website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Set of weekly School Newsletters
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St. Henry School Newsletter
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“Be merciful
just as your Father is merciful.
Stop judging
and you will not be judged.” Luke 6:
36-37
Tomorrow
is the big night: the biannual St. Henry
Parish and School Dinner Auction. This
is a tradition started in the early nineties when some generous Home and School
Association parents organized the first event (of the last few decades of
memory at least) in order to raise money for our present playground
equipment. Others have continued and
expanded those efforts in the years since.
I get glimpses of how much time and work the organizers put in to make
this event happen and I am in awe.
How wonderful too are those people who give so many donations for the
auction itself. Please, God, bless them
all abundantly and may all their hard work bear abundant fruit.
May
I please make parents aware of an occasional uncomfortable situation a few of
you inadvertently and very innocently create for teachers? Because you are bringing your children to
school in the morning anyway, it is only natural for you to think you could
catch a teacher for some question or concern you may have, thinking it will
only take a few moments of time before school begins. Sometimes that is true. However, please be aware that teachers often
do use those minutes before the youngsters come into the halls and classrooms
to gather materials, discuss some schedule changes or the like with other
teachers, or look over some curriculum concepts to be presented. So, that is not always a convenient time for
them – especially if they hadn’t set up a meeting time and weren’t prepared for
a change in their normal routine for those minutes. And once the youngsters begin appearing,
they really MUST give the supervision of their students their total attention. Anyone who has ever taught knows that those
first few minutes are key to setting the tone of the day: getting children welcomed and on task and, by
the teachers’ obvious tuned-in presence, preventing any misbehaviors from
developing that could run from very minor to more serious. A few teachers have mentioned to me they
hoped parents weren’t offended when they had to “cut them a little short” in
order to get to their students in the morning, but they really felt a
professional obligation to do that. Does
that make sense? So if the early morning
is about the only good time for you to see a teacher, could you please try to
set that up ahead of time and also be very conscious of “letting them go” as
soon as the students start to appear?
You could always set up another meeting if you ran out of time. Thank you so much for your realizing that the
teachers’ prime responsibility is to their students, and they truly don’t mean
to come off as rude or abrupt. They
apologize for any misunderstanding.
What
a gift the Frank Runyeon presentations were earlier
in the month! One of the two nights he
did a presentation on the Gospel of Matthew and highlighted the Beatitudes
(“Blessed are the poor . . . the merciful,” etc) as part of it. He followed that with a presentation on the
“Beatitudes of Our Culture” with which we are bombarded the moment we leave
our churches on the weekend. BLESSED –
happy—are those who have stuff—material goods—more is better. He mentioned that we start absorbing that MIStruth as little kids with TV commercials constantly
alluring and HOLYdays like Christmas and Easter all
about GETTING gifts. So no wonder many
of our homes and lives are cluttered -- overflowing with things -- and shopping
is the great American pastime. And yet .
. . are people truly happy, joyful, at peace?
Then he talked about the BEATITUDE of BEAUTY, something that used to hit
around early adolescence but younger and younger children are already buying
into. If only I were beautiful enough,
handsome enough, fit enough, strong enough , , , then I would be truly
happy. Finally, the BEATITUDE of
SUCCESS. I gotta
be the best: make the most money, win
the most games, have the best job, be the most powerful and influential. Then, of course, I’ll be happy. Wrong.
Wrong. Wrong. But how not to be infected by that
overwhelming cultural message? Another
powerful reason to take seriously the third commandment, “Keep holy the Lord’s
Day.” Attend Mass with an open and
attentive heart. Let GOD speak to us of
where real happiness is found. He should
know. He made us, and he loves us more
than we could ever love ourselves or be loved by others. True happiness can be found –
in Him.
LOTS OF THINGS TO DO IN KINDERGARTEN
Kindergarten
has found another way to burn some of our energy during this cold spell. We started singing and dancing in between
work time. Our favorites include
“Shout,” “YMCA” and “Disco Duck.” We
also put on a little skit in the classroom.
It was about a mother duck and her five ducklings. They really enjoyed both activities.
This week
the children have started adding numbers.
We have started slowly by adding one and two to another number. What fun!
Of course we continue to review counting to 100 by ones, fives and
tens. All children should be able to do
counting with ease. This week we read a
story about migration. The children were
able to travel with a little boy who rides around on a goose. We talked about reasons why the geese migrate
and about different weather conditions.
Ask your child about the book and what they enjoyed the most about it.
Please
continue to have your child read to you each night. The little books they bring home should come
back to school the very next day.
Children should be bringing a book home two or three times a week. They are becoming quite the confident
readers. How awesome! Enjoy the rest of February.
Mrs. Lapp
SEVENTH GRADERS ARE CUTTING UP!
As the seventh
grade progresses through life science, they find themselves wearing safety
goggles and wielding scalpels. The class
is currently studying different phyla of animals, and the students are given
the opportunity to take a closer look at specific species that they are
studying. To date the class has
dissected worms, a crayfish, and sea stars.
Cold-blooded
vertebrates are currently “on the table” and the class will dissect a fish and
a frog. Human biology will follow with
the creation of life size skeletons with most of the body systems added on as
they learn about them. The fun part of
biology will be dissecting a cow’s eye.
The class
is also working on a play called “Vanity Fair” as part of their Greek mythology
short story unit. Some students volunteered
for speaking parts, and all others are working on props and running the stage
during the performance. The class hopes
to perform for the entire school in the near future.
Mrs. Smedema
Dates to Put on Your Calendar
FEBRUARY
Saturday 17 Biannual Parish/School Dinner Auction!
Watertown
Country Club, dinner at
Cocktails
and visiting from
Please
support the best way you can!
Sunday 18 Children’s Cantor Choir sings at the
Monday 19 Last day to turn in order to Todd
Weissenborn
for
First Communion articles.
Wednesday 21 Ash Wednesday! Lent begins.
Children
from grade three fill liturgical roles
during
Friday 23 NO SCHOOL
Home and School Association
Open Gym Night,
Monday 26 NO SCHOOL
Wednesday 28 Children from grade one fill liturgical
roles
during
Friday 02 Student Council Decade Day
Mid-quarter
reports go home.
Monday 05 Athletic Assn. mtg.,
Wednesday 07 Play Group, P.C.
Friday 09 Parish Youth Underground Church experience
in the evening.
APRIL
Monday 02 Spring Break begins. Students return to school
on
Tuesday, April 10th.
Last
day to make reservation for St. Henry School
Families
Fun Weekend in the Dells at
Treasure Island
Waterpark and Resort for May 18 and 19th.
Call
1-800-800-4997. Pick
“Reservations.” Share “lead
off number”
468507.
Memory
verse for February19-22
Luke 6: 37
“Stop condemning and you will not be
judged. Forgive and you will be
forgiven.”