February 8, 2015

Dear St. Raphael School Families and Parishioners,

We have settled down into a regular school week of classes and activities, following all the excitement of Catholic Schools Week. I think this stretch of 3 ^rd Quarter seems the longest for students and teachers, and we all have to work to keep our focus on learning. Please keep this conversation present at home by encouraging your students to keep trying their hardest on schoolwork; there is so much left to learn this school year!

Thanks so much to the PTA and all the parent helpers for their hard work on the Marcia Matreci Trivia Night. It was a great success, and raised a significant amount of money for our school. This fundraiser allows us to continue to offer a top notch Catholic education for the St. Raphael community and beyond.

Please keep our 8 ^th Grade students in your prayers as they receive their high school letters this weekend. We are proud to say that nearly all of our 8 ^th Graders are typically accepted into their 1 ^st choice high schools. No matter where our St. Raphael students attend high school, we are told that they are faith-filled, well-mannered, and academically strong. We pray for the continued success of our 8 ^th Grade students.

We have a number of fun and enriching activities coming up at school, including the start of our Mad Science workshop. This is a weekly after school science program for kids in Kindergarten through 5 ^th Grade; every week kids explore different areas of science with tons of hands-on activities. They’ll cover fun topics that include Bugs!, Detective Science, Walloping Weather, Mad Machines, Movie Effects, and Science of Toys. We are so happy to welcome the Mad Science group to St. Raphael!

After Spring Break, we will be starting an after school Chess Team for students K-8. The program will be instructional, and will accommodate learners of all abilities. We have a Russian Chess Master who will lead the Chess Team program, and he hopes to continue working with SRA Chess players next school year. Look for more detailed information to come home about the Chess Team later this month.

We are also in the process of setting up a wonderful week of Science instruction for all of our students K-8 later this spring. This science instruction will not take place in our school classrooms, but get this…our students will be learning science concepts from the tallest branches of some of our TREES! We are working with an educational group called Science In a Tree; they combine expert tree climbing with science labs and learning projects. Don’t worry – there will be extensive information coming about this program, and it will all take place during the school day. We can’t wait for our SRA students to have the experience of being up in our beautiful trees (all safely helmeted and harnessed of course!), and learning about scientific laws of our beautiful earth!

Looking Ahead

5. Tuesday, Feb. 10^th & Thursday, Feb. 12^th…….Jump Rope for Heart in PE Classes

5. Wednesday, Feb. 11th........Special School Mass, Our Lady of Lourdes, planned by 4^th Grade
5. Wednesday, Feb. 11^th……….6^th Grade Parent Camp Meeting, 6:30pm at St. Stephen Protomartyr
5. Friday, Feb. 13^th…………………..2^nd Grade Field Trip to Monastery of St. Clare
5. Friday, Feb. 13^th……….….……...Valentine’s Day Parties, 2pm
6. Friday, Feb. 13^th…………………St. Louis Lifeteen Luke 18 Retreat for 8^th Graders

Thanks as always for your support and prayers!
Peace & Blessings,
Kim Vangel
Principal