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AQUINAS ACADEMY
A Pennsylvania Charitable Trust
340 North Main Street, Greensburg, PA 15601
Phone: 724-834-7940 Fax: 724-836-0497
NEWSLETTER
FEBRUARY 2017
My Dear Aquinas Academy Family,
Let me begin this newsletter by saying thank
you. Thank you for being such wonderful
Catholic School Parents. Our Catholic
Schools Week celebration was wonderful
and this is a testament to your dedication
and hard work. This is not a fact that is
overlooked by your school!
Now that Catholic Schools Week is in our
rear view mirror, we turn our sights towards
other endeavors and there are many! We are
looking at registration time now. As we
plan for next year, it is important to have all
of our registration forms returned on time.
We are also looking for new students, so
don’t be shy about bragging about Aquinas
Academy! Post on social media, text your
friends, and chat in the stands at sporting
events. We want to fill our school and your
help will make that happen.
I will try to continue to send you
information about our finances each month
as well. Here are some important notes to
know. We are financially independent!
While we receive aid from the Diocese and
some from the state, we own our own
accounts. Our primary source of revenue is
tuition. Fundraising is important. Giving is
important. But the most important aspect to
our finances is tuition and enrollment.
Did you know that there are two very easy
ways to help with tuition? The first is one
that everyone can do, and it is called Scrip.
The way Scrip works is…you buy gift cards
to vendors you currently patronize. For
example, you probably buy gas at Giant
Eagle and you save money with fuel perks.
You can buy Giant Eagle gift cards from us
and you will get a percentage of that money
off your tuition. You will spend the same
amount of money at Giant Eagle and save
money at Aquinas Academy. That is easy
way number one.
Here is the second easy way to help with
tuition. It is called EITC (Earned Income
Tax Credit). Here is how this works. When
a business generates a profit in PA, they
must pay PA state tax on that profit. They
are allowed to divert those tax dollars from
Harrisburg to Aquinas Academy. When it is
received, it must be used as tuition and
students must qualify for it. Every business
owner could be participating in this
program and making their tax dollars
work for their school! Now that you see
how easy EITC is, you will want more
information as to the process. Simply
contact Mallory Reese at 724-552-2593 or
Thank you once again for being such
important members of the Aquinas
Academy Family! Be sure to submit your
registration materials if you have not done
so yet. Help your own tuition bottom line
with Scrip. Help the school to help our
families by participating in EITC. Be sure
to have a wonderful February! Spring will
be here before you know it, and the cold will
be a distant memory.
Mr. Joseph J. Rice
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SCRIP Update
Thank you to the forty families currently
participating in the SCRIP program! So far
this year, our families have earned a
combined $7,333 in tuition credit, and the
school has earned $2,091 in fundraising
dollars to keep for itself. Some families are
on pace to save over $1,000 dollars on their
tuition bill!
SCRIP is a great program because it does
not require you to sell anything or ask you to
buy anything you would not normally
buy. With a little planning, you can lower
your family's tuition AND raise money for
the school. Do you buy groceries at Giant
Eagle or gas at GetGo? Why not purchase
some Giant Eagle gift cards? It is a safe bet
that you will use them up quickly, and you
will earn a 5% rebate by purchasing them
through the SCRIP program.
Do you not like the idea of planning ahead
and waiting for the physical cards to be sent
home? Consider creating a PrestoPay
account, and you can purchase ScripNow!
digital gift cards with instant
delivery. These digital gift cards can be
printed out at home or accessed right
through your smartphone. With
MyScripWallet.com and a PrestoPay
account, you can purchase ScripNow! digital
gift cards while out and about and have the
cashier scan the bar code on your phone
when you check out. With MyScripWallet,
you can never lose track of your gift cards,
since they are all stored right there in your
SCRIP account, which you can always
access from your phone; no more losing gift
cards or forgetting the balances left on them.
See some shoes you like on
Zappos.com? Order a quick ScripNow! gift
card and earn an 8% rebate. Buying new
uniform items from LandsEnd.com? Order
a quick ScripNow! gift card and earn a 16%
rebate. Taking the family out to dinner at
Olive Garden or Longhorn? Order a quick
Darden Restuarant ScripNow! gift card on
your phone before your bill comes and earn
a 9% rebate. Buying new winter coat and
boots for the kids at L.L. Bean? Order a
quick ScripNow! gift card and earn a 16%
rebate. By simply registering for SCRIP and
setting up a PrestoPay account, you have the
ability to earn huge rebates on the fly for the
everyday purchases that you make.
Please visit www.shopwithscrip.com to
register for an account and see if the
program will work for your family. Aquinas
Academy's enrollment code
is 9F1284114L77 and registration is free. If
you have any questions about the program,
please do not hesitate to contact
Keira Bonomo at:
CRUSADER CHRONICLE
The Crusader Chronicle is the student-
produced newspaper and is new to Aquinas
Academy. Student writers meet to write
articles about current events, school
happenings, history, sports, entertainment
and anything else they find interesting.
Student photographers capture images
around the school to enhance the articles.
Student editors lay out the newspaper and
get it ready for publication. The group sells
the papers to the student body and staff. It is
an enjoyable learning experience for all who
attend. The newspaper club is open to all
fifth and sixth graders and meets every other
Thursday from 3:00-4:00 in the library.
PRESCHOOL NEWS
During the month of January, both preschool
classes took part in Show and Tell. The
children brought in their favorite Christmas
gift that they received and shared it with
their whole class. This was a wonderful way
for the children to practice their public
speaking skills!
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The PreK 4 class has been continuing
working their way through the alphabet.
Learning about the letter W brought a
weather theme to discuss in class. The
children learned about the wind and did a
science experiment to see if they could
move certain objects by creating wind with a
straw. The class made predictions before
the experiment and then recorded their
observations on a chart in the classroom. It
was exciting to see how strong the wind had
to blow to make certain objects move.
The PreK 3 class brought their favorite
Teddy Bears to school on Teddy Bear Day
and shared them with their friends. It was so
much fun to learn about what made each
Teddy Bear so special. The children and
Teddy Bears took part in a very exciting
Teddy Bear parade to end our special day.
Both preschool classes took their very first
trip to the gym for some parachute play!
The children bounced snowballs as high as
they could on the parachute to try to hit the
ceiling! The children also had fun in a
music class that took place in the gym with
Miss Firment. The preschoolers are doing
such a wonderful job learning how to
navigate their way through the school
hallways. The children do very well
walking quietly in a line and getting safely
to and from their special classes.
KINDERGARTEN NEWS
Christmas may be over but school begins
again. Getting back into to the swing of
things is easier if you can bring something
special in from home. The children enjoyed
sharing a special gift with their classmates
and then PLAYING with everyone else’s
new toys. WHAT FUN WE HAD!
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Winter weather was a major topic during the
month of January. The children learned to
read and use a thermometer. They
experimented with ice and timed out how
long it took for ice to melt. Later they
watched carefully to discover where water
evaporated the quickest.
The children talked about weather here in
Pennsylvania and then compared it to
weather in other parts of the world. They
were especially interested in weather in the
Arctic areas of the planet and wrote books
about animals that love the COLD. The
children had great fun trying to balance an
egg on their feet like a penguin. Keeping
still was hard enough but what a challenge it
was to try moving. Brooke was our
champion! Check out the egg!
Celebrating the holidays----BIG or SMALL
is always great fun but our Catholic School
allows us the celebrate the uniqueness of all
of our students. Each child has time to shine
as the VIP of the week. Sharing a birthday
with a twin sister is better, especially if it
happens on CHRISTMAS EVE!
FIRST GRADE NEWS
First grade has been making progress in
their reading and writing skills. One of the
special projects that they completed was
using their spelling, grammar, and writing
skills to write a creative story. After
listening to the popular winter story
Snowmen at Night, the students wrote a
story and designed an illustration about the
fun they imagined their snowy friends
having at night. It was “snow” much fun!
In addition to reading and writing, the
students have been learning about all the
many ways letters can be put together to
make different sounds. A favorite activity
was going on a digraph hunt. The students
enjoyed using their detective skills as they
looked around the room for words that had
digraphs.
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After working hard and focusing on their
daily work, the students look forward to
having a brain break and using GoNoodle, a
web-based program where the students
choose a funny class “champ” to guide them
along through different GoNoodle levels.
After the fifth level, a certificate of the class
champ is printed out and a new champ is
chosen. In order to finish each level, the
students complete a variety of movement
exercises. There are different channels to
choose from with the most popular choices
being Kidz Bop, Moose Tube, Koo Koo
Kangaroo, Maximo, and Zumba. Our
GoNoodle time always ends with a calming
activity on the Think About It channel.
The first grade students have been thinking
about the many different ways that people
can be creative. After reading the story,
Masks, Masks, Masks, the students put their
creative ideas to work and made amazing
masks of their own! The students also
learned about a unique person named Tressa
Prisbrey. She was affectionately known as
Grandma Prisbrey. At 60 years old,
Grandma Prisbrey collected items from the
local dump to create a room for her
extensive pencil collection. She continued
her work for many years, and her buildings,
pathways, and creations became known as
Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village. The
students enjoyed “visiting” the Bottle
Village via the website, and were amazed at
the beautiful work Grandma Prisbrey
created from things that most people
considered junk. The students enjoyed
learning about Grandma Prisbrey, and they
spent time creating and sharing with the
class their own picture of what they would
make from junk.
The first graders have been working on
place value in math class. The students have
been using base ten blocks to find the values
of numbers. They have been regrouping
numbers into ones, tens, and hundreds, and
have been comparing numbers that are
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greater than, less than, and equal to. The
first graders also worked very hard making
their first initial of their first name out of
base ten blocks. After they built their letter
out of the blocks, they had to describe how
many ten rods and unit cubes they used.
Then, they had to do some math and add
those numbers together to find out how
much their first initial is worth. These
beautiful place value initials are now
hanging in the halls for everyone to admire!
Now presenting…The Student of the Week!
Congratulations to Madison Kenney,
Saphrine Colgan, and Max Bossert who all
did a fabulous job as our Student of the
Week! The class enjoyed seeing everything,
especially Madison's special sloth,
Saphrine’s adorable baby doll, and Max’s
photo of the Lego Millennium Falcon that
he put together in just one day!
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SECOND GRADE NEWS
In second grade math, regrouping with
larger numbers in both addition and
subtraction were highlighted this month. To
show their understanding of the concept, the
students created their own “snowball
problems” for the winter display. Added to
the display were place value snowmen. A
big thanks to Miss Rachel Moore for the
help and bulletin board she created as an aid
to learning.
Do you want to build a snowman? If you
need some help, look no further than second
grade. First, students created snowman
glyphs. Each person started with a
snowman base, and then added details of a
scarf, buttons, a hat and eye color based on
their responses to questions about winter.
The next step was to write an informative
paragraph describing how to build a
snowman. We used Type 1 Collins Writing,
a program that develops a continuum for six
types of writing from grades k-6, to list a
set of action verbs for building a snowman.
We also used the writing process to
complete the set of directions and publish a
final copy.
In reading class, students read Abuelo and
the Three Bears, a version of the classic
fairy tale. They compared and contrasted
this story to the traditional Goldilocks and
the Three Bears. The class enjoyed these
stories so much that they read and discussed
several modern versions of Goldilocks.
During these readings, students compared
the similarities and differences of each story
and how the stories shared common themes.
After reading a story called Stirring Up
Memories, students learned about the craft
of writing and illustrating a book. In this
autobiography, the author uses photographs
and memories to tell the story of her
childhood. Using this story as an
inspiration, students wrote about their
memories, focusing on a small moment in
their lives, like the first time they rode a
bike. Students included either a photograph
or an illustration with the paragraph.
Second grade also read a story about the
history of music from prehistoric times
titled, Music of the Stone Age. After
reading the story, students listened to Stone
Age style music on YouTube. They learned
that Stone Age Music used instruments like
flutes and pipes to create beautiful, yet
simple sounds. In music class, students
worked with Ms. Firment to learn in depth
information about the music from that time.
In science, the class answered the essential
question, “What is Sound?” They
conducted two experiments about pitch and
volume to discover more about the
properties of sound.
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Congratulations to Nicholas Altimore,
Emma Hrbek, Aiden Jackson and Benny
Dziewulski for completing the Thanksgiving
Break Reading Challenge. Congratulations
to Reagan Fisher, Avery Jones, Trixie Lim,
and Joshua Ohler for completing both the
Thanksgiving and Christmas Break Reading
Challenge. Each challenge required the
students to complete 5 or 10, 20 minute
blocks of reading over vacation. Students
could choose from different activities like
reading with mom or dad, or reading a
holiday themed story. The challenge
encouraged students to read for a minimum
of 100 minutes over vacation. Great job!
We look forward to celebrating Catholic
Schools Week and Aquinas Academy!
THIRD GRADE NEWS
The Greensburg Rotary Club came to visit
the third grade students in January. They
gave each of our third grade students a
dictionary. The purpose of the dictionaries
is to promote and strengthen literacy in our
community. They will also be used to help
the students study for the annual Rotary
Spelling Bee upcoming in May. The third
grade students from Greensburg Salem,
Hempfield, and Aquinas Academy will
participate in this Spelling Bee. More
information will be forth coming soon about
this event. Many thanks go to the Rotary
Club for their donation of dictionaries to the
students.
The students are working very hard in
school. In reading class, they are learning
about themes. The third graders are looking
to find the important message in the story
that the author wants us to find. The best
way to find this information is by using
context clues.
Weather is a very exciting unit in science
class. It is all around us. When third grade
started this unit, everyone had something
wonderful to contribute to the class. The
students also began to look at rocks and soil
and how weather affects them.
In third grade math, multiplication tables up
to 12 including their properties were
addressed. The ice cream cones are getting
bigger, more colorful, and almost complete.
That means the ice cream party is not too far
away. Winter likes (or dislikes) were
explored through a snowman glyph created
for Open House.
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FOURTH GRADE NEWS
Students in fourth grade math have been
busy working with fractions. They explored
equivalent fractions using fraction tiles.
Simplifying, comparing and ordering
fractions were some other concepts pursued.
Mixed numbers and improper fractions were
also learned. After learning to add and
subtract like fractions, students will venture
on to Geometry. Fourth grade took a side
step in math class and talked about patterns
all around us. Afterwards students drew a
color burst picture that used warm and cool
colors that resulted in a colorful pattern
display.
Students read a biography together about
Benjamin Franklin in reading class. Then
students picked a famous person to read
from Mrs. Finoli’s large selection of
biographies. Once students finished reading
their biography, they began to put
information about their famous person on a
large biography poster. The posters required
many new skills to complete. Students
learned to use quotation marks, summarize,
write captions for drawings, and interpret
life lessons. Each student read their
summary of their famous person. In English
class after learning about adjectives,
students also had to write five adjectives to
describe their person.
In science class, students studied whales.
Students learned that there are two types of
whales; toothed and baleen. To better
understand what baleen is, and using a
model of an open whale’s mouth, students
put in white strips to show what the baleen
would look like. Students also had the
opportunity to examine what blubber is and
how blubber helps a whale survive in the
cold ocean water. First students put their
hand in cold ice water then using a ‘blubber’
glove, they put their hand back in the cold
water. Students were surprised at how long
they could now keep their hand in the icy
water. Students did research on different
whales in computer class and listed
important facts to share with the class.
Using all that research students then played
a Jeopardy game. Students did a ‘whale’ of
a job. In the gym a replica of life-size Right
Whale was displayed for students to see how
big a whale truly is.
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FIFTH GRADE NEWS
Fifth grade students have been working
diligently multiplying and dividing fractions
and writing final answers in simplest form.
Next up for fifth grade is Geometry where
they will go from points, lines and angles to
polygons, quadrilaterals and prisms. The
students had a chance to step back and look
at the different math skills they have learned
and talked about what it takes to be a good
math student. Using this information,
students made an acrostic using their names.
Verbs, verbs, verbs! What an important part
of speech! Action verb collages were created
to emphasis their function in a sentence.
The correct usage, tenses, and principal parts
of a verb were learned. A chart created in
Word was made to use as a study guide.
In science class, the fifth grade completed
their study of the Earth and Sun and began
physical science. They had a great time
guessing the objects that their classmates
described by using physical properties for
items found in the classroom. They are now
beginning to explore physical and chemical
changes. The chapter began with an activity
by which they changed a sheet of paper and
were then able to walk through the paper.
At home, they prepared a project for display
during the Catholic Schools Week Open
House. In the fifth grade curriculum, they
study Physical, Earth and Life Sciences,
therefore, their projects were to be on a topic
that sparks an interest in them.
In reading class, the class has completed
theme three, which had stories about
colonial times. They were able to see the
types of clothes, houses and games that the
children played. They were able to
determine how different it was without
electricity and other items that we take for
granted today!
Fifth grade recently discussed biographies
and autobiographies in class, so they
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completed an “autobiographical sketch” of
their life so far. These are displayed with
their unique “body creation” in the fifth
grade hallway. The class also made an
“ALL ABOUT ME” mobile with pictures
and small items that told important events in
their lives. The mobiles were also on
display in the classroom.
Religion class had the students finish their
study of the sacraments which is a major
part of the fifth grade Religion curriculum.
As they learned about each one of the
sacraments, the students completed the
section that related to that sacrament on an
“All about the Sacraments” posters.
Fifth graders are learning about the 13
Original Colonies in social studies. They
learned the colonies by regions and created a
study guide foldable showing facts about
each individual area. Next they will be
making a map of the colonies.
FIFTH AND FIRST GRADE
FIELD TRIP
The fifth and first grade prayer partners,
along with Mr. Rice, Mrs. Poole, and Mrs.
Ustazewski, enjoyed an out of this world
field trip to the St. Vincent College
Planetarium. Both grades have been
learning about space with a variety of
activities in their FOSS kits, and this field
trip provided a wonderful learning
opportunity to experience the universe in
such a unique way.
SIXTH GRADE NEWS
Students in sixth grade language arts classes
have been busy writing. They recently
completed an Egyptian summary on
“Religion and Gods” that ties in with the
Egyptian unit taught in social studies. They
have been focusing on improving
introductory and closing paragraphs in
preparation for an upcoming expository
writing assignment. They have finished
studying adjectives in English and are now
reviewing the rules for punctuation. In
reading, students will be beginning the
historical fiction novel Number the Stars by
Lois Lowry and to learn more about life
during the Holocaust. They are looking
forward to the upcoming units of study.
In religion, students are finishing up the unit
on Abraham, Jacob, and Jacob’s son,
Joseph. They have learned how each of
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these men were chosen by God and the plans
that God had for each of them. Students
have learned about how God prefigured
these events to tell of the coming of Jesus.
In science, the sixth grade has been studying
various types of alternative energy
resources. The use of biomass was of
interest to the students when they realized
that by burning biodegradable “garbage” it
had the ability to operate a generator to
produce electricity. The students “buried”
items in buckets of dirt that the class brought
in to see which are biodegradable or
nonbiodegradable. The buckets will remain
on the roof of the stone building until the
end of April when they will discover the
changes that occurred in their “garbage”!
Students in sixth grade math persevered with
their chapter on integers from learning the
basic operation rules to applying them to
everyday situations. Sixth grade will be
tackling Geometry in the near future. As an
introduction, students reviewed basic
geometric terms---points, lines rays and
angles. Using these concepts, the students
designed a geometric star that made for a
bright colorful display.
In correlation to sixth grade’s study of Egypt
in social studies, students learned about their
ancient number system which also included
their amazing ability of using measurement.
Students had the opportunity to measure
each other’s height and other items in the
classroom using Egyptian measurements and
then measuring them in our U.S. customary
system. Egyptian booklets are hanging in
the hallway for all to see.
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The sixth graders completed their Egyptian
pyramids in social studies. To their 3-D
pyramids, they added drawings of what they
might take with them into the “after-life” as
the Egyptians did.
The students are now studying the culture of
India with its religions of Hinduism and
Buddhism. They also learned about the Dali
Lama. Their next project will be to create a
“mandala” in the style of Buddha.
FIRST IN MATH
Students are doing an awesome job working
on their First in Math, earning stickers all
the while learning and honing their math
skills. When learning a new math concept
in class, it’s wonderful to hear students say,
“I’ve already been doing that in First In
Math!” Keep up the great work everyone!
SPANISH GRADES FOUR-SIX
All three classes were in the middle of a unit
– Las partes del cuerpo (parts of the body).
After learning the vocabulary for la cabeza
(the head), Simon dice (Simon says) was
played to reinforce the vocabulary. Great
early childhood memories were brought
back. The lower body was then taught.
Along with Simon dice, the favorite
childhood song, “cabeza, hombros, rodillas,
y pies (head, shoulders, knees, and toes) was
enacted. All participants had much fun.
ART NEWS
With winter in full swing, each grade has
been focusing on winter drawings. They
have also been busy working hard on new
projects to decorate the halls for Catholic
Schools Week.
Kindergarten made Noah’s ark with lots of
animals on board. They also learned about
colors and made crayon pockets. Grade one
drew polar bears as well as winter mittens
with lots of color and texture designs. They
used special construction paper crayons.
Second graders learned about fore, middle
and background concepts in a drawing.
They used the “northern lights” as the theme
for their drawings. Grade three students
learned the basic colors on the color wheel
to make shiny snowflakes. Fourth graders
also learned all the colors on the color wheel
to make chameleons. They learned about
protective coloration and then added the
chameleons to a colored-pencil background.
Grade five students completed drawings
based on a poem by Shel Silverstein. They
are completing a watercolor painting. Sixth
graders are having fun building their plaster
mask characters. First they build basic
features and then use plaster cloth to form
the shape. Lots of fun and work ahead for
these students!
STAGE CREW FOR
DOROTHY IN WONDERLAND
A list of stage crew members will be
finalized soon and work will begin on the
sets and scenery for the play “Dorothy in
Wonderland”.
LIBRARY NEWS
February Birthday Books
Liam McDonald Three Little Kittens
Jake Pavlik Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes
Grayson Willis Game Changers:
Play Makers
Cole Zubaty Our Solar System
MEMORIAL BOOKS
Free Baseball donated in loving memory of
Joseph Richard Shoplik, grandfather of
Samuel Shoplik
SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR NEWS
Thank you to the parent volunteers, students
and families that supported the annual book
fair during Catholic Schools Week!
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ATHLETIC NEWS
Fifth and Sixth Grade White Basketball Team
Ben Aujay John Tropeano
Brennen Buric Angelo Bonesio
August Lawrence Charles Blanchard
Jorge Rodriguez
Coach Mr. Dave Tropeano
Fifth and Sixth Grade Blue Basketball Team
Ben Duong Joseph Rehak
Grayson Willis Ben Petnuch
Carlo Denis Wade Boyle
Jake Hall Billy Erdely
Coach Mr. BJ Denis
Good luck to all the Aquinas Academy basketball teams as they compete in the upcoming
Diocesan CYO Basketball Tournament at the end of February.