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Set of weekly School Newsletters

St. Henry School Newsletter

April 25, 2008

“Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.

Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone

who asks you for a reason for your hope”

I Peter 3:15

Please, if you haven’t taken the mandatory diocesan workshop for any and all volunteers in our school and parish and you realize you could get away tomorrow morning for two and a half hours to three, give me a call at home TONIGHT and let me know you will be joining us in the rectory basement at 9:00. My home number is 261-1427. I’ll need to know ahead of time in order to get in and run off some extra materials. We’ll be happy to have you though. I personally have never had anyone say they felt that the time was not well spent.

Do we have news for you! On two fronts.

Our four-year-old morning preschool program next year will be, for all practical purposes, free. There will be a twenty-dollar registration fee but no tuition! Please spread the word and ask you neighbors and friends to call or stop by to register soon if they haven’t already. We will give preference to St. Henry people first, of course, but can only keep that window open to them alone until Friday, May 9. Other non-St. Henry folks may sign up now and we will keep track of them and give preference to them, if there is room after May 9, based on the dates they registered. We would let them know their status by the week following Mother’s Day. So spread the word. People are more than welcome to call school for information at 261-2586 or talk to Mrs. Kemp or Mrs. Lapp or me (Mrs. Butzine).

Also, next school year, 2008-2009, we are going to experiment with the school calendar a wee bit. We are going to NOT have five of the nine scheduled early dismissal days that the Watertown Public School will have listed next year. As a result, our last day of school next year (barring unforeseen events like over-the-allowed-limit of snow days) will be Friday, June 5th instead of Thursday, June 11th. The impetus for this came from two sources: a faculty meeting prior to school in August, 2007 and a Home and School meeting this winter. Both faculty and parents felt not having to arrange babysitting on those early dismissal days when only the elementary schools were dismissed would be helpful to many families. The teachers felt trading the work time given by early dismissals for shortening the school year in those hard days in June would be worth the exchange. Information was sought from the public school, the busing company, and the diocese and it looked like doing this wouldn’t cost the taxpayer any extra expense and wouldn’t be a problem in meeting diocesan (and accreditation) standards. So . . . let’s try it! St. Bernard School is going to do the same thing. We can always evaluate next spring and decide whether to continue with that slightly adjusted calendar or go back to the procedure we have been using for decades: following the public school calendar to a tee. We didn’t want to get too creative and inconvenience our Catholic school families with children in our public high school and make a schedule that would be a lot different than theirs and we also felt we didn’t want to add to the cost of busing our children, a Wisconsin privilege we didn’t want to jeopardize with unnecessary extra costs.

In conjunction with the statewide “Tornado Awareness Week,” we had a tornado drill on Thursday. May we never need to experience the real thing, but given Wisconsin weather, that is certainly a possibility. By the way, if we would ever be in a tornado WARNING situation at dismissal time, we will not allow children to leave the building without a parent. You will find us in the basement. We’ll invite you to stay with us, but no children will be released without a parent until the warning has passed.

There were a number of Earth Day activities this week. Ask you children about the desirability of plastic grocery bags, for instance. The fourth graders all received a seedling white pine to plant, courtesy of the DNR.

TWO TRIPS PLANNED SOON

As the fourth quarter begins in seventh grade the students begin their final unit of science which is human biology. The students began their studies with creating a large skeleton. After coloring and cutting out the main bones, the students attached each to a large sheet of paper. As they progress through the major organ systems, they will add those organs to the skeleton. It is a fun way to learn and actually see where everything is in the body.

The students will take a few “days off” from school in May to participate in the St. Henry traditional environmental field trip to MacKenzie. The activities that will be completed are centered around environmental science and community building. It is a lot of fun and will form a memory of St. Henry they will always have. Thanks in advance to everyone who will make this trip possible.

As a thank you for all their dedicated work on safety patrol this year, our seventh and eighth graders will be invited to go to Wisconsin Dells on May 16th. Mark your calendars!! Chaperones needed.

Mrs. Smedema

TEN COMMANDMENTS DISCUSSED

This month we have been talking about the Ten Commandments and how they apply in our daily life. The children have been very insightful and thoughtful about how God “feels” when a commandment is broken. They know that the commandments are found in the Bible and should be kept close in our hearts. Have a conversation about them with your little one!

The children continue to bring home little books to read. Please make sure they read each one and bring it back the next day. When one collection of books is done, I will have a new one for the children. It’s so awesome to see how all the children have improved their reading skills. Encourage them to point to each word and to look at the picture for clues.

Congratulations to the O’Brien family. Emily Marie was born on April 22. Of course, our class and the whole school continues to pray for Joshua and his family.

Mrs. Lapp

Dates to Mark on Your Calendar

APRIL

Saturday 26 Protecting God’s Children Workshop for Volunteers,

9:00 am to approx. noon, rectory hall

Monday 28 Grades 1 and 2 doing an art project with

older residents of Golden Living.

Wednesday 30 Grade Six fills liturgical roles at 8:15 Mass

2008-09 St. Henry Athletic enrollment packets for grades 3-8 due today.

Grades 1-5 field trip to Madison, including visit to Capitol

Theater, Overture Center for the Arts.

MAY

Thursday 01 Grade Six on field trip to Milwaukee Public Museum

Friday 02 First set of fourth quarter AR points due today (grades 4-8)

First Communion Retreat begins at 4:45 pm

Saturday 03 Eighth Grade CAR WASH at Badger Car Wash 11-2; next to Kwik Trip on West Main

Sunday 04 Second graders’ First Communion at the 10:30 am Mass.

Wednesday 07 No 8:15 Mass – Father gone on retreat; we will attend Word

and Communion service instead

Play Group meets in PC from 9:30 am to 11:00

Athletic Association meeting, 6:30 pm, computer lab

Thursday 08 Grade Seven leaves for two day trip to MacKenzie Environmental Center

Friday 09 LAW Day at Jefferson County Courthouse for Grade Four and Grade Eight.

Mid-quarter progress reports go home.

Open Gym for older youth (grades 6-12), PC, 6:30 –9:00

Sunday 11 Children’s Cantor Choir leads congregation at 8:30 am Mass.

Monday 12 HASA mtg., 6:30 pm, rectory hall.

Papal Nuncio to the UN speaking at the Overture Center in Madison, 7:30 pm

Tuesday 13 St. Henry Colors Day; Education Commission mtg., 6:30 pm

Wednesday 14 Grade Four fills liturgical roles at 8:15 Mass

Religious Education Appreciation Dinner hosted by Ed. Commission, 5:15, PC

St. Bernard/St. Henry Joint “Trusting in the Spirit” mtg., 7:00 pm, rectory hall.

Thursday 15 11:30 Dismissal

DARE Graduation for fifth graders, 7 pm, Watertown High School

Friday 16 07-08 Safety Patrols to Dells on appreciation field day

Grade Five to Wisconsin Outdoor Expo; Market Day

St. Henry Families Dells Weekend begins today!

Sunday 18 Confirmation, 4:30 pm, St. Henry Church

Thursday 22 St. Henry/St. Bernard Band and Choir Concert at St. Bernard Church, 6:30 pm

Memory verse for week of April 28- May 2

“… make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Matt 28: 16-20