Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • December 24, 2021 19 St. Vincent dePaul’s sixth graders recently learned about fractions and percents, graphs and charts, and how to create a spreadsheet all rolled into one yummy lesson. First they completed a “Minute to Win It” challenge where they had to move M&Ms from their desk into a paper cup using only a plastic straw. They tallied the number of candies in their cups to create a Stem and Leaf graph and a Box &Whiskers graph of their results. Then they calculated the number of each color of M&Ms. They had to find the percentage each color made of the whole. Next they created a spreadsheet to contain all the information and created a pie chart within that spreadsheet. “This was a fun lesson that taught the kids that we really do use math in real life,” said sixth grade math teacher, Cindy Cox. Lex Rhodes placing his number on the Stem and Leaf graph Addyson Podlin working on her spreadsheet Recently Tara Meleones was named the MAEA’s Elementary Art Educator of the Year. The mission of MAEA (Mississippi Art Educators Association) is to promote art education through professional development, service, advancement of knowl- edge, and leadership. The award was presented at the annual MAEA fall conference in Jackson. The three-day conference was based at the Mississippi Museum of Art and included studio workshops, session workshops, a key note address by Vicksburg artist, HC Porter, and an awards dinner at the MS Museum of Civil Rights. MAEA feels it is important to recognize outstanding art educators for many reasons. Some of those are: to focus professional attention on quality art education and exemplary art educators, to increase public awareness of the importance of quality art education, and to set standards for quality art education and demonstrate achievement through recipients. “I am extremely honored to receive this award. I love my job. I love being able to teach art to my students and share my faith with them. Sometimes I get to both at the same time. I am so grateful that MS has such a great organization for art teachers.” S t . V incent de P aul C atholic S chool , L ong B each Tara Meleones accepting the award from MAEA past president, Dr. Richard Miley, MS College. The fifth graders at St. Vincent dePaul Catholic School help the St. Vincent dePaul Society at Holy Family Parish every year with their Thanksgiving Food Distribution Program. The fifth graders decorate boxes that will hold the food given to needy families. They are given blank document boxes to take home and decorate. They can use paint, markers, crayons, and/or spray paint to make the boxes look fes- tive. The students are also instructed to pray for the family who will receive their box when it’s filled with food. This year on November 15 and 16, the students took their boxes to Holy Family Parish and packed them with food donated by Holy Family parishioners. This year they packed over 45 boxes. “I really liked this project. We got to do something fun and help a family who we don’t even know,” said Ellie Gunter in Jennifer Mink’s class. Evan Peterson in Erin Acosta’s class said helping with this project made him feel good. Jennifer Mink’s fifth grade class with their boxes Fifth graders busily sorting food and packing boxes S t . S tanislaus C ollege , B ay S t . L ouis Construction class builds deer blind The SSC construction class built a deer blind for Billy Bourgeois. The construc- tion class, taught by Freddy West, focuses on classroom and work-site competencies in the construction field. Students learn about project planning, measurements, and assembly as well as hands-on experience with tools. Students work on a specific project, in this case, a deer blind, which is then delivered to the customer. Left, Ethan Jacobi & Gage Rabby put the finishing touches on new deer blind.