SMA Banner 
       "The Messenger"


          June 21,  2017
  Vol. IV, No. 41
St. Michael's Academy
Like us on Facebook!

Like us on Facebook


Follow us on Twitter!

Follow us on Twitter
Join Our Mailing List
St. Michael's Academy 
  :

We did it!  Another year has come to a close at St. Michael's Academy.

I hope everyone enjoys a safe and happy summer vacation.  You will recieve the summer mailing from us in the beginning of August and don't forget to save the date for our annual Back To School BBQ on August 24th. So have some fun, relax and we will look forward to seeing everyone on the first day of the new school year!

May God keep you safe and happy this summer!

Peace,

Ann E. Dougal 
Principal    

Upcoming Dates To Remember 

Please make note of these important upcoming dates:
 

Thursday, August 24, 2017
Back To School BBQ
Nathan Bill Park

Monday, August 28, 2017
1st Day of School for Grades 1-8

Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Open House for Preschool and Kindergarten

Wednesday, August 30, 2017
1st Day of School for Preschool and Kindergarten

Grade Orientations for the Fall To Be Announced

 
Please remember to attend Church as a family.


Fond Farewell

  We Wish Them Well

We will miss four of our SMA faculty members who will either be moving on or retiring at the end of this school year...Mr. Piotrowski, Mrs. Moskal, Mrs. Laflond and Mrs. Herron. We appreciate their many years of service and they will be missed.


8th Grade Photos

8th Grade Graduation Photos
 
To view and/or order 8th grade graduation photos, please click here.



Attendance Winners
 
Good Attendance Pays Off !

Congratulations to our last set of perfect attendance dress-down winners! In order to qualify for the weekly drawing, a student must have no absences, tardiness or early dismissals the previous week of school. We select one from PreK - 2nd grade, one from 3rd - 5th grade and one from 6th - 8th grade.   Congrats to this week's winners! 

           Gianlucca - Gr. PK-3                             Kelvin - Gr. 5B
                      Anna - Gr. 7A                      
   
  
  
From The Classroom of Mrs. Nicoliello - Gr. 6 & 7
                         
Wrapping It Up In Literature Class

A big part of the 6th and 7th grade literature curriculum is project-based learning.  Each quarter, the students have to create a book project either completed outside of school or in school.  This year, the sixth grade students wrote and illustrated survival journals over the summer. They made Halloween trick or treat bags to go with scary stories, snow globes for a winter book, a poetry book that featured twelve of their original poems, and finally they wrote and illustrated children's books.  

Our last unit this quarter was on folk tales, fables, and creation myths.  Folk tales are usually simple stories set long ago with magical elements that teach a lesson.  Fables have animal creatures and state a moral at the end like "United we stand, divided we fall."  Creation myths usually explain how an aspect of nature like the seasons came to be.  Sometimes these stories feature a god or goddess.  Did you know that spiders came into existence because a weaver named Arachne bragged too much about her weaving skills and challenged the goddess Athena to a contest?  It didn't end very well for Arachne.

This month, students in 6th grade wrote stories based on the folk tale genre, some about lessons in kindness, or not judging people before you get to know them, or explaining things in nature like why animals don't talk and why worms come out when it rains.  During literature class, they had to write and illustrate their stories and bind them in a book with an eye-catching cover.  But since a children's book is nothing without an audience, we visited Miss Enderlin's preschool class and read the stories to them. The preschoolers enjoyed being read to by their "big kid" buddies and the sixth graders enjoyed sharing the stories they created.


Grade 5 Highlights

Bringing History To Life

The last few weeks have been very exciting for 5th graders. They have had famous people in history stop by and talk about their lives, lessons they have learned, why they became famous, and how they helped change the world. Just to name a few of people they had visiting, they had Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Walt Disney, Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein, and even Oprah Winfrey and characters from Harry Potter showed up. 

In all reality, our 5th graders just finished up their biography project on a person that did something amazing in their life. They were asked to make a power point slide show with the person's history, create a time line based on their lives, inlcudes quotes from the person and what they mean to them etc. In addition to the work they had to do on the slide show,  they had the opportunity to come in dressed as the person they were presenting. 

The best part of the slide shows was the overall message that the 5th graders realized. They realized that all these people had a dream and they worked hard to accomplish it. It didn't matter if they started with nothing and faced ups and downs and even made mistakes in their lives. They all were able to have their dreams come true. A very important message for our outgoing 5th graders as they get ready for middle school. 
 
 


End of the School Year

End of the Year Mass

We send out a big thank you to Fr. John Connors who shared our last day of school Mass with us.  Fr. John reminded the students to try and always see the wonderful things around them and to think of one thing each day to be thankful for this summer.

And hats off to our 3rd graders who did a fantastic job reading and singing at the Mass!   We also want to acknowledge the group of 5th grade students who signed our school theme song at the end of Mass. Fr. Alcombright taught did a great job teaching you sign language!






Congratulations Award Winners

Congratulations to all of our end of the year award winners!  For a full list of winners, please click here.



Carnival

  Carnival Huge Success !

What a great time everyone had at the annual SMA Carnival this year! Whether you were playing one of the many games, getting a tattoo, shooting some hoops or grabbing a bite to eat, fun was in the air.  There was even a constant line to sit on the dunk tank chair!

A special thank you goes out to the more than 40 volunteers who helped out in a variety of ways and the Holy Cross Knights of Columbus who did all the cooking. There were even SMA alumni there to help out.  We couldn't have held the event without you!

Here are just a few pictures of the fun!







 Patriotic Preschoolers!

We couldn't resist this photo of our preschoolers who just happen to be sitting next to each other in red, white and blue!
Field Days

Students Have Field Days

And finally our Gr. 2, 3 and 4 students were able to have their field day!

 
 
Prayer Corner
 
St. Michael the Archangel, pray for us! 
 
We pray for all St. Michael's Academy students, families, faculty, and staff, and their special intentions:

Caroline Coley
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Caudle
Michael Jones

And we pray in a special way for of our recently departed:

Christopher White

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. 

Summer Camp
 
Camp Chillin' Out

Bay Path University will hold Camp Chillin' Out this summer from June 26-30 for boys and girls entering grades 6-8 and 9-11. Drop off is between 8:30-9 a.m. and pick-up is from 4-4:30 p.m.

Being a teenager is tough! Middle and high school students are invited for a week of fun while improving their ability to handle life's pressures away from the stress of the school year.  Classes include non-competitive activities designed to nurture body, mind and soul.  Cost of the program is $200.

For more information or to register, visit the website at www.baypath.edu/events-calendar/community-events/kids-programs/


Parish News

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel



Youth servers will help staff a homemade chicken parm full dinner  at Mt. Carmel's Marian Hall on July 8, at 5 PM .  Ticket prices are $15 and $7 under 13.

Also get $10 tickets for prizes every day in August!  We will give away over $1,000 in cash ranging from $100-$25 and dining gift certificates to UNO/Sonic, Storrowton, and The Federal. Winner tickets get re-entered. All proceeds go to helping teens attend the National Catholic Youth Conference in November with Bishop Rozanski. 

Call 734-5433 for more information.


Food For Thought

"Remember when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received only what you have given: A heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage."    
                                             St. Francis of Assisi



Thank you for your interest in St. Michael's Academy. To ensure receipt, please add smanews@smaspringfield.org to your address book. 

You may  unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our newsletter and emails.


St. Michael's Academy 
153 Eddywood Street - Springfield, MA 01118
www.smaspringfield.org
413.782.5246 office 
413.782.8137 fax