August 27, 2009
Dear Parents,
Well, I hope you have finished your back-to-school shopping with your children. It’s no different here at Holy Family School. Mr. Asma and the teachers are finishing getting the building and classrooms ready for the start of another exciting year at Holy Family School. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised with the physical changes you will see upon entering the classrooms. More importantly, I believe your children will benefit from the academic changes we have instituted, including our new ELA program.
I would like to make you aware of several important dates. We will have an open house for the parents of our Early Childhood, Pre-K and Kindergarten students on Thursday, September 3 at 6:00pm. The first day of school for students in grades K – 7 will be Wednesday, September 9th. For students in our Pre-K and Early Childhood classes, the first day of classes will be on Thursday, September 10th. Our first Friday Mass will be held on Friday, September 11th at 9:00am at St. Paul’s Church.
I would encourage all parents to visit our website (www.hfsnorwich.com) for information about our school, including the yearly and monthly events calendar, cafeteria menu and parent/student handbook. The cafeteria prices this year will remain the same as last year. Hot lunches will cost $2.00, milk $.40 and ice cream $.75. I would also encourage all parents to visit the teachers’ webpages for important information about their child(ren)’s classes.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or me. I can be reached at 337-2207 (school) or 965-8930 (home). You can also email the staff or me. Our email addresses are the first letter of our first name followed by our last name @syrdiocese.org. For example, my email address is gchilion@syrdiocese.org.
Lastly, I’d like to thank all our parents for having the confidence and faith in Holy Family School. By enrolling your child at our school, you have allowed us to share your most precious gift, your child. Thank you for trusting us to provide your child with a sound academic education in a safe Catholic environment at the Chenango County Catholic School.
Gene
Friday, August 28, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
End of School Year Blog
June 25, 2009
Dear Parents,
Well, here goes!! It’s been a whirlwind year, full of changes and pleasant surprises. Unlike David Letterman, my list is not in priority order. I believe it is important to reflect on what has occurred this year at HFS and then begin planning for next year. Again, I want to thank everyone for being so supportive and understanding this year. I am eagerly looking forward to next year already. Please remember the Science Field Trips during July and the MARS challenge program. Have a healthy, safe and family-oriented vacation.
God Bless,
Gene
FACILITY UPGRADES
· Elevator lift installed
· Linoleum flooring and baseboard molding for 1st floor classrooms
· Safety lighting installed in computer room
· Rewired fire alarm system on entire bottom floor of school
· Installed new fire alarm between K and Pre-K rooms
· Removed rust and repainted overhang by gym entrance
· Installed rubberized roof on overhang by gym entrance
· Addressed all Code Enforcement issues from 2007 inspection, including new galvanized piping in art room, new toilets, sinks and faucets in both restrooms by gym entrance, and four new emergency lights
· New drop ceiling by gym entrance and restrooms (to be completed by the end of June)
· Gym and stage walls painted
· New playground for our young students (ground was broken this week)
ACADEMIC UPGRADES
· Extended 5th and 6th grade day by 30 minutes in the morning
· Added Exploratory Spanish in grades K-4 one class a week
· Increased Spanish in grades 5 and 6 from twice a week to three times
· New Science Initiative (2/2/09) - Eric Diefenbacher team teaching science classes in grades K-4, including field trips.
· $13,000 worth of new science equipment, lab tables, and storage unit (Today, Tomorrow, and Always Fund)
· New Saxon math textbooks for grades K-6
· Saxon Smartboard lessons on CD for grades 3-6
· Saxon textbook on CD for student use at home for grades 4-6
· New Amsco Integrated Algebra textbooks for grades 7-8
· New Religion workbooks for grades K-8
· New Glencoe Health textbooks and activity books for grades 5-8
· New teacher resource textbooks for our computer program for grades K-8
· Fourteen new laptops for teachers to use for attendance, grading and
communicating with students/parents
· New PDS system for taking and tracking attendance, grading and preparing reports, and new computerized report cards
· New web-pages for each of our staff members to communicate with their students and parents
· New firewall for our internet system
· Wireless internet
· Smartboards in all our classrooms from K-8 grades
· Six more new Dell computers for our lab (Dowdall Fund & private donation)
· Three new classroom computers (Dowdall Fund)
· Have new Spanish teacher also teach music
· Library upgrade – furniture rearranged, two new computer stations added, reading nook for young readers
· Instituted a new Early Childhood program that will be year-round beginning in September, 2009. Purchased new learning materials and hired a former graduate of HFS for the Early Childhood program
· New ELA program for elementary grades, including new reading, writing and assessment programs to begin September, 2009
· A server was donated to our school. It will be installed this summer
· Extending length of day for all students for the 2009/10 school year:
Elementary: 8:05 am – 2:25 pm
Grades 5-7: 8:00 am – 3:00 pm
· New summer science family field trips planned for four Friday’s in July
· Summer MARS Program to encourage all our students to read and do math over the summer
EXPLORING
· Curtains for the auditorium/gym
· Purchasing more classroom computers for student use
· Upgrading student restrooms on the main floor
· Installing new drop ceiling in the main entrance way
· Instituting energy saving projects this summer, including light sensors in certain areas of the building, upgrade hot water heater system to a more energy efficient system and installing more fluorescent lighting
Dear Parents,
Well, here goes!! It’s been a whirlwind year, full of changes and pleasant surprises. Unlike David Letterman, my list is not in priority order. I believe it is important to reflect on what has occurred this year at HFS and then begin planning for next year. Again, I want to thank everyone for being so supportive and understanding this year. I am eagerly looking forward to next year already. Please remember the Science Field Trips during July and the MARS challenge program. Have a healthy, safe and family-oriented vacation.
God Bless,
Gene
FACILITY UPGRADES
· Elevator lift installed
· Linoleum flooring and baseboard molding for 1st floor classrooms
· Safety lighting installed in computer room
· Rewired fire alarm system on entire bottom floor of school
· Installed new fire alarm between K and Pre-K rooms
· Removed rust and repainted overhang by gym entrance
· Installed rubberized roof on overhang by gym entrance
· Addressed all Code Enforcement issues from 2007 inspection, including new galvanized piping in art room, new toilets, sinks and faucets in both restrooms by gym entrance, and four new emergency lights
· New drop ceiling by gym entrance and restrooms (to be completed by the end of June)
· Gym and stage walls painted
· New playground for our young students (ground was broken this week)
ACADEMIC UPGRADES
· Extended 5th and 6th grade day by 30 minutes in the morning
· Added Exploratory Spanish in grades K-4 one class a week
· Increased Spanish in grades 5 and 6 from twice a week to three times
· New Science Initiative (2/2/09) - Eric Diefenbacher team teaching science classes in grades K-4, including field trips.
· $13,000 worth of new science equipment, lab tables, and storage unit (Today, Tomorrow, and Always Fund)
· New Saxon math textbooks for grades K-6
· Saxon Smartboard lessons on CD for grades 3-6
· Saxon textbook on CD for student use at home for grades 4-6
· New Amsco Integrated Algebra textbooks for grades 7-8
· New Religion workbooks for grades K-8
· New Glencoe Health textbooks and activity books for grades 5-8
· New teacher resource textbooks for our computer program for grades K-8
· Fourteen new laptops for teachers to use for attendance, grading and
communicating with students/parents
· New PDS system for taking and tracking attendance, grading and preparing reports, and new computerized report cards
· New web-pages for each of our staff members to communicate with their students and parents
· New firewall for our internet system
· Wireless internet
· Smartboards in all our classrooms from K-8 grades
· Six more new Dell computers for our lab (Dowdall Fund & private donation)
· Three new classroom computers (Dowdall Fund)
· Have new Spanish teacher also teach music
· Library upgrade – furniture rearranged, two new computer stations added, reading nook for young readers
· Instituted a new Early Childhood program that will be year-round beginning in September, 2009. Purchased new learning materials and hired a former graduate of HFS for the Early Childhood program
· New ELA program for elementary grades, including new reading, writing and assessment programs to begin September, 2009
· A server was donated to our school. It will be installed this summer
· Extending length of day for all students for the 2009/10 school year:
Elementary: 8:05 am – 2:25 pm
Grades 5-7: 8:00 am – 3:00 pm
· New summer science family field trips planned for four Friday’s in July
· Summer MARS Program to encourage all our students to read and do math over the summer
EXPLORING
· Curtains for the auditorium/gym
· Purchasing more classroom computers for student use
· Upgrading student restrooms on the main floor
· Installing new drop ceiling in the main entrance way
· Instituting energy saving projects this summer, including light sensors in certain areas of the building, upgrade hot water heater system to a more energy efficient system and installing more fluorescent lighting
Friday, June 12, 2009
Weekly Letter June 12, 2009
June 12, 2009
Dear Parents,
Well, testing season is almost over. 8th graders have the Living Environment, Integrated Algebra, and Spanish Proficiency Regents Exams remaining. The results from the State Assessment exams are impressive.
The State’s goal is for all students in the State to receive a score of 3 (Meeting State Standards) or 4 (Meeting State Standards with Distinction). Congratulations to our students and staff for a job well done!
SUBJECT GRADE % ACHIEVING
LEVEL 3 OR 4
ELA Grades 3 – 8 91 %
Math Grades 3 – 8 98 %
Science Grades 4 & 8 100 %
Social Studies Grades 5 & 8 100 %
I have been working on next year’s student class schedule. For the elementary grades, we will continue to offer the Science Initiative and Spanish. The school day for elementary students will start at 8:05 am and end at 2:25 pm. Although this may seem like a trivial change, it enables us to make our special classes 40 minutes instead of 38 minutes, thus adding 6 additional hours of instruction in each class for the year.
In middle school, all 5 -7 students will attend school from 8:05 am until 3:00 pm. Similar to the elementary grades, classes will be 40 minutes in length. The major change is our ability to offer four elective classes to our students during the school day. All 5-7 students will have the opportunity to enroll in Chorus, Newspaper, Yearbook or the Science Club. These classes will meet once a week, with the Science Club and Newspaper meeting once every other week. All 5th, 6th and 7th graders will also be taking a research and data base class once a week.
I will not be writing a weekly letter next week. Instead, I will be working on writing a letter for the week of June 22nd that will focus on the changes/ accomplishments as well as the unresolved issues that we faced this year.
Congratulations to our Nursery, PreK and Kindergarten students on a very successful year. The PreK/Kindergarten Celebration was beautiful. Thanks to Nancy Ritzell, Kelly Law, Mary Hannan, Maureen Wahlberg and Meena Conant for organizing and preparing our students for this event.
Dear Parents,
Well, testing season is almost over. 8th graders have the Living Environment, Integrated Algebra, and Spanish Proficiency Regents Exams remaining. The results from the State Assessment exams are impressive.
The State’s goal is for all students in the State to receive a score of 3 (Meeting State Standards) or 4 (Meeting State Standards with Distinction). Congratulations to our students and staff for a job well done!
SUBJECT GRADE % ACHIEVING
LEVEL 3 OR 4
ELA Grades 3 – 8 91 %
Math Grades 3 – 8 98 %
Science Grades 4 & 8 100 %
Social Studies Grades 5 & 8 100 %
I have been working on next year’s student class schedule. For the elementary grades, we will continue to offer the Science Initiative and Spanish. The school day for elementary students will start at 8:05 am and end at 2:25 pm. Although this may seem like a trivial change, it enables us to make our special classes 40 minutes instead of 38 minutes, thus adding 6 additional hours of instruction in each class for the year.
In middle school, all 5 -7 students will attend school from 8:05 am until 3:00 pm. Similar to the elementary grades, classes will be 40 minutes in length. The major change is our ability to offer four elective classes to our students during the school day. All 5-7 students will have the opportunity to enroll in Chorus, Newspaper, Yearbook or the Science Club. These classes will meet once a week, with the Science Club and Newspaper meeting once every other week. All 5th, 6th and 7th graders will also be taking a research and data base class once a week.
I will not be writing a weekly letter next week. Instead, I will be working on writing a letter for the week of June 22nd that will focus on the changes/ accomplishments as well as the unresolved issues that we faced this year.
Congratulations to our Nursery, PreK and Kindergarten students on a very successful year. The PreK/Kindergarten Celebration was beautiful. Thanks to Nancy Ritzell, Kelly Law, Mary Hannan, Maureen Wahlberg and Meena Conant for organizing and preparing our students for this event.
Friday, June 5, 2009
June 5, 2009
Dear Parents,
I hope you had an opportunity to attend our first annual Dessert Theatre this past Wednesday. The performances were outstanding. I’m still amazed at how composed our young students are when performing/speaking in front of large audiences. Congratulations go out to Cassie Buckley, Ann French, Kate Conron, and Melissa Lawrence for doing all the planning and preparation for this event, as well as all our young performers! Plans are already underway for a bigger and better show next year!
Congratulations go out to Sarah Mahan, our new art teacher for the 2009-10 school year and Eric Diefenbacher for receiving a Chenango County Council of the Arts Grant for a project entitled “Science, Arts, and Digital Age Collide in Wildlife Photography.” This will be an interdisciplinary project involving digital photography, computers, music, and science. Great things continue to evolve at Holy Family School!
Summer vacation is just around the corner and you’ll probably be hearing “I’m bored” from your children. Well, at Holy Family School we have an alternative to relieve the boredom and provide family entertainment.
As part of our Science Initiative, we will be organizing several family science outings this summer. All students attending our Kids Zone will be attending these field trips, as well as any other students and parents who want to join in the fun and excitement these trips will offer. If your child does not attend Kids Zone, we are requesting parent chaperones for their children. Realizing parent work schedules are complicated, we are allowing one parent to be responsible for two families. You will provide your own transportation. We will leave together from school for each trip. More specific information will be forthcoming concerning these trips. At present, we are trying to schedule trips to Wolf Mountain for our 3-8 graders, Rogers Environmental Center for our PreK – 4th graders, as well as the zoo in Syracuse and the Museum of Earth in Ithaca for all grade levels. Please note that this list is only tentative at this time. We will pay for all student admissions to these field trips. Adults will be responsible for their own admission. I hope many parents will take this opportunity to spend a day with their children in the outdoors, learning about our environment. Tentatively, the trips are planned for each Friday in July, starting with July 10th.
God Bless,
Gene
Dear Parents,
I hope you had an opportunity to attend our first annual Dessert Theatre this past Wednesday. The performances were outstanding. I’m still amazed at how composed our young students are when performing/speaking in front of large audiences. Congratulations go out to Cassie Buckley, Ann French, Kate Conron, and Melissa Lawrence for doing all the planning and preparation for this event, as well as all our young performers! Plans are already underway for a bigger and better show next year!
Congratulations go out to Sarah Mahan, our new art teacher for the 2009-10 school year and Eric Diefenbacher for receiving a Chenango County Council of the Arts Grant for a project entitled “Science, Arts, and Digital Age Collide in Wildlife Photography.” This will be an interdisciplinary project involving digital photography, computers, music, and science. Great things continue to evolve at Holy Family School!
Summer vacation is just around the corner and you’ll probably be hearing “I’m bored” from your children. Well, at Holy Family School we have an alternative to relieve the boredom and provide family entertainment.
As part of our Science Initiative, we will be organizing several family science outings this summer. All students attending our Kids Zone will be attending these field trips, as well as any other students and parents who want to join in the fun and excitement these trips will offer. If your child does not attend Kids Zone, we are requesting parent chaperones for their children. Realizing parent work schedules are complicated, we are allowing one parent to be responsible for two families. You will provide your own transportation. We will leave together from school for each trip. More specific information will be forthcoming concerning these trips. At present, we are trying to schedule trips to Wolf Mountain for our 3-8 graders, Rogers Environmental Center for our PreK – 4th graders, as well as the zoo in Syracuse and the Museum of Earth in Ithaca for all grade levels. Please note that this list is only tentative at this time. We will pay for all student admissions to these field trips. Adults will be responsible for their own admission. I hope many parents will take this opportunity to spend a day with their children in the outdoors, learning about our environment. Tentatively, the trips are planned for each Friday in July, starting with July 10th.
God Bless,
Gene
Saturday, May 30, 2009
May 29, 2009
Dear Parents,
I’d like to share an event that just occurred at Holy Family School. It involved Mrs. Law’s kindergarten class. The students gave me a jar full of change that totaled $92.11, which they wanted to donate to Africare. They earned this money by doing extra chores at home during Lent. Africare is an organization that works to improve life for Africans facing numerous obstacles. They teach African farmers about irrigation and farming techniques that will improve their crops. Africare also opens medical clinics, providing Africans with information, counseling, and child health care for malaria, AIDS, TB, and many other diseases. Another initiative of Africare is to provide clean water for Africans by drilling new wells in remote villages. The money our students donated will provide some African children with basic life necessities and perhaps even save a life. What a great lesson for our young students to learn! Congratulations kindergarteners!
The second event I’d like to share with you involves a visit I made approximately one week ago as I visited my grandson in a local public school. It happened to be the day residents were voting on school budgets. I arrived at lunch time for the high school students. I couldn’t believe what I saw! This school has an open lunch policy, meaning students don’t have to be in the cafeteria to eat. They may be in the gym or the hallways of the first floor. Walking into the gym I saw approximately 150 students with one supervisor. As I walked into the hallway, I witnessed students sitting on the hallway floors kissing, and using inappropriate language. I also saw approximately 30 students listening to ipods, even though this school prohibits them in their handbook. An apple had apparently been thrown down the hallway, as there were pieces of it throughout the hallway. Again, I only saw one supervisor for all the hallways. No administrators were anywhere in sight.
You may be wondering why I shared these two events. The reason I bring them up is to remind our parents that one of the reasons they bring their children to Holy Family School is because of the expectations regarding behavior, caring and respect. What our kindergarteners did for Africare is what we want from all our children. What a great example they have set for all of us.
Please don’t miss the Dessert Theatre on Wednesday, June 3rd beginning at 6:30 pm in the gym/auditorium. A free will offering will be taken to provide funds to purchase materials/supplies for our music program. Please come and bring a friend to support our students. Hope to see you there!
Congratulations to Sarah Mahan, our new art teacher and Eric Diefenbacher, our science teacher for being awarded a Chenango County Council of the Arts Grant for the 2009/10 school year. Their grant is entitled “Science, Art and the Digital Age.” It should be an exciting interdisciplinary project that will capture the imagination of our students.
We still have openings in our Early Childhood class (3 year olds) for September. Please spread the good word about Holy Family School.
Gene
Dear Parents,
I’d like to share an event that just occurred at Holy Family School. It involved Mrs. Law’s kindergarten class. The students gave me a jar full of change that totaled $92.11, which they wanted to donate to Africare. They earned this money by doing extra chores at home during Lent. Africare is an organization that works to improve life for Africans facing numerous obstacles. They teach African farmers about irrigation and farming techniques that will improve their crops. Africare also opens medical clinics, providing Africans with information, counseling, and child health care for malaria, AIDS, TB, and many other diseases. Another initiative of Africare is to provide clean water for Africans by drilling new wells in remote villages. The money our students donated will provide some African children with basic life necessities and perhaps even save a life. What a great lesson for our young students to learn! Congratulations kindergarteners!
The second event I’d like to share with you involves a visit I made approximately one week ago as I visited my grandson in a local public school. It happened to be the day residents were voting on school budgets. I arrived at lunch time for the high school students. I couldn’t believe what I saw! This school has an open lunch policy, meaning students don’t have to be in the cafeteria to eat. They may be in the gym or the hallways of the first floor. Walking into the gym I saw approximately 150 students with one supervisor. As I walked into the hallway, I witnessed students sitting on the hallway floors kissing, and using inappropriate language. I also saw approximately 30 students listening to ipods, even though this school prohibits them in their handbook. An apple had apparently been thrown down the hallway, as there were pieces of it throughout the hallway. Again, I only saw one supervisor for all the hallways. No administrators were anywhere in sight.
You may be wondering why I shared these two events. The reason I bring them up is to remind our parents that one of the reasons they bring their children to Holy Family School is because of the expectations regarding behavior, caring and respect. What our kindergarteners did for Africare is what we want from all our children. What a great example they have set for all of us.
Please don’t miss the Dessert Theatre on Wednesday, June 3rd beginning at 6:30 pm in the gym/auditorium. A free will offering will be taken to provide funds to purchase materials/supplies for our music program. Please come and bring a friend to support our students. Hope to see you there!
Congratulations to Sarah Mahan, our new art teacher and Eric Diefenbacher, our science teacher for being awarded a Chenango County Council of the Arts Grant for the 2009/10 school year. Their grant is entitled “Science, Art and the Digital Age.” It should be an exciting interdisciplinary project that will capture the imagination of our students.
We still have openings in our Early Childhood class (3 year olds) for September. Please spread the good word about Holy Family School.
Gene
Friday, May 22, 2009
Weekly Newsletter May 22
May 22, 2009
Dear Parents,
Although, as I have stated on several other occasions, I am not a proponent of the State Testing Program, it is one of the measures all schools in NYS are held accountable to. Scores may vary from year to year, especially when there is a small student population, so it is important to examine the data over a period of years. Since Holy Family School only began administering the exams last year, we have very little data to review. With that being said, the results for this year are excellent. Student results are grouped into four levels ( 1-4 ). The State’s goal is to have all students achieve levels 3 or 4. The criteria for each level is:
Level 1: Not Meeting Learning Standards
Level 2: Partially Meeting Learning Standards
Level 3: Meeting Learning Standards
Level 4: Meeting Learning Standards with Distinction
Students have taken exams in ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies. Some of the results are official, while others are pending but probably accurate. The results are:
ELA Grades 3 – 8 91 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Official
Math Grades 3 – 8 98 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Unofficial
Science Grades 4 and 8 100 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Official
SS Grade 5 100 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Official
8th Graders will be taking the Social Studies exam on June 2nd and 3rd
Congratulations to all our students and staff on a job well done!!!
Please mark Tuesday, June 16th on your calendars. Students in grades 1-8 will be participating in Olympic Day at the high school. We need volunteers. If you can help out, please contact Dianne Fiorina. The awards ceremony for Olympic Day will be held on Wednesday, June 17th at 8:30 am in our gym. Students will receive ribbons for their efforts. We encourage all parents/grandparents and friends to attend both of these events.
Since Memorial Day is this coming Monday, I thought I’d share a little history about the day. I guess once an educator, always an educator! Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day (I actually remember this) because it was a time set aside to honor the nation’s Civil War dead by decorating their graves. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868 by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former sailors and soldiers. During this first official celebration, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.
In 1966, the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon Johnson, declared Waterloo, NY the official birthplace of Memorial Day. By the late 1800’s, man communities across the country had begun to celebrate Memorial Day and, after World War I, observances also began to honor those who had died in all of America’s wars. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May. Several Southern states continue to set aside a special day for honoring the Confederate dead, which is usually called Confederate Memorial Day.
Here in rural upstate New York, we’re fortunate to have small, hometown parades and speeches, usually organized by our local American Legion Organizations to celebrate Memorial Day. I encourage everyone to attend these local events and share with your children the history behind them. As they say, freedom isn’t free!
God Bless
Gene
Dear Parents,
Although, as I have stated on several other occasions, I am not a proponent of the State Testing Program, it is one of the measures all schools in NYS are held accountable to. Scores may vary from year to year, especially when there is a small student population, so it is important to examine the data over a period of years. Since Holy Family School only began administering the exams last year, we have very little data to review. With that being said, the results for this year are excellent. Student results are grouped into four levels ( 1-4 ). The State’s goal is to have all students achieve levels 3 or 4. The criteria for each level is:
Level 1: Not Meeting Learning Standards
Level 2: Partially Meeting Learning Standards
Level 3: Meeting Learning Standards
Level 4: Meeting Learning Standards with Distinction
Students have taken exams in ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies. Some of the results are official, while others are pending but probably accurate. The results are:
ELA Grades 3 – 8 91 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Official
Math Grades 3 – 8 98 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Unofficial
Science Grades 4 and 8 100 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Official
SS Grade 5 100 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Official
8th Graders will be taking the Social Studies exam on June 2nd and 3rd
Congratulations to all our students and staff on a job well done!!!
Please mark Tuesday, June 16th on your calendars. Students in grades 1-8 will be participating in Olympic Day at the high school. We need volunteers. If you can help out, please contact Dianne Fiorina. The awards ceremony for Olympic Day will be held on Wednesday, June 17th at 8:30 am in our gym. Students will receive ribbons for their efforts. We encourage all parents/grandparents and friends to attend both of these events.
Since Memorial Day is this coming Monday, I thought I’d share a little history about the day. I guess once an educator, always an educator! Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day (I actually remember this) because it was a time set aside to honor the nation’s Civil War dead by decorating their graves. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868 by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former sailors and soldiers. During this first official celebration, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.
In 1966, the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon Johnson, declared Waterloo, NY the official birthplace of Memorial Day. By the late 1800’s, man communities across the country had begun to celebrate Memorial Day and, after World War I, observances also began to honor those who had died in all of America’s wars. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May. Several Southern states continue to set aside a special day for honoring the Confederate dead, which is usually called Confederate Memorial Day.
Here in rural upstate New York, we’re fortunate to have small, hometown parades and speeches, usually organized by our local American Legion Organizations to celebrate Memorial Day. I encourage everyone to attend these local events and share with your children the history behind them. As they say, freedom isn’t free!
God Bless
Gene
Friday, May 15, 2009
Mr. Chilions Weekly Blog 5/15/2009
May 15, 2009
Dear Parents,
Hopefully we’ve encountered our last frost in Upstate New York and we can plant our vegetable and flower gardens. Spring always seems to be the busiest time of year. There’s Little League, softball, AAU basketball, spring soccer, dance recitals, musical concerts, children receiving First Communion and Confirmation, and of course the yard work that must be done this time of year. It seems like we’re always running from one event to the next, trying to squeeze in all these events. But on the other hand, life would be boring without these activities. I believe that if we reflect back on when we were young, these activities were important to us and if we were fortunate, our parents were there with us. Don’t miss the opportunity to be with and support your children as they move to adolescence and adulthood. After all, if we want them to be good parents to our grandchildren, we must be positive role models for them now. So let the grass grow tall and the weeds survive a bit longer. Go to that game or concert or recital with your children and cherish the memories that will live not only a lifetime, but many lifetimes with your children and grandchildren!
Last week our 4th and 8th graders took the State Science Assessment Exam. It consists of two parts; a Performance or laboratory section and a Written portion. I’m pleased to announce that 100 % of our students met or exceeded the State Standards by receiving a 3 or 4 on the exam. Congratulations to all our students and staff for this accomplishment.
I hope you were able to attend and enjoy our Spring Concert last night. Thanks to Cassie Buckley and Ann French for all the planning, time, effort, and practice they devoted to this concert. And, of course, thanks go to all our students who gave 100 % to make this concert special. It was great to see all their smiling faces and hear their beautiful voices! I’m extremely proud of the growth our music program has achieved this year and eagerly look forward to the future. On that note, please remember to mark Wednesday, June 3rd at 6:30 pm on your calendars. Our first Dessert Theatre performance will occur that evening. The gym/auditorium will be set up like a small café with desserts, tea, coffee, and juice served at intermission. Don’t miss this inaugural event. There will be a “free will offering” to assist us in meeting the needs of our music program. Any money donated will be spent on purchasing risers for the concerts, curtains for the gym/auditorium, and music for next year’s concerts. Thank you in advance for your support of our students at Holy Family School.
Our 7th and 8th graders will be working on an interdisciplinary unit on the culture of the 1960’s in their Art, Social Studies and Language Arts classes. Students will be creating posters, interviewing friends and family who experienced the 60’s, and studying the protest songs of this decade. This is part of the “Picturing America” grant that Val Dragoon obtained for our school. The culminating activity for this unit will be a lecture from a visiting college professor on “So You Think You Want a Revolution” on May 28th.
Please note that some of our area public schools will be closed on Friday, May 22nd. Otselic Valley and Unadilla Valley are definitely closed, while Oxford will be open. As a result, any students that normally ride a bus to school will have to provide their own transportation on this day if their local school is closed. Please check with your local school to see if they are open. Please remember to pay any outstanding balances on your children’s cafeteria accounts. Our “lost and found” area is becoming unmanageable. Please check this area to see if any of the items belong to your child. On Friday, May 22nd, we will take all unclaimed items to the Salvation Army. Enjoy the warm weather and the weekend with your family!
God Bless,
Gene
Dear Parents,
Hopefully we’ve encountered our last frost in Upstate New York and we can plant our vegetable and flower gardens. Spring always seems to be the busiest time of year. There’s Little League, softball, AAU basketball, spring soccer, dance recitals, musical concerts, children receiving First Communion and Confirmation, and of course the yard work that must be done this time of year. It seems like we’re always running from one event to the next, trying to squeeze in all these events. But on the other hand, life would be boring without these activities. I believe that if we reflect back on when we were young, these activities were important to us and if we were fortunate, our parents were there with us. Don’t miss the opportunity to be with and support your children as they move to adolescence and adulthood. After all, if we want them to be good parents to our grandchildren, we must be positive role models for them now. So let the grass grow tall and the weeds survive a bit longer. Go to that game or concert or recital with your children and cherish the memories that will live not only a lifetime, but many lifetimes with your children and grandchildren!
Last week our 4th and 8th graders took the State Science Assessment Exam. It consists of two parts; a Performance or laboratory section and a Written portion. I’m pleased to announce that 100 % of our students met or exceeded the State Standards by receiving a 3 or 4 on the exam. Congratulations to all our students and staff for this accomplishment.
I hope you were able to attend and enjoy our Spring Concert last night. Thanks to Cassie Buckley and Ann French for all the planning, time, effort, and practice they devoted to this concert. And, of course, thanks go to all our students who gave 100 % to make this concert special. It was great to see all their smiling faces and hear their beautiful voices! I’m extremely proud of the growth our music program has achieved this year and eagerly look forward to the future. On that note, please remember to mark Wednesday, June 3rd at 6:30 pm on your calendars. Our first Dessert Theatre performance will occur that evening. The gym/auditorium will be set up like a small café with desserts, tea, coffee, and juice served at intermission. Don’t miss this inaugural event. There will be a “free will offering” to assist us in meeting the needs of our music program. Any money donated will be spent on purchasing risers for the concerts, curtains for the gym/auditorium, and music for next year’s concerts. Thank you in advance for your support of our students at Holy Family School.
Our 7th and 8th graders will be working on an interdisciplinary unit on the culture of the 1960’s in their Art, Social Studies and Language Arts classes. Students will be creating posters, interviewing friends and family who experienced the 60’s, and studying the protest songs of this decade. This is part of the “Picturing America” grant that Val Dragoon obtained for our school. The culminating activity for this unit will be a lecture from a visiting college professor on “So You Think You Want a Revolution” on May 28th.
Please note that some of our area public schools will be closed on Friday, May 22nd. Otselic Valley and Unadilla Valley are definitely closed, while Oxford will be open. As a result, any students that normally ride a bus to school will have to provide their own transportation on this day if their local school is closed. Please check with your local school to see if they are open. Please remember to pay any outstanding balances on your children’s cafeteria accounts. Our “lost and found” area is becoming unmanageable. Please check this area to see if any of the items belong to your child. On Friday, May 22nd, we will take all unclaimed items to the Salvation Army. Enjoy the warm weather and the weekend with your family!
God Bless,
Gene
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