The count down to graduation 2020 is on! Sending out a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Saint James School’s thirty-eight 8th graders who will be graduating and receiving their diplomas this Friday, June 5th! To kick of their final week as SJS students, we wanted to share a short video that was put together a few weeks back by two of our 8th grade parents Mrs. Italia and Ms. Fusco: Watch Video
Here is the link to the Saint James Parish Mass for this weekend. It may be viewed at your convenience. https://youtu.be/qIYsDZWCKGk
If you didn’t get a chance to sign up for a time to drop-off and pick-up items at the school, please do so by end of day Sunday: https://saintjamesschool.net/end-of-year-update/.
If there is an issue with getting to the school on these two dates, please contact us.
Please also note, there will be no academic lessons on June 9th, 10th, or 11th as teachers will be at school attending to the pick-up/drop-off of materials on the 9th and 10th, and the 11th is our “Good-bye to School, Hello to Summer Parade” from 10:00am -11:00am. Final report cards will be available in the classrooms for you to take home when you come on the 9th and 10th.
As mentioned in Friday’s email, over the final few weeks of school we will be sharing information on different Social Emotional Skills. Developing and nurturing these skills in our children can help them become happy, productive, and successful adults as they appreciate how to think and act in stressful or challenging situations.
Today we wanted to share information on Self-Awareness, another one of 8 critical areas of importance for well-being. Here is some information about this topic and how to use the “Successes and Strengths” strategy to keep things positive at home: Self-Awareness
Keep In Mind: It can be very natural for parents and caregivers to pay more attention to feelings that concern us. If we can practice paying attention to how we react to whatever children share with us, we may find ourselves able to relish the enjoyable feelings as thoroughly as we attend to challenging emotions.
Here are some creative ways to promote and encourage Self-Awareness in your home:
* Have everyone in the family make a poster with their own version of Emoticon faces to show a variety of feelings they have had. Label each Emoticon and then each discuss a time when you encountered that feeling.
* Have your child keep a journal.
* Have your child complete an About Me worksheet. Discuss their answers.
Here is a cute video showing some of Ms. Begey’s students sharing why they are grateful: Click to Play Video
If you didn’t get a chance to sign up for a time to drop-off and pick-up items at the school, please use this link to access Tuesday’s informational post: https://saintjamesschool.net/end-of-year-update/.
Also, the end of year parade on Thursday, June 11th will be from 10:00am – 11:00am. Details on this can also be found by accessing the above link.
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Connecticut Children’s pediatric psychologists share coping tips for these uncertain times. You can read their informational post HERE.
The SpaceX Shuttle is expected to launch from Kennedy Space Station in Florida today at 4:33pm today. It will likely be broadcast on many TV news channels, but you can also watch pre-launch coverage (as well as the actual launch) on the NASA Live website: NASA Website.
With Memorial Day now behind us, we wanted to share some of the plans that we have in place to wrap up this very unique school year.
First and foremost, we are looking forward to graduating our school’s 94th class of Grade 8 students on Friday, June 5th. We are proud to be able to honor these students after their years of effort and commitment to learning and growing to reach their personal best!
On Monday, June 8th, our Kindergarten students will finish out their year with a special Kindergarten graduation video from their teachers. We are happy to celebrate our young learners and recognize the conclusion of this important milestone.
All the teachers will be putting together special “Stepping-Up” videos to introduce themselves to next year’s students. We will send these out on Monday, June 8th.
On Tuesday, June 9th and Wednesday, June 10th, families will be able to drop-off school items and pick-up personal belongings for all grades. To help minimize the number of people at the school at one time, we have created a sign-up form and ask all families to sign up for one time slot using the link below (one slot per family, not per child please). Please note there is a SEPARATE sign up for Pre-K, which Mrs. St. Jean is sending directly to our Pre-K families.
RETURN/RETRIEVAL SIGN-UP FORM FOR ALL K-8 FAMILIES
When you arrive at your designated date/time, please note the following:
* All persons in the building must wear a mask. Please enter through the main entrance and sanitize your hands before proceeding to classrooms.
* There will be labeled boxes inside the main hallway after you enter the front door for you to drop off:
* Please do NOT stop in the main office to check in – instead go right to your child’s classroom.
* There will be signs located at the stairwell entrances to guide you where to go.
* If a parent is already in the classroom when you arrive, please wait in the hallway until they are done.
* Please take all items left on your child’s desk and leave all items you are returning on your child’s desk. Students’ artwork and supplies will be included in the bags for you to take off your child’s desk.
* Teachers will be in their classrooms on both dates, but please take care to maintain proper social distancing and limit time to the three minute window.
* Please exit the building using the designated stairwells by the Pre-K parking lot. Signs will be posted in the hallways so people are not coming in and out the same doors.
* For students in the upper grades or families that borrowed Chromebooks for distance learning, please remember to bring the assigned charger back with the Chromebooks. There is a charge for missing or damaged items.
To officially close out the school year, on Thursday, June 11th, our faculty and staff will line up in front of the school on Park Street from 10:00am– 11:00am so that families can drive by to wave goodbye. While this is certainly not the way we wanted to end our school year, we hope it will give students some closure on the 2019-2020 school year as they kick start their summer vacation. Feel free to decorate cars and have fun with our “Good-bye to School, Hello to Summer Parade!”