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ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin

Set of weekly School Newsletters

St. Henry School Newsletter

February 1, 2008

“Wait for the Lord with courage;

be stouthearted and wait for the Lord..”

Psalm 27: 14.5

A HUGE thank you to all the St. Henry and St. Bernard School supporters who paid for the full page ad in the Watertown Daily Times on Monday, January 28^th. The whole community knew we were indeed celebrating Catholic Schools Week!

There is a mild virus disease called “Fifth” that shows itself as bright red patches on one or both cheeks that last a couple days. After that, one may see a pink lacelike rash on the thighs and upper arms and that can go on for one to three weeks. If a child runs a fever at all, it is very low grade.

However, the disease can be spread to others about a week BEFORE the cheek rash is evident. Once it shows, children can no longer spread it and they do not need to stay home from school or day care.

As you can guess from that introduction, we have had a case of it in school in a lower grade, a first grader who has a preschool sibling who stays for the afternoon with the all day kindergartners. Both children ride the school bus. There can be a problem for pregnant women so if you are presently pregnant, please contact your doctor since Fifth disease can cause problems for an unborn baby. If one of your own children shows symptoms, it wouldn’t hurt to give your pediatrician a call but he/she probably won’t have you do anything, unless a fever presents itself. And, of course, by the time you would notice it, he/she is no longer giving the disease to others! So this is really an alert to you parents on the reason for any unusually rosy cheeks on your children, and for any pregnant moms in our school family to let your doctor know about the recent presence of Fifth in our school.

Time to sing the praises of some of our hard-working scholars. Congratulations. Wonderful when hard work produces such satisfying grades.

The second quarter honor roll students of St. Henry Catholic School of Watertown with a grade point average of 3.2 to just under 3.8 are as follows:

Grade Four Megan Bacchi, Jennifer Brebeck, Alexander Denault, Christopher

Justmann, Calloway Kemp, Mara Lapp, Gabriel Linskens, Lacey

Mehltretter, and Joshua Schroeder

Grade Five Thomas Green, Janelle Hamilton, Brian Hogan, Cole Keller, Emily Lemminger,

Jeffrey Schultz, Jacob Turner, Leah Uecker, and Caleb Walter

Grade Six Jill Brebeck, Justin Drebenstedt, Adrian Gottwein, Christopher Hertel, Jessica

Mallow, and Kristin Miller

Grade Seven John Brebeck, , Megan Heiden, Gerald Tracy, and John Wagner

Grade Eight Kasey Caine, Elizabeth Christian, Devin Herritz, Clint Rose, and Alicia Strupp

The high honor roll students with a grade point average of 3.8 to 4.0 are as follows:

Grade Four Sarah Bradow, Brett Caine, and Trey Jahnke

Grade Five Isaac Elsen

Grade Six Angela Breunig and Sara Hogan

Grade Seven Juliena Herritz and John Tesensky

Grade Eight Kara Denault, Francis Hertel, Jacob Jurgella, Jared Keller, and Isabel Vazquez

READING IS THINKING

Reading is thinking. A variety of techniques to teach and model the many skills associated with reading are practiced in fifth grade. Students gather to hear literature from picture books read to them. As the text is read, students are led to infer, predict, and summarize. Discussions about the theme and characters arise. At times students work in groups to read fiction and nonfiction books. Graphic organizers are often used to enable students to note character traits, sequence of events, and story elements. Fifth graders practice reading for information by doing Internet scavenger hunts and by reading nonfiction articles. Students respond to literature by writing weekly letters that tell about the book they’re reading. They write about the book’s characters and plot. Recently the students shared their book by giving a book talk to the class. Currently fifth graders are meeting in literature circles. Students respond to literature in a more social context through cooperative learning. Being responsible for actively participating in the group through discussion and written responses to the literature motivates students to read. Responding to literature through discussions and writing allows students to leave tracks of their thinking.

Mrs. Lemminger

ART NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

Once again it is time for the fourth through eighth grades to compete in the annual “Design An Ad” contest. The contest involves designing an ad for a local business participant. At the end of the contest many entrants’ works are featured in the Daily Times and the winners are given a cash prize. St Henry students have placed “in the money” in past events.

The fifth grade studied surrealist artist Rene Magritte. A fun game that helps create a surreal composition involved a word association game…I said a word and they wrote down the first word that came to their mind. After a list was compiled we choose five words, created a drawing from them, and then we painted! Some very weird and fun paintings were created.

The sixth grade looked at the work of Degas who was a master at painting people doing everyday activities. The idea of daily chores provided inspiration for the class to create great works of art. The students composed a self-portrait in a tribute to the “nitty gritty.” The seventh grade took a journey back into their short lives and painted a favorite memory while the eighth grade learned about the world of textiles and designed and assembled a shoe. Textile design is one of the “applied arts” in which the artist is concerned with making objects that have a functional purpose and at the same time are pleasing to the eye. The class first designed a textile with a repeated pattern. Then they used this textile as the body of the shoe. This was a very open-ended project with few directions. The only requirement was to use the fabric they designed somewhere on the shoe. All the grades have been productive with their art lessons! Good job!

Mrs. Kemp

Dates to Mark on Your Calendar

FEBRUARY

Friday 01 Second Quarter report cards go home.

Saturday 02 Women’s Ecumenical Retreat in the morning.

See St. Henry church bulletin.

Sunday 03 Registrations for NEW children to St. Henry School for

2008-2009 should be completed.

Monday 04 Catholic Relief Services speaker here for assembly on India in AM.

Also worked in The Gambia, Africa. Encouraged by Diocesan Office

of Justice and Pastoral Outreach.

Tuesday 05 St. Bernard sponsoring Mardi Gras Pancake Supper, 4:30 – 7:00 pm

Wednesday 06 ASH Wednesday! Lent begins.

Grade THREE fills liturgical roles.

Thursday 07 Athletic Assn. meeting, 6:00 pm, computer lab. (Yes, unusual day for this group.)

Friday 08 Early 11:30 Dismissal

Sunday 10 Second Graders and Families attend 8:30 am Mass followed by breakfast in cafeteria.

Monday 11 HASA meeting, 6:30 pm in Rectory Hall

Tuesday 12 Education Commission, 6:30 pm in Rectory Hall

Wednesday 13 Dress in Honor of St. Henry Day

Thursday 14 St. Henry/St.Bernard Choir and Band Concert; here at St. Henry; 6:30 pm

Friday 15 Market Day

Friday 22 NO SCHOOL (Same as Watertown Public Schools)

Monday 25 First Communion orders due in to the Religious Education Office

Thursday 28 SET ASIDE NOW! St. Henry HASA PARENTS ONLY Free Homemade Chili or Soup Supper

with “hotlunchmade” Italian bread, drinks, and brownies. In PC Serving 5:45 --6:15 pm

Speaker will start after most served.

Topic: Common Sense Approach to Discipline at Both Home and School.

MARCH

Monday 03 NO SCHOOL -- Staff Development Day (Same as Watertown Public Schools)

Memory verse for week of February 4-8 “Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness.

In the greatness of your compassion, wipe out my offense.” Psalm 51: 3