October 4, 2007 

 
From the Desk of Sr. Judith ……

 
 
   

The Light of Christ Shines Through You!

  

Virtue of the Month
During the month of October we will be focusing on the virtues of Compassion and Generosity.  See the included flyer for some “at home” suggestions.

Things to Remember

  1. Sacred Heart Private School will be closed on Monday, October 8th due to the observance of Columbus Day.  Have a great long weekend.

  2. Sacred Heart Private School will also be closed on Thursday, October 11th and Friday, October 12th because those are Teacher Conference Days scheduled by the Archdiocese of New York.  Teachers will be working but the students have time off.

  3. Our Winter Holiday Fundraiser begins today.  We count on everyone’s support to bridge the gap between the tuition you pay and the approximately $10,000 cost of educating your child (ren) at SHPS.

  4. Food Court Fundraising orders are due back to the HSO by next Tuesday, October 9th.

  5. 25 families still have not paid the September Tuition Raffle - October raffles are included in this packet.  If the same 13 families do not meet the due date for October, the Tuition Raffle amount of $200 will be added to their SMART account.  It’s better to pay the raffle and have a chance to win!!!

  6. Congratulations to the September Tuition Raffle Winner:  the family of Antoinette Sackey in Kindergarten. 

Proper Prior Planning

  • Although Grade PreK-8 Parent/Teacher Conferences are more than a month away, we need time to plan & schedule these and to notify you.  So, I am sending home to you today the notification of Conference dates & times and the form for you to complete to choose your times.   Please return these forms by October 17th in order for us to be able to try to accommodate you. We will schedule you as you return the forms – “first come, first served.” 
     

  • Please understand that we have many people to accommodate and we cannot schedule everyone for the evening.  I am sure, that if you give your employers advance notice, you will be able to take your lunch hour earlier or leave work for an hour or so.  Perhaps you can invoke the Family Leave Act (Federal employees, by law, are allowed time for their youngster’s educational events!)

Classroom Highlights

The Kindergarten class has been working hard this month! We have learned about our internal and external organs. The students even listened to their heartbeat! The class made apple prints, and learned to do bar graphs according to which student liked red or green apples. They made special projects in their Art class for the theme” I am Special” which they all are!  The students are working on amazing booklets for their senses. Stay tuned for more exciting news from our class!

Second grade students have joined the Scholastic Classrooms Care Club. This organization helps schools in need receive new reading books. All we have to do is read 100 books by Christmas break and Scholastic will donate 100 reading books to different schools. We have a chart in our room to help us keep count and every time we finish a book we tape an apple to our desk that has the name of the book.

The 6th grade students have recently begun and intensive study of Ancient Greece. To the interest and delight of the students, a cross curriculum approach will be used combining studies in Art, Language Arts, Social Studies, Technology and Library research.

  • Mrs. Antosca’s Language Arts class will focus on Greek Mythology.  The students will research the various gods and describe their impact on “mortals.”  Mrs. Antosca will also do ongoing read alouds from Greek Mythology books and the students will be reading and analyzing Rick Riorda’s series Percy Jackson & the Olympians.

  • Mrs. Frank’s Art class will cover the artistic skills of the ancient artisans.   The students will engage in such activities as creating decorative vases.

  • The individual students in Mrs. Luisi’s Social Studies class will each research an aspect of living in ancient Greece.  From Aespo’s Fables to Socrates, The Parthenon to Alexander the Great and the Trojan War to the Olympics, students will research and examine one of the greatest cultures in antiquity.

  • Mrs. Santiago will oversee all research done in the computer lab and Mrs. Derry will assist the students in obtaining appropriate books from the library, to aid them in their research of individual topics.

There will be No Packet Next Week, October 11th.