February 2018

St. Francis School

From The Principal—Mrs. Sikora Catholic Schools Week was so much fun for the children and the school staff! We had a great time dressing in the theme of the day, and learned so much from the family members who were able to visit the classrooms on Career Day. Jacob Innes, Zoe Wilson, and Trinity Mendez joined me in the Governor’s pressroom for a picture with the other area Catholic Schools. Our annual Matchbox car race was a nail biter, with a first time ever three-way tie between Damon Master, Ophira Ronen, and Trinity Mendez. On Friday, PTO president, Erin Vriendt prepared a delicious luncheon for the staff. Thank you, Erin!

In sports, the basketball season is in full swing with all four teams playing games.

I enjoy attending games and seeing the players’ progress, and am very impressed by

how much they have learned. I thank the coaches for their work with the children,

volunteering their time and talents. In addition to their time on the courts, the Athletic

Directors, Brent Burns and Darrin Willard, held a very successful hot dog fundraiser

this past Sunday. Thank you Brent and Darrin. Please note that the

spring soccer season will begin in a few weeks. A sports banquet is al-

so in the works. Information will follow in the next few weeks.

Congratulations to Mila Cleek on the arrival of her baby sister.

Pastor’s Message—Father Pat This month begins the season of Lent. The Catholic Church invites us to use the days of this Holy season to deepen our personal relationship with our Savior, Jesus. The Gospel teaches us that as we prepare to celebrate the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of Jesus we spend 40 days fasting and praying and giving to people in need. Children are very capable in joining in this ancient tradition of repentance and renewal. In our Catholic School and in your homes we can deepen our Christian lives and encourage the children to say their prayers, to discipline our appetites, and to share with the needy. Some see Lent as a season of giving up things. I see Lent as a season of receiving blessings, our faith increases, our love for God and people deepens, and our bodies are renewed by discipline. God bless you in this Holy season of Grace.

Preschool-Mrs. Lago We all enjoyed exploring shadows during January. The children made their own Groundhog Day predictions. In February, we will explore our Chairs and Trash Stud-ies. During our Chair Study we will be reading and retelling “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and our nursery rhyme is “Little Miss Muffet”. During our Trash, we will read “I Stink” and practice naming the letters of the alphabet. Our Valentine Sharing Celebration will be on Feb13, 2018 @ 1:00. Families are wel-come as always. Please have your sign their first name on 20 Valentines to share with their classmates. Please start early and sign no more than 5 cards per day.

Best Dressed

This month’s best dressed award goes to Kindergarten. They received

an extra recess for winning. Congratulations First Grade!

K-95.6% 1st-100% 2nd-87.8 3rd-95.2% 4th-83% 5th-92.8%

February is the time enrollment begins for the next school year. Packets will be going home in a few days, and Preschool and Kindergarten Roundup will be on Thursday, February 22. The Diocesan Tuition Assistance Program applications are available for Catholic families, and may be accessed from the school’s website www.sfswv.com. In addition, Father Pat is scheduling meetings with any kindergarten-fifth grade families requesting scholarships through the McDonough Scholarship fund. Please call the school office for an appointment.

Please pray for our good friend, Larry Meeks, who suffered a stroke this past Satur-

day. Larry does maintenance work at the school, and volunteers in the cafeteria eve-

ry week.

January Good Samaritans

The Good Samaritan Award is given to a child who shows concern for his/her classmates. Keep up the great work!

K-2: Ethan Rennie 3-5: Chloe Roderick

SAVE THE DATE!

PRESCHOOL & KINDERGARTEN ROUNDUP WED. FEBRUARY 22ND 11AM-2PM

Preschool-Ms. Burns In our classroom this month we have had a lot of fun exploring and learning about shadows. The children really loved this study starter, and they continue to search for shadows everywhere we go! We have also been finishing up the alphabet, and working on writing our names each day. The children also love the daily interactive calendar we use on our Smart Board. Family Hot Dog Day was very fun, and we are in the process of plan-ning our Valentine’s Day celebration next week. As always, thank you very much to all of our parents. You are very involved, and Ms. Melissa and I truly appreciate each and every one of you!

Kindergarten News—Mrs. Gregg The class really enjoyed Catholic Schools Week. Career Day was so interesting and we enjoyed learning about different careers. Thank you to those parents that came to share your career with the class. Gold and blue day was also lots of fun. We played games in the classroom to earn points for our teams. teams. It's hard to believe we are getting ready for the Valentine Party on Friday this week, this year is going quickly. The class is really excited about the party and ex-changing valentines. There is a class list in your students folder. The class is doing really well on their spelling tests. Thanks for helping them study. Continue to pray for our school volunteer Larry Meeks as he recovers. Our volunteers are so important to our school and we appreciate them!

Preschool-Mrs. Shrewsbury This month the preschoolers are looking forward to our Valentine’s Day party and passing out valentines to their friends! During Dental Health month we will learn about the importance of taking good care of our teeth and eating healthy foods. We will also learn about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, as we celebrate President’s Day. Our letters for February are “T” “U” “V” and “W”. Our Valentine’s Day party will be on February 14

th at 10:45. Parents are always

welcome to join us!

We would like to wish Mrs. Hall and Esther Greenlee a very Happy Birthday this

month!

First Grade News—Ms. Potter The students enjoyed Catholic Schools Week! They had so much fun dressing up each day. We appreciate our parents for coming in to tell us about their careers on Career Day. We always learn so much from them! It was also wonderful to see the careers the children had chosen for themselves.

In math, the students are continuing to count money, tell time to the half hour, and identify and draw congruent shapes. To provide extra practice with two-digit addition, the children are pretending to shop and add items on receipts. They are using dimes and pennies to find the total cost of the items. They are also practicing addition and subtraction facts daily. Please continue to practice these skills at home too. The students are doing a great job learning the new jingles for the preposition and object of the preposition. I hope they are singing them at home too! It is amazing to watch them classify sentences. They enjoy taking turns and teaching the class how to label the words correctly on the Smartboard. In Religion, the students completed their thematic unit on The Birth of Jesus. They were excited to take their completed book home to share with their families. Ms. Ramella did a wonderful lesson with the children on God’s Creation. She had them draw something beautiful that they had seen that day that God had created. They did such a wonderful job on their pictures! They are displayed in the hallway. It is hard to believe that we already celebrated the 100

th Day of School! The school

year is more than halfway over. Please continue to check over your child’s homework and help him/her correct mistakes. Spending just a few minutes each day reviewing their work helps tremendously! Thank you for all of the support you are providing at home!

Second Grade News—Mrs. Lopez February is here so Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Our class will make their own box at home. The boxes should be simple in design by using recyclable materials like tissue, cereal, or cracker boxes and cover them. Our class party will be on Friday, February 9 at 1:45 in our classroom. Students may bring in their boxes and Valentine’s beginning February 8th. We are all enjoying Catholic Schools week. I would like to thank Troy, Emily J, Izzy, and their families for making it to mass on Sunday. We would like to thank the families that were able to make it in for career day: Mrs. Stone, Ms. Bunch, and Mrs. Booher. We all enjoyed learning a little more about each one of you and your careers. The whole class is off to a good start for this nine weeks on our Accel-erated Reader goals. Remember they can take the AR quizzes at home. If you need the information again, please let me know. I would like to wish a happy birthday this month to Anastasia and Zoie!!!

Third Grade News—Mr. Swalley

I'm very happy our class was able to survive the crazy month of January! With the flu seemingly everywhere and the fluctuating weather, our class was very blessed. The deeper we get into spring, our math lessons will become more "complex." We will be learning order of operations, multiplying two-digit numbers, and long division. It is a must that the students know their multiplication tables. Please continue to work with your student at home so they can be better prepared for when we reach these les-sons.

Fourth Grade News—Mrs. Martin We began our month celebrating Catholic Schools Week. In Social Studies, we will be celebrating Black History Month after the conclusion of the civil War. Next week, we will be studying “sales tax” in Math. This is exciting because of our “Grand Open-ing” of the classroom General Store. Each student (clerk) will be given lots of practice figuring percentages. The students are excited about the Valentine’s party and dance on Friday, February 9

th. Mardi gras will take place on February 13 with a lesson and

festivities, followed by Ash Wednesday with school Mass the following morning. The 4

th and 5

th graders have a special Lenten project titled, “the Rice Bowl.” We need

help from all classes and more information will be sent home next week. Special thank you to Mrs. Erin Vriendt and all of our wonderful PTO for everything they pro-vide for the students, faculty and staff at St. Francis. You are the best!!

Fifth Grade News—Ms. S. January flew by and now February is coming in with a blast! We have a lot going on in the fifth grade this month. The Fish Fries are just around the corner, starting the 16

th.

The class will be wearing their class shirts to the fish fries. I will need parents to help with the drink station and trash. Please send me an email if you are able to help. We will be continue working on our newspaper Prezi project. Here are some dates to remember: Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent @ 1:45 pm Ash Wednesday, February 14 Fish Fry begins Friday, February 16 from 5-7pm.

UPCOMING EVENTS—DATES—REMINDERS For more information on the calendar of events, school lunch menus, and much more,

visit our school website: www.sfswv.com!

Choir Every Wednesday until 3:30pm

Thursday, February 8th

– Mass Grades K-5

Friday, February 9th

– PTO Valentine’s Dance 7-9pm in the Gym

Friday, February 9th

– Free Red Day/Jeans Day – Valentine Parties Grades K-5 @ 1:45pm

Tuesday, February 13th

– Mass 3rd

Grade

Wednesday, February 14th

– Ash Wednesday Mass Grades K-5 8:15am

Thursday, February 15th

– No Mass

Thursday, February 15th

– Family Hot Dog Day—$5 Adult Lunch – Times are as follows:

11:00 – 11:30 – Grades 2-5 – Cafeteria

11:30 – 12:00 – Grades K-1 – Gym

12:00 – 12:30 – All Preschool Classes – Cafeteria

Friday, February 16th

– Popcorn Day—$.50

Friday, February 16th

– Stations of the Cross 1:45pm

Friday, February 16th

– Fish Fry 5:00-7:00pm

Monday, February 19th

– No School – President’s Day – No Daycare Available

Tuesday, February 20th

– Mass 4th

Grade

Wednesday, February 21st

– City National Bank Day

Thursday, February 22nd

– Preschool & Kindergarten Roundup.

No Preschool or Kindergarten classes. ASC and Daycare will be available.

Last Name A-K: 9:00am – 11:00am

Last Name L-Z -: 12:00pm- 2:00pm

Thursday, February 22nd

– Mass K-5

Friday, February 23rd

– Jeans Day—$.50

Friday, February 23rd

– Stations of the Cross 1:45pm

Friday, February 23rd

– Fish Fry 5:00-7:00pm

Tuesday, February 27th

– Mass 5th

Grade