Grand Rapids Press Article

Mrs. Vezino and her students will be featured on the front page of the Grand Rapids Press. Students have been collecting yarn to supply warm clothing items to those in need.

The press has interviewed Mrs. Vezino and will be out in the afternoon today to take a picture to include in the article.

Great job students for participating in this charitable act!

Free Throw Championship

The Knights of Columbus are hosting their annual K of C Basketball  Free Throw Championship in St. Patrick's Gym in the Parish Center.

All boys and girls ages 9 to 14 are invited to participate on Sunday January 15th, at 1pm. Lunch will be served at noon with sign up at 12:30pm.

Come early and bring the family!

Contact person: Todd Gross 691-8163

Million Word Readers!

As a component of the Accelerated Reader Program at St. Patrick School in Parnell, the number of words read is monitored, and students who have read 1 million words are placed on the ‘Hall of Fame’.  Last year it was 4^th quarter before we had qualifying students, but already this year we have three Super-readers!  Elizabeth Pniewski, Michael Trupke, and Bridget Lally all qualified within the first quarter!  We’re looking forward to, what will prove to be, record breaking totals for the year.

Deb Russo

Saint Patrick School’s Media Specialist

November Update

Dear Parents,

            Saint Patrick School is already a few months into the school year and we have parent-teacher conferences fast approaching next week. Conferences provide a formal opportunity for dialogue between parents and teachers on the progress of each child. This is an excellent opportunity for all parents to ask questions and address any concerns they may have. Feedback helps our school improve and we encourage all parents to voice any suggestions on how we can better serve the needs of our students and their families.  If you are unable to make the available conference dates/times, please schedule another meeting time with the homeroom teacher(s).

All School Mass

With Father Mark away on his trip to the Holy Land, Monsignor Ed from St. Mary’s Parish in Lowell will lead us in worship this Thursday at 9a.m. Monsignor Ed is a strong supporter of Catholic Education and we feel blessed that he is so willing to serve our children when called upon.

NWEA Testing

The first round of our new NWEA testing is complete for our test takers in grades second through eighth. Members from our school staff, as well as partner schools throughout the Grand Rapids Diocese, are confident that this new form of testing will enable us to better meet the educational needs of each individual student. Saint Patrick’s school improvement team continues to meet regularly to analyze the testing results so that we can use the data to drive individual instruction in the classroom. Parent-teacher conferences will provide the opportunity for our teachers to review your child’s scores with you. This is a learning process for students, parents and teachers. We are committed to learning and implementing new instructional strategies that will enable all of our students to maximize their learning potential.

Saint Patrick School Board of Directors

The School Board of Directors, previously known as the Education Commission, continue to take on additional responsibilities as the Grand Rapids Diocese implements new governance models for our schools and parishes. We have added two new members, Terry Cliff and Linne Bunn, and hope to add more as we work together to improve all aspects of our school. If you are interested in getting involved with any of our boards ongoing projects, or have any questions or concerns, please contact the group at st-patrick-school-board@googlegroups.com or simply approach me at any time.

In Christ,

Scott Czarnopys

Principal

Football team tackles cancer by going pink

For one night, a Michigan high school football team becomes decked out in pink uniforms that feature cancer victims names on them to raise money for the disease.

NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/45133132#45133132