“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”
Harold “Hal” Borland (1900-1978)
Dear SKS Families,
The pictures above are from Go Run, Living Stations, Google Virtual Reality Day and select pictures from teachers’ classroom bulletin boards that tell a story of what goes on here on a daily basis. We educate hearts, minds, bodies, and souls.
I hope you and your families are refreshed from Easter break. I am happy to report that after 16 trash bags and 27 boxes, the Tosti basement and attic are somewhat cleaned out. How about the quote above? We have to hold out hope for Spring – I’ll take sunny and 60 degrees please!
Please click here for the notes I took from Paul Sanfrancesco’s talk to parents and faculty at the Home and School Speaker Series on March 13th. There is some good information in it for you to read and keep handy. I advise you to keep an open dialogue with your child about technology and social media. I advise you to help them monitor their digital footprint to insure whatever they text, post, save as pictures and videos is of a positive nature and is representative of your family’s good name.
This post-Easter stretch I refer to as the beginning of the end of the school year. It is the busiest time of the year for us at school and there is much to do such as:
- Regular daily plans to finish the year academically strong. This is all about teachers getting your child prepared for the next year.
- End of the year items that need to be completed.
- Start the process for preparing for the next year. Things such class lists* for next year, summer reading, book orders are just a few examples of the things that need to get done as we look ahead.
*Please know that teachers spend a great deal of time creating class lists for the following year. It is not a random process. Consideration is given to creating a balanced mix of students. We like an even mix of a boy to girl ratio. We want the classes to be heterogeneously mixed so that one class never appears to be labeled “the smart class.” We want to balance out personalities and “good fits” with respect to both teacher to student, and student with student. Like life, it is never perfect and the teachers do what they think is best for each child.
At our Faculty In-Service this past Tuesday we had a full and fruitful day.
- Teachers received their annual End of the Year Checklist – a series of things needed for the close of this year and/or the start of the next year.
- A coach from the DCIU gave a two hour presentation on specific training in working with students who have ADHD and Executive Functioning difficulties. Our instructor was terrific and provided us with some excellent strategies to use for all students.
- A presentation on the Readers Workshop Program was given by 7th grade teacher Jennifer Loftus.
- Deputy Chris Flanagan and Lieutenant Sean Dietrich from the Radnor Police gave a presentation on Response to an Active Shooter Scenario.
Prior to school next year, we are planning to have a simulated active shooter drill with our faculty and staff only. No students will be present during this drill. No school or organization wants to do something like this but the reality is we need to be prepared for the unthinkable.
Please note that May 10th, the holyday of Ascension Thursday, which was originally a day off is now a snow makeup school day. We will have a school mass that day at 9 am in place of the originally scheduled mass (prepared by the first grade) on May 15th. Please mark your May calendars, especially those parents in 1st grade who were planning to attend.
I am happy to share the great news that our music teacher, Ross Fry, and his wife Mary are proud parents of a baby daughter Sadie. Sadie was 6 lbs. 13 ounces, 21.25 inches. We had more great news prior to the Easter break as there were two other births. Congratulations to Kate and Kyle Mallach, and sister Grace Carey (1st grade) on the birth of baby sister Leah. Also, Carla and Stephen Ries with brother Anthony, (1st grade) are excited about the birth of new baby sister Victoria.
Congratulations to the DiMarino family who won the SKS TAP NCAA Brackets Pool. We had well over 200 entries with half the proceeds going to St. Katharine of Siena Tuition Assistance Program. It’s fun and it’s win/win.
SKS SHOPPES, which was rescheduled from March due one of those Nor’easters, will be open next Thursday and Friday, April 12th and 13th. Please come out for some Spring (we hope) shopping and support our school’s fundraising efforts. Tell your relatives, neighbors and friends!
Spring uniforms can be worn staring this coming Monday. Students have the option of wearing that or staying with winter uniform as they wish if it’s still cool out. Keep the winter uniform handy for the May Procession as we will ask the students to wear it that evening.
I hope to see you around school soon, preferably in short sleeves!
Take care,
Bud