THE YEAR OF FAITH

Dear Saint John’s School Families,
As we continue to celebrate the YEAR OF FAITH which began on October 11,
and will close on November 24, 2013, there are countless opportunities to
become involved in ways to grow in our faith.  As Catholics, the word faith is
seen and heard everywhere, especially, since October.   Perhaps it would be
good to truly focus on just that word, and the meaning it has for each of us.
Just a simple word, but so complicated, so rich, and worthy of our spending
time and energy searching for our own understanding and appreciation of how
faith touches our lives.  Just what is faith?
Webster’s dictionary defines faith as firm belief in something for which there is
no proof, without doubt or question, belief in the traditional doctrines of a
religion , belief and trust in and loyalty to God, BELIEF, without doubt or
question.
The CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH is an excellent source to seek
help in attempting to understand faith.   143 by faith man completely submits
his intellect and his will to God.  146 Abraham thus fulfills the definition of faith
in Hebrews 11: 1 “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of
things not seen”. Because he was “strong in his faith,” Abraham became the
“father of all who believe.”  Faith is a grace…….  Believing is possible only by
grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit.  148 The Virgin Mary most
perfectly embodies the obedience of faith.  Christian faith differs from our
faith in any human person.
160 To be human, “man’s response to God by faith must be free, and…
therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will.  The act
of faith is of its very nature a free act.”  “God calls men to serve him in spirit
and in truth. Consequently they are bound to him in conscience, but not
coerced.”  Faith is a personal act.
What a challenge it is to continue to understand and grow in this YEAR OF
FAITH.
Shalom
Mrs. Schmitt

Dear Saint John’s School Families,

The two special Catholic Holy Days this week provided the opportunity for our students to learn more about their class adopted saint and also the meaning of All Souls Day.  Teachers included in their weekly lesson plans specific activities and assignments focused on their saint.  How special were the Junior Kindergarten’s Mother Theresa’s puppets the children made to decorate the Preschool door!  I was amazed how much the Saint Francis of Assisi’s class (Kindergarten) knew about Saint Francis.  When I visited their classroom, each child had information to share with me, and of course, about Father Sam and how he blessed them and their animals.

Father Sam’s homily this morning continued their lessons on Saints and Souls.  He had an excellent question and answer dialogue with our students.  What a teacher he is!  He challenged all of us attending today’s Mass to become saints.  His explanation of “HOW TO BECOME SAINTS’’ led directly to the topic of purgatory. 

His description of purgatory was excellent.  He told a story of one walking in a very muddy field.  And, after arriving home found that his mother had just shampooed and cleaned the carpets.  It would be so necessary for their shoes (souls) to be cleaned before they would be welcome to enter their home. Purgatory he explained was where after dying, our souls go to be cleaned before entering the perfect place in heaven.   He then requested that children pray for someone special who had died, in order to help that person get ready for heaven. 

Hopefully, these two Holy Days were meaningful for our children, and that is why we attended and celebrated Masses together.  Perhaps, your child will ask you to join them tonight to pray for grandma or grandpa or for a special someone.

Shalom,

Mrs. Schmitt 

p.s. Don’t forget to turn your clocks back this weekend.  We will see you Monday, at 7:45 a.m. Standard daylight time. 

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS

Dear Saint John’s School Families,

Our book fair last week was very definitely a success.  A big “thank you’ to Jen Metzler and Cindy Castaneda for cochairing this event.  We appreciate each of you volunteers who “manned the store” during the school day and during parent/teacher conferences.  Thank you also to all of our young/student customers for making their wise purchases.

How blessed we are here at Saint John’s School to have such dedication to and understanding of the importance of reading!  This is a value that we all share.  In addition to each of our classroom teachers, two very special staff members have developed two separate programs to enhance and support the daily instruction of reading.  Donna Monet and Sarah Smith are to be commended for all they have given to make reading a priority at Saint John’s. 

Donna Monet, our school’s librarian, was hired just at the right time to open our beautiful school library a few years ago.  With her experience and expertise, our library has become a most important center in our school.  Childrens’  “love of reading” can only grow with the opportunity to enjoy a library such as we have here. 

Please read on to learn the specifics of the Battle of the Books that our library  coordinates.   This is the fourth year that this voluntary reading incentive program is offered  for students in grades 3 and 4.  The purpose is to encourage students to read good books and have fun while competing with peers from other schools.  The library hosted an engraved traveling trophy for the school year 2011-2012, as a result of our fourth grade team winning the competition. 

How does a student participate? A student participates by reading from the book list provided for that years’ America’s Battle of the Books.  The books are 50% on, 25% above, and 25% below grade level of the participants.

What is the “Battle?”  A typical “Battle” is a tournament or game, like the College Bowl, in which students’ teams earn points by answering questions about the books on the book list.  They play several rounds, each against a different team.  At the end, points are totaled and the top teams are invited to a “Grand Battle”. 

Among the many contributions that Sarah Smith is responsible for bringing to Saint John’s School is the Accelerated Reading Program.  You may have noticed the Angry Birds bulletin board as you walk down the hall of the Elementary School.  This is our Accelerated Reader (AR) board  which tracks each student’s progress toward their trimester goals (grades 1-5).  AR helps motivate students to read and complements classroom teachings.  It is a great way to work with students at their own individual reading level set by their teacher.  They enjoy tracking their own progress on the bulletin board.  When students meet their AR goals by the end of the trimester and also have achieved an average of 85% or better on their quizzes (which means they get a sticker on their bird), they are treated to a special lunch that Sarah arranges with Mrs. Schmitt. 

Why AR?  1. Makes essential reading practice more effective for every student. 2. Personalizes reading practice to each student’s current level.  3.  Manages all reading activities including read to, read with and read independently. 4.  Builds a lifelong love of reading and learning. 

How does it work?  Student reads a book. Visit Arbookfind.com to see all available titles.  Student takes a quiz. Accelerated Reader Enterprise offers more than 140,000 quizzes to help motivate and monitor students’ reading performance. Student accumulates points. Depending on the level of the book and the performance of the student on the quiz, students earn points toward their goals set by their teacher. 

Thank you Donna and Sarah and all of you parents for making reading a top priority here at Saint John’s School.

Shalom, Lois Schmitt

RED RIBBON WEEK AHEAD

                                             

Dear Saint John’s School Families,

One week every year, students and staff at Saint John’s School celebrate a special week that is dedicated to drug and alcohol awareness.  Next week is our week to make RED important to us.  Why RED?  The National Family Partnership organized the first RED RIBBON Campaign in 1988.  Since that time, the campaign has reached millions of U. S. children.

Enrique “Kiki” Camarena grew up in a dirt-floored house with hopes and dreams of making a difference.  Camarena worked his way through college, served in the marines and became a police officer.    

When he decided to join the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, his mother tried to talk him out of it.  “I can’t NOT do this, “ he told her.  “I’m only one person, but I want to make a difference.”   The DEA sent Camarena  to work undercover in Mexico investigating a major drug cartel believed to include officers in the Mexican army, police and government. On February 7, l985, the 37-year-old Camarena left his office to meet his wife for lunch.  Five men appeared at the agent’s side and shoved him in a car.  One month later, Camarena’s body was found in a shallow grave.  He had been tortured to death. 

In honor of Camarena’ s memory and his battle against illegal drugs, friends and neighbors began to wear red badges of satin.  Parents, sick of the destruction of alcohol and other drugs, had begun forming coalitions.  Some of these new coalitions took Camarena as their model and embraced his belief that one person can make a difference.  These coalitions also adopted the symbol of Camarena’s memory, the RED RIBBON. 

Thank You Ella Kaiser, our PTO president, and Cheryl Brown for planning this RED RIBBON WEEK for us.  Something special will happen each day.  RED candy for Monday, stickers on Tuesday, on Wednesday Officer Marchio will talk to our students and they will then receive a bookmark with commitment to sign it.  Middle school students will decorate and wear white shirts that they will decorate with Red markers.

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Shalom,

Mrs. Schmitt

Announcements & Reminders for week of October 15

"The Church, although made up of persons who have diverse languages, cultures, and rites, nonetheless professes with a united voice the one faith that was received from the one Lord and that was passed on by the one Apostolic Tradition. She confesses one God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and points to one way of salvation. Therefore we believe with one heart and one soul all that is contained in the Word of God, handed down or written, and which is proposed by the Church as divinely revealed."  www.annusfidei.va

Announcements

• ·         The BOOK FAIR has BEGUN!  Students are completing their wish list items and will bringing them home over the next few days. We are still looking for just a couple more volunteers, if you can work one of the following shifts please go online and sign up or just email back. Shifts we are looking to fill are: Wednesday from 6-8pm (during RE), Friday 11-1 and Friday 12:30-2:30
• ·         We are looking for a few volunteers that can help serve lunch during the week. We especially need help Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays. The benefits are awesome: Fantastic people, great kids and a free lunch! If you can help please sign up online or contact Cindy Heesemann at cindy.hesseman@saintjohns.net

Reminders

• ·         Friday is parent teacher conferences! There will not be school, but parents are highly encouraged to bring their students to conferences. IF you have not signed up there are still openings. To sign up please go online to www.school.saintjohns.net
• ·         School Pictures for 4-year old preschool, sports teams and retakes are scheduled for October 25^th at 8:30 am
• ·         Teachers will be attending a teacher development day on October 26^th, there will not be school that day
• ·         The Halloween Carnival will be on October 27th, from 4-8pm in the School Gym.  Please bring: Preschool- 3rd grade-large bag of candy, 4th & 5th -3 cans of Pringles, 6th, 7th & 8th –(3) 2-liters of pop. All families please bring a baked item for the cake walk
• *To learn more about the YEAR OF FAITH, go to the website http://www.annusfidei.va/content/novaevangelizatio/en.html

Or “like” on Facebook www.facebook.com/YearofFaith.va

DROP OFF/PICK UP LOOP PROCEDURES

Dear Saint John’s School Families,

One of the items on the S A C (School Advisory Council) agenda last evening was the arrival and dismissal times here on Saint John’s campus, the dropping off and picking up of our students.  On evaluating and discussing our LOOP PROCEDURES,   it was felt necessary to ask everyone to review the plan to insure the safety of our children and make these busy times here on campus flow more smoothly. 

One serious concern that was addressed was during the morning loop drop-off, some drivers choose to pass up the vehicle in front of them in favor of exiting the loop more quickly.  Near accidents have been observed, and it is feared that a child getting out of the front car could easily be hit.  PATIENCE is the answer.  It is understood that everyone, especially in the morning, is on a tight schedule.  The last goodbyes, hugs and kisses, backpacks and projects are so important, and our children are encouraged to exit as quickly as possible.  Keeping a happy attitude during stressful times when everyone is striving to be punctual is a virtue.  Cars entering the loop from the North side of the parking lot may find that those already in the loop may not yield to their entering. 

In the afternoon Loop Pick-Up there seems there is some confusion as to where parents should place their cars while waiting for their children to be dismissed.  Parishioners are sometimes confused also, as to why school parents are in the parking lot blocking the entry and exits to the church as well as blocking parking places.  School vehicles, please accommodate parishioners and others needing to make their way to/from the church by making space for cars to enter or exit.   Father will be meeting with parishioners and those who come to church for Adoration explaining the whys and hows of LOOP.

Attached is a schematic of the loop for our school.   Thank you everyone for your cooperation

Shalom,

Mrs. Schmitt

SAINT JOHN’S SCHOOL CELEBRATES THE YEAR OF FAITH

Dear Saint John’s School Families,

Next Thursday, October 11, to begin the celebration of THE YEAR OF FAITH, students and staff will attend Mass at 8:30 a.m.  Students are asked to wear their uniforms on Thursday and Friday.  We will attend Mass both days.

In an earlier Chronicle letter, I shared with you that each classroom has already adopted a saint who will become very special to them. This saint’s name will identify the students, parents, teachers, and will be used in a variety of ways.  This is just one of many, many special experiences that will be happening this year here at school. I will attempt to keep you informed of the activities, happenings and lessons that will challenge all of us to strengthen our faith. 

Please be sure to post the HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL FLIER on your refrigerator.  Again, to make this carnival extra special, it will have the flavor of our YEAR OF FAITH.  Adults and children alike, everyone, should “press their creative juices” and try to attend wearing a costume that might win a prize that supports our Catholic Faith.       

                                                                                                                       

Ideas??????   Father Frank shared some thoughts…..Saints, i.e. Saint Lucy,  Blessed Mother Theresa, Saint John the Evangelist, or the Baptist, Fishermen, Apostles, Candles, Bibles, Nuns, Priests (It is not fair, his and Father Sam are already prepared!!), Angels, Samsun, Cardinals, Alter Servers,  Blessed Virgin Mary,  Archbishop,  a Catechism, etc.  Other costumes, too, will be o.k. and fun, as long as they are appropriate and are in taste, with the use of good judgment.   Please, no blood, gore and only “sweet” little witches and ghosts of that style.

Together let’s make the days and months from October 11, 2012, -November 24, 2013 a time of growth as we continue on our spiritual journey.

Shalom,

Mrs. Schmitt