Wed., Jan. 16               Staff Development Day Early Dismissal, 1 p.m.

Mon., Jan. 21                Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - NO SCHOOL

Tues., Jan. 22               Lower Elementary Information Night, 7:00 p.m.

Wed., Jan. 23               Upper Elementary Information Night, 7:00 p.m.

Thurs., Jan. 24              Middle School Information Night, 7:00 p.m.

Sun., Jan. 27                 GSCM Open House, 1:00-4:00 p.m.

Thurs., Jan. 31              First Communion Parent Meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Thurs., Jan. 31              3rd Annual GSCM Talent Show, 7:00 p.m.

Jan. 22-Feb. 8               Priority Registration Period for 2013-14

March 4                        Financial Aid Application Deadline

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2013-14 Registration Information

Priority Registration Period for 2013-14: January 22-February 8

The priority registration period for the 2013-14 school year will run from January 22 through February 8. During this time, current GSCM students may re-register and their siblings may apply for acceptance for 2013-14. We reserve enrollment for all current students and give priority consideration for all sibling applications through February 8. After that date, openings are no longer reserved but are offered to new applicants. Re-enrollment forms and tuition information will be sent home on Tuesday, January 22 via backpack mail and will also be available on line at  www.gscmontessori.org.

Financial Aid Application Process for 2013-14 School Year

The Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori offers a financial aid program for current and incoming students. To apply for financial aid for the 2013-14 school year, parents must submit a financial aid application to Private School Aid Service by Friday, March 4. 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.

Information Nights for Parents

We have planned information nights to inform parents about the next level of Montessori education at GSCM. At each event, our teachers will present an overview of the educational program at that particular level, demonstrate materials, and answer questions.

These events are designed for parents who would like to learn more about the next level in Montessori education (e.g., a parent of a kindergartner, 3rd grader, or 6th grader who would like to understand the upcoming level of Montessori). This week, parents of children ready to advance to the next Montessori level will also receive separate invitations to these and other events.

Any parent would certainly gain valuable information from these evenings, whether you are looking to the future or want to know more about your child's current school experience.

IMPORTANT: Please be sure to RSVP 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.

Lower Elementary Information Night: Tues., Jan. 22, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

Our lower elementary classrooms are warm, relaxed, and purposeful environments for children. All classrooms are well-established with a rich array of learning materials. Our teachers will provide an overview of our lower elementary program. The presentation outline includes:

• 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 (with Jana Widmeyer)

Upper Elementary Information Session: Wed., Jan. 23, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

Our 9-12 classrooms have a talented corps of lead and assistant teachers, a strong curriculum, and a rich array of learning materials. The combination of Montessori education with the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd continues to offer a unique opportunity for each child to grow as a well-rounded individual.

Lead teachers Jenny Griffin (math/science) and LinMarie Cameron (language arts/history) will describe.

• Program philosophy and curriculum
• Student work Expectations
• Parent involvement
• Homework
• Assessment
• Atrium for the upper elementary child (with Dan Teller)

 Middle School Information Night: Thurs. Jan. 24, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

John Bennett, Mary Hamiter, and Joan Ratajczak, our middle school teachers, will present an overview of our middle school program. This event will have the following components:

• Curriculum and Montessori Principles: What is the curriculum? What are academic expectations? What are the leading values and guiding principles that underlay our practices in Montessori adolescent education? Why do we do what we do? How do we serve Montessori's vision of the adolescent?
• High School Preparation: Several current middle school parents who also have high school children will be on hand to join our staff in answering questions from upper elementary parents. In addition to drawing from their past and current experiences in the middle school, these parents will also able to reference the high school experience of their older child(ren). How did the GSCM experience prepare their child for high school? How was the transition?

• Religious Education in the Middle School (with Annette Lustenberger)
• Questions and Answers

GSCM Open House:   Sunday, Jan. 27, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

The Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori Open House is on Sunday January 27, from 1:00-4:00pm.    There are three ways to help showcase our special school:

1)     Help spread the word.  You will be receiving an email invitation next week.  Please forward 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

2)     Volunteer at Open House on 1/27.  It is a lot of fun to welcome prospective families.  We need MS student escorts as well as parents for set-up, sign-in and hospitality.  We will have a planning meeting next Wednesday 1/16 at 8:30.

3)     Put up yard signs.  If your business is in a high traffic area or if you can showcase our school with a sign in your yard, please let us know.  Signs will be available for pickup by early next week.

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

Annual Fund Update

Thank you to all who have joined this school year's Annual Fund Appeal. So far, we have a participation rate of 24%.   Our goal is 100% parent participation. Will you help make that goal a reality?

Check out the Annual Fund Thermometer, designed by pre-primary teacher Julia Damico, at the school entrance. (Thank you, Julia!) Watch the mercury rise and the children celebrate as our participation rate increases.

Our annual fund helps to offset the gap between the actual cost of educating our students and the rate of tuition, and positions us to advance our school.  No gift is too small, but please do participate!  Help us attain our goal of 100% parent participation.  And don't forget to pray for the welfare of our school, its students, families, and staff.

Donate now at www.gscmontessori.org.

 Please contact our Development Office at 271-0205 with any questions or to learn more about our Annual Fund.  Thank you!

Mary, Model of the Christian Life: Not for Wimps  

During this Year of Faith in the Church, we frequently turn to the perfect model of faith, Mary, for inspiration. In fact, the entire Church begins each year by turning to Mary on January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Middle School teacher Joan Ratajczak provides a reflection on Mary's life.

Why the Solemnity of Mary? Why do we start the New Year with this? Mary is our model for the Christian life. And it's not a life for wimps.

We tend to think of Mary as the sweet, gentle mother, who led a life of quietly adoring her adorable Son. But while there must have been very many quiet, adoring moments, think about the challenges she was called to face as the first Christian. Here she is, a young girl chosen for the singular privilege of being the Mother of the promised Redeemer. She answers. "Thy will be done," and it is done in a way she hadn't imagined. She is found with child and if Joseph subjects her to the Law she could be stoned to death. Suddenly an angel rescues her by announcing to Joseph that child was born of the Holy Spirit and not to fear. There is a moment's relief, but now there is a census called by Caesar Augustus, and despite the fact that she is nine months pregnant, she has to travel a long, weary way to be enrolled. She will have to give birth among strangers; not even St. Anne, her mother can be with her.

All right, at least the baby is born and some realize he is special, such as shepherds and even great men from the East. All will be well now. Then comes the news that King Herod has orders to kill the child. Quick, now they have to leave on a moment's notice - for Egypt, the Israelites' place of bondage and sin. Yet, that is where they go to fulfill an Old Testament prophecy. At the death of Herod, they now return to life in Nazareth, a life that is later dramatically pierced by the loss of their only child for three days of anguish. Sometime later, there is the sad parting at the death of Joseph.

Mary and Jesus are on their own now. Here they are at the wedding feast at Cana. Mary knows that if she asks Jesus to do a public miracle, it will begin the wheels that turn to his final fulfillment- that of dying for man's transgressions. But she does it. Oh how easy it would have been to keep her precious Son at home with her. Yet he belongs to God and is God and has to complete his mission. So she is alone now, concerned about how well he is eating, if he is warm at night, if people are listening to him and changing their lives. Three years he has been gone with only a few visits home. There is also the news that there are those who not only don't accept him, but are hostile to the point of wanting to kill him. How hard for a mother's heart. Perhaps there is hope as he is acclaimed throughout Jerusalem.

However in a few short days, he goes from being celebrated to being imprisoned, scourged and unbelievably, crucified. No words can do justice to what her heart feels at seeing her Son, the Son of God, treated this way. The sword enters her heart as Simeon prophesied.   Then! The prophecy is true! He is raised from the dead. Yet she cannot cling to him. Only 40 days and he must go to the Father and she is alone again. At least she has the apostles, her adopted sons. Next, even they must go to proclaim the Gospel and face their own crosses, following in the Master's footsteps. So, many goodbyes. Tradition says that Mary's earthly life ended at perhaps Ephesus, perhaps Jerusalem. Regardless, it was not a life for the faint-hearted. Mary was heroic.

Only then, only after following in the footsteps of her Son, is she  glorified as Queen of Saints, Queen of Apostles, Queen of Angels - our inspiration for each New Year.