October Newsletter
St. Dominic School 22-23
Principal's Message
After our first full month of school, I can confidently say that we are choosing joy on a daily basis. Whether it's shrieks of excitement from the new playground or hallway smiles and greetings, I witness joy everywhere I go at St. Dominic School.
As I mentioned at Back to School Night, this year is the first of a new accreditation cycle for St. Dominic School. Our focus right now is on gauging where we are as a school community so that we can determine what our goal should be for the next five years. In order to do that, we need to hear from all of our stakeholders --- students, parents, and teachers. I've included the parent survey here. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWFHF_BUDlEF39YUFtK5zy07JINtfHBNjjR9Z4BxrD3w9sCA/viewform?usp=sf_link We hope to get full participation, so please take a few minutes to complete it. Thank you for your help.
October has many fun events for families and students. First up is the Scholastic Book Fair, which begins on October 11. Thank you to Julie Currid and the FEA for their help in putting books into students' hands. Then, during the week of October 24, we have our Latin Festival celebration. Organized by Sra. Calzado, with the help of all specials teachers, we will learn more about the culture of Mexico. Finally, as we close the month, the FEA is sponsoring our Fall Festival. Students come in costume to play games and earn fun prizes. There are lots of volunteer opportunities for each of these events, so please sign up to help.
This month is also the month of the Rosary. Our patron, St. Dominic, was the first to preach and teach the Rosary as a form of meditative prayer. The school community will gather in the gym on Thursday, October 6 to pray a living Rosary. Students may bring rosaries from home, and we will provide rosaries for those who do not have them. This beautiful, traditional prayer of the Church is a powerful tool for bringing us closer to God. Perhaps you might find time this month to pray the Rosary as a family.
God bless you,
Mrs. Maureen Covington
Printable October Dates
Retreat Day Video
September Fun Video
Tomorrow's Leaders Start Here
Teachers, parents, and fellow students are encouraged to identify students who lead in worshipping, learning, serving, and connecting. These are students who go above and beyond by giving of their time, recognizing a need, and putting others ahead of themselves.
Serving Leaders
Miss Prosser recognized 4th graders Joy Koudenoukpo, Tuck Hurst, Julian Aeschliman, and Maggie Carson as serving leaders. These students carried her heavy bags upstairs for her.
Learning Leaders
Miss Kennedy recognized Sincere Wilson and Colin McDonald in 6th grade as learning leaders. They came into the gym to help lead the kindergarten through their warmup laps and the class run. They came back to class to play tag with the kids. They were models for the kids.
Serving Leaders
Mrs. Covington recognized 3rd grader Matthew King and 5th grader Brayden Longmeier as serving leaders. These two boys helped their parents paint the recess games on the parking lot surface. They worked hard and helped keep the project moving.
Serving Leader
Ms. Sislak, the after care director, recognized David Lupo-Colona in 4th grade as a serving leader. At after care the other day, there were egg shells on the ground, and without being asked, David offered to sweep up the mess. His own mess was just a small part of it, and Ms. Sislak was impressed with his willingness to clean up someone else’s mess.
Learning Leader
Mrs. Evans, from After Care, recognized 8th grader Gabe Mitri as a learning leader. Gabe helped a younger student with math homework. Mrs. Evans was impressed because not only did he volunteer to help, but he stuck around to make sure the student understood all of the work for the night.
Serving Leaders
Ms. Ring recognized several students who helped pick up a big Lego mess when the cart tipped over at morning care. They are:
1st Graders Zoey Tinker
2nd Graders Zaiya Zumpano
3rd Graders Fiona Mosier, Nick Aeschliman, and Julian Smith
4th Graders Annabelle Verdi, Maggie Carson and Joy Koudenoukpo
Learning Leaders
Mr. Mannarino recognized 3 8th grade students - Sophia Boitor, C.J. Crosby, and Gabe Mitri - as learning leaders. They helped the 1st grade students log on to play a Kahoot.
Serving Leader
Serving Leader
Mr. Zumpano, who is coaching soccer, recognized 5th grader Brayden Longmeier as a serving leader. Brayden helped with setting up soccer goals during the girls practice when Mr. Zumpano couldn’t figure it out. Now, he helps every week. Brayden is a serving leader.
Serving Leader
Miss Prosser recognized Ian Gardiner in 2nd grade as a serving leader. Ian helped Miss Prosser get to her classroom safely.
Serving Leader
Mrs. Covington and Mrs. Kelly recognized Owen Rinker as a serving leader. He helped them organize the lost and found and returned lots of items to people.
Serving Leaders
Mr. Mannarino recognized 7th graders Parker Gorley, Marielle Henderson, Santo Martines, Aamia Moore, and Aniya Minor for helping create the id badges for youth group. They gave up their lunch and recess time to help.
Serving Leader
Miss Prosser recognized Henry Panzica as a serving leader. He helped her clean up the water that spilled from her water bottle.
Connecting Leader
Mrs. Covington recognized Mary Reynolds as a connecting leader. Mary asked if the school could have a buddy bench, and she created a sign for it.
Connecting Leader
Coach Panzica recognized David Lupo-Colonna as a connecting leader, “for his help and positive attitude in flag football this year. David routinely offers to help when I am setting up for practice, always listens to the coaches, and overall displays an excellent attitude during practices and games, even when we are on the losing side.”
Learning Leaders
Ms. Ring recognized some 8th grade students who helped make MAP testing much smoother by carrying the IPads up and down stairs, plugging them in so they were charged, and generally helping with the technology. They are Gavin Hurley, Noah Thomas, Caleb Henderson, Xavi Reindel-Swan, Ian Harrison, Jonah Lorenzo, and CJ Crosby.
Learning Leaders
Ms. Ring recognized 7th graders for helping with the technology during the second week of MAP testing. They brought the iPads to and from the lab and made sure they were charging in the cart. Makeda Hammock, Bianca Berger, Madison Gibbs, and Mari Henderson.
Serving Leader
Mrs. Carr recognized Kyle Kolacki in 2nd grade as a serving leader. After completing MAP testing, Kyle had extra time and volunteered to clean all of the equipment in the intervention room. He also offered to help a younger student with technology so they could start their work.
Connecting Leader
Mrs. Wyborski and Ms. Dunagan recognized 5th grader Brayden Longmeier as a connecting leader. Brayden graciously waited for a kindergarten student to his belongings together at the end of the day, after the rest of the class had gone to After Care. He waited so that the student wouldn’t have to go alone.
Connecting Leader
Father Tom recognized 3rd grader Cooper Greer as a connecting leader. During Mass, he kindly comforted a friend who was feeling sad.
The Family Education Association
A Message From FEA President Katie Sislak
We’re getting ready for our annual Fall Fest, October 29th from 2pm-4pm. We’re getting the games and decorations ready, fun prizes, pumpkin decorating and the 8th grade ‘Haunted Hallway’. It’s going to be a family friendly event that is always a really fun afternoon. Have the whole family come in costume to really get in the spirit! Mark your calendars and make sure you pre-register via the Sign Up Genius. It’s $5 per family if you purchase your tickets in advance and $10 at the door. We’re also calling for volunteers to help supervise games, work at the registration table and the concession stand along with set up and break down teams. If you can sign up for an hour or two it would be greatly appreciated. We can’t make this happen without volunteers. This would be a great opportunity for students to get service hours, too! There will be a Sign Up Genius coming soon so please sign up.
Our next FEA meeting is Monday, October 17th at 7pm in the school library. We’d love to have you join us and hear about what’s going on with our school. We are constantly looking for thoughts and insights about various topics and would love to hear from you. Plus, everyone who attends gets a dress down pass for their child(ren)!
Bulldog Club Information
A Message from Athletic Director Treye Johnson:
Fall Sports Tournaments
St. Dominic’s 5th/6th grade soccer teams and Cross Country runners in grades 6-8 will be competing in season ending tournaments & meets during the weekend of October 15-16. Schedules and information will be posted on the Bulldog Club website as it is available.
Winter Sports Registration
The Bulldog Club will open registration for Winter Sports (basketball and cheerleading) on Oct 1st and it will run through Oct 16th. Interested families should go to www.stdominicbulldogs.com to sign up their kids for winter sports.
Community Outreach Corner
Parenting Tips, Community Engagement Ideas, and Much More from Meredith Manning
In the book, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, author Anne Lamott says that prayer can be coalesced into three simple truths:
- asking for assistance (Help)
- appreciating the good we witness (Thanks)
- and feeling awe at the world (Wow)
Help, Thanks, and Wow prayers might sound like:
- Help, God...hold my friends in your light as they mourn the loss of their dear father.
- Thanks, God...thank you so much for time spent with my family this past weekend.
- Wow, God...the beauty of autumn is breathtaking.
Help, Thanks, Wow is not only a great way to enter into connection and conversation with God as an adult, but it is also a wonderful way to pray with children, whether at night before bed, at dinner, in the car, or any other time. If you're searching for a way to pray with your family, give Help, Thanks, Wow a try!
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An ongoing priority at St. Dominic is growth and learning in regard to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). As the month of October begins, Halloween costumes will be on people's minds. Here are some guiding questions from The Conscious Kid to ensure that racially, ethnically, and culturally based costumes are avoided, because, as they say, "cultures are not costumes." (The Conscious Kid is an organization that supports families and educators in fostering healthy racial identity development and disrupting racism and bias.)
- Is the costume racially, ethnically, or culturally based? If so, it's probably going to make people from those groups feel unsafe and disrespected. If you're not sure, the names of the costumes usually make it very clear: "Hey Amigo costume, Geisha costume, Native Child costume"
- Does your child belong to that group of people? If the answer is no, reflect on what it means to borrow someone else's culture for a day, because for many people it's not a costume, it's their everyday lives.
- If the costume is meant to be funny, why is it funny? If it's meant to be funny because it is making light of an ethnic or racial group, then it is most likely a caricature and hurtful.
- How would everyone feel if someone wore that costume around that group of people? If an Indigenous family were to welcome a child into their home wearing a 'Native Child' costume, what would the impact be on everyone? If the impact is harmful on any given day, then Halloween is no exception.
Partners in Faith
Helping our children grow in their Catholic faith.
Catholic Education in the News
Help St. Dominic School While You Shop
Thank you so much!
Family Calendar
Here is the link for ical: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/info%40stdominicschool.net/public/basic.ics
St. Dominic School
Email: info@stdominicschool.net
Website: www.stdominicschool.net
Location: 3455 Norwood Road, Shaker Heights, OH, USA
Phone: (216)561-4400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stdominicschool/?ref=bookmarks
Twitter: @StDomShaker