Dear Families:
Welcome to Move-a-thon week! It’s nice to be planning for an event that more closely resembles our traditional Move-a-thon. Though the entire school will not be “moving” at the same time due to distancing guidelines, we will still be spending the afternoon with the same goal… to exercise and raise money for our school. Lower grade classes will be doing warm-ups while the middle school runs, and the middle school will cool-down as the lower grades head out to the courses. Popsicles will still be a part of the fun, but they will be handed out at the end of the day for students to eat after school. Monia Flora is always looking for extra helping hands, outside, on the courses. Please feel free to contact her if you are available to help.
We are starting to see a few colds, sore throats and stomach aches affecting our students. It’s that time of year! Thank you to those who are keeping students home with any symptoms. We are getting closer to approval of a Covid vaccine for our younger students, but we can’t let our guard down now. At school we are strictly enforcing the distancing, hand-washing and masking guidelines. Please continue to do the same when students are interacting with others. I know how much these kids need to be together, but unless students are vaccinated, please try to refrain from situations where children are indoors, in close contact, without masks. Halloween is coming and children want to spend time with their friends and have sleep-overs or parties. Please be very careful in these situations. We all want to prevent any outbreak of Covid (or any illness) in our school and we all need to work together to do whatever we can to make that happen.
The Washington State Department of Health has updated its Decision Tree for steps to take when a student is symptomatic or has had a positive exposure to covid. You might find it useful in your own home.
We are excited to host Dr. Janine Jones, UW psychologist, author and sought after speaker on the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 20th from 6:30-8:00pm. She will talk about racial diversity and share ideas on how to raise anti-biased children. We have opened up the interactive Zoom event to St. Joseph School parents as well. When you register for tickets we are asking for an “any amount” donation to help underwrite the cost. We hope to see you there! Register for the event now!
Finally, just a reminder that there is no school for students this coming Friday, October 15th. Our teachers and staff will be participating in our Christ in the Classroom retreat. We are focusing on the fourth (of six) Catechesis tasks – Prayer. We will spend the day deepening our knowledge and experience of prayer and explore ways to bring the gift of prayer and reflection into our school and classrooms.
Have a great week!
Mary
