News

Spiders, butterflies and scorpions were live on display at ACS on Thursday, May 30. Insectopolis, a student educational program, came to visit the school to inform the students about the insects, their habitats, and how to respect these creatures.  Some of the insects were held so brave students could touch them, although few of the teachers were interested in holding any critters.  Maybe next year Mrs. Bernstein will hold Rosie, the tarantula.

The Great feasts of the Eastern Catholic Churches are all observed with special hymns, special icons, and often, special rites. We may think immediately of the blessing of palms on Palm Sunday, the blessing of foods on Pascha, the exaltation of the Holy Cross on that feast or the blessing of grapes on the feast of the Transfiguration. The most solemn of these festal blessings, however, is the Great Sanctification of Water on the Feast of the Theophany. The Feast of Theophany is a liturgical event that is celebrated every year  on January 6th at the Assumptiin Ukrainian Catholic Church in Perth Amboy, NJ. Over the course of 2000 years, it has evolved to commemorate one of the most significant events in Christendom – the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the river Jordan. During Theophany, people traditionally attend a prayer service where the priest blesses regular water into holy water at the “Blessing of the Water” ceremony. This year,  after the blessing of the water ceremony in the church, Fr. Ivan  walked around the school with a small group of students and blessed each room with holy water and offered a classroom blessing to students and staff.

Walking into ACS auditorium on Thursday, December 19, 2013 provided any visitor with a feeling that they were in a hall filled with excitement, and it was! The Classes of 2014, 2015, and 2016 were busy playing the roles of travel agents. The rest of the students from ACS, led by their teachers, walked around learning about what it might be like to visit various countries at Christmas time.

While it has been a tradition for ACS middle school students to research Christmas customs; there was a big twist in how presentations took place. In addition to regular presentations using traditional posters, this year animotos and glogsters were added to presentations. Glogsters.com is a form of technology in which an on line poster is created to view and in this case, to accompany the traditional poster. Animotos are 30 second videos created by the students to give a commercial feel to their presentations.

The culminating activity was a luncheon that gave everyone the chance to try holiday foods from places like Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Italy, and Jamaica. By the end of the afternoon our travel agents were tired, happy, and full from all of the delicious foods they had eaten after a morning of marketing their countries to teachers and students.

The classes of 2018 and 2019 were busy at work this Christmas Season! The students put their math, writing and art skills to use by creating beautiful works to adorn ACS’ hallways.  Students used symmetry and patterns to create low­flying doves of peace,  honed their coloring skills by creating stained glass mosaics and perfected their writing skills by describing gifts they would bring to baby Jesus.  Together the two classes created a magical Christmas wonderland in our hallways.

An angel named Grace came to the third grade classroom this Christmas Season to help remind us all of the importance and true meaning of the season, the Birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Grace spread her “angel dust” throughout the classroom leaving important messages such as “be kind”, “share”, “care” and “patience”.  The children really enjoyed spending time with Grace and reading about the Birth of our Savior.

Throughout the marking period, all 55 students completed a five part research project.  Each student presented their research on a country currently in turmoil and compared it to the hardship described in the novel.  They were also required to select one area of the United Nation and research what implications it has on the world.  The portfolio ended with each student’s personal letter to the United Nations.  The project quickly took on a fun, yet competitive edge and a contest was developed to determine which students had the most effective writing pieces!  This entire endeavor encompasses what real learning is about – student growth and giving back to the world God created for us! Winners of PBL Contest: First Place: Katherine P., Second Place: Steven M. , Third Place: Eliza A. and Arjun P – Way to go!

The Class of 2015 has had a rigorous, productive and exciting first half of the school year!  The 7th grade class started with a new class novel, 90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Galbis, as well as exploring the similarities and differences between different types of government.  The novel was only the stepping stone which led to researching current countries in turmoil around the world.  Students from ACS were paired with students from Lady Liberty Charter School, and started collaborating to answer questions about the novel and current events via the internet.  Teachers were able to display responses using padlet.com and engage in whole class discussions based on the answers.  This was only the beginning to the literary journey! Current events, writing objective summaries and lively classroom discussions, through SKYPE, with the other school led to powerful learning.  The venture ended with a live meeting with the author, himself, and the amazing opportunity for both sets of students to meet in person.

Writing! Writing! Writing!

The middle school has been focusing on the writing process, it's many facets and the development of an effective writing piece. Yet, we can not forget to tell a story just for fun! Well, the ACS Middle School held their first creative writing contest and the teachers in grades 3-5 took their time to read several "scary stories" and vote on the best writing piece. And the winners are….grade 8: Alex S. grade 7: Steven M. and grade 6: Stephanie C. Each winner received a $25 Barnes and Noble gift certificate and were recognized in front of the whole school for their creative writing and hard work. Keep it up!

For the past several years, Assumption Catholic School has been invited to be a part of the Annual Christmas Tree Lighting at Raritan Bay Medical Center. This years performance was outstanding! The Chimes group and Glee Club members sang Christmas songs and shared the spirit of the season. We thank Mrs. Lawrence for her dedication to these after school activities and can't wait until the next performance!

On Thursday, December 12th, Perth Amboy High School welcomed ACS students to preview their annual winter performance. This year grades 3 to 8 were invited to see a glimpse of the play SHREK, based on the animated cartoon. The play was fun and comical and our students enjoyed it. Thank you to Mrs. Dowd, an ACS alumni parent, for always keeping us in mind!