and Covid-19 vaccines are available at your doctor's office and local pharmacies.

Flu message from the MDPH Immunization Division

With influenza (flu) activity increasing nationally, and troubling early data showing drops in flu vaccine uptake this season, CDC has issued an urgent reminder about the importance of vaccinating for flu. Hospitalization rates in kids are among the highest seen at this time in about a decade so far this season.

Remember, your strong recommendation is a key factor in whether people get vaccinated.

Getting a flu shot is the most important action a person can take to prevent flu and its potentially serious complications. Everyone 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine as soon as possible.

The flu vaccine:

• Reduces the risk of flu illness
• Can make illness less severe among people who get vaccinated, but still get sick with flu, reducing the risk of serious flu complications, such as hospitalization
• Can be given at the same time as a COVID-19 vaccine, for people who are due for both
• Protects against four different flu viruses - even if a patient has already gotten flu, other flu viruses are circulating and it’s possible to get flu more than once a seas

Looking for parents to join the Brookline Interleague soccer St Mary's team, tentatively starting April 2023.

To sign up email St. Mary's parent, janyaosah@gmail.com or text Josh @ 6174596050. Your name, school, and email address.

Specific reminders as the weather gets colder:

No hats permitted in the school building during the day

No sweaters or sweatshirts with hoods are permitted

All Saint Mary School students must be in full uniform at all times unless permission is granted (for example Christmas Concert Day or Dress Down Day). Thank you for your cooperation!

Thank you to our practicum student teacher, Ms. Alexa Norton, and our nursing student, Ms. Molly Flynn for your dedication to our students this semester. You did an incredible job, and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors!

Fall clubs concluded this week. Thank you so much to our teachers for sharing their talents to create enriching experiences for our students and especially our Director of EDP, Ms. Tiney, for her coordination of registration and enrollment! Some clubs celebrated with final performances this week as well. We look forward to launching Winter Clubs the week of January 16th. If you have not sent in your payment for a confirmed club enrollment, please do so next week.

I want to thank everyone who gave their time and efforts to this year's Book Fair. It was our best one ever and we couldn't have pulled it off without all of your support. Thank you, especially to all our hard-working volunteers. We're already looking forward to next year Have a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year!

Thank you for joining us at our school Christmas Tree Lighting! Our students enjoyed hot cocoa, cookies, and caroling before heading up to the Scholastic Book Fair. Extra gratitude to our parent volunteers for their time and efforts in setting up the event. Special thanks to our pastor Fr. Jonathan for blessing our tree!

In Spanish class, students played with instruments and danced to a Spanish Christmas song ( Villancicos). They also played with matching cards and learned more vocabulary about Christmas such as reno, campanas, and Feliz Navidad!

In art, Ms. Schneider's K1 class glued and ripped white paper to build paper snowmen. They added some details using oil pastels.

This week students prepared and practiced for their Jesse Tree performance that they will be participating in with Grade 2 next week! Students will be the Shepherd's lambs in the performance and they are very excited to perform in front of the school next week!

Second and third graders attended the Boston Public Library this week. Students were given a tour of the Children’s section, they received library cards and checked out books. It was a fun-filled field trip on a rainy day!

In honor of Grade 3's Classroom Saint, St. Nicholas, students attended Mass and distributed chocolate coins to all the parishioners. Saint Nicholas Day is a holiday and festival in Europe, especially in Germany and Poland, which often corresponds to attending Mass. The Celebrations center around Saint Nicholas's reputation as a bringer of gifts and Chocolate coins were given out as a festive way for everyone to partake. Students came back to a special surprise after recess and were gifted chocolate coins for themselves!

Students celebrated Saint Juan Diego's Feast Day (their Classroom Saint). A very special thank you to Grade 4's Room Parents for throwing an epic Taco Party. Students loved every bite!

In Spanish class, 6th grade colored and put together a collaborative poster to decorate our hallway. As we listened to Spanish Christmas Carols (Villancicos). In Class, they just finished our unit on La Escuela, which goes through a typical student's daily routine. They also had a chance to practice their vocabulary with some fun games.

7th and 8th grade are working on the Unit "La Casa" (the home)! They've had the opportunity to describe and explain their dream houses, in Spanish! In addition, they have used an authentic Real Estate website from Spain. They also read an informative magazine article in Spanish about Hispanic Christmas Traditions.

Also, throughout all the middle school classes they have been able to learn about the dynamic and diverse Christmas celebrations which take place in Spain. For example, the celebration of the three wise men (Los Tres Reyes Magos) on January 6th; includes the famous "Roscon de Reyes", an exquisite Breakfast treat.

Ms. Cheng has been substituting and supporting classrooms for the past year at St. Mary’s. She previously worked in financial services for over 20 plus years and is now a Barre Instructor. She is currently looking to open a barre studio in Brookline in the near future. "I have found the community at St. Mary’s to be warm and embracing with amazing teachers, creating a safe environment for children to learn and grow. I love seeing how enthusiastic and excited the children are when they come into school!"

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/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stmarybrookline