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Merry Christmas from all of us at Holy Family School!
 November/December 

John Lancaster Spalding Scholarship Fund Grants
Please be aware that all financial aid applications MUST begin with an application for this Diocesan grant.  Read the following carefully.   "Tuition assistance scholarship grants from the endowment fund established as a result of the Diocese of Peoria ROOTED IN FAITH Campaign and named in honor of Archbishop Spalding, the first Bishop of Peoria, will be available for the 2008 - 2009 school year, for students enrolled in or intending to enroll in grades Kindergarten through 12 in any Catholic school located in the Diocese of Peoria whose families are members of a Catholic parish in the diocese.  All grants will be based on financial need objectively assessed.  Information about the grants and application materials may be obtained from Holy Family School’s office as of January 7th. Families of students currently receiving grants are reminded that all grants are for one year only, and anyone seeking to renew a grant for 2008-2009 must reapply.  The application deadline is February 15, 2008.  Notification of grant awards will be made by mid-April." (Announcement from Diocesan Office of Catholic Schools)
     Please realize that all of HFS’ financial aid will be based upon the John Lancaster Spalding criteria.  These papers must be filed according to the Diocesan deadline.  HFS has no control to change the dates, regulations or protocols.  YOU MUST FILE BY FEB. 15th. To help you with this, we  have two workshops planned  for  February 5th and 7th.  Mark your calendars now and plan to attend one or the other meeting.
     Also, please realize that one component of the Diocesan Grants is a statement from Father Ted Pracz regarding the state of your active church participation. This is not optional.  Please realize that if Father Ted seldom and/or never sees you at Mass and/or you seldom make use of your church support envelopes, he can NOT, in good conscience, agree that you are in "good standing".  Without that statement approval from Father Ted regarding YOUR activity as a parish member, your chances for financial aid are nil.  Please consider these issues now.
    
We Made IT--$32,000 and More!
Thank You!
   While there may be a few remaining pledges to be paid, we have finished our Race For Education Fund Drive.  And Boy, What a SUCCESS!!  For the first time ever, we reached the BIG Goal which allows us an extra day off!  That’s right, by making the goal of $32,000, we will take December 20th off—no school!
     This year’s race was another fun day of activity for all students preschool through eighth grade.  We all ran or walked our designated hour as fast as our legs could carry us.  We had some fantastic lap totals, money totals, class totals and more.  We will unveil all of the award winners at our RFE Award Assembly.
     Here are a few fun facts:
• Over 5000 mailed  flyers (from your labels)
• Had 243  "Racers"
• They ran a collective 3,536 laps
•That is an average of 14.6 laps per runner or over 3.5 miles per person (including our preschoolers).
• Overall that number of laps equal 884 miles!  Those miles would get us past New Orleans, Louisiana from Danville—quite a jog!  Good Work!
• Our top lap person was Heriberto Romero with 31 laps in an hour!!
Pretty neat, huh?
     While we certainly needed to raise the goal of $32,000 for budget purposes, we appreciate all the work our students, parents and staff did to make this day GREAT!  Great fun for all, in a day for all.  Thank you!
     We would certainly be remiss if we did not also thank our volunteers, Mrs. Christina Dietzen was with us all day punching holes to mark laps, serving treats and helping all over.  Mrs. Mona Elghammer was a trooper too, along with Mrs. Collins—thank you!  I know there were several other parents that stopped in to watch and help during the day.  Thank YOU!

Why We Have the Accelerated Reading and Math Programs
     This is a question we get from time to time from parents who have children that seem to be struggling to accomplish their assigned goals within these two programs.  In the next two newsletters I will try to better explain (or perhaps
re-explain) the philosophy, purpose and goals of both programs.
     Every teacher everywhere has a quandary of how to achieve more independent reading time and then make proper evaluation as to whether the child has read and understood the book.  Whether it is to write book reports, make a summary, or complete some type of form—the evaluation is inevitably very poor as to whether the child read or understood the given book.  The Accelerated Reading program answered this problem. The program had, from the beginning, thousands of book titles to pull from; an applied scientifically tested readability formula and provided immediate feedback to each student.  Additionally, the program gave teachers helpful reports and progress for EACH child.  Plus, each child could read at an individual-need level.  This truly seemed to be an answer to prayers.
     The question might then come as to why we needed to ask the students to do independent reading.  There is a pretty simple answer to this one—it is "good for" or beneficial for the student who does independent reading.  It is a known fact, scientific research has proven again and again, that the better one reads the better one does in school and in life.  Can there be any doubt that our children of today will face multiple career/job changes—generally at least five are predicted for each individual in the work world.  With each change comes new training, on-going educational needs and the ability to adapt and change—all require reading. 
     In the much shorter term, research has shown that children who are avid readers tend to do better in every subject—from grammar (because their reading experience helps them understand what "sounds" correct), to social studies (because even fiction can teach us about places, motives, historical periods and more). There are endless examples of how reading any type of book (fiction or nonfiction) can and will help children who are reading with an eye to comprehending.  More brain synapses firing, more stimuli introduced, more knowledge gained, more experiences read about—even before one can experience them, and just general understanding of personalities, people’s feelings, and the complicated relationships that exist—can generally be better understood if read in the context of a story than most other ways. 
     So ought not the question be "Why NOT read?"  Why would one not take advantage of learning without lecture?  Understanding better without homework of writing answer to questions; learning more without the constant guidance of a teacher or parent.  The easiest and cheapest education is found through reading a book.  No one can take away, steal, cheat or rob one of their education—almost every other human "belonging" has such contingencies.
     Another component of the decision to move fully into the Accelerated Reading Program came because we needed to find some way to improve our standardized reading scores. At that time our students took the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills as their standardized tests; but regardless of what company writes these tests, our comparison of students against the national norms (or comparing our students against others of the same age/grade) were not as good as we would want.  The first and easiest way to improve standardized test scores is encouraging and doing more independent reading.  That is what we did.  Our test scores improved.
     Over the years we have extended the length of day, increased the number of days in attendance and worked at reducing the amount of learning lost during summer breaks.  These decisions were made to help the students achieve more and retain information longer.  We have and continue to study, improve and evaluate each subject area. 
     Eventually we accomplished our goal:  our students gained in their ranking on the standardized tests—astounding results were found with those that were most dedicated to the program. However even for those barely participating, the overall results showed gradual but continual improvement.
     Now those initial gains and results are slipping.  Some students are not attempting to read books of interest but rather the "smallest or shortest" they can find to meet the "average" goal of four books within their reading zone.  Too many students seem to have lost their purpose and motivation to "be the best they can be".  There seems to be little to induce the motivation to improve their academic standing.
     As a parent you need to look at the standardized test scores we sent home with you at conferences.  No student can maintain average (and we want our children to be "above average") on reading, vocabulary, language and language mechanics without considerable independent reading.  That is not even looking at the considerable difference independent reading does to aid social studies, science and spelling standardized test scores.  Have you looked at those scores?  Did you compare with previous years?  Is your child growing equal to their God-given ability to improve and grow?  These are serious issues for you and your children.  We believe Accelerated Reading improves the odds in their favor.
     Again, our ultimate goal is to help your child achieve their greatest potential…
     If you have comments, questions or concerns, please e-mail me at pcroy@hfsdanv.org or call the school office.
     Next time:  Accelerated Math Mysteries Explained…

Advent Season
     How does your family prepare for the birth of Jesus?  Do you have an Advent Wreath?  Or perhaps an Advent Calendar?  Do you have special traditions in your family that help each of you center on the "reason for the season"?  Today that is more and more difficult as our society keeps us so focused on buying gifts for each other.  Help your children remember the very simple birth of Jesus in a stable to His earthly parents, Mary and Joseph.  Help them to know and better understand that this is the best gift of all time.  May your family be blessed during this Christmas Season!

Dates to Remember:
• Dec. 14th – Last day for ReadUp in the 2nd Quarter
• Dec. 17th – Save Darfur  Jean day – for $1.00 each student can wear jeans with an appropriate Christmas shirt.  All proceeds are going to Schlarman High School’s Save Darfur Project.
• Dec. 18th – Christmas shirt with jeans day. (or students can wear a HFS shirt with jeans)
• Dec. 18th – Christmas Program in conjunction with the Home and School Association general meeting.  At the Church beginning at 7:00p.m.  The doors will open at 6:30p.m.
• Dec. 19th – Last day of attendance for the second quarter.  If all fees are current, second quarter report cards will be distributed.
• Christmas shirts with jeans can be worn without a jean coupon on the 19th.  Christmas parties will be held in each class beginning after lunch.
• Dec. 20th – No School – We made our Race For Education Goal!!  Good Job!
• Dec. 24th – Christmas Vigil Mass begins with Christmas carols at 9:30p.m. and Mass at 10:00p.m.
• Dec. 25th – Holy Day Christmas Masses are at 7:30a.m. and 10:00a.m.
• Jan. 7th, 2008 – Third quarter classes begin