Joyfully Embracing Our Mission
St. Clare School Family News | 18 April 2020
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,
On Monday, we continue with Home Learning @ St. Clare. We congratulate students for being resilient and for persevering through some challenges presented by “doing school” at home. We acknowledge that it has been difficult for all to get households in the groove for learning remotely, but we want all of you to know that we are in this together. Please continue to communicate with your classroom teachers and encourage older students to advocate for their needs from teachers.
THE VISION FOR DISTANCE LEARNING
We met as an instructional staff on Wednesday to articulate the path forward. As we have mentioned in previous posts, we have worked to stabilize the process with some standardization and structure, as well as a focus on consistency and sustainability of work (for our parents, students and for our teachers). This next phase, we look to clarify our vision for distance learning and continue to implement key systems and continuously refine and improve the systems we have in place.
We are taking this opportunity to establish parameters and benchmarks for differentiation and individualized learning, building on the success of our middle school math program and the fifth grade book club structure. Both programs attribute their success to the teachers’ capacity to “know” each and every students’ areas of growth and areas of strength. They capitalize on this knowledge, gained from looking at assessment data daily and designing instruction to make content accessible for a variety of learners.
An important component for the success of this vision is the opportunity for students to practice and possibly fail and practice again. It is up to the student (or in the case of younger students, the adult supervising home learning) to maintain the code of academic integrity: that when the teacher specifically states that the assignment is to be completed independently by the student, that it is done so in the student’s own hand, using the student’s own words (not Mr. Wikipedia’s or Ms. Google’s). When the assignment is identified as one that can be completed in a collaborative group, that there would be a rubric and that one submission would be turned in on behalf of the group.
In addition, we are working with diocesan leadership to identify power standards and spending a good deal of time collaborating and in dialog with teachers below and above each grade level to identify skills and content essential to success at the next grade level. You will see a greater emphasis on supporting the development of literacy and numeracy skills. More writing practice (Writer’s Workshop), project-based learning and literature circles in the middle grades. In faith formation, we will have opportunities for worship weekly with Fr. Brendan McGuire on Thursday mornings at 8:30 A.M., Breaking Open the Word on Wednesdays after Morning Assembly (or after P.E.) to prepare for the following Sunday, as well as the practice and assessment of prayers identified for each grade level.
We are building structures to support the work of the classroom teachers with the involvement of support staff including a virtual homework hour and/or virtual CKZ. This will become more evident in the weeks ahead.
As always, we recognize what a sacrifice it has been for you to support your student’s learning at home. It is essential for you to let your teachers know of needs that might be unique to the situation in your household. We will be able to serve you best and work to accommodate your needs if we know what they are.
THE WEEK AHEAD:
You will receive the reminder and link to attend the LIVE Wellness Wednesday Assembly with Silver Box presentations as well as the link and schedule for P.E. with Mr. Cummings starting at 9 A.M.
P.E. is mandatory for all students on Wednesdays. When students enter the Zoom space for P.E., they must be actively engaged by exhibiting the following expected behaviors:
- cameras must be pointed to the student
- the student must be actively engaged in listening to and following directions
- mics must be muted; students may "raise hands" to ask questions
- messaging may only be allowed with the HOST (Ms. Teresea)
- Ms. Teresea and Ms. Valerye will be monitoring student engagement
Mr. Cummings' last day at St. Clare is April 29. Please ask your students to make a THANK YOU poster for Mr. Cummings which they will all present to him on camera at the end of their session on April 29. Ms. Teresea and Ms. Valerye will prompt them to let them know when to hold these up.
On Friday, April 24, the last Friday of the month, we encourage all those who own a Spirit Shirt to wear it to all their class encounters. Teachers will take a screen shot of the class so that we can capture our School Spirit for posterity during this unprecedented time in our school's history. If you do not own a Spirit Shirt, wear a shirt in your class color. We would like to make a collage of these screenshots to create a banner to signify our resilience and our unity this Spring of 2020! (You may also send a photo to office@stclareschool.org.)
THIS MESSAGE BEARS REPEATING: SERVICE HOURS ARE SUSPENDED FOR 2019-20
Family service hours requirements as well as middle school service hours requirements are being suspended for 2019-2020 in consideration for the limitations caused by COVID19. However, we encourage all families and students to still log and submit service hours so that they can be tracked and reported. It is important for our community and those who partner and support the school to know the value we place on service to the school, the parish and the greater community, especially to the marginalized and organizations who serve them.
In addition, we encourage you to continue kind actions by sending thank you notes and messages to our medical professionals and first responders, to the elderly and the infirmed and to support local businesses and hourly workers who courageously provide for our daily needs. We are especially grateful for the efforts of our families to sew masks to help protect emergency personnel and their families.
With your dedication, our community’s commitment to service continues despite the challenges presented by this pandemic.
I would like to especially thank Modern Fine Catering for the opportunity to raise money for the school and to all of you and all our community partners who have sent in donations to cover tuition assistance for families needing additional help.
From Gereld Angeles:
Thank you for allowing Modern Fine Catering to be a part of your Easter Meal. I hope you enjoyed your dinner. We are grateful to all for making it a successful event.
- 73 meals sold
- 13 meals donated
- $990.15 donated from families and friends.
- $1000 donated from Modern Fine Catering
Please let us know if you have any comments or feedback.
I hope that the stimulus funds are helping some and that those who need food assistance are able to take advantage of food distribution through the public school districts in your area or the Second Harvest/Catholic Charities food distribution channels at St. Martin of Tours, St. John Vianney and Most Holy Trinity parishes. If you need more information about these please click here:
OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENCOUNTERS
Many of your Room Reps have reached out to you to organize opportunities to connect students and one another outside of the school encounters . Please feel free to organize these opportunities. Also know that we are planning some parent engagement sessions with Mrs. G (Myla Guevarra), parent educator and second grade paraeducator.
Show your school pride by following us on Instagram (stclareschoolsantaclara) and Facebook (@stclareschoolsantaclara). Use the following hashtags when posting to your own social media to #stclarecares #stclareisbettertogether #stclareteachersarethebest. Leave positive comments on Yelp and Great Schools to share the St. Clare Story with others who may not yet know about this wonderful community.
SUPPORTING ONE ANOTHER: YOU ARE NOT ALONE
There are many resources available for those of us who might be suffering some anxiety due to isolation or anxiety stemming from all the uncertainty. Here are a couple of resources:
As with every challenge your family might experience, please continue to reach out to me directly so that together, we can work out ways to address your needs. Email cecile.mantecon@dsj.org or call 408-246-6797 x 102.
For any other questions or inquiries, please contact the school office office@stclareschool.org or 408-246-6797.
If your family can offer financial assistance, please consider using the school store by donating to the Brian Hegarty Scholarship Fund to provide tuition assistance or to the Annual Fund to provide support towards school operations expenses.
More importantly, your support in encouraging other families to inquire about enrollment is greatly appreciated. Ms. Cherell is putting together a Virtual Open House before the end of April. Please help promote it using your Nextdoor/Neighborhood portals and your social media.
As always, we are grateful for your support of our faculty and staff, our programs and our community efforts to stay connected. We’re all in this together.
I wanted to share this reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the first reading for this upcoming Divine Mercy Sunday because I truly believe that our community at St. Clare School embodies the Christian community described here:
They devoted themselves
to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life,
to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone,
and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
All who believed were together and had all things in common;
they would sell their property and possessions
and divide them among all according to each one’s need.
Every day they devoted themselves
to meeting together in the temple area
and to breaking bread in their homes.
They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart,
praising God and enjoying favor with all the people.
And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
May your families continue to be filled with the Spirt, blessed with good health and safety and be surrounded by boundless love.
Peace.
Cecile Mantecon, Principal
Divine Mercy During COVID19: A Reflection from the Shrine of the Divine Mercy
Our Beloved St. Clare
Photo by Ed Carlo Garcia www.edcarlogarcia.com
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:
- 4/20 Home Learning @ St. Clare Resumes
- 4/22 Wellness Wednesday Join Us All School Live Assembly 8:10am
- 4/22 P.E. Session with Mr. Cummings (mandatory for all students)
- 4/24 Wear Your Spirit Shirts to all your Class Encounters - Send a Photo - Go Wild Cats!
- 5/4-8 Teacher Appreciation Week
- 5/29 Virtual Graduation, Class of 2020
2020-2021 School Year First Day of School: August 19, 2020 Last Day of School: June 11, 2021
St. Clare School
Email: office@stclareschool.org
Website: https://www.stclare.school
Location: 725 Washington Street, Santa Clara, CA, USA
Phone: 408 246-6797
Facebook: facebook.com/stclareschoolsantaclara