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ST. LOUISE SCHOOL PARENT BULLETIN
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Dan's Blog
Did you know that our 1st grade teacher Nicole Fleury got married this July?! Miss Fleury is now going to be called "Mrs. Howell" by her students. Her wedding was at the University of Portland, where she met her husband-to-be, Evan Howell, during her undergraduate years. During
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Nicole and Evan Howell |
their honeymoon in Rome, the newlyweds were able to receive a blessing
from Pope Francis. Congratulations, Nicole!
You should have received an email from me on Monday which included the Family Roster and the Class Lists. If you did not receive this email, please call Lola/Mindy in the school office at 425-746-4220.
Now that you know which teacher your child has for his/her homeroom this year, let me talk for a bit about how to best communicate throughout the year with your child's new teacher.
One of the reasons St. Louise School is such a wonderful place is our teachers and parents communicate well and communicate often. You parents are your children's primary educators, and the St. Louise teachers take over for about seven hours a day as your children's other educators. It's obvious parents and teachers need to talk effectively with each other since they both need information from the other party in order to maximize their teaching. For example, teachers need to know if your child is having problems at home or on the playground that are affecting learning, and parents need to know if their child is struggling with learning a concept at school or is misbehaving in class.
One effective communication method between parent and teacher that is considered old-fashioned in today's world of technology, but almost always successful, is called "writing a note." (I know - shocking!) As long as your child remembers to hand the note to the teacher the next morning, this method rarely fails. Of course, the technological-version of this is called "emailing." Unlike the handwritten note, emails are for messages that aren't as time-sensitive, and would be okay if they weren't read or responded to for over 24 hours. The school setting is not like the business setting. Teachers often can't check their emails for hours at a time. With the schedule a typical teacher has, he/she may not be able to check email until the end of the work day after the students have gone home. Thus, emailing a teacher at 8:20 a.m. and asking, "Please have Macy's homework ready for her to take home at noon today because she is leaving early for a doctor's appointment," may not be read by the teacher in a timely manner. Whereas, a handwritten note handed to the teacher when the child enters the classroom will be read right then and there.
Also, please understand that e-mails leave a lot of room for misunderstanding. Without hearing each other's tone of voice, misinterpretations and misunderstandings can take place. Issues can often be resolved more effectively with a phone call or face-to-face visit. Thus, examples of ways parents and teachers may best use e-mail communication include room parents wanting to plan parties for the future, parents wanting to set up a conference time for the following week, or a question about the curriculum that doesn't need immediate attention. And of course, simply sending an affirmation such as an electronic thank-you note to the teacher would be a good use of e-mail.
For sending instant communication topics that need to be answered or received that same day, besides the written note, nothing seems to beat Alexander Graham Bell's device. By phoning the school, you may leave a message on a teacher's voicemail. But again, because the teacher may not have time check his/her voicemail until after the school day ends, you should talk in person to Lola Bazan or Mindy Morgan in the school office if you have an urgent message which the teacher needs to hear right away. Whether it's a voicemail you leave for the teacher, or the teacher reaches you before or after school on your cell phone, phone calling is an efficient communication method in a school setting, and I encourage you to use it.
The most vital form of communication in certain situations is direct face-to-face contact via a parent-teacher conference. This is how teachers and parents should communicate for the important matters that will take some time to discuss, or may need a few teachers or both parents present, or may even need the child present. A conference is best done around 7:30AM or after 3:00PM, so there isn't a rush to finish. You may set up a face-to-face conference for a specific time by asking the teacher through a written note, an email, or a phone call. However you set it up, it's certainly satisfying when a parent and a teacher personally conference as a means of communication because it's evidence of the two working together as partners in the education of the child.
By the way, all the faculty's e-mail addresses and telephone extension numbers may be found in the front of the Family Roster document. Thanks for your cooperation in consistent, positive, and properly chosen forms of communication with your child's teachers this year, as you continue the tradition of marvelous home-school communication for which St. Louise is renowned.
Thanks for reading,
p.s.
St. Louise School is also renowned for our fabulous parent volunteers, and we sure could use a few more of you to please step forward to volunteer once a week or once every-other-week as recess supervisors. You would assist our instructional assistants Trina Legnon and Lisa McKenna in helping to supervise two or three of the half-hour recesses (either 11:30-12:30 or 11:30-1:00). Please contact TrinaL@stlouiseschool.org to let her know which day of the week (or every-other-week) may work for you. It's a vital volunteer position, and it's fun to have one eye watching your child play with his/her classmates at the same time your other eye is on the rest of the playground. :-)
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Upcoming Calendar of Events
Monday the 28th
- A week of teacher and staff meetings/training begins in preparation for the new school year; the school office will be open most days this week from 7:30-3:30 (but closed on Friday the 1st)
Monday the 4th
Tuesday the 5th
- SCHOOL BEGINS - Passport Day (See schedule in article below)
- Parent Curriculum Night for all Parents of 7th and 8th Graders - 6:30PM in the school library
Wednesday the 6th
- Noon Dismissal for Grades K-1
- Parents' Coffee 8:30-9:30AM in the library
- Parent Curriculum Meeting for all Parents of Pre-K - 9:00AM
Thursday the 7th
- Noon Dismissal for Grades K-1
- Parent Curriculum Night for all Parents of K-6th Graders - 6:30PM in the parish hall
- Opening Week Liturgy for K-8th Graders - 11:00AM in the church - parents welcome
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Get Ready for the First Day & First Week of School
School begins for all grade PK-8 students on Tuesday, September 5, with our special Passport Day. This is a morning for every single St. Louise student and at least one of his/her parents to first meet in the PARISH HALL beneath the church to pick up a "passport" and get instructions from me, "Mr. Fitz." Families then tour the school, meet familiar and new teachers, learn where all the classrooms are, and drop off all the school supplies in the student's desk (or locker for grades 7-8).
We have posted online our 2017-18 School Supplies list. On Passport Day, all students are to come to school with these supplies, and when arriving at their homerooms they will have time to unload the supplies in their desks (or lockers if in grades 7-8).
Although students are to wear their school uniform, Passport Day is not like an ordinary first day of school. Instead, every grade PK-8 student must have at least one parent attending with
him/her, and have a uniquely assigned time to arrive. Your Passport Day experience will last no longer than 90 minutes, at which time you will go home for the day. Every grade PK-8 family whose student's last name begins with the following letters are to meet in the PARISH HALL on the 5th at the stated start time:
*A-C at 8:30 a.m.
*D-J at 9:15 a.m.
*K-P at 10:00 a.m.
*Q-Z at 10:45 a.m.
Veteran school families who had been "mentoring" new families over the summer may disregard using the above schedule and instead arrive in the PARISH HALL when the new family is scheduled (according to the letter of their child's last name) so the mentor family may accompany the new family around the school.
Please note that on Passport Day, Kids' Club does not begin, but instead this day is when all families in both morning and afternoon Kids' Club should visit the Kids' Club staff at the Lavelle Center. Kids' Club's supervision begins on Wednesday, September 6, and after-school Kids' Club will start at noon each day that first Wednesday through Friday of school, to accommodate the kindergarten and 1st grade students who have early dismissal.
The second day of school - Wednesday, September 6, is a more traditional first day, when grade 1-8 students are dropped off in the carpool lane, kindergarten students are walked to their classrooms by their parents, and school begins at 8:30.
For Wednesday through Friday of that first week (September 6-8), grade 2-8 students will attend at our usual school times of 8:30-3:00, but kindergarteners and 1st graders will attend from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. through September 8, with a noon dismissal each day.
Monday, September 11, is a regular school day, and all students in grades K-8 attend for the usual Monday school timeframe of 8:30-2:00. [Please Note: Whenever school is in session on a Monday, it's a 2:00 dismissal time for all K-8 students, as our teachers use this extra "free time" to hold curriculum meetings each Monday afternoon.]
The Pre-Kindergarten students have specific first days of classes (after Passport Day) based upon their families' last names. Only students with last names A-K have their first day of Pre-K from 8:30-11:45 on Thursday, September 7. Only the Pre-K students with last names L-Z have their first day from 8:30-11:45 on Friday, September 8. [There is no extended-day preschool the first week of school.] Then on Monday, September 11, all Pre-K students attend together for the first time, again from 8:30-11:45, with those students in the extended-day program remaining until 2:00 (and until 3:00 on Tuesdays through Thursdays).
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Thanks for Coming to School on the First Day Dressed for Success
"You cannot climb the ladder of success
dressed in the costume of failure!" ~Zig Ziglar
Parents are asked to confirm in the Uniform section of our School Policies what pieces of the school uniform are or aren't allowed. For example, did you know we don't allow hoop earrings, there is a specific inch measurement for skirt length, and only certain colors of socks are allowed? There are also specific rules for your children's hairstyles. After reading the hairstyle rules, you may need to visit the barber or salon in the coming days.
Please note below that specific section in our policies regarding hairstyles:
- Hair for both boys and girls must be kept neatly trimmed and combed.
- A boy's hair must not hang below his eyebrows or ears and not touch his shirt collar.
- No facial hair is allowed.
- A girl's hair must be off her face, be it through side-swept bangs or hairclips/headbands.
- Hairstyles are to be conservative, with no extreme haircuts or hairstyles allowed.
- The school administration is the final determinant of what constitutes "extreme."
- Typically, an extreme haircut or hairstyle is one in which unnecessary attention is drawn to it because one or more of the following occurs:
+ is considered a "fad";
+ is not a natural, God-given hair color (coloring, bleaching, or streaking is not allowed);
+ excessively uses gels or styling products;
+ is completely shaved on a boy;
+ is buzz cut or completely
shaved on a girl;
+ has designs or lines cut into it;
+ does not have consistent thickness but is shaved noticeably shorter in some areas (e.g. an "undercut" or a "mohawk" is not allowed)
the styles shown here would NOT be allowed at St. Louise (although we're sure the boys themselves are wonderful kids)
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Plan Now to Get a Babysitter
We request at least one parent attend their child's designated Curriculum Night (or Curriculum Morning in the case of PreK), as parents partner up with the teachers in making the upcoming year a great year of communication and camaraderie for your children to prosper. Please note that toddlers and students are not allowed at Curriculum meetings. These are strictly for adults. Thank you for finding childcare.
> The Curriculum Night for grade 7-8 parents is on the first evening of school - Sept. 5, from 6:30-9:00 p.m. This session begins in the school library.
> Pre-K parents have a meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 6, from 9:00-10:00 a.m. in the Pre-K classroom. (PreK students begin classes on Thursday or Friday, depending on their last name.)
> Grade 1-6 parents have their Curriculum Night on Thursday, Sept. 7, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. It begins in the Parish Hall beneath the church.
> The Kindergarten Parents' have their unique Curriculum Night the second week of school - on Tuesday, Sept. 12, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. and it will begin in the lobby of the main school building.
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CYO Fall Season Beginning Shortly
St. Louise's CYO registration is open for playing soccer. Go HERE to register your grade K-8 child. We are grateful for any parents interested in coaching and request that you please note your coaching interest when your register online. If you have questions, please contact coordinators Maria Kelly-Doggett or Christie Allemand at soccer@stlouise.org.
Registration is open for all K-8th grade students to sign up for Cross Country. Click here to register: http://stlouise.org/122. Practices will be held on Tuesday and Fridays from 3:30-4:45, beginning on Friday, Sept. 8th. The CYO Cross Country meets will be at Lake Sammamish State Park at 2pm on Sunday, Sept. 24, Sunday, Oct. 1, and the Championship on Sunday, Oct. 8th. If you have any questions please contact the Cross Country Coordinator, Amy Wilken.
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Updating Your Child's Immunizations
Parents of all incoming Kindergarteners need to make sure your child's immunizations are up to date. If your child receives any immunizations over the summer, please forward the dates to school nurse Jane Reynolds
who will update your child's immunization form we have on file.
For parents of all incoming 6th graders, a reminder that the state is requiring a booster Tdap. Please forward Jane the date your child received this booster by no later than the end of August, or else your child will not be able to attend school. The state also requires all incoming 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to have two doses of chickenpox vaccine. Most students have only received one dose, and thus will need a booster. Please send Jane the dates of your child's chickenpox booster by no later than the end of August.
As you may know, our state requires a licensed health care provider to sign the Certificate of Exemption for a parent or guardian to exempt their child from school immunization requirements. The signature verifies that the provider gave the parents information about the benefits and risks of immunizations. The parent can also turn in a signed letter from a health care provider stating the same information. Kids who aren't fully immunized will be sent home from school if a disease outbreak occurs. This law took effect July 22, 2011, so it only applies to exemptions requested after this date. If you have any questions, please contact Jane.
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RSVP for the FREE Parish Picnic
Did you know the parish is having a picnic next month?! The St. Louise Parish Picnic will be held at Lake Sammamish State Park on Sunday, September 10, starting at 1:30...and it's
free! (other than the parking fee). For more information and to RSVP, go
here. This is a great family event with food and dessert, games, and kids' activities. It's a wonderful way to meet other parishioners. Please mark your calendar now,
but it's vital that you
RSVP so the parish knows how much food they'll need to purchase and prepare.
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Order Charger Cards Via Your Cell Phone
See the
video that shows you how to use
MyScripWallet.com - the mobile website to purchase, use and track Charger Card scrip on your phone.
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Hot Lunch Option Available through Lunch Ladies Catering
St. Louise School partners with Lunch Ladies Catering to offer school families an option to order lunches online and have them delivered daily to school. School lunch service begins the 2nd week of school, on Monday, September 11.
Here's how to order lunches:
For New Parents
3. Password is:
SLS253
4; Add account profile(s) information. The profile is your child's name. Assign your child to their room.
5. Sign In - Welcome page displays with Program Info (Order Schedule, Rules etc.)
6. Click Order at top of the navigation bar & go to the month for which you're ordering.
7. Click the Order link on the calendar to begin. First Hot Lunch Date is Monday, September 11.
8. Check out & pay - Please be sure to complete the check-out process. Do not close your browser prior to receiving the confirmation display or your order may be interrupted and not fully processed. Items left in your shopping cart will not be processed and your order will not be placed.
For Returning Parents
1. GO TO:
https://lunchladiescatering.orderlunches.com.
2. Sign In with your username & password
3. Choose student, add their grade for the new school year, and click "update profile."
4. If a student has graduated, select their name, and click "remove profile."
5. Once all profiles are updated, click on the Order link to begin ordering.
For technical support in help navigating the site, email
support@orderlunches.com. If you have any questions on the food ingredients or on policies for missing food items, late orders, credits, cancellations, etc, please email
w-szabo@hotmail.com or call 425-444-9573 and Lunch Ladies Catering will get in touch with you right away.
- Grade 2-8 students should bring their lunches to school starting Wednesday, September 6;
- Grade K-1 and PreK extended-day students will begin bringing their lunches to school starting September 11;
- Each homeroom teacher will let parents know about students bringing snacks to school;
- Afternoon Kids' Club attendees should pack an afterschool snack every day.
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Time to Start Ordering Milk
Beginning on September 11, daily milk service begins. Half pint cartons of 1% milk are purchased only through a pre-pay process for the entire year. It's quite a deal at only $50 for an entire year's supply of milk (approximately 30ยข per carton). If your grade K-8 child (or PreK extended-day child) will be drinking milk at lunch this year, please pre-order and pre-pay online
.
1. Click on "Give a New Gift"
2. Click on "Milk"
3. In the "Special Intentions" box, enter your children's names.
Please note that if you don't pre-order by August 31, the fee increases to $75 per child.
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If you have Auction questions, please email Auction director
Sue Richards.
If you forgot to make your $20 per-family art project fee, please go now to make this payment online:
stlouiseschool.org/auction
. Click on the "art project fee-pay here" link. Thank you for completing this requirement!
Thanks for your participation in making Auction 2017 a success!
Our St. Louise School House truly rocks!
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Walk, Don't Run, To Gather Your Pledges Now
September's required fund raiser for all families is our famous Walk-A-Thon. Although the Walk-A-Thon will be a special day on the last Friday in September to come together as a community to celebrate fun, fitness, and our great school, NOW is the time for you and your kids to gather Walk-A-Thon pledges from family and friends. Your family's minimum required contribution to the Parents' Club is as follows:
- For a 1-child school family, $85;
- For a 2-children family, $170;
- For a 3+ children family, $200.
For more information on the Walk-A-thon, and for the online link to gather pledges, please go to the
Walk-A-Thon page
on the
website. The kick-off assembly for the Walk-A-Thon will be on September 8, so expect your child to bring home additional information that day about the potential awards they can win for being top pledge gatherers.
Please contact our super Walk-A-Thon chairs if you have questions: Erika Mervin, Michele Baker, Jolla Sumido, and Laura Dark
at
Walkathon@stlouiseschool.org
.
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 Summer Reading Assignments for 6th-8th Graders Due Soon
We are making summer reading a requirement for your children moving into grades 6-8 this September. In this way, we hope to assure your kids will not just exercise their bodies with their swimming, biking, and sports camps over the summer, but they'll exercise their brains too. For those students entering grades 6-8, your required list of novels and the written assignments are HERE. These assignments are due on the first day of grade 6-8 language arts classes.
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How to Maneuver through Morning Drop-Off & Afternoon Pick-Up
Explanations of our traffic regulations and how to maneuver carpool drop-off and pick-up may be found under the Resources link on our school website. Along with that, parent Alison Peters created a wonderful, instructional video that, although a few years old (check out Mr. Fitz's glasses and hairstyle), is still relevant and helpful.
One of the key rules to remember in the morning is to not "double stop." That is, once your vehicle pulls into a single line stretching from the north wing of the original school all the way to the south parking lot south of the gym, no matter where you find yourself in that single file line you must unload all your children at one time. Do not pull up and unload a second time just to drop a child closer north. This "double-stopping" causes backups.
One of the key rules to remember in the afternoon when picking-up is if you are parking in the central parking spaces, you must remain in or alongside your vehicle at all times so you are ready to pull forward or pull out. You cannot abandon your vehicle, as you will block the car behind you from being able to leave or block another car from being able to pull in.
Remember that the drop-off and pick-up of our Pre-Kindergarten students is somewhat different, in that these students are to be walked to and picked up directly from their room. Pre-K parents will want to park their cars in the south lot or on the basketball court, and walk their children directly to the classroom door in the north wing (8:15-8:30 a.m.) and then pick them up directly from the classroom (11:45). If in extended day Pre-K, students should be picked up in person directly from the classroom at dismissal time by the parent or adult/older sibling.
There is only supervision on the school grounds for grades K-8 students from the 8:20 entrance bell through the 3:17 end-of-carpool-bell (2:17 on Mondays and 12:17 on half days), so it is critical that you or a carpool driver be responsible for your children at all other times.
Finally, no children may play on the basketball court or soccer field immediately after school (during the approximate 17 minutes after the dismissal bell when there are still Safety Patrol and carpool traffic directors on duty). Children may be on the BigToy only if a parent is directly supervising them. Thanks for supporting us by reminding your children of the rules and modeling for them adherence to rules.
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Did You Accomplish These Required Tasks?
* Required Fieldtrip Driver Information Sheet
Our insurance requires us to have parents annually fill out a Driver Information Sheet, specifying the insurance information on vehicles that will be driven on school field trips. Since there is a strong possibility that every school family will drive on at least one field trip this coming school year, we ask each school parent to complete and return a Driver Information Sheet by September.
* Student Medication
Any time a student needs to take medication at school, whether prescription or over-the-counter, an Authorization to Administer Medication form must be on file in our school office. If your child will need to take medication at school, please complete the form, get your doctor's signature on it, and return it to school along with the medication in its original container. Please contact our nurse, Jane Reynolds, if you have any questions.
* Background Check and Safe Environment Training
A required task for each school parent to complete is an online Background Check process and training process referred to as Safe Environment Training, overseen by the Seattle Archdiocese and run by the company, VIRTUS. This helps confirm the safety of our students when parents are helping at school, coaching a team, supervising an after-school program, or even driving on a fieldtrip. (All our employees undergo this same background check process.)
==> EACH NEW SCHOOL PARENT MUST REGISTER SEPARATELY WITH VIRTUS when initially enrolling in St. Louise School.
==> Every year thereafter EACH VETERAN SCHOOL PARENT MUST KEEP CURRENT WITH VIRTUS in his/her background check status and Safe Environment training.
If you haven't yet done so, to begin this background check process on the Volunteer Page on our school website. Remember, this is an individual process, not a family or couple process, so each individual parent in the family must go online and register separately with VIRTUS. Besides answering questions, both you and your spouse (if applicable) will also be asked to read Archdiocesan policies on safety, and then to each register for an initial 3-hour training session - called "Protecting God's Children for Adults" - if you have never taken this course prior, or if too much time has lapsed since you've last taken this course. Please sign up for a training session at a King County parish that works with your schedule, but that takes place no later than September.
Note: You'll find one training session approaching soon in Issaquah, and two choices of sessions coming up right here at St. Louise - one on September 14, and one on September 16:
https://www.virtusonline.org/mytraining/live_registration.cfm. But you have to quickly sign up before the limited spaces fill up.
Thank you for keeping our school in compliance with this required process of everyone registering with VIRTUS and either taking an initial 3-hour training session and/or updating their status if a returning school family! Please direct any questions to the Archdiocese's Safe Environment Office at (206) 274-3188 or to the St. Louise Parish office through SafeEnvironment@StLouise.org.
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Your 3rd-8th Grader Can Join the Choir
Students entering grades 3-8 this fall are invited to be a part of music ministry at our school Masses by joining Chorale - the school choir. If your 3rd through 8th grade child loves to sing or play guitar, drums, violin, flute, etc., please encourage him/her to sign up. Chorale rehearses approximately three Mondays a month from 2-3 pm in the church.
There is a one-time $20 fee per child. This fee is due by August 31, and thereafter increases to $25. You  may pay through the school website. After logging into your account, click on "Give a New Gift" link and find Chorale. Click on drop down "Select Gift Type" and choose "One Time." This will enable you to set up payment of fee and add your child's name in the special intention box. Contact choir director Karen Cole with questions.
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See what's happening on our St. Louise Facebook page
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