Saint Ann School Families, I am writing with a couple of friendly reminders. The first relates to dress down days. We are following winter uniform; this includes dress down days. Shorts are NOT permitted at any time during the winter uniform, including dress down days. Also, please be reminded about drop-off procedures in the morning. Cars should pull as far up as possible in the crescent. Students should be prepared to exit the car. Sometimes students might take longer to exit a car for various reasons, patience is important during these situations. Thursday, 01/23, new tuition information was sent home. We will be mailing contracts out next week. If you have any questions about tuition or anything else school-related, please reach out to me at any time. Thank you and God Bless, Salvatore Chiaravalloti - Principal

Saint Ann School Families, as we celebrate Catholic Schools week, families of Saint Ann School are invited to serve in the Offertory (Presentation of Gifts) during the Mass on Saturday, Jan 25th and Sunday, Jan 26th at the Church of Saint Ann. Please consider signing up for the Mass service that your family will be available to attend. Students are to wear their complete uniform and please plan to arrive 10 minutes before the start of Mass. Our school choir will also be singing at the 9:30 am Mass on Sunday. All students who attend a mass this weekend in school uniform will receive a dress down day pass. God Bless, Salvatore Chiaravalloti.

Saint Ann School PreK 3 students learned how penguins stay dry during a science experiment in Mrs. Juliano's class. Using crayons to color the penguin and a spray bottle filled with water and food coloring they learned how the wax from the crayons prevents the water from absorbing into the paper like how the wax on a penguin’s feathers repels the water and helps keep the penguin warm and dry!

Saint Ann School families, January 26 marks the beginning of Catholic Schools Week (01/26-31), an annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States. Once again, Saint Ann School will participate with a week full of activities and service projects to celebrate and share the success of faith-based education. We hope you will join us during this special time in rediscovering what Catholic schools are all about. We will kick-off the week on Saturday 01/25, and Sunday 01/26 with testimonials from SAS students and parents at all masses and light refreshments to follow. From Monday through Friday, we will have daily themes and activities to celebrate the people who help Saint Ann School, and every Catholic school, succeed, from parishioners to students and their families, to staff members and educators. Check our website for a complete schedule of events and follow us on social media for pictures and updates during that week! Catholic Schools Week: Learn. Serve. Lead. SUcceed.

Saint Ann School Families, I am writing today to inform you that this week Mrs. Gordon informed me that she would be leaving for another position at the end of the month. I thank her for the service she provided to our students as our school nurse. We have been assigned another nurse, who will be starting prior to Mrs. Gordon’s departure in order to ensure as smooth a transition as possible with the school year in full progress. Please reach out to me with any questions. God Bless and have a good weekend!

Congratulations to Saint Ann School 8th grade students and their teachers on a first-place tie at the Scholastic Olympics held at Trenton Catholic Academy yesterday, Jan. 15th. Kudos to all participants and a big thank you to our dedicated faculty for a great job prepping the students throughout their academic year! Some of the 8th graders achieved first, second, and third place in some of the subjects and overall the class of 2020 contributed to bringing home the victory. Well done Saint Ann School!

Sunday, 01/26 marks the beginning of Catholic Schools Week. From 01/26 to 01/31, Saint Ann School will join all other Catholic schools in the US in celebration of Catholic Education with a variety of activities and service projects. For the past years, SAS has been partnering with Friends of Alouette in supporting tribal schools in the Philippines specifically the villages called Kitorok and Ilian deep into the mountain range of Santa Maria, Davao del Sur. This year, we will be helping a new tribe in the Luzon area called the Aetas, they had to be relocated when their ancestral lands were destroyed by the volcanic ash from the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the early 1990s. Friends of Alouette have established an educational assistance fund for 179 Aeta students from pre-K to 12th grade. However, they still need basic school supplies and personal hygiene items such as toothbrushes/toothpaste, soap & shampoo. Because there are limited textbooks, anything that can be used as teaching material (e.g. learning toys, aids, etc.) is greatly appreciated. Please consider donating your workbooks, math books, activity books, chapter books or picture books (reading level: pre-k through 5th grade) in good condition. All of our donations travel thousands of miles across the world to reach hundreds of tribal school students. The collection for this service project is undergoing now, until Monday, 01/27. A list of suggested items to donate can be found on the home page of our website and in the online PIE. Thank you for your support!

Mrs. Daniel’s Trout Club members and middle school students continue to take care of the trout that SAS received at the beginning of this school year as part of an environmental education program in which students raise trout from eggs to fingerlings while learning about ecosystem connectivity. In the past few weeks, water quality tests were done and students replaced the 4-gallon water in the tank where to this day there are 123 living trout swimming! For more information and updates on SAS Trout in the Classroom you can visit https://stannscience.weebly.com/2019-2020-trout-in-the-classroom

Lots of talent and amazing artwork at Saint Ann School! In Ms. Liepins's art room first grade learned about Alexander Calder's Fish Mobile and created their own kinetic sculptures. Preschool learned all about landscapes and created their own winter scenes. 2nd grade is creating art inspired by the most important living thing on the planet. Can you guess what it is?! Stay tuned to see their finish printmaking projects come to life!

Happy New Year Saint Ann families! I'd like to share with you a summary of the activities in which the various grades will be participating in for the month of January in my Physical Education class. PreSchool, Kindergarten, and 1st-grade students will continue to practice basic locomotor skills such as skipping, galloping, running, shuffling, hopping, etc., and enhance their listening skills working cooperatively with a partner and in groups. Some individual activities this age group will be participating in include the use of bean bags, scooters, wands, and hula hoops, with and without music. Grade 2 & 3 will continue to build on cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength, and endurance along with locomotor movements by participating in group and partner games that focus on these skills. Some individual activities this age group will participate in include the use of jump ropes, scooters, and hula hoops, with and without music. Grades 4-8 will concentrate specifically on enhancing their cardiovascular endurance, hand-eye coordination, and teamwork by participating in jump rope and volleyball related activities. For more information about Phys. Ed. at SAS check out my webpage at www.saintannschool.org/john-zimmer

Saint Ann School students in grades Kindergarten through 5th were treated to a Science assembly on Tuesday, 01/07, by our fantastic PTA! During the assembly, some of the students assisted the scientist in performing some of the tricks and experiments he had for the children. Thank you SAS PTA for all you do for us!

Some of Saint Ann School students helped Sister Pat & Father Dela Cruz on Sunday, 01/05, the Epiphany of the Lord, during the Star Party celebration when all children baptized during 2019 received a special blessing & their own star. The families and their children entered the church during the procession at the beginning of mass waiving little star wands and received a special blessing at the end of the mass. The stars used in the procession were made by Saint Ann School 8th grade students as a service project in preparation for their Confirmation.

On January 5, 2020, as a tradition, stars will be hung in the Church of St. Ann over the manger bearing the names of each child baptized at the parish during 2019. This year SAS 8th grade students with the help of Miss Meagher decorated and hung the stars over the creche as a service project in preparation for their Confirmation, showing that service, care, and helping one another is what God calls us to do.

Saint Ann School will be closed for Christmas Break from Monday, Dec. 22, 2019, till Wednesday, Jan. 01, 2020. School will resume on Thursday, Jan. 02, 2020. SAS staff and faculty would like to wish all our students and their families a very merry Christmas and a happy and blessed New Year!

Last year Mrs. Meyer applied for a grant to get Scotland in the Class from Jenny Licko at www.thecelticclassroom.com and Highland Echoes @highlandechoes www.higlandechoes.com. On November 5, she found out Saint Ann School was awarded the grant. Over the last week our Kindergarten through 3rd grade classes traveled around the world where they visited countries like Poland, Russia, Mexico, Germany, the Netherlands, and of course Scotland. Our students learned about the traditions of these countries, completed an activity, and had their “passports” stamped at each country. The classes had a great time traveling from classroom to classroom to learn all about countries around the world. Cultural diversity is a very important topic to teach our children from a young age and we try to do that throughout the year at SAS. Wishing all our friends and families a blessed Christmas Season.

Kindergarten and 1st-grade students did a Read-A-Loud of two special Christmas stories that helped us to better understand the REAL meaning of sharing at Christmas: The Legend of the Christmas Stocking and the Christmas Mitten. Mrs. Ortiz and the students read along with Christmas socks and Christmas mittens......and they didn't even have to go outside and get cold!

Saint Ann School 6th-grade students mummified an apple in Ms. Shield's social studies class as part of their ancient Egypt curriculum this week. Prior to the process, students had to answer questions and fill out an observation table on their mummy lab report. Hands-on fun and learning never end at SAS!

On Friday, December 13 the entire Saint Ann School community came together to have a Prayer Buddy Christmas STREAM Day. Each group of students was tasked with making handprint reindeer, building Santa a structure using only DOTS candy and toothpicks, designing an augmented reality Christmas tree and making mindfulness garland. Our older buddies were such a big help to our younger buddies. It was great seeing how well they worked together, how they looked out for each other, & just how creative they all were.

Saint Ann School students in grades 4th through 8th performed in the school annual Christmas Pageant & Nativity Story last Thursday, 12/12 and it was a success! Families and friends were treated to a variety of Christmas songs and to the storytelling of the Nativity of the Lord performed by our 8th grade graduating class. Great job SAS students! And a huge thank you to our music director Mrs. Moya, our pageant director Ms. Shields, and our choir director Miss Meagher and to all faculty & families for the support! Merry Christmas!

HoHoHo! Santa stopped by Saint Ann School on Saturday, 12/14 for a fabulous breakfast with our students in grades PreK through 4th and their families! Thank you to all who came out to join us! Thanks to our amazing PTA event chairs and volunteers for a wonderful breakfast!