St. Paul's News: St. Paul's Community Newsletter

Welcome to our New Families

We are excited to welcome 37 new families to St. Paul's this year! These families enrolled 43 new students at our school. In addition, we are happy to welcome 33 siblings of current families to St. Paul's. These 76 new students are a wonderful addition to our St. Paul's family. Of the 76 new students, we enrolled a twin sibling, two sets of twins, and 5 new children of faculty members. Welcome to St. Paul's!

Family Fun Fest

The Family Fun Fest is a welcome party for parents and students to celebrate the new school year. Hosted by the St. Paul’s Parents' Guild, the event will be held this year on Friday, September 5^th from 3:45-6:30 (weather permitting). We have eliminated ticket sales this year and instead are suggesting an optional $25.00/family donation to enjoy the event. Entry wristbands will be distributed to your child’s classroom on Friday morning, September 5. Your wristband will grant entry into the event, access to all activities and a taco bar. Soft drinks will be sold for $1.00 by Student Council.

To make your donation, please click HERE.

One of the highlights for the children is the Cake Walk. We will need at least 75 cakes or other baked goods like cookies, brownies, pies or other fun sweets. If you would be willing to bake for this event, please drop off your donation in the morning carpool line on Friday, September 5th. Volunteers will collect in both lines.

We have new inflatable attractions (Defender Dome and Gladiator Joust) aimed at the older students as well as a basketball attraction and t-ball attraction for the younger students. We are also making a fun outdoor photo booth with funny props to capture Fun Fest memories. Other attractions include carnival games, face painting, hair painting and temporary tattoos.

We can’t wait to celebrate the new school year with this fun event! Please contact your room parents with any questions. Thank You!

Latest Word on Haiti Fundraising

I just want to take a moment and thank everyone throughout the St. Paul’s community for all of your hard work to raise money for our sister school in Ravine a l’Anse. Together, through your efforts, we were able to raise $12,855.43.

You all did that though walk-a-thons, lemonade stands, collecting change, doing chores, pet-sitting, and lots and lots of dedication and hard work. One person didn’t achieve this alone—it took every member of this community, bringing change on their birthday in the ECC, making cookies in 1st grade or walking that extra lap in Middle School. And it took everyone, all year, praying together for our friends in Haiti, and to then put that prayer into action.

So thank you so much for everything you have done! Let’s go out and do even more this year!

-Chaplain Castellan

5th Grade Field Trip

The 5th grade students enjoyed some team building at Heartland Center last week, as students worked together to maneuver various obstacles in the woods. A number of Life Skills were put into practice, including problem solving, cooperation, patience and perseverance. The weather held off, for the most part, and it ended up being a lovely day out in nature.

6th Grade 1:1 iPads

Three cheers for our newest class of 1:1 iPad students! The 6th graders received their iPads and some additional training, and they were off. This is phase two of our 1:1 program starting in 2015-2016, all of our middle school students will have school-issued iPads. We continue to be impressed by the ways in which our teachers and students utilize these devices.

Teacher iPads

Speaking of iPads, the St. Paul's teachers are rocking their new technology, thanks to the generosity of our parents in last spring's Fund-A-Need portion of the Auction. The teachers received their iPads in May and have been working with them since. It is exciting to see how these tools have already begun to impact teaching and learning at our school.

Jeff Lanza Presentation

Retired FBI agent Jeff Lanza spoke to our middle school last week about online safety. While he gave the students lots of tips on safety (and common sense) online, he asked them to remember at least this one thing from his presentation: Before you share - THINK. Do you really want your post/like/comment/photo to be out there forever? The internet never forgets.

Interested parents can view a video of his presentation HERE.

Note: the presentation mentions some sensitive topics, so we recommend that parents view the presentation before sharing with students younger than fifth grade.

Cristo Rey Students

Please welcome our 2014-2015 Cristo Rey students! St. Paul’s is a placement site for Cristo Rey High School students who are interested in learning more about the field of education. Cristo Rey has developed an extensive work study program to help expose students to various careers which helps students to develop hands on working experience in the community. St. Paul’s has served as a work site for Cristo Rey students for four years, and we have thoroughly enjoyed partnering with Cristo Rey. The students are a great help to the teachers and children and we appreciate the growing partnership we have with Cristo Rey High School. This year we are pleased to welcome eight students!