St. Marys celebrates holidays

By Nancy Replogle

“All Saints’ Day” was celebrated November 1 in the Catholic Church. To
commemorate the day fifth grade students at the St. Mary’s School came
dressed as their favorite saint after having completed some research. Fr.
Stan interviewed each as part of the homily in the all-school Mass. Later
in the day the in-costume students shared their reports with the class.
They also provided a visual lesson to the rest of the school.

The fifth grade class studied explorers as part of the social studies curriculum. Each student read a biography of a famous explorer and made a map showing the explorations along with a timeline of the life of the explorer. A “first person” speech was given while dressed in a costume of that time in history.

Biomes were also constructed by the fifth graders as a final project in
their study of ecosystems. After research, each student created a model of
that biome including miniature plants and animals.

On Tuesday, Nov. 22, the students and staff at St. Mary of the Assumption
School enjoyed a “Team Spirit Day”. For a $1 donation they could wear their
favorite sports team shirt and another $1 to wear blue jeans. Brittany
Jurczyk, a senior at Van Wert High School arrived at St. Mary’s at the end
of the day to accept $163. This money will go to the VWHS Senior Service
project- the VW Council on Aging.

The staff and students at St. Mary’s also showed how thankful they were to
God for his many blessings by tying colorful ribbons on two small trees at
the front of the school. The Kindergarten class chose orange ribbons to
represent family; the first grade chose yellow to represent things in
nature; and the second grade chose red to represent people. The third grade
class chose green for pets; the fourth grade class picked pink for their
talents; and the fifth grade class selected blue for the sacraments. The
colorful tree will remind us throughout the winter of our many blessings