OUR LADY OF FATIMA
CATHOLIC SCHOOL
PRINCIPAL NEWSLETTER
February 3rd, 2017

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not come. We have only today. Let us begin."
                                                                        Mother Theresa
OUT AND ABOUT:
  • The pep rally for the Tyler Ugolyn basketball tournament was a great success due primarily to the work of Mara Fleming and her pep squad - way to go pep squad and Mara! Can I hear a cheer for them?
  • The tournament games have been very exciting. I am impressed by the good sportsmanship of our players, the enthusiasm of our fans who come and cheer on the players, and how hard all our teams play regardless of the score. I am also impressed by the poise of all our athletes. Growing up, I played a good amount of basketball. I can tell you I was never as poised as our young athletes are while playing in front of many fans. This is a credit to our coaches, our community support, and the many opportunities our students have, starting very young, to playing in front of a packed gym. The future is bright for our Future Falcons.
  • I was not able to attend the Alumni Game Saturday evening. I understand that we had twenty-seven alumni come back to participate and then many of them went out together to Orem's Diner to catch-up. That is the Fatima Spirit. A special thank you to Gina O'Sullivan for organizing.
  • Speaking of alumni, Fairfield Prep published their first quarter Honor Roll. Our Lady of Fatima is very proud of the following alumni:  Brian Rooney, and David Zahrah, both freshman, and Matthew Howard a junior, were recognized on the Summa Honor Roll.   Ryan Davis, a freshman, Seamus Carbin, and Jack Smith, both sophomores, and Sam Koziolkowsky, a junior, were recognized on the Magna Honor Roll. Thanks for sharing, Kathy Rooney.
  • More Alumni news. Wilton HS published their Honor Roll. Congratulations for High Honorsto OLF alumni High School Senior William Heffernan, High School Junior Jessica Highland, and High School Freshman Paula Perez Pelaez. Congratulations for Honors recognition to Senior Meaghan Downey, Junior Caroline Sweeny, and Freshman Nancy Anne Lynch. Way to excel, alumni!
  • We had are our Open House on Sunday, January 29th. We had twelve new families; many with multiple children visit our school. One parent took the time to write a thank-you email. Maddy Pidel wrote, "We wanted to express a huge thanks to those who welcomed us and helped us have such a great experience at the open house on Sunday. We love the spirit and community of the school, and will stay in touch regarding applications and more once we are sure of our re-location to the area." I want to thank the many H.S.A. parents and school board members who came and spoke with the new families; our great Student Ambassadors who worked non-stop touring the new families; Andrew, Christina, Frank and Anastasiya who spoke about our school at different Masses over at church; Kathryn Lupoli and Janet Dobos for their marketing efforts and outreach to local nursery school programs; Courtney for "pushing" the Open House on Facebook; and especially our teachers who spent their Sunday meeting with prospective parents and discussing our school. It was a wonderful Fatima team effort - Bravo!
  • Catholic Schools Week has been a blast here at Fatima. It is great to take time to celebrate being a Catholic School. I think our students appreciated the Dress-Down Days, the different activities, and the wonderful Science Fair. A special thank you to Ms. Rose Highland for her extra effort and support of each student in making the Science Fair such a great success.
  • With all the extra-curricular activities going on the past few weeks, and besides the Science Fair, you will be happy to know we also had many hours of our excellent instruction as well. I had a chance to visit Ms. Strmecki teach a music class to Pre-K students, Ms. Berrios teach an ELA lesson to first graders, Ms. Obermayer teach a science lab lesson to fifth graders, and Mrs. Rooney teach a religion lesson to sixth graders. What was the common take away from these varied lessons? High student engagement as a direct result of compelling teacher-led instruction. Ms. Strmecki had her Pre-K students not just sing songs, but also act out the songs with movement; Ms. Berrios did not have her students just write their sight words, but first gather them with tongs from a "sight-word salad;" Ms. Obermayer did not have her students just learn about hearing, but also then performed an experiment with sound waves that mirrored the function of the eardrum; and Ms. Rooney did not have her students just learn about God in the Old Testament giving the Ten Commandments to Moses, but  then had her students perform a skit of this event dressed in costumes. Because of teacher creativity, each of these very different lessons was highlighted by a high level of student involvement and engagement. Great job, teachers!
  • Registration for 17-18 school year is taking place right now. Thank you to the parents who have already registered! If you haven't yet, please put it on your "to do" list. The registration fee is only $50 per child and all registration must be completed at our school before you apply for Bishop Scholarship grants through the diocese. Bishop Scholarship applications are due by April 1st. Please see Diane in the office with any registration questions.
  • We are fighting illness at several class levels. You can help us by keeping your child home 24 hours after the last occurrence of diarrhea and vomiting, and 24 hours after your child has been fever free.
  • Have you made a tax deductible contribution to our Fatima Faith Fund this year? If you not yet, please consider doing so. Your generosity is greatly appreciated and very needed for our school.
  • Did I mention our present enrollment? It is 142 students Pre-K through 8th grade. On August 28th, we had 128 students registered, so this is a very positive trend.
  • And the winner of the 2017 Our Lady of Fatima National Geography Bee is fifth grader, Allison Edouard. Allison now has a chance to compete against winners from the rest of the state in Hartford. Congratulations, Allison.
  • This Friday, February 10th, at 6:00 pm in Parish Center will be the first meeting of the Fatima Celebration Planning  Committee planning the activities for the 100th anniversary of Our lady appearing at Fatima this May 13th. All are welcome to help plan this wonderful event.
  • Do you have a stuffed animal not feeling well at your home? Help can be found in our Pre-K classroom - for the past two weeks our Pre-K has been running a Vet Clinic bringing stuffed animals back to health. They even "cured a stuffed dog that had eaten nine socks!" Great work by our future veterinarians.
  • An indispensable member of our fifth grade team is Mr. Rob Benedetto. His wife is expecting their fifth child with the expected due date of February 21st! If you correctly guess the birthdate or weight, your child will win a week of dress-down coupons. Fifth grade students and Mrs. Obermayer will be selling guess coupons before school and at lunch for one dollar. The money will go to the Mother's Milk Bank Northeast. What is your guess?
  • The next important H.S.A. event is their Spring Gala on April 29th at the Rolling Hills Country Club. This venue can host up to two hundred people, so invite your friends and get ready to party. For more information contact Joanne Salageanu at  [email protected]  or Carrie Shaffer at [email protected].
"SHOUT OUT 1"
Gianna Fiorentini. Kindergarten is now such an important grade as our kindergarten students are expected to have begun the decoding of words by the end of the year. Besides doing an amazing job everyday as our Kindergarten teacher, Gianna contributes to our Fatima school in countless ways: she spends hours updating and monitoring our Facebook and school website pages; she is a very important standing member of our technology committee as we plan for future technology use at our school; she arranges special speakers and field trips for our primary house, runs a popular after-school origami class,  helps out with assessments of new primary students, and is a "go-to" person when we have technology issues in school. In short, Gianna contributes daily in countless ways to the vitality of our school. Bravo!

 "SHOUT OUT 2"
Karin and Joe Begin. Besides running our monthly recycling program, Joe and Karin contribute to our school in countless ways. During the Ugolyn tournament, Karin has been a fixture in our kitchen, and Joe on a nightly basis has handled announcing duties over the PA system. Karin is also here every Wednesday working with other parent volunteers getting ready for the Spring Play. Thanks for all you do, Joe and Karin!
 
COMING EVENTS:
February 7th - H.S.A. meeting at 7:00 p.m.
February 10th - First meeting of the Fatima Celebration Planning Committee
February 17th - No School - Winter Break
February 20th - No School - President's Day
February 26th - First Eucharist meeting for second-grade parents
March 1st - Ash Wednesday
March 3rd - First Friday Mass hosted by Grade 7
March 6th through March 17th - Terra Nova testing for grades 3-7
March 7th - School-wide assembly to prepare for Jump Rope for Heart
                        H.S.A. meeting at 7:00 pm.
March 21st - Jump Rope for Heart during gym class
March 24th - Safe Environment Training for students in grades K-8
March 28th - The Tooth Fairy will be visiting Pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms
March 31st - Marks close for the third quarter
April 3rd - Parent only Eucharist meeting for second-grade parents
April 7th - Report Cards sent home
                   First Friday Mass hosted by Grade 5
                   School Talent Show at 1:00 p.m.
April 10th through April 14th - School closed for Spring Recess
April 17th - School closed for Easter Monday
April 18th - School resumes
April 29th - H. S. A. Spring Gala at the Rolling Hills Country Club
May 2nd - H.S.A. meeting at 7:00 p.m.
May 10th - 5th/6th/7th grade field trip to Sturbridge Village
May 12th - School living Rosary celebrating Our Lady's appearing at Fatima
May 13th - Parish celebration for the 100th anniversary of Our Lady appearing at Fatima in 1917
May 14th - Mother's Day
May 20th - Spring Musical, The Snow Queen, at 7:00 p.m.
May 21st - Spring Musical, The Snow Queen at 3:00 p.m.
May 29th - Memorial Day - No school
June 6th - Professional Staff Development - No school for students
June 14th - Last Day of School - 8th-grade graduation  
 
AND FINALLY:
The 10th Annual Tyler Ugolyn Tournament has been a tremendous success. This year we had 39 different teams participating who represented 11 different schools. We will have the boys and girls varsity finals tonight, but I want to take this moment to thank the countless OLF parents who signed up to volunteer in the kitchen, at the door, or at the scoring table every night since January 19th. The tournament could not have happened without you - Thank you! Thank you!
 
 
 




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