Thursday, June 10, 2010

June 9, 2010

JUST CHECKING IN ~ JUNE 9, 2010

God’s blessings to the St. Christopher School Community now and always!

RITES OF PASSAGE We congratulate our Pre-K and Kindergarten students who will celebrate moving up at their closing ceremonies tomorrow. These ceremonies are always special ones and as usual, any siblings are welcome to leave class to attend. Next Tuesday evening, the Class of 2010 will be honored at a special liturgy followed by the awarding of diplomas and honors to them. It is always a very special evening marking the end of their years in elementary school and the start of the next part of their life journey. Then on that Thursday we will celebrate our 1st to 7th Graders when we come together at Mass and honor them for their accomplishments.

NEW GRANT OPPORTUNITY FOR SCS FAMILIES We just received word from State Senator Mike Stack’s office that $1500 in EITC funds have been designated to our school through the Bravo Foundation. We will distribute this in three $500 tuition grants. Families who already had applied for the Bridge Foundation lottery but did not have their names pulled should call Mrs. Junod in the Parish Office to confirm whether or not you’d like to be included in this lottery. Families who did not enter that earlier Bridge lottery should call if you’d like to be included in this one. Unlike Bridge, qualified families who names are drawn and who accept will need to send a $21 processing check along with the application.

END OF YEAR REPORT CARDS – To receive final report cards, offertory contributions must have reached $735 by June 7, and TUITION and CARES must be paid in full by June 7. No exceptions can be made to this policy. Applications for monthly payment plan must be on file in parish office by June 30. These applications are available in both our school and parish offices.

SPECIAL REMINDER TO 8TH GRADE PARENTS Your family offertory obligation ($780) for the fiscal year 7/1/09 to 6/30/10 along with tuition must be paid in full by June 7th in order for child to participate in graduation activities

YOU CAN CHANGE THE FUTURE—BY BECOMING A FOSTER PARENT Foster families provide temporary homes to children of all ages, races, and religions whose families are in crisis. The love and commitment that Catholic Social Services foster parents provide has a lasting and positive effect on the children whose lives they touch. For more information on how you can become a foster parent, call 215-587-3960.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS Ryan will be hosting a Boys’ Basketball Camp June 28-July 2nd and July 12-16. All boys 7-14 are welcome. We have flyers in the main office or you can contact Bernie Rogers at rogersryan11@yahoo.com.
In addition to the Pre-7th and Pre-8th Summer Enrichment Camp at St. Basil Academy, they are also offering Grade School Summer Athletic Camps. Please call their Admissions Office at 215-885-6952 for brochures and information.

CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Tyler Dackow (4-11) for having his correct entry drawn and there were tons of them Tyler will receive the final $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate for this school year. We hope that our families will continue to find opportunities over the summer to have everyone thinking critically. There are so many fun ways even while you’re driving in the car. Who can get through the alphabet first by spotting words that have the letter of the alphabet they need right then? Who can find the sum of the license number on the car in front of you? Playing family board games provides lots of time for critical thinking as people find ways to win? How about all that you can do with a deck of cards from the simple games of Memory or Solitaire?

JUST CHECKING IN is exactly what I’ll be doing from time to time to see how you all are and how your families are growing. I have been blessed to share so much with you over the years and I will look forward to checking in now and again to see how you’re doing. Thank you for making my principalship such an awesome one with all the partnership we shared. Your children are truly our future. We are blessed.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

June 2, 2010

JUST CHECKING IN ~ JUNE 2, 2010

“Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end. Amen”

NEXT WEEK IS IT—FOR OUR WEDNESDAY ENVELOPES ANYWAY! Please note that as our year draws to a close, so does our envelope communication. However, you should continue to check your teacher’s web pages from now to the close of the year. We will likewise post information on our school website throughout the summer as well as putting information in the parish bulletin as needed. Know that you may contact us through the website or call us with any questions or concerns that you may have—or you might just want to say hello and ask how many days are left until school begins!
TITLE I SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAM If your child is signed up for this program, please ask them for the parent information letter they received today to bring home to you.
WHAT DOES A FACULTY DO IN THE SUMMER? Some of our teachers will help with SCS Bible School, some will participate in a Summer Institute Workshop the next week at Holy Family University, some will teach in our Summer Program, some will take courses on-site and on-line, and some will relax. Knowing our faculty, you can imagine that :some” will do all of the above. That’s just the kind of faculty we have. Aren’t you glad?.
…AND WE FORGOT TO MENTION that some of them will be working to update both our faculty and parent-student handbooks. After we finish the parent-student handbook, we’ll be inviting some parents in to read it for clarity and to see if we’ve included everything that we should. For instance, we know that we’ll be including what we’ll do if a student doesn’t look like an SCS student should such as calling for the student to be picked up by a parent if a girl’s skort is too short, or if a boy’s hair is too long, just to name two examples. We’d been counting on parents helping us with this but realize that these parents probably need our input to back them up too. Look for changes.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS Today was a very special day for Madison Coyne (2-4) when she was honored at a special Philadelphia Fire Department presentation here at school. Madison was the winner of the Department’s Spring Contest and we had special guests from the Department right up to the Commissioner on hand to celebrate the day and share some fire safety tips with our Kindergarten to 4th Grade In addition to the celebration itself, Madison will also receive a savings bond from the Fire Department.
Our secretary Gina Lombardi will have a lot to share with us about what it’s like at the Henley Rowing Competition in Merry Old England. The Lombardis will be flying over this summer to watch their son Louis, a St. Joseph Prep Junior, in his role as coxswain for the V-8 boat.
Holy Ghost Prep Forensics Team Wins Two Individual National Championships - Team Named Top Five in Nation The forensics team won two individual national championships at the NCFL Grand National Tournament in Omaha, NE over Memorial Day weekend and the team was named one of the top five schools in the country.. Individual national champions were Junior Dan Marcel and Senior Joe Geoghan in duo interpretation. Junior Joe Gallagher won an individual national championship in oral interp of prose and poetry. Rory Gledhill’s debate team won 4-1 as well moving the team to the trophy. Both Joe G.’s and Rory are SCS alums and we are very proud of them. They certainly are fine role models for our own forensics team. It shows our students that the sky’s the limit.
CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Amanda Bowman (6-17) for having her correct answer pulled for this week’s $10 Gift Card of Choice Certificate. Amanda knew that by adding the numerals from 1-9, dividing that total by 5, and then finding the square root of that answer, she’d have 3. For our final critical thinking of this school year, “If you assign a number to each letter of the alphabet, a=1, b=2, c=3, etc., what is the grand total of the entire alphabet from a to z when you add them together? Let’s hope it’s as easy as abc for you to find the answer.”

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

June 1, 2010

Daily Announcements

  • Letter Day: D
  • Altar Servers: Rachael Foley and Amanda Jordan
  • Okay to wear Flyers T-Shirts over uniform tomorrow
  • Cheerleading Registration tonight from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in T.H. for 4th thru 7th grades
  • CYO Soccor Registrastion from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in H.F.H. for grades 4 throu 7
  • All summer reading books are sold out...any money received will be returned
  • All studnts who have out a library book must return their books on Wednesday morning

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

May 26, 2010

JUST CHECKING IN ~ MAY 26, 2010

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, Blessed are you among women…”

TECHNOLOGY ISSUES AND YOUR CHILDREN We keep hearing more instances of students using technological opportunities at their disposal in negative and unmonitored ways. If you see a need for your child to have an account on Facebook, MySpace, or whatever else is out there, do you have access? Are you sure that there is only one account or are you seeing the “parent” one? Are you ultimately in control of their computer usage? If you see a need for your child to have a cell phone, do you have access to all the texting taking place? Do you collect cell phones at a certain time each evening and return them in the morning? Do you realize that high schools, colleges, and employers will have future access to what your child posts now? Would you mind if anyone saw some of the messages or photos there? What will you do if your child is accused of cyber-bullying? What would you be able to say about what has already been printed and/or saved whether or not it was later deleted by the sender?

SPECIAL LUNCH CAUTION FOR THOSE WITH PEANUT ALLERGIES We’ve recently been made aware that Chick-Fil-A, this Friday’s special lunch offering, is cooked in peanut oil. If that is an issue for your cherub and you’ve already sent in your envelope, just send a note and your money will be returned to you.

STUDENT COUNCIL 2010-2011 We are pleased to announce the results of this year’s elections. We would think that our student voters in Gr. 5-7 had a difficult time in deciding for whom to vote after hearing the candidates’ speeches. Vote they did though and here are the upcoming officers:
President—Kate Wildonger, VP—Marissa Sylvester, Secretary—Jillian Spicer, and Treasurer—Alexis Johncola.

END OF YEAR REPORT CARDS – To receive final report cards, offertory contributions must have reached $735 by June 7, and TUITION and CARES must be paid in full by June 7. No exceptions can be made to this policy. Applications for monthly payment plan must be on file in parish office by June 30. These applications are available in both our school and parish offices.
SPECIAL REMINDER TO 8TH GRADE PARENTS Your family offertory obligation ($780) for the fiscal year 7/1/09 to 6/30/10 along with tuition must be paid in full by June 7th in order for child to participate in graduation activities.

IMPORTANT MARKET DAY INFORMATION RE-VISITED If you use Market Day, please be sure to fill out the voucher request form last week’s envelope and return it to school as soon as possible. That gives the chair people time to get them ready for you to pick up at the final sale on June 3rd.

NOT ONLY JUNE BUT ALL OF NEXT YEAR Enclosed is the calendar wrapping up this school year with the tentative one for next year on the back of it. Please note that the dates are tentative in the event that we’d have to make a change for any reason. You know, however, that it’d be rare. We need to say that it can’t be written in stone though.—life often interferes with life!

PEOPLE AND EVENTS If you’ve seen Victoria Poggio (2-3) since her First Eucharist,, you’ll realize that she had her hair cut but you might not know that she donated it to Locks of Love. Victoria loves to help other boys and girls and this was a great way to carry Christ to others.
CORA is running a Summer Learning Center at their headquarters on Verree Road from June 28-July 23. To request a registration packet, call Joyce Millar at 215-01-2580.
If your son is between 8 and 16, you might want to send him to the Jack Walsh Basketball Camp from June 28 to July 2 at Archbishop Wood. You can contact Coach Walsh at home 215-489-6438, cell 215-246-2006, or bwalsh22@comcast.net for more information. We also have some flyers in our office.
La Salle HS is running a Future Stars basketball camp that also integrates safety and values along with drug and alcohol prevention. The camp is for boys and girls from 5-9 years old. We have flyers or you can contact director Marty Jackson at 215-233-2911 ext. 3072 or at Jackson@lschs.org.
Vikings Football Registration –Flyers were put in classroom mailboxes for boys in Gr. 5-8.
Quench your thirst and help fight breast cancer next Wednesday, June 2nd from 6-9 PM. You can stop by Rita’s Water Ice at Byberry and Philmont knowing that 15% of the profits will go toward Katelyn McCullough’s fundraising efforts toward the 3 Day Walk in the fall.

CRITICAL THINKING 101 This week’s $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate will go home with Corinne Hughes (4-13) who named all six states-- Minnesota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Georgia, Connecticut, and Louisiana-- which each have four different vowels in them without counting repeats. Way to go, Corinne! For next week, add together all the numerals from 1 to 9, divide that total by 5, and then tell us the square root of that answer. Let’s be sure that this certificate finds a good home!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

May 19, 2010

JUST CHECKING IN ~ MAY 19, 2010

“O Mary, we crown you with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May…”

OUR MAY PROCESSION Not a drop fell from the sky as first our 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and Kindergarten processed into Church followed by our 2nd Graders in their Communion garb, our 6th in their Confirmation robes, our 8th in their Graduation robes, and then our 8th Grade liturgical dancers, May Court, and May Queen. The afternoon was a beautiful one from the signing of the Hail Mary by our Kindergarten to the final Act of Consecration to Mary by all of our students after the crowning. This year’s liturgical dance was beautifully executed as the dancers echoed one another in their graceful tribute to the Blessed Mother. We thank all of our students for their reverence and the teachers who spent so much time helping our students prepare for this special occasion.

A MESSAGE FROM JOHN WESTFIELD So many of our people reached out to the Westfield family by pledges of financial support per mile for the family, friends, and neighbors who participated in the Broad St. Run in John’s name. Not only did John make about 100 copies of his beautiful thank you letter, he signed each one and brought them all to school. Since we don’t know here who all the contributors were, we have printed a copy of his letter on the back of this newsletter. The St. Christopher Community is without a doubt one that continues to carry Christ to others in so many ways and Christ comes back to our lives as evidenced here by John’s loving message.

IMPORTANT MARKET DAY INFORMATION If you use Market Day, please be sure to fill out the voucher request form found in today’s envelope and return it to school as soon as possible. That gives the chairpeople time to get them ready for you to pick up at the final sale on June 3rd.

OUR HOME AND SCHOOL IS TIRELESS! Our board and members go from one activity to another on behalf of our children. Look at the two-sided flyer about Special Lunch and Ice Cream Day as well as the one about Dorney Park Day on Friday, June 18th. In addition to events such as these and the very successful Mother’s Day Plant Sale we just had, H&S is hosting some information self-esteem and self-discipline sessions for our young people in 7th and 8th Grade next week. Stay tuned. We know how grateful parents are to the board and its committees. We sure are!

PEOPLE AND EVENTS Looking even cuter than ever is Paige Agster (K-34) after she went for her hair cut and donated her hair to Locks of Love . This organization makes wigs for children undergoing hair loss from cancer or any other disease. We are proud of you, Paige. As a school community over the years our students have been so generous to this cause. It’s another example of SCS reaching out to others.
Guess where the best high school catcher in the area went? You guessed it—SCS! How proud we were to see Greg Olenski ’06 named to this honor in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Friday, May 7th. Both his picture and his amazing baseball stats were there for all the Delaware Valley to see. We congratulate Greg and wish him the best at the University of Maryland.
Last week’s Northeast Times featured a two page spread on SCS alum Alicia Goodchild and her dad. Alicia had a kidney transplant in 2000 and her dad a heart transplant in 2008. Both are looking forward to competing in the U.S. Transplant Games this summer in Madison. They might become the only father-daughter team ever to compete in the history of this biannual event and they go with all our good wishes and prayers. What an example they set for us!
If you’d like more information about the Boyle Recreation Summer Day Camp running from July 6 to August 13, we have some flyers here at school or you can call the center at 215-685-0367 for more information.
Manor College is offering a Secret Agent Lab & Spy Academy as well as a Wonders of Magic camp. For information call them at 215-884-2218 or visit them online at www.manor.edu/coned.

CRITICAL THINKING 101 Okay all you baseball stats people, the Phillies player with the most letters in his first name is Placido Polanco. However, for last names, there are four players who all have last names with 9 letters in them. They are Contreras, Francisco, Schneider, and Victorino. This week’s $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate will be given to Nick Azzarano (1-31) for having his correct entry drawn. For next week, which state(s) has/have the most different vowels in its/their name? Count each different vowel only once in the state. For instance, you’d say that Alabama only had 1 vowel-an A-- even though it’s there three times.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

May 5, 2010

JUST CHECKING IN ~ MAY 5, 2010

“God’s blessings on our First Communicants as they receive Jesus for the first time!”

A MOST SPECIAL PRAYER WEEKEND This is a most special weekend on so many levels for St. Christopher people. Let us pray for all the children who will be receiving the Holy Eucharist for the first time this Saturday, for all the mothers we honor in a special way on Mother’s Day this Sunday and for all the women we know who have/had breast cancer, and for all the people who are participating in the Run for the Cure this Sunday in support and celebration of those brave women. Please be sure to find a family who is participating and support them personally or you can send a donation in to our school and we will make one united donation from SCS.

MAY STUDENTS OF THE MONTH Congratulations to the following students: Pre-K-Shannon Hughes; K-Edward Guarnaccia and McKenna Murphy; First- Patrick Dooley, Kaitlyn Bembischew, and Madison Martino; Second-Juliette Citrigno, Caitlin Geiger, and Fibianca LaSpina; Third- Matthew Fagan and Greg Sylvester; Fourth-Alyssa Marino, Regan Hoyt, and Courtney Weller; Fifth-Joseph Meehan and Grace Gervino; Sixth- Nicholas Newbert, Anna Camillo, and Natalie Rizzo; Seventh-Gerald Eck, Elizabeth Schrenk, and Marissa Sylvester; Eighth-, Stephanie Vogelman, Marikate Kidd, and Samantha DiFrancesco.

ATTENTION PLEASE! Summer Reading Books: Titles for all grades are new for this summer. Since we are awaiting delivery of some of the new titles we will accept paid orders for any and all titles and deliver as soon as we receive them. We are selling them at cost, however if you would choose to buy them elsewhere, feel free to do so. Additional order forms can be found on the school's web site under FORMS

THANK YOU, FIFTH GRADE for hosting our tree and shrub planting last Friday. You would have enjoyed being a part of this day. Our 5th Graders worked alongside so many parent and community volunteers to do some native planting out back. They took out invasive plants, put in native trees and shrubs, and prepared the space for the upcoming butterfly garden. Not only would you have enjoyed the day, you would have been so proud of our students and their good upbeat manners with our guests. It was a glorious day from the first shovelful of dirt to the hot dog picnic lunch made possible by parents, to the rain barrel demonstration at Cranaleith.

END OF YEAR REPORT CARDS – To receive final report cards, offertory contributions must have reached $735 by June 7th, and TUITION and CARES must likewise be paid in full by June 7th. No exceptions can be made to this policy.
All applications for monthly payment plan must be on file in the parish office by June 30th. These applications are available in our school and parish offices.

SPECIAL REMINDER TO 8TH GRADE PARENTS Your family offertory obligation ($780) for the fiscal year 7/1/09 to 6/30/10 along with tuition must be paid in full by June 7th in order to participate in graduation activities.

THIS IS IT! Tonight is the closing H&S meeting of this school year and it is one that you won’t want to miss. You’ll be voting for the next board and on a proposed amendment to the bylaws of the association. There’ll be a special time to socialize with other parents as well. We look forward to seeing you this evening. Hope you can make it!

PEOPLE AND EVENTS That really was our own alum John Rizzo in the Inquirer headline, “Rizzo leads way as Ryan edges LaSalle in ninth”. The April 21st article went on to say that “Ryan had John Rizzo in its back pocket for some late-game heroics in a Catholic League Red Division baseball game.” Way to go, John!

CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Shawn Tamulis (2-4) whose correct entry was drawn for this week’s $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate. Shawn found the matching synonyms by moving letters. They are: 1.shed/barn 2. rage/blow 3. stable/even 4. spotless/pure. For next week, which Phillies’ current player has the most letters in his first name? Which one in his last name?

Friday, April 30, 2010

April 28, 2010

JUST CHECKING IN ~ APRIL 28, 2010

“…No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared
for those who love Him…” ~~1 Corinthians 2:9

“IF APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAYFLOWERS, WHAT DO MAYFLOWERS BRING?” You might remember the answer to that old riddle—“Pilgrims!”, but May itself brings us close to the end of the school year. It’s a busy month both inside and outside of school and so we are all challenged in keeping everyone focused on the goal of making teaching/learning as productive as possible. Together we can do it, right? Check out the May calendar and you’ll see what we mean from just our end.

IMPORTANT AND TIME-SENSITIVE INFORMATION There is limited assistance available for families with serious financial difficulty. These families may apply for financial consideration. All applications should be in writing to our tuition review committee no later than May 1. Parents seeking assistance will be sent an application form which must be completed before a meeting is scheduled for them with the committee. Please be assured that these families will be treated with dignity, respect and in a confidential manner. Keep in mind that this applies only to families in grades K-8. Full tuition must be paid for Pre-Kindergarten. Families receiving assistance are expected to use our Gift Card (Scrip) Program to reduce their tuition and assistance is limited to families who qualify for the Special Stewardship Rate.
It is important for families to remember that assistance does not automatically roll over to the next year. If needed, it must be applied for each year.
Please note the requirements for 8TH GRADE STUDENTS to participate in school trip on Wednesday, May 12th: Tuition paid in full, Offertory at $660 level, and all fees paid in full by Monday May 3rd.

THANK YOU TO CAPTAIN McCARRICK for bringing the E-Z Identification Program here for K-1st Graders. A good number of our students were registered and so they were able to have all their information including even fingerprints put on a CD. While Captain McCarrick, and Officer Mroz were here at work with their team, some moms here for our H&S Special Lunch expressed their hopes that this grant might be extended to reach more grade levels in the future. Parents who have their CD now are reminded to put it in a place that is safe and you can easily remember where and also to include a piece of your child’s hair for DNA purposes.

SAFE ENVIRONMENT LESSONS take place twice yearly and it’s time for the spring sessions. These are the age-appropriate lessons that reinforce the importance of children being in charge of their own bodies and not letting anyone act inappropriately with them. If you prefer that your child NOT be in the classroom when the teacher presents this lesson, please contact our office for paperwork that you should sign and return advising us of that. We’d ask that you return the sheet by Friday as the lessons are next Monday and Tuesday and we’d need to let the teachers know.

DOING OUR PART AND BEING REWARDED March was a great month paper recycling-wise. We received a check for $160.55 for the month. Good work! Our students likewise reached out to help others in need right here in our Archdiocese by raising $1,087.61 for Nickels for Neighbors. Student Council Officers John Luciano and Shannon Harrington will present our check to the Bishop at Carroll HS tomorrow.
We are also rewarded when we reach out right here in our neighborhood. Please read the back of this newsletter to see how you can join others and reach out to help one of ours suffering with cancer. As the Race for the Cure approaches, we will also let you know how we can show our support for our families who are facing breast cancer. God will never be outdone in generosity to us.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS The office has flyers for Turn Two Baseball Camp at Ryan this summer. Just ask for one to be sent home to you.
B&R Family Fitness Club in Feasterville is holding a summer program for children from 3-14. You can call Jody at 215-355-2700 ext. 108 for more information.

CRITICAL THINKING 101 Congratulations to Brenna Farrell (7-22) for having her correct entry drawn for this week’s $10 Gift Card of Choice certificate. Brenna knew that A=8, B=9, C=5, D=1 when she solved the problems. For next week, try making these sets of words into synonyms by moving one letter from either word in the set to the other. For instance, boast / hip > boat / ship. Here we go: shred/ban --- rag/below--- table/seven--- potless/purse