The Final Harvest

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The sixth-graders were busy in the garden this week, harvesting the last of the vegetables.

The class broke into teams, with one group digging up the potatoes, another harvesting peas, a group on pea shucking detail, and the last group removed the remaining plants from the garden and tilled the soil.

Seventh grade will be measuring the haul to collect data and to look for dominant and recessive patterns in the vegetables.

And lastly, the eighth-grade students will cut everything into tiny pieces and then mix all those tiny chopped pieces back into the soil.

Since plants pull nutrients from the soil while growing, mixing vegetables back into the soil will help to add nutrients back into our garden beds before we plant again next spring.

These school garden beds serve as a gathering space for this entire community.

In the spring, students map out their gardening plans and plant their seeds. In the summer, families return to campus to weed and water. And lastly, in the fall, the classrooms coordinate who will harvest, what will be eaten, and who will prep the beds for the winter ahead.

That’s a Wrap on 2020-2021!

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On August 10, 2020, when we received news that Frassati would be re-opening for full-time, in-person learning, on September 8, Falcons old and young rejoiced with great joy!

We knew there was much to learn about navigating in-person learning during a pandemic, but this community was eager to work together to find a way.

Now that we are on the other side of the 2020-2021 year, it is hard to feel anything but awe and immense gratitude for all that was accomplished over these last nine months.

From the students to the teachers, to the staff and the families, to the parishioners, and to our community supporters, we saw countless acts of love that allowed us to keep those doors open each and every school day.

Every member in and around this Falcon nest took it upon themselves to do their part, any part – even if that part was offering up prayers for health and safety.

When we look back and reflect on the year, which somehow went by in a flash, we are left with a wow and a heartfelt thank you.

To each and every one of you, thank you for helping to make this year a tremendous blessing that positively impacted many people’s lives, and will likely continue to positively impact them for many years to come. Thank you.

After memorial day weekend, with one-and-a-half days remaining in the year, there was a lot that needed to be celebrated and a lot of long-awaited gathering that could finally be done!

First up, was the all-school BBQ:

Next up, was the eighth-grade graduation mass: 

 

And the last official event on the schedule was Field Day! Mrs. Reibel set up this year’s event around the theme of the Olympics, and for the first time all year, students got to mix with other students from other grades. It was a great opportunity for students to make some new friends, say hello to friends they haven’t seen in a while, and run around outside before the noon dismissal!

After the Field Day activities, students headed back to their classrooms to wrap up the last bits and pieces of the year.

In Kindergarten, Miss Munns even hosted a Kindergarten Oscars and handed out an award to each student, as they walked the red carpet!

And before we knew it, Mrs. Kemp announced it was officially time for dismissal, that the end of the last day of the school year had arrived.

Wishing you all a wonderful summer!

Community Service

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One key aspect of the middle school curriculum, is the community service projects our middle school students complete in their religion coursework with Mrs. Urban.

Eighth grade oversees mass projections, assists with prayer services, serves at the senior luncheons hosted by St. Mary of Lake, makes quilts for local nursing homes, and brings to life new projects that can be shared in the community to inspire faith and love. For instance, there is currently an art project on display on our playground fences that our eighth-grade students designed.

In seventh grade, the students assist with various sewing projects (like the creation of the quilts) and also train for mass projections.

In sixth grade, in addition to the sewing projects, they too look for new ways to share our Catholic faith in the community, and this year designed one of the displays for our fences.

In February, all of the middle school students work on a partner project with the White Bear Historical Society, creating valentines for residents at nearby senior housing facilities. In April, they help with the Almsgiving baskets in the classrooms, and in May, they make pillowcases and share those fresh pillows with other senior housing facilities and long-term care homes.

This year, in particular, the students have taken to the sewing projects and have enjoyed learning how to sew using sewing machines!

The students and their families have donated fabric and new pillows, and then the students got to work pinning, threading, and sewing!

It is amazing to see the way these students connect with their work, knowing the way it will impact others’ lives!

Discovering Pi

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While Pi Day may have taken place while the students were out on spring break, there was no way Mrs. Heinz (our middle school math teacher) was going to let the day go by unrecognized!

What is Pi Day you say?

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math, and eat pie.

At Frassati, our sixth-grade students did a lab experiment to discover (and celebrate!) Pi.

In this lesson, students blew bubbles on their desks and then measured the circumference and diameter of the bubbles they created.

The sixth graders then recorded their data for analysis and reviewed their findings as a class. To sweeten the lab, the experiment ended with slices of pie for all to enjoy!

Creating New Ways

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As we approach the one-year anniversary of last year’s virtual-learning experience, it is hard to not feel in awe of all that this school year has held! From a virtual 5K to a handful of clubs that have been able to meet in-person, to our annual Christmas Concert being recorded and shared via YouTube, to the creative ways our students celebrated Catholic Schools Week while still following COVID guidelines, it has been remarkable to see how our Falcon family has created new ways to “gather”.

One significant way in which families and students came together for a common good took place during Catholic Schools Week when the Student Ambassadors hosted a food drive for the White Bear Lake Area Emergency Food Shelf.

The Student Ambassadors coordinated all aspects of Catholic Schools Week and added in the food drive as a community service project. Students were encouraged to bring items during the week and to select one of four bins to place their donations in. Each of the bins had pictures taped to them of teachers and Ambassadors. Where students placed their donations, was a vote for the people pictured on that trash bin to be pied in the face.

Families sent an astounding number of items to school with their students that week! Mrs. Heinz, the Student Ambassadors advisor, had to deliver the donations in two separate truckloads, as it totaled 1,046 pounds!

The initiative was such a smashing success, that the Student Ambassadors decided to go all-in on the pie-throwing celebration.

Since assemblies are not an option this year, the Student Ambassadors got creative and developed a schedule for some classes to attend the pie-throwing in person, while other classes could watch via Google live. Classes shifted in and out of Kohler Hall, taking turns participating in the fun.

As students took their seats, and Ambassadors set up their live-stream, students’ names were drawn at random, and those individuals got to throw the pies.

What began as families gathering at home to collect donations for those in need, translated into a virtual assembly where Falcons were gathering from their individual classrooms, celebrating the success of our community initiative.

We would like to say a very special thank you to all who supported this project and share a very special thank you to the 2020-2021 Student Ambassadors for creating new ways for us to have fun, come together, and live out our Frassati mission!

Please enjoy this roundup of photos from the excitement:

 

Board Games Inspired by Books

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How do you teach middle school students to dissect a book? To dig into the plot? To define the roles of the characters? And to look for themes?

Some teachers would assign a book report, some a basic Q & A sheet. However, in Mrs. Schmidtbauer’s class, the seventh graders were given a different kind of assignment that challenged them to not only consider the basic elements of their book but how to creatively share the theme of the story with others.

Each of the seventh-grade students read a book of their choosing and were given a month to design a board game based on their book. They had to create all the materials needed to play the game, along with an instruction sheet that would allow others to play the game without the creator’s guidance.

Mrs. Schmidtbauer (our middle school language arts and literature teacher) has saved other students’ board games over the years, so before digging into the assignment, the students had the chance to play board games from previous years to see how other students had completed the project.

As the students turned in their completed projects, the class broke into groups and took turns explaining their board games and how to play them. Each group then had time to play their creations and showcase their creative thinking!

Catholic Schools Week 2021

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Founded by the National Catholic Education Association in 1974, Catholic Schools Week has been a long-standing tradition that reaches every corner of the United States.

Launching every year on the last Sunday in January, Catholic communities gather for special masses, open houses, and various other activities that are for students, families, parishioners, and community members. We gather to celebrate the significant value Catholic education provides to young people and its many contributions to our church, communities, and our nation.

These celebrations, now more than ever before, unify us in times when ‘togetherness’ looks very different. At Frassati in particular, Catholic Schools Week 2021 was a lively and refreshing celebration that showcased the strength of our Falcon family.

We kicked off Catholic Schools Week on Sunday, January 31 with mass at St. Mary of the Lake, and moved into our school week with specially themed days. There was mismatch day on Monday, hat and crazy socks day on Tuesday, favorite movie character day on Wednesday, red, white, and blue day on Thursday, and spirit wear day on Friday.

In addition to the wacky attire, there was a medallion hunt hosted for preschool through fourth-grade students, fifth through eighth-grade students participated in the first-ever (and surely not the last!) broomball tournament, and the week ended with a Penny Carnival that was hosted by the eighth-grade students for preschool through fourth-grade students.

While the theme days and special activities were a highlight, the discussions taking place in the classrooms were the most important aspects of the week. What does it mean to attend a Catholic school? How is this experience different? What do we celebrate as Frassati students? How do we share our Catholic faith in our school, in our home, and in our communities?

The conversations that took place around these questions were incredible and brought to light how lucky we are to call ourselves a Falcon family!

We would like to extend a special thanks to all who helped make Catholic Schools Week 2021 a success!

Also, we would like to congratulate the winners of the various activities and competitions: 

 

Broomball Tournament: Eighth Grade

Door Decorating Contest, Middle School: Mrs. Schmidtbauer’s 8th grade

Door Decorating Contest, Grades 3-4: Mrs. Benedetto’s 4th grade

Door Decorating Contest, Grades 1-2 – Mrs. Urness’ 2nd grade

Door Decorating Contest, Preschool – K – Mrs. Barry’s preschool class

The winners of the food donation drive will be announced on Friday, February 12; and the medallion is yet to be found, but we hope to announce a winner of that challenge soon.

 

** Please note that preschool students are not required to wear masks while in the classroom, and students are not required to wear masks when outdoors. 

D.A.R.E. Class of 2021

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While there are many things that look different this school year, Frassati staff members have worked hard to carry on annual traditions, making adjustments when and where they are needed.

With the help of our amazing D.A.R.E. Officer, Tracy Mlynarczyk, our fifth-grade students were able to fully complete their D.A.R.E. curriculum and graduate with their peers last Friday, January 29.

As part of their graduation, each student took turns reading an essay that they wrote about what they learned while in D.A.R.E. Many also shared their favorite memories, and thanked Officer Tracy for all that she taught them during this experience.

Once all the students had read their essays, Officer Tracy led the graduates in their D.A.R.E. Oath, marking the official end of the ceremony.

Before returning to class, the students celebrated with cake and juice and ran around the gym for a bit to burn off that sugar rush.

A video was created of the entire ceremony so that family members could celebrate their students, even if they couldn’t attend the event in-person.

Congratulations fifth-grade students on your D.A.R.E. Graduation!

Thank you, Officer Tracy Mlynarczyk, Mrs. Barrett, and Mrs. Urban for your hard work and dedication in guiding Frassati’s fifth-grade students through this important curriculum!

Scratch & Arduino Coding Clubs

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While many sports and clubs were put on hold this school year, we were able to bring both our coding clubs, Scratch and Arduino, back for their second year at Frassati.

Scratch is a block-based coding club open to students from third to eighth grade. It offers an introduction to coding principles.

Led by parent volunteer, Dean Rooney, and supported by our technology teacher, Ms. Geppert, the students run a series of lessons to build a basic understanding of the coding process. The group programs 2-D video games and animations in a program called Scratch.

By the end of their club season, the students know to create variables, loops, and conditional statements.

Arduino, open to fifth through eighth-grade students, teaches on the principles of text-based coding, where students are using an Arduino electronics platform to complete their projects.

Mr. Rooney and Ms. Geppert helped students design and build electronic circuits and write C++ coding.

By the end of their club season, Arduino students know how to manually add wires to a breadboard, allowing them to make connections without soldering, which then plugs into the computer to feed the code into the device.

As their club season came to a close, the students were very excited to show off their projects and their newly acquired skills!

Waste Not, Want Not

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As part of the fifth-graders Stewardship Project, students looked for ways to build awareness around recycling.

First, the students created signs to place in common spaces throughout the school.

Next, they looked through the school’s recycled items to see if anything could be given a second life. The students used some items to create giraffe and tortoise art projects. Other materials were converted into a planter box to grow fresh produce for our school tortoise, Russell.

Using recycled boxes lined with plastic bags, the students planted kale, two varieties of lettuce, and carrots – a few of Russell’s favorite foods.

Lastly, the fifth-graders made signs to remind students to bring their pop tabs to school, which are collected to raise funds for the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

While recycling awareness tends to go hand-in-hand with spring cleaning and Earth Day, our students are on a mission to keep this important message front and center year-round.