News - January 2021

From our 3rd Grade Teacher, Mr. Cole Stautberg… The 3rd Graders had a chance to utilize our outdoor space in the school yard (even in January). The students had a chance to engage in such a fun, educational science lesson. The students are learning about motion, which is the process of an object moving or being moved. The 3rd graders are learning that motion that repeats is said to occur in a pattern. We can observe patterns of motion to make predictions about how things will move in the future. The force that slows down moving objects is called friction. The 3rd graders are loving the hands-on learning! New applicants are welcomed to email Mrs. Jamie Brown at j.brown@sbcatholicacademy.org to learn more about South Boston Catholic Academy.

We can change the world together! The students of South Boston Catholic Academy celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday. K1 students celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by reflecting on how they could make the world a better place after reading stories about him. Students first created an earth by using blue and green ink. Next, they were asked what they could do to make the world a better place. They wrote their responses on a hand. Some of these responses included “Make people feel better”, “Be nice and kind”, “Wear my mask to help stop the Coronavirus” and “Say Thank You.” In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, our Art Teacher, Ms. Valerie Szmurlo, read the book “Martin’s Big Words” by Doreen Rappaport, in Art Class and created a guided portrait of Dr. King Jr. Students were able to talk about the importance of treating people with respect no matter what they look like and how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. changed our world for the better. In K0 Art Class, we read the book "Have I Ever Told You?" by Shani M. King and talked about how to be kind and how to respect everyone. Students then traced their hands so their thumb and pointer finger made a heart. They were encouraged to color the hands however they wanted using patterns. To honor the tremendous lifetime of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., our Music Teacher, Ms. Eleanor Tynan, helped students in 2nd grade Music learn a song about his “I have a dream speech”. After learning the song, students used words from the speech to compose a musical rhythm! What creative rhythms they came up with, too! Teachers, also, read several wonderful books about Dr. King, in their classrooms, books such as: Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo; Meet Martin Luther King, Jr. by Johnny Ray Moore; “If you Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King” by Ellen Levine and “Martin’s Big Words…The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” by Doreen Rappaport to their students. Grade 1 students learned about MLK leading peaceful protests. In class, students discussed many inspirational quotes by Dr. King, Jr. some of which are: “Love is the key to the problems of the world.” “The time is always right to do what is right;” “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that;” and “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” Thank you and God Bless you, Dr. King for making the world a better place for everyone! New applicants are welcomed to email Mrs. Jamie Brown at j.brown@sbcatholicacademy.org to learn more about South Boston Catholic Academy.

From our Spanish Teacher, Ms. Taylor Avery…¡Bienvenido! Welcome to our Spanish class at South Boston Catholic Academy! We have had fun incorporating the Spanish language and culture into our classes. In December, we celebrated Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe, Feast Day December 12th), the day when Mother Mary appeared to Juan Diego, a farmer in Mexico, in the year 1531 and gave hope to the people of Mexico! Our Lady gave flowers to Juan Diego as a sign that she truly appeared, and our kindergartners and first graders made their own flowers that we put on our bulletin board (as shown in the picture). Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us! Most recently, we celebrated El Día de los Reyes Magos (Three King’s Day, January 6th) when the three wise men brought gifts to baby Jesus. This day is important in Spanish- speaking countries as many of our friends receive gifts on this day and leave out dulces (candies) for the three kings and heno (hay) for the camels, similar to leaving cookies and milk and carrots for Santa and his reindeer! The older classes (3rd-6th) have been working on a project “Planning a Trip to a Spanish Speaking Country” on the Chromebooks (as shown in the pictures). They chose one of the 22 Spanish speaking countries in the world and researched basic information about the country and sites they want to visit. We have enjoyed learning basic vocabulary in all grades and are looking forward to speaking, listening, singing, and writing more in Spanish in the months to come. ¡Gracias por leer! Thanks for reading! New applicants are welcomed to email Mrs. Jamie Brown at j.brown@sbcatholicacademy.org to learn more about South Boston Catholic Academy.

From our Art Teacher, Ms. Valerie Szmurlo…Even though this school year looks a little different, it has not stopped students from being their most creative! In fourth grade, we read the book “The Color of Us” and talked about how we can make our cartoon portraits look like ourselves. Students explored how to create skin tones and focus on defining features (eye color, freckles, glasses, etc.). The second grade students created a pumpkin patch showing foreground, middle ground and background using paper and model magic. They even got spooky with witches and ghosts. K1, students learned about International Dot Day by reading the book “The Dot”. Students learned that no matter what their skills are, they can create their own masterpiece. They learned how to place and overlap paper circles to create their own dot art. In fifth grade we did a Nutcracker lesson where we talked about nutcrackers, their significance and finally how to draw them. The sixth grade, students learned how to draw realistic self-portraits by using correct proportions and also defining facial features. Third grade learned how to create hot chocolate mugs showing warm colors for the background and cool colors for the foreground. I can’t wait to see what else my South Boston Catholic Academy students create in 2021! New applicants are welcomed to email Mrs. Jamie Brown at j.brown@sbcatholicacademy.org to learn more about South Boston Catholic Academy.

Merry Christmas to all! From our Principal, Dr. Helenann Civian…This year we can all use some extra holiday cheer so the South Boston Catholic Academy Student Council hosted our first Holiday Spirit Week that began on Monday, December 14. The Student Council members decorated the hallways hoping to spread holiday cheer to all who are near! The students, faculty and staff dressed up to match the theme of the day! We started each day of the week with a Morning Sprite Week Sing-along led by our Music Teacher, Ms. Tynan and some of the Student Council Members. The Student Council, also, raised funds, with raffles, to be able to supply party favors to help all the students have a Christmas Party in their classrooms. On Monday, December 14, 2020, the theme was to come to school dressed in your coziest Christmas/Holiday jammies! Three of our Student Council Members in the 4th grade, started our Morning Spirit Week Sing-along off by singing: Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells. On Tuesday, December 15, 2020, the theme was to come dressed to school as either Santa, his elves, reindeer, or any other Santa related character. Four of the Student Council Members in the 2nd grade, started our Morning Spirit Week Sing-along off by singing: Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. On Wednesday, December 16, 2020, the theme was: Dreaming of a White Christmas and we came dressed up in blues and whites to look like snowflakes. Some of the Student Council Members in the 4th grade, started our Morning Spirit Week Sing-along off by singing Winter Wonderland. We had a school Mass, our Parochial Vicar, Father Christopher Boyle, was the presider and the 6th Grade class did a great job participating at this Mass while the rest of the students and faculty were able to watch this Mass in their classrooms that was livestreamed on the Parish Website. The 6th Graders also did a fantastic job taking part in this year’s Christmas Pageant. They were able to record their Christmas Pageant, celebrating Jesus’ Birthday, so that the rest of the students were able to see this Christmas Pageant on their Smart Boards in their classrooms. Since, Thursday, December 17 and 18, 2020, were snow days, we celebrated the traditional Ugly Sweater Day on Monday, December 21 and on the 22 we all took part in a Christmas Prayer Service. A Big Shout Out to our Student Council Members, Class Representatives and to Ms. Eleanor Tynan for her guidance with this year’s Student Council and to Ms. Sarah Hoisl and her wonderful 6th Graders, to Mrs. Denise Moriarty, our Director of Curriculum and Instruction and to all our wonderful families, faculty and staff who worked so hard to make this past school week extra special for all the students at South Boston Catholic Academy. From all of us at South Boston Catholic Academy, we are all looking forward to Celebrating Jesus’ Birthday on Christmas Day, December 25, 2020 and we wish everyone a Blessed and Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

From our 6th Grade Teacher, Ms. Sarah Hoisl…The theme of the Grade 6 Enchanted Village is old fashioned. Each of the students picked a building that would be set up in an olden day village to make. This was however a very extensive project in math. They had to find the area of the front of the building, the volume of the building, the perimeter, along with hiring a painter and find the total amount of money to pay the painter. Then finally, they had to create an addition to the house and find the area of that. They did a phenomenal job. They did a number of different buildings from a firehouse, to a police station, candy shop, church, school, etc. To make it even more fun for the children, we also created a Scavenger Hunt for the students to go through the village and complete a sheet with 21 questions to note what they found. Some of the questions were… What is in the window of the firehouse? In what shop is there a Christmas tree in the window? What is your favorite building? Each class took turns visiting this Enchanted Village and were very excited to see for themselves this special class project made by the 6th graders. Shout out to all of our 6th graders and their teacher, Ms. Hoisl! All of us at South Boston Catholic Academy would like to take this time to wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year!