Dear Families,

I had the opportunity to join our 7th and 8th grade students who invited to Pear Bio Lab this week! Pear Bio clinical scientist team including Dr. Dekky (my husband), Senior Clinical Scientist, presented on cancer and how innovative technology can help doctors in treating cancer patients. Students visited the lab itself and learned all about Pear Bio’s cutting edge biotechnology and power of science and innovation in shaping the future of healthcare. A huge thank you to the Pear Bio team and ABI lab for your hospitality and welcome! The students and teachers left feeling inspired and more passionate about STEM education! Many of our parents are in the research field, and we are so thankful for the work that you do!

Mrs. Enrique, Mr. Ahmad, and I are looking forward to seeing many of you next week on Wednesday, the 23rd for Coffee with the Principal in the school cafeteria at 8am! Coffee and refreshments will be served.

Have a restful weekend!

October 22

• Parent Volunteer Council at 8 AM

October 23

• Coffee with the Principal at 8 AM

October 25

• Trimester 1 Progress Reports Released (Grades K2-8)

• Halloween Costume Dress Down Day and Parade (Grades PreK-8) at 8:15

• EDP Ends at 3:30 PM

• Trunk or Treat from 4-6 PM

October 31

• Progress Reports Released (Grades PreK-K1)

• Halloween Dress Down Day (classroom-specific)

November 1

• Dress up as a Saint (Grades PreK-8)

• All Saints Day Mass at 12:10 (Grades PreK-8) All Families Welcome

November 3

• Daylight Savings Time Ends, Turn Clocks back 1 hour

November 5

• No Brookline Lunch Program - Bring Lunch from Home

November 11

• NO SCHOOL - Veterans Day

November 22

• Trimester 1 Grades Close (Grades K2-8)

November 26

• Thanksgiving Liturgy of the Word (Grades PreK-8) All Families Welcome at 10 AM

• No EDP/Clubs

November 27-29

• NO SCHOOL - Thanksgiving Break

December 2

• Last week of Fall Clubs

• First Week of Advent - Parking Lot Prayers at 8 AM (Grades K2-8)

December 3

• Touring Tuesday

• St. Mary’s Tree Lighting at 4 PM

December 4

• Trimester 1 Report Cards Released (Grades K2-8)

December 5

• Parent Teacher Conferences (Grades K2-8) from 2:30-5:30 PM

December 6

• NO SCHOOL - Parent Teacher Conferences (Grades K2-8) and PD Day (Grades PreK-K1)

December 9

• Second Week of Advent - Parking Lot Prayers at 8 AM (Grades K2-8)

• Mass of the Immaculate Conception (Grades PreK-8) All Families Welcome at 12:10

December 10

• No EDP

December 13

• St. Mary’s Christmas Concert and Pageant (Grades PreK-8) All Families Welcome at 9 AM in the Church

December 16

• Third Week of Advent - Parking Lot Prayers at 8 AM (Grades K2-8)

December 18

• EDP ends at 4:30

December 19 - January 5

• NO SCHOOL - Christmas Break

Trunk or Treat is coming up on October 25th from 4-6pm. All families are asked to send in one bag of nut-free candy to contribute to their class trunk. These can be brought to the office anytime next week. There is still time to sign up to decorate your trunk and to help out at the event! See the link below for more details.

Our toddler classroom is now open! Students participated in several lessons this week that fall under the “all about me” unit of study. In one of the projects, students had the opportunity to study their own thumbprint patterns using a magnifying glass!

We are scheduling tours for all families interested in our new Infant and Toddler Programs. If you are interested in learning more information about our newest classrooms, please contact our principal Dr. Christine Nadjarian, Director of Early Childhood Education Suzette Torres-Perrier, and Director of Admissions Domenica DeLuca.

Tiffany Houlder is our new toddler teacher! Tiffany grew up in a Catholic household and attended Catholic school from elementary to college. At the age of 12, she volunteered to support students ages 6-12 with afterschool homework support at a local BCYF Community Center. In 2015, she was able to be an official afterschool school teacher and eventually become the assistant director of the program. Tiffany has worked with children ages 6-17. In 2018 she was accepted into Emmanuel College located in Boston where she obtained her degree in Elementary Education. During her four years at Emmanuel, she taught 2nd grade, 3rd grade science, and 5th grade math. After graduation, Tiffany wanted to continue her education and take early childhood education courses. She then

attended Fisher College where she obtained Lead Teacher certification to teach infants, toddlers, and pre-school students. She has taught these age groups for almost two years. She has had teachers and professors who inspired her to become an educator herself. With this inspiration, Tiffany has a strong desire to support and watch her students grow the way her teachers

have for her. As an educator, she believes that in order to be an educator, you must have a strong

understanding of how children develop, and have a desire to educate and inspire students. Tiffany is excited to be a part of her students' academic journey and to prepare them for the future.

As our current 8th graders prepare for their upcoming high school journeys, I have had the privilege of helping each of them navigate through the trenches of the whole application process. We are very blessed to live in an area with so many top-quality high schools to choose from. That can also make the process difficult in narrowing down the many options. To aid in this, I have invited several top high schools to come and speak with our 8th graders about why their school deserves to be a contender. To date, we have had visits from Xavarian Brothers, Ursuline Academy, Boston University Academy, Noble & Greenough, Fontbonne, St. Sebastian’s, BC High, The Newman, and Archbishop Williams. We are looking forward to welcoming Roxbury Latin, The Commonwealth School, and Catholic Memorial in the coming weeks, as well. I also get to work individually with each 8th grader to help guide them with the applications themselves, as well as practicing for their interviews and tours. It is such a joy getting to help each 8th grader to start their adult-lives. What a blessing!

Students in Miss Porcello's PreK started their study of fall this week! The class read We're Going on a Leaf Hunt and then went on their very own leaf hunt in the sandbox park! Students look for leaves of different colors, shapes, and sizes, and collected leaves to put in their bags. They will use the leaves in their classroom for leaf rubbings, scientific study, and artwork.

K1 students had a busy day in centers on Friday in preparation for the Barnyard Babies visit! Students created baby animal puppets among other activities like tracing and writing uppercase and lowercase F, cutting out the letter f and using a hole puncher to make holes in each letter to practice fine motor skills, building barns with blocks and playing with barnyard animals, and counting, coloring and gluing paper acorns in baskets. Great work, K1!

Students in Ms. McAuliffe’s K2 class enjoyed the calendar activity during their morning routine which included the weather and counting up to 100 while dancing! Ms. McAuliffe’s meteorologist student helper observed the sunny and windy weather outside. They added a yellow square to their weather chart then counted the number of sunny days so far this month. On the calendar they counted the days of the month, flipped over October 17, then made observations on the leaf pattern. Excellent work, mathematicians and scientists in K2!

Students in Ms. Reitnour’s first grade class read aloud The Crayon Box that Talked by Joshua Brooks. Students worked in groups of 8 to color in a missing piece of a larger picture with a mystery message and then work together to correctly put the pieces together. The message read: “Together We Achieve More,” an important message about community and collaboration. Great work in Social Studies, first grade!

First and second grade students went on a field trip to the Brookline Fire Station! They got to see both the engine and ladder trucks, try on fire gear, and spray water. Everyone had a great time!

Fourth graders in Mrs. DeSimpliciis class investigated the question, "How does erosion shape the landscape?" They explored different forms of erosion including wind and water. They were given materials for their experiment of a tray of sand and some rocks. They simulated wind erosion with a straw in small groups. Then, they simulated water erosion using a cup of water. Students made observations about how their landform changed. They illustrated and labeled their observations. Excellent work, Earth Scientists!

Students in 5th grade have been participating in a colony simulation where they are put into the same situations that Early American Colonists once experienced. After weeks of earning "money" by completing mapping assignments, students now have what they need to gather their cargo for their journey across the ocean. This week, students had to think about what they would need most in their new land and keep careful calculations in order to not over-spend. They also learned about the size of the Mayflower and what it could hold.

The sixth-grade students worked on a STEM challenge after learning about hurricanes. The students were tasked with designing and building a windproof structure using limited materials. They applied their knowledge of engineering, physics, and problem-solving skills to create models that could withstand the force of wind simulated by a fan. The activity encouraged creativity, teamwork, and critical thinking as students tested, improved, and refined their designs to achieve the most stable and durable structure. The students were quite enthusiastic cheering each other on while the different teams were testing their structures!

In social studies class, after learning about South Asia in their textbooks, 7th grade students were assigned a certain country in South Asia to research. They learned more about the country, including the food, clothing, festivals, celebrations, music, and customs and prepared a presentation to share with the rest of the class.

Ms. Allen, with her Grade 7 students in ELA class, introduced the four types of sentences: simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and compound-complex sentences. She supported students in identifying independent and dependent clauses while they read the definitions aloud and labeled the parts of speech. Students discovered the importance of correctly-placed commas!

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/