Mrs. Spilka's Pre K ants were marching around at St. Stephen School! The children have been learning all about ants.
The Hamden Elks held a dinner to honor area students. The winners chosen for the essay contest "What is An American":
Also pictured are Jenna Lewis, Kevin Lewis, Trina Lewis and Madison Ledford who received awards for the Hamden Soccer Shoot Out competition. Congratulations to all of our St. Stephen School students!
The Archdiocese of Hartford is launching a major recruitment campaign to attract new students to Catholic Schools. This is being done through billboards, radio commercials, and a new web site.
The core messages of the campaign are about academic achievement in a safe, respectful learning community. For the first time, they are making it clear that the doors of Cathoic Schools are open to anyone, not just Catholics.
The billboards are already in place. They have been put on I-95, I-91, and on the I-84 corridor. Smaller billboards that include the names of specific schools are being put in neighborhoods in Meriden, New Haven, and Milford.
Thank you to Horns for Kids for donating a trombone to the Saint Stephen School music program! Horns for Kids is a non-profit organization in Hamden, CT.
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Members of the Saint Stephen Student Council held a peer tutoring session for students from grades K-8.
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The Shred Day was a great success. Special thanks to the folks at Secure Eco Shred for supporting the school!
Saint Stephen School in conjunction with the Hamden Professional Fire Fighters Union 2687 had a canned food drive. The food collected will be distributed to the elderly of Hamden. We would like to thank all the students and families for their generous contributions. Mrs. Fortuna's Grade 5 class brought in the most non-perishable food items, so they won a pizza party provided by the Hamden Fire Departement. Great Job!!
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Mrs. Spilka's Pre-K class celebrated the coming Spring season by making aprons and decorating cupcakes. We had a great time! A big thank you to Mrs. Berg for supplying the aprons to decorate and Mrs. Stetson for providing all the supplies and yummy decorations for our cupcakes.
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Mrs Nathan's 8th grade class dissected frogs. They were able to find and make observations on differant parts of the frog.
Congratulations to Mrs. Fortuna's top two Fifth graders Brandon Worthy and Zachary Dillon, who went above and beyond. They completed all 14 Reading Book Selections for the 2008 Connecticut Nutmeg Reading Program, which is facilitated by our wonderful librarian Mrs. Wilonski.
Mrs Delvecchio's 1st Grade class is learning about weather. The students measured the air temperature in the classroom and outside. They also found the temperature in a cup of snow and warm water. The students recorded their information in their journals.
The Grade 1 class has been learning about animals and reptiles. Avery Hazelwood and his Grandpa brought in a few reptile pets to share with the class. Avery and his Grandfather explained the differant types of snakes, they had a corn snake, a king snake, and a milk snake. They explained to the class the scientific names for snakes, some of their characteristics and where they lived. We are very grateful to Avery and his Grandpa.
The students and teachers of St. Stephen School celebrated St. Valentine's Day with lots of fun and treats! We also had Pajama Day, all the students and teachers wore PJs!
To help celebrate St. Valentine's Day, Mrs. Fortuna's 5th grade class visited Pre-K and played Sweetheart Math. The students separated the candy hearts by color and then made a graph.
Mrs. Soliwoda's 3rd grade class made a Geodesic dome. Ms. Sorenson supplied the materials and helped the students construct a Geodesic dome. Geodesic domes are made of interlocking geometric shapes, usually triangles.
On Thursday, February 7, 2008, Saint Stephen School received a visit from the Connecticut BioBus. The BioBus Educational Program allows students the opportunity to complete inquiry-based, hands-on bioscience experiments. The seventh graders worked on the Mystery of the Crooked Cell. In this experiment, students unlock the mysteries of genetically inherited diseases using gel electrophoresis to test for a particular genetic trait. The eighth graders became crime scene investigators in the Cold Stone Caper. They used DNA fingerprinting to determine who had stolen the secret family ice cream recipe.
Three fifth grade students from St. Stephen School in Hamden were the Division I winners for the Hamden Lodge No. 2224 B.P.O. Elks essay contest "What is An American". First place winner, Gabrielle Oliva, second place winner, Gianna Pesticci, and third place winner, Natalie Vitello were chosen from schools in the Hamden area. Their essays will be forwarded to the District Chairperson for further judging and if selected will continue on to the State Chairperson. The national winners will be announced at a convention in Anaheim, California in July. The Annual Youth Awards Banquet will be held on May 6, 2008. The winners will be presented their award that evening. Congratulations!
Saint Stephen School celebrated Catholic Schools Week from January 27 through February 1, 2008. The theme for this year's celebration was Catholic Schools: Light The Way. We had many wonderful activities planned this week to celebrate with our students and parents.
Spirit Day, Thursday January 31st:
Monday January 28th, Nappy's Puppet Show:
Tuesday January 29th, Special Persons Day. Mrs. Curtis kindly sent in these special cookies for Grade 3 and their Special Person to enjoy!
Click here for more photos from Catholic Schools Week.
On Wednesday 19-Dec-2007, Mrs. Delvecchio's First Grade Class performed the First Christmas with their rendition of the Jesus birth. Visit Mrs. DelVecchio's Corner for more photos.
The Student Council Stocking and Basketball Raffle raised $ 151.00! We hope to purchase a digital camera for the schools use. Thank you to all who participated.
The winners pictured are : AJ Shaw Grade 7, Daniel Draffan Grade 4, Matthew Mangal Gr. 3, and Nicole Prete. Also pictured are Student Council members Morgan Simko and Erica Izzo.
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The 1st grade and their 6th grade buddies put together a Power Point project about seeds and animal life. They did a great job. Thanks Ms. Mitchell!
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The Home School Association had a Christmas pizza luncheon for all the students. We had a special visitor!
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On Friday November 16, the students honored Mrs. Testa on Principal's Day. The day began with a prayer meeting. The teachers and staff enjoyed a nice breakfast with Mrs. Testa and Fr. Bob. Thanks to the Home School Association for sponsoring the event!
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On Friday, November 16th Student Council members delivered the food items and turkeys to KC101 Stuff A Bus to benefit the Connecticut Food Bank. The food was donated by the parents and students of St. Stephen School. Thank you very much for making this such a success!
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Mrs. Calamitas Kindergarten class celebrated Veterans Day. The children made cards to be distributed with care packages to the Veterans on Monday, November 12th.
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Student Council members visit Veterans at the VA Hospital in West Haven.
On Tuesday, November 06, 2007 Mrs. Fortuna and her 5th grade class held a Mayoral Election. The students from St. Stephen School listened to speeches from both mayoral candidates, Craig Henrici and Ron Gambardella. The children were also able to ask questions.
Students were issued ID cards, given a ballot and then went into the voting booth to cast their votes.
On Friday, November 2nd, the students of St. Stephen School celebrated All Saints Day by having an ice cream social. The students with their buddies came to the Gym to make their own sundaes! Thanks to Mrs. Aliwalas, Mrs. Ledford, Mrs. Pagan, Mrs. Peixoto, Mrs. Ehle and Ms. Sorenson. We all had a great time!
On Sunday, November 4, 2007, St. Stephen School had the Celebration of the Eucharist and Brunch to begin our Annual Fund Kickoff. We honored Ann Dombrowski as Devoted Supporter of 2007. Mrs. Dombrowski has been very instrumental over the years with our sports program, being both a basketball coach and our Athletic Director.
Saint Stephen School in Hamden in conjunction with Secure Eco Shred held its first Shred Day on Saturday, October 27, 2007. Despite the rain, many Hamden residents brought their confidential home/office papers to be shredded and recycled. All proceeds will be used to benefit Saint Stephen School. We are most grateful to our community for supporting this event and we would also like to thank all of our parents and alumni volunteers who helped make this fundraising successful.
On Monday, October 15, 2007, the parents, students and faculty of St. Stephen School in Hamden, had their annual Walkathon.
After the Walkathon, the students enjoyed ice cream and we had our Pig Race. Mrs. Soliwodas 3rd grade class pig, Shamrock won! 2nd place was Mrs. Spilkas Pre K pig Piggy Wiggy. 3rd place, Mrs. Nathan's Grade 8 pig J-Star. We had a great day, and we would like to thank all of our generous sponsors for making our event such a success.
Big thanks goes to Mrs. Aliwalas and her team for another successful event!
Mrs. Fortuna's 5th Grade class was the top selling class for the Magazine Drive! The children will have a pizza party to celebrate. 5th grader Ian Marshall Davidson was the top seller for the school and will be Principal for the day. Congrats Ian!!
The 30th Annual HOPES Dinner was held on Sunday, September 23 at the Aqua Turf Club. This special evening is dedicated to the men and women who give so generously of their time and talent in the support of Catholic school education in the Archdiocese of Hartford. This year Saint Stephen School honored Helen and Rick Aliwalas and Laura and Bob Cannon as the 2007 Volunteers of the Year. We are most grateful to these wonderful parents for all that they have done and continue to do for our school.
For 2006-2007 news, click here