May 29, 2022

Weekly eNews

Dear St. Giles Families, WE DID IT! We have made it to our final week of school and I could not be more proud of our entire St. Giles community. I am especially grateful for our teachers and staff for all of their hard work and dedication that has kept us on track all year. Our Lions and parents, guardians, and extended family members, as well as neighbors and friends of St. Giles, have been in this together every step of the way. This is truly a community like no other!    On Wednesday, we celebrated our Class of 2022 -- their many accomplishments and their bright futures ahead. The rain held off for our outdoor Clapout as the graduates took their last lap around campus as Lions. God bless the Class of 2022! We are so very proud of you. Scroll down to see pictures from their special day.   This will be our final weekly enews for the 2021-22 school year. What will next year look like? We are returning all of our flexible seating back to classrooms and will have students working back in groups or pods in each room! We look forward to opening in August after a restful and relaxing, yet safe and healthy summer. Next week we will have summer reminders but have listed important information below for all families. Please be sure to check out our summer camps and classes!    Enjoy this long weekend and stay safe! I am truly honored and grateful to be part of such a loving and caring community. Best wishes for a restful, healthy, and safe summer!   With Love, Meg   Annual St. Giles Parent Survey Please watch for a special eNews this week asking for feedback on this year in our annual parent survey.    Last Day of School Reminders The final day of Kids Klub after school care will be Thursday, June 2nd. Kids Klub will be available in the morning on June 3rd. Dismissal for all students on June 3rd will be at 10:30 am or shortly thereafter.   Office Hours Please note the office hours for the next 2 weeks:   May 31-June 3: Regular hours, 7:30 am - 3:45 pm June 6th-9th: Office open 9:00 am - 3:00 pm June 10th: Office open 9:00 am - 12:00 pm   Summer office hours begin on Tuesday, June 14th  Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm  Offices are closed on Monday/Friday during the summer  End of Year Thank You Celebration Mark your calendars for our end-of-year celebration to thank parents for their partnership this year! We will gather in the courtyard on June 3rd between 5:30-8:00PM. Book your babysitters now and join us to say cheers to the end of the year. Check your inbox for your evite or take a look here. Please RSVP by May 31st for our planning purposes. We hope to see you there! COVID Update We had 4 positive cases reported last week. As a reminder: while we are mask optional, we do recommend that students and staff mask, especially our 8th graders as they enter their final days. This is such a busy and important time of year for all of our students as well – with end-of-the-year academics and activities both in school and out. As much as is possible, we don’t want our students to miss out on these important and fun spring events and believe masking is one way to cut down on exposure and spread within our school community.

Please join us in wishing our faculty members who are moving on to new adventures best wishes!  Ms. Terry Mamolella Ms. Mamolella has been a fixture in our Primary Unit for 32 years! Although she began her career at St. Giles teaching 2nd grade, she spent the majority of her time teaching our kindergarteners about the beauty of God, how to be good Lions and embracing the academics as they have evolved over the years. Ms. Mamolella estimates that she has worked with over 1,000 students in her entire career–what a milestone and blessing for all of those families and all of the faculty and staff she has worked with while at St. Giles. We invite families to come to a special celebration of Ms. Mamolella’s retirement on Tuesday, June 7th between 9 am and 10 am. We will dedicate a special bench on the primary playground to Ms. Mamolella and provide an opportunity for families to say thank you and best wishes.   Mrs. Anna Marske Mrs. Marske has been with us for 7 years at St. Giles and has made an indelible impact on our 4th grade program and has served as Unit Coordinator for our Intermediate Unit. Mrs. Marske and her husband will be welcoming their first child in November and she will be staying home with their new baby next year. We are excited to welcome baby Marske as our littlest Lion and will keep everyone informed next fall. We will miss Mrs. Marske, her genuine love of 4th grade and her enthusiasm, especially at Halloween (her favorite holiday).    Mrs. Terri Palluzzi Mrs. Palluzzi joined us this year as our 8th grade ELA and Religion teacher and had a wonderful impact on our classes of 2022 and 2023. Mrs. Palluzzi will be returning to her ESL roots and teaching at the college level next year. While she may have only been with us for one year, we are grateful for her insights, her compassion and sharing her love of faith and literature with our Lions.  Mrs. Caitlan An Mrs. An will be moving on to new adventures next year. We are so grateful for her sharing her artistic talents and enthusiasm with our Lions and wish her well.  We are actively interviewing for our open teaching positions and will announce additional staffing updates this summer. Continuing at St. Giles in a new role Ms. Anastasia Smith Ms. Smith will be returning next year as one of our Kindergarten teachers. She has been teaching 1st grade at St. Giles for three years and understands the curriculum and how to prepare our kindergarteners to move to the next level. Ms. Smith is an integral part of our primary unit and we look forward to her continuing in her new classroom.  Mrs. Kathy Lucas Mrs. Lucas has served in the Chicago Archdiocese for 36 years, 16 of them at St. Giles. While Mrs. Lucas is not leaving us, she is stepping away from the classroom into a new role as math resource teacher for grades 5-8. Mrs. Lucas will work with students both in and out of the classroom several days per week. She will continue her role as Math Curriculum Coordinator, grades 5-8, Liturgy Coordinator for our school masses along with an additional role of coordinating our Catechesis Certification for teachers. Mrs. Lucas will also renew and revitalize our Buddy Program that has been largely on hold due to COVID restrictions. Mrs. Lucas will be with us part time next year and we are looking forward to working with her in this new role. Welcome to St. Giles! Mrs. Tiffany Rahming-Archer Mrs. Archer will be joining our Middle School Unit as our new 6th-7th grade math teacher. Mrs. Archer joins us after relocating from Florida this past year having taught high school and middle school math in both Florida and the Bahamas. Her excitement and enthusiasm for all things math is contagious!

March with us on Memorial Day!  Tomorrow is the day!The River Forest Memorial Day Parade is BACK and St. Giles School will be marching in it. The parade takes place from 9:30-10:30 a.m. on Memorial Day, May 30. Would you like join us? St. Giles families are invited to participate and any student who marches in SGS spiritwear will receive an out of uniform pass for Tuesday. It's such a fun way to show our community support and celebrate the holiday! To sign up, complete the form here or contact Sarah Yaffe for details of where to meet.

Please be sure to check your Facts accounts to make sure that any final payments owed are set up to be processed. If you have any concerns about your balance, please reach out to Michele Bibbey with any questions.

Congratulations to the Class of 2022! We had a beautiful final Mass followed by an exuberant parade clapout on Wednesday! We are so proud of our graduates and thankful we could celebrate in person Wednesday evening with graduation in the church. Congratulations to our St. Giles Scholarship winners: CCW Scholarship: Sydney A. Men's Society Scholarship: Finn M. Cafasso Science Scholarship: Ellie B. Go forth and continue to make us proud!

FALL ENRICHMENT INTERST Do you have a special interest or skill you'd like to share with others? Or do you want to share your hobby with our Lions? If so, St. Giles Enrichment is looking for you! In past years, we have had parents who have offered to run an enrichment program for our students. As we continue to try to grow our program, we are looking for any interested parents who may want to run an after-school program. Lots of flexibility is available as far as days, times and class sizes. If interested, please contact Mr. Siwek at ssiwek@stgilesschool.org. Thank you!

Kick-off summer with reading!!  St. Giles is excited to help streamline your summer reading through Anderson Books. You can order your required (for younger grades, suggested) summer reading books through Anderson Bookfair and they will be delivered to your home.   A percentage of your orders will benefit St. Giles School! Beyond the school lists, they also have all the newest releases and many classics if you are looking for more. This is a great way to promote screen-free time this summer. Please contact Becky Mongiat with any questions.   St. Giles Summer Reading Lists   K - 3rd Grade  4th Grade - 8th Grade   Shop Anderson Summer Reading List Offerings: https://www.abcfairs.com/st-giles-school-summer-reading Looking for more options for summer reading? Browse the flyers to check out new releases:   Bookfair Flyers:   Elementary Bookfair Flyer   Middle School Bookfair Flyer

Our yearbook editors are working hard gathering all the memories from the 2021-22 school year! Click the image below for information on how to order your yearbook. The price is $25.50 and the deadline is June7th. Yearbooks will be delivered to St. Giles later in June and families will be contacted via email for pick up. Don't forget to order yours today using the St. Giles passcode, 1015360912394991.

Fall Sports Registration is Open Click here to Register

Fall Soccer   Who Can Join: 5-8 grade Season Start: Mid August for Practices, Games in September Season End: First week of November Leagues: 2 Leagues (Classic and Forest Park)   Registration Opens: May 29th Registration & Uniform fee 5th Grade: $200 Registration fee 6-8th Grade: $130 Uniform fee: $70  All uniforms include uniform shorts, uniform jersey top and socks. For 6-8 grade only, if you need a new uniform because you do not have one, or your current one does not fit, purchase using the separate link on the registration page. Save $25 Early Bird Discount if you register by July 1st  Registration Closes: August 17th to ensure teams and order uniforms

Cross Country   Who Can Join: 4-8 grade Season Start: Mid August for Practices Meet Dates: 9/3, 9/10. 9/17, 9/24 and 10/1 Leagues: 1 League SPLCC Registration Open: May 29th Registration fee: $80 Uniform fee: $30 Uniforms includes 1 uniform top and is the same for Cross Country and Track and Field. Save $25 Early Bird Discount if you register by July 1st  Registration Closes: August 17th For FAQs about Fall Soccer or Cross Country please visit our Athletic Website under the Team Info tab. If you cannot find your answer please contact Sara Spencer @ athleticdirector@stgilesschool.org

End-of-the-year Picnics are back!

Room parents are hard at work organizing our end of year picnics! We are excited to be able to bring back the picnics for our kids and will need lots of parent support to make these events successful. More information to follow on the PK, K-2 and 3rd-5th Grades as the dates approach! K-2nd: June 1st, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm (primary playground) 3rd-5th: June 2nd, 11:45 am - 3:10 pm (Lindberg Park) PK: June 2nd, 9:00 am - 11:00 am (primary playground)

Rocket Day is June 3rd SIGN-UP to participate, volunteer/donate to our final "Community Connection" of the school year, a unique STEAM + family event: ROCKET DAY! Celebrating our LAUNCH into summer!!!   We'll be launching & picnic lunching together - for a sneak peek of what to expect and some inspiration - CLICK HERE   Let us know you will join us, can volunteer, and/or donate to this AWESOME mission - CLICK HERE   CLICK HERE to learn how to build your rocket in advance… As we COUNTDOWN, students have the opportunity to build their rocket(s) at their school picnics. Supplies will also be available onsite at the park on Rocket Day.   Sign-up now - It's going to be OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!

Are you looking for your Lions' water bottle? School sweatshirt or fleece? Scarf or mittens? They may be in our lost and found! Please have your Lions check out the lost and found shelves in the Frawley and Corrigan buildings. Anything with a name on it will be returned to the student. Other items left through the end of the year will be donated.

School Supplies for the 2022-23 School Year Believe it or not, it is time to start thinking about the next school year. Below you will find teacher-generated school supply lists. Preschool Supply List K-8 Supply List Families of students entering Kindergarten through 8th grade have also the option to order school supplies online through Educational Products, Inc. EPI Supplies Pack will be in your child's classroom on the first day of school. Online ordering is open now through Sunday, June 12th. Click here for more information on the EPI Packs. St. Giles School ID: STG005

Band is Back in 2022-23 We are excited to welcome back our band program next year! In case you missed this announcement, check out information here regarding lessons this summer and class next year. Contact Mr. Bob Gloppen with any questions. Uniform Update If you missed our update regarding uniforms, please see this special eNews. Uniform Update St. Giles Summer Enrichment registration is here! Classes include Chess, Giving Artfully, Legacy Sports, Kids Klub and even ones our littlest Lions can enjoy! For a more detailed description, please look at the 2022 Summer Camp flyer. Most of our teachers have either scheduling conflicts or just need a break, so we have reached out to our vendors and they have responded! Sign up today! 2022-2023 At-a-Glance Calendar

We still have openings for our fun- filled summer programs! We target the following skills while utilizing our gym and child focused learning space: Executive Functioning (organization, time management, planning and execution), Social -Behavioral (become a flexible thinker, work through frustrations, overcome your inner critic), Emotional-Physical (Identify and name feelings and sensations; adjust and regulate behavior), Handwriting development (strengthen fine motor skills, finger and grip adjustment). Please see attached registration form.