News Paws
News Paws 08-30-10
St. Cyprian’s
News “Paws”
Aug. 30-Sept 3
Heads Up by
Brinn Williford
The first week of school is under our belt, and I must say that I am VERY pleased by how smoothly everything has gone. Hope that doesn’t jinx us, but the things that I was worried about (pretty much everything) have gone smoother than I had hoped. Your children have adapted quickly to what is a new environment for some, a new schedule for the rest.
One of the most pleasant surprises for me has been the change in schedule. I was hesitant to move Chapel from the first thing in the morning, because it was such a wonderful way to start the day. Moving Chapel to 9:30 has been much more productive, and our students are getting more out of the Chapel experience having already settled in to their day and with other friends not coming into the gym late. Focus is better, and delivery of the Chapel message is more thorough. We will see increased benefits to this time slot for Chapel as the year goes on, I think.
I have had some questions about student dress, so let me see if I can answer those for you. Wednesday is our Dress Uniform Day, when all students wear red shirts and navy bottoms. Red shirts and navy bottoms can be worn any other day, too, but they are required on Wednesday. Fridays are Spirit Days in which students may wear blue jeans and a top (t-shirt, jersey, or button shirt) representing their favorite amateur sports team (high school, college, etc.), as long as they are in presentable condition and appropriate for school.
Occasionally we will have Free Dress Days, when students are allowed to wear whatever they want, within reason. We also have “Not So Free” Free Dress Days, which is a fundraiser for the 5th grade Washington DC trip. It is a small fee (usually around $10 a semester) that allows your child to have an additional day per month that they don’t have to wear their uniforms. This is probably as clear as mud, but if you have further questions call the office and I will be happy to answer them for you.
Ephesians 4:1 – “I urge you who have been chosen by God to live up to the life to which God called you.”
Brinn Williford, Head of School
QSP Magazine Fundraiser
Friday, Aug. 27-Monday, Sept. 13
Love getting magazines for 85% off the newsstand price? Need to renew your favorite magazines? Have a waiting room at work that needs restocking? Love winning cool prizes while supporting St. Cyprian’s school? QSP Magazine Fundraiser is for YOU. Help support our school through the QSP magazine fundraiser. St. Cyprian’s receives 40% of the sales of each magazine. That means money back to YOUR school for YOUR kids. Packets went home on Friday and the deadline is Monday, September 13th.
Friday Snack Cart
Don’t forget to send your child to school with some spare change for the snack cart on Friday after school. Proceeds from the sales help our 5th graders pay for their spring trip to Washington, DC.
PTO Needs YOU!
Every parent is a member of the PTO! By virtue of your child or grandchild being here…you belong! We would love for you to jump in and get involved in the life of the school. Please look for the sign-up table in the main hallway this week and next. From hospitality to office assistance, there are dozens of ways to be part of the team!
Friday Door Greeter:
School Board President,
Jeff Glass, M.D.
Jeff Glass is a local pediatrician and has been a part of the St. Cyprian’s community for 10 years. His son Reed graduated in 2008 and daughter Lauren graduated in 2010. He also has a fifth grader named Julia. His wife, Dessa, is very involved in the school. Jeff is in his fifth year on the school board and third as president. The people and commitment to excellence are what he loves the most about the school. He says that although the academics and environment are what attract most people to St. Cyprian’s, it is actually the end-product graduating student that the school is all about. Students who graduate from St. Cyprians are not just academically well-prepared for middle school, they are empathetic, self-confident, Christ-based leaders who are well-prepared for life.
5th grade parents: will have their first Washington, D.C., meeting on Thursday, September 9, at 4:00 p.m. in Mrs. Allbritton’s room. All parents need to be there.
Spirit Shirts
Order forms will be sent home later this week for the St. Cyprian’s spirit shirt. Proceeds from the shirt benefit the 5th graders for their trip to Washington D.C.
Box Tops
Buy 6 General Mills Box Top products (except yogurt) at Brookshire Brothers Food & Pharmacy during the month of September and get a special coupon at the check out worth 30 Bonus Box Tops. Bring that coupon to school and turn in to your child’s teacher.
RenWeb ParentsWeb
We are proud to offer our parents this school communication tool via our web site. Through this program, teachers may share lesson plans, homework and grades - under password protection - through our unique ParentsWeb service. We will offer ParentsWeb training courses very soon. Watch News Paws for the dates and times. For our returning parents, please note our RenWeb district code is SCES-TX.
Grade Level News
3K News: Welcome, 3K friends! Our first week of school was full of new experiences. We have learned where all our teachers’ rooms are and what our rules are. We practiced sitting and listening to our teacher, lining up, and walking quietly down the hall. We even walked to chapel in the gym and back! This week we will learn all about ourselves. We will talk about how we are all different and how we are the same. We will be sending home “All About Me” bags so we can share some things about ourselves during our circle time. Thanks for a fabulous first week!
4K News: Welcome to the second week of Pre-K! Our first week went as smoothly as it could possibly have been. We are so excited about our school year! This week we will be practicing name recognition as well as various letters. We will be reading the children’s classic, Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom” and creating art and math activities. We will also begin our B.O.Y. (beginning of year) assessments. Our goal is to have everyone assessed at the end of the week. Have a great week!
Kindergarten News: What a super first week it was in Kindergarten! We will be continuing our “All About Me” unit this week. During the week our students will be showcasing themselves with their “Get to Know Me” bags. We will be creating magazine collages that will display all of the things that they love.
Kindergarten continued.
Throughout the week, we will be reading books about how special and unique we are. We
will start sharing our “Why My Name Was Chosen” sheet starting on Friday. During Math, we will begin sorting and grouping objects by their attributes. We will sort by color, size and shape. We love to have parents come to school to have lunch with their child. If you come for lunch, please sit at the side table with your child so that you have plenty of room. Please send $12.00 for supply fee (construction paper and film developing) if you have not done so.
1st Grade News: We are off to a great start in first grade! We welcome Madeline McCollum, Michael Bright and Keilah Nerren to our class. This is an exciting time to be a first grader at St. Cyprians! This week we will be exploring our names. We will
identify the origin and the meaning of our name and illustrate that meaning. Students will conduct an
interview and find out why their name was chosen by their parents. We will also create posters that help us to share ourselves with all of our classmates. Please send pictures by Tuesday for this activity.
If you have not paid your $12.00 supply fee, please pay this to the teacher. Homework and reading assignments will start this week. Thank you for spending time with your child on these things.
2nd Grade News: We have had an awesome first week in second grade! We are getting used to changing classes and having two teachers. In Math, we are making flash cards to study at home to practice our “doubles” facts. Please study each night. We will be practicing in class also. Please keep these cards. We will be adding to them regularly as we introduce new facts to study. This week, we will be working with patterns, ordinal numbers, and word problems. We are still working on our Community project in Social Studies. Thanks for sending all of our boxes. As part of our study of rocks, we made Sedimentary and Metamorphic Rock Cookies for Science. We sure enjoyed eating those “rocks”! Thanks to our Moms who signed up to be Room Mothers and to host class parties. We are going to have a great year in second grade!
3rd Grade News: Third Grade science is busy learning about classifications of animals and plants, and learning to work in small groups for various assignments. In social studies we are learning about their world such as locations of continents, oceans, equator, hemispheres, and prime meridian. We will be going very soon to the city hall to learn about various local job responsibilities. The students will then decide which one appeals to them the most and create a hat representing the career chosen. We are reading “Ramona Quimby, Age 8” and studying week 2 in Spelling. We are working on Target Reading and terrific sentences. We will practice handwriting. We will have a vocabulary test on Tuesday. We will learn about complete and simple subjects and compound subjects. We will learn about thought shots and snapshots in writing.
4th Grade News: A great first week of school was had by all. Thanks for all your hard work. The fourth grade class will be learning about place value, comparing whole number and money. Fourth grade social studies students are learning about their state including where major cities are located, major rivers will be soon covered, and learning how to major locations on maps with longitude and latitude. Geographical terms are also being covered and more will come later. In science students are learning about animal and plant cells and drawing models in class. They will make models in science lab in a couple of weeks. Their first vocabulary test is today, August 30th. We are reading “Shiloh” and working on Target Reading. We are studying week 2 in Spelling. There will a vocabulary test on Tuesday. We will learn more about complete and simple subjects, in addition to compound subjects. We will work on thought shots, snapshots, and terrific sentences. Family Unit project packets will go home this week. Please make sure that you see the packet and sign the form.
5th Grade News: The fifth graders will be learning about fractional parts, kinds of lines, perimeter, and ordering with the number line. All classes will have their first test on Friday. We will continue reading “11 Birthdays’ and work on week 2 in Spelling. There will be a vocabulary test on Tuesday. We will be studying complete and simple subjects. We will also study compound subjects. We will learn more about thought shots and snapshots in writing. American Hero project packets will go home this week. Please make sure that you see the packet and sign the form. In social studies we have also been studying about their world such as labeling maps with continents, oceans, prime meridian, and equator. They are also learning about longitude, latitude, International Date Line, hemispheres, cardinal and intermediate points on a compass rose. In science, fifth graders are learning about animal and plant cells, drawing models in class, but later will make models in the science lab. They are taking their first vocabulary test today, August 30. Next, they will study about the body systems such as respiratory system, circulatory system, etc.
4th and 5th grade American Hero and Family projects are September 30 and October 1.
3rd, 4th, and 5th graders have a goal of 15 points for the six weeks in Reading Counts.
News Paws 08-23-10
News “Paws”
Welcome Back!
August 23-27
Heads Up by Brinn Williford
As I write this, it is the first day of school in the middle of the afternoon, and I am waiting for the first crisis of the New Year. So far, so good! It has been a terrific first day of school at St. Cyprian’s!
Things are a little different around here this year in a number of wonderful ways. We have some new staff to welcome for 2010-2011. Janie Fowler will teach 3rd grade. Mrs. Fowler taught for many years at Hudson. Also, we welcome Rachel Thomas, who also comes to us from Hudson ISD. Rachel will teach our other 1st grade class. Greta Bain is our Spanish teacher this year. She has taught Spanish most recently at Crockett High School. We have two new members of our 3K team, Sara Lowery and Traci Enos. Both have worked extensively with young children and are solid additions to our faculty. Traci is also our afternoon Administrative Assistant, and you will see her in the office as you pick up your child from school. Sara is beginning the process of becoming a licensed Dyslexia Therapist, and will do that in addition to her 3K chores. Jane Shepherd is our new 5K teacher. We were very pleased to find someone experienced and creative like Jane for our additional 5K classroom. Jane last taught at Wells ISD. Finally, we have a new Assistant Rector from St. Cyprian’s Church that will be leading our Chapel services this year, and her name is Carolina Armstrong. She is from the Fort Worth area back from a year working in the mission field in Delaware.
There are some other slight differences this year over last. Our Chapel services will be at 9:30 now instead of at 8:00. We will begin the day at 8:00 with our pledges, followed by our students getting right to work. We feel like this will be a stronger start to our day, and at least on the first day of school it was.
I am as excited about this school year as I have been since my first year here three years ago. Our enrollment is strong, above 190 for the first time since 1999, and every classroom on campus is filled with students. God is blessing our school! We have a tremendous School Board that is supporting what we do, and our staff has never been stronger. Space limits me from crowing about everything that we have going on this year, so some of it will have to wait. Thank you for trusting us with the education of your child. You have my pledge that we will do the best for our students that we can possibly do, every single day. The Lord continues to bless our school in so many ways! We are glad you are a part.
Our theme for this year comes from Ephesians 4:1 – “I urge you who have been chosen by God to live up to the life to which God called you.” Join us this year as we Live Up to the Life at our school. It promises to be an unforgettable year!
Brinn Williford, Head of School
Saint Cyprian’s Voted
Best Private School
For the third year in a row, St. Cyprian’s was voted “Best Private School in Lufkin” in the Lufkin Daily News. Many thanks to all of you who voted to keep St. Cyprian’s on top.
Emergency Contact Cards!!
If you haven’t already done so, please complete and return the emergency contact card to your child’s homeroom teacher ASAP! This is critical information we need from parents/guardians to contact you quickly when your child has a need.
Morning Drop-off
• All students should be dropped off at the Main Entrance. The preschool doors will remain locked at all times.
• We will have teachers on duty in the front hallway at 7:30 each morning for early drop-off.
• Please do not bring your student into the building before 7:30.
• Students arriving between 7:30 and 7:50 are to remain in the front hallway. Again, for security, students are not allowed in classrooms or academic hallways before 7:50. Please enter through the main entrance to the school.
Dismissal Times & Pick-Up Locations
3K & 4K halfday:11:45; pick up at the main entrance.
4K fullday – 1st: 3:00; pick up at main entrance.
2nd-5th grades: 3:15; pick up at the main entrance.
A staggered dismissal helps alleviate the traffic problems and also allows for additional instructional time for the upper grades.
Lunch Menus are due Thursday
Lunch menus went home today and are due back by Thursday. Hot lunch service will begin next week.