Students in Ann Marie Starowitz's class at St. Joe's performed a Christmas story play today for the third week of Advent that included students narrating the story of the birth of Jesus and singing Christmas songs for their fellow students.
Photos by Howard Owens. Bottom photo by Ann Marie Starowitz.
Capt. Greg Ireland, of the City of Batavia Fire Department, applauds first-grader Adam Laska after he arrived at St. Joseph's school this morning. Adam got to ride to school in Engine 11 because he was one of the winners of the firefighter's annual fire safety poster contest.
Adam and his family: Mike Laska, Adam, Ewan, Amy, Randy and Nilsson.
The K-Kids were on hand at St. Joe's today to help the Batavia Kiwanis Club promote its annual Pancake Day, which will be held from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, at the school.
Tickets are $6 for an adult and $4 for children and seniors.
Second graders in Ann Marie Starowitz's class at St. Joe's Elementary School threw a surprise Mother's Day party for their mothers today, which included reading short articles form their research projects, three songs, and presentation of gifts.
Students at St. Joe's, members of K-Kids, put 8,000 pieces of chocolate into 4,000 plastic Easter Eggs this week to help the Kiwanis Club of Batavia prepare for its annual Easter Egg Hunt at Centennial Park on March 31.
There will also be a total of nine large chocolate Easter bunnies from Oliver's Candies given away as prizes.
The Easter Egg Hunt begins at precisely 9 a.m.
Submitted photo and press release:
St. Joseph Catholic School is proud to announce that its Special Education Teacher, Mrs. Kate Winters, was nominated for the Inclusive Teacher of the Year award.
The Foundation for Inclusive Catholic Education (FICE) held its fourth annual Taking Flight Dinner on March 8th where it announced this year’s nominees.
Being nominated for this award is an honor as it recognizes the teaching professional who has dedicated their time, compassion, and creativity toward making an impact on the lives of students receiving inclusive education within their school.
Congratulations to Mrs. Winters as well as the nine other nominees from Catholic Schools within the Diocese of Buffalo.
Pictured above are: Back row, from left – Karen Green (St. Joseph School Principal), Kate Winters, Christopher Suriano (NYSED Assistant Commissioner of Special Education), and Sister Carol Cimino (Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Buffalo); Front row, from left – Gina Bergman, Elizabeth Hofmaster, Sharon Fischer, Marianne Clattenburg, Diane Fraser, and Alicia Palmer (St. Joseph School teachers).
Students from St. Joe's Elementary School joined members of Batavia Kiwanis Club yesterday to help announce this Sunday's annual Spaghetti & Meatball Dinner.
The dinner will be held at St. Joe's starting noon. Dinner will be served until 3 p.m.
Tickets are $6 per person and takeouts are available.
Proceeds benefit the charitable efforts of the Batavia Kiwanis Club.
Press release:
Why did you join Reality Check? That’s the question Reality Check coordinator Brittany Bozzer asks each student when they join the tobacco-free advocacy group and attend their first meeting.
There is simply no right or wrong answer. But it’s always inspiring to find out why our youth advocates join us and what it means to them to be a part of the group.
Here’s what Reality Check members from St. Joseph School in Batavia have to say:
Seventh-grader Maylee joined Reality Check so that she could make a difference to smokers.
“I want to learn about the dangers of tobacco and other products so that I can educate peers and those who smoke,” Maylee said.
“I am anti-smoking smoking and think it is a bad habit or addiction for people to get involved with,” said James, also a seventh-grader, on why he got involved. “I also want to help out in the community.”
Amelia joined Reality Check to gain “knowledge, power, strength and confidence.”
And Paige joined to get “a good education on tobacco use and other drugs so that I can tell people about what I learned.”
Each young student has his or her own unique reason for joining, but there is one common thread. Each one has been affected by tobacco products in some way and they are choosing to help make a difference in their community.
What is Reality Check? Reality Check is a youth-based, adult-mentored, statewide youth program operated by the New York State Department of Health in Albany as well as Roswell Park Comprehensive Center.
The goal of Reality Check is to educate teens about the manipulative marketing practices used by the tobacco industry as well as to teach them how to advocate in the community for themselves and their peers.
What do we do? Reality Check exposes the truths about tobacco marketing through point of sale and smoking in movies.
Through various activities led by youth, they are able to gather facts and statistics to show the reality that tobacco use among youth is very prevalent in their community and that it needs to be stopped. This tobacco is not exclusive to cigarette use; it also includes e-cigarettes and vaping as these also contain nicotine.
Most youth begin to get involved in Reality Check between seventh and eighth grades and continue on through high school, bringing awareness to the community and advocating for change!
Olivia Bezon's classmates cheered when Engine 11 pulled into the parking lot at St. Joseph's School this morning with the first-grader as a passenger.
As a winner in the City Fire Department's fire protection poster contest, Olivia got the ride in the fire truck this morning as part of her prize.
Submitted photo and press release:
Mrs. Fischer’s fourth-grade class was visited by Mr. Penepent, an aeronautical engineer who has worked at NASA's launch site in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for 27 years.
His team works to launch Delta II and IV rockets for NASA. The students came up with some great interview questions and learned some awesome things about the design process, construction and launching of these rockets.
Mr. Penepent attended St. Joseph School from kindergarten through second grade and is Mrs. Fischer’s older brother.
He said he first became interested in his field of aeronautical engineering when he was in third grade while reading a book on airplanes. Who knows, there may be future aeronautical engineers right here at St. Joe’s.
The students of St. Joseph School of Batavia are pictured engaging in activities in their classrooms furnished with new “21st Century Furniture.” Thanks to a generous donation the school has furnished each classroom with 21st Century Furniture pieces that allow teachers to customize learning environments to encourage alternative methods for group collaboration and instruction.
Clusters (or pods) of seating options accommodate interactive and social activities. Pods allow students to work in small groups, to interact directly, see facial expressions and establish eye contact.
In a collaborative learning classroom, the teacher is not fixed at the front of the room. A mobile teacher moves easily from group to group to address questions and facilitate discussions.
The classrooms also provide students with alternative individual seating and workspace choices. Balance ball chairs and standing desks offer students who have difficulty focusing an outlet for their energy.
Studies of the benefits of a chair-less classroom showed improved learning and reduced obesity by making children more active. Researchers found that the ability to move around more while studying made the students more attentive.
St. Joseph School is still accepting fall 2017 enrollments. Interested families may call the school office at 585-343-6154 or email noneill@sjsbatavia.org.
Press release:
Father Ivan celebrated Mass at Resurrection Parish (St. Joseph site) to honor the 28 students who are moving on to high school in the fall.
Many of these eighth-grade students participated in their own Graduation Mass by saying the readings, reciting prayers and singing in the choir. A special moment of the Mass was when, after Communion, graduating eighth-grader Ariana deSa e Frias beautifully sang “Ave Maria” to everyone’s family and friends.
After Mass, Principal Karen Green, as well as many of the eighth-grade teachers, presented awards to honor all of these hardworking students. Students received Honor Roll Awards, Music Awards, Excellence Awards as well as many other special Achievement Awards.
In addition, miore than $7,000 was given out in scholarships to those students attending Notre Dame High School in the fall. Congratulations to these St. Joseph Catholic School graduates!
The third- and fourth-grade students at St. Joe's got to make butter today.
Then they got to eat the butter they made on graham crackers.
Anne Marie Starowitz, representing the Holland Land Office Museum, visited the classroom today, bringing an 1800-era butter churn as well as other artifacts from the museum and talked with the students about what life was like in early Genesee County.
She then filed two canning jars with heavy cream and had the students pass them around the room, with each student giving the canning jars 10 hard shakes before passing it to the next student.
Before long, they had butter.
Next week the students will tour the historic Batavia Cemetery.
Press release:
Students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grade at St. Joseph School had the opportunity to participate in their annual spelling bee this past week. Twenty five brave students gathered on the stage for a spelling competition that lasted 35 rounds.
In the end, three eightth-graders took the top three places winning cash prizes:
- First Place -- Rachel Nickerson
- Second Place -- Katelyn Zehler
- Third Place -- Anne Marie Kochmanski
The other top spellers are: James Weicher II, Gabriel Weicher, Andrew Ricupito, Lucia Sprague, Madalyn Bochicchio, Sarah McGinnis and Isabelle Cooper.
Congratulations to this year’s top 10 spellers!
The crowd at St. Joe's annual Mammoth Sale today was huge before I could there, I'm told, but even later in the afternoon, there were still a lot of great deals for shoppers.
St. Joe's Mammoth Garage Sale -- billed as the largest of its kind in Western New York -- will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday, April 22 at St. Joseph School.
It is located in the City of Batavia at 2 Summit St. -- on the corner of East Main Street and Summit Street.
Tens of thousands of items will be for sale at this indoor venue, including many collectibles and even some antiques! Rain or shine!
Admission is free. Try for a chance to win a raffle basket. Baked goods will be offered for sale.
Press release:
The students at St. Joe’s Catholic School look forward to Career Day every year. This year the students had the opportunity to choose three professionals to visit with from more than 20 different professionals that came into their school.
Local businesses as well as many St. Joe’s parents took time out of their busy day to come in to discuss and help the students become more familiar with their career. From seeing what it’s like to be a part of Mercy Flight to learning the ins-and-outs of being a veterinarian, the students had a wide variety of careers to check out.
The Great Easter Egg Hunt, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Batavia, starts exactly at 9 a.m., April 15.
Yesterday, students at St. Joe's stuffed about 4,000 eggs with treats for the Easter Bunny to hide that morning. The Easter Bunny then paid a visit to the school.
Press release:
The students at St. Joseph School look forward to Catholic Schools Week every year. This year the theme is “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.
To kick off their fun filled week, Detective Schauf and Officer DeFreeze, from the Batavia Police Department, joined them for a Kindness Challenge. The students were reminded that acts of kindness can be big or small and are something that anyone can do at any time.
Throughout the week the students partake in many different fun activities not only at school but around their community. They visited Batavia Showtime for a movie, went bowling at Mancuso Bowling Center, ice skating at Falleti Ice Rink and visited the YMCA for a variety of fun activities. Their week concluded with a school-wide talent show.
Copyright © 2008-2022 The Batavian. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service
