Christmas collection and more

I have several notes to pass along today. We are now collecting money for our Christmas Mission collection. Each grade is sponsoring a family in need of assistance and we will use the money collected to buy presents for the families. The shopping day is Tuesday, December 12 after school at Target. We are asking each student to contribute whatevfer they can. Each of the two families we are buying for consists a mom and three boys. Ask your son for more information.

We have another fundraising opportunity for you—the school has received a brand new 2007 Dodge Caliber courtesy of Charlie’s Dodge and will be raffling it off in February. A limited number of tickets will be sold for $20.00 each. Students who sell tickets will receive a credit of $4.00 for each ticket sold. Unless I hear differently from you, we will send home five tickets per student. If you sell all five tickets we’ll be glad to send you more and if you would rather not participate that’s fine, too-just send the unsold tickets back to school.

Tomorrow six students are going to the Helping Hands Soup Kitchen to help serve lunch. The end of the month is an especially busy time for soup kitchens. Next Tuesday ten students will accompany me to visit the residents at Oakleaf Retirement Village. We are in the process of posting pictures from our various activities on the Acsdemy webpage. We’ll let you know when they are ready.

On December 13 half of the 8th grade class will go on a unique fied trip-they will have a tour of the new GlassCity Veterans Skyway under construction in north Toledo. This is the largest public construction project in the history of the state and should be a fascinating experience. The other half of the 8th grade will visit the project in January.

7th grade students are meeting their high school “Big Brothers” again tomorrow as they continue to work on their biography project. 8th grade students will enjoy a pizza lunch with their “Big Brothers” on Friday.

A reminder from Mr. Nichols: Science Fair projects are due Monday. If your son is struggling to complete it on time just e-mail or call Mr. Nichols and he will work with you. Often students wait to do most of the work on a project until the day before it is due and, as a result, stay up late into the night to complete it (and their parents, too!). Don’t let them stay up too late and don’t let them stress out about it. This should be a learning experience for them in more ways than one and they will benefit in the long run if they work their way through this doing their own work, even if they receive a lower grade for being late. Our goal is to make them better students for the future. Please let Mr. Nichols or me know if your son is having problems with this project.

Happy Thanksgiving

About 30 students stayed after school yesterday to watch “The Basket.”  Ask your son about the movie and what they learned from it–there were many good lessons, and ask them what was the secret of “the basket” that the “Stranger” brought to town.

Next week we will begin a mission collection to supply Christmas presents for families in need.  Details will come your way next week.

A reminder that “Simply Tasteful” fundraising orders are due by December 1 so they can be filled by Christmas.

Thanks to all who helped with open house last Sunday, especially Karen Parsell, Kim Abbas,  Colleen Courtois, and Karen Ridenour.  We had over fifty families come through the Academy.

Enjoy the Thanksgiving break and, hopefully, some time with your family. 

Open House and other notes

This Sunday from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. the high school and Academy will be open for anyone who has an interest in SJJ to visit.  Tours of the high school will be provided and staff members will be on hand to answer questions and make presentations about the many offerings and programs that are a part of the school.  Academy staff members will be in the Academy wing and classrooms wil be open.  Spread the word to any families who might be interested in learning more about the high school and the Academy.

Check out the Academy pages on the main SJJ website.  Mr. Crawford, the webmaster, is improving and upgrading the site on a daily basis and we hope to have many more features available in the weeks ahead.

After school on Monday we will show another film in our “After School Movie Series”–”The Basket.”  A great movie that many people have not heard of, “The Basket” has lessons for us all and I “guarantee” that the boys will enjoy it.  We will also provide pizza and pop and should be finished by 5:30 p.m. 

A schedule reminder:  we have a regular schedule on Monday next week with a morning prayer service scheduled for Tuesday morning.  There is no school Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday so everyone can enjoy a break for Thanksgiving. 

We have a great new addition to our staff:  Mrs. Marcia Chambers is now working three afternoons a week and a writing specialist for the 7th grade students.  Marcia is a professional writer and editor, and has worked actively in writing and publishing industries for 20 years.  Shortly after graduating from the University of Frostburg with degrees in English, Journalism, and Public Relations, Marcia wrote “Giant Pandas,” a book that was marketed and sold in tandem with the Giant Panda exhibit in Toledo in 1988.  She is also the author of numerous magazine and newspaper articles.  Her professional experience includes several years as a newspaper editor.  Her passion is writing children’s books, and she has several in the works, which she hopes to publish someday soon.  We are very fortunate to have her working individually with the students.  Right now the 7th grade students are working on biographies of their high school “Big Brothers.”  They will continue drafting, editing, and revising with Marcia for the next two weeks until they publish a final draft. 

Enjoy the weekend–Go Blue!!!  (Fans of the winning team in the big game-OSU vs. UM-can have a jeans day on Monday to celebrate).

Important notes

A couple of notes-at the request of numerous students, the Simply Tasteful fundraiser has been extended to December 1 so students can sell items over the Thanksgiving break. If orders are turned in by December 1 they will be delivered to you by Christmas.

A reminder that tomorow is a late start day-homeroom begins at 9:15 a.m.

There will be early dismissal on Friday at 2:04 p.m. so the school can begin preparing for Sunday’s open house.

A letter is being mailed home to the parents of all basketball players with important information. If you have any questions about athletics please feel free to contact John Brennan, Academy Athletic Director, at extension 340.

A busy week ahead!

Next week promises to be a busy one.  On Monday the students will hear about an after school opportunity to get involved with the school’s TV4 studio.  The program will be held twice a week after school and will be open to any interested student.  Students will learn the ins and outs of television production and have the chance to make their own production.

Also on Monday we will begin our after school ping pong tournament.  Tuesday is an activities schedule and we will have a T.E.A.M. time activity dealing with “responsibility.”  A reminder that Simply Tasteful fundraiser orders need to be turned in by Tuesday to ensure delivery by Thanksgiving.

On Wednesday we will have a late start schedule with homeroom beginning at 9:15 a.m.  Thursday will be a regular schedule!  Friday we will have early dismissal at 2:00 p.m. so we can begin to prepare for open house, which will be held on Sunday, November 19 from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.  Encourage your friends and relatives who have an interest in the Academy or the high school to come and visit.

Finally, next Monday, November 20 all 8th grade Academy students will experience high school life when they spend the day with an Academy graduate who is either a freshman or sophmore.

A reminder to 7th grade students:  the independent reading project is due on Monday, November 20.

Enjoy the weekend!

Directories, etc.

We’re back from our conference and looking forward to implementing some of the programs and ideas we learned about while we were away.

A directory of high school and Academy students will be sent home today with your son. Please notify us if there are any errors and accept our apology in advance for any mistakes!

On Thursday Mr. Szynkowski’s homeroom will enjoy a “Dress Down Day” as a reward for bringing in the most items during our recent mission collection.

A reminder from Mr. Nichols: the outline for the Science project is due on Thursday.

On Friday ten students will accompany Mr. Szynkowski and Mr. Butler on a service project at the Wood County Historical Society. They’ll be outside doing yard work and general clean-up.

Basketball practices are getting underway this week. Over 66% of Academy students are participating in the program this year.