November Newsletter
A big thank you to all the parents who gave to our October clothing drive. The clothes will be donated next week to the Salvation Army for distribution to needy families.
This past week our students took the school’s biannual reading assessment. In addition, as you know, we are conducting a survey to understand how much reading students are doing outside of school. Please return the survey to the school if you have not yet done so. The promotion of reading is one of the core aspects of our curriculum.
In line with this, in November we will be holding our 3rd annual Read-a-Thon, a school fundraiser which also doubles as an encouragement to our students to read more. Each student will be asked to read at least 5 books during the month and we ask parents, related family, and friends to sponsor them in this task. Each child will be given a separate web page to which sponsors can indicate their pledges of support. Our overall goal for the fundraiser is $5,000 as a school. We will appreciate any support you can offer which will be counted towards the $200 we ask each family to donate to the school during the course of the school year. Look for an e-mail on this over the weekend.
This month’s virtue of the month is Stewardship. This rather old-fashioned word asks students to recall that true gratitude not only entails the thankfulness that surrounds the annual holiday of Thanksgiving, but also involves appreciation and taking good care of the gift received. One who is truly grateful for a gift from Grandma, for example, does not misuse it, but takes extra care to honor both her and the gift she gave. Let us take time to reflect on how we can best express our gratitude by acting as good stewards for the many gifts given us in life. It’s also a time to reflect on using our natural resources responsibly and, in general, to respond lovingly to the gifts of others.
Please note on the November calendar that parent-teacher meetings are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 18-19, 3:30-5:30 pm. Your child(ren)’s teacher(s) will be in touch with you to set up a virtual 15-minute call to discuss your child(ren)’s progress. We hope that all of our parents will use this opportunity to meet with their child(ren)’s teacher(s) to understand their performance so far this school year and how you may better support them in their education.
Finally, we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!
“The earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations.”
Pope John Paul II