Dear Parent/Guardian:

I had not planned to send a newsletter this week but there always seems to be so many exciting things to share that I couldn’t resist!

Congratulations to fifth graders Alex Wolf, Dalton Thelen and Sierra Flint. They did not have one late assignment all year!  Wonderful!

Items We Saved – We spent yesterday redeeming the items that we have been saving all year long:

• Kemp’s Bottle Caps – We earned $291.00
• Box Tops For Education – We earned $1050.00
• Labels For Education (Campbell Soup) – We will be getting classroom globes and playground balls.
• Our Family Labels – We earned $600.

Thank you to everyone who saves labels for us.  Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who spend the year trimming and counting labels.  It really does pay off.

Tomorrow, May 27^th – Tomorrow will be a busy but FUN day!!  I thought I would share the same information that I told the children so we will be on the same page.

• Coffee/Juice/Muffins – At 8:30 a.m. we will have coffee/juice/muffins for our K, 5^th and 6^th grade students and their parents.  Children in Gr. 1, 2, 3 will go directly to their classrooms. Gr. 3 students will go to the 2^nd grade classroom, as Mrs. Kraemer is a kindergarten parent. Gr. 4 students will come directly to the cafeteria area because they will help pour coffee/juice.
• Pictures – During our coffee/muffin time, we will gather each class (K, 5^th, 6^th) separately and have their class picture taken with their teacher, pastor and principal.  I know that many of you will want to take snapshots of your child with his/her teacher or with friends.  DO NOT use this time to take those pictures as there will be plenty of time after the program to take pictures. Thanks!
• At Approximately 9:00 a.m., Mrs. Meyer will take her kindergarten students back to her classroom, 6^th grade students will head over to church to practice their songs, and 5^th graders will head to their classrooms for attendance etc.  What should mom/dad do during this time?  You have a couple of choices! First, I would love to have some of you help clean up the cafeteria. I will ask everyone to dispose of their placemats etc. but I know there will be lots of clean-up left.  OR, you can head over to church. There will be assigned seating for you. I will have your child’s name on the pews.  OR , you can spend time visiting with each other and wait until the fourth graders and I head over to church.  Once again, the fourth graders will act as ushers and escort you to your seats.  PLEASE NOTE:  Students in Gr. 1, 2, 3 and 4 will sit with their classmates. They will NOT sit with parents on this day! Thanks!  I did not include them in the seating arrangements and the pews will be too crowded.
• After Mass…We will all come back to school for a short program by our kindergarten students.  Moms/Dads and other guests will sit on chairs while the students will sit with their classmates on the floor.  Kindergarten students will go back to their classroom directly after mass. They have to get ready for their program.  After the Kindergarten program, our 5^th graders have special edition of “Are You As Smart As A Fifth Grader?” for us.
• After the Program – This is when it gets a bit messy!    Students in Gr. 1, 2, 3 and 4 will return to their classrooms.  Parents and students of K, 5 and 6 have time to take those pictures with teachers, friends etc. I’ll also ask you to help take down the chairs. During this time, Corey Leither will be firing up the grill for our hotdogs.  As soon as the hotdogs are ready, we will start sending K, 5 and 6^th grade students and their parents through the line.   When this group is finished going through the line, we will bring our Gr. 1, 2, 3 and 4 to eat. They can then join your family group for lunch.  (NOTE:  If you have a younger sibling joining you for lunch, EAT SLOWLY so you aren’t finished before they get to join you!)  It will be just too hectic to have all of them milling around the gym with you waiting for lunch. I always tell the children that this chaos will make my hair curl and you don’t want to see that!
• Going Home – A few of our parents are not staying for lunch, we anticipate that you will be taking your child(ren) home with you at that time.  REMEMBER:  There is a two-hour early out on this day.  We anticipate that those of you who are staying for lunch will take your child home with you after lunch.  There really isn’t any reason for your children to stay, as we will dismiss them shortly after recess. 

Golf Tournament – Our Golf Tournament is on Friday, June 3^rd.  We have had a nice response to the hole sponsors, raffle donations, and teams. We could still use a few more teams just to make the day fun!!  I can’t wait to order the new computers for our Lab.

Volunteers Needed: - I agreed to serve coffee/rolls for the Sauk River Chain of Lakes annual meeting that will be held in the Parish Center on Saturday, June 4^th.  I would love to have some help from 8:00 a.m. to approximately 12:00 noon.  I noticed that we have quite a few people who have signed up for the 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. shift at River Lake Days on July 15^th, please let me know if you would like to help out on Saturday, June 4^th instead.  Thanks!

River Lake Days – I sent home the River Lake Days assignment last week.  Thank you to Chris and Aaron Barker who volunteered to work the 8:30 – 10:30 time on Friday, July 15^th.  I don’t believe there were any other changes. I still could use help on Friday night, July 15^th from 8:30 – 10:30 and 10:30 – 12:00 as well as July 16^th from 7:30 until midnight.  Please let me know if you would be willing to help out.  The end of the year is always so hectic that I am borrowing a line from the movie “Gone With The Wind”, “I’ll think about it tomorrow!”  This means that in early July I may be calling you begging to get help for those above times!

2010-2011 Movie – I sent home a note last week about ordering a DVD of this past year.  Many of you returned the slips!  I will have the movies ready at Open House.  Several of you asked for the cost. I will have to charge you BUT I decided I would wait until I deliver the DVD’s to get paid!  You have been so busy paying for field trips and donating to the golf hole sponsor fund that I decided you could use a break for a couple of months.

ACH – Automatic Withdrawal – Thank you to everyone who signed up for the 12 month ACH –Automatic Withdrawal for next year.  Please send forms in tomorrow! Thanks.

Mrs. Hebert’s Celebration – Thank you to everyone who helped with Mrs. Hebert’s celebration.  It was a wonderful celebration!  As Mrs. Hebert told us on Monday, she is still smiling! The mass was absolutely beautiful.  Thank you to Julene Faber, Marcy Dold and our alumni students who helped make it extra special.  My apologies go to our younger students. They had kindly signed up for petitions, gestures, etc. and I simply ran out of time to help them practice so I gave those parts to our sixth graders who can handle it without practice.  (I was in Duluth with our 6^th graders on Thursday and Friday.)  I had some sad children on Saturday night because they didn’t have a special part. It broke my heart!  But I treated them to dilly bars from the DQ this week so I think it made up for it!

Thank you for sharing your child(ren) with us this year. I feel your children are so blessed to attend Sts. Peter & Paul School.  I can never quite put it into words, but a couple of weeks ago I met a woman from Fergus Falls who had sent her children to a Catholic School and she was singing the praises of Catholic Education. She said, “Its more that than the academics and the Catholic teaching! Don’t get me wrong! These are important and excellent! But is the whole family environment where the students are taught to act responsibly, to treat each other with respect, to take care of things.” As she was speaking, I kept saying, “YES! YES!” Fr. Dominic, previous pastor, used always say, “The children are so happy!”  I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t see many acts of kindness between students and teachers.  I had a great education experience (Elementary – College) but I often think that I never experienced the care and consideration given as our students received. So thank you so much for allowing the staff and me to have this experience.  It truly is a blessing!

Happy Summer Vacation!  I still cannot wrap my head around the idea that we will only be returning on September 12^th.

Blessings,

Jacqueline L. Walz