September 17, 2010

St John the Evangelist Catholic School Chronicle
September 17, 2010

Dear St. John’s School Families,

It is with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to each of you for supporting these special events. Our Gala and Golf Tourney truly speak to the unique and dedicated spirit of our Saint John's Community. What a celebration the Gala was! Both of these events benefit our parish and school in many ways. Coming together as one big family to enjoy being together for "feast and fun" certainly builds UNITY. The Fountains of LOVEland couldn't been a more fitting venue.

It was exciting to see the beautiful and creative baskets that were up for bid last Saturday night. Thank you to everyone who contributed to create the baskets. Much planning, time and energy definitely took place. While it is difficult to specifically thank those who gave so much to make this happen, I might begin my thanking the sponsors, teachers, and chairpersons of each area of responsibility.

Lexy Donnelly, Samantha Sweeney, Robin Martinek, Christian Lasher and Suzy Crane along with the Gala and Golf Committees are to be congratulated for the success of this entire event. How grateful we are to have had you put your hearts and souls in to making this a memorable and outstanding FUNd-raising GALA and Golf Tourney.

May many blessings be yoursfor your generosity.

Lois
Lois Schmitt


Beloved Parishioners, Families and Friends,

Many months of preparation have borne great fruit! Parents, volunteers, benefactors and teachers alike gathered for the parish’s annual gala. A morning round of golf preceded this year’s theme, “Hollywood Nights”—highlighted by a delicious dinner, a “Walk of Fame” (stars and all) and a silent auction and raffle which brought excitement to all in attendance.
My sincerest thanks to each and every one of you for your tremendous support of our parish and school. We have been blessed by our parent committee members of the PTO and SAC committees (Kathleen Klenk, John Kraljic, et.al.). Special thanks to Hamid and Janice Eslan for providing us this beautiful venue at “The Fountains”, and to our corporate sponsors, Drs. Louis Gerken and Katie Galm of Pediatric Dentistry of Loveland and Highland Meadows Golf Course for their generous support of the gala. Thank you to all of the parents that donated the beautiful baskets and all of the gift cards. An especially big thank you to Lexy Donnelly, Sam Sweeney ,Suzie Crane, Robin Martinek, Christian Lasher and the Golf & Gala committees who have all given so much of their support, time, talent and treasure that made the events possible.
My prayer is that the Lord blesses each of you and your families abundantly with great happiness! Thank you for your prayers and sacrifices that have made these parish-school events such a tremendous success. Praise God!

In Christ,
Rev. Francisco J. Garcia

SCHOOL PICTURES
School pictures will be this Thursday, September 23 from 9 to 11am. Students in grades PK – 8 will have their individual pictures taken on this date. Your child may dress in their Sunday best or their Mass uniform. Younger siblings, not in school yet may come in at 9:15 to have their picture taken. There will be a makeup date in October to accommodate the 4 year old preschool and retakes.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 24
As per the Archdiocesan calendar, there will be a teacher cooperative staff development day on September 24. The teachers will be combining with other Archdiocese schools for training. There will be no classes for students.


BOX TOPS & CAMPBELL SOUP LABELS
Thank you parents for all you do to raise money for our school. We have heard there have been difficulties redeeming the bonus box tops online. Angie Luce would like to offer her assistance. If you are having troubles redeeming them or you just don't have the time to do it, email her (cade9598@msn.com) the code from the coupon and she will redeem them for your class. Write "REDEEMED" on your coupon and send it in with your other box tops and labels, so your class can have those counted into their totals.

ATHLETIC NEWS
Open Gym for Basketball
Beginning this week for grades 4-8 there will be open gym on Wednesdays from 3:15-4:00. This will continue thru September 22nd.

Boys Basketball Sign Ups
Basketball Sign ups are going on now. Please see Mrs. Thomas for paper work. The athletic fee is $100 per season. This is a change from last year. There are extras on the bulletin board in the rotunda. We do not have the numbers for a 5th grade boys team this year. Fifth grade will be allowed to play however, playtime is determined based on ability and game readiness. Practice begins October 6th!


GOLD C FUNDRAISER
Thank you to everyone for making the Gold C fundraiser a great success. The students sold over 500 books! The top sellers are:
1st - Claire Klenk with 36 books
2nd - Kaidan St. Louis with 28 books
3rd - Ryan Heesacker with 23 books
The books are on order, but unfortunately won't be here by Friday 9/17 as I originally thought. We should be distributing them next week, but if you absolutely need them this weekend please contact me as I do have some books available. I will group the books by family and send them home with one child.
Thanks for all of your hard work and patience as we work through the collection and distribution process.
Ann Pakenham annp722@yahoo.com

Attention Parents who purchased red polo shirts from Lands End before August 23
NEW for 2010/2011, parents can now purchase uniform polo shirts embroidered with the St. John’s logo from Lands End. Unfortunately, there was an error in the embroidery of the first few shirts purchased this fall. If you purchased red polo shirts from Lands End, please check the color of the words “St. John the Evangelist” in the logo. The text should be black, but some shirts were embroidered with white text. If you have shirts with the wrong color of embroidery, please return them to Lands End and they will replace the shirts with the corrected logo. Shirts can be returned online or at the Sears store in Fort Collins. Rest assured the problem has been fixed and any shirts that were purchased after August 23 should be correct. Please note, this only affects the red polo shirts. Navy polo shirts (middle school only) will have white text.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS SURVEY
The Archdiocese of Denver is requesting that our school families participate in a district wide survey. This survey is in response to a recommendation from the district accreditation Quality Assurance Team that visited our schools in October 2009: “Replicate the brand development research study originally conducted in 2004-05 to extend the brand development process for the Archdiocese.”

For those of you making a substantial investment of time, talent, and treasure in our Catholic schools, it is important to receive your assessment of how well we are stewarding the generous resources you have invested.

For those of you entrusting your children to our Catholic schools, it is vital to hear from you because we serve as partners in the formation of your children.

This survey will help us “take another look” at how well we are serving our various stakeholders and assist us in our goal of continuous improvement.

If you are a family with school-age children enrolled in public or private schools, we would like to know your perceptions and level of knowledge about our Catholic schools, in light of our goal of attracting additional enrollment so that we are able to provide a quality Catholic education to as many students as possible.

For those of you who are parishioners and thus making a generous donation to our schools through a portion of your offertory contribution, we want to listen to you so that we are able to provide the maximum return on your investment.

This survey is very important to the future of our schools. In these very challenging times for all of education—public, private, and parochial—we need to know the level of satisfaction among those we serve in order to best serve and sustain this vital ministry of the Church.
Enrollment figures for the 2009-2010 school year indicate that nationwide there are 73,190 fewer students in Catholic schools, a 3.3 percent decrease from the previous academic year. Enrollment has declined 20.1 percent in Catholic schools since 2000. In order to help prevent or minimize school closings, it is important to know and understand the knowledge, perceptions, and satisfaction levels of the various stakeholder groups that attend and support our schools.

Thank you again for taking time to complete this survey. We anticipate it will take 8-15 minutes.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/aod-catholic-schools


MISSING ASSIGNMENTS AND PROGRESS REPORTS
Our school provides families of our second through eighth grade students with an online grade reporting and academic progress communication tool through an online service called Edline.

If you have not registered your account on Edline (using the activation codes provided in a 9x6 manila envelope on the first day of school), please contact us for another copy of your activation code.
Once registered, there are two forms of content delivered by way of Edline.net:

Missing Work Reports:
Missing work reports are produced online every Friday. You will not receive a missing work report on Friday if:
1. No work is missing
2. Work is missing, but is not eligible for make-up
3. If you have not activated your Edline account

Progress Reports:
Homeroom teachers send printed progress reports home with students. In addition to the printed progress report, an online progress report is produced including details on each assignment related to your child's progress grade.

If you have registered, and have questions about Edline, please don’t hesitate to contact Samantha Sweeney, our Edline administrator by email to: sam.sweeney@saintjohns.net.
PINWHEELS FOR PEACE
Imagine…“Whirled Peace” September 21, 2010
In today’s world, peace needs to become more than just a word. On September 21, 2010, St. John the Evangelist Catholic School plans to take part in an International art and literacy project, Pinwheels for Peace by “planting” pinwheels with messages of peace at grassy area by Sister Carolyn Hoying Gymnasium and in front of St. John the Evangelist Church.
Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two Art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, of Coconut Creek, Florida, as a way for students to express their feelings about what’s going on in the world and in their lives. In the first year, groups in over 1,325 locations throughout the world were spinning pinwheels on September 21st - there were approximately 500,000 pinwheels spinning throughout the world. Last year (year 4), 2010, over 3 million pinwheels were spinning in over 3,000 locations, including the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, the Middle East, Africa and South America. Locally, Mrs. Brown will be coordinating the Pinwheels for Peace project this year.
This project is non-political – peace doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with the conflict of war, it can be related to violence/intolerance in our daily lives, to peace of mind. To each of us, peace can take on a different meaning, but, in the end, it all comes down to a simple definition: “a state of calm and serenity, with no anxiety, the absence of violence, freedom from conflict or disagreement among people or groups of people.”
St. John the Evangelist will create pinwheels, pinwheels of all shapes and sizes – as part of the creation process, the students will write their thoughts about "war and peace / tolerance/ living in harmony with others" on one side. On the other side, they will visually express their feelings. The students will assemble these pinwheels and on International Day of Peace they will "plant" their pinwheels by the Gym and Church as a public statement and art exhibit/installation.
On September 21, 2010, keep a lookout for the pinwheels – the spinning of the pinwheels in the wind will spread thoughts and feelings about peace throughout the country and the world!
For more information, go to http://www.pinwheelsforpeace.com or contact Mrs. Brown, 970.635.5868.



FIRST GRADE STUDIES FAIRY TALES
Both first grade classes worked on a 2-week unit learning the "lessons" in Fairy tale stories. They read several different versions of different fairytales and compared them. Fairy tales create images of fantastic other worlds; but they also pay close attention to real moral "laws" of character and virtue. On Friday they closed the chapter with Fairy Tale day. Beginning with a breakfast that they would have shared with The Three Bears….porridge of course!

O God, bless our family and all its members and friends;bind us together by your love. Give us kindness and patience to support each other;and wisdom in all we do. Let the gift of your peace come into our hearts and remain with us.
May we rejoice in your blessings.
V May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Please keep Deacon John Kunesmiller and his family in your prayers
V Pray that the family may be respected by all in its identity, and that its irreplaceable contribution to all of society be recognized.
V Pray for that the Church may offer new generations, through the believable proclamation of the Gospel, ever-new reasons of life and hope.
V That Christians may contribute to alleviating the material and spiritual suffering of AIDS patients, especially in the poorest countries.
V That children and young people may be messengers of the Gospel and that their dignity may always be respected and preserved from all violence and exploitation
V That the nations of the earth, through knowledge and mutual respect, may grow in harmony and peace.
V Especially give thanks to God for the gift of a parish school and ask his help as we continue to grow and prosper
V May Our Lord grant us all the graces we need and desire
Saint John the Evangelist Catholic School
1730 W. 12th Street Loveland, Co 80537 970.635.5830
Saint John the Evangelist School does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color or national or ethnic origin