Holocaust Survivor Speaks at McAuley

Seventh grade students from St. Brigid attended a talk this week by a survivor of the Holocaust. Max Slabotzky, a Portland tailor who grew up in Belgium, came to McAuley on Tuesday to share his World War II experiences with high school and middle school students.

Mr. Slabotzky, 83, talked to the audience about how he was separated from his family and went into hiding when he was just 12 years old. After being caught by the Gestapo, he was taken by train to Auschwitz and forced into labor.

Upon liberation, Mr. Slabotzky learned that his mother had gone to a different camp and been a victim of medical experiments. She passed away shortly after they were reunited. His father had been sent to a mine, where he died as well. A younger brother - who had been kept safe in a convent - was the only other survivor in the family.

The talk fits well into the seventh grade’s upcoming interdisciplinary unit on World War II.

St. Brigid Students to Sing at Pirates Game

Our St. Brigid 4th graders will be singing “God Bless America” on the ice at the opening of the Portland Pirates game on Sunday, April 7th at 4:00PM.

The classes have been rehearsing for over a month and are extremely excited. They will be wearing their school uniforms.

The Pirates will be taking on the Springfield Falcons! 

- Crystal Found

St. Brigid Auction

Greg Lagerquist, anchor for WGME-13 news, will be the emcee and auctioneer for the St. Brigid auction tonight. St. Brigid students Issac and Gabe Russell had the opportunity to tour the station and meet Mr. Lagerquist.

Civic Oration

This year’s school level of the Civic Oration competition featured eight St. Brigid students in grades 5-8. These talented individuals, selected by their classroom teachers, delivered speeches about people who overcame obstacles to achieve greatness. 

Subjects of the speeches ranged from famous people such as Beethoven to personal friends and family members of the speakers. Two students will advance to the regional level. Marissa Page, grade 6, told the touching story of her older brother’s struggle with Tourette Syndrome. The overall winner was 7th-grader Robert Bossong. He wrote about a blind teenager who was the only known person to learn how to see using echolocation.

Marissa and Robert will move on to the regional level of the Civic Oration, which will be held at St. Dominic Academy after April vacation. Good luck!

Grade 8 Presents Living Stations of the Cross

The eighth-graders of St. Brigid acted out the Stations of the Cross as part of the school's observance of Lent and Easter. They did a beautiful job of portraying the stations with honesty and sensitivity.

Third Grade Special Projects

Grade three has been very busy in the past month, especially with science-related activities. 

Nursing students from the University of New England visited the classes recently to teach a lesson about germs. The future nurses gave a “hands-on” demonstration of the importance of cleanliness in avoiding the spread of illnesses. After putting a special, “germ cream” on their hands, the kids used a fluorescent light to see where the simulated bacteria and viruses collected. They then washed their hands. A second viewing under the light revealed that some students hadn’t quite rid themselves of the “germs.” 

Meanwhile, in one corner of Mrs. White’s room, an insulated tank is host to the eggs of salmon. For over a decade, Mrs. White has participated in the Fish Friends program. The program helps to restock salmon populations and teaches students about the life cycle of this important creature. Some of the eggs have already hatched into fry. When the fish are old enough, students will release them at a location to be determined. 

During past years the fish have been Atlantic salmon that had to be released into a local river; this year, for the first time, the eggs are from a landlocked subspecies that will probably have to be freed in a lake instead.

Seventh Grade Visits Boston Museum of Science

In an exhibit about shipwrecks, students could experience
hurricane-force winds in a special simulator tube.

Guided by parent chaperones, the kids performed hands-on
math and science experiments.

Two students were invited to help in a demonstration of how
the immune system deals with diseases.

Real lightning, generated by the world's largest air-insulated
Van de Graff generator.

St. Brigid Tech Club

The St Brigid Tech Club is on its second round of members. Our initial invite drew an amazing volume of interested students. The 8 week sessions were limited to a fun ten-member group of students in grades 3, 4 and 5. The first meeting revolved around a complete tear down and rebuild of a computer tower. This was designed to introduce the entire group to the inner workings of perhaps the most prominent tech tool in our lives—the personal computer. 

Currently, the after school tech club is working on LEGO Robotics.  Last week we built robots; this week we plan to develop programs for our creations. Next week we anticipate team demonstrations. Students seem to gravitate to this hands-on learning exercise. Another advanced element on our menu is still-frame animation.  The kids thoroughly enjoy this component. 

The Tech Club is free, which can limit our resources. To this end we are very appreciative of any donations to the club. We welcome your unwanted digital cameras, tripods and even any LEGOs that may be hanging around your home.

- John Dunfee

Students Expand Spanish Vocabulary

If you’ve been inside the school lately, you may have noticed the appearance of bilingual labels on various parts of the building. These signs are part of teacher Nathalie Romero’s efforts to increase the everyday use of Spanish by our students. 

During a recent visit to Senora Romero’s second grade Spanish class, the children enthusiastically shared their knowledge of the language while working on related assignments. The children could list colors, animals, and names for family members.

“We get to play games and color,” one child explained after pointing out the sentences she had written in both English and Spanish. “It’s always fun.”

Eighth-Graders Design Mandalas

 In art class this week, St. Brigid eighth-graders designed their own mandalas. Art teacher Suzanne Winchester explained that mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning “circle.” Mandalas typically contain patterns or images of the artist’s choice that radiate outward from the center of the circle. 

In some religions, this kind of artwork has spiritual significance and is used for meditation or prayer. Christian art also contains imagery evocative of mandalas, such as the “rose windows” present in many churches.