The Falcon Frenzy V O L U M E 3 I S S U E 2 310 Frank Lloyd Wright Way Lakeland, FL 33803 C A L E N D A R H I G H L I G H T S Monday, Aug. 21 12:00PM DISMISSAL DUE TO SOLAR ECLIPSE 12:15 PM MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS DIS- MISS Wednesday, Aug. 23 8:10am Mass Gr. 8 3:30pm Denim & Diamonds Meeting Friday, Aug. 25 9:00am Vision & Hearing Screening for Gr. K, 1, 3 & 6 If your child attends aftercare, we must have a registration form on file which includes emergency contact information. Please ensure that if you have not done this yet, you do so as soon as possible. MISSION STATEMENT St. Joseph Academy, a Christ-centered Catholic community, rooted in faith, knowledge and values, inspires students to live the gospel message in school, the community, and the world and to achieve academic excellence through relevant and challenging curriculum. IMPORTANT REMINDERS If your child arrives to school after 7:50, a parent MUST sign the child in before that child is permitted to go to class. Only parents of Preschool and Kindergarten students should walk their child to class. Parents that pick up students at 3:00 dismissal from the office area are required to STAY IN THE CAR. Having parents talking with one another creates additional noise and congestion in the office area, making it difficult for Mrs. Johnson to do her job. THANK YOU! The Diocese of Orlando will hold their annual Blue Mass to pray for the safety of local law enforcement, fire/rescue personnel, and public safety officials who protect us daily. A flyer is included in this edition of the Falcon Frenzy. An RSVP is required in order to attend, to allow for enough seating. Please contact Mrs. Bruchey in the office by Monday, August 21, if you plan to attend. Students are welcome and would receive an excused absence for attending. Carpooling Help We have two parents that need assistance with carpooling in the morning. One family lives in Winter Haven and needs help on Friday mornings only. The other family lives near the Wabash area and needs help for the next 6-7 weeks. If you are able to help either of these families, please contact the school office.
V O L U M E 3 I S S U E 2 P A G E 2 Parenting Tip: We all know that reading is important, and we are striving to develop lifelong readers in our children. Dr. Tammy Pawloski supported this endeavor to provide an opportunity for children to read during her presentation to teachers prior to the start of school. Check out this statistic: Student reads 20 minutes a day: 1,800,000 word vocabulary 90th Percentile Student reads 5 minutes a day: 282,000 word vocabulary 50th Percentile Student reads just 1 minute a day: 8,000 word vocabulary 10th Percentile How much does your child read daily? Are you modeling good reading habits with your child? Set aside time daily when the whole family reads together for twenty minutes. Let the children choose whatever interests them: book, newspaper, magazine. Don t focus on the reading level. Set good routines and help your child grow in his or her love of reading. SJA Gardening Club Do you like to surround yourself with nature s beauty? Do you have a green thumb? Maybe you just need a little excuse to get some sun? We would love to have you join our new SJA Butterfly Garden Club. Mrs Hall is looking for students and/or families that would like to help with the maintenance of our butterfly garden, and learn about different plants and flowers. The first meeting will be August 28th at 3:30 in Mrs. Hall s room. This year we are focusing on the implementation of the rules in the book by award -winning author, Ron Clark. His book, The Essential 55, was purchased for every teacher last school year. This year, we broke down the 55 rules so that we are able to focus on a few a week. These rules cover values, courtesy, manners, etiquette, kindness, respect, teamwork, encouragement, sportsmanship, etc. You can find the list of these rules within the edition of the Falcon Frenzy. We ask that parents become familiar with these rules and practice at home to further support our efforts here at school. This week s rules: #4-6 Next week s rules: #7-9
P A G E 3 SCHOOL BOARD: Chair: Andy Porter Father Ramon Molly McHugh Samera Alamm Maitee Grana-O Connor Juan Casasnovas Kelly Lane Jennifer Nixon Kate MacDonald PTO BOARD: President: Maitee Grana- O Connor Lisa Loomis Lily Corelli Joy Montgomery Natalia Hernandez Spanish Liaison Britny Spence Jaime Tyler Amanda Hurtt Students in 5 th -8 th grade are eligible to participate in the sports program at SJA. All games and practices are afterschool. Parents are responsible for carpools to and from practices and games. Some of our coaches feel comfortable driving our bus but not all of them do. Please make sure all sports forms, fees and sports physicals are completed and returned prior to each season. Sports packets are located in the front office racks. We are now signing students up for: Girls Volleyball: 5 th -6 th - JV 7 th -8 th _ Varsity Coaches will be sending home a practice schedule soon for the girls. Boys Soccer: 5 th -8 th November- January- Girls and boys Basketball season February-April- Girls Soccer and Boys Flag Football We are in need of coaches for boy s flag football. Our Dioceses requires all coaches to be fingerprinted, view child safety video and concussion video prior to them coaching and returning certificates of proof into the front office. Expectations of Coaches: Role model prayer, good sportsmanship, good time management and prior knowledge of sport. Please contact Coach Palmer at lpalmer@sjalakeland.org if you re interested in coaching a team for 2017-2018. Items for Purchase: All students: Canvas Tote Bag with SJA Emblem: $12 Grade 5-8- Hoodie Sweatshirt- $25 Sports News Order forms are in the front office racks. Links Rediker: https:// www.plusportals.com/ StJoeLakeland T H E F A L C O N F R E N Z Y
V O L U M E 3 I S S U E 2 P A G E 4 Middle Schoolers, come join us for Edge! St. Joseph Church, youth group for middle school students. Why join our Middle School youth group, EDGE? We strive to build a foundation of faith in fun, transformative, dynamic ways! Social time and snacks included J Edge Open House and Registration: Wednesday, August 30 6:30pm 8pm Registration is also available in the Church Parish Hall after Sunday morning Masses, Sunday, August 20 Edge Kick-Off: Wednesday, September 6 6:30pm 8pm For more information contact Jen Tomlinson, St. Joseph Church Youth Minister: jtomlinson@stjosephlakeland.org Meet our Peer Ministers, former SJA students! They regularly help with Edge Office: 863-686-6415 Fax: 863-687-8074 Pastor: Father Ramon Bolatete Diocese of Orlando Superintendent of Schools: Mr. Henry Fortier Staff Extensions: Mr. Allende 305 Mrs. Boatner 306 Mrs. Bolger 322 Mrs. Bruchey 310 Mrs. Corelli 355 Miss DelCastillo 309 Mrs. Devine 312 Mrs. Ellerbe 313 Mrs. Fezzie 333 Mrs. Hall 307 Mrs. Hennighan 317 Mrs. Hurtt 319 Mrs. Johnson 300 Mrs. Palmer 303 Mrs. Peoples 334 Mr. Philbrook 340 Mrs. Porter 335 Mrs. Saires 323 Ms. Schuster 327 Mrs. Swingler 302 Mrs. Taylor 331 Mr. Thompson 308 Mrs. Tuckey 391 Mrs. VanWieren 309 Mrs. Wudtke 301
V O L U M E 3 I S S U E 2 P A G E 5 Volunteer Opportunities Available The volunteer hours mandated are 20 hours per family and 30 hours for those families receiving tuition assistance. Hours may be done by parents, aunts, grandparents or other family members. There will be many activities throughout the school year for which we will need volunteers. The Carnival held at the church on November 3, 4, and 5 is a required volunteer activity. Each class will have a game booth at the Church Carnival and each family will be required to work a minimum of three hours. It can be during the carnival, planning, clean-up, etc. There will be sign-up online for you to choose your task and times. Additional information will be forthcoming. We also have several other service hour opportunities including help with the upkeep of the Butterfly Garden, etc. If you are interested in helping with these or any other projects, please contact the school office. Remember that volunteers help defray our costs, allowing us to keep from large tuition increases each year.