Joyfully Embracing Our Mission
St. Clare School Family News | 23 August 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,
Congratulations to you, our students and our teachers for completing the first full week of school. We had a couple of challenging “weather” days with mugginess, but all in all, it was a fruitful week of school.
P.E., Art, Music and Spanish started this week, and our elementary school students completed their first STAR assessments for the year. Teachers will use the data gathered from the assessments to inform instruction that is responsive to student needs. For students in kindergarten through third grade, the early literacy assessment gives our teachers a number of ways to address learning gaps through differentiation and individualized instruction. We acknowledge that not everyone learns in the same way, but that all students can learn.
On Friday, we commissioned our teachers to begin their role as catechists at St. Clare School. Every teacher and staff member, no matter their religious affiliation undergo Catholic Christian formation. Therefore, they are called by name to fulfill the mission of Catholic education by guiding our students towards a relationship with God through prayer, service and Christian living. This year’s theme, “Come, live in the light!” is both an invitation and a call to action to fulfill what we have been called to do in our baptism. We thank Fr. Prosper for presiding at mass and we are grateful to our talented student musicians for enriching our worship.
As with everything that we do, the practice of celebrating together as a community is evident when families worship with us and students actively participate by singing joyfully and responding to the call to prayer during mass.
Your family’s practice by attending Sunday mass becomes evident during our school masses. We encourage you to continue to guide your children to partake of the weekly celebration of the Eucharist. We invite you to come to St. Clare Church’s 9 A.M. Sunday Mass, dubbed as the Family Mass. It is a joyful celebration of our community. After mass, benefactors provide donuts and coffee so that we may gather and connect with one another. St. Clare School commits to participating through attendance and ministry on the second Sunday of each month. If you would like to serve as a lector or would like to bring up gifts, or if your child would like to altar serve, please contact Ms. Mary McCormick (mary.mccormick@dsj.org) or Sr. Ann Marie Dress (annmarie.dress@dsj.org). Our next St. Clare School Family Mass is on September 8.
TRANSITIONING TO THE SCHOOL YEAR
Beginning a new school year after a summer of fun can be very difficult for families. Here are a number of resources to help your household regulate activities that may not have been over the summer:
- Common Sense Media: Taking Control of Technology - This site provides parents a variety of advice to address the use of social media for body shaming, screen time, online trolls, cell phone use as well as reviews of gaming apps and other online resources.
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/parent-concerns - EducateEmpowerKids.org - This site provides the most dangerous apps your children may be using. https://educateempowerkids.org/dangerous-apps-2019/
- Bill Wilson Center - This site provides parenting advice and offers services for families.
https://www.billwilsoncenter.org/services/index.html
Our Bill Wilson counselors will start on September 10. If you would like to refer your child for services, please send me a message or email. Their case load is limited to five students at a time. Our counselors are present on Tuesday and Wednesday of each week, which means they can serve ten students at a time. - Childhood Health Council (CHC) is a top-rated education and mental health services for children, teens and young adults. This site provides a variety of resources for parenting tips. https://www.chconline.org/resourcelibrary/
As always, it is good practice to stay in close contact with your classroom teacher to keep them abreast of developments at home or at school that might impede or impact learning in the classroom. Send a note or an email as concerns arise.
We are partners in this effort to provide a safe environment for our students. Your student’s concern is our concern. Read about how Social Emotional Learning affects everyone, every day from the Committee for Children site: https://www.cfchildren.org/what-is-social-emotional-learning/
CORE INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES: Clear and Relevant Purpose for Learning
As part of an initiative established by the Department of Catholic Schools, our teachers are engaged in building capacity to improve and strengthen our core instructional practices. One such practice that greatly impacts learning is the ability for students to understand the lesson’s clear and relevant purpose. Our teachers are working hard to write “I can…” statements that identify the objectives in student-friendly language. Students, in the course of the lesson, are reminded of the lesson objectives so that they can track their own progress and be able to articulate the relevance of the lesson in the context of their academic life. Ask your students what they were able to achieve (I can) in academic subjects during the course of the school day.
BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT, Thursday, Sept. 5 | Starts at 6 P.M. in the Church
This ADULTS ONLY evening will give teachers an opportunity to share with parents regarding the goals and expectations for the year. Parents will get an opportunity to hear from the classroom teachers and clarify expectations to further strengthen the partnership between home and school. The evening will begin with a general address in the church followed by two 20-minute sessions in the classrooms. (Students in grades 7 and 8 will remain in the church for the Junior High session.)
If you have one child, you need only attend the one session. If you have more than two, then you will want to select the two classrooms that you have the least experience with. You are welcome to connect with the teachers from the other classrooms at another time or have someone else in your household attend the other sessions. The Class of 2020 will stay at the conclusion of the second session to hear about other 8th grade related expectations: events throughout the year, high school admissions and graduation.
Reflecting on this Sunday's readings, we are called to be resilient: to practice humility, to sustain our efforts, even through pain to be worth of the call as Catholic Christians and as children of God. Let us spend some time reflecting this week: Who have we made to feel smaller than us? What actions can we take to "practice" for the coming of the Kingdom through right thoughts, right words and right deeds?
Let us keep in our prayers our community members who are suffering financial, physical, emotional, and spiritual pain. May their load be lightened by the knowledge that they have this community of St. Clare to lift them up and hold them up to the light that is Christ.
Blessings for the week ahead,
Mrs. Cecile Mantecon, Principal
UNIFORM CORNER: HAIRSTYLES, HATS AND HEADBANDS
HAIR STYLES
Hair must be trimmed neatly.
Boys’ haircut needs to be trimmed neatly above the collar, and above the eyebrows.
Extreme hairstyles, as determined by School Administration, are not allowed.
Hair may not be dyed or highlighted an unnatural color, shaved, have lines shaved into the hair or tails in the back.
Extensions or excessive adornments are not allowed.
If there is a question about the appropriateness of a hairstyle, please consult with Administration first.
HATS AND HEADBANDS
Only St. Clare logo baseball caps may be worn at school, and only while outdoors during recess
and lunch, or at P.E.
Headgear worn as part of a specific theme day may only be worn while outdoors or
during a rally. They must be removed and stowed away while class is in session.
Headbands, bows and clips that are modest and in the school theme or color of the school uniform (plain white, gray, navy, or black) and serve a function may be worn as part of the uniform.
Excessively adorned headbands, bows and clips are NOT part of the uniform.
Lego Robotics is Coming to St. Clare School
Additional information will come.
Our Very Own Gabrielle, Gr. 6: Ranked #2 Y12 Women's Foil (Fencing) in the Country
Gabrielle participated in US Fencing Summer Nationals 2019 in Columbus, OH this past July.
She competed in two women's foil events: in Y10 category (born 2008 and below) with 94 competitors and in Y12 category (born 2006 and below) with 163 competitors all throughout the United States. In both events, she won a bronze medal. She earned a C classification during this championship event.
Gabrielle is starting the 2019-2020 fencing season being ranked #2 in the country for Y12 women's foil. In the photo are Gabrielle and her coach, Natasha Maximovich, who has been inspiring and training her since age 7 1/2.
Summer Saturday Work Day Thank You
We would like to send a big, loud, THANK YOU, to all the families who came out on August 3rd/10th and powered through the heat to repair, organize, dump and clean our school for the new year. There was much to do on the list and they didn't miss a beat! Through your hard work our school was ready for the students.
Thank you to the following families: Grantham, Calero, Vasquez, Wong, Goslinski, Aken, Munoz, Espinosa, Vazquez, Tran, Olemdo, Getahun, Wilson, Angeles, Nguyen, Wilkinson, James, Molostova, Martinez, Yasana, Cortez, Silva, Pastores, Tinio and Guizar. Thank you to the students who joined in the fun as well!
Shop with Scrip
What to do when your child is absent.
Parents are expected to contact the school office, via telephone or email, each day a student is absent or tardy. If report is made via e-mail, parents must notify both the office and the student’s teacher(s).
Please report student absences via telephone at (408) 246-6797 and via e-Mail to both attendance@stclareschool.org and to the homeroom teacher’s email address.
We will contact you to verify an absence if no call or message is received.
Absence/tardy is deemed to be excused when the student was absent/tardy due to illness, medical or dental appointment or attendance at a family member’s funeral service and the student presents a written note from parent, physician or dentist when she/he returns to school.
Tardy Students
Service Hours
Please make sure all current volunteer requirements have been submitted to the school office before signing up for service opportunities.
Picture Day Tuesday, August 27th
Hot lunch, anyone?
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:
- 8/23 Mass: Commissioning of Teachers | 9 A.M. in the church
- 8/27 Picture Day | School Uniform with Sweatshirt | Bring picture form
- 8/29 Free Dress Day
- 9/2 Labor Day | No School
- 9/6 Back to School Night 6 P.M. to 8 P.M.| Grades TK-8 | ADULTS ONLY | Begins at 6 P.M. in the Church
- 9/6 Mass: "Come Joyfully into the Presence of the Lord" | 9 A.M. in the church
COMING SOON
- Mad Science for Grades 1-5 | Thursdays | 1:15-2:15 P.M.
- Hidden Talent Art for Grades K-5 | Thursdays | 1:00-2:00 P.M.
- Muse School Band for Grades 4-8 |register online| http://www.museband.com
- St. Clare School Choir for Grades 2-8 | Tuesdays | 3:00-3:45 P.M.
- FIERCE Basketball Program | Thursdays
- Math Club | Grades 6-8 | Fridays 3:15-4:15 P.M.
- Lego Robotics | Grades 3-5 | TBD
St. Clare School
Email: office@stclareschool.org
Website: https://www.stclare.school
Location: 725 Washington Street, Santa Clara, CA, USA
Phone: 408 246-6797
Gospel reflection for August 25, 2019 Luke 13: 22-30
In the Gospel reading Jesus says that some people will come to him confidently but he will say to them, “I don’t know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!”
This is a frightening passage to hear especially if we consider ourselves to be one of God’s chosen people. We might ask ourselves, “What do I have to do in order not to be sent away?”
Accepting God’s gift of his forgiving love makes us in Christ and the spirit of Christ is in us. The gift of God’s love and forgiveness are already there for us. We need to accept the gift and be open to the Lord. What we have to do in order not to get sent away is nothing! However we share our gifts, we will do so by first having opened to God’s love, which is gift to us.