ASA's Circle of Friends

 Our ASA Circle of Friends!

The "Circle of Friends" inclusion program, first developed in Canada, was created to promote the inclusion of individuals with disabilities and other difficulties in mainstream settings by fostering peer support and healthy friendships. The aim of the program is to create and reinforce positive social experiences, promote healthy friendships, and support the social and emotional development of individuals. 

After noticing a need for better social skills among some of our students, upper campus inclusion coordinator, Nicole Patterson, started investigating this program in the summer of 2024. She attended webinars and training to learn how the program could help meet the needs of students at ASA.  

What is Circle of Friends at ASA?

Circle of Friends is an initiative that fosters inclusivity and friendship among all students, regardless of their abilities or backgrounds. It creates a supportive network for students who might otherwise feel isolated. We chose the sixth grade to pilot this new initiative, but we hope to expand it to other classes next year. We also have made it our own by integrating the principles of Theology of the Body and Catholic Social Teaching. A key difference in our program is that we don’t identify a “focus child”. The goal is to help everyone feel valued and included.

Program Highlights

Religion Class Lessons: Once a week in religion class, Social Skill lessons are taught through the lens of our Catholic Faith.

Peer Mentor Lunchtime Meetups: Each week, students who volunteered to be peer mentors gather to share meals, stories, and laughter. We also brainstorm ways to solve class social problems and help support those feeling isolated. 

Inclusive Activities: As our program grows, we are looking forward to holding inclusive activities where students can practice social skills and form friendship bonds. 

Research: Research suggests that the Circle of Friends intervention can lead to increased acceptance and reduced isolation, improved social skills, and a greater sense of belonging.

First Grade Adventures at Blandford Nature Center!

In February, our first graders took a fun-filled trip to Blandford Nature Center to explore how animals survive Michigan winters. It was the perfect snowy day for a winter adventure! Fresh snow covered the ground, setting the scene as students discovered how animals adapt to the cold.

“ My favorite part was the game where we tried to get the balls.”  ~ Silas

Activity 1: Students played a simulation game where they pretended to be bears preparing for winter. They discussed the types of food bears gather and experienced the challenge of competition—learning that all the "bears" were after the same limited resources to survive the cold months.

  “I liked seeing all the animals” ~ Zoё    

“I enjoyed seeing the animals hibernate” ~ Maeve

Activity 2: Students went on a snowy exploration and walked on a trail. They became animal detectives, searching for tracks and other clues that animals had been nearby.

“ I got to see the animal’s fur!”  ~ Lindsey    

“ I liked how we pretended to get food.” ~ Cameron

Activity 3: Students examined animal skulls and the hide up close. By studying their teeth and fur, they worked together to identify whether Michigan animals are carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores.

“ I liked touching the box turtles a lot! “ ~ JJ  

 

“ I liked when the owls stared at me” ~ Parker 

Activity 4: Students had the chance to meet several rescued animals now safely cared for at the center. Each animal had its own unique story, and the students loved hearing about their journeys—plus, they even got to pet a turtle!

“ I liked everything! It was one of the best field trips ever! ” ~ Lucas  

This hands-on experience was the perfect way to wrap up our Life Science lessons this trimester. When reflecting on their favorite moments, students couldn’t stop talking about meeting the live animals and playing the survival game. With sparkling snow underfoot, curious minds at work, and smiles all around, our Blandford adventure was truly an unforgettable experience!

March is Reading Month: Celebrate the Joy of Books!

 March is Reading Month: Celebrate the Joy of Books!

March is here, and so is a special time to celebrate one of the most important habits we can encourage in our students—reading! Across the country, schools and libraries are preparing for "March is Reading Month," a celebration dedicated to fostering a love for books, storytelling, and literacy.

Why Celebrate Reading?

Reading is not only an essential skill for academic success, but it also opens the door to endless adventures, imaginative worlds, and new knowledge. When we read, we enhance our vocabulary, improve our comprehension skills, and boost our creativity. March is Reading Month serves as a reminder of the power of reading and its ability to change lives.

Fun Activities and Events to Celebrate

During March, our school is packed with exciting reading activities and events designed to inspire students to pick up a book and get lost in a story. Here's a look at some of the fun things we’ll be doing:

1. Bookmarks:
Students will make a bookmark that matches this year’s theme: Wild about Reading. This is a fun and creative way to celebrate reading and encourage literacy during this special month.

2. Animal Cracker Snack:
Students will enjoy a snack that ties into our theme, during DEAR or other independent reading time, as a way to make our celebration more engaging and fun!

3. Drawings/Giveaways:
Lower Campus: Students and parents will track reading time and turn in tickets. Each week there will be a drawing for a small prize. At the end of the month, there will be a large drawing to win a bicycle. One boy name and one girl name will be drawn. Many thanks to the Kiwanis Club for donating the bikes. 

Upper Campus: Homerooms will be competing to see who can collect the most reading minutes. The homeroom with the most reading minutes will win a pizza party. Students who read more than 100 minutes per week will be eligible for a weekly drawing for a chance to win a $10 Barnes & Noble gift card.

These drawings/giveaways add a layer of fun, motivation and reward to March is Reading Month, turning it into a celebration of reading that is both educational and enjoyable!

4. BINGO for Books:
ASA Home and School will host BINGO for Books in St. Jude’s Brophy Center from 6:30-7:30 pm on Wednesday, March 12th. This event makes reading a fun, interactive and rewarding activity for students.

5. Principal Reading:
Mrs. Schneider and Mrs.Cooke will surprise students by reading aloud to them at one point over the course of the month. Our principals’ participation in reading helps set the tone for the whole school, showing that reading is not only fun and valuable but also something that everyone - regardless of age or position - can enjoy and benefit from!

6. Read Around (Lower Campus): 

Students at the Lower Campus will participate in a Read Around in which students have the opportunity to read with other classes. This experience encourages participation, community and excitement around books, while helping students develop a deeper connection to reading through interactive and social activities. 

Non-Uniform Days

Comfy Clothes Day: March 3rd - wear your comfiest clothes and slippers -  bring your pillow or favorite stuffed animal.

Animal Print Day: March 11th - wear an animal print, animal graphic or other animal-related attire.

Dress as a Book Character Day: March 24th - Dress as your favorite book character from a beloved book.

End of Reading Month Color Day: March 31st - wear a shirt with text someone can read.

How You Can Get Involved

We encourage families to participate, too! Here are a few ways you can help support March is Reading Month at home:

• Read Together: Set aside time each day for family reading. Whether it’s reading aloud to younger children or reading side by side, the act of reading together strengthens family bonds and promotes literacy.

• Create a Reading Goal: Encourage your child to set a personal reading goal for the month. Whether it’s a certain number of pages or books, having a goal will motivate them to keep reading.

• Visit the Library: Take a trip to your local library and check out new books. Many libraries also offer fun activities during March, so be sure to explore what they have to offer.

Let’s Make March Magical!

This month is all about celebrating the joy of reading, and we can’t wait to see our students get excited about all the amazing stories waiting for them. Whether it's reading for fun, learning something new, or discovering a whole new world, March is the perfect time to dive into a good book.

Remember: the more we read, the more we grow!

Happy Reading! 📚✨

4th Grade's Wax Museum

Fourth grade participated in ASA’s annual Career Wax Museum and we had our best ever turnout.  Students choose a career that they were interested in and researched to learn more about their career.  They learned about what education they would need, duties they would complete on a daily basis and where they could work.  Here are some thoughts from fourth graders on their experiences:

 

“When I was getting ready I was nervous but when I was doing it, I felt good.” Maggie C.

“I found out that I really, really, really like helping people and want to work with babies.” Eisele E.

“I got to show people my career and I learned about my career.” Elliot S.

“It was very fun to learn more and more about the teaching pathway!! I was very excited when the time came to present the Wax Museum.” Evie C.

“Wax Museum was super fun! I learned so much about fashion design and had fun making the props and tri fold.  It was great seeing everyone in their costumes and saying my speech.  It was an experience I will never forget.” Sofi F.

“I thought it was fun because I got to say my speech to a lot of people.  Dentists make 170K a year, which is cool.” Sam C.

“I thought it was fun because I got to see how much money a year other careers got.” Wyatt P.

“When I was researching I found out bakers need stamina.” Logan L.

“I thought it was fun because I got to inspire kids to follow their dreams.” Tori T.

Welcome to our new Preschool 3 & 4 teacher!

 Hello all!  My name is Sarah Ludovico and I am so happy to be the new 3-4’s Preschool teacher here at All Saints Academy!  I grew up out by St. Patrick’s parish and attended school there from Kindergarten to 8th grade. I am the youngest of nine children and I tell people I grew up in the bleachers because we were constantly at sporting events for my siblings and myself! 

I am married to best friend Joseph and together we have four amazing grown (ish) children (my youngest is still growing). Two boys and two girls with two in college and two in high school at Forest Hills Eastern.  We also have one very spoiled dog. We love traveling, hiking, canoeing / kayaking and camping when the weather allows. 

I am looking forward to helping the littles in my care to grow educationally, and spiritually! I feel truly blessed to have been given this opportunity! 

 

First Friday Rosary

The most beautiful part of attending a Catholic school is participating in weekly Mass.  Sharing in the miracle of the Body and Blood is unmistakably the summit of our faith! 

There are many, many other rich traditions we celebrate daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly to be one as a faith community, and enter into the mercy of Our Lord.   One of those traditions that All Saints Academy adopted several years ago is the First Friday Rosary.  Part of the First Friday Devotion is praying the Rosary on the first Friday of each month in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Praying the Rosary is a wonderful way to slow down, quiet the heart, and spend time in the Gospels, the life of Jesus and his Mother.   

Praying the First Friday Rosary was initiated by Saint Mary Alacoque way back during the 17th century!  She was visited by Our Lord and asked to help spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  If the faithful pray the Rosary, receive Communion, and make a good Confession on the first Friday in nine consecutive months, Our Lady promised that there would be an abundance of mercy poured out to the prayer.  

In addition to Graces, praying the First Friday Rosary instills in our kids that no matter how busy the world thinks we should be, we can all intentionally slow down and reach out in prayer for even just 20 minutes.  So, when we bring the huge Rosary into the gym and calm our hearts and pray together as a community, that Friday begins in peace.

Pray the Rosary as a family this month. 

ASA Technology and Your Child

Have you ever wondered what kind of technology your students are using when they are at school? Are they safe when they use technology at ASA? I can assure you the days of trudging to the shared computer lab and playing Oregon Trail on a shared, antiquated, desktop computer are (thankfully) well behind us. So much of the resources students and teachers use are now online, which brings both opportunities and challenges for privacy and safety concerns.

ASA Technology 2008 to Present Day

Lower Campus "new" Computer Lab circa 2012

ASA technology has seen quite a transformation over the past 16 years. In preparation of ASA opening its doors in August 2008, we gathered all the technology from the four previous schools (Blessed Sacrament, St. Alphonsus, St. Isidore and St. Jude) and used the best of what we had for computer labs, as well as faculty and staff computers. There was no WiFi at either campus in those days, and our internet speed was shockingly small by today’s standards. (It was in the single-digit MB per second range, whereas currently it’s in the triple digit GB per second range.) There was no ability to access most of the resources we used unless we were physically in the school buildings. Student access to technology was limited to their assigned time in the computer lab using the software installed on the desktop PCs. 

Students learning in the SmartLab in 2023

With many thanks to the generosity of parents, ASA supporters at Eaglefest, and grants, ASA's technology has come a long way in the past 16 years, both with faculty and staff, as well as students. WiFi was installed at both campuses in 2012, we continued to increase internet speeds as more as more resources were available online. Windows desktop computers and their miles of network cabling gave way to wireless chromebooks - first in one shared cart in each campus's computer lab, and now each student in grades K-8 is assigned his or her own chromebook, and they are stored right in each classroom. Projectors on carts in each classroom have given way to interactive display boards at the Upper Campus and interactive projectors at the Lower Campus. There is also a SmartLab at the Upper Campus, where students have access to a large variety of hands-on technology, including drones, robotics, 3D printing, video creation and more. All of these improvements have helped ASA prepare students for a future world with careers that do not yet exist. 

Student Privacy and Online Safety

In the current online climate where there's a new data breach every week leaking our personal information, ASA takes student privacy and online safety very seriously. The resources students use today are online, and this has the potential to put students at risk. Those with nefarious intentions are very attracted to children's personal information, as it could be decades before anyone realizes their credit records have been ruined - not to mention a child's emotional and physical safety due to exposure online. At ASA, many measures are taken to ensure your child's privacy and safety. These include internet filtering, teachers monitoring student screens with GoGuardian, monitoring student accounts with Bark, creating a "walled garden" for students so they cannot interact with those outside the ASA domain, and vetting all online resources to ensure they comply with student privacy and safety laws. We also use the faith-based digital citizenship curriculum provided by Protect Young Eyes to educate students on safe and proper online habits. 

At ASA we are also committed to making parents aware of the online tools we use with students. Are you aware that there is a page on the ASA website listing all the technology currently in use with or by your students? This page outlines all online resources used by your child, a link to their privacy policy, as well as how we use and monitor those resources. 

As always, if you have any questions regarding ASA technology, please reach out to our Technology Coordinator, Karen Szczytko. You can reach her at kszczytko@asagr.org.

Third Grade Card Making

 With scissors and tape and crayons and paper and glue and stickers and markers all strewn about, another third grader greeting card is being crafted to acknowledge a special event. 

 

Throughout the year, Mrs. Groh’s third graders set time aside from reading, writing, and arithmetic to help the community celebrate events, big and small.

If a new baby is announced at ASA, a stack of handmade welcome cards are bundled together and gifted to the family.

When a visitor shares their time and talent with us, we craft a set of beautiful thank you cards and mail them off to them in appreciation.

Sympathy and prayers are  shared with people who lose a loved one.  

Teachers receive a birthday card to celebrate their special day.

During Advent, festive Christmas cards are mailed to the seniors of the four parishes.  Easter cards are mailed to the seniors, as well, in the spring.  

The third graders love crafting and creating, but more, they love receiving a word of gratitude for their work.  Every year we receive a spattering of mail thanking us for the gift of our time and craftiness.  It’s a special moment when the kids are affirmed for thinking of others.  

“It makes me proud to get a response from someone who got one of my cards,” Weston beams.

“I just feel happy!” says Lena … and she adds #smileyface

“I have joy making cards for others,” Justin says.

“It’s a nice thing we do,” smiles Remi.

“It makes me happy,” says Grayson.

“I feel generous,” announces Kasia with a huge smile.

“It’s nice to hear that they had a good day,” says Thatcher.

“I feel really proud and happy to make gifts,” Mae commented.

“I’m so grateful to help others!  I just say ‘Amen’,” says Vincent.