News from The Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori

January 17, 2012

In This Issue

Upcoming Dates

Early Dismissal

Registration Information

Mission Alive

Sacrament of Reconciliation

"There are many things a teacher cannot convey to a child of six, but a child of nine can do it with the utmost ease. There is between them a natural mental "osmosis." Again a child of six will take interest in what the nine year old is doing, since it is not far removed from his own powers. All the older ones become heroes and teachers, and the tinies are their admirers. These look to the former for inspiration, then go on with their work."

Maria Montessori The Absorbent Mind

Upcoming Dates

Tues., Jan 17 Middle School Information Night, 7:00 p.m.

Wed., Jan. 18 Lower Elementary Information Night, 7:00 p.m.

Thurs., Jan. 19 Upper Elementary Information Night, 7:00 p.m.

Sun., Jan. 22 GSCM Open House, 1:00-4:00 p.m.

Mon., Jan. 23 Cub Scout Parent Meeting, 6;30-7:30 p.m.

Tues., Jan. 24 Theology of the Body Parent Meeting, 7:00 p.m.

Fri., Jan. 27 12:00 noon Early Dismissal

Jan. 30-Feb. 3 Catholic Schools Week

Thurs., Feb 2 2nd Annual GSCM Talent Show 7:00 p.m.

Fri., Feb. 3 Skating Party, 12:15-2:15 p.m.

Mon., Feb 6 Pre-Primary Parent Ed. Evening 7:00 p.m.

Fri., Feb.10 12:00 noon Early Dismissal

Fri., Feb 24 12:00 noon Early Dismissal

Important Dates

Jan. 17-Feb.10 Priority Registration Period for 2012-13

March 5 PSAS Financial Aid Deadline

GSCM Open House: Sunday, Jan. 22, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Help spread the word about our Open House this Sunday! Please forward the email invitation sent last week to your contacts, your church, daycare or playgroups. Even if your friends are past the search stage, they may know someone who is looking. Just pass along FYI. This has been our most effective marketing tool.

Free GSCM long sleeve t-shirt to any parent that brings a new family to the Open House (if the new family registers and puts the GSCM family that referred them in the "how did you hear about us")

Please email Susan Fisher if you would like to help out this year, or if you have any ideas for how to better showcase GSCM. scfisher@mac.com

Information Nights for Parents

RSVP due TODAY to Nancy Toon (ntoon@gscmontessori.org) if you plan to attend one of these events. Events will be cancelled if there is not enough interest.

Middle School Information Night: Tonight, Jan. 17, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

Curriculum and Montessori Principles:
High School Preparation:

Religious Education in the Middle School
Questions and Answers

Lower Elementary Information Night: Wed., Jan. 18, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

Imagine a school: Montessori for elementary children
Moving from concrete to abstract: teachers present Montessori materials
Classroom work expectations and assessments
Structure and choice in the Montessori 6-9 classroom
Montessori elementary multi-age philosophy
The lower elementary atrium experience

Upper Elementary Information Session: Thurs., Jan. 19, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

Program philosophy and curriculum
Student work Expectations
Parent involvement
Homework
Assessment
Atrium for the upper elementary child

NEW: Theology of the Body Parent Information Meeting: Tues., Jan. 24, 7:00 p.m.

Recognizing parents as the primary educators of their children in matters of faith and morals, we invite all parents to a Parent Information Meeting about an excellent new program that we are presenting to our 8th grade students: Theology of the Body for Teens: Middle School Edition.

NEW: Pre-Primary Parent Education Evening

Language and Early Childhood: Walking with the Child the Montessori Way: Monday, February 6. 7:00-8:30

"It is the child who absorbs language...We must offer the child the help he needs and be at his service so that he does not have to walk alone" (Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind).

Please join our pre-primary Montessori teaching staff for an informative evening of how we "walk with the child" in the development of key language skills during early childhood. This event will not only give you insights into Montessori's brilliant approach to language development; it will also assist your conscious parenting skills to encourage your child's language development.

Specific areas of exploration will include:

pre-language skills required for reading and writing
phonics and the Montessori approach to language
writing with the movable alphabet
cursive versus manuscript handwriting
reading in the sequence of the language curriculum

Like so many areas of Montessori education, the language curriculum provides a true "aha!" moment as to how children develop and how to assist their growth. Come, enjoy, and learn with our excellent teachers!

Cub Scout Troop Forming

Parent Organizational Meeting:

Monday, Jan. 23, 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Interested in your son joining a GSCM Cub Scout Troop? Please join us on Monday, January 23 as we meet with a Scouting District Executive and organize our troop. This is open to boys grades 1-5.

Catholic Schools Week: January 30-February 3

Next week, we will publish our list of events for Catholic Schools Week.

Special note: Our annual CSW Skating Party at the Fun Factory in Norwood will be on Friday, Feb. 3, 12:15-2:15. Parents are welcome to attend. Permission slips will go home next week.

Early Dismissal Dates for OCSAA Staff Self-Study

Due to our OCSAA Self-Study, we will have 12:00 noon early dismissal on the following Fridays:

Friday, January 27

Friday, February 10

Friday, February 24

Forest Hills will provide afternoon bus service. Milford and Madeira will not provide afternoon bus service.

Please note:

On these dates, students will eat lunch at 11:30. Pizza will be served for those purchasing lunch tickets. Other students should bring their lunches as normal.
Full-day preschool and after-school care will be available for full-day preschool students.
After-school care is available for students normally signed up for this service. These students will also have care at school from noon-3:00 on these dates.
If you have a preschooler to pick up at 11:30 and a grade-school student to pick up at noon, your preschooler may stay for lunch in the classroom. Please let us know if this is the case.

Please see last week's newsletter for more information on the Self-Study Process and the reason for these early dismissal days. Thank you for your understanding - we know this poses an inconvenience for some families. We look forward to sharing the fruits of our self-study with you towards the end of the school year or in the beginning of the 2012-13 school year.

2012-13 Registration Information

Please note: Registration materials for 2012-13 are being mailed to all families today via U.S. Mail. This is a change from our previous practice of distributing this via backpack mail. You should receive your registration material by Thursday.

The priority registration period for the 2012-13 school year runs from January 17 through February 10. During this time, current GSCM students may re-register and their siblings may apply for acceptance for 2012-13. We reserve enrollment for all current students and give priority consideration for all sibling applications through February 10. After that date, openings are no longer reserved but are offered to new applicants.

Financial Aid Application Process for 2012-13 School Year

The Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori offers a financial aid program for current and incoming students. To apply for financial aid for the 2012-13 school year, parents must submit a financial aid application to Private School Aid Service by March 5. By mid-April, GSCM will notify parents of the amount of aid (if any) they will receive from the school. Financial aid applications are available from Lynette Rosati Shim in the school office and can be downloaded from our website, www.gscmontessori.org. Go to "Admissions/Financial Aid." If you have any questions, please contact Lynette Rosati Shim in the school office.

Mission Alive

School-Family Partnership and Children's Formation in Sexual Morality

By Dan Teller, Principal

The school-home partnership is a key component of our mission. Nowhere is this more important than in the moral formation of children. That is why the upcoming "Theology of the Body" parent meeting is such an important opportunity for all parents. Last year, the PTO sponsored guest speaker Courtney Brown (from Ruah Woods), who gave a very informative overview of "Theology of the Body." Over 40 parents attended this excellent presentation.

Theology of the Body Parent Meeting

Now, the logical next step is to explore with you how to bring this beautiful teaching to our children. That is the gist of our upcoming parent meeting about Theology of the Body for Teens: Middle School Edition on Tuesday Jan. 24 at 7:00 p.m.

The program is based on Blessed Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body, which offers a very positive message of the gift of sexuality as a good and essential part of love and life. The program includes a rich parental component. The meeting will not only present the beautiful message we will be sharing with the 8th grade class, but will also offer parents tools and encouragement to confidently discuss these critical issues with their adolescent children. We are only presenting this program to our 8th graders, but we believe it can also be a powerful aid to any parent preparing to educate their child in the truth of love and human sexuality.

Sexual Morality Guidelines

Theology of the Body for Teens is a specific expression of our approach to faith formation, moral formation, and specifically formation in sexual morality for our students. As our school originally developed into the older grades, we carefully considered this aspect of our mission, and created a set of "Sexual Morality Guidelines." We are currently linking these on our website under "Catholic Formation/Middle School Religion." If you wish to read these guidelines and the link is not active yet, please contact Dan Teller.

The introduction of these guidelines state, "In keeping with our mission, we look first to Church teachings for guidance in establishing guidelines for the conveyance of ideas and information regarding sexuality and sexual morality to our students and their families." The guidelines further state:

GSCM will support and encourage parents to fulfill their primary task as educators of children in the area of sexuality. In this regard, GSCM will:

a. Establish support mechanisms for parents of all aged children.

Sponsor parent nights, including speakers, parents addressing parents, parent forums, etc.
Suggest questions parents may encounter as children get older and provide assistance with possible responses.

b. Provide ongoing parent education, primarily through written material, regarding Church teaching on human sexuality and education for love.

c. Establish a resource center for parents. This center will include books for parental self-education, and also books and resources that parents can use with their children.

Publicize resource center through periodic reviews.

Next week ...

We will share a review from a current GSCM parent on a very relevant book that can assist parents as educators of their children in the area of sexuality.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

In order to make the Sacrament of Reconciliation more accessible to our Catholic students, our 3rd through 8th graders will have the opportunity to go to Confession immediately following Mass, starting next week and going through the beginning of Lent. The Confessions schedule will be as follows:

Jan. 17 - 8th grade

Jan. 24- 7th grade

Jan. 31- 6th grade

Feb. 7 - 5th grade

Feb. 14 - 4th grade

Feb. 28 - 3rd grade

Second Annual GSCM Talent Show
Sponsored by the GSCM PTO
Back by popular demand, it is time for the GSCM Talent Show. Start practicing those dance steps; get your voice in shape, and tune your guitar, the second annual GSCM Talent Show is Thursday, February 2, at 7:00 p.m. Look for the blue sign up forms in this week's backpack mail.

Office News

Jelly / Jam Collection Thursday, Jan. 19

Don't forget to bring in your jar of jelly/jam (any flavor) for Inter Parish Ministry this Thursday. Thank you.

The Catholic Beat

Have you seen The Catholic Beat yet? It's a new website for local Catholic news and features. You'll find it at www.thecatholicbeat.com or www.sacredheartradio.com -- just click on the big red box that says, "The Catholic Beat" for stories about area Catholic people, places, and events. It's updated daily, so there's always something new about area Catholic life.

GSCM 2011-2012 Yearbook

Mary Rieke, our yearbook coordinator, submitted the following:

Dear GSCM Community,

A team of people will be putting together the yearbook this year and since we got a late start, I need your help to catch up. WE NEED PICTURES!!

We can't make a yearbook without the pictures you have taken during this school year.

There are 2 1/2 ways to upload pictures:

1. For a few pictures (or up to 10 pictures at a time)

* Go to: https//images.schoolannualonline.com/login

* If it does not automatically log you into the site, enter username: 400135041 and password: gscmontessori

* Browse to select the photo(s) you wish to upload.

* Enter information about the photo and provide contact information in case I need additional information.

* Click "Save Details".

2. If you have a lot of pictures you can do the following:

Go to www.schoolannualonline.com
login into

user: staff
job number: 778627
password: zvc2nhd

Click on - Create in the upper left corner
Click (upper right side of the screen) on the small picture icon that has a + on it (if you let your cursor sit over the picture it will say - upload images).
Click - add files
If possible, I prefer you add them to the appropriate teacher class by clicking the small triangle next to activities and clicking the teacher name, or just upload them to staff inbox

In this mode you can click on a whole file of pictures and they will upload. NOTE: The upload process will take a while if you are uploading a lot of pictures. When I wanted to upload a lot (like our Camp Kern File) I uploaded them before I went to bed and just let them go. When I came down in the morning the question about whether I wanted to upload more was there, I said no and logged out.

1/2. If you are technically challenged, the 1/2 way is to get me your thumb drive or memory card full of pictures and I will upload them for you and get the memory card back to you.

Finally, if you are willing to go into the pictures and add names to the beautiful faces, I could use help doing that also. It's easy and can be done any time you have some time at home to do it. Let me know and I will give you instruction.

Thanks for your help uploading pictures for our yearbook; they are what make the yearbook fun!

"Look, See, Do", Saturday Morning Art Making for Kids!
The Barn, 6980 Cambridge will be having one hour art sessions, sponsored by the Cincinnati Art Museum on the following Saturdays at 10:00 am. Registration is $5 per child.

Jan. 21 - American Indian (Grades 3-6)
Jan. 28 - Cultural Celebrations (Grades K-2)
Feb. 04 - Self Portraits (Grades 3-6)

Thank You, Family!

We appreciate your taking the time to read our newsletter.
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