St. Philomena Catholic School - Des Moines, Washington

May 07, 2008 Newsletter
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Please click here or the image below to view the Gloria’s Angels “Angels Among Us” Auction Gala 2008 flyer.

• ST. PHILOMENA SUMMER SCHOOL INFORMATION-2008
• RELAY FOR LIFE CANCER WALK IS COMING!
  Our personal walk with Gloria has inspired our school community to seek ways to support Children’s Hospital and Medical Center and the American Cancer Society in a life-long way. Our work continues and the St. Philomena School Community would like to formally invite ALL parents, ALL students, ALL alums, ALL parishioners, and ALL families wanting to walk for a cure to join us in solidarity for the St. Philomena School 2nd ANNUAL MINI-RELAY FOR LIFE CANCER WALK on Saturday, May 31st from dawn to dusk at our own PRESIDENT’S FIELD.
• WELCOME MISS CASSIE KASTENS!
  Many of you know that Mrs. Timmer in first grade is expecting her first baby on June 3rd (ish!). It is my pleasure to introduce to you Miss Cassie Kastens who has been hired to finish out the school year. Miss Kastens is shadowing first grade and subbing in other grades to learn our community. We anticipate Mrs. Timmer’s last school day to be Friday, May 30th but we will see what little Baby Timmer has in mind. Thank you to the generous spirit of the first grade students and families as we all eagerly await the arrival of this beautiful miracle.
• FINAL TUITION OBLIGATION LETTER:
  The contractual 2007-2008 school year comes to a close on May 31st. The final comprehensive financial obligation letter will be sent home on Wed., May 16th. Please continue to turn in your past calendars with your parent service hours so we can accurately record your service hour time commitment. It’s almost over! Kid’s Club, Hot lunch bills, May tuition, band payments, SCRIP and SPLASH buyouts are due the 5th of this month. Thank you for meeting your responsibilities!
• MAY SCHOOL COMMISSION:
  The school commission meets on Wednesday, May 7th in the grade 7 classroom. 6:30 p.m. monthly budget review then full commission at 7:00 p.m.
• 3rd TRIMESTER PROGRESS REPORTS AS NEEDED:
  If your teacher believes another round of communication is in order then you will find a spring progress report in today’s envelope. As we prepare for our Celebration of Learning May 27th through May 30th, our goal to verify that each child has the core skills needed to move on to the next grade. We have mastery tests in the core subjects of math, reading, and English with timed tests in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Through the last few weeks, each family has received summer school information, flyers on skill sharpeners workbooks, and we encourage every family to realize a summer plan for learning is a good thing. Please contact your homeroom teacher directly, if you have any questions or concerns.
• JFK BAND FESTIVAL is set for Wednesday, May 14th at 7:00 p.m.
  at Kennedy High School. ALL BAND MEMBERS are involved! Parents, please be looking for the permission slip. It is a graded performance! Details about the Kennedy Elementary Summer Band Camp will be handed out to all band members very soon! 8Th GRADERS GOING TO KENNEDY: Don’t forget about the CAMBRONERO BAND SCHOLARSHIP that is awarded at the band festival each year. Ask Miss McKamey for details!
• CITIZENS AND SCHOLARS FOR APRIL:
  More good news to report! The following students were honored at last Friday’s mass as our Citizens and Scholars for the month of April! The Citizens were: Kindergarten – Leonardo Loya, 1st – Jace Collier, 2nd- Mason Adsero, 3rd- Brooke Irish, 4th – Kara deLeon, 5th – Cierra Wright, 6th – Alex Wencel, 7th – Mate Arceo, and 8th- Bryce Ehlinger. The Scholars were: Kindergarten- Eva Harn, 1st- Joshua Montgomery , 2nd – Billy Hedlund, 3rd- Noelle Bui, 4th- Mary Brach, 5th- Courtney Maciolek, 6th- Melanie Stout, 7th- Jared Lowery , and 8th- Christina Kim. Thank you for making our school a better place. Special thank you to Barbara Castrow for calling parents prior to the mass celebration to invite families to come watch the presentation of Citizen and Scholars each month. That is a generous and touching gift to us!
• LAST PEP CLUB MEETING OF THE YEAR!
  Wednesday, May 21st at 7:00 p.m. in the hall. Come early to buy Scrip, and see final sign-ups for volunteer opportunities. The SPLASH leaders will have a mini-silent auction starting at 6:30 p.m. for some of the treasures that didn’t get the attention that they deserve! Our own MC, Keith Eldridge, will entice and invite us to bid! Come celebrate with us as we share so much good news, honor end-of-the year thank yous and awards, and affirm the new PEP CLUB Officers for the 2008-2009 school year. It’s a date!
• FINE ARTS SHOW:
  Please mark your calendars and reserve Thursday, May 22nd at 7:00 p.m. for the ST. PHILOMENA FINE ARTS SHOW in the hall. This is a spring highlight and the grandparents will love it. This is the final Band/Choir and Art/Speech presentation of the year! Mrs. Ruth, Mr. Crosswhite, Mrs. Dore, Miss McKamey and Mrs. Merlich are preparing another masterpiece!
• KIDS’ CLUB EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY:
  The St. Philomena School Kids’ Club Program is seeking adult applicants for our after school care program beginning immediately. Shift available includes the following hours: Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM during the school year. Salary based on childcare experience. Background check is required at time of application. First Aid/CPR training is required. Please call the school office at 206-824-4051 for more information or visit with Mrs. Angie Mendez.

FULCRUM FOUNDATION…TEACHER GRANTS!
BRAVO and Congratulations to Miss Kathleen Fogarty (Grade 2) and Mrs. Meghan Hoyer (Grade 6) for receiving a teacher grant for $1,500.00 each! Mrs. Hoyer’s grant request was to create a toolkit of lesson plans and educational games about Canada for our K-8 school to be utilized during a week in November 2008 to celebrate our northern neighbor and the similarities and differences we face with Canada. Miss Fogarty’s grant request was to secure partial funding of a SMARTboard to help increase student motivation and enjoy the interaction technology has to offer in a self-contained classroom.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION IS THIS WEEKEND!
On Saturday, May 3rd at 11:00 a.m. will be the formal Mass for 55 members of our faith community. Please pray for all of our children as we welcome them to the table of the Lord: Mason Adsero, Shelby Anderson, Phinalope Aquino, Valeria Arceo, Elaina Baldwin, Alex Barnes, Warren Baltimore, Eva Margarite Brach, Joseph Casillas, Madeleine Cecchi, Alan Contreras, Luzelly Contreras, Sujeyli Contreras, Hunter Courtney, Vanessa Dannels, Alexa Dannels, Destiny Davis, Drea De-Grate, Kayla deLeon, Esbeabita Dumo, Natalie Eldridge, Nicholas Ferreri, Jonathan Flores, Christian Gailey, Adele Guiberson, Melissa Hamling, Billy Hedlund, Cameron King, Dylan Kraves, Melissa Mateus, Ace Mendiola, Denise Mendiola, Natalie Moeller, Delthea Mendoza, Robin Mendoza, Haiden Murray, Catherine Napier, Andrew Nguyen, Mikyla Olsen, A. J. Ponce, Ryan Reyes, Ian Reyes, Maya Roe, Brandon Romero, Alisson Romero,
Molly Saeda, Patrick Saya, Mark Taylor, Joseph Tibbits, Hailey Tieskoetter, Emilio Torres, Rachel Wasyluka, and Lane Witkowski. God bless each child! Special thank you to Kathleen Fogarty, Sue Swart, and Kara Montplaisir for helping to prepare our children for this holy moment.

SPRING RECYCLE DRIVE IS OVER!
Thank you to EVERYONE who shared a newspaper or aluminum can to take care of God’s wonderful creation! Mary Thomas and Steve Wilber didn’t miss a beat and made everything look so seamless! Announcing the Good NEWS!!!!!! The winners for greatest participation go to the Kindergarten class for paper and the 8th graders for cans. Start saving for the fall!

APRIL PRINCIPAL PRIDE PAPERS:
Please help me honor: Lane Witkowski, Niki Demarinis, Zack Ehlinger, Peter Krueger, Madeline Dailey, Tony Demarinis, Adriana Garzon, Alex Wencel, Conor Brogan, Corey Saeda, Tristan Ramirez, Allison Murphy, Alissa Strauss, Christina Kim, Amy Eaton, Alegra Armijo, Michaela Smith, Bailee DePhelps, Dani Castrow, Margaret Rockey, Erin Glaman, Alec Blake, Nick Deatherage, Kyle Barnes, Jake DeGagne, Aleah Ruth, Alicia O’Rourke, Branden Fauver, Megan Rockey, Cade DePhelps, MaryKate Witkowski, Jessica Martz, Jennifer Warren, Khaila Courtney, Courtney Maciolek, Kelsey Aberjera, Andrew Guscott, Peyton Conrad, Sydnee Castrow, Adam Garcia, Beau Hepler, Alexis Blake, and Justin Helmbreck. Great work!

RAIN, FOG, WIND, and just maybe…SNOW!
The yearly ritual has begun! Please click here for more information so you are ready for the surprise of snow/ice/power outages. Surprises do happen!

• SCHOOL EMAIL POLICY:
  I ask that all school families be respectful of the school email usage policy which is explained in the 2007-2008 Parent Handbook- page 10: “Emails should be educationally based and educationally sound” and “If a problem arises, notify the recipient that email is no longer a credible source of communication and new avenues of communication need to be explored. Unwarranted e-mails can fall into this category and can be considered another form of harassment.” We do not sell or give out our census data to the larger community. Email is intended to be our in-house communication and used accordingly. Thank you!
• COMPUTER WEBSITE PICTURES:
  The staff is using digital cameras more to capture educational moments at school. This enables us to take pictures and publish directly to the school website. We do not publish students’ pictures with their names. However, if you DO NOT wish your child’s picture to be placed on our website, please just send a letter to the school office by Sept. 29th.
  
  St. Philomena School does not allow downloading of any student pictures
  from our website.
• WASHINGTON MUTUAL BANK
  wants to support our school! Please spread the word with your circle of family and friends that Washington Mutual has a way to support St. Philomena! The program is called “Wamoola for Schools” and over 46 cardholders are signed up! Please click here to check it out - BRAVO!

For more important school dates, please click here for the School Calendar, or click here for the latest school newsletter.