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Do you know how many drops of water fit on a nickel? How do you know when a glass is really filled? Will a pumpkin sink or float? These are some of the questions students answered while learning about the properties of water. Students in grades six, seven, and eight answered these questions as they worked together on some fun science/math activities to celebrate the end of the marking period.

Students were grouped across the grades and worked on writing skills as well as math and science. They moved from activity to activity using their math and science skills to solve problems.  They measured, observed, estimated, and recorded. Everyone participated by having a specific job for each activity.

At the end of the day students had learned more than the properties of water. They learned about cooperation, teamwork, and responsibility. The teachers felt that everything went so well, they are looking forward to doing this type of activity again.

On September 1, 2010, a new feature, popular with bingo  patrons, started.  Power Ball was added!  Starting with that Wednesday’s games the night’s caller pulled a number prior to the start of the regular games.  This would be known as the Power Ball. A $100 “pot” would be won by a player if their winning number for a game (other than the 50/50 games) was the Power Ball number of the night.  Excitement grows when no one wins on the Power Ball for the night as $50 would be added to the pot for the next bingo night.   

As luck is unpredictable, no one won on a Power Ball number and the pot grew to be $500, which is the limit.  It stayed at $500 for twelve evenings of bingo until Wednesday, November 3, 2010.  That evening a regular patron of our bingo games won on I 20, the Power Ball number of the evening.  Congratulations to the winner and good luck to all players as the Power Ball pot will again start at $100 and grow until there is another winner.

M& M’s are all over the halls at Assumption Catholic School. Why you might ask? We use the M&M’s to represent the students that attend our school. We don’t only have Ukrainian students that attend our school any longer. We have a wide range of nationalities and cultures from Egyptian to Chinese and all of the Latin countries as well. We use the characters to explain that we may be different colors on the outside but inside we are the same. So each class has their own M&M character this year to dress up for the holidays.

The first annual Trick-or-Trunk Halloween celebration on the Assumption School parking lot was a huge success this past Saturday!   The parents of our school students decorated the trunks of their cars in a myriad of ways.  Children were treated to the sights and sounds of Halloween including Frankstein's Laboratory, a graveyard and enormous spiders. Families hand out treats while the kids parade around in their costumes. The members of the school FSA also prepared hot chocolate for all kids and their parents. At 2:00 sharp the Pastor and Chief Administrator of the school Fr. Ivan Turyk, gave signal and all children present began their trick-or-treat journey from car to car gathering candies. The event provided a safe family environment for trick or treaters. Calendars are already being marked for this event next year.

Are Decofresh, Whitonir, Germs – be – gone, and Con – cor familiar products?  You won’t find them in your local stores, but you can find prototypes of them in Ms Makar’s Sixth Grade Class as part of their Language Art’s project featuring television commercials.

The introduction to this project started with the class watching a video of an HBO special called Buy Me That. They saw how advertisers used slogans, music, and visuals to sell their products. The project itself consisted of a sample of their product, a poster, and an oral presentation. They used persuasive wording to try to convince the rest of us that their product was better than the competition.

Maybe you won’t find SAMBAM, OLEX – IT, Head & Shoulders-Knees and Toes now, but maybe someday in the future you just might actually see one of these products on a store shelf. Just remember where the inventor got their start – right here at Assumption Catholic School.

Prepare ye the way.  As the fall started to get colder the Garden Club of Assumption Catholic School prepared to winterize their garden.  The koi were brought in from the cold and will spend the winter months as guests of the Kindergarten class.  The vegetable garden was harvested one more time and the plants removed and weeded for the last time this year. The garden will be brought into the school and students will grow in their vegetables in a hydro-phonic station during the winter months.  

The students of the Garden Club bring the fall session to a close as they plant the last plants of 2010.  They then went inside to celebrate by eating flowers.  A cake in the form of a flower pot which was made by the Perth Amboy Votech, under the guidance of Mr. Moir.

Each year, children set more than 100,000 fires, according to the United States Fire Administration (USFA). And children make up nearly a quarter of all fire-related deaths. About 40 percent of fires that kill children under 5 years old are set by children playing with fire.

Two weeks ago, in honor of National Fire Prevention Week, firefighters  spent the day at the Assumption school teaching the children the do's and don'ts of fire safety. The firefighters taught the students how to properly dial 911 to report an emergency along with teaching each student how to identify and correct hazards throughout the home. The students were  engaged in fire safety activities that helped them to talk and learn about the dangers of fire.

Comments by parents….
•    Assumption school has a rich history and long tradition.
•    This school is definitely the best kept secret in the Perth Amboy area.
•    Classes are small, so that helps develop the child learning ability. They offer pre care and  after for a small fee.
•    The teachers strive for academic excellence for all students. They truly care about the success and well being of each child.
•    The rules are strict, but not harsh.
•    Teachers have an average of more than 10 years of experience.
•    Excellence, individual attention, small class sizes, a very fair and reasonable price!
•    My son's entire Kindergarten class was reading by the time they finished K. Many of the students are honor students.
•    The religious education is part of the program, but it is not overbearing
•    The Pastor and the Missionary Sisters of the Mother of God play an important role in our children’s religious formation.
•    There are so many blessings at Assumption. It is truly a wonderful place!

Mr. Chris Godfrey, a former Giants football lineman, spoke to grades five through eight on October 15.  Mr. Godfrey is president of an organization of 300 professional and Olympic athletes (called Life Athletes, Inc. – www.lifeathletes.org) that teach and inspire young people to live lives of virtue, abstinence, and respect for life.  A lawyer now, Mr. Godfrey spoke about relationships with our peers, our family, and with God.  He spoke about always trying to do the right thing and not giving up and he showed the students his Super Bowl ring – his reward for not giving up.  Mr. Godfrey, a member of the “Gentle Giants” offensive line, earned his Super Bowl ring in 1987 and also played in three Rose Bowl games with the University of Michigan.  Chris and his wife Daria live in Indiana with their six children.

The students at Assumption Catholic School had many questions for their new Pastor and Chief Administrator, Fr. Ivan Turyk when he visited the different classes at the parish school this week. He went room-by-room, greeting the children, inquiring about their secular and religious studies, discussing sports and lightly quizzing them on religion. Fr. Ivan spent about 30 minutes answering questions in the classrooms from fourth through eighth graders. He answered questions like:  What was your  favorite subject in school? How many languages do you speak? What is your favorite food?  What do you like best about being a priest?

Since Fr. Ivan was born and raised in Ukraine, questions from school children included those about what children do in Ukraine ( play soccer and read books), do they eat fruits and vegetable (yes, apples and carrots), and whether they dance and sing (yes, a lot). He talked to children about the differences between the past and the present, especially “how in his school they had chalkboards and erasers, and how now they have Smart Boards in their classrooms!”

"You are very, very lucky to live and go to school in the USA," he told the children, because in other countries children walk to and from school, typically don’t have enough books and receive a much lower quality of education. Fr. Ivan reminded children to be appreciative of their school and go home and tell their parents, ”Thank you for sending me to Catholic School and giving me the opportunity to learn about God and the opportunity to seek God’s will in everything that I do”.

He also pointed out that spiritual and academic achievements in the parish school are a result of the dedicated commitment of school teachers, religious sisters, staff, pastors, board members, lay volunteers, parents and parishioners who for almost 50 years continue to contribute their time, treasure, and talents to the prosperity of the parish school. At the end of his visit, Fr. Ivan asked children to pray for him and he promised to pray for them.