Wait your Turn!

 This is how I usually feel right after Halloween (although I saw Christmas decorations in one store in mid-October). 

In case you missed it in Tidbits, we will still have our full week off for Thanksgiving (Yay!).  I have a principal's meeting this Friday, at which time I will get more information about making up days missed.  Until turkey time, we have three weeks of uninterupted school (with the exception of the Walkathon on Nov. 15).  This week is the time to wrap up the Trimester and then transition into Trimester II next week.  If students have been struggling, let them know that the start of a new trimester is a great opportunity to set goals and aim for success.  

Some updates on happenings around the school and parish:

• Fr. Dermot will be away this week visiting family in Ireland.
• The health department is finally submitting my application for the FLC and I'm hoping they review it quickly.  I sent them everything they needed about a month ago but the hurricane put them behind like everything else.
• I am still waiting on a quote for the Angel's Wing and PK room repairs and hope to hear from them this week.
• There are two holes on the playgrounds (one on the main near the sidewalk) and one on the PK playground.  They should be covered with a cone and a table.  They have been reported but please be patient.  We do not have a facilities director right now (Tony resigned) and Ken has been out so hoping to address them this week.
• I have been searching high and low for someone to come out and fix the gate.  Everyone is booked out 2-4 weeks.  I have also reached out to a few parents to help too.  Please know I am working on it.  If anyone knows a guy, I'm all ears.  

Have a wonderful week!

Oh When The Saints...

 With the disruptions from the hurricanes, I seemed to have lost track of time and I don't know where October went, but here it is, almost Nov. 1.  As a faculty, we did not talk about All Saints, but I believe all (most) have some information for what we typically do on that day and in Religion class before/after that day.  Typically, this happens:

• PK-2 dress up as saints (1st grade may have a plan for something different which is fine)
• Gr. 3-5 design t-shirts representing the saints and wear them on that day (talk among yourselves and let me know what you plan for that day)
• Middle School has done many different things (let's talk at the Tuesday meeting about your plan)
• Students complete a saint project in Religion (makes a great summative grade).  Sometimes the research is done in October and students present their work on Nov. 1 (like in 2nd grade) others may continuing learning about saints in the month of November.  
• PK and Kinder process in at Mass before the priest and PK keeps on going out the side door.  Susana, talk to Connor about how you want to sit.  

Since Friday is a holy day of obligation, we will be going to Mass Friday instead of Wednesday.  On Thursday, students may wear Halloween/Fall colors t-shirt and jeans.  Finally, next weekend is Fall Back when we get ONE EXTRA HOUR OF SLEEP!  I've waited all year for that!

Have a great week!

Is it Christmas yet?

 Last week felt like the longest three days of school I could imagine.  The children had such sad faces when they arrived on Wednesday, but the smiles were back by Thursday morning.  Thank you to everyone who played a part in helping the children readjust to the routines of school.  I also want to thank the many people who were displaced due to Milton and for everyone's flexibility as we navigate our way back to normal (whatever that may be).  We hope to welcome our PK students back on Tuesday.  There is a lot to put back together, but I believe we can do it!   

Now I have an answer to the question that is on everyone's mind.  When will Trimester 1 end?  Originally scheduled to end on Nov. 5, it will now end on Nov. 12, one week later.  Teachers, this means you have a solid three weeks for grades left and a couple of days if needed.  Whew!  I will adjust the rest on the calendar tomorrow - grades due, etc.  Please remember the requirement of four summatives for each class.  Given everything that has happened, it would be fair to only have three, but there MUST be three.

For upcoming events, Friday is Marvelous Mustang.  Be sure parents have been emailed.  Friday is also the Math PD with Savaas.  Mary will send out more info on Tuesday about where to meet, what to bring, who will attend, and what everyone else is doing.    The Tuesday faculty meeting will be a demonstration of a Socratic seminar and everyone should attend as this can be used in any class.  

Have a wonderful week!

Be Nice

 This is something you will be hearing a lot this week... Be Nice as we enter into..... (drum roll) Be Nice Book Fair Week!!!  

A big thank you to the Book Fair Committee (including our very own Mrs. Dieringer) for organizing, decorating, and putting everything together in preparation for this event.  As a teacher, I know you are mumbling under your breath.... another disruption to class.  Yes, but for a good cause - BOOKS!  And quality books that support our faith.  So, please pray to St. Sabastian for strength and flexibility as we enter Book Fair Week.  

Teacher preview for the book fair is Monday morning from 7-7:30 am.   There will be bagels (yay! and thank you Emily Alvarez) in the breakroom to entice you down the hall to the Media Center.  (They will not be IN the media center as we may not serve food more than 2 feet away from hot water.  Also, they will not be individually wrapped, so good luck.)  Please add your desired books to the basket with your name on it.  These may be purchased by parents for your classroom.  If you are not normally at school on Monday mornings, never fear; you can stop by any time to fill your basket.  

Once again, please be sure you have a plan for Grandparents Day and refer to Tidbits for the instructions given to grandparents. This Tuesday is a grade-level PLC, and you may want to spend a few minutes talking about your plans.  

Remind your students to wear their Be Kind T-shirts on Friday, and let's remind each other to be kind.  If we are asking our students to be kind and treat everyone with love and respect, we need to first set that example and treat everyone that way.  I see MANY examples of kindness every day so please don't run to my office and ask me if I'm talking about you and if you did something wrong because my answer will be No.  What I can tell you is that I have also seen unkindness among adults over the past couple of weeks (teachers, staff, parents, parish employees, etc. - everyone) and I wonder how can we get our students to be kind if we can't set that example.  I include myself in this as I was unkind in a meeting when I was frustrated with data I was given but I did go back and apologize and will try to be more patient.  What I'm asking is for you to look inside and ask if you are truly setting the example to Be Kind.  Let's always be our best role model of kindness for our children.  

Have a wonderful week!  

Calm before the storm that is Book Fair!

 Good afternoon, everyone.  As I look at the calendar, this is a calm week with not too much happening, but it truly is the calm for the storm.  Next week is Book Fair week, which means being flexible and going with the flow.  Students will be late to class on Donuts mornings, and there will be organized chaos on Grandparents Day.  We will be having Mass on Friday next week with the grandparents.  Be thinking about the activity you will do with your grandparents and students so you are prepared with any materials you may need.  This is only for the homeroom teachers.  I'm not sure why but many of the parents see the breakfast change as a "BIG" change in what we do.  I don't think it's that big, and I hope they see this as easier for everyone.  Homeroom moms are asking if anyone needs volunteers for anything more than help with signing out students.  We are asking parents to provide juice boxes, water, and coffee.  If you want help with serving drinks that day, please let your room moms know.  

On the agenda for this week, we have vision screenings (see Gail's email), high school presentations for 8th grade on Thursday afternoon, and Marvelous Mustang Friday morning.  I will forward an email to all teachers that Mrs. Moretusso created that you can use to alert parents if their child was chosen.  Please send it to the parents of the students you chose for Aug/Sept. 

Sometimes you don't know what you don't know.  Last week, Mary and I started doing informal observations.  We both realized we didn't discuss what you should have on your walls/boards/etc. in your classroom during pre-planning week.  We discovered this when we saw missing items in new teacher classrooms.  So here's what you need to know.  Every classroom should have the following on the whiteboard, bulletin board, walls, slide show, etc.:

Objectives (for the unit, lesson, day, week - whatever is appropriate) for each class.

Essential Questions for the UNIT.  (Each unit you teach should have 1-2 EQs.  For more information on EQs, review the Unit Planning folder that was shared during pre-planning.)

Academic Vocabulary (This is for everyone.)  We will discuss this more when we have some free PD time this year, but here are some examples. If you are studying rocks, I should see igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic somewhere in your room.  If you are studying angles, the word congruency should be posted.  If studying slavery, you might post the word emancipation.  Think about the keywords students need to understand in each unit.  These are not just words they write in a notebook and define; they need to interact with these words daily throughout the unit.  More to come on that. 

Homework should be written somewhere, either on the board or sent through Google Classroom.  

If you have any questions about any of this, please come see me.  We will continue our walk-thrus this week.  Just keep teaching if we come in.  Thank you all for everything you do, and please keep Fr. Josh in your prayers as he continues to heal.  

CCC 1941

Happy Sunday! In his homily today, Fr. Primus discussed the dignity of man, voting no on Amendment 4, and recalled the Catechism of 1941.  The paragraph says, "Socio-economic problems can be resolved only with the help of all the forms of solidarity: solidarity of the poor among themselves, between rich and poor, of workers among themselves, between employers and employees in a business, solidarity among nations and peoples. International solidarity is a requirement of the moral order; world peace depends in part upon this."  Father then challenged us to work in solidarity because nothing will change if we don't.  When I reflect on this, it seems unlikely that the world will work together in solidarity, but nothing will change if everyone thinks this way.  We may not change the world, but we can impact our small piece of it together.  Please consider these words and discuss them with your students on Monday as we prepare for our first school-wide service project, working in solidarity to help others.  

At our faculty meeting last week, there was some discussion about holy cards and whether they should all be the same.  The answer is yes.  I made sure to talk about it in Tidbits, too, so that it is clear.  The card passed out this weekend is St. Benedict.  If a student has a different card, you should be suspect.  If they say they went to 5:30 Mass on Sunday, it's possible (but not probable) that they ran out of Benedict cards.  There can be a time when the cards differ, but I will let you know.  For example, in October, they will receive a Marian card.  It might be the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, etc., but they will all be Mary.  Father does hand out old cards to students who are NOT in uniform.  Those do not count.  If someone has a card other than Benedict tomorrow, please send them to the office.  

On Tuesday, the Middle School will eat lunch in Angel's Wing. If you have middle school lunch duty that day, please join them in the Angel's Wing.  Other than that, it is a pretty routine week.  I will be out on Friday at the Bethany Center talking about principal stuff.  I hope you all have a superb week!

Happy Labor Day!

 Thank you all for your tireless efforts in teaching our children.  I hope you were able to find time to rest during this long weekend.  The best part about a long weekend is the short week that follows!

Even though it's a short week, there are a few things to remember:

• i-Ready testing will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday
• All teachers will meet for a faculty meeting Tuesday after carline in Heather's classroom
• Friday is a half-day, so we will follow the bell schedule for half days.  We go through all the periods (except lunch) in order, and classes are approx. 25 min. long.  
• Angels Outreach will give students a brief presentation about the first school-wide project and how to apply for the Kindness Krew. Presentations will begin at 8 a.m. in Middle School and the team will work their way down to 2nd grade. Students in grades 2-8 may apply to join the Kindness Krew (we can discuss more at the faculty meeting).
• Afternoon PD is Wit and Wisdom Writing.  Encore teachers and PK do not need to attend.  We will discuss everyone else's attendance at the faculty meeting.

Finally, I received more information from the Health Department and these are the rules in the main school building and Angel's Wing:

• NO homemade food may be brought into school for the students... EVER
• We may NOT prepare any food in these buildings 
• The ONLY place in the school where catered food may be served (and only outside regular school hours) is in the East Hall area.  This means we can do Donuts with GrownUps and Family Event Pizza.  It also means we cannot have pizza parties in the classroom.
• Things that can be given out in a classroom are pre-packaged, individually wrapped items such as candy, cookies, chips, ice cream, etc.  This will mostly happen in extended day.

I am working with the new facilities person, Tony, to get a sink installed in the FLC.  Once that happens, I can apply for a full service licencsed facility and we can then do much much more, as long as it's in the FLC.  This is where Thanksgiving celebrations, MS Christmas party, and P is for pancakes will need to happen going forward.  I will keep you all updated on our progress.

Have a Wonderful Week!