Specials Spotlight

The sixth graders are printmaking using two different techniques this month. Their end product will be a bouquet of flowers in a vase. The flowers will be made from etching a variety stamps using two different types of foam. The vase will be created from printed paper using Gelli plates. Students have worked for the past two weeks rotating between stations, and then in the coming weeks, we will collage their stamps and vases together into one boquet of flowers. Students will also be able to trade stamps to create an even more diverse bouquet. Working with the Gelli plates was a lot of fun and offered endless possibilities for creating monoprints. ABC purchased these Gelli plates for us a few years ago, and because the students have taken such great care of them, they're still like new. Thanks ABC, and way to take great care of our supplies kiddos!

It was a short but impactful week at school! In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., our younger students explored his legacy through literature. 5th graders read My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers, while 1st graders enjoyed Martin’s Big Words. These stories sparked meaningful discussions about the power of kind words, the importance of standing up for one another, and the courage to always do the right thing.

Meanwhile, our Middle Schoolers have been busy in the STEAM lab. 6th and 7th graders are wrapping up their coding units, and 8th graders are in "post-production" putting the final touches on their Internet Safety Podcasts. We closed out the week with our PreK students, reading A Big Bed for Little Snow. We even spent some time dancing like snowflakes—all while dreaming of our first official snow day!

Hello! I hope you have the opportunity to attend the Flower Festival this weekend at St. Cecilia Cathedral. If you've never been, it is a remarkable event put on by CAP (Cathedral Arts Project) and made possible by many hard working volunteers. Come enjoy the amazing exhibits, enjoy some food, and listen to beautiful music. More information can be found here.

Specifically, I hope you are able to come Sunday afternoon to listen to the Cathedral Choir performing a concert of their favorite music along with small group numbers starting at 1 pm. Following this at 2 pm, our very own St. Cecilia Middle School Choir will be performing songs from our repertoire. I hope to see you there!

This week has been filled with students demonstrating a variety of fundamental skills of basketball and applying them to game-like situations. 2nd through 5th grade have been incorporating offensive and defensive strategies in mini 1-on-1, 2-on-1, and/or 2-on-2 competitions. While students are playing defense they are using pool noodles to block and disrupt the offense. There have been numerous high intensity 45 second periods. PreK through 1st grade have been engaged in Dribble Tag and continuously improve their jump shot. Middle School students on Friday will begin our soccer unit. Instead of having 1 soccer ball, we use 3 soccer balls to maximize participation and up the possibility of scoring goals. Goalies will change and soccer balls will be reset every 2:00 minutes. Middle School students on Monday will finish our basketball unit and then shift into hockey, which will be very similar to 3-ball soccer.