March 4, 2016

Friday March 4, 2016
Weekly Newsletter
Reminders and
Upcoming Events
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it
becomes a memory” – Dr. Seuss
Dear SMS Families,
This week we celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday
thanks to the idea and organization of activities
by grade 5 teacher, Laura Richards, with the
assistance of Mrs. Douglas and the all the
teachers and staff. It was quite the collaboration
of creative ideas that brought the celebration of
reading to SMS! The culminating activity was a K
– 8 assembly with guest readers from the greater
community of Ridgefield. We were honored to
have Msgr. Bronkiewicz read to grade 3, Mr. Rudy
Marconi, our First Selectman, read to grades 4
and 5, Officer Luis, Ridgefield School’s Police
Officer, read to grade 2, and Ms. Gayle Pulley,
Director of Children Services at the Ridgefield
Library, read to Kindergarten, grade 1, and our
PreK 4 students! What a treat!
Our Senior Citizen Luncheon was a hit again, with
a nice corned beef and cabbage meal! Our
second grade class made lovely shamrock
centerpieces that adorned the tables and
entertained our guests with a song! Thank you
again to Amy Bruce and all the volunteers who
make these luncheons such a success!
On Monday, Terra Nova Testing begins for grades
3 through 7. We hope that students who are
taking this test get a good night’s rest and have
the chance to eat a hearty breakfast!
Continued on next page…
1

3/7-3/18 - Terra Nova
testing

3/17 – SMS Night at Gallo
Restaurant

3/19 – Young Writers’
Conference
This week was all about
and
Read Across America
Thank you to all who participated!
QUICK LINKS
SMS Website
www.smsridgefield.org
Spirit Wear Orders
http://www.smsridgefield.org/Abo
ut_Us/Saint_Mary_Spiritwear_2015
.pdf
Note from Mrs. O’Rourke Cont’d…
Save the Date! Coach “T” and I will be
guest bartenders at Gallo’s Restaurant on
Thursday, March 17 ! Come celebrate St.
Patrick’s Day with us and support SMS in
the process!
th
Volunteers Needed for Congregate Housing
Bingo Calling – one or two volunteers needed
Wednesdays, 1-2:30 once a month
Responsibility – set up, call numbers,
collect/distribute cards etc.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Blessings and peace,
Contact: Suzanne MacAvoy for more
information and/or details at 203-438-7056
[email protected]
Anna
SMS once again will hold two one-week
summer camp sessions for current Preschool
students.
NY Times Bestselling author Tony
Abbott spent the day at SMS with
students in K-8 sharing his writing
process and encouraging students to
write, write, write!
Session 1: June 6-10 Under the Sea theme
Session 2: June 13-17 Dinosaur theme
Camp will run from 9am-1pm MondayFriday. Registration will open March 14,
watch the backpacks for registration form
the week prior.
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PreK and 7th Grade Buddies
Preschool News
Mrs. Szilagyi and Mrs. Misurelli's PreK-4
class had a very special visit from Bridget
Kager, a SMS alumna. Bridget shared with
us her amazing talent for Irish step
dancing! We were so fascinated to watch
her feet move so quickly as she danced in
her beautiful dress! We became dancers
too as Bridget taught us a few dance steps!
Our class is preparing for Easter by showing
our love for Jesus and sharing our acts of
kindness on flower blossoms. Our Lenten
tree is in our window for all to see. Watch
our tree bloom and grow with love and
kindness!
Our Lenten Tree
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This week the 7th grade got together
with their preschool buddies to celebrate
Read Across America and Dr. Seuss on
Fox in Socks day. Both groups wore
their silly or mismatched socks. The 7th
grade read Fox in Socks to their buddies
and later helped them with an activity.
The preschoolers colored beautiful socks
and the 7th grade helped cut and paste
a fox on top. Happy Read Across
America week to everyone!
The 7th grade looks forward to getting
together with their buddies again for
Saint Patrick's Day.
-submitted by Ms. Kasinskas
Third Grade
"Look Into a Good Book"
By Grade 4
In celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday
and Read Across America, 3rd grade
read “My Many Colored Days” to their
TK Buddies! This colorfully illustrated
book explores the range of feelings we
all experience throughout “our many
colored days”! We finished our visit by
creating an array of colorful characters
to showcase the diversity we all share.
Good books can be hard to find, but not
when they're biographies. Who doesn't
enjoy learning about and being inspired
by famous Americans? The students in
the fourth grade read a biography of their
choice, annotated facts using note cards,
presented their information in a creative
way, and then presented their book
report to their classmates. Did you know
a favorite saying of Benjamin Franklin's
was, "Tell me and I forget, teach me and
I remember, involve me and I learn." I'd
say that about sums up the theme of our
project. Now which famous American will
you read about next?
Caroline Smith is a fan of all things Disney and
was inspired by its founder, Walt Disney
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Good Books continued….
Henry Whitehouse shares his Roberto
Clemente diorama.
Elizabeth Dowding proudly shares her
museum box about the first female doctor,
Elizabeth Blackwell.
JP held his classmates attention with
his replica of Ben Franklin's, "Poor
Richard's Amanac."
World War I Peace Process
After studying about World War I, the
8th grade students designed their own
"peace treaty". Students used their
knowledge of the causes of WWI, and
America's involvement in the war
while examining the terms of the Treaty
of Versailles and President Wilson's
Fourteen Points to determine how best to
create lasting peace after the war.
.Ava Weneck painted the route that
Ferdinand Magellan traveled to the new
world.
-submitted by Ms. Montalto
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Read Across Saint Mary School
On
Wednesday,
March
2nd we
celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday! Students
came dressed as their favorite book
character. We all attended an assembly to
join together and celebrate reading! Each
student took “The Reading Oath”-promising
to continue reading. To build anticipation for
the event teachers decorated their bulletin
boards, doors, and hallways. On Monday
February 29th students and staff came
dressed in crazy socks inspired by “Fox in
Socks” a popular Dr. Seuss book.
Throughout the week we held a book
drive to collect books for Saint Joseph’s
Parenting Center in Stamford. We received a
generous amount of books! Many teachers’
baked Dr. Seuss treats to be sold during
lunch-we raised $180 to be donated
alongside the book donations!
All in all, it was a Seuss-ical week full
of joy, reading, passion and most of all faith
in “Oh, The Places We’ll Go”.
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Monday was Fox In Socks
Day and we all wore our crazy mismatched socks!!
…then it was
WACKY Wednesday!
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..more from WACKY Wednesday…
Preschool 3’s Celebrate Dr. Seuss
Our Rising Stars have had a fun week
celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday. They came
dressed in their pajamas and brought their
favorite Dr. Seuss book to school on
Tuesday. Mrs. Campo’s art class was fun!
Our 3’s colored and cut out one fish, two
fish, red fish and blue fish.
To complete our Dr. Seuss week, we had a
very special visitor come to our class. Our
music teacher, Mr. Fox, read “Fox in
Socks!” The children enjoyed hearing all the
silly rhyming words. After the story, the 3’s
created their own fox in socks puppets. It
was a very fun week!
Mrs. Swan’s 3’s enjoying a very special “Fox in Socks”
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News from French Class
We celebrated Read across America in
our French classes!
Art News
Grade 8 is finishing painting their clay gift
boxes. They look great!
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