Patty Bajek / Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Saints Speak from Mrs. Marshall - 10/7/2021 - October Happenings

I hope you are all enjoying the long weekend so far! At school, the faculty is busy engaging in various professional development sessions. We are using much of this time to look closely at our students’ assessment data and make plans for how we can adjust classroom instruction to meet the needs of our students. We are also participating in two Diocesan workshops: The National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Schools (led by the Greeley Center of Loyola University Chicago) and Growing as a Catechist (led by Loyola Press). We are grateful for this time of collaboration and look forward to applying what we learn in the classroom!

We are excited to be once again working with Boosterthon for our annual Run with the Saints! The program kicks off this Wednesday, 10/13. Each day students will learn about valuable character traits while raising funds for our school. The program culminates with a Fun Run on Friday, October 22nd. Students love this event, which includes nightly challenges, fun prizes, and class competitions. You can get a head start TODAY by registering your student(s) on mybooster.com and sharing their pledge page. Look for more information on Wednesday as we kick off the program!

As part of Respect Life Month, students received baby bottles to fill with donations for Waterleaf Women’s Center. Bottles can be returned to school any time throughout the month of October. Thank you for your generosity!

October is also National Bullying Prevention Month. We will focus especially on this theme during Red Ribbon Week, October 25-29. Next week we will share more information about Red Ribbon Week, daily themes, what we'll be discussing in the classrooms, and what you can do at home to support your child.

As we look toward the end of the month, please plan to join us for ASPA’s Trunk or Treat on Saturday, October 30th, 10:30am-12:30pm! Click here to register to attend or enter your car!

Our school Halloween celebration will be held on Friday, October 29th. Please join us for a Costume Parade at 2pm on the Recess Pad, weather permitting! Please see more details for each Academy below.

Preschool: Students may come to school in their costumes. Class parties will be at 10am.

Primary Academy (K-2): Students may come to school in their costumes. Class parties will be at 2:15pm.

Intermediate Academy (3-5): Students may bring their costumes to school and will be given time to change after recess. Class parties will be at 2:15pm.

Junior High Academy (6-8): Students will watch a movie in place of a class party. Costumes will not be worn in junior high.

For all grade levels, costumes must be appropriate for school. Costumes should be comfortable enough that students can easily sit at a desk and use the bathroom; no weapons, makeup, or masks that cover their eyes. We will not allow students to pass out candy to one another at school due to allergies. We encourage families to participate in Saturday’s Trunk or Treat and distribute candy there!

One of our junior high students, Morgan, has been selected as a finalist for Artsonia’s Artist of the Week! Please click here to vote for her (Morgan18706 in the 7th-8th grade age group) before Saturday, 10/9. Voting is limited to one vote per computer per day for each age group.

You may have noticed that your Family Fundraising Obligation (FFO) was charged to your FACTS account this week. The FFO is $500 for families with children in K-8and $250 for families with a child in preschool only. There are opportunities throughout the year (such as Charleston Wrap, Scrip, and some parts of DDA) to earn credit toward your FFO. You will see Charleston Wrap credits entered soon. FFO payments are due May 1st. Please direct any questions regarding FFO to the school office.

Make sure that you’ve marked your calendar for Parent-Teacher Conferences on Thursday, November 4th. Conferences will take place in person throughout the day and early evening. Parents will sign up for conferences via SchoolSpeak. Look for an email early next week with more information on how to sign up and what to expect.

As I mentioned last week, our Book Fair was incredibly successful! We reached $12,232 in sales, and all classes earned an extra recess! Thank you to all our volunteers that helped throughout the fair, and a special thank you to our coordinators, Laura Blackwell and Lisa Hajek!

Enjoy the rest of the long weekend!

Warm regards,

Margie Marshall