Oh When The Saints...

 I'm so happy to be back home after living out of a suitcase for a week.  Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.  My visit home was sad and yet joy-filled.  It was wonderful seeing friends and family and being able to share memories of my mom as we said our final goodbye.  Dad has been waiting 15 years for her to join him and it was nice knowing they could be together again.  I was also able to sneak in a trip to my favorite deli and pastry shop and also visited the church in the Bronx where I received my first three sacraments - Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.  

      

After returning from NY, I joined Katie and Jennifer in Orlando at the Middle School Conference.  We all learned a lot and feel reinvigorated about teaching.  I came away feeling there are things we can do to reinvent middle school and I'm excited to start these conversations for next year.  My favorite workshop was "34 things you can do before referring a student to the office."  I came away thinking there's really only two things you need... "The Look" and "Withitness."  I'll be sharing more about that and other things I learned.  Here are some pictures from our conference...

        

   Oh yes, and this.  We really were working! 

Happenings for this week:

Faculty meeting in room 9 - This is a change because report cards are coming up and I want to review what you should be looking at. 

Wednesday is a Jean Day and Thursday is All Saints.  Mass is on Thursday this week.  I will be at the Bethany Center on Friday and Friday is the last day of the Trimester.  

Please send me your pictures from Saturday by 2 p.m. on Monday and one lucky winner will get a ticket to Angels.  It was great seeing so many of you at the Faith Fest.  The entertainment was great and it was awesome being with so many faith-filled people.  That and Jeremy Camp was pretty amazing.  

Have an awesome week!!  

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings.....

That's what this week is turning out to be...  a bunch of meetings.  For this week, and into next,  we have:

Faculty Meeting - Monday 

7th Grade Nature's Classroom Parent Meeting - Monday

PTCO Meeting Live from Carline - Tuesday (just know it's happening)

Diocesan Meeting for Linda - Thursday

Parish Staff Meeting for Gina - Thursday at 11 a.m.

Diocesan Meeting for Gina - Friday

Diocesan Meeting for all teachers - Monday, Oct. 22

And don't forget Reconciliation on Wednesday.  I have gone through the school and faculty calendar and updated and clarified to keep everyone up to date.  If you see something missing, please let either Karen or I know. 

Monday's faculty meeting will be full of information regarding upcoming events.  It's important that teachers attend.  Please remind students that school is closed next Monday, Oct. 22.  

I forgot to give Fr. Dermot the Holy Cards last week for Mass this weekend.  I was able to get them to the church for the 7:30 a.m. Mass Sunday.  However, students who went to 4:30 on Saturday did not receive a card.  Fr. Tim told them to use the honor system.  I will come around Monday and give a card to those who went to Mass on Saturday for their collection.  So if a student does not have a card and is in free dress, ask them what Mass they went to.  They should say Saturday with Fr. Tim. 

We need to hire people to work in our Extended Day program.  If you know anyone who might be a good candidate, please talk to Gina.  

Enjoy your week.  Cool weather is coming..... I hope!

Happy Columbus Day

Or is it Happy Indigenous People's Day?  Was Columbus a hero?  Was he a brutal colonizer?  I'm not sure it matters.  Columbus Day was not necessarily set aside to honor an individual but to recognize an event that began over 500 years of immigration to America by people seeking a better life.  Changing the name or ignoring Columbus does not change our history.  It's always important to recognize the good and the bad in history so that we may learn from it.  Here's what I learned on Friday... All our Grand people had an awesome time.  One thing they liked most was sitting with the students at Mass.  It all went well, some broke the rules, but everyone was happy.  Hats off to Gina for making a plan that worked!!  I also heard we did amazing in our book sales!

I believe this week is pretty quiet.  As we discussed on Friday, start making plans for conferences.  8th grade will have their first Bible Study with Fr. Tim on Thursday during lunch in the art room.  Friday is Movie Night and be sure to remind students that next weekend is Uniform Weekend at Mass.  

Enjoy the week.