All Saints Catholic School Newsletter March 2012

Principal’s News Happy Lent!

All Saints Catholic School

UPCOMING MARCH EVENTS

Principal Mrs. Antoinette McNamara

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All Saints School Newsletter Grand Carnival We want to thank all of our families for their support of our carnival! You helped to make this carnival a very successful one! In addition to gaining service hours, everyone was having fun and enjoying each other’s company! Making money is definitely important but building community is also an essential element of our carnival. We send a special thank you to our police and fire personnel who were on campus all week end keeping us safe! A special thank you to our parishioner Connie Kokonas and our parent Kim Sallustio for their tireless effort and commitment to making this a very fun and successful carnival! Thank you to our God for blessing us with beautiful weather!

Friday, March 9th is a teacher professional day so there is no school for the children. The teachers and staff will be attending a workshop in Miami on the use of Interactive Whiteboards and iPads in the classroom.

Easter Break- begins on Holy Thursday, April 5th through Sunday, April 15th. School resumes on Monday, April 16th!

Important School Reminders: Academic Fees and technology fees are due on May 1st for the 2012-2013 school year! Academic fees were not raised this year; however, we raised the technology fee due to the fact that we are integrating more technology into the curriculum. Our interactive white boards, document cameras, Mimio teach devices, software programs, as well as maintenance and replacement of computer equipment is not only costly but ongoing. Tuition and all fees must be current for students to receive report cards, records, transcripts, etc. We thank our families who pay tuition and fees on time!

Confirmation for our eighth graders will occur on Thursday, March 8th. Thank you to Mr. DeOro for his hard work in preparing our students for this special sacrament which will be conferred by Archbishop Thomas Wenski.

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Report Cards- will be distributed the week of March 12th. In order for students to receive their report cards, tuition and fees must be current! We thank you for your cooperation in this regard!

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All Saints School Newsletter

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! o Friday, March 2- First Friday Breakfast 7:30-7:50 a.m. in the courtyard o Friday, March 16- St. Patrick’s Day Dress Down Day Wear a green shirt with jeans or khakis (shorts or pants) and green accessories. o Friday, March 30- Spirit Dress Down Day Wear your All Saints Spirit shirt with jeans or khakis (shorts or pants).

All Saints All Saints School School Newsletter Newsletter

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Congratulations to our former graduate Joseph Darrol who was accepted into the Citadel, the prestigious Military College of South Carolina for the fall of 2012! Joseph will graduate from St. Thomas Aquinas in May. We are proud of Joseph on his outstanding achievement!

Congratulations to our former graduate, Julia Hackett, who was academically accepted into the United States Naval Academy! Julia will graduate with a 4.9 GPA. She will also become a member of the Naval Academy’s Swimming and Diving Team! We are very proud of Julia’s outstanding achievement!

Congratulations to our former graduate Michael Cadigan who is now working at WRUF/850 Radio Station in Gainesville! This station is affiliated with the University of Florida where Mike attends school. He has also written articles on Sports Radio and has his first byline on WUFT/89.1. We are proud of Michael and his outstanding accomplishments!

Congratulations to our former graduates who achieved Honor Roll Status at St. Thomas Aquinas: Principal’s Honor: GPA- 4.2+ Michael Balma, Matthew Barry, Jonathan Cruz, Ashley Debs, Ben Deutschmann, Ben Digiorgio, Michael Dingman, Jacob Eichholtz, Julia Hackett, Kaitlin Milligan, Jessica Mott, Jackie Rodriguez, Kristen Sandsted, Melissa Trucks, Alexander Wohlert, Mackenzie Zielinski: First Honors: GPA- 3.5+ Lauren Burkhart, Alyssa Chandler, Aimee Laclaustra, Laurie Narcisse. Second Honors: GPA 3.0+ Melissa Augustin, Matthew Balma, Andrew DiRicco, Deanna Gordon, Tanner Muller. Congratulations to our former graduates who achieved Honor Roll Status at Archbishop McCarthy: Principal’s Honor: GPA 4.0+ Marissa Andresky, Amanda Cadigan, Mallory Suarez, Matthew Selimos, Karla Zacharias; First Honors: GPA 3.5+ Jorge Benejam, Karina Fonseca, Alexa Spellman, Christian Ceballos, Alexandra Holewinski, Alexandra Maglione, Karly Zacharias, IIiza Minaya, Andres Morales, Caitlin Bellantoni, Cedrique Coles, Sarah Devore, Christina Sallustio. Second Honors: 3.0+ Dinez Banos, Allison Barry, Joey Cisar, Enya Coles, Kiera Martin, Brittany Muehlenfeld, Joseph Perez, Darbi Sadar, Taylor Shore, Angela Field, Gina Greco, Laura Roman, James Sadar, Devyn Stallone, Paul Boy, Celine Duverge, Laura Lebreton, Natalie Santos, Natalie Schilling, Jesus Loayza, Austin Turner.

All Saints School Newsletter

Congratulations to our sixth grade student Zachary Beller who was sworn in as a member of the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corp’s Team. The NSCC was established by the Navy League of the United States in 1958 at the request of the Department of the Navy. It is a youth organization whose purpose is to build character, leadership, core values of respect, team work, self confidence, leadership and most of all help young people make the right choices in life that will guarantee success. We are proud of Zachary and know he will perform well as a member of the NSCC!

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Congratulations to our first grade student, Tamille Hutson, who completed the SRA Reading Laboratory Kit! The Reading Laboratory is composed of 12 levels ranging from easy to difficult. The students progress at their own speed while reading and answering comprehension questions at each level. This work is accomplished independently by the students when their classroom work is completed. Thank you to Mrs. Pologruto and Mrs. Shook for helping our children to develop independent skills at this young age! Congratulations to the students who were chosen to represent All Saints in the Broward County Math Competition on March 3. Kyle Crosno, Kayla Mejia, Julianna Patalano, Logan Schmitt, Nico Ayoung-Chee, Christian Fernandez, Katelyn Lopez, Angela Pozo, and alternates Colin Krings, Daniel Vargas, and Erick Menendez. We thank them for the extra time and effort expended preparing for this contest. We especially thank Mrs. Pat Szulczewski, our third grade teacher, who gives of her time and effort to prepare our students for this competition! We wish them the best of luck!

Congratulations to all of our eighth graders who received letters this past week informing them of their acceptance into the high school of their choice either at St. Thomas or Archbishop. We are very proud of our students and know they will continue to work hard until graduation. We thank our teachers who have prepared them for this transition from elementary to high school! We especially congratulate two of our eighth grade students, Joseph Sallustio and Emily Krings. Because of their outstanding score on the McCarthy High School entrance exam, they received a $500 scholarship for the 2012-2013 school year. In addition, they will take all honor courses available to incoming freshman and will also be invited to become a participant in the Excelsior Scholarship Program! Way to go Joseph and Emily! We are proud of your accomplishment! Congratulations to the girls who qualified for the Varsity Volleyball Team: Zoe Armiento, Kirsten Bermudo, Gianna Bozzelli, Taylor Goodwin, Aimee Greco, Brittany Hinsey, Danielle Holewinski, Alyssa Luehrs, Melanie Menendez, Julia Wheeler-Sabatino. We especially thank Mrs. Suzie Graziano for volunteering her time and sharing her talents to coach our girls! We wish them the best of luck this season! Congratulations to the girls who qualified for the Junior Varsity Volleyball Team: Krista Barry, Lauren Ceballos, Jessica Del Rey, Alycia Delbrune, Meagan Dingman, Jaymie Kennedy, Taylor Poutre, Angela Pozo, Sonia Singh, Tiffany Soto. We especially thank Mrs. Cindy Gress and Mrs. Julie Dew for volunteering their time and sharing their talents to coach our girls! We wish them the best of luck this season!

All Saints School Newsletter

Virtue of the Month is FORGIVENESS: It is very important as Catholic Christians to pardon the offenses of others and show mercy. This is a great virtue to practice during the Lenten season. St. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:13: “Bear with one another and forgive one another just as Jesus forgives you.” Congratulations to these students who received the Virtue of the Month Award for HONESTY: Nicholas Evangelista, Brianna LaRue, Erin White, James Gazonas, Nicholas Fernandez, Isabella Cueto, Stefano Libio, Alexander Roselione, Alex Capuno, Chris Diaz, Christodoula Shiahinian, Nicolas Daratany, Kayla McNamara, Julia-Wheeler Sabatino, Evan Curry, Brooke Newman.

Feast Days: We have two special feast days this month: St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th and St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus and husband of Mary, on March 19th. St. Patrick was born in Britain around 300 A.D. In his youth he turned away from God and failed to keep the commandments. He was kidnapped at the age of 16 by Irish traders and it was during this time as a slave that he converted to Christianity. He later returned to Ireland as a missionary and was appointed Bishop of Ireland in 432 A.D. He found great success in converting the pagan Irish to Christianity. St. Joseph was a very humble man who was chosen to be the foster father of Jesus. Joseph protected and raised Jesus and together with Mary made a loving and reverent home for God’s son. We pray to Joseph and ask him to bless our fathers and grant them the patience, gentleness, and the energy they need to be good parents.

A Prayer for March The Prayer of St. Patrick I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me, God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me.

Kindergarten News Our Kindergarten class is missing Mrs. Guzman but adjusting well. We are anxiously waiting for baby Catherine’s arrival. In the mean time we are very busy working hard. In religion we are discussing how we can care for others like Jesus did especially during this Lenten season. We are learning how to count to 100 by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. We are continuing to learn our letters and their sounds. We are getting very good at identifying words that rhyme and counting their syllables. Every week we are adding new words to our word wall. Soon we will begin to get weekly spelling words and begin learning how to summarize what we read. We are very excited to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday this month. We will be reading his books and making Green Eggs and Ham. We are having so much fun learning and caring for others!

1st Grade News Our first graders are continuing to become strong, independent workers especially in the area of reading. Working with Reading Counts and the S.R.A. kit really helps the students raise their reading levels. We even have some of our students helping children from Kinder to learn how to do Reading Counts. We are also concentrating on learning our math facts by heart. It’s fun to see if we can beat our time when using Holey Cards.

2nd Grade News The second graders are busy preparing for First Communion in May. This month we will have a teaching mass with Father Quinn. In science the students are learning about dinosaurs. The students are looking forward to their dinosaur day in the science lab. Mrs. Fernandez is teaching the children about doing research on the internet. Each child has picked one dinosaur to research. They are putting their information into a Power Point. They will complete their project with a dinosaur they make at home. They children have also been using the I-Pads on a daily basis to supplement their math lessons.

3rd Grade News The third grade has been busy working on Accelerated Math. In Religion we talked about Lent and made a small booklet. We have written a short paragraph telling our opinion on whether a four day school week or a five day school week is better. In English we finished learning about pronouns.

4th Grade News Fourth grade has been working on Accelerated Math. Students do this on Monday and Friday for an additional 90 minutes of Math each week. They learned the characteristics of a Haiku poem and each of them wrote two Haiku poems. In Religion they read form the Book of Psalms and then composed their own psalms. They each had a chance to practice their oration poem ‘’If I Had a Four Leaf Clover” by Jack Prelutstky. Oration helps to build the skills of self-confidence and poise in front of an audience.

5th Grade News Fifth graders are busy working with fractions! Lots of adding and subtracting with “like” and “unlike” denominators and learning how to turn improper fractions into mixed numbers! The Reading Counts cutoff for second trimester is Thursday, March 8th. Students must have a minimum of 26 points which is a “B”. Third trimester novel is “Old Yeller”. Students will complete the novel, watch the movie and complete a “compare and contrast”. ITBS testing will start on Monday, March 5th. Students need to have several sharpened No. 2 pencils with erasers, get plenty of sleep, have a good breakfast, and do not stress out!

6th Grade News During the month of February, sixth grade has been focused on writing on different topics and in varied styles. For example, in addition to expository writing, the students have written a persuasive speech and an acrostic poem. In religion, we continue to study the relationship between God and His early followers and are exploring the significance of that relationship to our present day relationship with God. We had a great time fishing and exploring the IGFA Museum on our science field trip last month.

7th Grade News Grades 6, 7, and 8 are plugging along in Math using the new Mimio system. They are working on topics such as coordinate graphing, functions, angles, experimental probability, and transformations. The 7th grade is looking forward to Pi day which will be held March 14th (otherwise know as 3.14)

8th Grade News We finished taking our high school entrance exams. We are getting ready for the oration contest this month. We are also getting ready for our second grading period report cards Finally on Saturday we will be here for our 8th grade retreat day. It will start at 9:00 in the morning and end at 6:30 in the evening. I can’t wait for Saturday because retreat days with 8th grade are always amazing and wonderful. I have been here for the 5 previous ones and I cannot wait for Saturday.

Computer News Kindergarteners and 1st Graders are working on math and phonics skills using websites such as www.starfall.com and www.abcya.com. 2nd graders are researching dinosaur facts and will be creating a PowerPoint slide show on the dinosaur of their choice. 3rd graders are researching spider facts and will be presenting their spider interview on PowerPoint. They are learning to insert animations and transitions. 4th Graders have just completed a PowerPoint presentation on Florida animals. 5th graders have just completed a newsletter on a topic of their choice using Microsoft Word. They learned to insert columns, column breaks, and page breaks. The middle school students recently wrapped up a unit covering “going online”, they were tested on web browsers, search engines, internet service providers, modems, and internet and web history. They will now be starting new projects. Science News Second grade is working on a unit about dinosaurs. We had a fossil dig, made fossils and are preparing for our annual Dinosaur Day, where the 2nd grade parents are invited to attend. Third grade is learning about chemistry and other physical science topics. We had an exciting inschool field trip and truly enjoyed having the parents come in to help with the Physical or Chemical Changes Stations. Fourth grade is learning about rocks and minerals, and even made a Sedimentary Sandwich! Yummy! Fifth grade is learning about the rock cycle, and burned sugar cubes to demonstrate how rocks can change. Sixth grade is finishing a “shocking” unit on Magnetism and Electricity. We made circuit boards, electromagnets, a motor, and had an exciting in-school field trip. Seventh grade is learning about the periodic table. We made sculptures from aluminum foil and we will be making an edible atom. Eighth grade is learning about the respiratory system. They are creating anti-smoking commercials, using the iPads, to present to the fifth grade class.

Spanish News Kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2 are currently learning to name animals. They had already worked on fruits, expressing likes and dislikes. Grades 3 and 4 are currently working on definite articles and describing where animals live. Grade 5 is working on adjectives in both feminine and masculine forms. Grades 6 has been introduced to the verb TO BE in the first personal pronoun and is working on positive and negative sentences. Grade 7 is currently working on demonstrative adjectives Grade 8 is using comparative words to describe people. Library News Reader’s Theatre: Children read parts to abridged plays, such as “Rip Van Winkle” and learn historical, political and literary backgrounds to the work. Also, the children are learning about new works of fiction in our library. New books are added weekly. We are reviewing reference works: atlases, almanacs, encyclopedias, and dictionaries to help them with their ITBS testing. Our Stock Market Club is edging out hundreds of schools weekly to attempt to take top prizes again!