September 25, 2009
Dear Parents,
School is in full swing now! It’s great to see all our children again. I can’t believe how much they grew, both physically and in terms of maturity, over the summer. Like our students, Holy Family School has also undergone many changes over the summer, both academically and physically.
This week I’d like to focus on the academic changes we have incorporated for this school year. In next week’s letter, I will discuss the physical changes.
Before I begin my list, I’d like to explain and reassure everyone that I believe these changes were necessary. In fact, I believe if we hadn’t begun this process last year, enrollment in Holy Family School would be extremely low. For years, the staff was told no to any requests. It’s still difficult to sometimes convince them that we must make these changes to improve the academic program at our school. Much of the credit for these changes needs to go to our dedicated staff. Listed below are these changes, in no particular order. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me either in person, email (gchilion@syrdiocese.org) or phone 337-2207 (school) or 965-8930 (home).
· Three new staff members: Suzanne Scafidi, Lisa Halsteter and Sarah Mahan.
Suzanne Scafidi is a former graduate of Holy Family School residing in Norwich. Suzanne will be teaching our Early Childhood Program. Suzanne is a NYS certified teacher for Early Childhood Education with a BA in Childhood Education and an MS in Education – Literacy Specialist from the State University College at Potsdam.
Lisa Halsteter will be our new 1st grade instructor. Lisa spent the past two years teaching 3rd grade at Oxford Central School. Lisa holds a NYS certificate in Childhood Education with a BA and MS in Education, Learning and Technology. She resides in Oxford with her husband and five children.
Sarah Mahan has been hired as our new art teacher for grades Early Childhood through 8th grade. Sarah has a BS in zoology, a BA in Studio Art and an MFA in Illustration. Besides working at HFS, Sarah stays busy by working at The Place in Norwich as the Teen Advantage After School Program Leader. Sarah also works at Laurens Central School as a NY Gear Up Tutor and teaches adult and continuing educations Fine Arts classes at the DCMO BOCES in Norwich. Sarah lives with her husband in Mt. Upton.
· ELA Initiative: I appointed Leslie Linfante ELA Coordinator last spring. Leslie met with the teachers throughout the spring to investigate and choose a comprehensive ELA Program for HFS. They chose the Fountas and Pinnell reading assessment program and the Pearson ELA series. We have already purchased and received the reading assessment program and have ordered the ELA series. The staff dedicated a lot of their time and effort into choosing this program and I am confident it will only enhance our already strong ELA program.
· Student Computer Centers: We have purchased sixteen (16) new computers with 19 inch monitors for student use in the classrooms. Many of the elementary teachers have created computer centers in their classrooms, as well as other learning centers. One main advantage of learning centers is that it enables teachers to easily differentiate instruction for the different learning styles and abilities of their students within the classroom.
· Reading Corners (Lofts): Several classrooms will have new reading lofts in them, while several other staff members have expressed an interest in creating one in their classrooms in the future. The purpose of the reading loft is to create an atmosphere and environment whereby students will want to go and read in a relaxed place. Hopefully this will help to instill a love of reading for our students.
· Early Childhood Program: Beginning this September, we instituted a year-round Early Childhood Program for 3-year olds with options for half-day or full day enrollment. The program is open on all weekdays, except holidays. My hope is that this program will grow and once parents see what we have to offer, they will want their children to remain at HFS. We currently have 11 students attending this program.
Our staff has worked hard to prepare their curriculum for this year. I encourage you to talk with your child’s teacher to see how you can compliment the program we have at HFS and assist your child in having a successful academic year. Our Open House will be on Tuesday, September 29th at 6pm. We will once again be sponsoring OM Teams for students in grades 4-7. At 5:45pm on September 29th, just prior to the Open House, there will be a required meeting for all parents and students who want to join the OM Team in Kate Conron’s room.
Before I close, I’d like to thank several people and organizations for their support of Holy Family during the 2008-09 school year. This list is in no particular order or importance and I apologize now if I inadvertently leave any name(s) off the list. The most important person, God, knows who you are and I’m certain your reward with Him will be great.
· The two anonymous supporters for donating the flooring for our main hallways and classrooms
· Camp Pharsalia inmates for installing the new flooring and painting the gym/auditorium
· Today, Tomorrow and Always donations from countless supporters for underwriting our new Science Initiative, purchasing the paint for the gym/auditorium, purchasing laptops for all our staff and several other projects
· Smith Foundation for underwriting our Tuition Assistance Program, purchasing our new Saxon math and religion books, and several Smartboards
· Dowdall Foundation for purchasing library books, classroom computers, and several Smartboards
· PTO for supporting many initiatives such as assisting in purchasing teacher supplies for the classrooms, student programs and assemblies, the annual Lenten Fish Fries, social events and fundraisers to support our school
· The Knights of Columbus for assisting several families with Tuition Assistance
· All the parents/grandparents who donate classroom items throughout the school year
· To the anonymous donor who paid for the computers in our computer lab
· George Carnrike for donating his services by installing the new elevator
Thank you to all of the above and many others that I haven’t mentioned here. May God bless you!
God Bless,
Gene
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Weekly Letter
September 18, 2009
Dear Parents,
We’re off and running after completing our first full week of school. We have finished practicing our eight mandatory fire drills. I would encourage all families to practice these at home, teaching your young children the different escape routes. As they say, it never hurts to be on the safe side.
This past summer we began two initiatives. I’d like to thank Eric Diefenbacher for all the time and effort he devoted to choosing, planning and making the arrangements for our four family science trips this past July. We visited the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, The Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, Rogers Conservation Center in Sherburne and Wolf Mountain in Smyrna. The trips were not only educational, but they provided families an opportunity to spend quality time with their children.
The MARS Program, Math and Reading Superstars, involved all students receiving a cloth MARS bag filled with a book, school pencil and age appropriate math problems. Students were challenged to read consistently over the summer. Those students that met this challenge were promised a surprise when they returned to school in September. On Friday, October 9th, all students that completed the challenge will receive a certificate and celebrate their accomplishment with an ice cream sundae and movie in the afternoon. Please return your reading validation sheet and completed math worksheets to your classroom teacher or Nikki Strano. Thanks go to Nikki for all her work on this project. Congratulations to all our students for participating in this worthwhile venture. Thanks go to all our staff for assisting in preparing the MARS bags and for all our parents for encouraging their children to read over the summer.
I’d like to remind parents to check our website for the updated dress code. I have tried to consolidate the code and make it more user-friendly. Students may wear uniform shorts until November 1st. Beginning November 1st, girls in grades K-6 may wear navy blue uniform slacks. A belt is recommended if the slacks have loops for a belt. Our next Mass is on Friday, October 2nd at 9am. Please review the dress code for Masses.
As you know, at the end of the last school year central New York had numerous cases of H1N1. While it is difficult to predict what will happen this school year, we need to be prepared to deal with the H1N1 and seasonal flu virus. Holy Family School has taken the following initial steps to reduce the risk:
· We encourage all students to bring their own water bottle to school each day.
· Cup dispensers have been ordered and once received, will be installed next to all water fountains.
· Desks, chairs, light switches, keyboards, mice and headphones are sanitized daily.
· All staff has been provided with Purell Sanitizing Hand Cleanser for student use when soap and water are unavailable.
· All staff were provided an opportunity to attend an immunization clinic for the seasonal flu.
I will continue to provide updated information regarding H1N1 and the seasonal flu as it becomes available.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.
God Bless,
Gene
Dear Parents,
We’re off and running after completing our first full week of school. We have finished practicing our eight mandatory fire drills. I would encourage all families to practice these at home, teaching your young children the different escape routes. As they say, it never hurts to be on the safe side.
This past summer we began two initiatives. I’d like to thank Eric Diefenbacher for all the time and effort he devoted to choosing, planning and making the arrangements for our four family science trips this past July. We visited the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, The Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, Rogers Conservation Center in Sherburne and Wolf Mountain in Smyrna. The trips were not only educational, but they provided families an opportunity to spend quality time with their children.
The MARS Program, Math and Reading Superstars, involved all students receiving a cloth MARS bag filled with a book, school pencil and age appropriate math problems. Students were challenged to read consistently over the summer. Those students that met this challenge were promised a surprise when they returned to school in September. On Friday, October 9th, all students that completed the challenge will receive a certificate and celebrate their accomplishment with an ice cream sundae and movie in the afternoon. Please return your reading validation sheet and completed math worksheets to your classroom teacher or Nikki Strano. Thanks go to Nikki for all her work on this project. Congratulations to all our students for participating in this worthwhile venture. Thanks go to all our staff for assisting in preparing the MARS bags and for all our parents for encouraging their children to read over the summer.
I’d like to remind parents to check our website for the updated dress code. I have tried to consolidate the code and make it more user-friendly. Students may wear uniform shorts until November 1st. Beginning November 1st, girls in grades K-6 may wear navy blue uniform slacks. A belt is recommended if the slacks have loops for a belt. Our next Mass is on Friday, October 2nd at 9am. Please review the dress code for Masses.
As you know, at the end of the last school year central New York had numerous cases of H1N1. While it is difficult to predict what will happen this school year, we need to be prepared to deal with the H1N1 and seasonal flu virus. Holy Family School has taken the following initial steps to reduce the risk:
· We encourage all students to bring their own water bottle to school each day.
· Cup dispensers have been ordered and once received, will be installed next to all water fountains.
· Desks, chairs, light switches, keyboards, mice and headphones are sanitized daily.
· All staff has been provided with Purell Sanitizing Hand Cleanser for student use when soap and water are unavailable.
· All staff were provided an opportunity to attend an immunization clinic for the seasonal flu.
I will continue to provide updated information regarding H1N1 and the seasonal flu as it becomes available.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.
God Bless,
Gene
Friday, September 11, 2009
Welcome Back!!
September 11, 2009
Dear Parents,
It was great to see all the children once again! So many of them have grown over the summer. Now it’s our job to help them grow both academically and spiritually during the coming school year. To accomplish this, it must be a team effort involving our staff, the children and yes, their parents. If any of these team members falter, our children will suffer the consequences. As always, communication is a key to achieving the success we desire. On this note, if you try to access our Chalksite, you will notice that it no longer exists. Because of the many issues we and many of the other Diocesan schools encountered with this program last year, the Diocese has decided to stop supporting this program. We only received this news at the end of August. As a result, we are changing to Edline and GradeQuick to communicate with our parents. It will take a month to train our staff and allow them time to prepare their webpages and gradebooks. All parents will receive a brief overview of the new program at our Open House on Tuesday, September 29th, along with their passwords to access their children’s grades and the homework calendar. I apologize for the delay, but I believe it is important to provide our staff with some time to become familiar with this program before allowing parents access to it.
Holy Family School is trying to be proactive with the upcoming flu season and the possible outbreak of the H1N1 virus. I have encouraged all our staff to receive the regular flu vaccine at a staff only clinic we have set up at Holy Family School next week. In addition, a Commission member and I will be attending a conference on the H1N1 virus soon. After this conference, we will be taking steps to prepare ourselves for the upcoming flu season. I will be sharing some of these steps with you next week and in weeks to come. At this point, we will be instituting the following precautions:
· All students may bring their own water bottle to school. Please continuously remind your child not to share their water bottles with other students.
· We will be installing paper cup dispensers at our two water fountains for students to use. Too many germs are spread at water fountains by students putting their mouths on the water spouts.
· We will continue to encourage the use of the water dispenser in the cafeteria.
· Your child’s teachers will regularly review with their classes the proper techniques for washing hands and other healthy habits.
· At least once a week Dianne Fiorina, our PE instructor, will spend a few minutes in PE class reviewing healthy habits and techniques with all our students.
I would encourage parents to look at the following websites for further information:
www.flu.gov
www.ascd.org/research_a_topic/h1n1response.aspx
The playground for our young students is completed. The children love it! Stop by and look at it when you get an opportunity. Please remember the PTO Family Picnic scheduled for Friday, September 18th beginning at 5:30pm. All our families are invited to this fun event. A big thanks goes out to the PTO for the Yahoo and Boo Hoo breakfasts for our students on their first day of school. Enjoy Colorscape and the beginning of the beautiful fall foliage.
Dear Parents,
It was great to see all the children once again! So many of them have grown over the summer. Now it’s our job to help them grow both academically and spiritually during the coming school year. To accomplish this, it must be a team effort involving our staff, the children and yes, their parents. If any of these team members falter, our children will suffer the consequences. As always, communication is a key to achieving the success we desire. On this note, if you try to access our Chalksite, you will notice that it no longer exists. Because of the many issues we and many of the other Diocesan schools encountered with this program last year, the Diocese has decided to stop supporting this program. We only received this news at the end of August. As a result, we are changing to Edline and GradeQuick to communicate with our parents. It will take a month to train our staff and allow them time to prepare their webpages and gradebooks. All parents will receive a brief overview of the new program at our Open House on Tuesday, September 29th, along with their passwords to access their children’s grades and the homework calendar. I apologize for the delay, but I believe it is important to provide our staff with some time to become familiar with this program before allowing parents access to it.
Holy Family School is trying to be proactive with the upcoming flu season and the possible outbreak of the H1N1 virus. I have encouraged all our staff to receive the regular flu vaccine at a staff only clinic we have set up at Holy Family School next week. In addition, a Commission member and I will be attending a conference on the H1N1 virus soon. After this conference, we will be taking steps to prepare ourselves for the upcoming flu season. I will be sharing some of these steps with you next week and in weeks to come. At this point, we will be instituting the following precautions:
· All students may bring their own water bottle to school. Please continuously remind your child not to share their water bottles with other students.
· We will be installing paper cup dispensers at our two water fountains for students to use. Too many germs are spread at water fountains by students putting their mouths on the water spouts.
· We will continue to encourage the use of the water dispenser in the cafeteria.
· Your child’s teachers will regularly review with their classes the proper techniques for washing hands and other healthy habits.
· At least once a week Dianne Fiorina, our PE instructor, will spend a few minutes in PE class reviewing healthy habits and techniques with all our students.
I would encourage parents to look at the following websites for further information:
www.flu.gov
www.ascd.org/research_a_topic/h1n1response.aspx
The playground for our young students is completed. The children love it! Stop by and look at it when you get an opportunity. Please remember the PTO Family Picnic scheduled for Friday, September 18th beginning at 5:30pm. All our families are invited to this fun event. A big thanks goes out to the PTO for the Yahoo and Boo Hoo breakfasts for our students on their first day of school. Enjoy Colorscape and the beginning of the beautiful fall foliage.
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