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OUR LADY OF FATIMA
CATHOLIC SCHOOL
PRINCIPAL NEWSLETTER
May 8, 2017
"
Pray and say the Rosary every day, to bring Peace to the World."
Our Lady of Fatima
OUT AND ABOUT:
- Fantastic news - as I have written about during the year, until we increase our enrolment, we will need to do additional fund raising each year. Something Special has announced that this year they will match up to $25,000 for any contribution to the Fatima Faith Fund given before June 21st. Yea! This is wonderful news! If you have not yet made a contribution, please consider making a donation to the Fatima Faith Fund this year. Whatever you can give to the Fatima Faith Fund will be matched by Something Special and be of great help for our school. Thank you, Something Special Board members!
- More Fantastic News. The HSA, as you know, had their Spring Gala on Saturday night, April 29th. It was a great evening and so much fun. Thank you to all the parents who attended and thank you to all the efforts by the HSA to have such an enjoyable evening. In addition, a special thank you goes out to Michael Paige and Tom Barteck for being such entertaining and effective auctioneers! The HSA has informed me that the gala raised approximately $40,000 for the school. Thank you to everyone for this amazing support for our school!
- Several people I spoke to at the Gala had run in the Norwalk Whittingham Cancer Center Annual 5K Run and 3K Walk the morning of the Gala.The OLF Mighty Falcons team represented very well! Eighth grader Frank Bonaddio came in 3rd overall and 1st in the 14-18 age group with the amazing time of 19:03. Also winning medals in their age groups were Sofia Pace, Ava Lampman, and Adriana Salageanu. Congratulations to everyone who participated in this great cause.
- I am afraid I am going to have to put my dream of our own OLF 5K on hold for another year. We have had trouble getting the course approved and the time has slipped away on me. This will have to be a 17/18 event now.
- Five days to the 100th anniversary of the Blessed Virgin appearing at Fatima. This 100th anniversary will occur on May 13th. We are having a long Spring Musical play practice that day from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. I am asking all students to bring their school uniforms to play practice and stay for the procession led by Bishop Caggiano at 4:30 p.m., then 5:30 p.m. Mass, and then a reception and live music hosted by the parish. All Fatima students and their families are encouraged to attend this very special and important day. All Fatima students are encouraged to wear their uniforms to Mass that Saturday! Each student who attends the Saturday Mass in Uniform will get a Dress-Down Day Coupon for the following week!
- On Friday, May 12th, to prepare for the 100th anniversary of Fatima, we are planning a Living Rosary outside at 1:45 p.m. All are welcome to attend. Friday evening there will be an outdoor movie, Miracle of the Sun. at 8:00 p.m. Bring your lawn chair and blanket; popcorn will be served.
- Our third graders are all planting cabbage plants, courtesy of "Bonnie Plants." I am told they get are going to get very large!
- We do have a change to our June calendar. June 6th will no longer be a full day staff professional day. It now will be a half-day school for all students with a noon dismissal; then professional development opportunities for the teachers in the afternoon. This will make our new last day of school, (as long as there are no more snow days!) Tuesday, June 20th. Please make note of this important change. Eighth Grade graduation will remain on June 9th.
- Fourth graders had an exciting day this past Wednesday. They watched a baby butterfly emerge from its cocoon. On Friday, they dressed up as a character from the books, The Nocturnals. Tomorrow, the fourth through seventh graders will have an author visit from the book series, The Noctunals. They are really looking forward to it.
- One thing that we have been consistently talking about this year is increasing enrollment. However, there is a wonderful value to smaller class size: increased student achievement. The most influential and credible study of the impact of smaller class sizes on achievement is the Student Teacher Achievement Ratio, or STAR, study which was conducted in Tennessee during the late 1980s. Beginning with students entering kindergarten in 1985, students were randomly assigned to a small class, with an average of 15 students, or a regular class, with an average of 22 students. An analysis of the Tennessee STAR experiment finds that elementary school students randomly assigned to small classes outperformed their classmates who were assigned to regular classes significantly. What is important about this study is that students and teachers were assigned at random to either the smaller class or larger class and that the results were still detectable four years later. Our small class sizes are another reason to be talking proud about Our Lady of Fatima School. To read more about this study, here is a link from the National Education Association:
- Speaking of smaller class sizes, as you know we offer both a regular and accelerated math class for our students during each year of middle school. This past week, I had a chance to observe a regular sixth grade math class taught by Mrs. Galasso. These eight sixth grade math students performed a geometry proof that they will see again as high school sophomores. By arranging three angles in a triangle into a straight line, they were able to prove that the angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees. What a great experience for our sixth graders and a lesson that they will never forget. Great job, Mrs. Galasso.
"SHOUT OUT 1"
Mr. Angelo Tsingerliotis. Mr. Tsingerliotis is known to one and all as Mr. T. Mr. T has been a wonderful addition to our middle school team, teaching the social studies curriculum of World Civilizations every day to our sixth graders, and American History to our seventh, and eighth grade students, and computer classes weekly to first through eighth graders. Mr. T has also introduced Google Classrooms to our middle school students, brought back the Geography Bee to our school, and this past Friday had a very successful Living Museum with our middle school students. He is loved by his students and thanks for all you do, Mr. T.
"SHOUT OUT II"
Adrian, Michael, and the entire HSA Board for their work planning and hosting the great Spring Gala. It was a wonderful evening and showed the Fatima spirit!
COMING EVENTS:
May 9th to 12th - Scholastic Book Sale in the gym
May 9th - 8th Grade graduation picture
May 10th - 5th/6th/7th grade field trip to Sturbridge Village
May 11th - 8th Grade trip to Boston
May 12th - School living Rosary celebrating Our Lady's appearing at Fatima at 1:30
Outdoor movie, Miracle of the Sun, at 8:00 p.m.
May 13th - Parish celebration of the 100th anniversary of Our Lady appearing at Fatima in 1917. Procession beginning at 4:30 p.m., followed by 5:30 p.m. Mass with Bishop Caggiano, and then a reception at the church
May 14th - Mother's Day
May 20th - Spring Musical, The Snow Queen, at 7:30 p.m.
May 21st - Spring Musical, The Snow Queen at 3:00 p.m.
May 24th - Kindergarten and First grade field trip to Earthplace.
Sports Dinner
May 25th - Talent Show
May 26th - Moving Up Day from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
May 29th - Memorial Day - No school
May 30th through June 1st - 8th Grade Final Exams
June 2nd - Hospitality after Mass honoring this year's 8th grade class and hosted by Grades 1 and 3
Spring Concert at 1:00 p.m.
June 5th - 8th Grade Retreat
June 6th - Half-day of school for students - 12:00 dismissal
June 8th - 8th- grade luncheon at 12:00 in the gym
June 9th - 8th-grade graduation
June 12th - Pre-K graduation
June 12th through June 14th - 6th and 7th grade Final Exams
June 14th - Kindergarten graduation at 10:00 a.m.
June 16th - Field Day
HSA End of School Picnic
June 19th - Noon dismissal for students
June 20th - Noon dismissal for students
Last Day of School (new!)
June 26 to June 29th- Vacation Bible Camp
July 10 through August 4 - Summer Basketball Camp between 9:00 and 3:00
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