Monday Morning Memo

I hope the students got their fill of snow experiences, as I know that we adults are ready for the melt to increase!  With luck, the warm-up scheduled for the latter part of this week will bring some great spring weather.  Now for all of the catching up we need to do…

The Rain Forest Open House is this Tuesday from 11:30 – 1:00.  Parents and guests of our third grade students will be treated to guided tours of the rain forest and a demonstration of all of the knowledge the students have acquired as they have studied this unique environment.

Parent teacher conferences are this Thursday (12:00 – 8:00) and Friday (7:30 – 12:00) and there will be no classes for students.  Middle school parents are reminded that teachers would like students to attend the conferences with their parents.  Our extended day program will be available from 7:15 – 6:00 for those who contact Mrs. McDonald and make arrangements for their child to attend.  Temporary care for students while parents attend their conference is available at no charge for the period of the conference time.

We practiced our lockdown procedure on Tuesday, Feb. 19^th, with two police officers observing our procedure.  They offered a few suggestions and we noticed a couple of ways in which we could improve our system.  Then Karen McDonald, Gingie Watt, and I attended an all-day session with about 50 school administrators and 20 law enforcement officers on Saturday on school safety issues.  The workshop included statistics and lessons learned from school shootings, ways to react in case of an intruder, and practical applications in various areas of the school.  We plan to sit down with the officers who assisted us in our lockdown to review the findings from the workshop and what we might apply to our school.  We are looking for a balance between keeping our students and faculty safe while not changing the whole culture of our school and accessibility for our parents and guests.

Read any good books lately?  Please take a moment to collect any great books you may have on hand and donate them to the Annual Teachers' Book Drive.  Books may be placed in boxes by the ECC entrance and near Mr. Darnell's desk between Mon. 2/25-Fri 3/8.  The books will then be available to the teachers for their reading pleasure over spring break. If you have any questions, please contact Tracy Gordon at trcgordon@gmail.com

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The police have apparently set up a speed trap this morning because I have heard the brief siren alert many times this morning.  It’s a good reminder to us that this is a school zone with the posted speed of 15 mph around our property.  I wanted to alert you to this fact, in case you have forgotten, so you won’t get caught!

Monday Morning Memo

We hope you enjoyed your long weekend.  Our faculty and staff worked together on vertical integration of curriculum with an outside consultant, enVision Math for grades 1 – 4, and uses of technology in the middle school on Friday.  Then we appreciated the three-day weekend!

The Fifth Grade Showcase will be this Thursday night at 7:00 in our north wing multipurpose room!  Our talented students, under the direction of Mrs. Everly, will wow you with their talent, energy, and humor.  Come join us for a lively evening of fun!

Predictions are that the snow and ice are coming on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.  While such alerts are often more dramatic than the reality and tend to skirt us after all the hype, we must be prepared for that possibility.  We will still use One Call Now to send out a message to all families and do our best to get the notice on TV as well.  Our fifth grade program will be rescheduled to the earliest possible date, if school is cancelled for that day.

Friday is Spirit Day so show your school spirit by wearing St. Paul’s colors!

Our Science Olympiad Team competes at Penn Valley Community College this Saturday, under the direction of Mrs. Gruss and Mr. Stewart.  They’ll be representing our school from 7:30 – 4:00 so we all need to keep them in our thoughts this week and weekend.  We wish them good competition and much fun!

Read any good books lately?  Please take a moment to collect any great books you may have on hand and donate them to the Annual Teachers' Book Drive.  Books may be placed in boxes by the ECC entrance and near Mr. Darnell's desk between Mon. 2/25-Fri 3/8.  The books will then be available to the teachers for their reading pleasure over spring break. If you have any questions, please contact Tracy Gordon at trcgordon@gmail.com

From our Chaplain:

1.      This past week at the Middle School Health Fair, students were exposed to relaxation exercises that they can access from their home computer.  These are provided by Loyola (Maryland) University’s counseling department and include exercises for sleep relaxation, relaxed body/calm mind and taking an exam.  Additionally there are short clips to facilitate deep breathing in order to quiet oneself.  The site:  http://www.loyola.edu/department/counselingcenter/students/relaxation.aspx

2.       For those interested in online devotionals, the Irish Jesuits have two options that might prove very helpful during this Lenten season:

a.        www.prayasyougo.org:  This is an auditory devotional that uses music and scripture to invite you in to some personal meditation time with God.

b.      www.sacredspace.ie:  Leads you through a written devotional that invites prayer and reflection.

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