The Page
Weekly Newsletter - December 6, 2018
Happy first week of advent - Hope
Our Motto: Teaching the Mind...Nourishing the Soul
Theme for the Year - TRUTH
At St. Joseph Catholic School, we are striving to become missionary disciples by revealing the Truth of Christ to others through our actions.
Our Mission and Vision Statements
Mission:
St. Joseph Catholic School provides students with a safe and prayerful learning environment, enveloped by an intimate community of active and faithful families.
Vision:
Catholic schools in the Diocese of Fort Worth are committed to opening the doors so that our students can reach further than the walls that would otherwise enclose them and therefore are able to recognize and cherish the eternal and transcendental goods of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.
From the Principal
As the Church calendar year comes to a close, we await the Lord's birth with eager anticipation. From the Advent wreaths in the classrooms, to the purple banners hanging on the school walls, signs of Advent are popping up everywhere! How we prepare for Christmas matters, because it gives us a moment to pause and reflect on Jesus' birth and how we can invite Him into our lives. Be watching for more signs across campus, as this past Sunday was the First Sunday of Advent.
Go, Knights! Live in the Truth.
In Christ's service,
Diane Price, M.Ed.L.
Truth Bible Quote for December
NEW Saintly Truth Quote to ponder
"True happiness is to rejoice in the truth, for to rejoice in the truth is to rejoice in You, O God, who are the truth. Those who think there is another kind of happiness look for joy elsewhere, but theirs is not true joy" - St. Augustine
Latin and Greek Roots Challenge
Reminders and Upcoming Events
- Saturday, December 8th, is a Holy Day of Obligation honoring the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- Entries now being accepted for the 17th annual student art show: The Art of Asia - China and Japan. Please see the Thursday Folder for details and deadlines.
- Second Sunday of Advent is this Sunday, December 9th.
- Student Council is selling candy canes. Be looking for order forms around the school.
- Fr. Kelley's Birthday is December 8th and the anniversary of his ordination is December 9th!
- Our Lady of Guadalupe Play - December 10th. Come join us for the upcoming Monday Morning Prayer Service, December 10th at 8:00 am, where Upper School Spanish classes present to the school a play honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe.
- Parish Basket time! We are looking for volunteer bakers to share their skills by baking a treat in the name of the school, which will be donated in a lovely Christmas basket we assemble, to one of the seven parishes who helped found our school. Check out the Thursday Folder for details.
- Book Fair begins after school on December 13th.
- If you are an Amazon customer, please use Amazon Smile! We receive a donation from Amazon when you shop. Go to: smile.amazon.com to participate. It is a very easy way to support the school! Thank you!
- If you know a St. Joseph Catholic School alumni, please let them know we are looking to stay in contact, and would love to hear how they are doing. See the notice in our alumni section of below.
Merry Christmas from St. Joseph Catholic School!
H2O For Life - Water Walk
We were "water Blogged"
Annual Fund - Quest for Excellence!
Don't forget to participate in our Annual Fund - Quest for Excellence! You've Got the Power! With 100% participation in 100 days, we hope to raise $100,000 to help with campus security enhancements, tuition assistance, construction of another storage facility, and bonuses for our teachers. Any amount is appreciated.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has already participated! We have created a display in the school foyer to celebrate our participants. If you do not wish for your name to be shared in any display or in any publication, please email me (dprice@stjosephtx.org) and your name will be kept anonymous.
Home and School Association (HSA)
- Our January Spirit Knight will occur at Chick-fil-A located at 4700 S. Cooper St. from 4:00 to 8:00 pm.
- The next HSA Meeting will not be until January 16th at 7:00 pm in the school cafeteria. There is a free dress day on Friday, January 18th, for the children of HSA members in attendance that night. We do not meet during the busy months of November and December.
- Please bring in your box tops. Be sure to check out the bulletin board display in the cafeteria to see which homeroom is in the lead! Thank you for all the hard work cutting and collecting for the school!
- Looking for uniform pieces? Need to sell some pieces your child has outgrown? There is a Facebook page for that: SJCS Online Uniform Resale.
car line observations
- Please do not move or disregard the cones that are placed around the parking lots. These are provided to help keep our students safe.
- Do not make a left turn at the long line of cones upon entering the parking lot (the TCP area on the map). Please move up the drive, go around the small island, and come back down to the front of the school building. This keeps traffic off of Green Oaks.
- It is very important that cars are not left unattended in the car line. Please park your car in the large lot beside the field if you need to leave your vehicle.
- Please remember that if you are walking your child into the school building, you are to park in the large lot in front of the field. Foot traffic should not be occurring in the parking lots to the left, unless you have a physical need for a shorter walk. It is dangerous to be walking between the car line.
- For the safety of all, please be aware of your speed as you move through the parking lots, and be watchful and courteous.
- Please be patient with friends and extended family members who drop off and pick up students. Many times they have not been informed of the proper way to navigate the car line. We do reach out to families after arrival and dismissal who seem to not understand the car line pattern.
- If you have a friend or extended family member picking up your child, please take a minute to explain the procedures to them. Please reference the diagram. Thank you!
- We would ask that a cell phone not be in your hand while driving in the car line. We all know it only takes one sudden distraction to alter lives forever.
Acknowledging their gifts
Vickie was a distraught mom who reached out to us and shared: “My son is dyslexic and has other learning disabilities. He feels so inept in school. I can tell he just dreads showing me his work.”
Jim Fay shares his wisdom on how to talk with kids who have learning barriers or disabilities — and how we can help ease some of the shame they may feel.
Everybody has unique gifts and abilities. We serve kids well when we focus on their talents and areas of strength.
If kids tell us about a weakness, we can answer, “Yeah, that’s tough. And what are you good at?”
We want to get them to say it out loud. Their brain hears the sound of their own voice and their subconscious mind accepts that information without questioning it.
For the same reason, we might ask to see only their successful papers; only the problems they got correct or the assignments they feel good about. We don’t even want to see the ones they did poorly. We want to get them talking about their correct answers and successes. Ask the question, “How did you do that?” Once again, their brains are going to hear attributions — positive ones that center around effort such as, “I got number three correct” because “I worked hard” or “I kept trying.”
A great way to help these kids is to have a positive impact on their overall self-concept. Most of us don’t like talking about weaknesses and things we don’t do well. Focusing on strengths instead will have a major impact on their self-concept.
Many of the most successful people “fly on their strengths.” They spend the majority of their time and efforts on doing things they are good at and don’t spend too much time on what they don’t do well.
We know this can be tough when schools have certain academic requirements, but that shouldn’t stop us from helping our kids to zero in on and emphasize their strengths.
After sharing these thoughts, Vickie informed us, “He’s a wonderful artist! He’s truly amazing! I’m going to spend more time talking about that and asking him about the things he loves creating. His teacher is great and I know she will do this, too.”
This young man is fortunate. We are betting he is on his way to happier times.
You can hear more about these techniques in Jim Fay’s wonderful audio, Shaping Self-Concept.
Thanks for reading! Our goal is to help as many families as possible. If this is a benefit, forward it to a friend.
Jedd Hafer
Knights in Action!
Our Spelling Bee Top Three
3rd Place
2nd Place
Our Winner!
Eager Spelling Bee Participants
the Feast Day of St. Nicholas
The Hunt!
Advent Wreaths Blessed
Christmas Ready!
Please enjoy this Advent message from Preschool!
Wonderful message, Mrs. Do's class!
8th Grade servant leaders field trip
STREAM: Catapult Challenge
Roboknights in Action!
No Alumni news this week
Do you have any information you would like to share with the entire Knight Community? We would love that as well! Please send your news to mhurtado@stjosephtx.org.
Once a Knight - Forever a Knight!
Are you in need of prayers?
Meet our parish priests!
Rev. Daniel Kelley
Fr. Tom Kennedy
Fr. Peter Opoku Ware
St. Joseph Roman Catholic Parish
- Be sure to look into FORMED.org. The parish has paid for your subscription to this vast library of inspiring videos and essential reads to help grow your faith. Just go straight to the "Enter Code" button and enter 4BDX9H to begin the process. You may also access this through the parish website link below. Enjoy!
- Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is occurring after daily Mass in the Chapel until 5:45pm. Come spend some time with our Lord.
- Please enjoy this link to a lovely article in the North Texas Catholic about the pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Fr. Kelley: https://t.co/3ItrotxIyf
Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth link:
Contact us at (817) 419-6800
ST. JOSEPH, PROTECTOR OF FAMILIES, PRAY FOR US.