Principal's Weekly Newsletter
October 2, 2026
Little Explorers Club
Kids in Motion Club
Newspaper Club
STEM Club
National Custodian Appreciation Day!
Today, we are celebrating National Custodian Day and giving a very special thank-you to our incredible Facilities Team! We hosted a full school assembly to show our appreciation for all that they do.
Mr. Eddie, Mr. John, Mr. Ronald, and Mr. Edwin work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep St. Mary’s safe, clean, welcoming, and running smoothly each and every day. From maintaining our classrooms and facilities to tackling repairs, taking on new projects, and always finding ways to make our school an even better place for our students and staff, their hard work and dedication make a tremendous difference in our community.
We are so grateful for everything they do every single day, and for their commitment to our school. Thank you, Eddie, John, Ronald, and Edwin, for all that you do for St. Mary’s! We appreciate you today and every day!
Music
In music class with Mrs. Pereira, our littlest musicians welcomed fall with seasonal songs this week! They practiced keeping a steady beat together on percussion instruments, and with plenty of dancing and jumping, we joined together in nursery rhymes, name games and chants that introduced action words and helped them feel the beat in movement!
Infant
This week, our infants explored the concept of family, inspired by our book of the week, Me and the Family Tree. The children enjoyed looking at individual family photos and exploring various family flags. We also engaged in a sensory activity by creating handprint art and listened to music from all around the world. These experiences are designed to build a meaningful connection between home and school, while simultaneously supporting their language and fine motor skill development.
Toddler
In Ms. Sabryna’s class, our toddlers have been learning about their families and the people who make their homes special. As part of this unit, students colored pictures of houses and will add pictures of their family members to create a picture of who lives in their homes. They will have the opportunity to share their work with classmates, their school family!
K1
This week, K1 students in Mrs. Creamer and Mrs. Curley’s classes explored different emotions and began learning how we can recognize and express the way we feel. Students drew pictures representing a variety of emotions and had fun practicing different facial expressions to match each feeling.
Grade 1
The first graders have been learning about character traits in their reading lessons. This week they read The Sandwich Swap, and discussed the main characters and what adjectives would describe them. Next they designed a sandwich that represented their own personal traits, making a delicious self portrait of their personality. Students were given cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and meat and they wrote descriptive words about themselves. Some students wrote kind, caring, fun and others wrote creative, silly, and creative!
Grade 2
Second grade students used their own number racks this week to help them with addition and subtraction facts within 20. For the month of September, their number corner exercises included a series of number racks, groups of pennies, and word problems. This encouraged students to talk through making and breaking combinations to 20. Students then used their individual number acts to complete problems such as the children on the train” and “muddy windows on the bus.”
Grade 3
Grade 4
4th grade has completed their first science chapter on plant structures and adaptations! They were each assigned a plant and then researched its habitat, parts, and adaptations. They created mini posters displaying all they learned. The class then participated in a gallery walk to observe and ask questions about their findings. They then used the four corners discussion model to facilitate a conversation on each plant and the questions and observations that were made. The class is looking forward to moving onto animal structures and adaptations next!
Grade 5 and PreK Buddies
Mrs. Palmer's grade 5 class created a book based off the story The Days the Crayons Quit, for their PreK buddies is Mrs. Porcello's class. Students worked with others to write a note from a school supply to the students sharing how they should be properly used. They wrote about supplies like markers, glue sticks, and more. Their book was shared with their buddies, and then they spent time at stations together. They had so much fun!
Middle School
Last Sunday, our Middle School S.T.A.R.S. had the incredible opportunity to see Come From Away, the award-winning musical based on the true story of the 38 planes and nearly 7,000 passengers who were unexpectedly grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, following the events of September 11, 2001.
As we commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11, this experience gave our students an opportunity to learn about an important moment in history through the powerful lens of music, storytelling, and theater. More importantly, Come From Away highlights the extraordinary kindness, compassion, and generosity ordinary people showed to complete strangers during an incredibly difficult time.
We are so proud of our students (and their families, of course) for the thoughtfulness and respect they demonstrated throughout the show. We hope they left not only with a deeper understanding of history, but also with a reminder that kindness matters, community matters, and each of us has the ability to make a difference when others need us most. Until the next experience! Thank you all for attending.
As part of their ongoing unit on Earth's systems in science with Mr. O’Connor, 6th-grade students have been exploring surface features of the geosphere. To better understand how 2D topographic maps represent 3D structures, the class worked together to add contour lines to a clay model of a hill. Then, students experimented with an online simulation that allowed them to modify landscapes and instantly see their changes reflected in the corresponding maps. As a result of their efforts, students developed their ability to interpret contour lines and use them to visualize landforms.
In 8th-grade math with Mr. Pritchett, students have been strengthening their foundational math skills by reviewing the fundamental operations with integers. Throughout their first chapter, students practiced adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing positive and negative numbers while building their confidence with these essential skills. This review will prepare them for a year full of expanding their math knowledge in Algebra 1! After successfully completing their first chapter, students are now beginning a new unit focused on solving equations. We look forward to seeing our 8th-grade mathematicians continue to build their skills and confidence throughout the year!
Sixth grade in Social Studies took on the role of historians who discovered a new civilization.Working with a collection of “artifacts,” students examined clues and used their critical-thinking skills to determine what each artifact might have been used for and what it could reveal about the people who created it. The students had to create a name for this new civilization, determine using a fragment of a map where the civilization was located, and how the people lived there. As they pieced together their discoveries, students developed a name for their civilization, studied a fragment of a map to determine where it may have been located, and made inferences about how the people of this civilization lived. To bring their discoveries to life, students created the front page of a newspaper announcing the exciting discovery of this newly uncovered civilization.