Ms. Monaghan's Message - August 30
Challenge, Inspire, Empower, & Serve
Important Upcoming Dates
Sept. 2: No School - Labor Day
Sept. 4: Sr. Judy's Birthday; St. Patrick Church Night - Celebrating Sr Judy, Mary Ragan, and Jean FolkenSept. 11: Mid-Term; Church Night
Sept. 18: Church Night
Sept. 25: Meet me at the Pole; Church Night
Sept. 27: Spirit Day
Updated Website Launch
Pocket Points App
Download this free app from the app store today!
Class T-Shirt Online Order
Kindergarten: green
1st grade: green
2nd grade: yellow
3rd grade: gray
4th grade: green
5th grade: yellow
6th grade: yellow
7th grade: gray
8th grade: green
You can also order a special spirit wear shirt (St. Patrick cross) or a crew neck sweatshirt that can be worn with the uniform.
Check out the link below to order your shirts today!
Diocesan Employee Social Media Policy
It's so hard for us to roll this policy out, because we are such a close knit community and many of us are friends with parents and other community members outside of school. But, it is something we are required to uphold, and therefore are rolling this policy out starting today.
Please read the policy below carefully. You will note that parents are encouraged to "like" our school social media sites and post pictures to our sites. Parents are also encouraged to join private classroom social media pages where they can communicate with teachers as needed.
General Social Media Regulations for Diocesan Staff: Diocesan employees should not be “friends” with parents of their current classroom students on personal social media sites. Instead, parents should be directed to “like” official school social media pages. If teachers have a classroom social media page, the school administrator should be included as a site administrator and the page should be listed as “private”. Parents should be directed to ask to join this page and should be approved by the classroom teacher.
Respect private and personal information of our students, parents, volunteers, and staff: Never share or transmit personal information of students, parents, faculty, staff, or colleagues online. While taking care when posting to safeguard people’s privacy, be sure – as necessary and appropriate – to give proper credit to sources. In cases of doubt, privacy should be the default. Use only first names of students, staff, parents, and other volunteers. Always respect the privacy of school community members. Do not post pictures of parents, grandparents, staff, or other community members without their permission. Only use first names even when given permission. Do not post pictures of students on personal social media sites. Pictures of students should only be posted on the official school social media site. Be sure to check the list of students who have signed a “no picture” request form. Do not post school information on personal social media sites. Instead, direct your personal followers to the school social media site.
Title 1 Services
In grades 3-5 we are able to use the Iowa test and diocesan Benchmark assessments to find students who would qualify for these small groups. In grades K-2 we typically go off of teacher recommendation or any assessments provided by the teacher in the previous grade.
Last week, you might have received a letter from Brenda Davitt, the Title 1 teacher from the NKC school district. Mrs. Davitt might have told you that your child qualified for small group in reading or math, or possibly both. If you received this letter, I highly encourage you to allow your child to participate in this program. Each day, your child will receive 30 minutes additional small group instruction in either reading or math. This instruction comes on top of the instruction they receive in the classroom, but is done so in a small group setting where Mrs. Davitt can focus on certain specific skills. This goes right along with the individualized instruction we have promised to each of our students this year.
Mrs. Davitt is such an exceptional teacher that we are modeling our own Inclusive Education services after her program and have asked her to help train our teachers. We have witnessed her help students grow tremendously each year!
If your child is a part of this program, not only will he/she receive this additional small group instruction, YOU will receive quarterly updates and be invited to a parent/teacher conference with Mrs. Davitt to discuss any concerns you may have. She is incredible at giving our students the little advantage to boost their scores and boost their confidence - which is the most important.
If your child qualified for this program, it does not signal a huge problem for him/her academically, but that we are able to provide more small group instruction for him/her. Once again, if your child was lucky enough to be invited into this program, I highly encourage you to sign him/her up today! We are blessed to receive this funding and want to ensure it is utilized to the fullest each year.
"Classy Country" - St. Patrick Auction 2019
Middle School Electives
This does not mean that if your child choose choir he/she will never have PE or Art. Every class will attend each special once a week on top of their twice a week elective choice. We are incredibly excited about this new opportunity for our students! It gives them chance to do something they truly enjoy, rather than being forced to sit in a class that they would rather not be in. It also gives our teachers a chance to truly develop and nurture our students talents and skills!
This being said, if your middle school age child did not choose Choir or Handbells as an elective, he/she will not be in our Christmas program. With only a 30 minute class each week, there is no way to prepare for the program with the entire class. Mrs. Davis let the students know that the choir or handbell class was a requirement to participate in the Christmas program before the kids made the choice. However, we completely understand that you, as parents, might prefer otherwise, so we want to give you the option. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please feel free to email Mrs. Davis at cdavismusic93@gmail.com.
If you would like your child to participate musically in the program, we will allow him/her to switch to choir class on Tuesdays. This switch must take place by September 3rd. After September 3rd, students will not be allowed to switch classes.
If your child wants to be a part of the Christmas program, but doesn't want to sing, he/she could hand out programs, help assist younger students, help with scenery, etc. Just let us know and we will find a non-musical role for him/her!
Planners
You can help at home by asking your child to see his/her planner each night. Look ahead to see if there are upcoming assignments or tests. Talk to your child about planning ahead when a test or due date is approaching. You can also encourage your child to write any special events on the calendar to look forward to. There are many great ways to use the planner to stay organized throughout the year, but we have to work together to ensure we are teaching this challenging life skill to our students.
Technology Policy Reminder
Students have been instructed to take special care of their assigned laptop. Each classroom has a safe place to store and charge their laptops where they should be stored each day. If a student has a problem with a laptop, it is important to notify the teacher immediately, so we can get that problem solved as quickly as possible.
In the event that there is damage to the laptop outside of the normal wear and tear, there will be a $40 fee to replace/maintain the laptop. This fee would incur only if the student damaged the laptop by dropping it, switching keys, cracking the screen, breaking the hinges on the laptop, changing the internal settings/software, etc. We are hopeful that this type of damage will not happen during the school year, but we feel it is important that the students take ownership of and act responsibly with the technology resources they are being given to use.
The FIRE Foundation
You might think that your child isn't directly affected by the money from the FIRE Foundation, but that is simply not true. If you ask, I am certain that every child in our building has spent time with Mrs. Nolan or Mrs. Motta at some point already this year. These additional teachers are giving us the opportunity not only to assist our students with special needs, but to assist students of all needs and ensure that no one is left behind.
Not only that, the FIRE Foundation helped St. Patrick School make some pretty big waves this year by bringing Doreen Engel to our school. Doreen worked with teachers across the diocese, and she spent time working with just our staff on how they can create a universal design for learning to meet the needs of any student who enters their classrooms. This was HUGE for our school!
Throughout the year, we try to do our part to give back to the FIRE Foundation because they have been so generous to us. We often hold dress down day fundraisers or pizza lunch fundraisers that are small things that we can do. However, we like to support FIRE in every way that we can and we need your help.
How can you support the FIRE Foundation? Check out the options below to see what might work for you!
1. Purchase a FIRE t-shirt. These shirts are $20 and are delivered to our school in October. You can purchase a t-shirt by clicking the link below.
2. Sell Raffle tickets. The school who sells the most raffle tickets will be treated to a pep rally by the Kansas City Chiefs! The Chiefs will actually come to our school to host this fun event! Be watching your child's backpack for the raffle tickets to come home. This is the easiest way to raise money for FIRE while doing a little something for our school as well!
3. Attend the FIREBALL on October 12th at Arrowhead Stadium! You can purchase tickets at the link below. I assure you this event is something you will not regret attending!
4. Attend the Friends of FIRE shopping day at Kendra Scott on the plaza September 19th from 5:30 - 7:00pm
5. Attend Friends of FIRE meetings: Sept. 4 @ 7pm @ Visitation; Sept. 25 @ 7pm at the FIRE office downtown
6. Purchase something from the FIRE Amazon wishlist. Check out the link below.
There are many ways you can give back to this wonderful foundation who not only works to ensure ALL children are included in Catholic schools across the country, but ensures that St. Patrick School can provided the best education possible for ALL students.
Upcoming FIRE Foundation Schedule
Sept. 4 @ 7pm: Friends of FIRE Meeting at Visitation
Sept 10: T-shirt sales end
Sept. 19 - Kendra Scott shopping day at the Place from 5:30-7pm
Sept 25 @ 7pm - Friends of FIRE meeting at FIRE Foundation offices downtown
October 5 - FIRE Week
October 7 - Raffle contest ends
October 12 @6pm - FIREBALL at Arrowhead
St. Patrick School
Email: kcmon4@gmail.com
Website: www.stpatrickkc.com
Location: 1401 Northeast 42nd Terrace, Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone: 816-453-0971
Facebook: facebook.com/St.PatrickKC
Twitter: @StPatrickKc