PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
June 29, 2022
Dear Parents,
I am pleased to be able to address you as the interim principal for the 2022-2023 school year! I have loved my first year at Blessed Sacrament School and look forward to many years of growth with you, your children, and our parish. Out of our rich history and deep roots springs new life.
St. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians reminds us that life in Christ creates us anew. We have an opportunity to engage in our church again fully. Let's continue to grow together as a faith-filled community and find opportunities to serve. We can refresh our spiritual lives and grow our faith. New life through the transformative love of God ties the history and roots of our school's past to the promise and hope of the future. New life is waiting, and God will find us ready here at Blessed Sacrament.
Reading has been our buzzword for the 2021-2022 school year. Our K-5 teachers have worked together to implement a new Fountas & Pinnell Classroom series. A differentiated curriculum meets children where they are and moves them forward. Through Interactive Read Alouds, Shared Reading, Guided Reading, Phonics Word Study, and Independent Reading, teachers create an intentional series of components that direct each student's daily lesson. Students are often challenged beyond grade level, and our results are already positive. Galatians remind us that you will always harvest what you plant. Great readers are reaping fruit in our school, and the harvest is plentiful.
After executing our new reading series, a natural progression is to look at our writing program through a fresh lens. How can the seeds we have planted and nurtured in reading spring forward better writing for our students? Under the direction and collaboration of a writing leadership team, a comprehensive writing plan is being created that we will implement in the fall.
The seeds of STEAM will be planted in the hearts and minds of our students this year.
STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math - But it's more than that. STEAM has grown to represent a unique teaching and learning approach that centers around individual students' learning styles and interests. STEAM education has something to offer every student. It is inquiry-based, collaborative, and helps students learn to articulate ideas. Development focuses on the design process, which aligns with the art process, the writing process, etc. STEAM deemphasizes the product and encourages children to continue to create.
Through EANS II funding, a major part of our STEAM integration will include a new STEAM Lab for our students in all grade levels to enjoy. The fundamentals of the lab include circuitry, digital illustrations, coding, computer programming in different languages to solve problems, and software design for 2D and 3D project ideas. Students will also learn the engineering design process for structures and mechanisms and delve into solutions involving renewable energy and planting seeds. We are educating students for careers that haven't even been invented yet. We must teach them to be creative, collaborative, communicative, and think deeply.
Beyond the curriculum, other seeds are planted as we head into our new school year. We are planning to analyze the security of our school. We are blessed to be in this beautiful setting and enjoy the pleasures of a notable city park across the street. To be proactive, we want to evaluate our current security status to determine what measures we should take to secure our building and the safety of our students and staff.
To our staff who are moving on to new adventures, we wish the best to Mrs. Iannone, Mrs. Maguire, Mrs. Sammons, Mrs. Calimlim, Mrs. George, Mrs. Berkland, Mrs. Rachael, and Ms. Allsteadt. We thank Mrs. Pinckney for her 35 years of service to Blessed Sacrament School and wish her the best in her retirement. Ms. Caroline Phillips will be the Director of Curriculum for the Diocese of Savannah.
We have hired two seasoned 4th grade teachers, Ms. Leslie Tyson and Ms. Lisa Malanson, a new 5th grade Reading and Language Arts teacher, Dr. Marty Cox, and a new art teacher Mrs. Katie Wells. Mrs. Katie Brunson is joining our staff to be our new Media Specialist/ STEAM Coordinator, Mrs. Wendy Seiler will be our new 1st-grade teacher, and Mrs. Haley Shearouse will be teaching math in the middle school with an 8th-grade homeroom. Also, Mr. Ray Aikens will be joining us this summer in our Maintenance/Custodial department.
We have a few staff members transitioning to new positions within BSS: Mrs. Bozeman will be a lead kindergarten teacher; Ms. Latimer will be moving to 2nd grade; Mrs. Goble will be moving to 3rd grade. Mrs. Swann will be one of our new interventionists. We look forward to seeing Mrs. Brown around our school and working on our special projects. Mrs. Sabogal will be the Assistant Principal in the Lower School, and Mrs. Cole will be the Assistant Principal in Upper School.
Thank you for being so supportive. You have all made me feel welcome, and I look forward to cultivating our partnership and serving your children this upcoming year.
Sincerely,
Carole Foran
Interim Principal
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