May 4, 2014
Dear St. Raphael School Families and Parishioners,
It has been a very big week at St. Raphael!  Our 2 ^nd Graders received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion; Rising Stars in Grades 5-8 worked with Mrs. Braun to put on a Talent Show for their friends and families; our 7 ^th and 8 ^th Graders received the Sacrament of Confirmation; our Bellarmine Speech Team received perfect score honors at the final Speech Meet of the school year; and our History Day students represented St. Raphael well at the State-level competition, with three of our students being chosen to move on to the National History Day Competition in Washington, D.C.!  Congratulations to all on these noteworthy accomplishments ? we are very proud of all of you!
We are wrapping up our Math Improvement Project for this school year, and have had our final classwork and meetings with our math consultant, Dr. Richard Lodholz.  His final project with us was to articulate a framework for teaching mathematics at St. Raphael in addition to our curriculum.  In other words, Dr. Lodholz has helped us to define a philosophy about teaching math that will help us to implement our revised math curriculum with success.  We will spend the summer putting this work, as well as the rest of our completed curriculum, into a publishable form, and it will eventually be on our school website.
The focus of our math teaching philosophy is that students need time in their math lessons to relate, reflect, and share connections.  It?s not enough to have students memorize math facts, although that is an important skill.  For students to move into advanced mathematics successfully, we must make mathematical understanding just as important as procedural math skills.  So you will be seeing an increasing emphasis on math lessons and activities that ask students to reflect, explain, and compare their math answers; this will be in addition to getting the math problem answered correctly.  This critical thinking should be showing up in all areas of study, but it is perhaps most new to math.  We are excited about the prospects of continuing improvement to the way we teach math, and most importantly, to the way our students understand and excel in math.  Many thanks are due to the PTA for generously funding this Math Improvement Project!
We are nearing the end of another successful school year, and I ask you to please help us to keep students focused on school work.  The warmer temperatures and sunny skies are tempting for certain, but we still have about a month left of structured learning.  It is so important that students know we expect everyone to finish strong.
If you have considered summer tutoring, enrichment, or special help for your students, now is the time to get those activities organized.  Summer programs fill up quickly, so please don?t delay.  Our Learning Consultant, Mrs. Diane Gewinner, can offer suggestions if you need help finding appropriate tutors, enrichment activities, or learning opportunities.
And finally, please help us keep our students safe by following our parking lot procedures.  These are outlined in the Parent Student Handbook, which is easily accessible on our school website.  Remember that there is no parking on Bishops Place for afternoon dismissal, and that the safest way to pick up your children in the afternoon is to park on the school lot.  Please also remember that the parking lot is blocked off during the day to prevent cars from pulling up to the main school steps.  Even when it is inconvenient, I ask you to please park on the lot and walk to the main school doors.  Our students and teachers use the parking lot area not only for recess, but for man y learning opportunities.  It is very important that we keep that area safe for our children.
Please keep all of our students in your prayers, most especially our 8 ^th Graders, as they prepare to leave St. Raphael the Archangel School.
Peace and Blessings,
Kim Vangel
Principal