Saint Ann School held its annual Science Fair from 02/19 to 02/22. Students in 4th to 8th grade had to complete a science project as part of their Science curriculum and all projects were displayed in the gymnasium for the Science Fair Open House held on Thursday, 02/21 and attended by families, faculty, and the rest of the student body. The faculty was asked to submit their vote for the best 3 Junior projects (grades 4 and 5), and the best 3 Senior projects (grades 6 through 8). A science teacher from Notre Dame High School was invited to the event to help judge the students’ work. Kudos to all our students grade 4 through 8 who participated in the science fair and congratulations to all our winners!!!

Saint Ann School has been focusing on contributing to decreasing its environmental impact. Based on Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si”, the school has undertaken several projects in line with the Vatican’s environmental agenda, such as participating in a school-wide recycling program in partnership with our parish community. Each classroom has its own small blue recycling bin to dispose of paper, plastic, and glass, and large yellow recycling bins have been placed on each floor at one side of the hallway. Each day, students are responsible for emptying the classroom’s bin into the main one, which is placed on the street every other week during collection days for Lawrence Township. At Saint Ann school, faculty members and administrators will keep helping students cultivate good citizenship and environmental awareness to better care for God’s world, as they continue to strive in their quality faith-based education.

Presidents Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February; Presidents Day 2019 occurs on Monday, February 18. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, the holiday became popularly known as Presidents Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and other figures, Presidents Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents, past and present.

Every February 14, across the United States and in other places around the world, people celebrate St. Valentine's Day. But who is this mysterious saint? Legend has it that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote a letter to the jailer's daughter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. Many speculate that the Christian church decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

Saint Ann School students in 7th and 8th-grade are currently studying the Roots of Rock & Roll from African roots to the present days. Mrs. Moya, SAS vocal music instructor, assisted by Mrs. Daniel, our science instructor guided the students in completing a project on the subject in the format of SAS STREAM program. Students modeled instruments used in tribal music and dance, following the earliest prototypes and using purely unprocessed organic materials. The instruments on display outside 7 and 8-grade classes include idiophones, aerophones, chordophones, and membranophones.

Do you know what your 5th grader likes to eat the most? There is only one way to find out: check out Ms. Sung webpage. As part of their computer science curriculum, students in 5th-grade created a webpage about their favorite food and Ms. Sung incorporated it into the school website. Check it out! Go to https://saintannschool.org/5th-grades-favorite-foods

Meet our super Mrs. Sorrentino! Linda Sorrentino is one of our fifth-grade teachers. Her subjects are Integrated Language Art and Religion. With her love for books, she helps her students master literacy fluency, improve their language and grammar skills, and gets them ready for academic success in all other subjects. Mrs. Sorrentino guides our students and prepares them to transition to middle school spiritually, emotionally, academically, and socially. We are blessed to have her on our SAS team!

Saint Ann School is holding a book drive to benefit children of military personnel at the joint base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The children attend Lakehurst Elementary School, and the school library lost all its books as a result of mold remediation. The book drive is undergoing and will run through February 28. New and gently used books donations are most appreciated and can be dropped off at Saint Ann School or Saint Ann Church Faith Development Center, in the FDC Library.

Saint Ann School invites you to International Night!!! Wednesday, February 6th, 2019 6:30-7:30 PM in the school gymnasium, 6, 7, and 8-grade students and families will display crafts, flags, currency, stamps, food, clothing, maps, and photos, from all different countries around the world and they will also perform dances, songs or make heritage related crafts. PreK through 5th-grade families are all invited. Come on over! Whether you’re Irish or Italian, whether you have an interest in Chinese or Cherokee cultures: come to share this fun night with us! RSVP to Mrs. Laccetti at alaccetti@st-ann-school.org ASAP

Due to the overwhelming success of STREAM Camp at Saint Raphael School & Saint Ann School in the summer of 2018, Saint Ann School and Saint Raphael School will continue offering a collaborative STREAM summer camp in 2019. We are excited to continue to raise the bar and challenge our students to think and work together in a hands-on way. Please take a moment to complete a brief survey to help us better serve you. Go to www.streamcamp.org or simply click on this news story.

Today concludes the celebration of Catholic Schools Week at Saint Ann School. After a week of engaging activities and fun events, Saint Ann's students and staff are ready to resume their regular schedule. Although they say that all good things come to an end, we will continue to be exceptional at SAS. We will keep engaging in our learning and serving so that we will one day become successful leaders. So another Catholic Schools Week is in the books but its motto will keep resonating in the hallways at Saint Ann School and in the minds and hearts of our students: "Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed."

Is faith-based schooling right for your kid? Only one way to find out. Join us for our next Open House on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 9 am & 7 pm and discover the quality of faith-based education. Saint Ann School is now accepting registration for the 2019/2020 academic year, grades Preschool through 8. After school care available.

This year for Catholic School Week’s service project, we continue to support tribal schools in the Philippines. These two tribal schools are in the villages called Kitorok and Ilian, deep into the mountain range of Santa Maria, Davao del Sur among the Tagakaolo tribal people, two hours by car from the nearest town. For the past few years, we have been donating school supplies and based on their current needs, we are including toothbrushes/toothpaste this year to further promote oral hygiene among the school kids and help prevent diseases or illnesses caused by improper oral care. All of our donations travel thousands of miles across the world to reach hundreds of tribal school students. We are very thankful to our SAS community for their constant generous support!

People were dazzled by Mrs. Gladwell's artwork and featured her in the Trenton Times newspaper this week. "To say Brenda Byrne Gladwell's paintings on display now at Pennington-Ewing Athletic Club are unique would be an understatement. And to say they are full of life and energy would be right on the mark." read the full article. Click HERE to read the full article.

It was a hard-fought Scholastic Olympics and Saint Ann School gave its best! Congratulations to one of our own 8th graders for taking home third place in English and congratulations to Saint Paul School for winning first place overall.

On Wednesday, January 23, 2019, the Holocaust Remembrance Education Program is returning to Saint Ann School. Members of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A., Post 697 will be speaking to students in grades 6, 7, & 8 at Saint Ann School. The program offers an interactive age-appropriate presentation of the Nazi Holocaust, which ties in with the 8th-grade Social Study curriculum of Adolf Hitler’s initiative in Nazi Germany and Europe during World War II. Volunteers from the Jewish War Veterans recall their experiences and offer an audio/video presentation to supplement their talk. It is a face to face experience that teaches students of diversity, tolerance, and bullying.

Meet our marvelous Mrs. Melillo! Suzanne Melillo teaches Language Arts to our middle school students. After teaching public school in the Hopewell Valley Regional School District, she brought her talents here at Saint Ann School. She teaches students to write thorough research papers and to work on enhancing their individual comprehension skills through reading strategies, activities, and exposure to different genres. Working very closely with the rest of the Middle School Team, she makes sure that her students are high school ready, with a renewed sense of responsibility and self-esteem.

In Italian folklore, January 6 marks the feast of the Befana, an old woman who delivers gifts to children throughout Italy on Epiphany Eve. Befana visits all the children of Italy on the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany to fill their socks with candy and presents if they are good, or a lump of coal or dark candy if they are bad. Christian legend had it that the Magi came to her door in search of baby Jesus. Befana turned them away because she was too busy cleaning. Later, La Befana had a change of heart and tried to search out for Jesus. That night she was not able to find him, so to this day, La Befana is still searching for the little baby and she visits and leaves gifts for good young children because the Christ Child can be found in all children.

Meet our loving Mrs. Lucks! Mrs. Linda Lucks is the learning assistant for 2nd grade. This is her 9th year teaching at Saint Ann School and though her homeroom is the second grade, she has enough love and care to share with everybody! From early morning drop off to lunch and playground duty, Mrs. Luck is always there to guide and support all our students. We are very Lucks-y to have her!

Meet our very athletic Mr. Venanzi! Anthony Venanzy has been teaching Physical Education at SAS for a while. He keeps our students fit while teaching them good sportsmanship and how to stay healthy. As part of his curriculum, Mr. Venanzi is in charge of the school Field Day, an event packed with fun games and competitions for all students Preschool through 8th grade.