Principal's Weekly Update
January 19th, 2024
A Message from Dr. Nadjarian
There was a buzz of excitement amongst the faculty and staff as we prepared to welcome prospective families at our Discovery Day event. Our student ambassadors, student speakers, and parent ambassadors enjoyed meeting and getting to know prospective parents. It is always an honor to welcome future parents and students to our school family.
Congratulations to our Grades 2-8 students on completing their Winter MAP Testing. Faculty and staff are so proud of the growth that they have made in just a few short months!
Just a reminder that we will be hosting Coffee with the Principal on Wednesday, January 24th in the school cafeteria at 8 a.m. Mrs. Enrique, Mr. Antonacci, and I are looking forward to spending time with you then!
Good luck to our basketball teams at their games this weekend! Go St. Mary’s!
- Grades 2-8 Winter MAP Testing
- Coffee with the Principal
- Re-enrollment period ends
- Progress Reports Released (K2 - 8)
- Report Cards Released (PreK - K1)
- No School - Parent-Teacher Conferences (PreK - K1) and Professional Development (K2 - 8)
- Catholic Schools Week Kick-Off Mass
January 28th-February 2nd
- Catholic Schools Week (See below for details)
- Ash Wednesday Mass at 12:10 (PreK-8)
February 19th - February 23rd
- February School Break
Catholic Schools Week
St. Mary's School is excited to celebrate Catholic Schools Week (CSW) from January 28th - February 2nd. CSW is an annual initiative to celebrate the impact Catholic schools have on the education and formation of children around the world. Many activities that involve parents, community, faculty, and students are scheduled during that week to emphasize and celebrate the role of Catholic schools. Please familiarize yourself with the schedule for our school below for information on the various events that will take place and the corresponding dress-down days for students.
Food and Clothing Drives
St. Mary's School is partnering with Boston Healthcare for the Homeless and the Brookline Food Pantry as we collect donations during the week of Jan 22-25. Clothing and food donations will be accepted. Please drop off donations in the cafeteria. Once collected, these donations will be given to those in need during Catholic Schools Week. Please see the flyer below for details. Thank you for your generosity!
Black and White Ball Save The Date: St. Mary's Gala (April 6th)
Get ready for a night of elegant entertainment, food and drink to raise awareness and funds for our beloved school. This year’s theme: Black and White Ball. Dust off your black and white party attire and join us!
Please sign up below to volunteer for the various aspects that are necessary to hold this event. Our volunteers are necessary to make this event a success. Thank you in advance!
A Message from Nurse Catherine
There is a food recall of Quaker Oats Products due to possible salmonella contamination. Salmonella is a bacteria that can spread by consuming contaminated food. Symptoms include diarrhea, belly pain, and fever. This recall includes many popular cereals and granola bars. Products on the list should be thrown away. To see a full list of products please visit this link:
Enjoy your weekend,
Boys and Girls Basketball Secure Their First Wins!
Our boys and girls basketball teams kicked off their seasons this weekend, securing their first wins of the season! We are so proud of all of our athletes for their amazing efforts in these games. Thank you also to our staff and parent volunteers who have helped to coach our students!
Library with Mrs. Soukas
Mrs. Soukas has been an incredible addition to our team of specialists at St. Mary's. She not only leads Library class but is also the school's reading specialist. Time with Mrs. Soukas in the library has been an engaging and intellectually stimulating time for both younger and older students.
The younger students have been enjoying picture books and story felt boards, focusing on identifying rhyming words and sequencing. Students are encouraged to identify pictures, letters, or words they recognize from self-selected books.
The older students are practicing reading strategies while enjoying a read-aloud chapter book. They are identifying character traits, problems and solutions, and providing supporting evidence. Students are also learning how to implement graphic organizers as they read.
Students are encouraged to borrow books at their just right reading level to practice skills they are working on during library class. These skills will help students in every subject they learn about in school and life!
Our newest middle school Spanish teacher, Mrs. Colleen Bognet, has been a wonderful addition to the St. Mary's community. She skillfully integrates all four language domains—listening, speaking, reading, and writing—into her teaching, placing a special emphasis on speaking skills. Currently, our students are immersed in learning numbers, taking quizzes, and have successfully mastered the ability to count up to 1,000!
Students in Monsieur Raymond’s French class continued their lesson on ordering pastries in a boulangerie (a bakery). They practiced ordering pastries that are typically found in a boulangerie with the boulanger (the baker). Some of the items they ordered included pain, tarte, brioche, and croissant.
Miss Porcello's Pre-K class is continuing their study about winter! This week, they focused on ice and snow. Students conducted an ice experiment - will salt or sugar melt the ice?
Even in Pre-K, students have opportunities to learn about the scientific method and put it into practice in a fun and engaging way! First, they made predictions - will the salt melt the ice or will the sugar melt the ice? Next, they put it to the test! Students took turns putting salt on one block of ice and sugar on another block of ice. They let the ice sit as they continued with their day. After some time had passed, students examined the ice and discussed their predictions. They noticed that there was a lot of water in the salt ice tray and a little in the sugar ice tray. They also noticed that there were holes in the salt ice, but no holes in the sugar ice. Students came to the conclusion that salt melts ice! They completed the experiment by collecting and recording data on their charts.
Through this experiment, they learned that rain happens when the clouds get filled with water from the environment!
It was a huge week for K2! Ms. Tiney and Ms. McAuliffe's students became authors as they received their brand-new writing journals. Students started writing their first full sentences using writing strategies that they learned in class such as tapping out sounds to build words. Throughout the year, K2 students learned how letters build sounds and words and they now began to use the words to create sentences!
This week first grade continued with their nonfiction reading and writing units. In reading, they practiced writing book retells and sharing them orally as well. They also taught their classmates about the topics they have learned about so far in this unit. In writing, students practiced breaking down domain-specific vocabulary words by syllable and being brave spellers, spelling these more challenging words syllable by syllable. We also started a new unit on space where our class learned that Earth is our planet which is part of our solar system and in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Grade 3 began their research projects on different types of ecosystems. Students were placed into groups and worked as a team to decide who would be the researcher, who would be the scribe, and who would be the presenter. They used their Chromebooks to research ecosystems such as forests, tundras, grasslands, and deserts. Students then presented their final research and posters today!
Students in 5th grade have been learning about stars and how they relate to the Sun. Students have learned how a stars luminosity and distance from Earth effect its apparent brightness. Each student was assigned a star in our galaxy to learn more about and were tasked with creating a poster to present their finding.
Our January Middle School monthly guest speaker, Ms. Maria Guzman, delivered an inspiring talk this morning about her journey in Astronomical and Aerospace Engineering. Originally her family is from Bolivia, and she courageously pursued her dream by moving back to the United States where she was born. Ms. Guzman shared fascinating insights into her experience, including her involvement in rocket construction and being a Founder/Member of the USC Rocket Propulsion Lab as well as a Research Student for Space Division at the Information Science Institute. She was a part of the pioneering team that successfully built and sent a parabolic antenna in nano-satellite into space.
She highlighted the key pillars that guided her throughout this remarkable journey – patience, perseverance, and unwavering trust in God. Ms. Guzman emphasized the significance of creativity in her work, expressing the joy of creating technology in her lab that has never been done before. Additionally, she conveyed the importance of embracing failure as an integral part of the path to success. With each success comes new challenges to overcome. Currently, she works as a Space Systems Engineer with BAE Systems. Thank you so much, Ms. Guzman, for taking the time to visit St. Mary’s Middle Schoolers!
In math, students are learning about proportions. To practice this, students learned how to take their 10-second pulse for resting and exercising conditions. They used proportions to convert their 10-second heart rate into the more common “beats per minute.”
Students in 6th Grade Earth Science had the opportunity to teach each other in their current unit on Plate Tectonics. Students were tasked to create presentations with note sheets for their peers to complete. This assignment culminates in a “quiz” to see how well the 6th Graders taught each other!
In 7th Grade Social Studies, students recently completed a project on designing their own city-state. The goal was to create a city-state like one of the many Greek city-states. Students designed types of currency, government, and even a map of their city-state.
Students in 8th Grade Civics wrapped up the articles of the Constitution. They have transitioned into understanding the Bill of Rights and the first ten amendments. Upon completion of this, 8th Grade will begin their unit on the first of three branches of government, the Legislative Branch.
In Grade 8 Science, students have wrapped up their unit on the periodic table and are now applying their knowledge to molecular bonding! Students are learning about the difference between ionic and covalent bonds by working with their molecular bonding kits to represent different chemical compounds.
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