Dear Families,
Walk-A-Thon is Coming!
Your kids are going to be so excited in two weeks, as we begin "Spirit Week" that leads up to the Friday, May 13th Walk-a-Thon event!
Spirit Week begins a week from this Tuesday - on May 10th, when we hold a fun-dress day of allowing students to be out of uniform as long as they are dressed in the fun-dress theme of "Superhero/Athlete." Perhaps your child will arrive in a Spiderman t-shirt or wear a soccer jersey, as two examples.
The second day of Spirit Week is "Sports Day." Wednesday the 11th is another fun-dress day of allowing students to be out of uniform as long as they come to school with a sports day theme which includes their favorite professional, college, high school, and local teams.
(Regular "Free Dress Rules" apply when students are out-of-uniform, which means students are not to dye their hair, can't wear flip-flops, etc. More information may be found here on pages 60-62.)
Thursday of Spirit Week is “Cheer Day”. Each grade gets to create their very own Walk-A-Thon cheer. Students debut their custom cheer and spirit poster to the school on Friday, May 13th the day of the Walk-A-Thon. “Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate! St Louise!!”
We then end Spirit Week with the big event! The Walk-a-Thon takes place on Friday, May 13, with the school divided into 3 groups who will walk or jog the course at designated times: PK-thru-2nd; 3rd-thru-5th; 6th-thru-8th. Again, it's a fun-dress day, with all students wearing the Walk-a-Thon t-shirt they were earlier given as well as their grade-level colors. Your kids need to wear athletic shoes, good socks, and be dressed as appropriate for the weather, as they'll be outside for 45 minutes to an hour whether it's raining out or scorching hot.
The Walk-a-Thon has a goal of raising $38,000, which the Parents' Club uses to pay for student enrichment assemblies and curriculum additions, to provide Christmas gifts to the teachers, as well as to sponsor parent education classes and family social events (that will be resurrected next school year!). We can only make this goal if every school family takes time to contact friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers and ask if they will donate in the student's name. Thanks for helping your child do the asking, as it creates more of a buy-in with the child and is more impressive to the donor. The "Parent Information Packet" you're receiving in today's red envelope has a sample script your child can use when emailing, texting, or calling friends and family.
Please read through the Parent Information Packet so you understand the how's & when's to go about collecting donations. You'll see that there are some fun prizes set up for those kids and classrooms which do the best job in raising funds and/or in running loops around the playground.
The Walk-a-Thon is a fantastic event that raises funds, raises spirits, and raises heart rates! Thanks in advance for your support and your children's participation!
All parents are welcome and invited to the fun event to root students on as they circle the track!!
Updates on Personnel Changes
We are in the process of interviewing and hiring a new kindergarten teacher as Joni Hoffman will be moving down to Pre-K, but we will soon be hiring a second Kindergarten teacher as Mrs. Curry will be leaving at the end of the school year. Here is a message from Mrs. Curry:
"I would like to let everyone know that this year will be my last year here. My husband's job was moved to a permanently remote position which has given us the flexibility of being able to move. We moved to Seattle over 4 years ago for his job and have no family in the area. While we have been blessed with fantastic friends and a supportive community here, we miss our families and have decided to take this opportunity to move back to the East Coast-the specific location is still undecided! We are excited to again be near family and hope to soon begin a family of our own with some littles. 🙂
The past three years here at St. Louise have been wonderful. I have so many fantastic memories of my time spent with my sweet Kindergarteners, and I am so grateful for the fantastic families and co-workers I have met here along the way. Kindergarten will always have my heart and I do hope to return to teaching sometime soon once we are settled in our new home. In the meantime, you will still see me on campus for Booster Bunch and the occasional sub job next year till we move.
Thanks to all who welcomed me to this school three years ago with open arms and hearts. You have truly made this a hard place to say goodbye to!
Many Blessings,
Mrs. Curry"
Ms. Franco will also be moving, but she will be moving down one floor and take over Mrs. Cervantes position and help Dr. Cruickshank as a fifth-grade teacher. We will be looking for a sixth-grade teacher to replace her for next year.
I am in the final stages of interviewing a new Vice Principal to replace our interim Vice Principals, Mrs. Mann and Mrs. Danforth. They both have been very supportive and instrumental during the past 6 months. They both have decided to enjoy their retirement, but we might see them occasionally substitute teach next year. I look forward to teaming up with the best candidate to be part of my administrative team. Stay tuned!
Nominations Needed
We have wonderful volunteers at St. Louise School, and each June we honor 3 of them with the Volunteer Extraordinaire Awards. I am asking both you and the faculty to nominate volunteers to be considered for this award. Nominees should have a history of dedicated, positive volunteering for the St. Louise School community. Past recipients of the award (who are still current school parents) include: Rebecca Nightingale, Joni Hoffman, and Ingrid Flaat. Do you have a fellow parent(s) to nominate? If so, please send your nomination to Mr. Fuerte, along with an explanation of why the person deserves to be considered. Thanks for your help!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mike Fuerte
