St. James School
Weekly News
August 23rd, 2007
UPCOMING DATES
Monday, August 27th
(Preschool – 8th Grade Students)
Tuesday, August 28th
(T/ TH Preschool and Pre-K Students)
Monday, September 3rd NO SCHOOL – Labor Day observance
WELCOME ADDITIONS
We welcome the pre-school and pre-K students who started their school year with us on Monday and Tuesday. It was nice to see all their eager faces and have them join us. We hope they have an enjoyable year at St. James.
At dismissal to accommodate this group of students we have a designated area for preschool and pre-k parents to park. These classes are walked out of the building at 2:45 PM. The early release should allow for the extra time needed for parents to place their children in carseats, etc., and ready them for a safe trip home. We ask that all parents be observant of the fact that starting this week these students and their parents are joining us at dismissal time. Please be patient as new parents learn our dismissal procedures. Thank you.
SCHOOL PICTURES
Monday, August 27th is
individual school picture day for our students in Preschool through 8th
grade. On Tuesday, August 28th,
we will take pictures for our Tuesday and Thursday preschool and pre-k
students. Lifetouch pictures will be
taking our individual pictures this year and we have contracted with them for
our group classroom photos in the spring.
We ask that students “dress up” for picture day. (NO JEANS). Students do not need to be in their school
uniform. If your child has P.E. on
picture day, please send along an extra pair of shoes to wear to P.E. class.
Continuing the tradition…eighth grade students will be dressing up for their yearbook pictures more so than in previous years. Boys need to wear a dress shirt and tie. Girls need to wear appropriate dress clothes (NO JEANS).
Lifetouch photo envelopes were sent home with each child today. These envelopes contain information about the portrait prices and are to be used to enclose payment for purchasing photos. Students will be giving the envelopes to the photographer at the time their picture is taken to indicate that you wish to purchase photos. All students will have their pictures taken to obtain an individual photo to be used in the school yearbook. It is your responsibility to order photos at the time pictures are taken or you will have to contact Lifetouch.
OFFICE NEWS
School Fees
The second installment of school fees was due Friday, August 10, 2007,
and the final payment for school fees will be due October 12, 2007. Installments equal $88 for each student
enrolled. Please remit payment to the
school office by Friday, August 31st, to bring your account
current.
Newsletters
As we stated last week, one of
our goals for this school year is to have paperless transmittal of information,
by using e-mail accounts for sending
out our weekly newsletter rather than sending home a hard copy. We hope that this proves to be the most
efficient means of communication and we need your help to ensure that we have
proper e-mail addresses for all parents.
Next week we will begin sending the newsletter via e-mail. If you must have a hard copy, please send a
request in writing to the office by Tuesday, August 28th.
Remember that we sent out our summer mailing via e-mail channels this year, so if you received the information without a problem we have the right address for sending newsletters, etc. If, however, you need to change or update your e-mail address please send an e-mail message to karrie.snider@stjames-school.org by Monday, August 27th. You will receive a confirmation telling you that your information was received and that it will be updated in our data base for future use. In addition, your address and e-mail information obtained from our current registration data base will be used for our school directory which will be issued in a few weeks. Thank you. Also, the newsletter will be posted on the St. James web-site which is located at www.stjames-school.org. for your reference.
UNIFORMS
Teachers are conducting uniform checks and we have several students that are
not in the appropriate uniform. All uniforms must be purchased through the
school. If you ordered your uniforms somewhere else, we cannot guarantee that
they will meet our uniform dress code. Please check the website for specifics.
If you are donating to our Used Uniforms, please be sure you are donating the
correct uniforms. We accept K-12 Gear clothing as it meets our dress code requirements.
Thank you.
Some of you are realizing what
we are realizing with regards to PE uniforms. The good news is that we now
have a full time PE teacher which means that
your child may now be in need of an additional PE uniform. We have just placed
another order. If you need any PE uniforms, please order those through Ruth
ASAP and we will place an additional order. Middle School students now have
the privilege of wearing their PE uniform to school or at the end of the
day depending on their schedule. As this is now the case they must be in a
St.
James PE uniform shirt. If you need this shirt please order ASAP. Thanks
for your flexibility as we incorporate our new schedule with our students.
LABOR DAY
OBSERVANCE
In observance of the Labor Day
holiday, we will have NO SCHOOL on Monday,
September 3rd. Enjoy the long
weekend with your family!!!
PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION
(PTO) NEWS
There will be a short PTO meeting in the Social Hall at 6:50 PM to be followed by the Parent Information Night in the classrooms on Tuesday, September 4th. At the PTO meeting we will be introducing our new PTO officers and our St. James Staff. After the PTO meeting, parents will convene to the classrooms for Parent Information Night.
PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT
Tuesday, September 4th is Parent Information Night and all parents are encouraged to attend. You will have the opportunity to visit your student’s classroom and receive information from the teachers. Parents will be going to the classrooms following the PTO meeting to attend information sessions conducted by the teachers. The homeroom teachers will run two consecutive sessions. These sessions should last about 20 minutes and will include discussions about curriculum, classroom procedures, and other grade level information. Please keep in mind that this is an adult only event with no babysitting provided at the school.
8th GRADE GIRL’S
VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
There will be an 8th grade girl’s volleyball tournament hosted
here at
SCHOOL OFFICE REQUESTS
In the morning we want to emphasize that classes begin at 7:50 AM. At that time it is expected that students be in the classroom as attendance and daily lunch counts are taken. We want everyone to get started on the right foot at the start of the new school year. We encourage all drivers to allow themselves an adequate amount of time for drop off and to ensure that students arrive to school safely and in a timely manner. All students that arrive after 7:50 AM must report to the office for a tardy ticket.
HOPE/DREAM SALES
Each family is required to purchase $1,200 in certificates under our HOPE/DREAM programs as part of your school commitment at registration. Open registration is in March and the commitment period runs from March 1st of the registration year to February 28th of the following year. The HOPE program consists of the sale of HyVee and Price Chopper cards that are available for sale in the school office during the week and after masses each weekend. The D.R.E.A.M. program consists of the sale of certificates to retailers and restaurants that are in our local area. We do have a limited stock of these certificates on hand in the school office, but we place orders weekly to replenish our inventory. Certificates are ordered each Monday morning at 9:00 AM and will be returned by Friday of that week. Order forms are listed on the school web-site.
HEALTH ROOM NEWS
Clay County Public Health Center Staff will begin screening your child’s speech, hearing and dental on Tuesday, September 4th, and finish on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007. The hearing screening includes a tympanogram to assess middle ear function (such as ear infection, congestion, etc.) and pure tone hearing screening, which indicates how well your child can hear. It would be helpful if your child’s ears are as clean and free of wax as possible.
The speech screening includes an articulation screener to assess speech sound production in single words and sentences. The language screener assesses both receptive and expressive language skills. Voice quality and fluency skills are also assessed.
Please send a note with your
child regarding any information relevant to the speech or hearing
screenings. This could include the
presence of tubes, known hearing loss, or previous speech and language
evaluation/therapy received.
Please read the attachment to the Newsletter regarding the Dental
Screening.
There is no charge for these
screenings. If you do not want your child to participate in these
screenings, please notify the school office.