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!