February 22, 2015
Dear St. Raphael School Families and Parishioners,
Many thanks to Mrs. Peggy Martin and all of the students who participated in last week’s Jump Rope for Heart. Students had a great time jumping and jumping in their PE classes, and they raised over $1600 for the American Heart Foundation to help kids with heart issues – way to go St. Raphael!
This week was our Mission Carnival, organized by STUCO, and great fun was had by all! We raised funds for Habitat for Humanity and had a wonderful time doing it. My personal favorite game was the JAIL game in 2 ^nd Grade, where students voted whom to put in jail. While the prisoners were in the crepe paper jail, they were required to make license plates…J
Our real world experiences with the internet continue at St. Raphael; so many good things have come from our use of technology, but as you know, the electronic world can also be pretty scary. Thanks to one of our 6 ^th Grade parents who shared the following sites used to lock down electronics: For iPods – http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201304 ; For Instagram – https://fbcdn-dragon-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t39.2365-6/10734306_318559128351623_672093189_n.pdf ; For Various Android/Chrome sites – https://www.google.com/safetycenter/families/start/basics/#home ; As this parent reminded me, “Nothing is as good as looking over their shoulder!”
When you think of parent involvement, you probably think of moms and dads volunteering in classrooms, and that’s important. But research shows that supporting your child’s education from home is even more important. When you ask your kids what they did at school today, and they say “Nothing,” it’s time to take more assertive action! Try some of these questions or conversation starters, and then really listen to what your kids have to say – you may be surprised at how much they are learning at school, and how much you will learn from them!

• Let’s see what you brought home.
• Show me what you have for homework.
• Describe a book you enjoyed today.
• Tell me what you learned that you’d like to know more about.
• What’s the coolest thing that happened at school today? What wasn’t so cool?
• Pretend you’re the teacher – how would you describe the day?
• What made you laugh today?
• What was the most creative thing you did?
• What new word did you hear today?
• How were you kind or helpful today? Was anyone kind or helpful to you?

Being in touch with your child’s day at school is one of the greatest gifts you can give. (taken from Home & School Connection, February 2015)
Looking Ahead…

• Friday Feb 20 – Stations of the Cross at 2pm
• Sunday Feb 22 – Family Mass at 10am
• Monday Feb 23 – Six Flags Reading To Succeed Due

Canned Food Drive this week

• Tuesday Feb 24 – 8^th Grade Holocaust Field Trip all day
• Wednesday Feb 25 – Gus’ Pretzel Orders Due
• Thursday Feb 26 – Mad Science 3:15-4:15pm

Please keep our students and teachers in your prayers as we enter the Lenten season, and ask God to help us change our hearts to follow Him more closely.

Peace & Blessings,
Kim Vangel
Principal