St. Gregory the Great School Newsletter APRIL 2018 VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1 Dear Parents Mission St. Gregory the Great School fosters a caring Catholic Christian environment, which provides a faith community where each student recognizes their uniqueness and will be prepared to take on a positive role in our society. A very Blessed Holy Week leading up to Easter for each of you and your loved ones! There has been so much excitement in the school these past weeks as we have shared and prepared our students to celebrate the most important component of our faith life Easter. A few of the things that I have witnessed or been part of have been making Lenten promises, a Reconciliation Service, a First Reconciliation retreat, several art projects involving crosses, and Live Stations practice using events in the Bible. It is really and truly wonderful to be able to share our faith on a daily basis with your children, our students. Our staff meetings are often filled with stories of the many ways your children enrich our faith lives as well.thank you! Our second graders received the sacrament of Reconciliation this past month. We look forward to their full participation in the Eucharist in May. All children in grades 3-8 had the opportunity to receive confession this past week. https://youtu.be/hugmm_3ffni We will be away from school during Holy Week, please take time to pray with and for friends and families. The link above will give you a two minute overview of Holy Week. There are many resources that you can access, but the best experience is to attend the live services at St. Gregory the Great Church. Please refer to the church bulletin for all services during Holy Week. 1
SLE of the Month A St. Gregory the Great Student is an Academically prepared individual who: Uses the tool of technology responsibly and Applies Basic Skills Important Dates 4/11 AR Recognition 4/10 Jump Rope for Heart Student Assembly 4/12 Grade 8 Holocaust Museum TBD Mother/Son Dance FAITH Our second graders received the sacrament of Reconciliation this past month. We look forward to their full participation in the Eucharist in May. All children in grades 3-8 had the opportunity to receive confession this past week. Continue to pray for our family members: Mr. Gil Priests Vocations All our families and friends who need prayer EXCELLENCE Congratulations to March Student of the Month Awardees. An Effective Communicator who: Writes ideas clearly and reads with expression. 4/25 April Birthdays Free Dress 4/25 Poetry Fair 4/25 Student of the Month 4/26 College/Career Day 4/30 Report Card #3 available on Gradelink 5/1 Jump Rope for Heart Event 5/3-5/5 Seussical,Jr. 5/6Family Mass 5/12 First Communion Summer School It s time to register for summer school. Forms are in the office. Grades 1-5 There may be some specialty classes in the afternoon for older grades. 5/10 Grade 8 Retreat 2
5/17 Sports Banquet 5/18 May Crowning 5/19 Mother/Son Dance Robotics Team qualifies for the Nationals Third Year in a Row! https://angelusnews.com/content/st-gregory-the-great-middle-school-wins-u-s-navy-seaper ch-competition 5/19 Worldstrides Trip-San Francisco 5/24 Art Walk 5/27-6/1 Worldstrides Trip- Washington DC & NY 5/28 Memorial Day April 30th Report Cards available online Musical May 3,4 and 5 Pre-Order your t-shirts now! $12.00. After April 1st they increase to $15.00 @stgknights stgknights GRADELINK: GET the APP Track your service hours. If you need help please st.gregoryschool.whittier email: principal@sggknights.org 3
AR GOALS I am very proud to announce that 100% of 3rd grade class met their Q3 AR goal! 14 out of 29 students doubled their goal (200% or more). We are readers! I hope everyone uses their vacation time to read. The best way to study View this short video. https://youtu.be/y_etzfdvv8c Stewardship Our fundraisers are very important in many ways. They fund educational products, new equipment, update and maintain our facilities. As we look ahead to improvements, please do all you can to support our fundraisers and pay tuition on time. Upcoming Projects: Estimated costs Repiping in the primary building $10,000(approx) (2) Bathroom Remodels in primary building $42,000(approx) Student desks and chairs for one classroom $4,300(approx) Continue with tech upgrades HD monitors (6) rooms $3500 each Community Clean Up Schedule April 14- Grade 6B & Grade 4 May 19-Grade 8 June 16- Grade 7 4
SAFETY- During the rainy days we have tried a different way for dismissal. In evaluating the process,we have discovered that the new way is safer. We will continue to implement the following dismissal format: Parents will park in the lot and come inside to sign their children out from class. At 3:20 pm students who are not picked up will go to study hall. Students who are in afterschool activities will either go to the field for athletics or classroom where the activity will be conducted. This will certainly decrease the movement of everyone all at once and the procedure will definitely be more secure. Thank you for a successful Fish Fry. We couldn t have done without the help of volunteers. Thank you for your time. Generous donor of : doorblok.com/lockblok.html E-cards and plastic cards are available! Top Earners for March Top Earners 1. Frances Cervantes 2. Patty Trejo 3. Ruben Trejo SCRIPSENSE is increasing rebate percentages for your favorite egift card merchants! You can shop all during the summer and continue to earn money for the school! Box Tops Contest Underway See it, clip it, turn it in. Prizes will be given to the top 3 classes that bring in the most box tops. This is a big fundraiser for our school s music program and you don't even have to leave your home. Thank you for your support! This is a great way to give back to support our school. 5
Looking for Service Hours? Yard Supervision 7:30AM-7:45AM, 11:30AM-1:00PM Campus Angels Athletic Coaches School Beautification and Cleaning- Join TLC Drivers and extra donations for School Activities Spring Musical Field Day Write a review for St. Gregory the Great on www.greatschools.com **Check service hour log on Gradelink PARENT MEETINGS RECAP Thank you for your attendance at the parent meetings last month. Some ideas surfaced on ways to raise money for the school, which are currently being considered. The good news is the tuition has not been raised this year. Realistically moving forward we must plan for future upgrades in technology. Currently, we will continue with Scripsense, Christmas calendar and Spring calendar. We also have plans to run the golf tournament, auction/dinner dance, and fish fry. I am sure there will be small things in between; such as dinner nights, and other fun things to raise money. There is still time to register for 2018-2019 school year. Please note the fees. Many parents were able to access gradelink to view student grades and check/update service hours. We are in our second year of the junior high math program and there has been significant improvement in math achievement for our students. Along with our intensive teacher training, we will continue to implement sound instructional practices. On the other hand we noticed a huge decline in Reading. Only 30% of our students are reading AT/ABOVE archdiocese benchmark ( >65). Over the summer and in the new school year the focus of our training will be centered around curriculum development and teaching strategies in ELA area. One way you can help is to strongly encourage your children to read daily. We are always searching for after school opportunities which may interest your child. At this point in the year we are in spring 6
sports(soccer,softball), college robotics course, dance, gymnastics,art and the spring musical. Information was given with regard to Virtus and fingerprinting. Please make sure you are receiving emails monthly from www.virtus.org There are still opportunities to volunteer. Please help when you can. During the meetings the volunteer guidelines were distributed and reviewed. See the volunteer handbook in its entirety on the school website. We will receive official results and from the accreditation board in late June. We are very pleased with the preliminary reports and recommendations from the visiting team. We will continue to work on improving all areas of student learning. School closes for Easter holidays on Friday, March 26th April and reopens Monday,April 9th at 7:30AM. 7