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:

 

2020 Reindeer Games

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Since the school year began in September, it has been an amazing gift to reconnect the students with their community, rebuild routines, and revisit old traditions.

In a year where so much has changed, to reach back and connect with familiar celebrations is a blessing!

As students prepared for their last day of school before Christmas break, the middle school students kicked off the 2020 Reindeer Games, an annual tradition that only the older students get to participate in!

The celebration began with a light breakfast so that everyone was properly fueled for the activities ahead.

From there, students rotated through various challenges, competing against their peers.

Some were wild…

Some involved accuracy and skill…

And some involved a strong memory and teamwork…

Another activity required safety goggles and a trip outside for a special science experiment.

The activity that seemed to cause the most excitement (i.e. whoops, shouts, and hollers!), was the ‘Minute to Win It’ challenges that were held in Kohler Hall.

Participant’s names were drawn at random, and the various grades hyped their representatives as loudly as they could!

The 2020 Reindeer Games were an absolute blast and filled the school with lots of excitement and joy.

It was the perfect ending to a memorable year!

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!

Candy Cane Science Experiments

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Miss Munns’ kindergarten class has been learning about the scientific method using candy canes as their testing group. The students make their hypothesis and then get to work conducting their experiments.

Most recently, the group was added candy canes to a bowl of baking soda and then poured vinegar on top to see what would happen.

Would the mixture fizz? Would it erupt? 

The students were excited to see the fizzy results from the experiment, and had a lot to say about the smell of the vinegar!

The class will be conducting more experiments on candy canes in the weeks ahead and will continue to learn about how to form a hypothesis and set up an experiment.

Thanksgiving Care Packages

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Before Thanksgiving break, the fourth-grade classes put their kind hearts and creative skills to use and made homemade cards for frontline health care workers.

The cards were then added to care packages, that were assembled by two students, at the start of the holiday break.

On Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving), the bags were delivered to Health Partners White Bear Lake and were greatly appreciated by these hardworking members of our community!