St. Joseph School Newsletter    

         “Love and Serve with Jesus”

Vol. 1               Number 30                   March 19, 2008

Important Dates to Remember:

March 20^th –  Holy Thursday Retreat; Living Stations Presentation at 10:50 a.m. in the gymnasium; Early Dismissal at 1:00 p.m. – NO BUS SERVICE

March 21^st –  GOOD FRIDAY – No School

March 23^rd –  Happy Easter!

March 26^th –  First Reconciliation at St. Ann’s Church at 7:00 p.m.

March 31^st –  Classes resume; Visit by Assistant Superintendent of Diocese of Toledo

April 1^st –  Registration for 2008-2009 School Year Due; Scantron Testing begins;Market Day Pick-up

April 3^rd – Geranium and Flower orders due today

April 4^th –  Third Quarter ends

April 9^th – Spring Proof Pictures

April 10^th – Honor’s Assembly: K-3 at 10:00 a.m. and 4-8 at 11:00 a.m.

April 11^th – Report Cards are distributed to students and families

April 16^th – Kindergarten Screening

 St. Joseph Elementary School Gift Certificate Program:  Due to our Easter Break (week of March 24) and our Gift Certificate Supplier’s Easter Break (week of April 7), our next pre-order deadline date will be Friday April 11, with delivery on Friday April 18. Pre-paying your order is not required.  If you need an order form, please send an email to stjoegiftcert@aol.com to request one. If you have any questions, please call John or Susan Hoffman at 419-334-8184.

2008-2009 School Registration:  The registration for the 2008-2009 school year went home yesterday.  We are very excited to begin the planning for the new school year.  Please review the information in the registration packet, call the office with any questions, complete the registration, and return it by April 1, 2008.  All students whose families complete the registration for the next school year and return it by the April 1^st deadline will receive a Free Dress Down Coupon for a specific date.  If you are in need of tuition assistance, please contact Mrs. Carter in the school office for a PSAS form.  Details regarding tuition assistance were included in the registration packet.  Please see below for information for diocesan tuition assistance.  Mrs. Carter also has all the bank loan information from Croghan Colonial Bank available in the school office.  Please contact her if you need this information.

One Faith Many Blessings Diocesan Grants:  If you are in need of diocesan tuition assistance, please go to www.cyss.org.  Click on the Schools link which will take you to One Faith Many Blessings Grants link.  This will take you to the Financial Support and Resources page, which will give you links to the overview, directions, and application for the One Faith Many Blessings Grants.  The deadline to turn in this application to St. Joseph School is May 16, 2008.

The Haitian Project: For our mission of Lent we, as a Catholic school community, will be collecting money for the Haitian Project.  An alumnae of St. Joseph School, Cathy Setzler, is a volunteer teacher in Haiti working with Louverture Cleary School.  All money collected in the classrooms and during the Mission Masses will go to help the economically disadvantaged in a Catholic school more needy than our own.  We collected a total of $148.90, which brings us to a total of $894.58.  We are only $105.42 from reaching the ultimate goal of $1,000.00 for our total mission donation during Lent.  It would be great if we could achieve this goal in almsgiving.

 Stations of the Cross:  The St. Joseph School Community has participated in the Stations of the Cross each week during Lent.  The students and staff have done a spectacular job presenting this reflective prayer in a creative and unique manner each week.  We will have the eighth grade present the Living Stations to our school community on Thursday at 10:50 a.m.   Prior to the Living Stations, we will have a power point to connect the Haitian community with our school community.  Please consider joining us for these presentations. 

LEGO In-House Field Trip:  The LEGO In-house field trip was a huge success with our students.  The students worked with the facilitator in understanding how math and science are incorporated to building objects, such as cars.  Thank you to Mrs. Huskey for bringing this program to our school.  Thank you also to Fremont Federal Credit Union, Knights of Columbus, St. Joseph PTO, and Mr. and Mrs. Snyder for bringing this event to our school community.

First Reconciliation:  First Reconciliation has been rescheduled for Wednesday, March 26^th at 7:00 p.m. at St. Ann’s Church.  Please keep our second graders in your prayers.

A Message from Fr. Dave Bruning:  The St. Joseph Grade School Advisory Council has asked for the creation of an Athletic Council to help coordinate the scheduling of athletic and other major extracurricular events for the school.  This group would also coordinate with Gary Geller at the high school to make sure events are not in conflict with each other.  We have found the need for this due to the number of events taking place, especially during major athletic seasons, and the parking problems, which occur from time to time.  I sincerely hope several grade school parent will be willing to serve in this capacity.

Absences Need to be Called into the School Office:  This is just a reminder that parents must call the school office to report a student’s absence whether they are sick or have an appointment.  Calling the school office ensures us that your child is all right.  Please call the office each and every day your child is ill so we can be assured that your child is safe.  Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Las Vegas Night:  The next Las Vegas Committee meeting will be Monday, March 31^st at 5:30 in the Teacher’s Lounge to prepare ticket packets for distribution to all school families. We are still looking for volunteers to work a 2 hour shift at Las Vegas Night which is May 9^th at the American Legion.  Can you donate 2 hours of your time to help our school?  If so, please contact Amy LeJeune (419.332.8437) or Denise Burns (419.332.8388).

Sandusky County Catholic School Auction:  Please put the date for the Sandusky County Catholic Schools Auction on your calendar.  The auction will take place on Saturday, April 5^th.  We hope all can join us during this festive evening.  Please see insert regarding the Roaring 20’s Raffle in this newsletter.

Scantron Testing:  You may remember that students in grades 2-8 completed the Scantron Testing on the computers in October.  We will complete a second set of testing in the same manner during the month of April.  These tests will indicate how much learning has happened with your child over these months.  Results will be generated and sent home so you are aware of your child’s test results in October and April and the amount of learning in Math and Reading that has taken place during this school year.  More information will come once the testing gets started in April.

Goodsearch.com Allows You to go Shopping:  Have you been on goodsearch.com lately?  If not, you can check and see how much money we are earning with your help in using the search engine goodsearch.com.  If you haven’t started using goodsearch, please consider it now.  We earn at least one cent per search through this search engine.  Thank you to all who are consistently using this search engine, we appreciate your support of St. Joseph Elementary School.  Are you an online shopper?  If so, please connect to the stores through GoodShop at Goodsearch.com.  St, Joseph School has been registered to be charity for the goodsearch,com shopping program.  Just go to the goodsearch.com home page and click on the “Good Shopping” logo to the right.  This will take you to many retail stores that may help you with your online shopping.  As you shop, you help St. Joseph School earn money.  Thank you for your continued support of our school.

 Moms In Touch:  Where two or more moms meet for one hour a week to pray for their children, their schools, their teachers, and administrators.  Please join us on Mondays at 9:00 a.m. in Pius X Hall in the basement of St. Joseph Rectory.  Please contact Susan Hoffman at 419-334-8184 or Anita Wurzel at 419-332-8161 if you have any questions.

 Geranium Sale:  Keep selling geraniums!!  Orders will be due on Thursday April 3^rd, which is after Easter break, so don’t forget to ask the relatives.  Please return money (check preferred – made payable to “Heartbeat”) with order.  (One order per family)  Send money and order form back to school in a sealed envelope with the YOUNGEST student in your family, put his/her name and grade number and letter on the envelope. SEE PICTURES OF THE NEW FLOWERS AT - http://www.freewebs.com/heartbeatgeraniums. 

We need volunteers to work from 9:00  - 1:00 to sort orders and from 1:00-4:30 to help parents and students find their orders and to help put everything away. BABYSITTING will be provided. Call Lauretta Swint (332-2326) or Amy Ronski (334-4992) and let them know you can help!

Have a blessed and happy Easter!