Dear St. Alphonsus Families,

We hope you had a great long weekend last weekend and are staying dry in this rainy weather today! Here are some updates and reminders for this week:

Yesterday, we sent out our Rainy Day Dismissal Procedure. As a reminder, if we are going to use this procedure, we will send you an email & text message ahead of time to let you know. If you pick your student up at the main parking lot, everyone will be exiting from the gym doors. We will have staff members outside with umbrellas and walkie talkies. Please use the colored placard you received at the beginning of the school year with your last name on it and display it clearly on your dash. Staff will radio to the gym where students will be waiting to be dismissed as you pull up. If you pick your students up in the Mary courtyard at the “back” of school, students will be waiting in the vestibule and we will also use the walkie talkies there. It is best practice for all families to display the colored placard on your dash daily, especially in the main parking lot, and regardless of the weather.  Not all teachers know all cars and this is helpful in dismissing your students even when the sun is shining bright! If you need a new colored placard, please email Giovanna Rublis in our office at giovanna@st-alphonsus.org. 

Speaking of inclement weather, we also tested our text & voice messaging system this week. We understand that some of you did not receive the texts, and that for others, the emergency contacts for each family also received a text. If you did not receive the texts, please text YES to 87569 to opt in to receiving our alerts and notifications. If someone received the text that does NOT want to receive them, text STOP to 87569. You can also edit which numbers will receive notifications by logging into the Parent Portal for Bright Arrow. This is explained in the Bright Arrow Parent User Guide, sent earlier this week, and also attached here. If we have a school closing or emergency, we will always use email, voice, AND text to contact you.

If your students attend Cougar Club, this is your reminder that ALL Cougar Club calendars for the year are on our website here. You need to fill out and return a calendar at least monthly for your student to attend. In past years, you may have received an email reminder to fill out your calendars, but our staff capacity no longer allows for this. Please set a reminder and turn in your calendars on time, or better yet, bulk turn them in if you know your child will attend daily! Our Cougar Club program is also looking for donations of gently used toys. Items needed include: dolls, trucks, cards, games, art supplies, movies, etc. If you're cleaning & purging your house to get ready for Christmas, consider donating some of those items to Cougar Club!

Please also be sure to check out our procedure for Reporting Absences & Early Dismissals below. As we get into colder weather, please be sure to properly report your students' absences! In addition, please remember that our school day begins at 7:45am. This applies to ALL grades, including our early childhood classrooms of 3K, 4K, and 5K. We thank you for bringing your students to school on time!

This weekend is another Pack The Church! Come on out to the 11:00am Mass on Sunday and wear your St. Alphonsus Unity Shirts or spiritwear. Our students will be lectors and gift bearers as well. We hope to see you there!

Lastly, we have updated our Yearly Events calendar to Rev2, which now includes dates for the Poinsettia Sale (more details coming soon). You can see the updated calendar below or grab a copy from our website here.

Have a great weekend and stay dry!

The Faithful Bridge Leadership Team

Taimi Parey, Amy Schermetzler, and Robin Bruhn

Classroom Update from Mrs. Baur!

We have just finished up week 2 of our classroom lessons on the Zones of Regulation. All students have explored more in depth what each “zone” represents and how and why different feelings fit into each color zone. We practiced identifying zones in others by watching movie clips. All students viewed a clip from Finding Nemo and engaged in discussion as we talked about the zones each character was in based on energy levels and how Nemo and his dad moved through the zones throughout the scene.

In addition, students were introduced and practiced their first movemindfully movements which they can be used to help regulate their zone. Elementary and middle school students learned the chair lift or chair dip and their first movemindfully sequence. This sequence of movements focused on a combination of 4 movements to balance energy levels. These movements target regulating big emotions or energy levels which will allow for more thoughtful and focused engagement.

The preschool and kindergarten students learned fingertip breathing, crescent moon, waterfall, and “Hi, Sun”. All of these exercises pair deep breathing with a movement to help regulate emotions and prepare students for learning.