April 25:           Pre-K and Kinder Spotlight at 9:00

April 26:           Yearbook deadline

May 2:              May Crowning- send a flower

May 3:              School Spotlight for new students (right after Mass)

Earth Week Schedule of Events

Monday -Wear Green In honor of Earth Week

Tuesday -Butterfly Event in the Courtyard at Lunch (11:15- 12:40)

Wednesday - Lunch outside to celebrate Earth Week

Thursday - Butterfly Event in the Courtyard at Lunch (11:15- 12:40)

Friday - "Green" raffle.  

Upcoming Spotlight on PreK and Kindergarten

Thursday, April 25 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.

St. John Bosco Catholic School provides a faith based, academically focused education for children 4 to 14 years old. You can pass along the 5 "C"s of St. John Bosco Catholic School.

Christ- What makes St. John Bosco unique from public and private schools is that we pray and grow in faith together, as we share in our belief of God.

Child- St. John Bosco focuses on developing the "whole child" through academic excellence, serving others and growing in faith.  SJB is where FAITH is formed and LEADERS are born.

Curriculum - Our students benefit from a rigorous curriculum that prepares them for success in high school, college and career.  The curriculum aligns with Common Core standards, teaches 21st century skills, and Gospel values.  

Community - Our St. John Bosco community is like a large family with active parents, caring and skilled teachers and a friendly staff dedicated to serving the students and others.  Families build lifelong friendships..

Campus - Our St. John Bosco campus is a beautiful, safe environment.  The classrooms are bright with natural light and there is plenty of open space for gathering, playing and for sports.  

A parent sent me a great quote this week.

"Public schools try to emulate successful Catholic schools by providing "Character education" and requiring "service" of students. But character education and service mandates outside of the context of community and morality are incomplete. While these goals for all students are laudable, they are not part of the fabric of the public school. Catholic schools are fortunate that they are part of their mission."

Dan Tully - Principal Notre Dame College Prep, Niles, Illinois   

Congratulations Math Students

Students in Grades 4-8 just finished competing in this year's National CatholicMath League competition. Students completed questions four times a year, the scores are compiled and awards are given for Top Schools and Top Five Students in each math level. St. John Bosco competed against other Catholic Schools in the Western United States for the Division 1.

Here are the school results for CatholicMath League

4th grade - 2nd place for Division 1 U.S.

5th grade - 4th place for Division 1 U.S.

6th grade - 5th place for Division 1 U.S.

7th grade - 6th place for Division 1 U.S.

Pre-Alg - 5th place for Division 1 U.S.

Algebra - 6th place for Division 1 U.S.

Stay tuned for a list of Top students in each level to be announced soon.   

Advisory Board

• Fall/Harvest Fest - The plan is still to move forward with a combined event on October 19th.  The idea is to make it a safe event for the entire SJB/St.B community keeping the tradition of both events.  Some logistics and questions about the money need to be hashed out.  We briefly talked about the pros/cons of having it on the field vs. the campus.  We still need a committee chair.

• Principal search is ongoing with interviews Monday, April 15th.

• Pastor search for St. Benedict's has begun and the Diocese opened up the position for other pastors to apply.

• Aides in younger grades - In the new budget, SJB will repurpose some existing aides to the older grades and have dedicated aides to the lower grades--there will continue to be no aides in the afternoon during specials.  This will allow for more consistency with both the students and teachers.  For instance, the larger 3rd grades will have dedicated aides.  The focus in the upper grades will be to use instructional aides to get the right person with the right class, especially now that we have had a year with the new format.

• Enrollment is at 508.  Enrollment for next year is a little slow in Kinder and Pre-K but similar to last year at this time.  There are 4 Kinder/Pre-K Spotlights set for April 16 & 25 and May 3 & 21 where prospective new families can meet the teachers and see classrooms in action.  Please get the word out!

• We talked about a "Shadow Day" idea for middle school or any class that needs increased enrollment.  It could even be an "Invite a Friend Day" where the SJB student gets to wear free dress.  We could also do a JR High Spotlight.

• MAP testing will continue next year with the same 3 testing periods in math, language and reading throughout the year.

• It would be great to have an answer for the question we all get from time to time:  "SJB sounds great but it's so expensive."  Answer:  "It may seem expensive but........"  The Communications Committee will work on an answer.

• The Calendar for next year has been finalized. There will not be a half day phase in with the exception of Pre-K and kindergarten.  Back to School Night, formerly named as Meet the Teacher Night, will be held on the evening of Monday the 19th with the first full day of school starting Wednesday.  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be a regular school week with a 1 p.m. release on Friday.

• In working with St. Benedict we will try to coordinate all school activities on set days and all Parish events on opposite days to avoid conflicts. Since the Q and A, we have set M-W for SJB, T-TH for St. Benedict

Yearbook Deadline This Friday April 26

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• Make your child the star of his or her own yearbook --- personalize your custom pages. Each purchase already includes two FREE pages that you can customize for your child. You have up to April 26 to finalize the custom pages. To customize the pages, go to treering.com, enter your username and password, and then click on "yearbook." From there, you can design the pages anyway you want: upload pictures, put funny captions, list down favorites, add graphics, or even post personal messages from teachers and friends.

Summer Programs

Scrip News:

Do you like to shop locally? We have scrip for many great local, family-owned businesses. Choices include Bashas, SomeBurros, Original Burrito Company, Madison Avenue Salon and Day Spa and Gold Crown Promotions.  Many of these organizations are owned by families with current or previous connections to SJB, and they generously support our scrip program.  We hope you will support them too.

Another way to shop locally with scrip is through Ultra-tainment.  Ultra-tainment is scrip you can use at a variety of locally owned restaurants, such as Spinatos, Garcias, Macayos and Chompies. Ultra-tainment comes in $10.00 increments and pays back 20%. We have it at the office so stop by to find out more!  

Family Camp-Out June 14th -16th

Registration is open for this year's summer camp out on Mt. Lemmon. This year's camp out will once again be at the  Whitetail Campground on Mt. Lemmon near Tucson Friday through Sunday.  Whitetail Campground is probably the most modern campground in the state with a large, lighted pavilion with electric outlets, large charcoal grills, excellent tent site platforms.  At 8,000 feet elevation, enjoy the cool, crisp mountain air.  No prior camping experience is necessary and there will be plenty of experienced campers on hand to help out any rookies.  The fee is $20 per family with a limit of 15 families.

For further information contact Brad Sanders at: sander.b.bs@gmail.com

To sign up please use the following link:

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C084FA5AE28A46-summer   

Weekly Rosary

We would like to invite the SJB community to participate in a weekly Rosary on Friday mornings from 7:50am to 8:10am in the SJB Chapel.  Please feel free to mention any special prayer intentions.  It is open to anyone.  We typically try to finish prior to Mass at St. Benedicts at 8:15am.   

Dear SJB Community,

Thank you so much for all the thoughts, prayers, support, gifts, meals, etc!! We feel so truly blessed to be part of this community and the outpouring of support is beyond our imagination.  There are no words to

describe how we feel about each and everyone of you!  We have tried to stay on top of thank you notes to individual families, however, if we haven't gotten to you yet or you were an anonymous donor, please know how truly grateful we are as a family!  We continue to take each day at a time and support Karley through this long journey.  Thank you again for helping us stay strong for our beautiful

daughter!

God Bless All of You!

The Sichmeller Family   

Calendar Meeting

The 2013 -2014 Calendar Meeting is scheudled for Wednesday, May 22.  Dads' Club, Moms' Club, PTO, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and others wanting to plan the year of events should plan on sending a representative.  School events, such as Curriculum Nights, Board Meetings will be available on the "School" Calendar by the end of April.  Essentially, meetings and events associated with the school will be scheduled mainly on Monday and Wednesday during the week.  We will continue to schedule around sacraments and in cooperation with the Parish.   

Do you Like to Swim, Bike and Run?   

Kiwanis Park in Tempe is hosting a Kids Triathlon on Sunday, April 28th.  For more information about the race please check out the following website: www.arizonakidstriathlon.org.