Principal's Weekly Update

Dear Families,

Wishing you all a very happy and blessed Easter! May the promise of the Resurrection bring renewed faith, peace, and happiness to your hearts and homes.

As we head into April vacation, I hope you enjoy some well-deserved rest, fun, and time together as a family.

Have a wonderful break, and we’ll see you after vacation!

April 17

• Holy Thursday - Early Dismissal at 11:30 (Infant - Grade 8)

• Morning Prayer Service at 10 am (PreK - 8)

• NO EDP

April 18

• Good Friday - NO SCHOOL

April 19- April 25

• April Vacation - NO SCHOOL

April 28 - May 2

• Empowering God’s Children lessons (PreK-8)

April 28

• Welcome back to school!

• Parking Lot Prayers resumes outside

April 28 - May 2

• Empowering God’s Children Lessons (PreK-8)

April 30

• Parent Volunteer Council Meeting at 8:00am

May 2

• Trimester 3 Progress Reports Released (K2-8)

• EDP available until 5:30 p.m.

• Trivia Night Fundraiser and Silent Auction from 5:30 - 9:30 p.m.

May 5 - May 9

• Empowering God’s Children make-up lessons week

May 10

• First Holy Communion at 11 am

May 12

• Crowning of Mary at 8 am (PreK-8)

May 15

• Pizza “Friday” - No Brookline Food Services Lunches served

May 16

• No School - Professional Development Day (Infant - Grade 8)

May 26

• No School - Memorial Day

May 29

• Holy Day Mass of the Ascension of the Lord (PreK-8) at 12:10

May 30

• Trimester 3 Grades Close (Grade 8)

• Discovery Day at 9 am

• Snow White and the Seven Endings Performance (Grades 6-8) at 9 am

June 2

• Field Day at Larz Anderson Park (PreK-8)

We have some exciting news! St. Mary's has been named a finalist in three of Boston Parent's Family Favorite categories! It is thanks to the support of our community in the first round of voting that we were able to move forward in all three of these categories for the first time ever!

St. Mary's has been named a finalist in the following Categories:

Best Faith-Based Preschool

Best Faith-Based Elementary School

Best Faith-Based Middle School

Please continue to support our school in the final round of voting through the link below

You can find us under 3 categories: Early Education, Schools - Elementary, and Schools - Middle Schools.

We appreciate your continued support in helping our school to be recognized!

Looking for a place to begin your child’s educational journey? St. Mary’s is now enrolling students in our infant program! Students must be 3 months old at the time of their enrollment. If you are interested in learning more, schedule a tour! Email admissions@stmarys-brookline.org to schedule a time to come visit the school.

Help make our Silent Auction a success! We’re seeking exciting donations, including:

• Exclusive Experiences

• Sporting Event Tickets & Memorabilia

• Art & Collectibles

• Food & Dining Packages

• Beauty & Wellness

• And more!

Your generosity supports our students and school community. Have an item to contribute? Click below.

St. Mary’s Honor Band students participated in a concert last weekend. We are so proud of our students for their dedication and commitment to their instruments. They have been practicing hard in school, after school, and on weekends, and it all came together as they performed at Quincy Catholic Academy on Saturday. Great job, musicians!

Our grade 5-8 girls volleyball team competed in their second tournament last weekend. They did such a great job working together as a team and supporting and encouraging each other throughout all their sets. Congratulations to the girls on winning every set they played in the tournament! It is amazing to see their teamwork in action on the court.

Grade PreK-8 joined the parish for Morning Prayer today. The parish choir sang beautifully and led the community through the prayers. Fr. Jonathan gave a beautiful reflection on Holy Thursday as we prepare to enter into the Triduum and Easter celebrations.

In Miss Rachelle and Miss Ta’Cori’s Infant classroom, students made Easter bunnies! Using red and white paint, the teachers helped students cover their hands and feet and paint on paper plates. Then, they cut out their paintings and made Easter bunnies!

On the last day before break, the Toddler students enjoyed an Easter egg hunt and celebration! Family members came in to decorate the gym and hide eggs, and then students and their families enjoyed refreshments and celebrated together!

PreK has been working on their study of light and shadows. This week, they went on their very own shadow walk! Miss Crapo and Miss Porcello’s classes took a lap around the school and looked for shadows. They observed shadows of the school building, basketball hoop, tree, traffic cones, and more! Students even saw shadows inside the school by Miss Gloria's desk! They found so many different shadows and made sure to take pictures of them. Over the next few days, Miss Porcello’s class worked together to turn their shadow pictures into their very own book of shadows.

PreK and grade 4 buddies got together this week for a Lenten craft! Fourth graders helped their buddies decorate crosses and make necklaces. Then, they enjoyed time playing together!

K1 students enjoyed their gym class with Mr. Holmes this week! Students had to bring their items through the "mouse tunnel" and make it around the gym and various obstacles without getting caught. We are so grateful for Mr. Holmes and his creative activities!

Students in K2 and Middle School got together this week for an Easter egg hunt! Middle school students filled the eggs with goodies and hid them around the park. Then, with their buddies, the K2 students got to explore the park and search for eggs. We love seeing our students spend time together!

Miss Johnson’s first grade class went to the Brookline Booksmith in Coolidge Corner on a field trip in celebration of reaching their goal of reading 100 books during March reading madness! Students learned about how the store operates, the different jobs that people do there, how many books they have, and how they organize them in the store. They also had a story hour! While at the Booksmith, first grade learned that it is Poetry Month. Because of that, when leading Parking Lot Prayers this week, they decided to write acrostic poems about the virtue of courage!

Students in Mrs. Sterge’s second grade class have been learning about geometry. Using what they have learned in their geometry unit about area and lines of symmetry, students started working on creating a class quilt! Each student made their own quilt tile to contribute to the final product.

In Ms. Kousidis’ third grade class, students adopted peeps! They each received an egg, and when it “hatched” they got to meet their peep. Students used what they’ve been learning about measurement to weigh their peeps on the scale in grams and to measure their lengths with rulers in centimeters or inches. Students then got to name their peeps, describe their interests, and write a narrative story featuring their newly adopted peep!

Fourth graders participated in a Mystery Science lesson answering the question "Why don't the same trees grow everywhere?" They made observations of external and internal parts of trees in order to collect evidence that these structures work together as a system to help plants survive in a particular environment. Students used models of roots and branches to explore their functions and then construct an argument about how the structures work together to support the survival of trees in the frozen taiga.

Grade 5 students have been learning about the events of Holy Week through reading passages from the Bible, discussing what they read, and summarizing the time in Jesus' life. This week they learned about Good Friday, Jesus' burial, and Easter.

Students in grade 5 also researched pollutions that humans put on ecosystems. They created posters showing the harmful effects of the pollution and ways that we could stop polluting. They then presented their topics to the class.

Miss Allen’s 8th Grade ELA class recently finished reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. After finishing the novel, students analyzed how authors develop characters over the course of a novel. The students worked together to create a poster that charted the growth of three different characters, incorporating quotes, analytical insights, recurring motifs, and explanations. They ended class with a discussion on how character development helps construct deeper themes.

Seminiarian Nick visit the sixth grade class this week.

Please find the links below to our social media pages. We are 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/