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Set of weekly School Newsletters

St. Henry School Newsletter

June 5, 2009

This is what the Lord asks of you, only this:

to act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with God.

School’s Guiding Scripture from Micah 6: 8

A happy, safe, fun, and productive summer to everyone! Our prayers for those wishes. And we can’t thank you enough, parents and volunteers, for all your support and HELP. Only God knows how often, how much you contributed – how essential you are to this marvelous gift to his children called a Catholic grade school education. We know he will take care of rewarding you justly and generously. But, nonetheless, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, . . .

Some extremely important reminders.

If you have any unpaid service hours, that along with all 2008-2009 tuition obligations needs to be taken care of on or before June 30. (See contract.) Please mail to school at 300 East Cady Street, Watertown, WI 53094.

July really begins our new school year since that is when the first of the twelve monthly SMART payments begins and when the full payment for 2009-2010 is due for those who chose to do it this way instead. July 31 (2009!) is the final due date for those folks. Again, please mail checks to the address above.

Those who applied for tuition aid, the letters from the Committee were put in the mail box last night, June 4th, so you should be hearing soon. (Cross my heart.)

I can’t stress how important it is that everyone attend the open house/teacher informational meetings in individual classrooms on Saturday, August 22nd. We hope everyone then stays for the 4:00 Mass and the Home and School picnic dinner after. Please mark your calendars now. At the open house, in the classroom of your oldest child here, will be the very important back-to-school envelope with all the paper work due on the first day of school. And that will be Tuesday, September 1!

Most of us will be in school a lot next week with meetings, diocesan training, curriculum work, record-keeping, cleaning, etc. But you still might want to call before coming just in case we are in a different part of the building where we wouldn’t hear the bell or are out for lunch. After next week, I will be in school often but I don’t schedule regular hours. If you would like me to contact you, just leave a phone message, and I should get back to you within a day or two, barring a few times when I might be gone for a couple of days or on a vacation. If I don’t reach you in a reasonable time, don’t hesitate to call me at home. I am in the phone book under Butzine, Thomas and Francine. You can also ask Mrs. Haberkorn at the rectory to get a message to me. The parish office hours are regular, and they are Monday to Thursday, 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. all summer.

MARKET DAY is next Friday, June 12, 2009 regular times. It’s still not too late to order since orders will be accepted until Tuesday noon, June 9th. You can either do that online or call Patrice Walter at 261-1744.

Note: Prescription medications were sent home with the children today.

Please keep an eye on the weekend church bulletins for announcements, updates, etc. Knowing that you all understand the importance (obligation!) of our participation in our parish Eucharistic celebrations, you should be able to keep up on any new developments in sports or school-related news by perusing the bulletin. Usually those kinds of things would run at least two weekends in a row to catch anyone out of town on one Sunday.

Lastly, Father Brian asked all the children at Mass this morning (and graduation) to pray often this summer and to read at least one book a month. Amen to that. I’d like to add one more important activity and really want to stress what a big deal it is. The youngsters entering second grade really MUST know their additions facts well – quick and accurate, no-fingers (!) recall. Those entering third grade really MUST have under their belts addition and subtraction facts. (Bet you know where this is going.) Those entering fourth -- addition, subtraction, and multiplication. The basic facts through division should be a done deal for those entering fifth. Please don’t buy the “Well, they can use calculators” excuse. It’s hogwash. There are so many times they truly can’t use calculators. More importantly, there are a number of tougher math concepts that are so essential for later success for which those basic facts just must be second nature.

Lower grade teachers showed you parents early last fall the best method for your work with your child on them. Remember? Only a few new ones at a time, lots of fun reviews, and have the youngsters recite the WHOLE fact OUTLOUD. In other words, they need to SAY “Seven times eight is fifty-six” – not just see 7 X 8 and then say the answer. Makes a world of difference for a large number of kids. It prevents them thinking later they are poor in math when in fact they get their minds around the tough upper level concepts just fine but get math problems wrong because of “dumb” mistakes involving basic facts. Promise, parents, you will really keep up those basic math practices going all summer. You won’t believe the grief you’ll prevent later!

Dates to Mark on Your Calendar

JUNE

Sunday 14 Obligatory for any school or parish volunteer: “Protecting God’s Children” workshop, at Christ United

Methodist Church, 7 pm. (Usually lasts about 2 hours.) Please sign up at Virtus.org. Look for Diocese

of Madison. It’s at the Methodist Church this year because of the ecumenical Vacation Bible School.

Mon-Thur 15-18 Sports Life Camp (Vacation Bible School); contact Mr. Weissenborn at 261-7273.

Tuesday 30 All 2008-09 tuition obligations need to be fulfilled by this date, including un-served service hours

tuition. (See contracts.)

JULY

All month For those who pay the 2009-2010 tuition in full – it is due into the school office by the end of this month

AUGUST The first SMART payment will be due this month for those who chose the monthly plan.

Saturday 22 BACK to SCHOOL Day for ALL St. Henry School Families. Open House begins at 3:00. Teacher

informational meetings at 3:15; Mass at 4:00; HASA School Families picnic after Mass.

Monday 24 “Protecting God’s Children” workshop at St. Bernard School, 6 pm (See importance above June 14)

Saturday 29 Grade 8 Fund-raiser! Piggly-Wiggly Brat House.

SEPTEMBER

Tuesday 01 First day of school year 2009-2010! Day begins at 8:00 am. Children should arrive between 7:45-7:55.