Jan

uary

20

15

S t . J o s e p h C a t h o l i c S c h o o l

w w w . s j s c a t h o l i c . o r g

This year’s theme for Catholic

Schools Week is “Catholic

Schools: Communities of

Faith, Knowledge and

Service”. As I reflect on our

theme, I see its message lived

in all that we are at St. Joseph

Catholic School.

As a faith community, we

come together to participate

in the Eucharist each Tuesday

morning during our all-school

Mass. Daily prayer and

religious education classes

remind us to not only speak

the word of God, but to live

the word of God. His word is

spread through our own

words and actions. Our

students also reach out to the

community in order to build

the Kingdom of God.

Recently, one of our

basketball teams spent a

Friday night together

volunteering at Feed My

Starving Children; a student

of ours initiated a coat drive

on her own and collected

over one hundred coats for

those in need; each year, our

current seventh grade class

spends their summer

earning money for a school

supply drive for those in

need. In all these examples,

our students were not

forced to give back to their

community; rather, they all

know that with their great

gifts of a Catholic

education, they are charged

with serving others and

building the Kingdom of

God. It is who we are – it is

what sets us apart from

others in our greater

community.

St. Joseph Catholic School is

not just a school within the

Archdiocese of Chicago; it is

a school that other Catholic

schools in the diocese use

as a model when making

changes in their own

academic, technology, and

athletic programs. Our

mission statement calls our

faculty and staff to a higher

standard in Catholic

education, a standard

which has called us to raise

our academic rigor by

targeting common core

standards and higher level

thinking skills. Our focus, not

necessarily on technology,

but on how technology can

transform our learning

environment has enabled

our students to stretch far

beyond the four walls of our

classrooms.

One needs to look no further

than at a St. Joseph Catholic

School student as evidence

of our holistic educational

environment. Science, math,

English, social studies, and

the arts are all crucial to the

upbringing of our students;

however, it is the emphasis

on building confidence and

developing each child’s

character that we focus so

heavily on that allows others

to easily set St. Joseph

Catholic School apart from

other schools in our

community.

From the Principal’s Desk

SJS Parent Association (SJSPA) HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The St. Joseph School Parent Association hopes you all had a wonderful Christmas break and enjoyed some fun and relaxation with your family and friends.

December was a busy month for us. The children were able to purchase their own special Christmas gifts for their family and friends at Santa’s Secret Shop. Thank you to Valerie Richter for chairing another wonderful year with me. We can’t thank all the volunteers & 8th grade helpers enough for helping us with this fun event at school.

Teachers, Faculty and Staff had a wonderful meal during the annual Christmas Luncheon at school. Thank you to Tracy Lombardo, Cynthia Lenihan and Melanie Gloria and all the volunteers for such a successful afternoon. It was such a nice occasion. I also would like to thank all the Parent Helpers who kept a watchful eye on the classrooms so the teachers could enjoy the Luncheon. Thank you all!

Finally, the children were able to celebrate Christmas with fun classroom parties. Thank you to the Room Parents and Volunteers who donate their time and/or food to make these events successful.

Family Fun Night was on January 17th and

it was a fun-filled evening. We had a Chili Cook-Off Contest and rounds of Bingo. Dan Santner took first place with his chili…yummy! It was a great night of family bonding and laughter. Thank you to Margaret Herron for running another fabulous night with me. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped set-up and clean-up this event.

I hope you all had an opportunity to “Enter the Kingdom of Books” during Book Fair. Thank you to Sarah McMahon, Valerie Richter and Mrs. Hoglund for putting another wonderful year together with me on this. I can’t thank the volunteers enough for helping us with this big event. It takes a village to make it happen. It was a fabulous time and event for all. Our school library thanks you all as well. We were able to stock our school shelves with new books because of all your purchases.

From January 25th to February 1st , SJSPA sponsored different events during our Catholic Schools Week. This was a great time to celebrate being a part of a wonderful church and school community.

We kicked off Catholic Schools Week with CSW Painting of Windows in Downtown Libertyville. A huge Thank You goes to Anne DeFranco for setting up all the businesses that allowed us to paint their windows. Thank you to all the students

and parents that volunteered their time in making this happen and bringing out their artistic abilities. You are all winners to us!

As a way to say “Thank You” to our Teachers, Faculty and Staff, a themed lunch will be served to them by our very generous families of St. Joseph Catholic School. A huge Thank You goes to Katie Forlenza and Michele Nettesheim for organizing this treat for all that work at the school. It puts a smile on everyone’s face all week. Thank you to all the parents that helped make this happen.

We ended the week with Java with Joe. We served light refreshments and coffee in the Narthex of the church at the 5pm mass on January 31st and all the masses on February 1st (except 5pm mass). Thank you goes to Susan Pucin, Julie Freund and all the volunteers who put in so much time and effort to ending the week on a lovely note. It is very much appreciated.

Please join us at our next meeting on Thursday, February 5th at 7:45am in the Loughry Room. All are welcome and I’m looking forward to seeing you.

I hope that everyone in our St. Joseph family has a wonderful 2015, and that God will continue to bless you with His grace and peace.

Tiffany Schiff

SJSPA President

SJS Advisory Committee(SAC) As the annual re-enrollment peri-od rolls around again, it’s a good time to reflect on what a blessing the school is to our families. A big part of the strength of our school comes from the dedica-tion of the parents. Our support is crucial in the areas of volun-teerism, fundraising, and involve-ment in the parish.

Volunteer your time. The fact that we have so many parents willing to volunteer their time is the “secret sauce” of our school. Our parents work together to build a community that enriches the experiences of our children. Please try to donate at least 1 hour of your time outside the classroom this year, so that we

can include everyone in building our community. Many hands make light work!

Support the Knight Fund. Did you know that the cost of edu-cating each child is over $6,000? Tuition for a single child is around $4,500, so the Knight Fund gives us a chance to make up that difference in a way that is tax deductible and eligible for corpo-rate matching. This year we asked each family to contribute $375 to the Knight Fund. It really is a great opportunity to provide resources to keep our school on the cutting edge.

Support the Parish. Our parish subsidizes our tuition by over $900 per child. We are blessed to

have a strong parish that is will-ing to support the formation of our children to such a degree. Not every school has it this good. We can show our grati-tude to the parish by giving a bit of our time, talents, and treas-ure. This makes our relationship with the parish a “two way street” and sustainable for the long term.

Thank you for giving your time and hard earned money to SJCS. You are helping to make this a special place for all of us.

Jon Monroe

SAC President

SJS Athletic Committee Basketball season is in full swing. Our student-athletes continue to work hard on their skills with a primary focus on good sports-manship and team work. The teams have represented St. Jo-seph admirably at both home and away tournaments. The fol-lowing are some of the high-lights:

8th grade boys won our St. Joseph tournament in No-vember

8th grade girls won the con-solation championship in our St. Joseph tournament in January

5th grade boys placed 2nd in the CLCC tournament

6th grade boys placed 3rd in the CLCC tournament

5th grade boys won the SSPP tournament

Thank you for your steady sup-port of their participation. They are building life skills that will serve them well beyond the court.

Intramural basketball begins on March 2nd. Sign-up forms have been distributed via ‘backpack’ mail. It’s a great program to help your students learn the game in a low-pressure, posi-tive environment. Please check the website for additional infor-mation.

Boys volleyball, girls soccer, and boys and girls track & field will be starting in March.

Thank you for your continued support of the St. Joe’s Athletic Committee.

Robb Kristopher

5th grade boys Gold Team won the Sts. Peter & Paul Tournament on December 20th.

The 7th grade girls and the 8th grade girls black basketball

teams both won 1st place at the Sts. Peter & Paul Tourna-

ment on January 24th.

The Counselor’s Corner

For the last couple of months, I have written about some Ms. Han-isms the students learn and use when discussing mental health issues and concepts that typically arise in school, including “bumpshrinker” and “play-doh brain.” We’ll expand our Ms. Han vocabulary this month with the addition of “friendship pyramid.” What in the world. . .?!

The “friendship pyramid” is an ancient, battered, bead-filled paperweight I use as a teaching tool with the fourth graders. One day while struggling to figure out a way to talk with the students about levels of friendship and how they shift and change, I happened to see the pyramid on my bookshelf. Eureka! The perfect metaphor! The beads in

the pyramid beautifully illustrate friendship levels, from the acquaintance level at the bottom where all the beads have room to co-exist with one another, to the narrower middle where fewer beads can fit – symbolizing our social friends, to the very top where there is room for only a few beads – our best friends. We discuss the expectations and behaviors we have for those at each level, understand the differences, and how friendships grow from acquaintance level on up. We also discuss how the beads move around the pyramid, just like friendships do, and sometimes they float downward. Someone who was once your best friend may now have social friend status and so on. The students pretty easily grasp the fluid nature of friendships, especially in childhood.

The friendship pyramid extends to problem-solving sessions as well. Sometimes, we’ll use the pyramid to explain and understand what might be happening in a friendship that has changed and left hurt feelings. The simple phrase “maybe your beads are moving around” can often be enough for a student to depersonalize a friendship issue and realize it has little to do with anything either party has done. This can go a long way toward helping students keep their minds on school instead of the social whirl. After all, that is our primary purpose here!

So, if you hear your student mention the friendship pyramid or that his/her beads are moving around, don’t be alarmed – it’s just a child-friendly way of understanding the dynamic nature of friendship.

Random Acts of Knightness Each of these students is honored for doing something kind and generous for someone else here at school, including

giving up a chocolate milk so another student could have it, cleaning up after centers, loving others, helping others

with work, checking up on a hurt friend, being nice to others, playing with others at recess, spreading joy in the class-

room, volunteering to substitute as a server for a sick classmate, including everyone, and helping a fellow student with

a Chromebook. The students were rewarded for their kindness with a Culver’s gift card.

DECEMBER WINNERS

Kindergarten: Grace H., Joe M.,

William S., Jack F.

1st grade: Natalie G., Chevy G.,

Anna H., Brayden W.

2nd grade: Jeanette P., Cole L.,

Maddie B., Andrew L.

3rd grade: Sean K., Brianna V.,

Ryan B., Rachel J.

4th grade: James S., Keira K.,

Drew C., Ruby F.

5th grade: Alexandra M., Nathan

H., Andrew S., Joe R.

6th grade: Tyler B., Lily C.,

Patricia N., Reed C.

7th grade: Caroline C., Aidan B.,

Will N., Tyler F.

8th grade: Brendon H., Laurel R.,

Joe S., Kyle J.

Congratulations!

Notes from the Nurse strengthening and protecting tooth enamel from acid.

See your dentist regularly. A professional checkup allows your dentist to examine your teeth, gums, and mouth to make sure there are no problems or potential problems.

Wear a mouth guard when participating in sports to protect your teeth particularly when playing contact sports.

Limit the amount of simple sugars you eat. When you eat sugary foods or drink sodas frequently throughout the day, the enamel that protects your teeth is constantly exposed to acids. Hard candies, cough drops, and breath mints are especially harmful because they dissolve slowly in your mouth.

Please visit the following sites for more detailed information about dental

February is dental health month!

Our teeth are important for many reasons, smiling, talking, eating, and overall health and well-being. Dentists say that the most important part of tooth care happens at home. Brushing and flossing properly, along with regular dental checkups, can help prevent tooth decay and gum disease. So, here are the basic things you and your children need to do each day to keep your teeth and gums healthy:

Brush your teeth twice a day to remove plaque and keep your breath fresh.

Floss your teeth daily to remove food particles that are trapped between your teeth and keep your gums healthy.

Use fluoridated toothpaste and drink water that is fluoridated. Fluoride prevents cavities by

Ministry Messages eye open for a Lenten calendar you will receive through backpack mail. It shows daily readings and ideas you can do as a family. In addition, with cooperation with the Religious Education Program, we hope that you encourage your children to do Almsgiving through, “Change for Change.” This project helps children living in poverty in Peru.

The second graders will be receiving their First Reconciliation on Saturday, February 28th. This is a very exciting time for these students so please keep them in your prayers as well.

Finally, the students of St. Joseph Catholic School will attend Stations of the Cross and third grade-eighth graders will receive the sacrament of Reconciliation.

We encourage families to become engaged this Lenten season, and to

There is Grace to move us forward to where we need to be….. Pope Francis

Ah, the Christmas Season is over and Lent is right around the corner!

Blessings to All!

As you read this month’s Knight News, our eighth grade students are in their final preparations to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. Some of this preparation included attending a Confirmation retreat, receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation, completing service to others, and writing a letter to Bishop Manz requesting the sacrament. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue their sacramental journey.

With Lent approaching, please keep an

participate in the rich and transforming Lenten traditions offered by our Church and Parish.

May God Bless you and your family with peace, hope and love this Lenten season.

God Bless You,

Theresa Unterfenger School Ministry Coordinator

health: http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/teeth/healthy.html and http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/babies-and-kids/ Get your kids involved with dental health at the fun and interactive website: http://www.mouthhealthykids.org/en/

In honor of dental health month Mateo Rivera’s grandfather has generously donated toothbrushes and tooth paste for all of the St. Joseph School children. These tooth brushes have misprinted names and phone numbers of dental groups on them but the tooth brushes themselves are good. We will be sending them home with your child in February with the hope that they remind you that dental health is important!

Happy Brushing!

http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/teeth/healthy.htmlhttp://kidshealth.org/parent/general/teeth/healthy.htmlhttp://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/babies-and-kids/http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/babies-and-kids/http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/babies-and-kids/http://www.mouthhealthykids.org/en/http://www.mouthhealthykids.org/en/

Each of these students is hon-

ored for doing something kind

and generous for someone else

here at school, including being

kind and considerate, helping

the teacher, helping another

student with work, offering to be

a partner for someone who did

not have one, sharing supplies,

assisting a student who needs

help carrying things, and shar-

ing interesting science facts.

They have been awarded a

Knight News, Volume 5, Issue

5

For submission requests,

please contact the editor at

tlombardo@sjslibertyville.org

Contact SJS

St. Joseph Catholic School

221 Park Place

Libertyville, IL 60048

847.362.0730

https://www.facebook.com/

SJSlibertyville

Student Council

Happy New Year! We have been back in school for a month now. The student coun-cil has had two meetings this month. We have been planning many fun activities for our stu-dents. There was a pep rally on Friday the 30th. We also had a student appreciation day on the 30th. On this day, we treated our

students with hot chocolate and doughnuts. The student council also had their first school store in the month of January. At the school store, diverse items are sold to kids including pens, pencils, rulers, calcu-lators, and more. Over all, the month of January was full of productivity from the student council and all of the representatives. Owen K. Student Council President

A Special “Thank You” from Mrs. Strutzel for gifts given

to her by all the parents of St. Joseph Catholic School

Dear SJSPA and Parents of St. Joseph Catholic School,

I write to you humbled by the generosity of your gifts and the kindness of your words. You touched my heart.

In my time at St. Joe’s, I had the privilege of working with your children and getting to know so many of you. The gifts you share have a tremendous impact on the school and model for the children what it means to give yourself for others.

I promise to follow the retirement advice woven throughout your gift: relax, entertain, travel, indulge, read and enjoy! Know that the memory of my time at St. Joseph will be carried with me.

Gratefully, Lynne Strutzel

mailto:tlombardo@sjslibertyville.orghttps://www.facebook.com/SJSlibertyvillehttps://www.facebook.com/SJSlibertyville