2025's Eagle Award Winner

The Eagle Award is presented each year by the Home and School Association to a member of the ASA community in acknowledgement of his or her extraordinary contribution to the success of All Saints Academy.

This award enhances the culture of All Saints Academy by drawing attention to those who are living our Catholic faith and supporting our school mission by holding them up as an example for others to follow.

Recent recipients of this award have included:  Susan Zarzecki, Beckie Patterson, and Darrell Beckwith. During the feasts of All Saints and All Souls, we especially remember those Eagle Award winners who await us in heaven; Mariae Firlit, Linda Kozminski and Jon Fournier. 

Along with a trophy for them to take home, the recipient’s name will be added to a perpetual plaque that is displayed in the halls of both the Lower and Upper  campuses for all to see.

While it is true that no great achievement is accomplished by the work of one person, a significantly great work like the creation, building and operation of All Saints Academy requires talented and committed people. The winners of this award reflect the characteristics we hope for in our students and need in our school family.

We are pleased to announce Mrs. Angela Mitchell as recipient of the 2025 All Saints Academy Eagle Award. 

Here is what was said in Mrs. Mitchell’s nomination: (which is a combination of any nominations over the years) 

• Mrs. Mitchell truly cares about the children and goes above and beyond with everything she does. Angela serves as the upper campus administrative assistant (which in education code language means she runs the school) .

• Angela embodies and lives out ASA's core values of faith, learning, loving and serving in her everyday life and through her daily interactions with our students, parents, and fellow community members. Angela is always giving back in any and every capacity and deserves to be recognized for her amazing efforts.

• Angela and her family… are committed to their Catholic faith. The Mitchell family is active members of St. Alphonsus Parish and have been known to volunteer at fish frys & for the Educational Endowment team.

• She uses her many skills to keep the school organized, with her enthusiasm, kindness and knowledge to our kids everyday. Angela’s loving and helpful personality makes anyone who enters the office feel seen, heard, and puts them at ease. We are truly blessed to have her as the first face people see at ASA’s upper campus.

• Angela gives her love to every student, staff member, parent and community member she meets. She greets everyone with a smile and never has a shortage of kind words. It would be difficult to find a kinder person to be at the helm in our upper campus office as a first stop to any visitor that enters. She purchases fun stickers for fun sticker Friday, and helps children learn to tell a joke for the joke of the day at lunch.

• Angela is a proud parent of one current ASA student and three that have graduated. She is both a staff member and huge supporter of our ASA community. she is good at seeing the gaps, and filling them. Whether, big or small, whatever needs to be done,  just gets done, without reservation. 

• If you are a part of the ASA community you have been impacted by the kind, selfless, generous and delightful Angela Mitchell. I can’t think of a more deserving person to receive this year's Eagle Award. 

I believe I speak for so many of us on staff when I say:

We are not only blessed to call her a colleague, but also a friend. 

Congratulations Mrs. Angela Mitchell!

PREPARING OUR HEARTS FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST

The season of Advent invites us into a sacred time of reflection as we await the joyful celebration of Christ’s birth. While many homes are filled with the familiar bustle of decorating and preparing for Christmas, we at All Saints Academy are also readying our hearts to welcome Jesus with renewed faith and hope.

Across both campuses, Advent wreaths stand as signs of God’s promise and the light that Christ brings into our lives. Each morning, our K–8 students gather in prayer, lifting their voices together in an Advent devotion that centers our community in gratitude and anticipation. Our preschoolers, in their own beautiful way, are creating a paper Advent wreath around the hallway pillars—an artful reminder of the four holy weeks of Advent and the gifts Jesus offers us: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

The Three Gifts of the Magi

The Gift of Giving:
With thoughtful hearts, students are creating meaningful gifts for their families. Our preschoolers have also been busy making festive decorations to bring cheer to the school office and to bless our administrative team.

The Gift of Service:
In the spirit of Christian compassion, our community continues its tradition of supporting local needs. Thanks to the generosity of our families, our Advent cereal drive is flourishing. These donations will be shared with the Community Food Club to support households experiencing food insecurity.

The Gift of Music:
Our K–8 students are preparing a Christmas concert to share the joy of the season with loved ones. Meanwhile, our preschoolers will participate in a Christmas sing-along and extend invitations to the staff members who faithfully support them throughout the year.

MAY THE PEACE AND HOPE OF ADVENT FILL THE HEARTS OF OUR ENTIRE ASA COMMUNITY. BLESSINGS TO ALL!

First Grade Authors

During this first trimester of school, the 1st graders worked to publish their first writing piece.  As the students enter first grade they are still learning how to correctly form a sentence. Going from learning to write a single sentence to a published story can be a big leap. The students were able to accomplish this task by breaking down the process into manageable steps.

One of the curriculum standards for 1st grade writing is for students to write about a real or imagined event through sentences and pictures.  The students do this by creating a personal narrative.  First, we read a mentor text, Fireflies by Julie Brinkloe to understand what a personal narrative entails.  We learned there were four parts for a personal narrative.  First, it should be written from the perspective of the author and include words like, “I”, “my”, and “we.”  The personal narrative should be about a real story the author has experienced.  Additionally, the author should include how he or she felt about the experience.  Lastly, the personal narrative should be told in a sequential order.

The first step in creating a personal narrative was to make a heart map.  The students listed at least 4 topics or ideas they were interested in.  Many of the students listed their favorite sports or hobbies while other students listed family trips or events.  All of the ideas had to be things that the student had actually experienced.

Next the students learned about the pumpkin and seed parts of the story.  The pumpkin of the story is the main big idea of the story while the seed parts of the story are all the details and events that happen in the pumpkin story.  The students selected one pumpkin idea to zoom in on and then listed all the seed parts that went along with the story.

Now that students had a topic and some details to write about their personal experiences, the next step was to plan the sequence of events for the story.  Students used a story planning graphic organizer to sketch out the beginning, middle and end of their story.  

At this stage, students were ready to start drafting their stories.  They used the story planning map to help keep their story parts organized in sequential order.  As they took their ideas from story planning map to rough draft it was time to add in more details to the story.  Additionally, they needed to add in their feelings about the events to incorporate the final aspect of a personal narrative.

Once the rough draft was completed, students started the revision process.  They met with a partner and shared their stories.  The partner was supposed to ask questions to help the author think of additional details to include in the story.  The goal was to add an additional detail to each part of the beginning, middle, and end of the story.  

After the story was fully developed with details, there was one more step before publishing and that is to edit the story for correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.  Students again were paired up with a partner.  Each pair carefully reviewed the rough draft to check for those errors and help each other identify spelling mistakes.  While students were encouraged to use phonetic spelling, they have high frequency words posted in the classroom for reference.

Now that the stories have gone through the revision and editing process, it is time to publish.  Students rewrite their stories taking into account the revisions while also using their best effort to write neatly. To complete the story and capture their audience’s interest, they created covers with titles and illustrations.  They were very proud of the stories they created and were eager to share their stories.

   

   

All Saints Day 2025

As happens every so often, All Saints Day 2025 fell on a Saturday.  So ASA pivoted and elected to celebrate this wonderful feast day just a few days early this year.  On Wednesday, October 29 the All Saints Academy students toddler through 8th graders began their celebration by joining together at the Lower Campus.  The day began by praying the Rosary which felt extra fitting this year as it was prayed during the month of October—the month of the Rosary.  It was then time to move onto our Saint activity.  While the previous year students partnered up between grade levels in a Saint scavenger hunt this year they were detectives.  Older students were paired with younger students and together they first had to listen to three clue to determine which Saint the clues described.  And then, in each jar there were objects which represented the Saint (i.e. animal crackers for St. Francis) and the students needed to guess “how many” were in each jar!  The older students had fun writing down the guesses our early childhood students provided!  For the first time this year we paired our 7th and 8th grade students with the toddlers who had play time and enjoyed a snack together.  The 7th graders even advocated for us to continue this tradition next year so they can do it again in 8th grade!

After exploring some of the lives of Saints, our heavenly heroes, the K-8 students headed to St. Alphonsus to celebrate Mass together.  This year there was a flip- flop.  Usually ASA students join the St. Isidore parish community for All Saints Day Mass; however, due to anticipated construction projects ASA students will travel there during Catholic Schools Week instead.  One of the blessings of the celebratory Mass not occurring on All Saints Day is we were able to have all three of our founding parish pastors join us to celebrate.  

At the conclusion of Mass, the 2025-2026 ASA spirit shirt was revealed which reminds us “...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagle’s wings…” Isaiah 40:31.   

The 2025 ASA Eagle Award recipient was also announced after Mass.  This year’s recipient is Mrs. Angela Mitchell.  Angela currently serves as the Upper Campus Administrative Assistant and has previously served our community as the athletic director as well.  In the many nominations Angela has received through the years, it was shared that Angela embodies and lives out ASA's core values of faith, learning, loving and serving in her everyday life and through her daily interactions with our students, parents, and fellow community members. Angela is always giving back in any and every capacity and deserves to be recognized for her amazing efforts.  Angela and her family are committed to their Catholic faith. The Mitchell family are active members of St. Alphonsus Parish. Angela gives her love to every student, staff member, parent and community member she meets. She greets everyone with a smile and never has a shortage of kind words. It would be difficult to find a kinder person to be at the helm in our Upper Campus  office as a first stop to any visitor that enters.  Congratulations Mrs. Mitchell on this very deserving award! Following a K-8 school photo taken at St. Alphonsus, the K-8 students returned to their respective campuses for an afternoon of celebration.  

While the K-8 students were away at Mass, the early childhood students filled the hallways of the Lower Campus with sounds and songs of joy during their All Saints Day parade.  

The day’s activities were centered on faith, learning, loving, and serving were a fitting celebration for the feast day of All Saints Day at All Saints Academy!

School Counseling 2025 - 2026

 

We are excited to share that our school counselor, Ms. Despres will be joining our classrooms on Tuesdays at the Lower Campus and working with small groups of 4th Grade students at the Upper Campus on Mondays and Wednesdays. Ms. Despres will also be joining the 3rd Grade Classroom for their Morning Meetings on Mondays.

This year, she will be working with students on important social-emotional skills such as taking on challenges, making good decisions, managing strong emotions, and getting along with others. She will be using Second Step, a research-based program designed to help children strengthen these skills both in and out of school.

Throughout the year, students will explore four main units:

● Growth Mindset & Goal Setting – learning to focus attention, manage distractions, develop a growth mindset, and set and work toward goals.

● Emotion Management – identifying and labeling emotions, and practicing strategies to manage them in healthy ways.

● Empathy & Kindness – recognizing and showing kindness, developing empathy, and taking others’ perspectives.

● Problem-Solving – learning how to identify and state a problem, recognize accidents versus intentional              actions and use a step-by-step problem-solving process.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. Thank you for your support as we work together to build a caring and supportive school community!

Apples in Preschool 3 !

 🍎 Apples, Apples Everywhere! 🍎

Our preschool 3 class has been busy diving into our very first theme of the school year—apples! September is the perfect time to explore this favorite fruit, and the children loved discovering all the different ways we could learn, taste, create, and explore with apples.

One of the highlights was our apple taste test. The children sampled red, yellow, and green apples, and then we worked together to graph our favorites. Not only did this activity spark great conversation about taste and color, but it also gave us a fun introduction to math and data collection.

We also got creative with apple stamping using real apple slices. The kids loved seeing the star shape hidden inside each apple, and they made colorful patterns and prints on their papers. This activity connected with our art focus while letting the children experiment with shapes, colors, and textures.

Throughout the week, we read several apple-themed stories that inspired curiosity and imagination. The children especially enjoyed looking closely at apple seeds and talking about how apples grow. We even made some special apple art projects to display in the classroom.

This first unit was such a sweet way to start our school year. The apple theme allowed us to bring together literacy, math, science, and art—all while having fun and making discoveries together.

We’re off to a wonderful start, and we can’t wait to see what we’ll learn next!

Why Do We Pack the Pews?

 As an interparish school, All Saints Academy strives to gather in community and support the spiritual and moral development of our students in both their school and our parishes.  While our ASA community comes together through the year for Mass during the school day, we know on the weekends our community gathers together across four different parishes. 

In September 2012, ASA hosted its first Pack the Pews event!  The goal of Pack the Pews is to bring together the ASA community at one of our four founding parishes for a specified Mass.  This allows all of our families, regardless of parish or ASA campus,  the opportunity to pray, worship, and celebrate the Mass as one.  As is tradition, all students (toddler through 8th grade) are encouraged to wear their ASA uniform or spirit wear to Pack the Pews Masses and any K-8 student who attends a Pack the Pews Mass receives a Color Day (non-uniform) coupon allowing the student to have a non-uniform day on Monday.  Starting in 2025, Pack the Pews Sundays conclude with donuts as a thank you to our parishes bringing together our ASA families and parishioners at our four founding parishes for a delicious morning treat!   

While Pack the Pews Masses in recent years have begun in January and concluded in April, this school year we are trying something new.  Our first ASA Pack the Pews Mass will be at St. Jude at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 19 and we will conclude our Pack the Pews series in April.  The 2025-2026 ASA Pack the Pews dates are listed below!  We look forward to you and your family joining us as we celebrate our shared belief that we are one!

Sunday, October 19, 2025 at St. Jude 10:30 a.m. Mass

Sunday, January 25, 2026 at St. Isidore 10:30 a.m. Mass 

Sunday, March 8, 2026 at Blessed Sacrament 10:30 Mass

Saturday, April 25, 2026 at St. Alphonsus 4:00 p.m. Mass