News

On Friday, May 25th the eighth graders had an authentic Spanish experience! They went to Latin Grill on Amboy Avenue and ordered – in Spanish – a delicious lunch. Mr. Mendoza, the Spanish teacher, organized the trip and shared several Peruvian dishes with all his students. The papa huancaina was a favorite as well as the chicha morada! All the students had fun sharing and trying foods from a new culture.

The religious community of the Missionary Sisters of the Mother of God has staffed Assumption Catholic School and Parish in Perth Amboy, NJ for over fifty years. Earlier this month Bishop Andriy Rabiy, the Apostolic Administrator of the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Mother Maria Kelly (M.S.M.G. Superior) had announced that the two sisters: Sr. Yosaphata and Sr.Thomas would be leaving the parish and school due to decreased vocations, aging of sisters and a desire to strengthen community life. Sisters will be returning to their motherhouse in Philadelphia (711 N. Franklin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123) on July 1, 2018.

As a pastor and a school administrator, I will miss the sisters terribly. I feel blessed to know both sisters, but especially Sr. Yosaphata, who has impacted my priestly service, as she was among the first to guide and welcome me to Assumption School and Parish. It is with great sadness that I am saying goodbye to Sr. Yosaphata, this wonderful and dedicated woman of God and I thank her for her love, guidance, dedication, faithfulness and Gospel witness.

We are deeply grateful for the education, leadership and ministry that the Sisters have offered the Assumption community for over 50 years. They have been a remarkable blessing and a gift to us all and leave a beautiful legacy of the highest standard of excellency in Catholic education. This legacy will forever be remembered, not simply in the school hallways, or in our church building, but in the hearts of many students that they educated in so many years. We are grateful for the years of service of the sisters, and we wish them well in their new assignments.

Assumption Parish plans to honor Sr. Yosaphata and Sr. Thomas and the legacy of the Missionary Sisters of the Mother of God with a special Liturgies – Celebration of Presence and Service on Sunday, June 17th at 9:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., followed by a light reception in the church hall.

The Assumption Catholic School will honor the sisters on Friday, June 8th at 8:45 a.m. with a Liturgy. All parents and friends of Assumption School are welcomed to enjoy a light breakfast and presentation from the ACS Family.

May 17, 2018 marked a historical event at Assumption Catholic School in Perth Amboy, NJ. Our first inductees to the National Junior Honor Society took their oaths in front of their parents, teachers and friends. Established in 1929, the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) is one of the nation’s premier organizations established to recognize outstanding middle school students. The NJHS serves to honor those students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, Character, and Citizenship. Our ceremony was held at church where Father Ivan blessed their pins and Mrs. Shumny presented them with their certificates. We thank Mrs. Pickering for being the chapter mentor and the committee who worked so diligently during the selection process. Please join us in congratulating our scholars and Assumption Catholic School’s first chapter to the NJHS. We are so proud of each of them.

We are ACS coming together for PEACE, FRIENDSHIP, and UNITY was the theme of our 2018 Spring Concert. This celebration was coordinated and created by our music teacher, Miss Lawrence, each class performed a selection reflecting on our theme. From pre-K to 8th grade each class did an amazing job and showcased their incredible talent. Families were able to enjoy the music and spend time with our ACS community. What a way to start our end of year activities!

The students from Pre-Kindergarten through Fourth Grade honored their mothers last week by inviting them to a very special Mother’s Day Tea Party. This was another big FIRST at Assumption school and we could not be more pleased with how sweet the event felt. The children created beautiful “ hand print” and sang some lovely songs that they had learnt.

Today in ACS preK Math class, the students used Geoboards for the first time. Geoboards are a math manipulative where the student stretches rubber bands around pegs to create the different shapes they have learned to recognize this year. Students began combining the shapes to make houses and other creative pictures. The Geoboards are also a great tool for working on fine motor skills. Geoboards can be used for all ages to understand concepts such as perimeter, area, and angles.

The month of May is dedicated to honoring Mary. To show their appreciation, the kindergarten class of ACS, created their own “special holy place” at the school to honor the Mother of God. In the corner of the first floor hallway, the students decorated the holy space with beautiful fresh flowers and pictures they drew. Each day the kindergarten class visits the special holy place and collectively prays the Hail Mary.

Learning Centers are a vital part of the curriculum for the kindergarten class at ACS. They are an outlet of relaxation as well as rigorous instruction for the students. This allows the children to reduce tension by playing, communicating and reinforcing the curriculum. Learning centers allow children to explore, investigate, and discover new concepts while continuing to make connections to what they have learned. By helping each other and broadening their imagination, they are learning and building relationships, social interactions are expanded, and the discovery of new things is amplified!

It is easy to see that the learning centers have become a favorite activity of the kindergarten class!

The fifth and sixth graders have traveled to many Latin countries this marking period! As part of their Spanish Travel Project, each team had to select, budget, and make travel arrangements to visit three historic places in their assigned country.  They had to describe their sightseeing excursions using their Spanish vocabulary in addition to developing their technical skills to create their google slide show.   Their favorite part was definitely selecting a restaurant to dine at, creating their pretend orders and then calculating the cost of their meal.  Some visited five star restaurants and others enjoyed  mom and pop cantinas. 

Mrs. Shumny did not give the teams a budget – so trips ranged from Ferrari rentals to backpacking trips! It was a chance for the fifth and sixth graders to use their imagination, history, math and of course Spanish skills! Can’t wait until we start our next chapter in Spanish – we have very creative and intelligent fifth and sixth graders!