Fall into a Good Book

It will officially be Fall Tuesday night.  The mornings around 7 am, make me feel like it just might be true.  In today's homily, Fr. Tamil told a great story about a teacher who asked his students, If you had two houses, would you give one to someone poor?  Yes!  If you had $2 million or two cars?  Always yes!  What if you had....  I'm not sure what he said, but it could have been: 2 coats, 2 toys, 2 dogs, etc.  The students hesitated.  Why? Because they did have two of those things. It's easier to be generous with what we don't have than what we have.  

Interesting to think about. How many have said, "If I win the lottery, I will pay off the church loan?" I have, and I've heard others say it. But would we? I'm not sure, but I like to think so.  

This week is the Fall Book Fair.  The schedule will be (may have been) shared with you.  Monday is a preview day.  Shopping is Tues-Thurs with a make-up day on Friday.  Tuesday and Wednesday morning will be crazy with Donuts with Grownups.  Please do not take attendance until 8 am.  Give everyone time to get to class from the Book Fair.  

Teachers will have received an email from me earlier regarding ATL grades.  Please review the email and attachment.  We will meet on Tuesday altogether in Heather's room for about 5-10 minutes, and after that there will be a Math PLC.  The hot topic will be spiral review.  

Friday is a half day.  The morning will be filled with Grandparent/friend fun.  Followed by presentations from each CIPA Domain at 1 pm in the Media Center.  Please be sure to refer to all of Mary's emails regarding Grandparents' Day logistics.  

Thank you all, and have a great week!

AI - Is it really a good thing?

 I keep telling everyone I've seen The Terminator.  I know how this ends.  Here is what I've heard over the past week.  First, I heard that a delegation of US cardinals went to CA to talk to AI developers and essentially ask them to stop, out of concern for the dignity of the human worker.  After the meeting, the cardinals warned that there is the potential for millions to lose their jobs in the next 20 years.  I then went to a principal's meeting where I was told we have to graduate students who are AI-ready in order to compete in the future job market.  Today I am reading that the House Speaker is insisting that developers are responsible for product safety.  I should hope so.  It leaves us sitting here wondering: how do we embrace this when some schools are throwing laptops out the window?  Time will tell.

This was Holy Card Weekend, and the card to look for is St. Michael the Archangel.  No other card should be accepted unless there was an error in the distribution, which does sometimes happen.  

Here is what's happening this week:

• Tuesday evening is the first PTCO General meeting.  Thank you to those who signed up.  
• High school reps will be here Thursday to entice our 8th graders to apply to their school.  
• Friday is our first Marvelous Mustang.  Please be sure you have informed the parents if you chose their child (homeroom AND encore teachers).  

Other than that, it's a quiet week.  Enjoy!

Ralph said yes!

 That was the word on the street last week when the priest secretary to the Bishop and Director of the Office of Episcopal Ceremonies (aka master of ceremonies), Fr. Ralph, agreed to lead our retreat.  Monsignor could not make it, and when I explained my topic at a parish meeting, the resounding response was, "Ask Fr. Ralph!"  Fr. Ralph has a degree in political science from USF; then he entered the Seminary where he earned a master's in Philosophy.  He then continued his education from 2015-2020 at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned degrees in Sacred and Moral Theology.  I think he is ready to tackle my topic!  My topic connects our school theme, the charism of St. Stephen, and Catholic Intellectual Tradition.  It will be great!

To learn more about Fr. Ralph and what a priest secretary does, watch this brief YouTube video of Fr. Ralph and Bishop Parkes  https://youtu.be/ZeWxm5UG-YM?si=kBvmANzY6sNmMRsM  (may have to copy/paste).  

Not much happening this week.  Teachers, if you have not submitted your field trip requests yet, I suggest you get them in soon.  The younger grades are draining the account (yay for them!), but actually it's because we want to get the buses scheduled asap.  Also, all CIPA work must be completed by Sept. 25, when it will be presented to the faculty.  Some of you still have work to do in the ARCA.  Thank you for a productive day on Friday afternoon.

Have a great week!

You can call me Al.....

 His name is Al E. Gator, but, in the words of Paul Simon, we will call our new friend Al.  Today, a prospective new middle school student checked out the Angel's Wing.  I don't think he was impressed, and he slithered back to his home in the pond across the street.  Should he decide to come back, please let someone know ASAP (preferably not me, just kidding), and we will contact the SNAP hotline, or if someone is in imminent danger, just call 911, then me.  I don't think he will be back.  I will put Rudy on Gator patrol too. 

There isn't much more to say after that.  If you didn't read Tidbits, please be sure you do regarding the measures in place to ease traffic during carline.  Also, remember to stop by the Talking Pint on Wednesday, Aug. 26 for Spirit Night, and your first drink is on me if you come between 4-6:30 pm.  Ask either a PTCO representative or me for a ticket (they will be there before me).  

Teachers, I will be reviewing the PBLs you sent me between today and tomorrow morning and will give feedback.  Please be prepared to share your unit at our Tuesday meeting, and Friday's PD is centered on CIPA and unit planning sharing (particularly as it pertains to CIPA).  That means, be sure you have unit plans up to date, and they include CIT.  

Back-To-School Night

 Good evening.  I hope everyone enjoyed the sunshine this weekend after so much rain. It's week two, and students should be settling into their routines.  Thank you all for a truly great first week of school.  I come to school with a smile every day, but this week, I also left with a smile.  I've had some great collaborative conversations regarding PBL ideas, and I appreciate the enthusiasm in bringing these experiences to the students.

Tuesday will be busy with pictures, an after-school faculty meeting, and then back-to-school night.  For our faculty meeting, we will be participating in a Zoom meeting with Mary Camp to discuss our 3rd-Year Review visit in October.  It starts promptly at 3:30 pm, so please try to come to Heather's room right after carline.  

I was reading a blog about back-to-school night tips, and one I thought was very cool is having a piece of student work from week one on their desk (for gr. K-5).  The teacher who wrote it is a 1st grade teacher, and she copied a paper that said, "Let me tell you about 1st grade."  Not necessarily a math quiz, but just their thoughts about their new grade.  Gives something for parents to look at while waiting for others to arrive.   

Other than that, it will be a quiet week.  I will be out on Friday at a principals' meeting.  Have a great week!

 

God Has Chosen Me...

 ...to come back and do this all again!  Sometimes it feels like reincarnation.  We have to keep coming back until we get it right.  I think we did so many things right last year and years before.  I loved watching all the teachers' faces at our Diocesan PD. Every time the presenter said, "You should do this," you all looked at me and said, "We do that!"   It's nice to have validation that what we do here is making a difference; if only they had told us that in a memo.  I am excited about what came out of the workshop for math.  I put the Action Plan and Academic Vocab paper in the School Year folder in the drive under "Math."  Teachers, please keep referring to it as we go through the year.  I also think we should add this as another Action Plan for CIPA.  

Teachers, please play our theme song (link in the pre-planning presentation and below) in class before Wednesday so the children are familiar with it. Deacon has scheduled to play it during August, and it may be played at the first Mass. Religion class is a good time to play it and start talking about our theme and what it means.  St. Stephen was called to be a voice of the truth.  Talk to students about how they can be a witness, not only through evangelization, but also by being encouraging to others, using respectful dialogue, and standing up against bullying or injustice.  If someone from the Visiting Team should ask our students what it means to be a Witness of the Truth, they should be prepared to answer that.  

Many of you have been asking me to share things with edit privileges (which may be the default when you request to share) for yourself or others.  Everyone has access to the 2026-27 School Year folder.  If you need edit privileges for something specific (i.e., Melissa needs edit privileges to the Liturgy folder), I will grant it.  No one may edit the Field Trip or Service Project spreadsheet.  That is just for you to view after I approve.  The link to the Google Forms is in the second pre-planning presentation.  Everything you need should be in the folders or the presentations.  In addition, I am going to add some below.  I will also email Word versions of the Professional Growth Plan to teachers in case you want to type on it.  Please remember, the first goal is for everyone.  

Theme Song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VWIpHq1Ctc

Field Trip Form - https://forms.gle/Xs5kez66xUz3FxHz7

Service Project Form (I took out a lot of required questions.  You can skip some if your service project does not require you to leave the building.) - https://forms.gle/zqwwLnzTgxtwjecK6

Please remember to practice EVERYTHING.  We will do a fire drill the first week of school, so be sure students know what to do, and you are prepared with the Raptor App.  

For tomorrow, we will have Classroom Drop-Off.  Since 5th and 2nd will also be having Open House, we will delay the morning show.  I will make an announcement at 8:10 asking everyone to leave, and the morning show will begin at 8:15 am.  The morning show crew will be in the media center from when they arrive until after the morning show.  PK and K will have a noon dismissal tomorrow, and Extended Day is available.  

I'm sure I forgot something, but hopefully nothing important.  Have a wonderful first day of school.  I will visit each classroom to greet the students.  When I come in, please just pause for a few minutes to allow me to welcome them back.  Once again, thank you all for making St. Stephen great!

All good things must come to an end....

 This will be my last blog for the year. 😮   I know some of you are crying right now, 😢 but all good things must come to an end, just like this school year. 😄  That is how it feels some days, and I know you join me in those feelings.  When I look at the year, what I see is all the successes the students have made academically, socially, and spiritually.  That is what really matters.  There were days when I truly felt that people (adults) had lost their minds, but through it all, the students kept shining.  They are why we are here, and I thank each and every one of you for the part that you played in making this year a success.  

Mary will be in St. Augustine Monday and Tuesday, so no one is allowed to be sick.  I will be covering a couple of classes both days and have a few meetings, but I will be available as much as I can.  

Tuesday's faculty meeting is a Subject Area Meeting - Lang. Arts.  

There is no Mass on Wednesday; Mass will be on Thursday at 8:30.  Talk to Encore teachers if you need to move a class.  

Students in Grades 1-5 will eat in their classrooms on Thursday due to the 8th-grade brunch.  We will have a plan for bringing hot lunches to you.  

Finally, on Friday, we bid farewell to our 8th graders and see you next year to our PK students.