The St. Mary's Times Volume 1, Issue 2
St. Mary’s Catholic School
February 2012
D.I. team prepares for first competition in Pharr By Tesa Muzquiz
FIFTH GRADE STAFF WRITER
The St. Mary’s Destination Imagination team has been working hard for its upcoming competition across the valley. Mrs. Gonzalez and Ms. Garcia decided to start a team at St. Mary’s two years ago and have been running it since. Destination Imagination, or D.I., is an educational program where students are able to express their talents and specialties. The St. Mary’s Destination Imagination chapter is made up of two teams with seven members on each team. One team is named ‘Team A’ and the other is ‘Team B.’ The two teams meet once a week on Saturday mornings. The teacher explained that each child is very creative and talented, and very good at “thinking out of the box.” Members for both teams were cho-
Photo By Laura Zamora Left to right: Dante Gonzales, Pablo Saldana, Tristan Alaniz, Tesa Muzquiz, Claire Martin, Andrea Sanchez, Parker Harris, Marcela Salinas, Caroline Puckett and Emma Davis
sen in tryouts at the end of the 2011 school year. The teams described that they work to solve problems in both instant and team challenges. The team’s competition is Feb. 18
in Pharr. For St. Mary’s to advance to the State competition, they must win first or second place. At State, they’ll present the same team challenge, but a more advanced instant challenge.
Get to know your elected student council officers By Raphael Ugalino
SIXTH GRADE STAFF WRITER
The St. Mary’s Student Council officers were elected in December and seven new students took office. The student council President and Vice-President are brothers. Kirino Balderas was elected as President, and he said his job is to manage the student body. He ran for President to see if it’d be an interesting
Profiling Montessori teacher Ms. Perez PAGE 2
position. To improve the school, he wants to give new ideas from Tampico. Alejandro Balderas was elected as Vice-President, and he’s responsible of taking care of the president’s place if he’s absent. He would’ve run for President if his brother hadn’t run first. Alejandro said he ran because he wanted to be Vice-President and see if he could win. He wants to try to make
INSIDE THIS ISSUE The highlights of Catholic Schools week! PAGE 3
more things happen at St. Mary’s. Anaeli Arizmendi is our student council secretary. She ran because she wanted a challenge and to take responsibility for herself and the school, she said. She wanted her final year at St. Mary’s to be special. As secretary, she wants to make sure to take all the notes carefully and tell the school what events are See ‘OFFICERS’ on Page 4
Learn about featured saint Our Lady of Lourdes PAGE 4
Arts & Entertainment
Volume 1, Issue 2
St. Mary’s Catholic School
SMT Teacher of the Month: Ms. Perez from Montessori
By Daniela Gonzalez
SIXTH GRADE STAFF WRITER
Ms. Perez, this month’s featured Teacher of the Month, has been teaching Montessori students at St. Mary’s for two years. Ready to work and offer her time, Ms. Perez arrives to school early in the morning around 7:35 a.m. each day. Her motivation comes from her young students - especially those who challenge her the most, she said. But for her, motivation is just a part of life and she’s up for any challenge that she might face every day. Her inspirations are her two children, Daniel and David. Even her family members are mostly teachers or principals, so teaching runs in the family. Ms. Perez said she is very proud to teach Montessori at St. Mary’s because she knows that Montessori teachers are are the foundations of
education for each child. She encourages her students to pray, share, and learn, but she also wants them to have fun every day. Ms. Perez said enjoys working at St. Mary’s because it’s exciting, challenging and fun. She feels wonderful about making a difference in a child’s life.
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St. Mary's Times Staff Box
Writers: Dante Gonzales Daniela Gonzalez Tesa Muzquiz Raphael Ugalino Sponsor: Laura Zamora
Pennies for Patients Results 1ST PLACE - Sr. Luz, Sixth grade: $978.51 2ND PLACE - Ms. Perez, Montessori: $724.25 3RD PLACE - Ms. Salinas, Montessori: $437.96
The whole school raised $5,198.41 within a three-week period. All proceeds go to benefit children with different types of blood cancer.
If you’re interested in joining the SMS Newspaper Staff, come by one of our meetings this month! The staff meets on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 6 p.m. in Room 1.
SMT Students of the Month: Six second graders By Tesa Muzquiz
FIFTH GRADE STAFF WRITER
The second grade teachers at St. Mary’s selected six students as February’s students of the month. Shaila Cruz and Luigi Cristiano were picked from Mrs. Salazar’s class, Ana Fer de la Garza and James Puckett were chosen from Mrs. Pier’s class, and Javier Garcia and Sabrina Herrera were selected from Mrs. Camarillo’s class. Cruz and De La Garza have been at St. Mary’s since first grade, while Cristiano, Puckett, Garcia, and Her-
rera have been here since kindergarten. Cruz and Garcia said they both like math the most out of all their subjects. Cristiano’s favorite subject is spelling, Herrera’s favorite subject is science, and De La Garza and Puckett both like reading. Cruz said her favorite part about coming to school is doing projects. Her favorite TV show is “Hannah Montana.” Cristiano’s favorite book is “Bad Kitty Gets a Bath” and he likes watching “Looney Tunes.” De La Garza’s favorite book to See ‘STUDENTS’ on Page 3
Photo By Tesa Muzquiz Left to right: Luigi Cristiano, Javier Garcia, James Puckett, Sabrina Herrera and Ana Fer de la Garza
Arts & Entertainment
Volume 1, Issue 2
St. Mary’s Catholic School
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Catholic Schools Week boasts crazy creativity Catholic Schools Week was held from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3 and celebrated the spirit and unity of St. Mary’s School with different activities each day. The week started off with students wearing sports jerseys from their favorite teams. There was also a pep rally that morning to kick off the week. Faith Day was on Tuesday with a prayer at the Grotto, and students wore their uniforms with a crazy twist. There was an open house and liturgy on Wednesday, and Thursday celebrated both Stone Soup Day and Twin Day. The week concluded with Friday’s Spirit Day, where a parade and spirit contest were held outside.
Students
Continued from Page 2 read is “Junie B. Jones” and she likes hanging out with her friends at recess. Puckett also said he likes play-
ing with his friends at recess, and his favorite TV show is “Pokemon.” Puckett’s favorite book is “Bad Kitty.” In Mrs. Camarillo’s class, Garcia said he enjoys reading “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” He also likes watch-
ing “Pokemon” and going to P.E. at school. Herrera said her favorite TV show is “Big Time Rush” and her favorite book to read is “Todd and the Frog.” She likes going to church at school the most.
Volume 1, Issue 2
Activities & Fun St. Mary’s Catholic School
Officers
Continued from Page 1
SMT’s Saint of the Month By Daniela Gonzalez
SIXTH GRADE STAFF WRITER
February’s Saint of the Month is Our Lady of Lourdes, one of the most revered saints in the Catholic Church especially because she’s Mary, the Mother of Jesus. It is said that her first apparition was on February, 11, 1858 when 14-year-old Bernadette was gathering firewood and small bones with her sister and a friend when the Lady appeared. There were 18 apparitions in all, which all happened within the same year. The last apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes was on March 25th when Mary said, “I am the Immaculate Conception” to answer who she was. After this, Bernadette became a nun.
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coming up. Two students are sharing the spot of historian. Mireya Lopez and Anafer Martinez are our St. Mary’s historians. Lopez ran to help make memories at our school, and she wants to make the year full of fun memories. Anafer ran for historian because she enjoys taking pho-
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tographs and wants to capture memories of school. Daniela Gonzalez was elected as Parliamentarian, which is a position to help keep everything in order. She said she ran to make a difference in the school. Our new treasurer is Juan Jose Sacriamento, who said he ran because he wanted to be a part of the student council to help with new ideas. He wants to keep records of our money and help the school community.
SOMBRERO SCRAMBLE
This puzzle has 10 Charro Days words scrambled. Can you figure out what they are?
obosmrer faatji radpea imoga atrot
________ ______ ______ _____ _____
Valentine’s Day Word Search Find all the words below in the puzzle! Arrow Be mine Candles Candy Chocolate Cupid Flowers Friendship Heart Honey Lace
Love Pink Red Ribbons Romance Roses Sweetheart Sweetie Sweets Valentine
cnlariav _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _____ girot tcesoum _ _ _ _ _ _ _____ lssaa xciome _ _ _ _ _ _