Principal's Weekly Update

Dear Families,

Last night we came together not only to celebrate the culmination of a baskeball season filled with hard work and dedication but also to honor the collective achievements of our students. To the players, you are the heart and soul of our team. Each one of you has poured your heart into every practice, every game, and every moment on and off the court. Your perseverance and teamwork have been nothing short of inspiring. To the coaches, Mr. Febesh, Ms. DeLuca, and Mr. Skelly, you are the guiding force behind their success and growth. You've instilled in them the importance of discipline and sportsmanship, shaping them not only as basketball players but as future leaders. To the families, you are the backbone of our team. Your endless encouragement, sacrifices, and unwavering support have been instrumental.

The evening was filled with delicious food, laughter, and joy. A special thank you to our guest speaker, my husband, Dr. Bassil Dekky who spoke about his experiences as a basketball player stating the importance of "winning with humility, losing with grace, and doing both with dignity." Lastly, thank you to our Athletic Director, Mr. Febesh, for his dedication in coordinating all the practices and games this season. We look forward to sharing our Middle School spring sports offerings this coming Wednesday at our Evening of Academic Excellence!

Have a blessed Palm Sunday!

March 27th

• Progress Reports Released (PreK - K1)
• Evening of Academic Excellence at 6 p.m. in the Parish Lower Hall (Grades 3-7 Parents)

March 28th

• School-wide Morning Prayer: 9 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. (PreK - Grade 8)
• Early Dismissal at 11 a.m. for Holy Thursday (PreK - Grade 8)
• No EDP Today

March 29th

• No School - Good Friday

April 1st

• No School - Easter Monday

April 3rd

• School Mass at 8 a.m. for Easter Week (PreK - Grade 8)
• First Penance for Grade 2 (Families Welcome): 8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.

April 6th

• 2024 Black and White Gala: 6 - 10 p.m.

April 9th

• Family: The First School (Session 3) Talk & Discussion: 8 a.m. in the School Cafeteria

April 12th

• No EDP

April 15th - 19th

• No School - April Break

May 21st

• Spring Concert (PreK - Grade 8): 8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. in School Auditorium

May 31st

• International Family Festival: 4-5:30 p.m.

June 3rd

• Field Day

June 5th

• Commencement Mass for 8th Grade Students: 10 - 11 a.m.
• Reception to follow for students and their families

June 7th

• Paul Effman Band Concert: 8:30 - 9:15 a.m.

To conclude the second to last week of Lent, K2 - Grade 8 students joined together to pray the Stations of the Cross. The Stations of the Cross commemorate Jesus's passion and death on the cross. There are 14 stations that each depict a moment on his journey to Calvary, usually through sacred art, prayers, and reflections. The practice began as pious pilgrims traced Jesus' path through Jerusalem on the Via Dolorosa. On Friday, Fr. Bobby led our school through the Stations with the assistance of student readers who led the reflections at each station. Now, we are ready for Holy Week!

STEM Challenge Alert! Ms. Porcello’s PreK class participated in a Three Little Pigs Building Challenge intertwining STEM and Literacy. To wrap up their construction/three little pigs unit, students split into teams and worked together to build their own straw houses! Each team was given a box of straws, a container of Play-Doh, and a roll of tape. Students had to use their communication and teamwork skills to build a straw house in 15 minutes. They tested out the stability of their houses using a hair dryer (aka our version of the big bad wolf).

PreK and grade 4 buddies met to do some storytelling. PreK students collected and cleaned rocks to paint and clean for the creation of their very own pet rocks! Grade 4 students asked their buddies questions to help develop their pet rock characters and recorded the information with their buddies. Everyone had fun thinking creatively with this project!

This week in Mrs. Schneiders' class, the children learned about light and its effect on how people, animals, and things look. The children observed how light casts shadows on various objects. In the pictures below you will find them using flashlights to search for hidden woodland animals. They observed how the animal's shadows changed based on the distance between the animals as well as the angle of the light cast by their flashlights. They enjoyed tracing the shadows of various objects found in our classroom as well as creating shadow puppets and then putting on a puppet show for their friends.

Miss McAuliffe’s class enjoyed a Friday treat of making homemade snow during their winter weather unit! They mixed shaving cream and corn starch together to achieve the perfect consistency, as they talked about the properties of snow. As K2 students continue their science unit on weather, their hands-on experiences seem to only get more exciting!

Ms. Tiney's classroom saint is St. Joseph, so their class was very excited to celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph on Tuesday! After Mass, students tasted a traditional zeppole pastry. In the afternoon, students painted their own prayer boxes.

Students in Ms. Fragola’s class participated in a symmetry challenge where they were tasked with drawing symmetrical designs on an egg. They first practiced by making a draft before moving on to their final and explored different lines of symmetry and shapes. Students got creative with their designs!

This week in third grade students read The Bad Seed by Jory John. Students were able to choose their favorite scene or chapter from the book so far and turn it into a comic strip. These comic strips had dialogue, and descriptive language, and were decorated!

In 4th grade, students are working on synthesizing geometric shapes and their features. To do this, they engaged in a series of polygon riddles, involving sides, symmetry, irregularity, and more. Students had a number of polygons on their desks and, one by one, narrowed it down to one using clues provided by Ms. DeLuca!

This week in 5th grade, students worked on building their terrariums and aquariums in their eco-columns. Students had to carefully construct each environment to prepare for animals to be released inside them in the following weeks. Each environment includes living and non-living things. As a whole, the eco-columns, run like any ecosystem in which animals depend on the living and non-living things around them for survival.

On Monday, students of all ages enjoyed a day off to celebrate Pastor's Day. Some of the middle school students joined Dr. Nadjarian, Ms. Allen, and Mr. Antonacci to watch the film, "Cabrini," which detailed the heroic life of St. Frances Cabrini. Students were captivated as they learned the great lengths Cabrini went to serve boys and girls without homes in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In 7th grade ELA with Ms. Allen, our students explored the allegorical layers of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, discussing Orwell’s critique of the Russian Revolution through the use of satire, while also examining the theme of the corruptive nature of absolute power. The students created their own propaganda poster, in which they selected an animal or a cause from the novel and employed one of the learned propaganda techniques.

As 6th grade math students are wrapping up their unit on area calculations of compound shapes, students put it into practice by finding the area of floor plans.

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/