Summer Update

...one of two things have happened:

1. You are a new family to HCS and are enrolled in our FACTs system. This is good thing, as the FACTs system is where you will do many of the "normal school things" (i.e. tracking attendance, keeping up with grades, put money in lunch accounts, etc.).

OR

2. You are returning to HCS, and your child has been moved into their 24-25 school year grade.

Either way, I hope you are enjoying your summer! You can anticipate one more newsletter coming near the end of July. In that newsletter, I will be giving out all of the Beginning of the Year Information.

An important part of our school is our H.O.P.E. organization. It follows the philosophy of family-oriented activities and volunteer opportunities within our school family. H.O.P.E provides many fun activities and opportunities for our students and resources for the teachers. Please join our Facebook page, Holy Childhood School H.O.P.E., to stay in the loop about our organization and everything happening at HCS. We include reminders and photos of events throughout the year to keep you informed.

What does H.O.P.E. stand for?

Holy Childhood

Organization of

Parents and

Educators

Things are progressing nicely. Plants are starting to really grow! Again, we encourage families to continue to come out and do some tending....especially as the heat increases!

We have witnessed many families already out there throughout the month of June. Keep it going!

Some of you have respectfully voiced some concerns with the water bottle policy that I had mentioned in our previous newsletter. To review, I expressed a desire to not allow the "Stanley"-type of water bottles in our rooms because the noise and mess they made when they were dropped....which happened frequently.

I always try to remind myself to actively listen when people disagree with my decisions, and not always "stick to my guns". Therefore, I think we have a great opportunity to work together and move forward with a possible solution. I also think this is a great chance to have our students get involved.

This is what I propose:

~At Open House (August 12), if a middle school student or a group of students wish to present a solution, other ideas, or compromises, this will be their opportunity to share.

~The presentation will be in front of the HCS community and be 1 to 3 minutes in length.

~The presentation must include a PowerPoint or video.

I understand this is close to the beginning of the year and you want to purchase your supplies; I feel this is a good compromise and allows our students to have some "buy-in".

*Please note that this conversation is for the middle school classes only. PreK - 5th grade can continue with past policy.

If everything goes well, I see this as a beginning to more opportunities for our students to have some buy-in as to what happens at HCS. I'm thinking I'm going to need some ideas on what we need to repaint on our parking lot.

IF YOU HAVE ENROLLED AND HAVE NOT RECEIVED INFORMATION ON YOUR CHILD'S LOGIN OR PASSWORD TO IXL, PLEASE JUST CONTACT ME HERE AT SCHOOL!!

Also, if you have multiple children and having difficulties logging in from the same computer for your kids, please click on the attachment below. This might clarify some issues and get you on the right track. Thank you to John Grawitch for looking into this.

You will be receiving more information near the beginning of the August.

Office Closed............................................July 10 - 19

Mascoutah Homecoming..........................August 2 - 4

Sports Begins...........................................August 5

New Family Dinner / Open House..............August 12 (PM)

First Day of School....................................August 15 (10:50 AM Dismissal)

Parish Picnic.............................................August 23 & 24

HCS Auction.............................................October 19

(Interested in serving on the Auction Committee? Please contact Heather Kline at 618-791-3576)

Here at HCS, we are trying to accomplish two things. We are trying to:

1. Teach and lead our children in the Word of God. (A family-first approach is an optimal way to accomplish this). We are doing many things here at school and providing opportunities for families.

2. To prepare our kids for the academic, social, and emotional rigor of secondary education. (Executive functioning skills and learning to adapt and collaborate)

Both of these "things" (for a lack of a better word) ties into my philosophy of education.

As to our 2nd goal, one best practice for academic instruction is to monitor the progress of students based upon a particular baseline. In fact, one of the phrases you might have heard in education before is "progress monitoring". I put the phrase in quotes because true progress monitoring would require testing on a weekly basis. We will be instituting an assessment 3x a year to mark and check growth throughout the year. We WILL NOT become a school that teaches to a test, but the information received from this testing will help you know where your child is at and how he/she is progressing. It also will help us as educators find where we might need to adjust instruction as we continue throughout the year.

With IXL being frequently used in the classrooms, our quarterly report cards, along with Renaissance STAR testing, you will be able to chart your child's growth (remember that growth mindset) throughout the year!

If you know of anyone who might be interested, please contact me here at school. (See attachment below).