Pre-K celebrating Chinese New Year!
February 13, 2024
Dear Families,
Tomorrow we begin our Lenten journey with Ash Wednesday Mass at 8:45am. It is a season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving and this year we will continue our tradition of gathering in the gym on Tuesday through Thursday mornings. Our theme this year is “Journeying with Jesus in the Desert”. All students will receive CRS (Catholic Relief Services) Rice Bowls for almsgiving. When we gather we will hear stories of hope from around the world about how CRS is helping communities tackle issues of hunger, poverty and climate change; we will reflect on the way of the cross; we will pray a decade of the rosary together; and we will gather rice bowls. All are welcome. And please join us for Ash Wednesday Mass–our third and sixth grade classes have been busy helping prepare tomorrow’s liturgy.
Lenten Journey Books from the Parish: The parish is giving each student a Lenten Devotional book that has daily prayers and reflections. This beautiful book can be used at home throughout Lent to cultivate a rich prayer life. Using this, we hope you will have many conversations with your student as they journey through Lent.
Today we took the time to celebrate Valentine’s Day a day early! The day reminds us that kindness and love create a healthy community. I am also reminded on this day of the wonderful parent volunteers who help organize parties in the classroom and help create a warm and welcoming atmosphere at St. Anne School. The importance of parent volunteering is huge at our school! It allows us to run an auction that helps balance our budget. It helps run community building events like the Father/Daughter dance. It helps us grow and change through the School Commission work on the Five Year Plan. It helps with “centers” learning in the classroom. It helps run our extracurricular programs and CYO teams that enrich students in mind and body. The school has a heart of gratitude for all of you.
Our Archdiocesan Regional Curriculum Day last Friday was a success. The morning was spent in a wide variety of Zoom workshops on Universal Learning by Design, Early Learning, Student Mental Health and Social Media, AI for educators and Teaching Outside the Box to name a few. In the afternoon we went over safety protocol and a revised reunification plan (this will be shared with the parent community after we complete final edits). We also began planning for next year’s accreditation self study. We will continue to share best practices learned from the day at our Wednesday staff meeting.
State of the School: Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, March 5 at 6:00pm in Banchero Hall. All should plan to attend. This presentation will give an overview of the health of all systems of our school from Catholic Identity, to Programs/Academics, to Finances and will outline the current work we are doing on our Five Year Plan. I will also talk about our next accreditation cycle which begins in the fall.
100s Day on Friday: We are excited for 100s Day on Friday! It is a day for students to celebrate our 100th Anniversary. We will open the time capsule buried in spring of 1999! We will have morning activities in buddies groups and 100s games in Family groups. Thanks to the Parent Association for providing a pizza lunch to all the students! The teachers have planned a fun-filled day! Students should wear their 100th Anniversary t-shirts.
Dates for your Calendar
- February 19-23: NO SCHOOL–Mid-Winter Break
- February 28, 6:45pm: EF Bootcamp–
- March 5, 6pm: State of the School
- March 7: End of Trimester
- March 8: NO SCHOOL--Teacher Retreat Day
- March 15, 8:30am: Irish Dancers–Tara Academy
- March 29, 2:15pm: Stations of the Cross
Stay Well,
Heidi
