4/4/11

Principal's Corner April 2011

And I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength. Isaiah 49:5 Dear Parents/Guardians, Spring is here, and it is truly countdown until the end of the school year. How amazingly fast it has gone so far, and these next two months will also fly by. Although our IOWA testing is complete, there are still a couple of assessments coming up. The CogATs (Cognitive Abilities Tests), which are part of the IOWA testing, will be given to the 3rd, 5th, and 7th grade students April 5th-7th. These are short tests which are spread among three days--nothing to worry about. The ACRE (Assessment of Catholic Religion Education) national assessment will be given to the 5th and 8th grade students on April 11th and 12th. These will be given during religion classes. Our parent organizations are winding down this year's activities and working on developing new officers and ideas for next year. The School Committee, Home and School Association, Creative Arts Guild, and Booster Club are asking for your help in doing this. If you can commit time to any one of these organizations, please contact them. They are all looking for new officers for next school year, and they all do such great things for our students and school. We could not be successful without them. I know we are all so very busy; it is hard to imagine that we can put another minute of activity in our schedules, but think about it. As we prepare for Easter this Lenten Season, we will be giving the students an opportunity to attend reconciliation. There should be information sent home on this. We have two more $1 out of uniform days. The day this month is April 20th and will go for the 6th grade. The one for next month (our last one) will be for the religion classes. These have been so successful--thank you. Below is the list of what the money has been/will be spent on: · Kdg: Headsets and phonic readers · 1st: The Gingerbread House Project and Butterfly Project · 2nd: New Globes and books for the classrooms · 3rd: Electric pencil sharpener, deposit on bus for Space Center trip, wood for new shelves, and some miscellaneous supplies · 4th: New books and resource materials for the classrooms · 5th: Four large bulletin boards for outside classrooms and one for the cafeteria to display student work, · 6th: This month's collection · 7th: Electrical circuit supplies for science classes, books for classrooms · 8th: Books for the homeroom libraries, math games, dictionaries, and thesauruses If you have been on campus, you know that our Outdoor Classroom is really coming together. Our continued thanks go to Mr. Matt Stovall for all the work and time put into this wonderful project. Also, we wish to thank Mr. Jack Berry for donating the fence and labor to install it. If you would like to help out with any volunteer work or donations to this classroom call Kathy Sumrell. Our children are getting into the Outdoor Classroom spirit also. They have begun their individual garden boxes. Some things are already visible. The plantings of each grade level are: · Kdg: Tulips, onions, asparagus, and potatoes. The tulips are beginning to bloom now and the onions are coming up. · 1st: Lettuce and various wildflowers to attract butterflies and hummingbirds · 2nd: "1st Communion Garden"--Easter Lilies from the church will be transplanted · 3rd: Various seeds, bulbs, and clippings. They are studying and researching the different ways plants grow. · 4th: Tomatoes and snap peas · 5th & 6th: Herbs · 7th: Carrots, radishes, and potatoes · 8th: Flowers for the May Crowning and Mother's Day The garden projects have been a great source of learning and enjoyment for all. We have a wonderful group of children of all ages in our Recycling Club. Right now they are hosting a paper drive to help pay for the recycling activities. Please save and deposit your paper and cardboard in the bin located in our back driveway. Next week our 8th graders will be gone to Tybee Island. They should have a wonderful experience. Keep their safety (and the teachers' sanity) in your prayers. We have had a lot of extracurricular activities going on. Our Spring Sports have begu--we have tennis, track, and golf and they are all doing well. Our baseball students are on a combined team with St. Jude through Notre Dame. I don't think they have started their schedule yet. Our after school art classes are creating some wonderful works, and our Hand Chime Choir is getting ready for Grandparents' Day. We also have the Makers' Club going on here on campus. These children are enjoying creating and learning through scientific principles. Mrs. Bethune has an active and fun 3rd grade Book Club going, and Mrs. Polahar is getting a 5th grade Book Club started. We are very excited about the progress of our new Pre-K4 that will be opening in the fall. We have one class almost at capacity, and we have hired a teacher. We had several wonderful candidates to choose from We want to welcome Mrs. Jessica Heffern to our staff; she is very excited and is already involved in helping us with decisions and making plans. We will choose our second teacher just as soon as we are sure we will have enough students. The way enrollment is going, we should be able to do that very shortly. In addition to all that has been mentioned, our April calendar is full. Below are a few reminders: · April 1: Lenten dinner sponsored by the school staff in the PLC after 5:30 mass and before the Stations of the Cross. · April 2: Sugar and Spice Luncheon · April 4: Booster Club Meeting · April 6: Parent workshop for parents of 4th graders · April 9: Black and White Formal put on by the Knights of Columbus. Proceeds benefit our Catholic Schools Scholarship Fund. Should be lots of fun and for a good cause. · April 13: Annual out of uniform pictures will be taken by LifeTouch. · April 13: Operation Rice Bowls due · April 13: Home and School Meeting · April 14: Spirit Night at Chik-fil-A. Mrs. Carden?s class won the last one and her class was treated to Chik-fil-A nuggets. Who will win this one?????? · April 18: VIRTUS training · April 18: CAG meeting · April 21: Holy Thursday · April 22: Good Friday and our Easter break begins J Make sure you read our weekly Fanfare to keep up with all the happenings. They are posted in our website weekly. The three Catholic schools now are linked on one new website. Go to www.mycdcs.com. CDCS stands for Chattanooga Deanery Catholic Schools. The three of us (St. Jude, Notre Dame, and us) have been working together on promoting our schools, and it has been very exciting. I hope April is a good month for you. Have a very Blessed Easter and a wonderful Easter break. Sincerely, Jeri McInturff