At St. Mary School, the long-standing tradition of prayer partners helps create a feeling of acceptance for all students.Each upper grade student is assigned…
Prayer Partners
At St. Mary School, the long-standing tradition of prayer partners helps create a feeling of acceptance for all students.
Each upper grade student is assigned a lower grade student to mentor. When students reach fourth grade, they begin to take on the mentorship responsibilities. Prayer partners attend weekly Mass together, create special projects and form a bond that endures past the school year’s end. Upper grade students anxiously wait to see who they are paired with for the year, and lower grade students look forward to every visit they have together.
Third-grader Briana Shirkey said, “I like learning about what my prayer partners does in school or sports and I can’t wait until next year when I get to be a prayer partner to a preschooler.”
Preschool teacher Linda Flynn says her class can’t wait for visits from their partners. “They can just come in and read a book together and it makes them so happy.”
Prayer partners are another way to make a big school feel more like a family.
After-School Crafts
Art develops critical thinking and problem solving skills. Mrs. Maryann Marra offers after-school crafts for St. Mary students. They are currently getting ready with Thanksgiving decorations.
Learning Words
Mrs. Kara Passow’s kindergarten class spent time searching their classroom for fall pictures and words, recording their results. They were then challenged to use the words they found in sentences.
