Happy Valentine's/Singles Awareness Day!

 Thank you to everyone who educated the rest of us about what is truly happening on Feb. 14.  I had no idea this existed, and now I'm questioning our choice of dress down for Friday.  Should it be red, pink, or black with chains? Maybe not. For now, just red, pink, and hearts.  Students may also be in free dress on Monday.  The Holy Card they should have for this month is St. Anne.  

What is most important this week is doing the Terra Nova practice tests and becoming familiar with the test if this is your first time proctoring the Terra Nova.  

Last week, I completed the ARCA for this year. I also attended a webinar that discussed the changes being made to the accreditation benchmarks. Most of the changes focus on making the wording more specific, breaking down one benchmark into two, and removing the referral to 21st-century skills.  I also spent a good deal of time reviewing our Action Plans.  It is important that we are doing the things we wrote about.  I will meet with Committee Chairs this week to discuss what is needed before the summer to update the Action Plans for this year and collect evidence.  The goal is to finish everything before the last day of school, so we are not doing this on that last Friday. 

Have a wonderful week!  

Smencil Sales are Here!

 When you realize that things may not be back to normal for a few weeks.  

Thank you all once again for a great Catholic Schools Week. The committee outdid themselves on Vocations Day, and those were amazing speakers.  

And now for this week's fun....

Smencil sales begin on Monday.  I'm not sure this was advertised in Tidbits but sales will continue into next week.  Student Council representatives will come to your homeroom each day to sell them.  

Also on Monday, Mary and I will join Fr. Primus and Deacon Mike to go around the school to bless throats.  Please refer to the schedule below.  It will start at approx. 10 am (give or take)

At our Faculty Meeting Monday, Mary will be talking about the Terra Nova, and on Tuesday, Lisa and Heather will be at an Instructional Coach's meeting. 

Thursday will be scoliosis screening for 6th graders.  Gail will let you know the time.  This is also the 7th grade Science Fair day, and the 6th grade will have theirs on Friday, I will be out on Friday at a principal's meeting that day.

I owe two classes their rewards:

6th grade gets extra recess with me (Connor, can we stay out on Wednesday for an extra 10-15 min?  Andrea, please take 8th grade in from recess.)  This was based on attendance at the PTCO meeting.

2nd grade gets an ice cream sundae party from the Student Council for being the Matching Monday winners.  (Connor/Andrea, please talk with Galy, pick a day, and let me know.  I will buy the ice cream, etc.)

And that is the week in a nutshell.  Have a great week!

Blessing of the Throats Schedule:

Fr. Primus with Mary:

2nd

3rd

4th (they may be in technology)

6th

7A and 7B

Deacon with Linda:

8th

PK3

PK4

K

1st (back from art at 10:20)

5th (back from PE at 10:20)

Celebrate Catholic Schools!

 Happy Catholic Schools Week! Thank you to our CSW Committee, NJRS, Student Council, and the PTCO for making this a great week of celebrating Catholic education.  Be sure to check the schedule each day and remind students what to wear the next day.  Remember, all roads lead to Friday when the real fun begins.  There's still time to sign up for Dodge Ball Madness, so don't be shy.  

After CSW, we have  Smencil Sales (Connor and Andrea will share information on how that will go), and not far behind that is the Terra Nova. We will talk more about that at our next faculty meeting. Teachers, please check your grade books to ensure you have sufficient summatives. We have only four weeks left in this trimester.  

Thank you, everyone, for supporting our mission, and have a spectacular week.  

Happy MLK Day and Inauguration Day!

 Regardless of your political beliefs, there is much to think about and reflect on today.  We remember a great man and watch as the 47th president is sworn into office.  Someone recently told me they would not watch the news for the next four years.  There's that or we can pray that our leaders are guided by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and hope for a better future.  

This week is the calm before the storm that is Catholic Schools Week.  While much is going on next week, it is also a time to celebrate who we are as a community.  

This Thursday is our second General PTCO meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. in the FLC. The following teachers signed up to attend: Claudia, Heather, Darien, Susana, Maria, Kristy, Melissa, and Connor. Our guest speaker will be Yesenia, who will discuss software that keeps children safe on the internet.  

Your intent to return is in your mailbox.  Everyone must complete one for next year.  

Have a great week!

Pilgrims of Hope

 Who knew that our August retreat could aid in receiving a plenary indulgence.  It might.  Pope Francis has granted a Jubilee indulgence for making a pilgrimage to an official site and doing other things like receiving communion, reconciliation, etc.  Bishop Parkes has named six sites Official Places of Pilgrimage in our Diocese.  Among them are Sacred Heart Church and St. Leo Abby (a couple of you went there recently).  You may have a head start.  You can find all the details at https://gulfcoastcatholic.org/pilgrimage (You will need to copy/paste.)  There are also plans for a Corporal Works of Mercy challenge, but I have not seen the details yet.  We probably have a good start on that as a school already.  

Monday is Holy Card free dress.  There may be a variety of cards tomorrow, so please accept any holy card.  They were delivered to the church Friday after the office closed, and every priest may not have known their location.  Monday is also IXL Math testing.  Please see Mary's email for any questions you may have. 

Let's talk about Sunday's homily for a moment.  You may have wondered about something if you were like me and listened to Fr. Primus. Or maybe it's just my ignorance, but I learned a new word.  The word is Theophany.  Fr. Primus talked about how we went from Epiphany to Theophany.  I was grateful that Prince was with me to tell me what the word was because I'd never heard it.  He knew what it was and Googled it for me.  I learned that the Baptism of Jesus is also called Theophany in Easter Christian churches, both Catholic and Orthodox.  It is the manifestation of the fullness of God.  If you want to learn more, this is a good article about it https://www.catholic.org/news/national/story.php?id=66425  

Finally, this part is for teachers.  Coming back to our conversation about note-taking.  Maria and I continued the discussion all week and did some research/reading.  Here is what we learned:

• Kudos to Anna for highlighting!  While this is not truly a form of note-taking, it is a prerequisite for that skill.  Students need to be able to identify main ideas and essential information.  The next good step is graphic organizers, where the 3rd grade is headed.
• Kudos also goes to Heather for her discussion on helping students learn to organize information into graphic organizers.
• Kudos to those teachers who know that not all students benefit from the same type of notes and introduce multiple ways of taking notes.  While graphic organizers are great, simple Cornell notes or just two-column notes (used by Claudia and David) are also important to teach. 
• We learned that this skill is a high school benchmark.  That means we need to keep teaching the skill of taking notes all the way through 8th grade.  While they may have learned note-taking skills in 5th grade, it doesn't mean they are skilled at it in 6th grade.  They will be in 9th grade if we keep teaching.
• Finally, there is a great deal of research supporting hand-written notes over electronic note-taking.  While it may be optional for students to do either, we may want to look at having times when it's mandatory for all.  

During the next two PLC meetings, please talk about what you are doing at grade level (for early childhood it may be as simple as highlighting words or ideas). and then at subject area, how these ideas can progress from grade to grade.  If you are a core subject teacher and do not teach math or ELA, please join the ELA PLC for this discussion.

Have a wonderful week and Happy Theophany to all! 

Happy New Year!

 I hope you all have a great holiday.  Bring that holiday smile and lots of patience tomorrow to receive tired, cranky children who wish they were still in bed, especially with how cold it will be this week.  Monday is a good time to review classroom rules and behavior expectations and a reminder that our goal for this year is to spread kindness.  As we enter the new year, this is a perfect time for students to reflect on how they treat others with genuine kindness.  January is also a good time to conference with students (post i-Ready testing) about the goals they set earlier in the year and their progress.  

Most of the planned work for over break did happen.  We are, however, still waiting for the fence people to fix the gate.  They have given us a date of Saturday, Jan. 11.  Fingers crossed.  

It's a quiet week.  The faculty meeting will be important for all teachers.  We will be discussing Catholic Schools Week.  The committee, David (Penny Wars), and Connor (Spirit Week) will be presenting.  

I will be at the Bethany Center for an administrator's meeting on Friday but will be available by text or email.  

Have a wonderful week!