News - March 2021

On March 17, 2021, the students at South Boston Catholic Academy had a chance to celebrate a very special St. Patrick’s Day filled with leprechaun hunts, Irish step dancing, and lots of green! The children learned about St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland and of the Archdiocese of Boston. He is credited with bringing Christianity to the people of Ireland. St. Patrick had a great love for God and taught about the great love that God has for all of us. We hope that everyone had a Happy St. Patrick’s Day! “Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!” is Gaelic for “St. Patrick's Day blessings to you!” New applicants are welcomed to email Mrs. Jamie Brown at j.brown@sbcatholicacademy.org to learn more about South Boston Catholic Academy.

From our 1C Teacher, Ms. Gannon…As part of Reading Across America Week and celebrating Dr. Seuss’s 117 Birthday on Tuesday, March 2, we read many Dr. Seuss books as a class. The students also brought in their favorite books from home and were able to partner read and share their favorite parts of the book with each other! Lastly, we colored in pictures of Dr. Seuss and completed a word search all about Dr. Seuss. It was a great day! It was nice to see that 1C, along with the students in Ms. McCarthy’s 1A and Ms. Byrne’s 1B class, as well as, students in the other grades all had a chance to take part in this Read Across America Week project. From our K2C Teacher, Ms. Bourdon…In honor of Dr. Seuss and Read Across America month, K2 has been collecting videos from friends and family who live across the country. Family and friends have been reading their favorite books, and students have been coloring in the corresponding state. The goal is to have a representative from all 50 states! Quotes from some famous authors…“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” and “You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax all you need is a book!”— Dr. Seuss, “There are many little ways to enlarge your world. Love of books is the best of all.” – Jacqueline Kennedy and “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” – Margaret Fuller… Happy reading everyone! New applicants are welcomed to email Mrs. Jamie Brown at j.brown@sbcatholicacademy.org to learn more about South Boston Catholic Academy.

Congratulations to Ned Kiely, Grade 6, South Boston Catholic Academy’s 2021 Spelling Bee Champion! Ned broke a tie for champion with 5th grader Sean Costello and spelled his way to a win. Six classroom champions in grades 3-6 participated in the annual school event. The other SBCA spellers who competed in the Spelling Bee are – Summer Maki, grade 3, Maddison Parthum, grade 4A, Marielle Nicholas, grade 4B, and Thomas Brooks, grade 5B. The winner, Ned, will move ahead to a local Boston Spelling Bee to be held on March 20. Using a hybrid spelling bee format, the spellers, who were competing in a separate space in the school, were cheered on remotely by their classmates who zoomed in to the competition from their classrooms. Shout out to all our wonderful students in grades 3 through 6 for doing such a fantastic job in this year’s Annual South Boston Catholic Academy Spell Bee! Special Thank you to Mrs. Evan’s for coordinating this school Spelling Bee. All of us at SBCA wish Ned that Very Best of Luck at this year’s Boston Spelling Bee Competition. New applicants are welcomed to email Mrs. Jamie Brown at j.brown@sbcatholicacademy.org to learn more about South Boston Catholic Academy.

The students in Ms. Smith's 5B grade class celebrated Black History Month by researching African American heroes, whose legacy still impacts the world today. The 5B historian’s researched hero’s like Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Maya Angelou and created banners in their honor. We ended this unit with each student presenting his or her hero. We had fun and learned a lot. God Bless America!!!! During Black History Month students in Ms. Szmurlo’s Art Class, have been studying artists such as Alma Woodsey Thomas, Faith Ringgold and even Jean-Michel Basquiat. They have learned about their impact on Art history as well as African American history. In third grade, students learned about Alma Thomas and how she used abstract painting techniques to create concentric circles. Fifth and Sixth grade learned about Faith Ringgold and how she uses paint and sewing techniques to create memory quilts about her life and ancestry. Students created based on those artists, while still creating their own meaningful work of art. This year South Boston Catholic Academy students in Ms. Tynan’s Music class are proudly honoring the lives of Black musicians of present and past. Starting with our youngest friends in Kindergarten through 6th grade, we are exploring the lives of black musicians and their contribution to musical history. Where would jazz be without Louis Armstrong? Or opera be without the early voice of Marion Anderson? In Kindergarten students have learned biographical songs, set to American folk tunes, like a song about Louis Armstrong set to the tune of When the Saints Come Marching In (one of his biggest hits). We also are exploring the lives of less famous artists such as Melba Liston, a contemporary of Armstrong, who was the first female trombone player to be allowed to play on the bandstand. In sixth grade we read "When Marion Sang", describing the amazing life of Marion Anderson. Anderson was a famous opera singer who fought to be heard in the United States, and eventually convinced Eleanor Roosevelt to help her overcome the racial bias in the opera world. With Roosevelt's help she was invited to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of thousands. Sixth grade has also discussed the lives of various black composers and modern artists. The gift of music is one of the many wonderful gifts God has given to us all! Some of our other February highlights include…Celebrating our 100th Day of school and February Vacation Camp…The students that attended camp during our February vacation had a terrific time making Musical Rain Sticks, making crafts, playing fun games in the gym and much more. Ms. Reh’s 2B students have been working so hard on their biographies for Black History Month that she wanted to celebrate their hard work. On February 25, Ms. Reh took her students on a field trip to M Street Beach. As you can see from their photo, a good time was had by all! On February 26, the 3rd grades students in Mr. Stautberg’s class, the student's in 5A in Ms. Worthen’s class and Ms. Hosil’s grade 6 students also got a nice treat by going out to M Street Park to enjoy the great weather after a week of hard work. What a great way to end the month of February and welcome the month of March! New applicants are welcomed to email Mrs. Jamie Brown at j.brown@sbcatholicacademy.org to learn more about South Boston Catholic Academy.

From Mrs. Dawson, our Grade 4B Teacher…This month was a busy month in 4B and one of the many classroom activities our students did was to create Wigwams as part of our study of the Northeast region of our country. We studied the people and historical events that have contributed to the development of the Northeastern region of the US. The students did a great job on their Student Lab Sheet: Build a Wigwam Challenge. The students enjoyed this hands-on classroom project and working as a team. They found that building a Wigwam can be interesting and fun, as well as, educational. A fantastic job with your Wigwams, Grade 4B! New applicants are welcomed to email Mrs. Jamie Brown at j.brown@sbcatholicacademy.org to learn more about South Boston Catholic Academy.