December Newsletter
"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" at SJF...Although we are trying to live in the beautiful season of anticipation during Advent, it is hard (and rather futile) not to catch the contagious excitement of our youngest scholars. I dare anyone to be Scrooge-like when the countdown to Christmas is so real!
The month ahead is a short one....a late Thanksgiving and the timing of our Christmas break makes December a short but busy month at SJF. Please check the calendar that went home today and the website for up to date information about the many events that fill this busy time of the year.
We begin with an invitation to all to attend the FSA Christmas Craft Night on Thursday. The very memorable custom designed gifts the students create are worthy of Nordstrom's or Tiffany's! The admission ticket allows each crafter to make six different projects. Information went home today, but if you have a question, please call school.
The Faculty will have their annual retreat day on Friday. Students have no classes on December 4. If part of your Christmas tradition is to go downtown to see the lights and windows, this is a great opportunity to do so since there will be fewer crowds.
Our band will perform its annual Christmas Concert on Tuesday, Dec. 8. We will have a student performance at 1:30 and an evening performance for parents at 7:00. All are welcome.
The four year old pre-schoolers and the kindergarten classes are busy in rehearsals for their Christmas pageants, scheduled for December 16 and 17th. If ever you needed a bit of pre-Christmas cheer, these are performances you do not want to miss.
Your generosity with so many projects is always remarkable. With that in mind, I would like to invite you to consider two Christmas events that the school will be having as a means of sharing our hearts in this beautiful time of gift giving. As mentioned in an earlier bulletin, friends from St. Christina pack supplies for men and women serving in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. We were recently notified that their shelves are quite empty. Since you have been so generous in the past, the organizers of this very worthy cause have asked us to help again. A list of needed supplies by grade level was sent last week. We are grateful for anything you might be able to do to help. The team from St. Christina will be here early next week to pack up anything we can provide. Thank you in advance for thinking of others.
Another annual project that we have is "Sacks for Santa," a toy collection for families who are serviced by Catholic Charities. As you know from reading the papers, this tough economy has been particularly hard on organizations who work with the poor. We know it has also been difficult for many of you. Perhaps a good advent project would be to sacrifice a trip to McDonald's or dessert one night and use the money saved to buy a toy or gift certificate for the Sacks for Santa. Asking your children to accompany you to purchase the gift might be a great lesson in sharing. Please know we are grateful for anything you might be able to do to fill the sacks this Christmas. We have just ten days for the collection since representatives from Catholic Charities will be here on Monday, December 14, to gather the toys so that they can be distributed by Christmas.
On Sunday, December 6, all are welcome for the Family Mass at 10:00 a.m. At this Mass we will "introduce" our Confirmation Class to the parish community and ask that they adopt one of the Confirmation Candidates as a prayer partner for the time between now and Confirmation Day at the end of February. Sunday is also St. Nicholas Day, a good time to bring the family to church as a reminder of beautiful Christmas customs from around the world. We hope you will be able to come.
I conclude this month's newsletter with an invitation for each of you to work with our faculty on an Advent kindness campaign. Over the last several weeks, we have learned about some painful bullying that is occurring among our students at just about every grade level. Bullying is of its very nature often very subtle. Although we would like to think that teachers do indeed have "eyes in the back of their heads" and ears equipped with sonar, much of the behavior that can be so painful to students goes unnoticed until it is brought to our attention. Once we do become aware, our faculty is very firm about our lack of tolerance for any situation where a student is belittled, mocked, or made to feel unappreciated. Too often the child who initiates inappropriate behavior or speaks an unkind word has been the victim himself. He of she thinks that survival and acceptance are achieved only if they put down another child. As a result disrespect becomes a vicious cycle.
Please know that our faculty is addressing every issue that comes to our attention, but we need your help. Please take the time to talk with your students about how painful hurtful words can be. Please help them understand that although we hope every child has good friends, to purposefully exclude others by treating them disrespectfully, creates an environment that does not help any of our students learn to be open and accepting of individual differences.
Our handbook policy is very clear:
Aggressive, deceitful, or destructive conduct shown toward peers or adults is unacceptable. Fighting or any form of physical violence will result in an immediate detention. Harassment, slander, bullying, including cyber-bullying, are never tolerated. Direct bullying/harassment includes teasing, taunting, hurtful words, threats (subtle or implied), misusing email, inappropriate instant messaging or on-line blogging, or writing cruel or threatening notes.
During the next few months, our faculty will be renewing our efforts to help each of our students strengthen the values of respect, kindness, compassion and care that we want each of them to experience both in and outside of school. Our pro-active approach will include a variety of opportunities for our students to learn more about what constitutes bullying and the long-term damage that can be done to others. We have had and will continue to have professional presenters in to speak with our students, and will once again have the services of Mrs. Eileen MacKenzie, a licensed counselor from Catholic Charities to work with our classes and small groups when she is here once each week. Our teachers will continue to incorporate anti-bullying and conflict resolution into the curriculum. Our goal remains to provide each child with the tools and strategies he or she needs to be a confident and caring individual and class member.
In general, we have wonderful kids from terrific families who share our common goal that this next generation of leaders in our high schools, our community, and our world will have big hearts and broad shoulders. Your generosity of time and treasure continues to model a wonderful example for your kids to emulate. Let us continue to encourage each and every one of our Fisher Kids to become his or her BEST SELF as we work on our kindness campaign.
There is so much that we celebrate this Christmas. Yes, the bills are piling up and many jobs seem less stable than ever. Yes, the coldest days of winter are ahead. Yes, those we love have worries and/or medical issues that can cause sleepless nights. Yes, we worry about the world we are creating for our kids...Yet, in the midst of all of these concerns, God's promise of Light and Unselfish Love continues to be at the heart of this wondrous time of the year. Take time to think of the gifts that are ours every day, not so much the Black Friday specials from Macy's or Target, but those that we too often take for granted, toothless smiles, baskets at the buzzer, healthy new babies, and future actors from the kindergarten play who would rather be sheep than angels. The list is endless. Have a wonderful Christmas!