January 2010

Happy New Year!!! 

AT A GLANCE:  Contents of newsletter

Dates to Remember

Message from Sr. Dorothy

Important Information

PTG Auxiliary/PTG

Certificate Program

Fundraising                                   

Important Cafeteria Information

Girl Scout News

Students in the News

Monthly Calendar

January Dates to Remember

Please review the monthly calendar for a complete list of CDTCA events/activities

Wednesday, December 23                                                       Christmas Holiday Break

    Thru Friday, January 1

Monday, January 4                                                              Return to school

Friday, January 8                                                                          Girl Scout Cookie Sales Begins

Monday, January 11                                                            PTG Aux. Mtg. 9AM in the Pastoral Center

Friday, January 15                                                            Clerical Day – No school for students

Monday, January 18                                                            Martin Luther King Holiday – No school

Wednesday, January 20                                                             PJAS Science Presentations @ 7PM

Saturday, January 23                                                            2nd Grade Reconciliation Retreat

Saturday, January 30                                                            Open House  3-4:45 PM All school and church welcome!

                                                                                       Catholic Schools Week Liturgy 5 PM All School

                                                                                                            Followed by Reception at 6 PM

Monday, February 1 thru                                                      Catholic Schools Week 

         Friday, February 5                                                          various activities - Details to follow

from the desk of Sister Dorothy

As we begin 2010, a new decade, we plan our calendars, schedules, and events for the year.  Years ago I came across the following prayer for the New Year and would like to share it with you.  Hope you can take the ‘time’ to reflect and pray it with your family.

Our lives are made of days and nights, of seasons and years, for we are part of a universe of suns and moons and planets.  We mark ends and we mark beginnings and in all we praise God for the grace and mercy that fill our days.

Almighty God, may this New Year of 2010, which we dedicate to you, bring us abundant prosperity and growth in holy living.

We thank you for your gift of the seasons.  Through your reflected beauty, they help us mark the passing of time.  Bless with your special accuracy those who help us to be organized and on time, who help us keep our schedules and appointments…bless us with sensitivity when we impose on the precious time of others.  For those whose time is now eternity, share the blessing of your light and peace.

Teach us to live each day in your love, cherishing each moment as we experience it, leaving all else safely in your hands.  Hear us now in your mercy and extend your blessing to the instruments, calendars and timepieces we use to measure time.

Bless our clocks and watches so we may experience the miracle of each second, may they help us not miss what is important while you keep us from machine like routine.  Free us from being clock-watchers, make us time lovers.  Bless our calendars. Those ordered lists of weeks and months, of holydays and holidays, of feasts and fasts, all our special days of remembering.

May these calendars, our servants, grace our homes and our lives.  May they remind us of birthdays and other ‘gifted’ days, as they teach us the secret that all of life is meant for contemplation and celebration.  And finally, Lord, bless this New Year, each of its days and nights.  Bless us with full means and new means, with happy seasons and healthy lives.   Amen.

For your information…

Don’t forget that we follow the Fox Chapel School District bus schedule.  When they delay… so do we.  When they cancel…so do we.  In previous schools, the school district would call me early to let me know what they were ‘doing’.  Fox Chapel does not have this policy so I will be watching the news, like you, to find out what will be happening when the weather is bad.

Catholic Schools Week will be starting January 31.  We will have Open House and a special Mass on Saturday, January 30.  Many activities will be planned for the week and you will be receiving special notice regarding them.  One special event is that Father Kris Stubna, the Diocesan Secretary for Education has requested to visit our school and have a Mass for the students.  He will be here on Friday, February 4 at 10:30 and after Mass will visit with the students.  Anyone who is available is encouraged to join us for Mass.

Following the Open House January 30, registration for next year will begin.  The best PR for our school is ‘word of mouth’.  Please spread the word that our school is alive and well to all your friends, relatives, and neighbors.  It would be wonderful if every family could bring in another student.  The fundraising fee will be eliminated for any family who refers a student who enrolls.  Additional information regarding our open house will be sent to all families in January.

School Closing and /or Delay Information Reminder:

In the event that an emergency closing, delay or early dismissal occurs due to inclement weather, Christ the Divine Teacher Catholic Academy will follow the information provided by the Fox Chapel School District, i.e. if Fox Chapel School District is closed, delayed, or dismissing early due to weather conditions so is Christ the Divine Teacher Catholic Academy. In the event of an emergency early dismissal please make your children aware of an alternate plan in the event that you are not home. School cancellations or delays are broadcast on local television and/or radio stations or you may contact the Fox Chapel School District Hotline at 412.967.2500 for information. In the event of a delay, Christ the Divine Teacher Catholic Academy cannot provide supervision of the children prior to twenty (20) minutes before the announced delayed starting time, therefore, please do not bring the children to school earlier than that time.

If you are a resident of a school district other than Fox Chapel you will need to be aware of the information provided by the Fox Chapel School District. Christ the Divine Teacher Catholic Academy will follow the time parameters of the Fox Chapel District relative to emergency situations. Similar to the above, in the event of a school delay children should not be brought to the school building earlier than twenty (20) minutes prior to the delayed starting time.

Please do not call the school to inquire about cancellations and/or delays. Listen to local radio or televisions or contact the Fox Chapel School District Hotline – 412.967.2500.             

FROM THE PTG/PTG AUXILIARY:

PTG AUXILIARY NEWS

Happy New Year!  We hope that you and your family had a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year! 

Our first PTG Auxiliary meeting of 2010 will be held on Monday, January 11, 2010 at 9:00 AM in the Pastoral Center.  Please join us as we plan for Catholic Schools Week and discuss issues important to our school community.  If you haven’t attended a meeting in the past, why not make it your New Year’s Resolution to get more involved! 

Finally, we are desperately seeking a coordinator for the Math Pentathlon program.  Math Pentathlon is an enrichment activity for students in grades K-5 that teaches our children strategy, decision making skills, and math principles all under the guise of playing “board games” with their classmates.  If we are going to continue to be blessed with having this important program in our school, it is important that we get this position filled immediately.  Please contact Heidi Kipp at kipphl@upmc.edu or 724-822-4341 or Ann Marie Kiszka at amckiszka@hotmail.com or 412-781-4319 for more information.

 PTG NEWS