Principal’s
Newsletter
Happy
New School Year! And what a start we
have had, thanks to everyone’s hard work and enthusiasm. For those of you who did not attend Tuesday
night’s Parent Night, we missed you…for those of you who did attend,
thank you for the input and feedback.
And, I agree that it was a fantastic evening!
One
of my favorite duties as principal is visiting classrooms because it never
fails that I get to witness the wonderful teaching and learning that is going
on in our building. For example, today I
heard discussions revolving around such topics as “declarative” sentences,
central tendency, horizontal and vertical axis, numerical and categorical data,
and steps of the writing process. And
that was in the second, third, and fourth grades! Whew! Then,
as I was visiting with three sixth graders in the hallway outside the Garden
Room, kindergarten classes came by, stopped to pray before lunch, and the three
sixth graders not only stopped their conversation with me to acknowledge the
little ones praying, but they also joined the kindergarten students in
prayer. That is truly “Faith in Action”
and another reason I am thankful to be a part of St. Peter’s community.
One of my least favorite duties as
principal is having to give “friendly reminders” to
parents as issues arise. This time the
issue is really a request I have: If you
pick up your child(ren) on
the north side of the school where the lawn is now dirt/hay bales, please be
mindful of your child(ren) and help us to discourage
kicking of dirt, throwing of hay, jumping on/off the bales, etc. I know it is very tempting for the kids, but
“frolicking down on the farm” is not what we need when we are trying to match
kindergartners with parents, and bicyclers are trying to walk their bikes down
the sidewalk. Hopefully we will come up
with a better solution to the “dirt lawn”; in the meantime, we appreciate your
help with controlling traffic in that area.
On a final note, our staff
retreat this year focused on developing a school theme and this year we
decided on “Come to the Table.” This theme evolved out of a process of
analyzing and discussing four pillars of Catholic Education: Giving students sound, thorough catechesis; helping
students develop a deep living faith; providing opportunities for authentic
worship in the reverent celebration of the Mass and frequent confession; and
teaching and modeling moral laws of Christ as imparted by the church, for the
formation of souls. As evidenced by the
examples I mentioned Tuesday night, as well as what I witness each time I walk
the halls and visit classrooms, I feel we are off to a wonderful start in
bringing our school family “to the Table” each day here at St. Peter’s.
“Quality is never an accident…It is always the result of high
intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution. It represents the wise choice of many
alternatives.”…Mac
God Bless,