In this Issue: Black History Month Assembly • Principal’s Corner • Homework Survey • Big Dig on Instagram • Dress Down Days • Concussion Seminar • Traffic Safety Alert Arch Survey • 7th Gd. Religion • School Calendar • St. Baldrick’s • Parker’s Party Hoops for Humanity • Trivia Night • Jr. Basketball • Boys’ 8th B-ball • St. Patrick’s Day Party • Join SB in Southside Parade • St. Patrick’s Liturgy THIS WEEK @ST. BARNABAS Last week, kindergarten celebrated Black History Month by learning all about Langston Hughes, a poet and author who was one of the Harlem Renaissance’s leading figures in the 1920s. He was the first African American to earn his living solely by writing and lecturing. His works include essays, short stories and many novels with memorable characters which gained him popularity. The boys and girls enjoyed learning some of his ABC animal poems collected in The Sweet and Sour Animal Book which was published posthumously. They used water colors to paint pictures to go with Langston Hughes’ poems and memorized a few of their favorites. One of our wonderful parent volunteers created a video with all of their pictures and a brief biography of Langston Hughes set to music performed by some famous black singers and civil rights leaders for the entire school community to enjoy. Thank you, Mr. Dreznes! Celebrating Black History @SB
Transcript
In this Issue:Black History Month Assembly • Principal’s Corner • Homework Survey • Big
Dig on Instagram • Dress Down Days • Concussion Seminar • Traffic Safety Alert
Arch Survey • 7th Gd. Religion • School Calendar • St. Baldrick’s • Parker’s Party
Hoops for Humanity • Trivia Night • Jr. Basketball • Boys’ 8th B-ball • St. Patrick’s
Day Party • Join SB in Southside Parade • St. Patrick’s Liturgy
THIS WEEK @ST. BARNABAS
Last week, kindergarten celebrated Black History Month by learning all about Langston Hughes, a poet and author who was one of the Harlem Renaissance’s leading figures in the 1920s. He was the first African American to earn his living solely by writing and lecturing. His works include essays, short stories and many novels with memorable characters which gained him popularity.
The boys and girls enjoyed learning some of his ABC animal poems collected in The Sweet and Sour Animal Book which was published posthumously. They used water colors to paint pictures to go with Langston Hughes’ poems and memorized a few of their favorites.
One of our wonderful parent volunteers created a video with all of their pictures and a brief biography of Langston Hughes set to music performed by some famous black singers and civil rights leaders for the entire school community to enjoy. Thank you, Mr. Dreznes!
This morning, St. Barnabas held its first ever Black History Month assembly, and it was a great success! Students from preschool through 8th grade got to see dances and songs celebrating black history as well as “I Have a Dream, Too” speeches from our very own students inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thank you to our student club, Exploring International Culture, our parent volunteers from the Cultural Inclusion Committee, 5th grade teacher Mrs. Keishawna Ballard for choreographing the dance, art teach-er Ms. Natalie Malinowski for creating special art and coordinating student artwork for the event and Ms. Sasha Rashidee for her work on the song. Many thanks to the St. Rita Jazz Band for their amazing music and their additional readings about the musicians whose songs they so beautifully played. Thank you also to all the students who dressed down for the occasion. We will announce our specific plans for the funds raised in a coming newsletter.
As always, we are so proud of our many student leaders whose passion and dedication really made this assembly and celebration come to life, and we are thrilled about how our community came together to support this vision.
Black History Month Assembly
Parents/Guardians:Thank you to everyone who contributed to our “Get Behind the Vest” dress down day last Friday! We raised $950 to go toward new bulletproof vests for the Chicago Police Department!
Speaking of causes important to St. Barnabas, please check out the article in this week’s edition of The Beverly Review about Parker’s Party and the Polar Plunge this Sunday. Click here to support Parker’s Party as they plunge into the icy cold water to raise money for Special Olympics!
Each week during Black History Month, we are focusing on a different black saint. At our BHM assembly this morning, we spoke to students about Father Augustine Tolton, who was the first Roman Catholic priest in the U.S. publicly known to be black. A former slave who was baptized and reared Catholic, Tolton was ordained in 1886. He first ministered to his home parish in Quincy, Illinois, and, fearing racial preju-dice from other priests there, he accepted a transfer to assist in founding St. Monica’s Church in Chicago. We are excited to celebrate and share about black history in this way and as our students have been, with a different important person in black history each morning during announcements.
Save the date: Attention 3rd-8th grade students, Aspire testing is quickly approaching! Our Aspire tests will be given from Tuesday, March 31-Friday, April 3. More information will be coming in the newsletter as the date gets closer, so please stay tuned
Our office is starting to receive calls about next year’s school calendar, which will not be coming out until late April. At that time, we will be sure to let you know the dates for the 2020-2021 school year. Thank you for your patience.
If you didn’t have a chance yet, please take a moment to complete the very brief survey, linked here and in the black box below. The survey will be close Monday. Homework continues to be a subject of debate in the news across the country, and we are interested in what your child’s homework load is like for them on a daily basis. Thank you!
Finally, in our continued commitment to keep parents updated on online safety, there is unfortunaly an-other new craze among Tik Tok users: the “Skull-Breaker Challenge,” which involves two people fooling a third person into jumping into the air and kicking their feet out from under them. This causes the “jump-er” to land on their back or their head, which has already caused injuries such as skull fractures, severe concussions and even paralysis. One death has already been reported from this trend. Please continue to talk with your children about the dangers of these challenges and monitor their social media and inter-net usage. We will remain vigilant in reporting to you any of these trends that come to our attention and encourage you to do the same for the safety of our students.
Have a great week,
Elaine Gaffney
Principal’s Corner
Parents/Guardians: Please Take This Brief Homework Survey!
We want your thoughts on homework: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SN77J8D
Follow the Big Dig on Instagram!
Get updates on our progress as we moved toward the new addition: https://www.ins-tagram.com/bigdigforthekids/
Upcoming Dress Down DaysWe’re thrilled and fortunate to support so many worthy causes at St. Barnabas. The caus-es we support most often celebrate people in our community or are brought to our atten-tion by students, parents, or staff members. While we realize there are several dress down days coming up and that this can add up for families, we encourage students to use their own piggy bank funds to contribute, so these acts of service are more meaningful to them. Since none of these are Mass days, school-appropriate leggings and sweatpants will be permitted. Thank you for your support!
Date: Details:Friday, 2/28 Dress down in red and gray school-appropriate clothing for a $2 donation (per student) to the Special Olympics, and our own “Parker’s Party” Polar Plunge team.
Friday, 3/6 & Two Ways to Dress Down to support Pat Mac’s Pack: Friday, 3/13 1. Students who purchased PMP gear this year may wear it! 2. For a one-time, $5 donation (per student, counts for both days), students may dress down in school-appropriate green clothing or Pat Mac’s Pack gear from previous years.
Concussion Protocol Seminar @SB
SB Coaches, Parents and Community: Please mark your calendars now and join the Athletic Board and our partner, SportsBrain, for a seminar on concussion protocol April 2 from 7-9 pm in the Church Hall. Even if your child is not active in St. Barnabas athletics, the information will be useful for everyone. Refreshments will be provided. We hope to see you there.
Traffic Safety Alert
We have recently had a few very close calls during drop-off in the parking lot, crosswalks and on Walden Parkway, with people or cars nearly being hit in some cases.
In addition, when roads are snowy and icy, the hill on 101st St. gets very slippery and treacherous, for both cars and students crossing there. Whenever possible, please drive another way on icy weather days, and if your children walk along that route, please tell them to take extra caution when crossing at the corner of 101st St. and Longwood.
Please be patient and cautious in the morn-ing and allow extra time to get to school and work. We need your support in keeping our kids safe on their way to school!
Dear Parent,
Beginning in late February, teachers, parents, and students across the district will have an opportunity to participate in the Climate, Culture, and Catholic Identity Survey utilizing the 5Essentials Survey. This survey is designed to generate a detailed picture of the inner workings of your child’s school. As a parent, this opportunity will allow you to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness in a survey about your child’s school.
The 5Essentials Survey will be administered online by UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago and gathers data related to five indicators that can predict important student outcomes, including improved attendance and larger test score gains. The five indicators that affect and predict school success are:Effective Leaders • Collaborative Teachers • Involved Families • Supportive Environments • Ambitious In-struction
Prior research has shown that schools that were strong on at least three of these “5Essential” indicators were 10 times more likely to improve student learning gains in math and reading than those that were weak on three or more Essentials.
Additionally, our district has chosen to provide the 5Essential parent survey, linked here. If at least 20 percent of St. Barnabas School parents complete this survey, a parent supplement report will also be generated.
Your participation in the parent portion of the survey will help us understand the conditions at your child’s school and guide improvement. Your identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child. Reports will be shared with schools and districts in May 2020. The 5Essentials Survey will be conducted through March 20, 2020. To take the survey, please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/archchicago/survey/parent.
A Message from the Archdiocese
7th-graders in Mrs. Ladislas’ classes have been working hard in Religion! Last week, they had to find a recent article that talked about someone forgiving someone else. They then summarized the article and explained why forgiveness is such an important part of our lives and the life of our society. They present-ed their opinions to class. Great job, 7th-graders! And welcome back, Mrs. Ladislas! We missed you!
There are two brackets in this tournament; 5th & 6th grades and 7th & 8th grades. Money raised will go to the charity chosen by tne winning team from each bracket.
St. Barnabas Jr. Basketball Kindergarten- 3rd Grade
2020 Registration- Space is limited.
Please click on the link below to register. Registration opens February 20th and ends March 15th
https://registration.buzz/barnabas/
Practice will be held on Wednesday nights, and Games will be played on Sunday afternoons.
Season begins late March through the beginning of May- schedule to follow.
Saint Barnabas Jr. Basketball will focus on the fundamentals of basketball (teamwork, passing, defense, hustle, shooting, locations on the court, listening, &
the fun and enjoyment of the game of basketball)
All players will receive a Jr. Basketball t-shirt .
Any questions or concerns please email Ms. Sadowski at [email protected]
Pat Mac’s Pack $50 ($55+ value) Includes...Admission ticket, green lei for Heads-or-Tails game, three raffle tickets, $5 of drink/food tickets, and a Pat Mac’s Pack can koozie.
Admission Only $20
Get your tickets online!https://patmacspack.org/event/st-patricks-day-party-at-st-barnabas/
8th Grade Boys’ Basketball Game
The 8th grade boys basketball B team will be playing in the championship at Brother Rice this Saturday starting @2:45 pm. Come on out and support these Buckeyes in their last season at St. Barnabas!
St. Patrick’s Liturgy Children in Grades 4-8
are invited to
be in the candle procession* for the
St. Patrick’s Liturgy
on Saturday, March 14, 2020
at 4:00 pm. *Spots are limited and will be given on a first
come first serve basis!
Each Candle Bearer will need to attend two rehearsals on
