April Events 4/1 – Classes Resume

4/1 – Registration Incentive Ends!

The registration fee for returning families

submitting registration after 4/1 increases to $350.

4/5 – Stations of the Cross 1:45

4/6 – 1st Communion Retreat 10-12:30 in GP

4/6 – Chess Tournament 1:30-3:30 in GP

4/9 – K – 5th Roller Skating Party 2:30-4:40

4/9 – School Board Meeting @ 6:30

4/10 – HSA Meeting @ 1:00 (Parish Center)

4/11 – 3rd Annual SMG, St. Joseph & Holy

Trinity 8th Grade Retreat!

A more detailed letter will be sent home when we

return from break

4/12 – Special Person’s Mass @ 8:00

4/12 – Stations of the Cross 1:45

4/13 – Mother/Son Event

Brunswick Zone 2:00-4:00

4/16 - Grade 5 Step Up Day @ 6:30

(Gathering Place)

4/18-4/22 – NO SCHOOL - Easter Break

4/21 – Easter Sunday

Christ is Risen - Hallelujah!

4/23-4/24 – NO SCHOOL - Teachers attending

NCEA Conference

4/25 – Birthday Out of Uniform

All students with birthdays during the month of

April are encouraged and allowed to dress down

on this day. Students’ attire should still

comply with the school dress code for out of

uniform days.

4/26 – Spiritwear Day

Al students are welcome and encouraged to

participate spiritwear day! To participate, students

should bring a $1 donation which will go to the

Rizzo Foundation. Students may wear jeans or

appropriate bottoms and gym shoes, and any

SMG t-shirt/sweatshirt or jersey.

4/29 – 1st Communion Practice 6:30

SMG VIKING VOICE April 2019

Our Mission: We, the St. Mary of Gostyn Catholic School Community, are rooted in faith, empowered by knowledge, and inspired to serve. The faculty, staff, and parents form a unique partnership in carrying out this mission of teaching the message of Jesus by celebrating meaningful liturgies, providing opportunities for service within the community, and passing on the beliefs and traditions of our faith.

Welcome to the Principal’s Corner! Each month you will find a special update letter from myself regarding special project updates, best-practices in education, and other topics! Thank you for your

partnership and examination of our school newsletter and this section each month.

Dear Parents,

As we enter into spring and continue through the third trimester of our school year, we are reminded of our focus and goals set at the beginning of this school year. Below, please find some progress reports on our school goals for this year. Thank you for your partnership as our successes as a school are truly a result of your participation and collaboration as parents.

Building Renovation/Activity Center Project As you are well aware, our Activity Center project is officially underway! Thank you to all parents and non-school parishioners who have helped make this dream a reality for SMG! While this is just one of several goals that we are accomplishing this year, the Activity Center has proved to be the biggest and most time and resource-consuming. We are extremely grateful and blessed to be able to expand our school in these much needed areas during these challenging times for Catholic schools. We will continue to keep you updated on the progress of the Activity Center throughout the remainder of the school year and summer!

Creation of Strategic Plan (Through School Advisory Board) Our School Advisory Board continues to work on the development of a multi-year strategic plan for SMG. We have made progress on this goal this year, and will continue to move forward through the next several months.

Implementation of School-wide PBIS Program Our Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support Program (PBIS) has been implemented by our teachers and school staff since our first day of school this year, and continues to have a positive effect on our school culture and student behavior. Our students have done an excellent job learning our 3 targeted behaviors of “Stay Safe, Model Christ, and Give Our Best”, and are practicing being good models of each throughout the

many areas of our school and school day. Teachers have identified and created authentic and meaningful incentives for students to redeem Viking Vouchers for, and on March 22nd we will have our 3rd Viking Victory Day in which students can redeem their Viking Vouchers for school-wide rewards.

We will continue to reflect and evaluate the overall success of this program throughout the remainder of the year and will look to make even more improvements in the PBIS program for next year!

Professional Learning Communities Our teachers have been extra hard at work this year working in Professional Learning Communities! On each of our early dismissal days, teachers have been working on creating a curriculum map of the subjects and grade levels that they teach. Teachers are analyzing and compiling specific data on each unit of instruction’s essential or guiding questions, alignment to our Diocesan standards, content taught, specific student skills learned, materials and resources utilized, and how this material is measured or assessed.

Creating these maps will be a great success for our school, and is a first step in gathering the data needed to continue to evaluate our curriculum, methods of instruction and assessment, and vertical and horizontal alignment. Next year we will continue to work in Professional Learning Communities and use this data to make informed decisions about how we can make our school even better!

Implementation of 3D Printers & STEM Programs Our middle school teachers Ms. Pechous and Mrs. Buchler spent the first few months of the school year going through training and certification classes on how to use our new 3D Printer, and planning inter-disciplinary

projects for the students involving science, math and technology to be printed with our new machine!

Once trained on how to setup and use the printer, Ms. Pechous began teaching our middle school students how to program/code designs to be printed. Our 8th grade students designed Chicago Skyline Buildings by applying the scale factor skill from math using an online program called Tinerkcad, and our 6th and 7th grade students have been learning how to use the 3D printing program Tinkercad throughout March!

Unfortunately after multiple attempts to produce a test printing, and several calls to customer support, it was determined that the printer we received was faulty and not working due to an issue with the machine’s firmware. We were able to resolve this issue and have recently received a brand new and fully functioning 3D Printer! We will be testing the new printer when we return from break.

Our current plan is to begin printing the projects the students have programmed/coded earlier this year and will evaluate the overall effectiveness of the printer and its impact on our students’ learning in science, math and technology. We continue to remain open to the idea of purchasing more 3D Printers if it is determined that they are enhancing students’ learning in these important areas of STEM!

Preschool Program Expansion Due to the approval and moving forward with our Activity Center project and goal, our examination of possible preschool expansion has been placed on a temporary hold this year, as we are sustaining our focus on the successful building and completion of our Activity Center. This project will be incorporated into our strategic plan and resume at the start of the 2019-2020 school year.

May God Bless You All, Mr. Christopher Tiritilli

Mr. T Gets a Dental Check Up

Mr. Tiritilli stopped by the preschool room for

a dental check up! The kitchen center was

transformed into a dental office with all dental

tools including doctor jackets, cameras for x-rays,

actual x-rays, fluoride trays, floss and a brushing

center. Children placed stains on teeth using

markers and then brushed the teeth clean using

actual toothpaste.

Registration for the 2019-2020 School

Year!

Registration for the 2019-2020 school year

is open and underway!

Make sure to submit your complete

registration packet and fee of $300 to

the school office on or before April 1st.

After that time, our registration incentive

will conclude and the registration fee

will remain at $350 for the remainder of

the year.

Registration materials are available on

School Speak under the “2019-2020

Registration Packet & Links”

Student Council Plastic Project

A perfect pile of plastic was the result of SMG's

Student Council service project that concluded

February 26th. During the entire second trimester,

SMG homerooms collected all types of plastic bags

to donate to the TREX company, an idea brought

to the Council by seventh grade representative

Anna Walsh. In turn, TREX then recycles the plastic

to use in various products including decks, railings,

and other outdoor items. Although the Vikings fell

short of the 500 pound goal, they did “stretch”

themselves to achieve a total number of 126

pounds with Mrs. Ruddy's sixth grade homeroom

weighing in at thirty-three pounds!

State Bee Bound!

We are proud to announce that Kaitlin J., grade 8,

has qualified for the National Geographic State

Geography Bee! She scored among the top 100

students in the state on the qualifying test and will

head to Normal, Illinois on March 29 for the

competition. We wish her the best of luck!

Fat Tuesday Celebration

The 2nd graders celebrated Fat Tuesday with beads

and doughnut holes! We also decorated masks and

learned about the special meaning of this day. The

students had a fun day and got prepped and ready

for the 40 days of Lent!

MTEC Contest at Montini Catholic High School

On February 18, some of our Sixth and Seventh

graders gave up their holiday to compete in a

computer/engineering competition. Our students

found the day fun and challenging. There were 22

teams and 8 schools represented from the Diocese

of Joliet and the Archdiocese of Chicago. One of

our teams placed 4th!! Congratulations to all of

our participants, we are proud of you!

7th Grade Shoe Drive

Throughout the world, many children walk

barefoot every day to get to school because they

do not have shoes to wear. The 7th Graders found

a way to help some of these children by running a

shoe drive last month. The students inspired others

to donate shoes by decorating boxes that they

placed in the hallway. They also created skits and

songs that were presented during the morning

announcements. Over one hundred pairs of shoes

were collected! The shoes were sent to Share Your

Soles, which will distribute these shoes across

the world.

Gym Farewell Party

On March 16, we said our final farewell to our 40-

year old gym! It was bittersweet to say goodbye to

our gym – a home for SMG that created so many

memories for our school and parish families!

Everyone was able to sign the gym wall and make

their mark, concessions were sold in the kitchen,

memorable stories were exchanged among

students, families and alumni and Fr. Shaun was

present to give his final blessing of the gym.

Thank you for all the wonderful memories and to

all those that attended our final party. We’re

anxious to make new, fond memories for years to

come. After the start of our upcoming school year,

our space will look much different with our new

Activity Center!

Teacher for the Day The following students were lucky enough to be

P.E. Teachers for their homerooms this March.

Thank you Mom and Dad for this fun opportunity!

Students here:

Jake F. Molly J.

Annie F. Sammy M. (not pictured)

Colin D. Jaxon S.

Math Club

On Monday, March 11th, five of our middle school

students participated in Nazareth Academy’s

annual 7th grade math contest. We are pleased to

announce that the St. Mary’s team was recognized

at the awards ceremony! The 7th grade team,

consisting of Hugh F., Isabella K., Jen L., Jon M.,

and Ella R., placed 2nd in their division and Jon

won a 1st place individual award. Congratulations

Mathletes!

Alumni News

Congratulations to our former SMG students!

We’re happy to announce students from SMG

listed on the Honor Roll. Congratulations to:

Benet Academy

First Honors

John Babich

Emily Budzynski

Nicole Budzynski

Matthys Cieplak

Emmett Culligan

Jillian Devine

Patrick Enochs

Eden Fernandez

Elsa Fernandez

Joseph Lipinski

Luke Nolan

Joshua Parney

Reagan Rodenbostel

Benjamin Romenesko

Charles Romenesko

Sicily Shaw

Jack Sloyan

Margaret Snyder

Matthew Sullivan

Dominic Ullmer

Mia Ullmer

Jackson Walsh

John Yahiro

Margaret Yahiro

Second Honors

Dominic Adams

Samuel Albian

Maxwell Babich

Karoline Blacha

Ryan Crowe

Elizabeth Dombrowski

Connor Farrell

Clare Johnson

Clayton MacKenna

Emma Parney

Brigid Rogers

Robert Sloyan

Andrew Snyder

Owen Vander Leest

Cole Walsh

Montini Catholic

Congratulations to the following students for

receiving Academic Scholarships for the 2019-2020

school year. This scholarship was awarded based

on their placement test scores:

Jamie Bukovksy

Kiki Gaughan

Samuel Ruddy

Grace Tierney

Amazing job to all, we are so proud of you!

Reflections from Fr. Shaun Dear School Families: As we continue our Lenten Journey, we will be quickly approaching Palm Sunday, when we celebrate Our Lord's entrance into Jerusalem where he was welcomed by crowds worshiping him and laying down palm leaves before him. It also marks the beginning of Holy Week, with the greatest tragedy and sorrow of the year. Jesus' triumphant return to Jerusalem is only one side of the story. By now many of the people are filled with hate for Our Lord. They want to see him stoned, calling Him a blasphemer, as His death is only a few days away. The season of Lent ends with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. The Sacred Triduum is one celebration over three days – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. Our Lenten practices (things we’ve given up) continue until the Easter Vigil or Easter Sunday. In Jerusalem on Holy Thursday, Jesus shares the Last Supper with His Apostles. He was subsequently arrested and tried. He was crucified at Calvary on Friday, outside the gates of Jerusalem. He was buried the same day, and arose three days later on Easter Sunday. All of this is done by our Lord for the forgiveness of our sins and for everlasting life with Him. God so loved us that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us so that our sins may be forgiven. As we journey together towards Holy Week, I would like to encourage our families to walk in the light of faith with the Body of Christ as we celebrate the Sacred Triduum as a parish together. These three days are at the climax of who we are as Catholic Christians. Spend some extra time in prayer during Holy week and in the Easter season. It is a good reminder for all of us that we are truly blessed by the many gifts and talents that God has given us. God is love, and we are all beloved sons and daughters, striving for holiness as we give praise to Jesus Christ in thought, word, and deed. Sincerely in Christ, Fr. Shaun Cieslik

Lice Prevention (Links below!)

In an effort to be as proactive as we can, we

encourage all of our parents to check your child’s

head for lice on a continual basis.

“Fortunately, research finds that most children

do not catch lice while at school. Lice are

spread by direct and sustained head-to-head

contact (i.e. children rubbing heads together

for a sustained period of time), which is more

common at slumber parties or camping

trips.” (Communicate 58: News From Downers

Grove School District 58. Volume 7, Issue 11 2016)

St. Mary of Gostyn follows the standard lice

procedures for schools recommended by national

health organizations, including the

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC), the American Academy

of Pediatrics, the National Association of

School Nurses and many others.

REMINDERS!!!

Office Hours

The SMG school office is open Monday – Friday

from 7:00 – 3:00pm.

Student Arrival

Students who are not in their classrooms by 7:40

am will be considered tardy. All tardy students

should enter through the main entrance near the

school office and see Mrs. Toth and/or Mrs.

Czopek.

Drop Off Safety

Please use the following directions and share them

with anyone who drives your students to or from

school:

MORNING ARRIVAL

All students (K – 8th grade) should enter

the school through the main entrance on

Prairie Avenue.

Be aware that all of our school buses use

this drop-off area in the morning.

Pre-school drop off is on Prairie Avenue

along the Learning Resource Building.

If you drop your children off on Douglas

Avenue, please pull all the way up to the

northern doors.

Please do NOT park or stop in front of the

Learning Resource Building. Buses cannot

make a turn northward if there are cars

present in the area.

AFTERNOON DISMISSAL

Buses use flashing lights and stop signs

when loading students. Never pass a

stopped school bus from either direction

when this occurs.

Leave the parking lot at the extreme east

end and turn right to avoid the school

buses.

Prairie Avenue is closed for most of the

block to Fairview Avenue when students

are boarding.

Please do not park in the “No Parking

Zone” located on Prairie, just west of

Douglas St. This zone is marked with signs

from the village