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St. Mary of the Assumption School9th Annual Newsletter
July 2013Founded 1899
Pre-School through Grade 8
As we continue to build our community, we delight
in shar ing news about the li fe of the school, our
students, parents and teachers.
67 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA 02445 |617.566.7184| www.stmarys-brookline.org
Preschoolers explore the behavior of tide
pool animals during a visit from the New
England Aquarium.
At the Biogen
Idec Community
Lab eighth
graders conduct
an experiment to
learn about the
connection
between proteins
and DNA.
A third gradercaptures a facet of
park design while on
a field study at
Fredrick Olmstead
National Historic
Site.
Fifth grade teammates get a jump on
summer during annual Field Day
contests at Lars Anderson Park.
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My thanks to first grade teacher Meghan Drielak, for our
Spirit's graphic artwork and layout, to office support from
Gloria Reyes and Jobe Lujares, and to Huong Corsini's
art students for their interpretations of Giles Laroche's
book, "If You Lived Here." ~ MJ
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July 15, 2013
Dear Friends,
In an interlude between snowstorms this past winter, one of our fourth graders brought a prized
possession to school. Captivated by the artifact, a 1950's manual typewriter, classmates clamored to
see it function. The vintage machine quickly became a platform for animated discussion as students
wondered about the role of its ribbon vibrator and speculated about the carriage return. They also
puzzled over its application for word processing.
The "fast forward" nature of the typewriter story offers insight into the way that technology has
transformed the workplace and highlights the significance for understanding how children in
classrooms learn. A toddler's fascination and ability to manipulate a personal device and the wayfourth graders explore an unknown entity both illuminate the power of motivation, the ability to
organize thoughts, to think creatively and to make connections. It adds new dimensions to the art of
teaching by guiding students to make thoughtful choices from a myriad of rich digital content, while
helping them to recognize bias and to understand propaganda.
The distance between the tap of a typewriter key and the sweeping gesture of an interactive white
board or iPad represents decades of ingenuity, innovation and drive. It challenges us to optimize
new resources to make learning relevant.
Our St. Mary community is blessed with inspired pastoral leadership, a dedicated faculty and staff
and committed parents. With one foot firmly rooted in its history of cherished Catholic values and
identity, the other is poised on the starting line of an era of new growth and new principal
leadership. In our shared vision we look forward to preparing students not only for college
readiness but also for a future of satisfying, meaningful work while they seek opportunities to have
a positive impact in the lives of others. That's the St. Mary spirit.
With warm wishes for a joyful new school year,
Maureen JutrasPrincipal
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Building a roller
coaster involves
finding the best way to
capture kinetic energy.
One way to gauge the success of a classroom lesson is the
ease with which students can talk about their learning. In
Stephanie Pietel's eighth grade science class, conversationsbecame animated when a project like building a model wind
turbine drew on the connections between science, technology,
engineering and math, or STEM practices. Since the key to
increasing power and productivity is related to blade design,
teams of students set about creating interchangeable parts
while testing and recording data about the effectiveness of
their blades' length, shape , pitch, angle and weight.
Throughout the process, eighth graders compared notes,
adjusted calculations and observed one another's progress as
they worked through various stages of measuring wind speed.
To see how STEM learning emerges, visit a St. Mary
preschool classroom during center time. In the block corner
young engineers and architects are easy to spot by the clatter
of materials and the chatter of collaborative activity. It's
through this interaction of block play that children use their
natural curiosity and trial and error approaches to figure how
to manage a stability problem or discover the dramatic impact
of gravity.
At the annual Curriculum
Breakfast parents got to help
construct multi dimensional
geometric shapes.
A variety of construction
materials contribute to the
towering accomplishments
of Amy Creamer's K1
students
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Seismologist Stacy Moulis uses a
shake table to test the durability of
fourth graders' construction.
STEM learning comes together in a school wide approach
when students explore earth science through the Boston
College Educational Seismology Project. Working withseismologist Stacy Moulis, students take a virtual tour to the
earth's core and discover the role of plate tectonics and their
relationship to earthquakes. Activities across grade levels
encourage collaboration when students in lower grades build a
volcano, use hand lens to identify rock samples and conduct an
egg experiment to gather data about the earth's interior. In
intermediate grades students tap into their engineering skills to
design models of earthquake resistant buildings then test their
stability on a vibrating shake table. The action in upper grades
challenges students who work in pairs to use math skills forcalculating the method of triangulation, a way of estimating the
epicenter of an earthquake. By middle school the level of
enthusiasm may be more contained than the spontaneity of a
preschool classroom, but a STEM lesson offers inquiry, critical
thinking and the opportunity to work through problems while
working cooperatively to experience the excitement of new
leaning.
It's a team
effort to
design a
model for an
earth-quake
resistant
building.
Investigating physical
science through small
scale construction
can be a balancing
act.
Point of View: With the completion of one phase of the school's technology plan, the
installation of SMART boards in K2-grade 8 classrooms, teachers reflect on the impact
of these instructional tools.
While the use of the SMART Board has not changed my philosophy, it has changed my
approach to teaching and it has changed the involvement of student learning. I feel as
though I am reaching a broader spectrum of learners. ~M iss Eri n Kelly
The interactive nature of the board is a great learning tool. The board presents many
large visuals and this has been particularly helpful in math. It is easy to bring up
geometric shapes, lines and angles, protractors. We can also scan the Everyday Mathpage and put it into a slide so that you can work through problems with the children.
~M rs. Renee Carchedi
Having a SMART Board in the classroom is an incredible experience for both teachers
and students. It allows me to take my students places ordinary whiteboards can't.
Together we can take a virtual field trip to see how colored pencils are made, or view a
farm to table story of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Students can manipulate the
solar system on the nasa.gov kids web page to see how to promote the formation of an
Earthlike planet or they can dance along with their favorite book characters in the
Elephant and Piggie Dance game on pigeonpresents.com.
~M iss Meghan Dr ielak
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Third graders designed compact renditions to
represent the diversity in earth's six major
biomes.
Location... Location!
This spring, first and third graders' intrigue with
animal life became the focus for learning aboutearth's biological make up as they explored the
question, "How does a habitat differ from a biome?"
A joint field trip to the Museum of Science led Miss
Drielaks first grade class to discover the many
ways animals adapt to life in different habitats.
Their research resulted in creative constructions that
illuminated the dramatic differences between
aquatic, desert, forest, grassland, rainforest and
tundra habitats. The scope widened for Mrs. Gray's
third graders as they carried their research beyondthe physical characteristics of the six biomes to
develop travel brochures that offered descriptions of
the vegetative and physical environments for animal
life by contrasting geographical biomes such as a
coniferous forest with a rainforest.
First graders draw on their teachers
bountiful collection of recycled
materials to choose details for their
habitat settings.
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For this project, we built our dream home. We had to
know how to find the area to make our rooms. The
bigger the area, the bigger the room.-Isabel D.
Drawing Board
Tapping into the creative exuberance of second
graders comes naturally to teacher Erin Kelly.
Her "Architects at Work" unit illustrates the
point:
Drawing on her students' initial grasp of area
and perimeter and their developing skills inusing tools of measurement, she challenged the
class to imagine, then design a "Dream House."
The specifications of the task were laid out:
Working in pairs the budding architects were
asked to make a blueprint using square inch grid
paper and common requirements for each room;
an allowance for a spare space left room for
creative input. With an initial sketch down,
students went to town with their master plans,
measuring each room and labeling in squareinches as a community of newly proposed
structures began to emerge.
"Our house has a magic bathroom, a riding
stable and a spa for animals. We made the
rooms by counting out the square inch boxes."
~Sophia and Camille.
"I dreamed of the master bedroom on
the left hand side of the living room
and the master bath room south of the
master bedroom." - Jacob
"Miss Kelly had us make a blueprintof a house made out of square units.
The bedroom had to be 15 inches
squared. - Steven
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Road Trips: While classroom technology offers a powerful
mechanism for research, an onsite field study provides another
perspective to deepen and enrich student learning. Plans for anexpedition begin with an essential question that's linked to
ongoing curriculum. In the 2012-13 school year, a quest for
primary source information and firsthand experiences brought St.
Mary students as far south as the New Bedford Whaling Museum
and Plimoth Plantation, to the north for programs at the Tsongas
Industrial Historical Center. In between, PK- 8th grade students
took full advantage of the educational resources that our
metropolitan area offers.
An annual fall pilgrimage to Drumlin Farm sets the stage forpreschoolers to explore animal behavior, first in a domestic
setting and later in the year at Franklin Park Zoo as they observe
"Signs of Spring" and the lives of animals in captivity. By
kindergarten, students add a layer of inquiry to their zoo visit by
participating in a special program to explore the question, What
Do Living Things Need? The learning spirals as first and third
graders set out to investigate their research question, "How Does
a Habitat Differ from a Biome?" through a study of animal
adaptations at the Museum of Science.
Guided by teachers and parent chaperons these "road trips"
present multiple ways for students to explore fields of interest and
make multidisciplinary connections through reflecting and writing
about their findings.A guided exploration of the
Frederick Olmsted
headquarters presents an
opportunity to observe how
each design element plays a
role in the creation of park
design.
Capturing the variety of
ground cover in the Rock
Garden.
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At the Tsongas Industrial Historical Center students
wondered what it was like to work on a mill assembly
line:
The purpose of the field trip was to learn about child
labor and the Industrial Revolution. A fact that
students learned about Lowell Mills was the weave
room was very loud. The students also learned that the
Merrimack river was once very dirty." ~Nathaniel
Students learned that workers on the mills barely had
any money left after paying for rent and food. They
also learned it was very unsafe to work in the mills.
~Sofia S.
"Students learned that the Industrial Revolution made
a big change in the US. They also learned that child
labor was very wrong. ~Nate
How do you Compare? Fourth grade travels took
students to the Arboretum to examine how plants are
classified and to the Harvard Natural History Museum to
compare the differences between rocks and minerals.
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"During our field trip to the Merrimack River, I
learned how much available fresh water is in theworld. Only about 1% of the water in the world is
usable and available to us. However, water is not
evenly spread. Some places have abundant water,
while some places have none. This shocked me when
I heard it. ~Jairam R.
River Study: Sixth and seventh gradersexplored the Merrimack River watershed as an
extension of their studies in ecology. During
their day trip to Tsongas Industrial Historical
Center, they analyzed water samples, observed
how pollination affects groundwater and
learned about the ecosystem of a waterfront
park.
"I know what topsoil, subsoil and bed rock look like. In
my experiment we were testing the effects of roads and
sand .Sand affects water by making it murky and
undrinkable" ~Kobi, grade 7
"There were a lot of steps to making the geo-cup.
Our assignment was about the toxin copper.
Copper is the type of metal that can affect the
water greatly. If copper is in the water it can give
people low blood pressure. ~McKenzie, Grade 7
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I do approach my
instruction differently as a
result of the new
technology. My lessons are
more student centered, as Ican have the students show
their thinking at the board,
using tools such as
coordinate plane, dot
paper, protractors, and
other tools in the "Math"
selection. The kids love to
use the board, and are
more eager to participate.
~M rs. Susanne Heidt
While participating in a professional
development science program with
Wheelock College Faculty, early
childhood teachers
observe the deliberate behavior of
garden snails.
Middle school math teacher Susanne Heidt's professional career defies the maxim about
the distance between two points; the path for this California native to her classroom in
Brookline suggests a learning curve as colorful as it is circuitous.
In high school Susanne was drawn to home economics and then considered working in
healthcare. Later, she took a battery of vocational tests to gain insight into a potential
career and began to consider several options while working in a different field. It wasn't
until further on in adult life when choosing math courses to fulfill undergraduate
requirements that her destiny became apparent. Susanne had always leaned towards
mathematics as a favorite subject and cites the fun she had as scorekeeper for her son's
football team. "Pacing the sidelines with my clipboard was my dream job," she recalls,
"I totaled yards gained and lost and prided myself on having an instant total when the
boys checked their personal stats." The experience was one of many that prepared her
for the classroom. "I can still add positive and negative integers faster than anyone I
know," she chuckles.
It was a peer tutoring position in her university math department that confirmed thedirection towards teaching. Susanne remembers how she "loved helping my classmates"
and that, "the less they got it, the more I loved working with them." This enthusiasm has
inspired middle school students from the Los Angeles area where Susanne first taught
and later served as a math coach in Central Valley, to her St. Mary's classroom where
she now teaches sixth grade homeroom subjects and math to sixth, seventh and eighth
graders.
Susanne's expectation that everyone can do math builds confidence and motivates
students to take risks. "We can hold the bar high for our stronger students" she says,
"without losing our struggling students in the process." In the classroom this belief
translates into an environment where the give and take of discussion leads to multiple
perspectives for solving problems and a variety of teaching approaches drawing, forexample, from both traditional and Singapore math to teach spatial relationships.
Always on the lookout for appealing ways to make math relevant, Susanne teaches the
concept of pi through an interactive March celebration and is currently developing a new
unit on personal finances, a must she thinks, for a generation of children raised in a
credit card culture.
For the St. Mary middle school students who routinely make a beeline to Mrs. Heidt's
door for after school help or to take on a rigorous mathematical challenge, the path is a
straight line, well traveled.
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Sixth graders await their turn at Backpack Awareness
Day when occupational therapy undergraduates from
Boston University presented a skit about the proper
weight and carrying of school bags, then conducted a back
pack "weigh in" for each class.
After a semester of recorder lessons, second
graders prepare for their debut performance
at the annual Spring Band Concert.
Catholic School Week
activities bring out the
creative genius of seventhgraders as they model
entries for the "Hat Day"
parade.
Parents relish theopportunity to join in the
fun as a crowd of students
and families gather for an
evening of games, contests
and dancing during St.
Mary's 20th Annual
Halloween Party.
Preschool friends celebrate
Chinese New Year with a
calligraphy lesson.
Pastor Brian Clary extends
a warm welcome to special
visitors during the school'sBlessing of Animals. In
celebration of St. Francis
of Assisi, students brought
along a variety of family
pets to commemorate the
saint's special role in
caring for all God's
creatures.
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Veteran Halloween Party chair Chris
Rocket got an assist with decorations
from parent Vali Tam.
St. Mary's Annual Family Night Dinner brought
our community together for a delightful meal
catered by James's Gate restaurant.
Entertainment provided by the school chorus and
a slide show compiled by teacher Meghan Drielak
added to the highlights.
A fifth grader drives for the basket during a St
Mary's weekend basketball game.
Parents Azheny
Zdeb and DebAsbrand
fashioned hand
tied bows for the
Holiday Faire
greenery table.
Catching the Spirit:
Behind the success of every organization lies a
dedicated community of supporters; St. Marysowes its vitality to the generosity and dedication
of its parents. We are blessed by the selfless and
spirited contributions of volunteers who lend
their talent and gifts in classrooms and as they
orchestrate community wide events throughout
the school year.
Homemade sushi
and hand crafted
origami drew an
appreciative
crowd at the
annual Holiday
Faire.
Traditi ons that
celebrate and suppor t
our school community:
The Blessing of Animals
Halloween Party
Thanksgiving Liturgy
Holiday Faire
Christmas Concert
Curriculum Breakfast
Catholic Schools WeekFamily Night Dinner
Spring Book Fair
School Walk-A-Thon
School Band Concert
Spring Sing
Spring Operetta
Field Day
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Turning Christmas Upside Down:
Students used the Advent Season tofocus on the needs of others. A
drive to purchase backpacks and
supplies for school children in Haiti
took place in the weeks leading up
to Christmas. Upon their return
from holiday break, St. Mary
students gathered to celebrate the
Epiphany with prayer and then
formed assembly lines to pack the
gift bags with notebooks pens,
markers and other school
necessities.
Coins for Cures: St. Mary's
spring Penny Race to benefit
Children's Hospital was
organized by the fourth gradeclass. Sixth graders took on
the after school responsibility
for counting 35,000 pennies,
silver coins, dollar bills. With
a sprinkling of currency from
China, France, India and
Ireland, the benefit raised
$1,259.21 for medical
research.
BAA Colors: Following the Marathon Day tragedy, our St.
Mary School community came together for prayer and
discussion as we began to process the events of April 15th. As
a way of using positive actions, each class considered the role
our "neighbors" as they designed cards and wrote thank you
notes to the medical community and first responders. An ever
popular "jean day," featuring BAA colors, raised funds for
The One Fund Boston initiative.
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Food Day: With an invitation from theBrookline Health Department, students
participated in Food Day, a town wide
initiative to promote eating healthy local
food. Following demonstrations of
container gardening, students "dug in" by
planting garlic and flower bulbs.
An Eighth Grade Tradition,
students organized donations and
filled gift boxes for the St. Mary of
the Assumption Parish
Thanksgiving Food Drive.
This year students in Lauren Denizard's eighth grade used their
studies in religion, art and social studies to consider the
question, "How does one person impact a community?"
Drawing on discussions of the novel Seedfolks and the lens of
Facing History and Ourselves, they explored the American
experience through the perspective of an immigrant family.
Inspired by the characters' impact as catalysts for change, they
formed a plan for their Christian Service projects.
"I learned that if just one person can do a small thing in a
community for the good of all, it can have a ripple effect."
~Alexander
"Seedfolks taught me that you can bring people closer by doingsomething positive to affect the world around you." ~Caila
"Seedfolks taught me to make my community better and realize
that neighborhoods are important in a person's life."
~Jeongun (JK)
One Fine Saturday: Middle school
seventh and eighth graders and their
teachers participated in the mayor's
"Make A Difference Day" in November.
Working with a park naturalist at
Allandale Woods, they cleared invasive
plants (like buckthorn) as they made way
for new saplings.
Passing It On:
Learning about
sustainability became a
reciprocal process
when middle schoolers
taught preschool
buddies how to set
bulbs for the school's
container gardening
project.
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Poet's Corner:Fourth
graders Camille and Isabelle
received first and second
place respectively in the
Massachusetts Science Poetry
Contest. The annual contest
encourages the integration of
art, writing and science and is
open to all K-8 students
across the state. This year's
entries were judged by Dr.
George Ladd, Professor
Emeritus, faculty and
students at Boston College.
In March, St. Marys
School chorus joinedBrookline PALS
Children's Chorus and
Choeurdes Enfants de
Montreal for a joint
concert of classical and
traditional music at St.
Paul's Church in
Cambridge. The
performance was
followed by our
choristers participation
for the fifth year, in Big
Sing East, a
noncompetitive
adjudicated festival
sponsored by the
Massachusetts
Association of Choral
Directors. The April
concert took place at St.
Cecelia's Church in
Boston.
The school band, now numbering fifty
musicians prepare for their spring
concert. This year twenty one senior
members were invited to participate in
the Massachusetts Catholic School Honor
Band Concert, held in Melrose.
The St. Mary community comes together each June for the All
School Assembly in celebration of the conclusion of the school year
and to recognize student accomplishments. As part of a time
honored tradition, officers from the Catholic Daughters of theAmericas were on hand to present the 2012-2013 awards for student
entries in the National Education Contest. First place recipients at
the state level were Angelise S and Alexander K for essays, Camille
S, poetry, Tim B, computer art, Patrick M, photography, Teagan T,
art and Jihae K, the Fr Jack Ahern Award for Creativity.
An Award recognizing school spirit went to seventh grader Kayla F
who received the Mt. St. Alveria Book Award. This year's recipient
of the St. Mary's Cup was eighth grader Angelica B who was
recognized by faculty and middle school peers as the middle schoolstudent whose leadership best represented the St. Marys core values
of reverence, respect and responsibility. Bezawit, a second grader,
and Jeremy in grade six were chosen for, the Fr. Richard Butler
UpstanderAward honoring the humanitarian work of the parishs
late senior pastor.
Bezawit O'Neil ,pictured with
teacher Erin Kelly, was one of
two St. Mary students chosen for
the Fr. Richard Butler
Upstander Award.
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At the turn of the twentieth century, St. Mary
parishioners came together in celebration and support of
its newly founded parochial school. One local newsaccount describes a summer gathering featuring an ice
cream social, illuminated by lanterns of "electric light
bulbs." The evening highlights included a tug of war
contest between the men of the parish and a crew from
the town's water works.
Twenty first century counterparts, the families, faculty,
staff and parish of St. Mary's continue to support its
mission while celebrating the life of the school.
Building on core values of reverence, respect andresponsibility, our Catholic school community is fully
committed to providing a strong foundation for children
by nurturing students growth
K2 and seventh grade students share their
inquiry projects during St. Mary's tenth
annual Curriculum Breakfast.
A preschooler
chooses a great
read during
center time.
A St. Mary
student examines aballot question
during a mock
election; Brookline
town officials
brought voting
booths to school
for the occasion.
Music from
Vivaldi serves as
inspiration for a
multidisciplinary
science lesson.
Young writers
share their
work.
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Family Night Dinner
provides opportunities
for student greeters to
offer a warm welcomeand student guests to
enjoy a tasty meal in
the good company of
family and friends.
With goals in
mind, the red
team engages in
friendly
competition.
How can we
learn from the
saints?
Student research
projects lead to
learning about
the devotion of StMonica and the
courage of St.
Sylvester.
Fr. Brian stops by to answer second graders
questions as First Communicants prepare to
receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
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Mission Statement
St. Mary of the Assumption School is a richly diverse
Catholic community serving students in grades pre-k through eight.
We are dedicated to providing each child with a strong foundation
intellectually, spiritually, and socially in a learning environment of
reverence, respect and responsibility.
I am enclosing my gift of $ ________ to contribute towards:
Student Aid through the Catholic School Inner City Scholarship Matching Grant
Program
Supporting the School's Technology Plan to Upgrade Infrastructure and Equipment ,Advance Teacher Professional Development
General Support of the School as Needed
Name _____________________________________
Address ____________________________________
City ___________________________State ________ Zip Code ______
Email ______________________________________________________
Your Contribution is Tax Deductable to the Extent that State and Federal Laws Allow
We are So Grateful for Your Support!
Capture the Spirit!
Ways to Support the St. Mary of the Assumption School Mission:
Checks May Be Made Payable To:
St. Mary of The Assumption School
67 Harvard St.
Brookline, MA 02445
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I love pie!
Pie is great!
I give them the highest rate!
My mouth explodes with pure delight,And feast my taste buds with the greatest sight.
Now here I am back at school,
And we are learning a brand new tool,
And I have to admit with great of a sigh,
We are learning about pi, not pie.
Pie or Pi?
St. Mary of The Assumption School
67 Harvard St.
Brookline, MA 02445
Isabella M. Grade 4