AQUINAS ACADEMY

A Pennsylvania Charitable Trust

340 North Main Street, Greensburg, PA 15601

Phone: 724-834-7940 Fax: 724-836-0497

NEWSLETTER

JANUARY 2017

My Dear Aquinas Family,

As we return from the Christmas break, we begin

to look towards next year’s enrollment. Catholic

Schools Week is typically the beginning of this

process. I wanted to take a few minutes to explain

the process. There are many facets of

enrollment. Application, registration, paperwork

packet, and financial information are just a

few. So, allow me to shed some light on some of

these.

If you are already enrolled at Aquinas Academy,

you do not need to apply. You are reserved a spot

for next year. Any new students must apply prior

to acceptance and registration. We do ask for

siblings not yet registered to apply, but they will

have first consideration based on family legacy.

Once a student is accepted, there is a registration

packet that is needed. This allows the school to

keep current information on file. This registration

places the student in a specific grade in Aquinas

Academy.

Much of the paperwork that is needed is assigned

by either the state or the diocese and the school

must maintain those forms in files in the event of

an audit. We truly appreciate your compliance

with these forms.

Financial information takes on two parts. Both are

managed by FACTS. Here is how it

works. FACTS handles: 1. Tuition Management

and 2. Tuition Assistance. 1. Tuition

Management. This is the billing and collection of

the tuition throughout the year. All families are

required to have a FACTS account for this

purpose. If you pay monthly, the funds are

withdrawn directly from the account of your

choosing. There are many options and ways to

help you manage tuition. Please be sure to talk

with our business manager (Mrs. Maria

Cochenour) if you have questions. 2. Tuition

Assistance. In an effort to keep our local

administrators out of family finances as much as

possible, FACTS is used to assess the needs of

each family that applies. FACTS, then determines

need and passes this information along to the

Diocese and the local administration. FACTS

does not have money to give. The financial aid is

given from two pools of funds. The first is the

school’s own budget. Funds are given to the

school from the parishes to run the school and aid

can be given from this funding. The second is PA

State tax in the form of EITC. Look for more

information about this in another newsletter, but I

will say that both of these funds are extremely

limited.

The next action step for you is to register. We

would like to have all registrations returned very

quickly and this will allow for us to focus on new

enrollment and next year’s budget. We thank you

for your attention to this detail, and we remind you

that we are here to help throughout the

process. Our office is equipped to assist and

looking forward to doing so. We hope you had a

wonderful Christmas and we are looking forward

to an exciting Catholic Schools Week!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens

me. Philippians 4: 13

Yours in Christ,

Mr. Joseph J. Rice

Principal

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CHRISTMAS SHOP

The Christmas Shop was a big hit! It was great to

see the smiling faces of the children as they

bought surprise gifts for their loved ones. After a

higher than expected demand on the first day, the

entire store was restocked for the second day of

shopping. In addition to giving the children an

opportunity to shop on their own, the Christmas

Shop netted a profit of $2,525 for the school.

We would like to thank all the parents who

volunteered their time to come in and help. With

this first year of running the shop under our belt,

we learned a lot, and we have already begun

planning for next year!

Thanks again to everyone who helped make the

Christmas Shop a success!

- Nikki Zubaty and Keira Bonomo

PRESCHOOL NEWS

Both of the preschool classes have been very busy

learning about Advent. The classes made their

own advent wreaths and have been lighting one

candle each week throughout the season. Each

week the children light their candle and sing along

to our Advent song about waiting for Christmas

day and the birth of Jesus.

The PreK 4 class has been working very hard

learning letter sounds and recognizing new letters.

During the Christmas season, the children learned

all about letter C which brought us upon Candy

Cane Day. The children made candy canes by

rolling golf balls in red paint and rolling them in a

pan all over a white candy cane to give it stripes.

They also graphed their preferences on who likes

peppermint candy canes better or who likes cherry

candy canes better, cherry candy canes came in

with the win! Of course, we had to end our day

with taking home a very special candy cane that

was delivered to us by Saint Nicholas!

The PreK 3 class has been focusing on counting

numbers. The children in this class can count all

the way to 20 with ease! They have been

practicing their counting and number skills during

Christmas math centers where they have to

decorate a Christmas tree with a certain number of

ornaments that are labeled on the tree. Christmas

time sure does make for fun counting activities!

Both preschool classes had wonderful Christmas

parties this year. They had such a wonderful time

celebrating Jesus’ birthday and enjoying fun

games and crafts with their friends. A special

thank you to all of the preschool parents for all

that they do for each class!

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KINDERGARTEN NEWS

What do YOU do on Tuesday? Why eat spaghetti

of course! At least, that’s one of the silly parts of

the song, “TODAY IS MONDAY’ by Eric Carle.

Learning this song is helping the kindergarten

children with learning the days of the week.

The children are also busy organizing

mathematical manipulatives into groups of tens.

The children think “what a great way to get all the

way to one hundred.” Two hundred, three

hundred....

The students learned about another famous saint

this month by watching Nicholas, the Boy Who

Became Santa. With some assistance by our

fourth grade prayer partners, the children made

small paper shoes. A big surprise awaited them

the next day when they discovered golden

tangerines and candy canes in their shoe.

Our activity room became a glorious mess as we

worked on special Christmas ornaments, gifts for

parents and friends, and even gingerbread people.

But nothing could beat the day kindergarten took

an imaginary trip to the North Pole on the Polar

Express in our pajamas! The students shared his

or her favorite bedtime book and stuffed animal,

learned about reindeer, made cottony Santa

Clauses, and drank hot cocoa with cookies.

Kindergarten will end the month of December

with a birthday celebration for Jesus. Merry

Christmas wishes go to all of our families and

friends.

FIRST GRADE NEWS

Before Thanksgiving, the students were busy

working on special projects and photographs for

the Gala. Thank you to Mrs. Tiedeman, Mrs.

Szakos, Mrs. Denis, Mrs. Kerr, and Mrs.

Bossert. We appreciate you sharing your time

and talents with us! In addition to helping with

the Gala projects, Mrs. Bossert helped send the

students off on their Thanksgiving break by

reading a wonderful story. She read, Balloons

Over Broadway, which tells the true story of the

puppeteer Tony Sarg and his helium balloons that

would become the trademark of Macy’s Day

Parade. After the fun story, the students were able

to create their own balloon that they would carry

in this special parade. Thank you, Mrs. Bossert!

The students worked on a lesson with Mr.

Dombrowski, our school guidance counselor and

grandfather to Max and Beau Bossert. Mr.

Dombrowski read the story, I Can't Believe You

Said That! to the class. This story is about a boy

named RJ who says what he thinks… no matter

how it sounds or makes others feel. With help

from his parents, he learns he doesn't have to

verbalize every thought that pops into his head. In

fact, sometimes the less said the better!

Mr. Dombrowski had a nice discussion with the

students about how words can cause hurt feelings

and how the students can use a social filter to

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avoid speaking hurtfully or disrespectfully. With

Mr. Dombrowski's guidance, the students

constructed a diagram showing their Thinking

Bubble, Social Filter, and Talking Bubble. The

students learned how to use their Thinking Bubble

and Social Filter before they speak the words in

their Talking Bubble. Thank you, Mr.

Dombrowski for teaching us this valuable lesson!

The first graders have once again scored the team

of the week in First in Math throughout the whole

school during the first week of December. Not

only did the whole class earn team of the week,

but Beau Bossert scored the ultimate honor--top

player of the week in the whole school! First

graders are definitely working up their sticker

count on the board outside of the office!

First graders have also learned new strategies to

subtract numbers. The children can now make a

ten to subtract, use doubles to subtract, find

missing addends, and can relate addition and

subtraction. This all comes into play when the

children are working on fact families and the

number sentences that make them up.

The first graders also spent time on a gingerbread

math scavenger hunt. They traveled around the

classroom finding different number sentences to

solve. It was a challenge but in the end everyone

was rewarded with a prize!!

Now presenting…The Student of the Week!

Congratulations to Ava Richards who did a

fabulous job as our Student of the Week! The

students enjoyed seeing Ava's special Care Bear as

well as all the books she made.

The first grade students had a fun-filled Christmas

celebration. The morning began with a bountiful

breakfast and the students really enjoyed starting

the day with lots of delicious food! After

breakfast, the students made a festive Christmas

ornament and played a Frosty the Snowman left-

right game which ended with each student

receiving a special present…an adorable emoji

hat!! Many thanks go to Mrs. Polomoscanik,

Mrs. Tiedeman, Mrs. Bossert, Mrs. Hutchins,

and Mr. Snively for spending time with us and

creating cherished memories of our First Grade

Christmas party.

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SECOND GRADE NEWS

In math class, second grade was busy working on

place value. They now can write a number three

ways in number form, word form, and expanded

form. The alligators were a big help in deciding

greater than, less, than, or equal to. Graphing was

introduced using Christmas decorations as the

data.

The month of December began with a visit

Around the Stable. During this Advent lesson,

students listened intently as Mr. Rice presented a

story about the Christmas stable and explained the

symbolism of the items placed by Kindergarten

and First Grade. At the conclusion of the story,

second grade added their symbol, stones, to the

manger scene.

In reading class, students completed an author

study of Tomie dePaola. Through readings of The

Art Lesson, Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs,

Tom, The Baby Sister, Oliver Button is a Sissy,

The Legend of the Poinsettia, The Night of Las

Posadas, and Strega Nona students learned about

the themes of family, faith, and love. Students

were excited to find that Tomie DePaola portrayed

his family stories, stories about his life, and stories

about his Irish and Italian cultures in these books

and that many of the characters reappeared in the

different stories. They also learned about

illustrating, author’s style, and author’s craft. To

sharpen their comprehension skills, students

charted the beginning, middle and end of selected

stories, identified the main ideas and combined

them into a summary. A big thank you to Mrs.

Finoli for providing most of the books that the

class enjoyed in this author study! Check them

out in the school library.

The excitement of holiday shopping was in the air

in early December. Students eagerly gathered

their lists and visited the Aquinas Christmas Shop.

Shoppers excitedly picked those just right gifts for

the special people in their lives. They also

practiced money management as they worked

within a budget to find that special item. Students

look forward to the Christmas Shop every year

and always enjoy this Aquinas tradition.

In social studies, students traveled around the

world and explored Christmas customs and

traditions celebrated in Canada, Mexico,

Philippines, United Kingdom, Germany, and

Sweden. They learned that our Catholic faith is an

important part of celebrations in Mexico, Canada,

and Sweden. Students learned about Los Posadas

and the origin of the Christmas poinsettia, which

also tied into the Tomie dePaola story, The

Legend of the Poinsettia. Students created their

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own Christmas poinsettias to display in the

hallway. Second grade was amazed to find that

French Canadians attend Midnight Mass and

afterwards eat dinner and exchange gifts, in the

middle of the night! Students were also surprised

to find out that Swedes begin their Christmas

Season on December 13, St. Lucia Day, which

honors St. Lucy, the patron saint of light. During

the lesson about Germany, Emma Hrbek shared an

authentic wooden Santa and ornament that her

family bought when they visited Germany.

Students also completed a booklet that described

the foods, traditions and Santa of each country.

They also watched educational videos on You

Tube that showed clips of Christmas celebrations

in the various countries. Second grade soon

realized that even if the meal is different or Santa

is called by another name, people all over the

world celebrate the birth of Christ in very special

ways.

During the month of December, the children

listened to magical stories about reindeer like The

Great Reindeer Rebellion and Mooseltoe. They

used their knowledge of fictional reindeers as the

opening to a nonfiction unit of study about

Caribou. First, they listed their prior knowledge in

a graphic organizer and then viewed a video called

“4 Interesting Facts about Reindeer.” They

compared facts from the video to the

brainstorming lists and prior knowledge of

fictional reindeer. Our unit of study will continue

in January and different topics will be explored:

predators, habitat, migration, caribou babies, food

sources and interesting facts.

Did you ever wonder how Santa got his job?

Second grade learned all about it when they

listened to the book called How Santa Got His

Job. This story tells how Santa had many

different, unsuccessful jobs in his life but used his

strengths and skills from each experience to

become the Santa that we know today. After

listening to the story, students completed an elf

application and had to explain why Santa should

choose them to be an elf at the North Pole. The

class discussed what skills would be needed to be

a successful elf. After reading the applications, it

would be hard to choose just one! The second

graders had a range of skills from gift wrapping

expertise, to cookie baking, to being kind and

caring to others. After the workers completed

their applications, they created an elf version of

themselves to display their work.

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Mrs. Sigut and the students would like to thank

Mrs. Fisher, Dr. Lim, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Joensen,

and Mr. Sam and Mrs. Genevieve Snively for

planning the Christmas Breakfast festivities. The

students enjoyed a delicious breakfast, made a

lovely tree ornament and played a jolly game of

Build A Snowman. The students and Mrs. Sigut

wish you a Blessed 2017!

THIRD GRADE NEWS

In math class, multiplication tables up to five

including their properties were mastered. The ice

cream cones are getting bigger and more colorful.

A Christmas activity to find the “typical tree” was

completed using mean, median, and mode. Tables

and graphs were completed using a Christmas

theme.

Saint Nicholas day was on December 6. The third

grade students made St. Nicholas shoes, and

placed them on their desks the night before his

feast day. The following morning, they saw

oranges and candy canes in their shoes. It was

very exciting! Everyone enjoyed their treat.

During Advent, the class has been lighting their

candles weekly, learning the symbolism of the

wreath, and placing ornaments on The Jesse Tree.

The students have been reacquainting themselves

with the Old Testament readings. Also, we love to

walk by the “Around the Stable” (in the

breezeway) where Mr. Rice places another figure

in the manger scene each week. It reminds us of

the anticipation of the Christmas season and the

birth of Jesus Christ.

In social studies class, third grade is studying Jobs

in the Communities. They have been discussing

how to run a business, and why making good

money choices are important for everyone.

In addition to the importance of communities, the

students made Time Lines of their lives. These

time lines showcased special events that happened

throughout their life. Each student chose different

events that he or she thinks are most important to

them. They shared them with each other, and are

now on display in our classroom. Great job

everyone!

One of our third grade students, Stella Bossert,

wanted to help out a needy family for Christmas

this season. Her mother, Andrea Bossert, heard

about a family whose house burned down in the

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Greensburg area, and everything was lost. Stella

and her mother decided to make it a classroom

effort for all the third grade students to get

involved as well. So, the class painted Chirstmas

ornaments to help brighten up this family’s

holiday. The students were so eager and excited

to help with this service project. What a

wonderful way to give from the heart!

FOURTH GRADE NEWS

After completing the chapter on Division, fourth

grade will be moving on to fractions. Students

had fun using a block coordinate plane to plot

ordered pairs. The surprise as they finished was a

picture of Rudolph.

In science, students learned all about water and the

water cycle and the difference between weather

and climate. They learned that without water

there would be almost no weather on Earth. The

water cycle provides us with fresh water or

recycled moisture through evaporation and

condensation. The students learned that the water

cycle is influenced by temperature and land

features. Students also learned about the many

tools or instruments that a meteorologist uses to

predict weather. The next chapter in science will

explain how weather can produce nature’s most

powerful storms – hurricanes and tornadoes.

Caleb shows his anemometer to the class and

demonstrates how it works outside.

In Advent, student started each week with a prayer

and lit the classroom advent candle and their own

paper candle. In religion class, the students

learned about the heritage of Jesus in stories and

symbols of Advent and placed them daily on the

classroom Jesse tree. Students also went to the

Sacrament of Reconciliation to prepare their hearts

for the coming of Jesus at Christmas.

In social studies, students learned about another

region of the United States – the Northeast

Region. Students learned the history, the

environment and all the states, their abbreviations

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and the capitals as well as where they are on a

U.S. map. Students also practiced identifying the

location of the states by using the Mimio.

Fourth graders participated in the Christmas

Concert – either by playing an instrument, the

bells or singing in the choir, or even all three. It

was lovely night of Christmas songs to remind all

of us of the true meaning of Christmas.

FIFTH GRADE NEWS

In English, adjectives were the theme of this

month. As a culminating event, students brought

in a theme based Christmas card. With this card

they had to describe the events using as many

adjectives as possible. They were instructed to

use sentences that described the five senses.

Fifth grade is learning to subtract fractions using

mixed numbers and will be moving on to

multiplying and dividing fractions. A fun

Christmas activity was having students plot

ordered pairs on a coordinate plane. The result

was a decorated Christmas tree to which they were

able to add ornaments.

Fifth grade social studies students just finished

plotting exploration routes on a world map. They

were given a list of explorers and then followed

each explorers journey to China, Africa and the

New World. After learning about The Lost

Colony, Jamestown, and the Plymouth Colony, the

students will create a “foldable” study guide.

Next, the students will learn about the “Thirteen

Original Colonies.”

Reading class has found the fifth graders finishing

theme two with an interesting activity. They read

a short story on unusual animals that live in the

water. They were than challenged to “create”

their own animals. The students were asked to be

as creative and inventive as their imaginations

would let them be! In their paragraphs, the rest of

their classmates learned many characteristics of

their creations: what animals went together to

make it, the name, where it lived, and what it ate

or if it was eaten by another organism. The class

had a few laughs as they listened to the stories!

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The FOSS kit has come to an end for science in

the fifth grade. Our last investigation concentrated

on conduction, convection and radiation as types

of energy transfer. They experimented with soil,

hot, room temperature and ice water to see how

each reacted to the elements. The experiments

were quite successful!

The students enjoyed their visit to the stable with

Mr. Rice on December 6, 2016. He shared all of

the previous additions to the stable and then the

class heard the story about our addition which was

the lantern. The class looks each time as they pass

the stable to see the new additions. They

especially watch to see how close the three kings

are getting to the stable!

On December 12, 2016 the fifth grade did a

reenactment of Las Posadas when Mary and

Joseph walked to Bethlehem. The students left

school and headed to Mary’s Grotto at Seton Hill

University. They started with a short Bible verse

at the bottom of the hill then progressed to nine

“inns” with each turning Mary and Joseph away as

they had no room. This helped the students to

remember how Mary and Joseph followed God’s

directives to fulfill the prophecies according to His

plans. The students sang three Christmas hymns,

including the Las Posadas song in Spanish, before

concluding our visit with the recitation of the

Consecration prayer to Mary as a group.

SIXTH GRADE NEWS

Students in sixth grade are finishing up ratios,

proportions, and percents in math class. They will

begin to work on Data Analysis in the new year.

In language arts, students continue to learn about

different types of adjectives. They learned about

three types of figurative language: similes,

personification, and onomatopoeia. They enjoyed

watching the original “Batman” show and its use

of onomatopoeia. The students have finally

completed their saint research report. They were

introduced to the note card method for taking

notes and MLA citations. In history, students

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have just completed their Egyptian cartouches.

They used hieroglyphics to draw their names on

an identification plate like those used in Egyptian

burial tombs. They will continue to work on other

Egyptian projects such as building a pyramid and

deciphering “secret messages.”

For the Advent season, sixth grade is learning

about the meaning of the Jesse tree symbols as

they await the birth of Christ. Students also wrote

their personal goals on four candles which

represent the four weeks of Advent. The students

will work on these goals to bring them closer to

God during this holy season. Students made a

shiny, golden “spider” ornament to hang on their

trees at home and learned how this tradition

began.

An opportunity was given to the sixth grade

students to learn about some unique items placed

in and around the “stable” in the breezeway. As

part of this project, homeroom 203 got to place the

cow in the scene while homeroom 205 got to place

the lamb in it. Thank you Mr. Rice for sharing

this Christmas tradition with us!

Christmas cards and treats were made for our sixth

grade prayer partners. Sixth grade looks forward

to meeting with them soon. Sixth grade wishes all

of our families and friends a very Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year!

SPANISH GRADES 4-6

Sixth grade is in the middle of presenting their

animal collages. They also did research on the

Christmas customs in Spanish speaking countries.

They were amazed to find that the feast of the

Epiphany was very important to these cultures.

The fourth grade learned about Spanish songs,

customs, and traditions of the Christmas season.

Fifth grade reenacted the journey of Mary and

Joseph to Bethlehem as part of Las Posadas. They

walked to the grotto at Seton Hill College stopping

at inns along the way only to be turned away.

Spanish and English songs were sung as part of

the play.

ART NEWS

All student Square 1 Art orders were received in

time for Christmas. Thank you to all parents who

participated in this Art fundraiser. The school will

receive a check very soon for our share of the total

sales. December brought many religious and

holiday themed projects to the Art room.

Kindergarten students made “gingerbread men”

and “little angels” based on the story The Littlest

Angel. Grade one made Christmas “quilt squares”

using religious symbols. Second graders made

“Nativity” drawings. Third graders made

beautiful, colorful “stained glass” window

designs. Grade four students made “strings of

lights” for their parents with a message “You

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make my life merry and bright.” Grade five

students made a “peppermint” project that made

the Art room smell wonderful. Grade six students

completed their perspective “cityscape” drawings

and are looking forward to starting their plaster

masks after the Christmas break.

LIBRARY NEWS

January Birthdays

Billy and Mike Erdely Away

Jake Hall Star Wars: The Original Trilogy: A

Graphic Novel

Ryan Skowronek Roberto Clemente: Pride of

the Pittsburgh Pirates

MEMORIAL BOOKS

Kite Day: A Bear and Mole Story donated by

Lucy Firment in loving memory of Harry C.

Luttner

SWAT Team Member, Farmers, and Do

Tornadoes Really Twist? donated by the Morris

family in loving memory of Joseph Balaban, Sr.

UPCOMING BOOK FAIR

The annual Scholastic Book Fair is scheduled to

kick off with our Family Event on Sunday,

January 29, 2017. Shopping will take place in

Room 206 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Hope to see

you there!

ATHLETIC NEWS

The third and fourth grade boys’ basketball team is busy practicing and attending games in the CYO league.

Third Grade Basketball Team

Riley Riddle Adrian Gauna Andrew Mikan Cole Zubaty

Jackson Boscarino Lukas Czegan Samuel Degre Jacob Petnuch

Dane Willis Wil Bateson Joey Bonomo Nicolas Degre

Coach: Mr. Kerm Bateson

Fourth Grade Basketball Team

Braden Riley Roman Agostoni Liam Gallagher Mike Erdely

Sean Walker Ben Tropeano Jonah Schneider Jacob Kratzenberg

Ryan Skowronek Coach: Mr. Greg Riley