"Not everything that can be counted counts,

and not everything that counts can be counted."

Albert Einstein  

Upcoming Dates

Tue., May 20     Lower El Drama Dress Rehearsal, 1:30 p.m.

Wed., May 21    Staff-Middle School Whiffle Ball Game, 1:00 (wear red or blue)

Thurs., May 22  Lower El Drama Performance, 6:30 p.m.

Fri., May 23       Cub Scout End of Year Party 3:00 p.m.

Mon., May 26    Memorial Day, NO SCHOOL

Fri., May 30       Final School Mass, Candle Ceremony for 7^th/8^th Grade

Fri., May 30       PlayScape Design Open House, 2:30-4:00 p.m.

Mon., June 2     Sixth Grade Retreat

Tue., June 3      Last Day of School/Field Day/Progress Reports (No PM Bus service)

Fri., June 6        8^th Grade Graduation, 5:00 p.m.

Summer Work Days (Details Below)

Sat., June 14     Summer Work Day 1 (chapel renovation)

                        GSCM Summer Garage Sale (8:00 a.m. - noon)

Sat., July 12      Summer Work Day 2 (landscaping, chapel painting)

GSCM Fine Arts Fair:   May 19-23  

Let's Play Ball!:  Wed., May 21

Wear red or blue to support your favorite team!

Get ready for the big game of the year!  Our annual staff-middle school whiffle ball game is scheduled for Wednesday, May 21 at 1:00 p.m.    All students are invited to wear non-uniform clothing on May 21; however, you must dress in red or blue.  Dress in blue if you are rooting for the middle school; dress in red if you are rooting for the staff.  Students are also encouraged to bring a water bottle to quench their thirst during the game.

THIS Thursday, May 22, 6:30 p.m.

Come join us Down the Rabbit Hole, the first through third levels drama production of Alice in Wonderland on Thursday, May 22 at 6:30 PM. Tickets are on sale at the door, three dollars for students and five dollars for adults. Don't be late for this very important date!

Final School Mass with Candle Ceremony

Friday, May 30, 8:15 a.m.

Our final Mass of the year provides an opportunity to express special thanksgiving for the gift of our school and school community.  At the end of Mass, a "Candle Ceremony" enables all of our students to recognize the upcoming departure of our 8^th grade class.  Our graduates pass lit candles to their 7^th grade peers as a sign of the passing of leadership to next year's oldest students.

Natural PlayScape Planning Open House

Friday, May 30, 2:30-4:00

A design team composed of your teachers, parents and your principal has been working with the Landscape Architectural Firm, Rachel Robinson Design, to develop plans for a Natural Playscape.  The PlayScape will introduce varying nature based activities that will extend our Montessori based education to the outdoors.   All GSCM parents are invited to a "PlayScape Design Open House" by our front entrance on Friday, May 30, 2:30-4:00 p.m.  We will share the Preliminary Master Plan and have time for questions and parental input.  No RSVP required.

Tuesday, June 3:  Field Day/Final Day of School

The end of school is approaching fast, which means Field Day will be here!!  You will receive information about what color your child should wear for Field Day (either red or blue) the week of May 27. 

The schedule for the day will be as follows:

     9:00                   Gathering in classrooms

     9:45 - 11:30        Field Day/Games and Activities

    11:30                  Pre-Primary Farewells/Dismissal from classrooms

                       (parents are invited to stay with their children for lunch)

    11:30 - 1:00         Lunch 

• Arrival and Bus Service On Field Day, children may come at the regular start time for school (8:00 or 8:15) or may come at 9:00 a.m. There will be morning bus service but no afternoon bus service on June 3.  Early dismissal at 1:00 p.m.
• Lunch:  Our lunch this year will be cheese pizza, applesauce and a dessert.  If your child does not care for this please pack their lunch.

Rain Plan:  If it rains, all children will be asked to bring a favorite board game to their class.  Each class will then have a fun filled Board Game Day in their individual classrooms. 

Volunteers needed

Christy Pucci, field day coordinator for the elementary and middle school, is in need of many helpers for setup and to run the games.  Please click here: http://vols.pt/8pPysd

Contact Christy Pucci at 624-7286 or 886-3983 or tcpucci@cinci.rr.com with any questions. Thank you.

2014 Graduation:  Friday, June 6, 5:00 p.m.  

The Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori Class of 2013 cordially invites you to its Graduation Mass and Ceremony on Friday, June 6,, at 5:00 p.m. at St. John Vianney Church.  A reception hosted by the class of 2015 will follow in the Middle School.

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Summer Work Days at GSCM

Seeking volunteer helpers!  Lunch and childcare will be provided by the school. 

TO RESPOND:

• Register on-line:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1kQtp7RDxuf-gWgAaUI_9jIiaPc6HsxzMuiSAux5d8BI/viewform?usp=send_form
• Return the response form coming home via hard copy this week or available at http://gscmontessori.org/images/CMS/GSCMWork%20Day%20AnnouncementSummer2014.pdf 

·         E-mail us at ntoon@gscmontessori.org.

·         Call us at 271-4171.

Thank you and God bless you for your energy for

The Good Shepherd Catholic Montessori!

Saturday, June 14, 2014 (8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.)

Construction (and Demolition) Day

We are seeking help with these tasks.  We will have a project foreman to oversee all workers, but are also seeking dads who can oversee particular projects (e.g., wall framing, floor framing).

Construction for Our Lady, Queen of Angels Chapel:

                 Framing walls

                 Hanging drywall

                 Framing a raised floor platform

Classroom work:

     Removing fixed sink bases and cabinetry in preschool classrooms

Saturday, July 12, 2014 (8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.)

Planting and Painting Day

We are seeking help with these tasks.  We will have a project foreman to oversee all workers. 

Outdoor Landscaping

Planting for our Marian garden and other landscaping

Mulching

Our Lady, Queen of Angels Chapel:

Painting new wall surfaces

Cleaning

.

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Ask Our Father

"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."

Did you recently receive a letter reminding you about the importance of the Annual Fund?  Have you responded yet?

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 bridge the gap between the cost of education and tuition.

So far, 26 parents, 10 staff members, and 16 grandparents have contributed and we have raised just over $25,800.   Thank you to all who have shown their support of our school and its mission.  But, what about the 100 families and 30 staff members we have not heard from yet?   If that is you, will you give today?

Giving is simple and every little bit helps.  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.

PTO News

Time to sign up for 2014-15 Volunteer Positions

It is hard to believe that we are in the last few weeks of school and it is time to sign up for volunteer positions for next school year!  

This is our school family participation policy: 

1)  Every family is required to sign up for one coordinator position. You should have received a volunteer needs packet in backpack mail on Monday May 5.  We are asking that every family complete this PAPER form for one coordinator position and return it to the office.(or email to Nicolay.walz@gmail.com).  If you don't have a paper form, the packet is on the GSCM website.

 2) Every family is required to sign up for at least three volunteer shifts/tasks throughout the school year.  Some of the shifts are ONLINE now.  Some will be added as volunteer needs arise.  You can sign up now or later, whatever works best for you.   There is a VolunteerSpot link to sign up for event shifts (http://vols.pt/1PdNF8).

Box Tops Winners

 We are actually all winners as the students brought in over 3000 Box Tops which should bring the school $300!  Mrs. Bucksath's class won the PTO treat for having collected the most as a class.  Luke Richard was our first place winner and he received four tickets to a Reds game.  Ethan Shim came in second, winning a Target gift card and  Lucas and Jonah Vonderwish won Brueggers Bagel gift cards for coming in third.  Thank you to all of you who sent in Box Tops!  Keep collecting them for next year and watch backpack mail for a collection sheet that you can put them on (if you want to). 

The PTO wishes you all a safe and enjoyable summer!

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Office News:

Important:  2014-15 School Calendar, ANOTHER Revision

The newly revised 2014-15 school calendar is available online.  We changed the date of the Walkathon/Fall Festival (early dismissal) and the staff in-service day (no school for students) in October.

PLEASE NOTE, we also changed the date of the First Communion Retreat and one of the early dismissal (1:00 p.m. early dismissal for students) staff development days from March to May.  Please make sure that you have the most current school calendar to refer to. 

Reminder of IPM Collection Tomorrow

Please don't forget our collection of cereal tomorrow for Inter Parish Ministry's food choice pantry. If you

happen to forget your donation, you may still bring it in Thursday.

GSCM Garage Sale: 

Do you have things for our Second School Wide Garage Sale on Saturday, June 14th from 8:00 - Noon.  From now through June 6th, we are accepting the following (clean and in proper working condition, suitable for resale) Household Items. Furniture, Toys, Clothes, Books, Sports Equipment, etc.

Please drop off your tax deductible donations any school day between 7:45 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. at the two-door garage located near the Middle School behind the Church.  There will be a charitable receipt for you to take for tax purposes near the door. 

If you need to coordinate a different time for dropping things off, or have any questions about your items, OR if you can help out with organizing / advertising, please contact Eileen Myers emyers@gscmontessori.org or 513-675-2931.   

We can also arrange a pick up for larger items if needed.

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