As the school year was winding down, children across the diocese looked forward to spring field trips. At the end of the 2012-2013 academic year sixth-grade students from St. Mary School in Taylorville had their field day on May 7. The youngsters and their teacher Cathy Schaeffer traveled to Springfield to visit the Illinois State Capitol and the Chiara Center.
At the Capitol the students took part in TECH 2013, which gave them the opportunity to showcase how they use technology in the classroom. St. Mary students shared their book trailer projects with state senators and representatives, teachers and other students.
A book trailer is similar to a movie review; however, a book trailer gets a potential reader excited about reading a book. The projects encompassed a wide variety of skills, including summarizing, comprehension, narration, sequencing and retelling skills.
St. Mary students created their book trailers in December, focusing on Christmas books, and had previously shared them with both kindergarten classes at St. Mary School. The trailers were then posted on the school's web site, www.st-maryschool.com, so that parents and other family members and friends could also enjoy them.
One state senator, Sen. Andy Manar from the 48th district, met with the students at the Capitol and commented that his kindergarten-aged son would have enjoyed a visit from the sixth-graders.
Also on May 7, the students toured the Chiara Center on LaVerna Road, on the grounds of the Franciscan Life Center. Administrator Peter Garvey led the students around the area, teaching them about the history of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis. The students also visited the Heritage Museum and St. Francis of Assisi Church. Additionally, Garvey explained how Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach, which has a building nearby on the grounds, provides medical equipment to countries in need.
Finally, in keeping with another class project, students also saw the statue of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint. Each of the 11 sixth-graders chose a saint to study and Kateri is the one that had been chosen by Christine Curvey.
Sixth-graders are the oldest students at St. Mary School, which this year had an enrollment of 122 students in grades K-6 and 34 preschool students.