Father Gary blessing Mrs. Jordan with
new playground students on 9/26
click pictures to enlarge
Queen of Angels School Newsletter, September 28, 2007
Dear Parents,
The month of October is often devoted to Mary, the mother of Jesus. During this month, we honor Mary in prayers and rituals for the very special role she played in the history of our salvation. In class, your child's teacher will take some time to review what we know about Mary through Scripture and our Catholic Tradition.
Mary should hold a dear and tender place in our hearts. Through the centuries, her presence in the life of the church and her role in the mission of her Son have inspired disciples of Jesus along their pilgrimage of faith. In every age Mary has been honored and venerated as our dearly beloved Mother and a model of faith, hope, and charity. Lumen Gentium speaks beautifully of Mary as shining forth on earth as a "sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim people of God." This document speaks of Mary as having a place in the church that is "the highest after Christ and also closest to us." So honored is Mary, Our Mother, that Pope John Paul II dedicated his pontificate to her.
Take time to talk with your child about Mary. Recall Mary's deep faith, her willingness to follow God's will, her commitment to love and care for her Child, and her unfailing fidelity to her Son's mission. Mary knows what our daily lives are like and loves us very much.
At school, we end each day with the hail Mary, and ask, Mary, Queen of Angels, to pray for us. As a school, we will be gathering in front of the Blessed Sacrament to pray the Rosary for our own families and all the families of the world. Individual classrooms will continue to pray the Rosary throughout the month of October, perhaps gathering in the "Courtyard to Mary" to pray, weather permitting. You might want to make a promise, as a family, to pray the Rosary at least once a week during the month of October. Pope John Paul II told us that the Rosary is the "Sweet Chain of Mary" that links us to God. Our Lady's own request at Fatima on June 13, 1917 was "my Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God." In her own gentle and motherly way she was inviting the three little shepherds to enter the "School of Her Immaculate Heart."
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Mrs. Jordan
A Note about Dress Code: Thank you to all of you for your support and cooperation regarding enforcement of the dress code. There is a marked improvement in student's attention and attitude towards compliance in this area. There have been some minor repeated problems, and these have been communicated to parents through the Dress Code Violation forms. The reoccurring problems seem to be the same, and they are:
1) Wearing slacks with rivets or patch pockets, that is, any pocket sewn on the outside of the pants. These are not an accepted part of the dress code. All slacks, boys and girls, must be a dress style slack, for example, Dockers. They must be black, khaki, or a navy blue.
2) Shirt or Blouses with colored trim, usually seen on the collar. All blouses and shirts must be solid white, navy or light blue. The small manufacturer logo (an alligator, for example) on the chest is acceptable.
3) T-Shirts worn beneath the school shirt must be plain white and short sleeved.
4) Multi-colored socks. Socks should be white, navy, red, or black PLAIN socks with no decoration.
In my first letter home in July, I stated that we would enforce the dress code and please only buy those items which complied with it. I enclosed a copy of the dress code. At the parent orientation meeting in August, I again stated that we would enforce the dress code as written and each teacher would conduct a daily dress code check and problems noted would be followed up on.
I understand that some of these items may have been worn in previous years and nothing was said. Actually, it was stated before, but there was an inconsistent enforcement of the policy, an admitted problem. We are now working together as a staff to enforce the dress code policy, and I appreciate your support greatly. Please, if you have any questions about this, I invite you to speak with me.
Catholic All Schools Mass: Bishop D'Arcy wanted very much to make sure that this event took place again this year. He scheduled it for Tuesday, October 2, which was open on his calendar, because he wanted to have it as close to the Feast of St. Theodora Guerin (October 3) as possible. St. Theodora Guerin, you may recall, is the eighth person from the United States to be canonized and the first saint recognized from the state of Indiana.
The All Schools Mass will be held at the War Memorial Coliseum at 10 am. All students grades 1-8 will be transported either in a car or by a FWCS bus. Thank you to all those parents who volunteered to drive on short notice. I hope that you understand that we had little control over timing. We will leave at 9 am and return to school at approximately 11:30 am. Lunch will still be served at school, with the lunch times altered slightly.
Wood Playground Structure Completed: Tuesday, September 25, marked the first day that students were able to play on the new structure, and they all raced to get to the top. Many students said "thank you" and were grateful for the new structure. You might notice the straw and string-- we have planted grass seed and want to give it a chance to grow. We have also left up the temporary fencing to help with this. We ask that the temporary fence be left alone. We hope to be able to use it for some other purpose at some point. Plans will not begin shortly on selection of new playground items for the outer area, as well. Again, a sincere thank you to everyone who made this possible.
ISTEP+ Testing: All tests are complete and all make up tests have been administered. This was a somewhat difficult task to accomplish as we had 19 absences throughout the week. The tests will be boxed and returned to CTB for scoring and we expect the results to be returned to us in early December. The children were very cooperative during testing and I am very proud of them!
Plant & Flower Show Results: Congratulations to the following students who received ribbons at the City-Wide Blue Ribbon Show on September 8:
Eylse Vorndran- Zinnia, single, 3rd place; Zinnia, group of 3, 3rd place; Mixed Bouquet, 3rd place
Emma Austin- Snake Plant, 1st year, 3rd place
Gianna Porfilio- Marigold, single, 1st place; Marigold, group of 3, 3rd place
Jami Milledge- Pumpkin, appearance, Honorable Mention; Pumpkin size, 3rd place
Royce Osborne- Spengeri Fern, 1st year, 2nd place
Sammy Simpson- Spider Plant, 1st year, 2nd place
Sophie Vorndran- Teddy Bear Sunflower, Single, 3rd place; Zinnia, group of 3, 2nd place
Todd Austin- Coleus, 1st year, 3rd place
HASA QSP Fundraiser: kicks off on Tuesday, October 2. Mr. Mauldin from QSP/Readers Digest will be here to introduce the program to the students, and the merchandise booklet will come home that day. Please look for it, and also check out the link on the school website. Remember, funds raised from this annual event go towards student needs, items for the classrooms, receptions for First Reconciliation and Confirmation, the Plant Show, the Science Fair, etc.
McDonalds McTeacher Night: We had a very successful event last Monday night, thanks to the many people who chose to "dine" at McDonalds. Monday's event raised $312.00 profit for our Technology program. The next McTeacher Night will take place November 12, with proceeds also going to the Technology program. We hope to purchase new monitors to go with the PC's donated by Northwest Allen County Schools. Last year we raised a total of $1,146.80 from McTeachers Nights. This money went into the Communications Fund.
Recycled Materials: Last year we raised $584.55 from recycled ink jet cartridges, $950.79 from Box Tops for Education. We also have approximately 88,000 points from Campbell's Soup Labels which can be used to "buy" items from their catalog. Please continue to save all of these items for our school. Everything helps out in some way.
Parent-Teacher Conferences: Information will come home next week regarding dates and times of Parent-Teacher Conferences. Please look for this information. Monday, October 29 will be a regular school day, while on Tuesday, October 30 students will be dismissed at 12:35 pm with no after-care.