Principal's Weekly Newsletter
October 16, 2026
A Message from the Assistant Principal, Dr. Maria Enrique
Dear St. Mary’s Families and Friends,
This past week, our entire faculty and staff came together for our first of many Staff Professional Development Days. We began our morning with a full school staff meeting in prayer, reflected on an updated Mission Statement for the School, and discussed other important updates for the month. We welcomed Dr. Kevin Holbrook, Director of Research, Evaluation & Analytics at the Catholic Schools Office for the Archdiocese of Boston. Dr. Holbrook led the first part of the session, training K2-8 faculty on how to look at the data from NWEA. Teachers were able to delve deeply into NWEA MAP Growth assessments, understanding more about how the test calculates individual students’ achievement and growth over time.
Ms. Noel Kousidis, Student Support Specialist, led the second session, guiding teachers on how to differentiate instruction through centers based on areas where students could grow in their math, reading, or language usage skills. Teachers practiced creating groups of students based on MAP data. The Early Childhood Education Team collaborated to focus on assessments in preparation for Progress Reports coming out at the end of October. Teams worked on aligning assessments vertically starting in the Infant classroom up to the K1 Grade level.
Our faculty’s commitment to academic excellence, family and community engagement, and furthering the mission of the school is supported by our Professional Development days, and we are grateful for the time together.
Girl Scouts
Girl Scout Troop 63347 held its first meeting of the school year, welcoming new members and reviewing the Girl Scout Promise and Law. The troop collaborated to brainstorm ideas for its upcoming Trunk or Treat display before dividing into Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors to discuss activities and goals for the year ahead. The girls shared their interests and selected badges they would like to pursue, including Outdoor Art Creator and Letterboxer. The meeting marked an exciting start to a year of creativity, exploration, and friendship as the troop looks forward to new experiences and opportunities to learn and grow together!
Art
In art class with Mrs. Farrell, students in grades 6-8 explored the history and techniques of fresco painting, learning how artists have used this medium to create lasting works of art. They studied famous examples, including Giotto di Bondone’s St. Francis Preaching to the Birds, a 13th-century fresco that demonstrates the beauty and historical significance of this art form. After examining the art style, students began creating their own frescoes. This week, they mixed plaster and carefully prepared the foundation for their artwork. Next, students will apply paint to their prepared surfaces to complete their original frescoes.
Spanish
Students in Mrs. Chavez-Ross’ Spanish class reviewed vocabulary from holidays such as birthdays, Halloween, All Saints Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July and others. They reviewed new vocabulary words around dates. Students practiced and prayed the Hail Mary in Spanish, paying close attention to pronunciation. They discussed how nouns can be masculine and feminine and made the connection to how they are also learning this in Latin class. Mrs. Chavez-Ross reiterated how these languages are closely related, in addition to others such as Italian and Portuguese. Muy bien, estudiantes!
Flag Football
Our intramural flag football team may be small, but we are mighty! On Wednesdays, we focus on skills and drills: working on cutting in, improving our footwork with an emphasis on accuracy over speed, and building our vertical jump using hurdles. We love practicing flag-pulling! We have begun practicing learning routes and putting our skills together as we prepare for our intramural games on Thursdays. We are excited to see our S.T.A.R.S. scholar athletes continue to grow in confidence, sharpen their skills, and bring their best to game day! We have a lot of fun together learning the game and testing our skills. Until next week!
Infant
This week, the Infant classroom transformed into a cozy autumn workshop as students explored the wonderful world of apples, seeds, and pumpkins! To bring the seasonal theme to life, they read the beautifully illustrated book, From Seed to Pumpkin. These vibrant, colorful images play a vital role in the infants’ early visual tracking and cognitive development. The little learners also dove into an exciting, hands-on apple washing station! This sensory activity was a huge hit. Through splashing and water play, the infants:
- Explored new textures as they handled smooth apples and cool water.
- Strengthened fine motor skills by gripping, lifting, and transferring the fruit.
- Enhanced hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness.
We love watching their natural curiosity grow through these playful, real-world experiences!
Toddler
PreK
Students in Mrs. Porcello’s class learned about her childhood from her parents! They viewed photographs of her youth, such as getting on the school bus for the first day of Kindergarten, and photographs of her visiting Walt Disney World and her dance recitals. Students made connections with their own lives, sharing about their family vacations and first days of school at St. Mary’s. Mrs. Porcello led the students in a collaborative art lesson in creating a family tree with photographs of each student’s family in the class family tree. This special Social Studies project culminated the “All About Me” family unit. What a beautiful way to celebrate our students’ families, seeing how their teacher shared similar experiences as they do now!
K1
Students in Mrs. Curley’s and Mrs. Creamer’s K1 classes experienced Barn Babies on Friday. Students were able to gently and carefully hold and care for numerous farm animals such as kittens, puppies, a goat, a piglet, a baby chicken and baby bunnies. This connected to their classroom curriculum as students learned about the letter “F” last week for “farm” and the letter “E” this week for “egg.” This annual visiting “field trip” is a favorite amongst students and faculty alike!
K2
K2 students in Ms. McAuliffe and Ms. Tiney’s classes became scientists as they created their own apple volcanoes! The students mixed simple ingredients, made predictions, and observed the exciting fizzing and bubbling eruptions. Through this hands-on experiment, they explored cause and effect while building their curiosity and enthusiasm for science.
Grade 1
During Fundations, Ms. Johnson’s Grade 1 students participated in engaging activities to strengthen their phonics, decoding, and spelling skills. They played a new “Heads Up” game, providing clues to help Ms. Johnson identify sounds on their cards, and reviewed their digraphs. Students also practiced identifying and spelling trick words, adding the new words to and into to their notebooks and using them to write sentences. To reinforce their phonics skills, students played another new game “Swap That Sound,” changing individual sounds in words to create and read new words.
The first graders are getting in the autumnal spirit! They read Spookley the Square Pumpkin and then made their own spooky versions of square pumpkins. The class exercised their listening comprehension skills, fine motor skills, and practiced identifying shapes!
Grade 2
In religion class, Mrs. Sterge’s second-grade students learned about the Rosary and how to pray it. They explored the different prayers and mysteries of the Rosary and learned how it helps Catholics reflect on the life of Jesus and Mary. Through this lesson, students deepened their understanding of this special Marian devotion and how it can become a meaningful part of their spiritual lives. They enjoyed praying the rosary all together as a school last week during the International Rosary!
Grade 4
This week, 4th graders participated in a lesson on volume and capacity. After reviewing and adding some vocabulary to their notebooks students engaged in an activity, determining how many 250mL pours it would take to fill a liter. They discussed the relationship between the metric and imperial systems. Students then completed an exit ticket to complete the lesson and demonstrate their understanding!
As part of their fiction units in reading and writing, fifth-grade students explored different forms of figurative language. Working collaboratively in pairs, students created posters that defined and illustrated an assigned type of figurative language, incorporating a comedic twist to demonstrate their understanding. This creative activity encouraged students to develop a deeper appreciation for the ways writers use humor and figurative language to engage readers.
Middle School
Ms. Falcone’s Grade 8 class celebrated their patron saint, St. Carlo Acutis, on his feast day by learning more about his life, faith, and lasting impact. In preparation for the celebration, each student researched St. Carlo and created a slide highlighting important facts about his life to contribute to a collaborative class slideshow. Students learned that St. Carlo was an Italian teenager who had a deep devotion to the Eucharist, attended Mass regularly, and used his interest in computers and technology to create a website documenting Eucharistic miracles from around the world. Canonized in 2025, he is recognized as the first millennial saint and serves as an inspiring example of how young people can live out their faith through everyday actions and their individual talents. To mark the occasion, the class enjoyed a special feast featuring Italian favorites and other snacks.
In Ms. Falcone’s class, eighth-grade students engaged in a student-led Socratic Seminar about the book The Red Bandana, exploring Welles Crowther’s heroic actions during the events of September 11, 2001. Taking ownership of the discussion, students developed questions, shared interpretations, and supported their ideas with evidence as they examined themes of courage, selflessness, and leadership. By listening thoughtfully to their peers and building on one another’s perspectives, students practiced critical thinking and respectful dialogue. The seminar encouraged students to reflect on Crowther’s legacy and the impact of his acts of courage and service.
To aid their survey of the kingdoms of life, Mr. O'Connor's 7th grade students learned the parts of a compound light microscope and how to produce a focused image of a specimen. Students then put their knowledge and skills into action by viewing and drawing microorganisms including bacteria, protists, and fungi.
In Mr. Pritchett’s Grade 8 Mathematics class, students continued their Algebra class by solving proportion equations. They solved the algebraic equations individually and as a whole class, conceptualizing the meaning of division verbally before solving the problems. Students excitedly called out the next step in solving, engaging with the content thoroughly. Great job, students!