Joyfully Embracing Our Mission
St. Clare School Family News | 9 November 2019
Come! Live in the Light!
You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.
~ Matthew 5:13-16
Dear St. Clare School Families,
9 November 2019 | Joyfully Embracing Our Mission | St. Clare School Family News
Dear St. Clare School Families,
Currently, I am at the National Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland attending the ASCD Conference on Educational Leadership. Teacher leaders, site administrators and district administrators from all over the country and Canada are here to learn from content experts and one another. The focus at this conference is how to be lead resilient schools (students, teachers, self). We are hearing stories of challenges and eventual success of turning around schools that were written off for low graduation rates, assessment results and engagement. The successes shared tell a story of learning about the community, understanding the challenges and seeing them as opportunities to create a vision, formulating a plan to fulfill this vision and engaging the community in the work. More importantly, the “vision” has to be inclusive, promote equity and recognize that 100% of students have 100% potential to succeed.
At St. Clare, we continue to work to identify and provide the support necessary to build our capacity to fulfill this moral imperative. We are grateful for the leadership of the Department of Catholic Schools in helping us focus on core instructional practices. We are grateful for our parent leadership who support our students, teachers and administrators. We are grateful to our families who partner with us and trust that the programs and processes we have in place and introducing is for the good of all students. The work ahead of us will never be done, but in a positive way, it is work that is good, work that is life-giving and work which God has entrusted upon us as a community. I look forward to continuing this journey with you.
GOALS FOR THE SECOND TRIMESTER
Reflective practice is one of the many habits that help us realize success. As a parent or guardian, what can you do to help your student build this habit? Spend some time with your student to make a list of the things that worked well and some areas of growth from the past trimester. How can the student use the successes to work on the areas of growth? Come up with some strategies and identify areas where support is needed and from whom. Start small for this coming week.
For example, if your student had difficulty being kind, start with identify why and to whom. A really simple small step would be to say one nice thing to this person this next week. Check in at the end of the week to see how it went. Another example: if your student had difficulty remembering to bring in homework, identify some skills or habits that are already in place to remember things: taking a picture of the homework, talking about the process out loud (“I finished my work. I will now put it in my backpack, in the blue folder for my social studies hand outs. Tomorrow, when I get to class, I will remember to take it out and turn it in.”).
Helping students think out loud helps them recognize that they already practice the habit. They just need to transfer this learning to other areas they are continuing to develop.
THE REPORT CARD
The report card is another way the school communicates the student’s progress. The assessment codes, teacher comments and the grades (standards-based in TK-5, letter grades in 6-8) are small indicators of student progress. There is so much more to your student than what appears in the report card. Continue your communication with the classroom teacher as he or she is the best partner in the guiding your child’s academic, personal and moral and ethical growth.
Research has shown time and again that healthy relationships between parent/guardians, students and teachers are a prime indicator of success. Let’s keep our communication lines open!
SIXTH GRADE GOES TO SCIENCE CAMP
We keep in our prayers the sixth grade class who will spend Tuesday to Friday in the Santa Cruz mountains among banana slugs. Accompanied by their science and homeroom teacher, Mr. Ishii and Ms. McCormick, the students will engage in outdoor education while bonding with their classmates and other Catholic school students in surrounding areas. We are grateful that we can provide our students this opportunity to learn outside of the classroom.
2018-2019 ANNUAL REPORT COMING SOON
In a few days, you will see another post with the Annual Report from 2018-19. It will highlight the accomplishments from last year as well as provide a path forward for 2019-20. With the help of parent leadership, the administrative team is pleased to present the state of our school. Alum parent Cathy Avila-Linn has been graciously curating and organizing this information for St. Clare School for the past few years. She is tremendously gifted, insightful and cares about the school so much that she has agreed to continue this role. I am personally so grateful to Cathy for her help in putting this together.
Stay tuned for additional reporting on visioning in the next few months as we continue our work with parent leadership, other shareholders, teachers and students.
OPEN HOUSE IS A SUCCESS: CONTINUE TO PROMOTE ST. CLARE SCHOOL
The Enrollment Team is pleased with the attendance at the Open House on Thursday. On behalf of the team, we would like to thank room representatives, teachers, administrators and students who helped promote the event and were present to answer questions and share their love of St. Clare. A heartfelt thanks to Ms. Cherell, who represents St. Clare well by being ever so welcoming and knowledgeable in our history, our admissions processes and our culture. Many families and prospective families name her when asked why they chose St. Clare. Thank you, Ms. Cherell!
Please continue to build relationships with prospective families. Your recommendation and your invitation is the very key to enrollment success. You are the key component that brings in and keeps families at St. Clare. No research can refute this fact! Thank you for your help in making our school a viable option in this market place.
NOVEMBER 17-23 IS DISCOVER CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK
This week, to be held November 17–23, 2019, is designated to help schools connect with prospective families, donors, educators and other community members. We want to help showcase what makes Catholic schools the best when families are looking to find the right school for them.
To supplement tuition revenue, we are asking for your help to reach out to community partners and supporters of St. Clare and Catholic education, including alumni and other community organizations and funders to think of St. Clare in their gift giving. Our Annual Fund, the work of our School Advisory Council, is instrumental in providing tuition assistance to families who exhibit great need but desire a Catholic education. The Annual Fund, along with fundraising efforts by the PTG provide operational support to maintain our beloved facility, rich in history and is an integral part of the Santa Clara landscape; as well as provide improvements to maintain a safe and secure learning environment for our precious students.
Donations can be sent to the school office or made online using the School Store. http://stclareschool.3dcartstores.com/Annual-Fund-Gift_p_53.html
VIP DAY and NOVEMBER WORK DAY
If you haven’t yet RSVP’d for these, please do so now. Thank you for taking the time to do so. It helps our organizers know for whom and how many to plan. We appreciate your cooperation!
I hope that this Veterans’ Day affords you some time to reflect on the sacrifices our service men and women make each day: to be away from loved ones; to fulfill a mission they sometimes don’t agree with or understand--a mission that is greater than themselves; and to take every day risks to protect our freedoms. Let’s teach our children to take seriously our civic duty to advocate for those who need these freedoms secured.
PILGRIMS ON THEIR WAY TO THE HOLY LAND
Let us keep Fr. Tad and the pilgrims who will join him to the Holy Land. Likewise, they will keep St. Clare School in their prayers while on this journey.
DID YOU KNOW…
...that teachers gather with other diocesan teachers every few months to share experiences in teaching and learning?
...that office staff, administrators, assessment data leaders and subject area teachers are given the opportunity to meet together occasionally to share best practices?
...did you know that each week, our teachers gather to reflect and review core instructional practices and set weekly collective commitments to improve student learning?
As always, I am grateful that you willingly engage and actively participate in making the St. Clare School experience the best for our students, teachers and families. I feel so blessed to be in this ministry with you!
In anticipation of the messages in the scripture choices of this week, without HOPE, none of these successes can even be imagined. I hope that your week, and the start of the second trimester for our teachers and students, is filled with hope, an opportunity to continue all the good learning or to start anew, reflecting on the growth we have accomplished and the path forward filled with amazing potential!
Let us continue to pray for our community members who need our love, support and our prayers to lift them up from physical ailments, emotional struggles, financial challenges and difficult relationships.
May Christ’s light shine upon us all!
Peace.
Mrs. Cecile Mantecon, Principal
Gospel Reflection: Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
This Sunday, our Gospel reading comes from Luke. The Sadducees—those who denied Jesus’ teachings about having an eternal life with God after death—confront him with a question about Jewish law. Like many others who hoped to discredit Jesus, the Sadducees were looking for an opportunity to denounce him as a heretic and a fraud. We are once again reminded that Jesus’ path was not an uncontested one. Many people were absolutely scandalized by him and by the people he chose as his friends.
They said, “Moses wrote for us ‘if a man dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother shall take the wife and have descendents for his brother.’ But what if a man with six brothers dies, leaving his wife childless? Then his brother dies, again without having had any children. This happens with all the brothers—each one marries the first brother’s widow, but dies without having had any children. When the woman dies, who will be her rightful husband in heaven?”
Jesus reminds them that even Moses, who gave them this law, proclaimed that our God is a God of the living. In our God, all are alive. Moreover, he says that the “coming age” (life after death) is not governed by time, technicalities, or human conventions.
5th Grade Hosts a Beautiful Lunch Filled with Student Decorated Hats and Gifts for a Few Lucky Winners. We are Beyond Grateful.
4th Grade Experiments With Carbon Dioxide Bubbles and Popcorn Kernels.
VIP Day Is Right Around The Corner
In many of our students’ lives there is a VIP (grandparent, godparent or special person) who plays an important role in their growth and development. In honor of these special guests, St. Clare School is hosting VIP Day.
Guests are invited to join us for Mass beginning at 9:A.M. After Mass there will be a V.I.P. reception at St. Clare Hall, with delicious food, great conversation and student entertainment.
Following the reception VIPs will be escorted to the classrooms for fun activities with their student(s). Classroom visits will begin at approximately 10:40 A.M.
Click on the link below to R.S.V.P. for your VIP Guest or you may email them the link.
https://forms.gle/nxcwtMRCKwMCEzmy7
We are very excited to meet and treat our V.I.Ps to a special morning just for them!!
Poinsettia Plants On Sale Now
Order Poinsettia plants for your holiday decorating and gifts. We are selling red Poinsettia Plants in two sizes. Your order will support St. Clare School and Parish. Please complete and return this form along with a check to the School by November 20th.
Available for purchase:
- $10 to dedicate a 6.5 inch plant to decorate the St. Clare Parish for Christmas
- $10 for 6.5 inch plants
- $6 for 4-5 inch plants
Make checks payable to St. Clare School
Or purchase online (available shortly) at http://stclareschool.3dcartstores.com/
Contact Maria Kim at cmariakim@yahoo.com if you have any questions.
Order form is attached.
Our Book of Remembrance
Every day during the month of November, St. Clare School students pray for deceased family and friends at morning assembly. Each St. Clare family is asked to submit names of people who have died on the Please pray and remember…sheet that your child will be bringing home. These names will be placed in our Book of Remembrance which remains on our prayer table for the entire school year.
Please return the sheet with the names of your loved ones to Sister Ann Marie.
Thanksgiving collection 2019
As we gather this Thanksgiving with families and friends to give thanks to God for all the blessings God has given us, we want to also remember those who are not so fortunate.
We are asking each St. Clare family to donate $5.00 to be used to purchase gift cards for different grocery stores. These gift cards would be given to our families who are in need and allow them to purchase the type of food that is “celebration” food for them. You may also donate grocery store gift cards by purchasing them using ShopWithScrip.
If you are sending checks, please make them out to St. Clare School and write on the memo line – Thanksgiving.
Thank you for your generous support as we continue to reach out to those in need.
Support LLEC - Order Jamba Juice Today!
UPCOMING EVENTS and THE SCHOOL CALENDAR
The 2019-2020 St. Clare School is now available for public consumption. You will find the calendar in a number of places. They all sync to the Google Public Calendar for our school, so you can trust that these calendars are current.
To find the calendar in our school website, go to https://www.stclare.school/ and scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the "Calendar" icon (third from the left) or visit https://www.stclare.school/calendar.
To find the calendar in ParentSquare, go to your HOME page and look for "EVENTS" and click on "view all".
To subscribe and add the St. Clare School Public Calendar to your calendar app, use this link:
- 11/11 Veterans Day NO SCHOOL
- 11/12 - 11/15 6th Grade Science Camp
- 11/14 Free Dress | Allowed Only For Those With Passes
- 11/19 Free Dress | Allowed Only For Those With Passes
- 11/21 VIP Day | Bishop Cantu Presides At Mass - Formal Uniform
- 11/22 Spirit Shirt Day Wear Spirit Shirts With Uniform Bottoms
- 11/22 Honors' Reception for those invited | 7:40 Rectory Garden
St. Clare School
Email: office@stclareschool.org
Website: https://www.stclare.school
Location: 725 Washington Street, Santa Clara, CA, USA
Phone: 408 246-6797