Families hard at work
Dear Families,
It is such a good start to the year with these beautiful autumn days! Students are learning classroom routines and digging into learning.
At our Prayer Assembly yesterday, Mrs. Rain shared a video retelling the story from Sunday’s Gospel where Jesus teaches Peter about forgiveness. We are to forgive not just seven times but seventy times seven. Mrs. Rain encouraged us this week to think about how forgiving people is part of the work we do to be good people.
News from the Week
School Safety:
- Drive SLOW in the streets around our campus AND on our playground as you come for drop off and pick up. There is never a need to hurry in the car and risk the safety of our students.
- We had our first fire drill today. This was followed by doing an earthquake drill in classrooms. We will do fire drills once per month throughout the school year.
Family Handbooks: Family Handbooks are being sent home today! Please read them–there is important information about our systems and programs. Per your enrollment agreement, you are required to review and understand all school policies outlined in the handbook.
School Commission: Last Wednesday night the School Commission met to launch their work for the school year. This meeting focused on reviewing what work had been done previously on the Five Year Plan pillars of Catholic Identity, Programs, Technology and Facilities. Lori Roozen, the School Commission Chair this year led us in reflection on what topic areas each member could provide leadership in as we work to strengthen our school program. Look for next month’s report on what initiatives of the Five Year Plan will be worked on.
Back to School Night: Last Thursday was wonderful! Thank you to all the parents who came. We love this opportunity to share our overarching goals and plans for the school year. Parents had a chance to hear all about our theme, our programs, meet our church and school staff, and learn about how to support their student(s). Someone asked if I would share the Sister Stan meditation I read:
“To be ourselves is the most wonderful thing
we can be in the world.
To realize the capacity we have to be ourselves
is the work of a lifetime.
It is the one thing we each can do superbly well,
and that nobody else can do.”
We have good work to do this year! And finally, thank you to the teachers for preparing thoughtful and informative classroom presentations for families.
Parent Association News and Events:
I met with our Parent Association Chairs, Kris Lund and Minou Reisinger last week to hear about the plans being made for community building events this year. First up: On Friday, October 6, plan to attend the Fall Carnival! This event includes inflatables and games on the playground, Dick’s Burger Truck, Pizza & Drinks, Beer Garden and a Cake Walk! You will not want to miss this fun event!
School Families:
For those new to the community, all students K-8 are put into one of twenty families and stay with that family throughout their time at St. Anne’s. Each family has students from each grade level and the 8th grader serves as the family leader. Once per month they meet for an activity together and build cross grade level connections. This week they created posters that will be up around the school. These posters share words and pictures of one way each family member is good.
100th Anniversary News:
- 100th Anniversary Gala, Saturday, November 4: Don’t forget to get signed up. Find the link to RSVP for the Gala on the front page of our website!
- Monday, September 25: All students should wear their 100th Anniversary T-shirts–we will be taking a commemorative 100 year photo of all students and staff after the Prayer Assembly. Please contact Ester if you have questions about the t-shirts.
On the calendar this week
Middle School Dance News: St. Joe’s is hosting a school dance on Friday, September 22, 7-9pm. Permission slips will be sent home with 7th and 8th grade students on Thursday.
Executive Function Bootcamp! Next Wednesday, September 27, 6:45-7:45, Beth Peterson will lead our first session. Students have already begun their work filling out surveys to identify their EF Strengths and Challenges. All parents should come and learn about how their students learn and find out ways to help and support them. Remember: parents get service hour credit for the time spent in EF Bootcamp! It is important to learning!
Archdiocesan Principal Retreat: I will be joining all the other Archdiocesan Principals for a retreat at Seabeck, Wednesday afternoon through Friday. All school principals will be given training to teach this year’s Christ in the Classroom Retreat on prayer to our school staff at our inservice on October 13. It is also an opportunity to hear about other Catholic schools in the Archdiocese and make helpful connections.
Church News
- Tonight, Tuesday, September 19th is a Partners in the Gospel Information Session. If you are still wondering WHAT Partners is and WHY it matters, this session is for you. It will be led by Fr. Colin Parrish from 7-8PM in Banchero Hall.
- Saturday, September 23rd and Sunday, September 24th will be our Parish Families Announcement weekend. Fr. Colin Parrish will be announcing to parishioners at Mass the proposed Partners in the Gospel parish grouping, also known as the parish “Family.”
- Sunday, September 24th – Children’s Liturgy of the Word begins again during 10AM Mass!
Have a great week!
Heidi
