

Principal's Weekly Update
December 8th, 2023
A Message from Dr. Nadjarian
We have exciting news to share! As a school, St. Mary of the Assumption students performed remarkably on Fall MAPs testing! The median student at St. Mary's achieved higher than 76%, 81%, and 75% of their national peers in reading, language usage, and mathematics, respectively. This puts our students far ahead of other Massachusetts schools. While the MAP results are only one measure of student learning, I am very proud of our results. It is a testament to our teachers and our students themselves. We look forward to the growth the students will continue to make throughout this year.
Have a restful weekend, and we look forward to seeing you at next week's Christmas Pageant on Tuesday at 9 a.m.!
Looking Ahead
December 12th
- Christmas Pageant: 9 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
December 13th
- Pizza Friday payment due for January through June
December 15th
- EDP Available Until 4:30 p.m.
December 18th - January 2nd
- No School - Christmas Break
Help Us Reach Our Goal!
Thank you to all who have donated to this year’s Annual Appeal. Let's keep the momentum going! Your support is needed no matter what dollar amount. Wouldn’t it be great to have 100% participation from our families? Please visit us at https://stmarys-brookline.org/support/ to donate today.
Christmas Tree Lighting
Thank you to everyone who joined us at our Christmas Tree Lighting! It was a magical night and we even had a special guest - Santa! We are so blessed to be able to celebrate the Advent and Christmas season as a school community. A special thank you to Cyndi Sperl for being the chairperson of the event, Patricia Salic for coordinating, and all of our middle schoolers who worked behind the scenes to set up all the decorations and tables.
Parking Lot Prayers - Advent Week 1
In this week's parking lot prayers, 5th grade students provided a reflection while the first Advent candle was lit. They explained that Advent is a time of waiting and anticipation for the Christmas season. Lighting a candle in the darkness helps us find our way. A single candle, flickering brightly, helps us find our way again. Stay tuned for next week's Parking Lot Prayers, where students will connect the season of Advent with the virtue of peace.
School Mass - Immaculate Conception of Mary
Students of all ages joined together in prayer this Friday on this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Fr. Bobby shared that this holy day is all about God's desire to work in our lives to fill us with grace, as we imitate Mary, who is full of grace. Thank you to our beautifully sounding choir students, our confident student-lectors, and our reverent altar servers!
Pizza Friday Payment Reminder!
If you are interested in purchasing Spa Pizza for your child please send in payment in cash by 12/13/2023.
We have 17 Fridays Jan - June.
1 slice = $50
2 slices = $100
There will be no hot lunch option on these days.
Special Someone Dance - Save the Date
Save the Date for our first annual Special Someone Dance for grades Pre-K to 2nd grade on March 8th from 4pm - 6pm in the Lower Hall of the Church. Join us for dancing, raffle prizes and more. Thank you to Savannah and Jen, our parent volunteers for chairing this event.
Our school would love to support local businesses and have a list of reputable vendors for school events. Please contact Dr. Nadjarian (cnadjarian@stmarys-brookline.org) and Fr. Jonathan (pastor@stmarysbrookline.com) if you or a friend can help our community!
After School Club: Puppet Club
This week we wrapped up Puppet Club with a fun-filled Christmas-themed activity. Our puppeteers were treated to a greeting from our Christmas angel puppet and listened to the story “The Littlest Reindeer”. They loved watching our little reindeer marionette try to make her first flight….. She did it!
The children worked like Santa’s little elves singing Christmas carols, as they created a reindeer marionette of their own. They strung pasta for legs and added fun finishing touches. Merry Christmas everyone!
Take A Look Inside Our Classrooms Below!
PreK
This week in Ms. Porcello's Pre-K class, students completed a gingerbread-themed five senses study! Students learned that touch, sight, hearing, smelling, and taste help us to learn, play, and communicate every day. Students participated in many different activities to help further their understanding of the five senses. These activities included a gingerbread "I spy" game, listening to the sounds of mystery jars, and smelling different scent jars. Their favorite activity of the week was the gingerbread cookie taste test! Everyone loved the taste of the gingerbread cookies! They graphed a table of the results to see for themselves how much each child in the class enjoyed the taste. Students in Ms. Crapo’s PreK class painted Christmas wreaths in Art with Ms. M. They did a great job strengthening their fine motor skills and concentration!
K1 and Grade 2 Buddies!
Students in Mrs. Curley’s K1 class welcomed 2nd graders from Ms. Connors’ class for a special Kindness Chain Advent Calendar activity. Students discussed different types of Advent calendars and noticed the different examples in the classroom. They learned about good deeds such as saying “good morning” to a friend and cleaning up at home. 2nd grade students assisted their K1 buddies in gluing the kindness chains together. This reinforced math standards since students counted to ten for the glue to stick and stay and maintained a pattern of red and green. Great teamwork buddies!
K2
Students in Ms. Tiney and Ms. McAuliffe's classes had a fun week jet-setting around the world to learn about holiday traditions. This week we traveled to Mexico and Israel to learn about Las Posadas and Hanukkah. Students completed travel journals and created craft souvenirs to take home in their suitcases. Stay tuned to see where we travel to next week!
Grade 1
Students also began to present their Magical Suitcases to each other. Each suitcase contains the people, places, memories, and things that each student treasures the most. At any time, they can carry around their suitcases as a reminder of how loved and known they are. Our 1st graders packed inside their suitcases the earth, their families, their favorite candies, their friends, their pets, Jesus, and St. Mary's School!
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
The 4th graders in Ms. DeLuca's classroom have been working on understanding equivalent fractions using egg cartons as a model. They are also finishing up their TarPul experiments from the previous week. They will soon be able to conclude which factors are most important in the stability of the TarPul structure.
In religion, students have been preparing for two liturgical feast days coming up - St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mr. Antonacci joined the class this week to share about his pilgrimage to Mexico City to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The kids learned about the culture of the Aztec people around the year 1530 and how God chose to send the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the people to show them His love. Ask our 4th graders about the image and they will be able to share with you all of the symbolism and miracles associated with it! Students were also given the opportunity to take part in the sacrament of confession this week, filling them with the grace to be saints during Advent and the Christmas season.
Grade 5
Students in Mrs. Palmer’s 5th grade class created dodecahedron Christmas ornaments for their classroom. Each of the twelve sides had a specific poem, design, or image. Students had to carefully cut and glue their two-dimensional circles to create the three-dimensional form. In this way, they combined their geometry knowledge with the practical skill of creating a real-life model to demonstrate their creativity. Excellent work, artists!
The 5th grade was also challenged with making gold, frankincense, and myrrh as props for the pageant. They learned from Father Bobby and Ms. Whitten the importance of the gifts and what they actually look like.
Middle School
Our middle schoolers have been hard at work preparing a song for the school's Christmas Pageant. This challenging, but beautiful, Christmas classic includes multiple vocal parts. Stay tuned for the big reveal!
Grade 6
In Religion class, the 6th graders have been discussing what truth is, and learning that to fully understand what God wanted to communicate to us through the Scriptures, we must first consider what the human authors intended to say. This requires us to be aware of the different circumstances and literary techniques of the authors. By knowing the intention and the background, we can better discover the truths that God wants to reveal to us through Scripture.
In math, students have been mastering 2-step algebraic equations. In this unit, students learned how to translate real world examples to algebraic equations, such as "A woman earned $15 each hour of work plus a $20 bonus. If the woman earned $200 in total, how many hours did she work?" Next week, when they finish learning basic inequalities, students will begin a major area of 6th grade math: ratios and proportions.
Grade 7
This week, the 7th graders completed and presented their specialized cell project. Students researched various cells, including white blood cells, sex cells, muscle cells, and stomach cells. Using their self-constructed clay models, students taught their classmates about the various differences in organelles and functions between their cells and a standard eukaryotic cell. Next week, the scholars will delve into the four essential macronutrients and how these contribute to healthy cell function.
Follow Us on Social Media
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