"I do not hesitate to proclaim before you and before the world that all human life - from the moment of conception and through all subsequent stages - is sacred, because human life is created in the image and likeness of God.  Nothing surpasses the greatness or dignity of a human person." 

Pope John Paul II, 1979 Homily in Washington, D.C.  

Information Nights for Parents

Walk-ins are welcome for all Parent Information Nights

as there have been enough RSVP's to have these events

Child care will be provided at all events.

Lower Elementary Information Night: Tues., Jan. 21, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

• 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

Upper Elementary Information Session: Wed., Jan. 22, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

• Program philosophy and curriculum
• Student work Expectations
• Parent involvement
• Homework
• Assessment

Middle School Information Night:  Thurs. Jan. 23, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

• Curriculum and Montessori Principles
• High School Preparation: 

·         Religious Education in the Middle School

·         Questions and Answers

Catholic Schools Week:  January 27-31

Monday, January 27:  Church Appreciation Day

·         Grade school students will begin the week in worship before our Lord in Eucharistic Adoration.

·         Dress-Up Day:  Students may wear dressy non-uniform clothes to school.

Tuesday, January 28:  Parent Appreciation Day

·         School Mass, 8:15 a.m.

·         Parents are invited to join us for Mass.  Following Mass, the staff will prepare an Appreciation Brunch for parents in the atrium.  Please join us! 

·         The students will be sharing special notes of gratitude for their parents.

·         Patriotic Dress Day:  Students may dress in patriotic colors.

Wednesday, January 29:  Student Appreciation Day

·         All School Skating Party, 12:15-2:45 p.m.!!!

·         Crazy Hair and Hat Day:  In addition to out-of-uniform clothing, students can wear their favorite hats and sport a crazy hair-do at school for a day!

Thursday, January 30:  School Spirit Day

·         Whole school recess and pep rally, 2:30 p.m. in the St. John Vianney building.

·         Classes will prepare their own original GSCM cheer to share with the school at the end of the day.  The most original and spirited cheer will win a prize!

·         Students will prepare special thank you cards to GSCM supporters, with an expression of gratitude for the gift of their special school.

·         Spirit Wear/Jersey Day:  Wear GSCM school spirit wear to show your school spirit, or team and club jerseys/shirts.

Friday, January 31:  Staff Appreciation Day

·         Students will share expressions of appreciation towards their teachers.

·         Favorite character dress:  Students are invited to dress as their favorite character from a book or movie!

Eucharistic Adoration:  Monday, Jan. 27, 9:45-10:30 a.m.

We will begin our Catholic Schools Week celebration by adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  We will start at 9:45 a.m. with Exposition, followed by Praise and Worship songs, and closing with Benediction.  Please join us!

Parent Appreciation Brunch:  Tuesday, Jan. 28, 9:15-10:30 a.m.

Tuesday, January 28 is Parent Appreciation Day for Catholic Schools Week.  Our staff would like to host you, our parents, for an appreciation brunch in the atrium following Mass.  Please join us for good food, fresh coffee, and friendly conversation.  We want to let you know how much we appreciate being your partners in your children's formation and education!

K-8 Skating Party:  Wed., Jan. 29:  PERMISSION SLIPS REQUIRED

This year, all students will have bus transportation to and from the skating party.  Permission slips are due Wednesday, January 22nd.  Please note that, per insurance regulations and the bus company, all students must have a signed permission slip.  An email message will not be sufficient.  Signed permission slips may be sent in by hard copy or may be scanned and emailed to ntoon@gscmontessori.org  Even if a student has paid for the trip, if we do not have a signed permission slip, the student will not be able to attend the event.

Penny War to Benefit Hands Together!  Runs throughout Catholic Schools Week, January 27-31

During Catholic Schools Week, our students will wage a "Penny War" to collect money for Helping Hands, an organization that works with the poorest of the poor in Haiti.

Our Recipient - Hands Together:Led by Father Tom Hagan, Hands Together provides education and free hot meals to children in an area of Port-au-Prince called Cite Soleil which is built on a garbage dump. Hands Together has so far succeeded in providing Cite Soleil with 8 campuses (including a high school), an elderly outreach program, a free clinic and hope for the future. We will be raising money to help improve school classrooms and add learning materials like maps and charts and basic hand outs. The Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori is excited to help this amazing organization continue their charitable work of responding to the needs of the less fortunate. If you'd like to know more about this organization and its important work, go to www.handstogether.org.

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Penny War - How It Works:   

·         Classrooms compete against each other to collect the most pennies. A child may bring in pennies and add them to his or her classroom's collection. 

·         BUT... if a child brings in other coins (nickels, dimes, quarters), he/she may go to another classroom and swap out his/her coins for that classroom's pennies. 

·         The classroom with the most PENNIES wins - not the most money.

·         There is a $1.00 per student per day limit.  The exchanges take place during the first ten minutes of each morning. 

At the end of the Penny War, the money will be counted and the winning classroom will be treated to a class treat.  The money will be sent to Hands Together.  If you would like to help out for 10 minutes each or any of the mornings during the exchanges, please let your child's teacher know.  GOOD LUCK TO ALL!

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Other Upcoming Events

GSCM Open House:   Sunday, Jan. 26, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

The Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori Open House is on Sunday January 26, from 1:00-4:00pm.  There are two ways to help showcase our special school:

1)     Help spread the word.   You should have received an email invitation.  Please forward it 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 1/26.  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. 

Please email Annie King (aking@gscmontessori.org) if you would like to help out this year, or if you have any ideas for how to better showcase GSCM.

GSCM Student Talent Show:  Thurs., January 30

Your child is invited to perform in the 4th Annual GSCM Talent Show on Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 7:00 pm.

Sponsored by the PTO, this popular event is open to all students.  Whether it is singing, dancing, playing an instrument, storytelling or dramatic readings, we know that our school has lots of talented children who love to perform.  If your child wishes to be in the Talent Show, please return the registration form to the school office or email it to jwidmeyer@gscmontessori.org by January 24.  Forms are available in the office.

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Virtues Education at GSCM

At GSCM, we are dedicated to helping your child to become the person God intended him or her to be.  Our mission involves developing your child's character as well as academic formation. Therefore, our staff has begun working on the creation of a school-wide Virtues Education program. 

This is part of our continuous school improvement plan, which is part of our ongoing accreditation process.  All Catholic schools develop two goals for continuous improvement.  One goal pertains to Catholic Identity and one pertains to Student Learning.  GSCM's Catholic Identity goal is Virtues Education.  Our Student Learning goal is in the area of math.

Part of our work in Virtues Education is the creation of a school-wide "touchstone" statement and a school motto.  We would like input from you and your child in creating our "touchstone" statement.  Please see the "touchstone statement" exercise that is coming home with your child this week.  We look forward to your responses!

What is a 'touchstone statement'?

·         A touchstone is a 'creed' or a 'way'.  It expresses the shared values and aspirations of a school community.

·         A touchstone helps to create an "intentional community," one in which members feel a strong connection and a shared moral identity because they are joined by commonly held values

·         A touchstone should inspire critical thinking and ethical judgment about a wide range of situations, including ones for which there may be no specific rule

In future newsletters, we will share more about our work with Virtues Education, as well as our school improvement plan for Student Learning/Math.

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"Ask Our Father"  Annual Fund Update

"God our Father, please bless our school.  May our every word, thought, and action be pleasing in your eyes.  God our Father, help us improve our school buildings.  Bless the donors, workers, and volunteers who make these improvements possible."

The Annual Fund is integral to the success of our school.  A strong response from our school community sends the message to foundations and prospective donors of the internal support we have.  The Annual Fund helps us the bridge the gap between the cost of education and tuition.

So far, 20 parents have contributed and we have raised just over $22,000.  If every family who has yet to give would contribute something, we would make our goal and you will not have to see any more Annual Fund columns in this newsletter!

Giving is simple and every little bit helps.  You can return the response card you received in the Annual Fund Brochure, pick up an envelope in the school office, or donate now with a click of a button at https://gscmontessori.ejoinme.org/AnnualFund.

If you cannot give monetarily, then please consider volunteering your time with the Development Office.  Contact Jana Widmeyer at jwidmeyer@gscmontessori.org or Sheila Lichtenberg at slichtenberg@gscmontessori.org. to see how you can help.

And, please continue praying that God our Father will bless our school.

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The 2014 Gala is just around the corner on Saturday, March 8, 2014 from 7:00-10:00 at The Redmoor in Mount Lookout. "Our Backyard" is this year's theme and money raised will go to improving our children's outdoor space. In order to make this event as fun and successful as it always is, we need your help. There are a variety of ways to help: gathering auction items, securing sponsors, working at check-in, setting up, etc. The following link has been created to make signing up easy!

http://vols.pt/CCFJfF 

If you have any questions click here and you may find the answers or feel free to contact the Gala Co-Chairs, Susan Thomas (susanthomas@fuse.net) or Rachel Sabo (rachel.sabo16@gmail.com). Thank you!!

Sports News:

Sign Ups for Girls On the Run (3rd-5th graders) Going on Now!

Is your daughter interested in joining our team in training for a 5K run and making new friends?  Then we'd love to have her join us for GSCM's spring season of GOTR!  Girls need to be available both Mondays and Fridays 3:15-4:30 from mid Feb through May 10.  Program fee is $150 (GOTR scholarships available).... includes t-shirt, running shoes, race entry fee, snacks all materials...plus a whole season of fun.

Sign ups are on-line only at www.gotrcincinnati.org from Jan 13th - Jan. 24.  Per GOTR, we can have 15 girls/team.  If more girls sign up, they will conduct a random lottery.  (It is not first come-first served, but you must register your daughter by the deadline.) Questions?  Please contact Kim Gruber jgruber7@cinci.rr.com .

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