others. And finally, we ll speak regularly about reverence; not only in mass, but a demonstration for God s love the people we encounter.

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1 Cathedral Parish School The Halo Planting the seeds of Faith, Character, and Knowledge. September 2011 Volume 2, issue 1 The three R s of Catholic education. Cathedral Parish School is Planting the Seeds of Faith, Character and Knowledge in Each month we ll highlight one aspect of our theme. We begin with the three R s. No, not Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, but Respect, Responsibility and Reverence. As parents and teachers we have a special opportunity to teach and model for our kids. Throughout classrooms this month, teachers will be focusing lessons on promoting self respect, respect for peers and tolerance. They ll be incorporating concepts such as dependability, perseverance and how to be a good example to others. And finally, we ll speak regularly about reverence; not only in mass, but a demonstration of a profound respect for God s love the people we encounter. It is both my hope and my expectation, that students who attend Cathedral Parish School grow in the love and faith of the Lord each day, as we challenge them to be scholars and saints. I d also like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone back for the school year. We are honored to teach your children and we are so pleased to see so many new faces around campus. Welcome to our New Families! Did you know that we have 31 new families with a total of 38 kids that have joined us this year? Interesting to note, that of those 38 new students, only 10 of them are in kindergarten. Catholic Movie reviews from the USCCB Have a blessed year! Todd M. DeClemente Special points of interest: PTO meetings will be the first Thursday of every month at 6:30, with a social beginning at 6:00pm. Single game Jaguars tickets are available at a discounted rate through the school. Mr. DeClemente if you are interested. Roman Missal workshops are available throughout the area at local parishes. Check your bulletins for more information. That s right, we re on twitter. Follow for updates on school happenings and events. As we get started, this will be a protected account, meaning followers will need to be approved prior to viewing our page. Parents only, please. Inside this issue: Smart Board 2 From K-12 2 And did you know that you can go to and read movie reviews sponsored by the United States Council of Catholic Bishops? These reviews not only provide a professional quality reviews of a film; it also presents analysis from a Catholic perspective and has it s own rating system. This latter system will give you a great sense of whether or not there is adolescent or teen sensitive material or objectionable moral content. Knowing that a PG rating isn t what it used to be, this website can be a valuable tool for parents when kids want to rent an older movie or head out to the theater on a Friday night. Catholic News 3 Tablets and E-Readers 4 SGA 4 Dismissal/Drop Off 4 Thank you to Sharon Weaver who volunteered her time and talent to paint our front office. The new look is warm and inviting and we truly appreciate your decision to contribute! From the Pastor s Desk. CPS edition 5

2 The Halo Technology Growth at CPS At the end of last school year we received two incredible donations. The first was from the U.S. Attorney s office, consisting of desktop computers, laptops, printers, and flat screen monitors. This enabled us to upgrade every teacher s computer and upgrade many of the student workstations in the classrooms. Then early in the summer, with quite a bit of hard work and some determination, our Technology Coordinator, Mrs. Willower, received word that we had been approved for some Title II money through St. Johns County and were able to acquire a brand new SMART Board. Page 2 This interactive white board is a giant leap forward for our technology program. It is being installed in a classroom that will be available to all teachers to check out and bring their classes to. The faculty will also be receiving a few hours of training and resource time to become more proficient in using this exciting piece of equipment, ensuring that we will be able to incorporate technology into our instruction on a more regular basis. We look forward to seeing all of the interesting projects that classes will be able to participate in. There is still a lot more room for growth, but we are well on our way! E-readers and tablet computers in the classroom? Whether you stop, drop and read, read for enjoyment, or have SSR in class (silent sustained reading), time to relax with a good book is always an enjoyable activity. However, the delivery of reading is about to change for middle school students at CPS. Over the summer of 2011, our governor Rick Scott proposed that Florida public schools adopt the use of digital textbooks by the school year. Many schools are beginning this process with the use of e-readers in classrooms. As we begin the trek towards the use of e- textbooks, we will be piloting a program using e-readers in the middle school Literature classroom. With this statewide proposal being introduced at the end of last school year, discussion began for the use of e-readers here at CPS. There are many aspects to consider, such as parental consent and responsible use by students. As these issues are discussed and settled and a plan is created, students will have the option of using an e-reader for their SSR reading time. Are the shelves in Mrs. Manfredo s classroom destined to become cobweb catching caverns? Absolutely not! The use of e-readers is only the first step toward 21 st century learning. Eventually switching to e- textbooks will make information much easier to access and update, but in the meantime, most students may simply enjoy using an e-reader to make reading more fun. We will keep parents informed as soon as the policy is settled. -L. Manfredo E-READERS? What role will tablet computers play in the classroom in the future? St. Joseph Academy scores well on National AP Exams The number of St. Joseph Academy seniors scoring well enough on Advanced Placement exams to earn college credit continued to rise last year. More than 83% of St. Joseph Academy seniors who took one of four AP tests last spring received a passing score of three or higher. Here s how the scores break down: 100% passed the AP Calculus 93% passed the AP English Language and Composition 83% passed the AP Psychology 66% passed the AP Statistics Not only do the students who pass the examinations receive recognition for earning college credit in high school, they save money since they don't have to take as many classes or prerequisites once they get to college. -Pat Keane St. Joseph Academy CPS graduates, Alex Carames and Heather Volk, contributed to these results.

3 Page 3 7 th Grade is going on a pilgrimage! Volume 2, issue 1 7 th Grade is going to make a pilgrimage in February, 2012 to the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe in Orlando. It is not only our mission to make a pilgrimage, but it is our goal to purchase a brick as a donation to the Basilica which will plant our seed by permanently marking the CPS Class of 2013 s visit. Please help us achieve our trip and goal by purchasing a Christmas tree. 8th grade is going on a trip of their own! Poinsettias are available for sale. Put your orders in by October 28th. They will be delivered on December 1st. See Mrs. Faustini for more information. Religious life at CPS We are a Catholic school down to our core. It s who we are and who we will always be. We ll be celebrating and promoting our Catholic identity in the month of September as we have visits from Fr. Remek the Di- ocesan Director of Vocations, St. Jane Stoeker, the General Superior of the Sisters of St. Joseph, and if all goes well, we may have a very special visit from our Bishop in the not too distant future. Speaking of which, Jr. High Religion wasted no time getting right back into the swing of things. The 2 nd day of school we made cards to welcome Bishop Estevez to our diocese. We look forward to seeing our new bishop on campus as well as attending Mass with him. Cathedral Parish welcomes a new D.R.E. My name is Barbara Eretto and I am the new Director of Religious Education for Cathedral Parish of St. Augustine. We are currently accepting registration for sacramental preparation for students in grades 2 and 8 who are eligible to receive the Sacraments of First Communion/ Reconciliation and Confirmation. Please note the sacramental preparation program has changed. The It s that time of year to order your Christmas tree! Don t miss out on purchasing the most BEAUTIFUL tree (and wreath) you ll ever have! Look for order forms via newsletters or you can Mrs. Heiser at dheiser@cpsschool.org. Profits from tree/wreath sales benefit the 7 th grades pilgrimage to the Basilica of the Naprogram is now family based. To register your child for a sacrament at Cathedral Parish please contact Barbara Eretto at cathedralcfp@gmail.com or by phone at Barbara Eretto Director of Religious Education. Thank for all of your prayers for Marianne and for Father Jeff, as they both recover from surgery.

4 Kindergarten- Mini movers Our own Mrs. Kings, sponsor of the Dance Angels and a former dance instructor, has put together a great new program for our Kindergarteners. We will now be offering an afterschool class called Mini Movers. The class is designed to inspire creative movement though activity and dance. The eight week program is free to parents and will be held on Tuesday afternoons from 2:50 3:45 in the Parish Hall. The first class will be held on September 6. Sign up in the front office. Speaking of Kindergarten: We have had a great start to the new school year! We have been learning safety rules and routines in our classroom. We have been doing our unit on All About Me as well as learning how to write our names, a few numbers and letters. We are learning how to share, and have kind words for friends. In September we will learn about Apples, Fall, and Johnny Appleseed. We look forward to learning about new words and letters for beginning reading. Great job Kindergartener s! -Mrs. Tibbitts We may be offering a companion course for the lower grades at a later date. Keep an eye out for more announcements! The students in Mrs. Sette's second grade class have been busy reading stories about exploration. We traveled into space and learned about astronauts and their jobs. We made a special rocket that ascended into space and descended back down to earth. We also explored the forest with our story book characters Henry and Mudge. Henry and his family enjoyed camping together. Second grade enjoyed snacking on a camping treat of smores, and we read stories around our indoor campfire. Our next trip will be to the desert. I wonder what we will find there? STUDENT COUNCIL SPONSOR: COACH ALGREEN SOUND: ENERGY AND WAVE FORMS President: Chloe Carames VP: Sophia Garofalo Treasurer: Isabella Garofalo Secretary: Megan Siragusa Our 8th grade students had a wonderful opportunity to learn about waveforms and sound from the experts at Eclipse Records. Mr Jim Stafford, owner of Eclipse Records, and Mark Dobies, a cps graduate, allowed our students to view the inner workings of a recording studio and learn firsthand about sound and wave energy! The Student Council manages many school fundraisers throughout the school year, along with the Thanksgiving Food Drive and Veterans Day Ceremony. The money raised will be donated to various local and national charities at the end of the school year and may also be used for school improvement projects. During the school year, the Student Council raised over $

5 From the Pastor s Desk: Planting the Seeds of Faith Father Thomas S. Willis Pastor Cathedral Parish This year s school theme would be an appropriate one each and every year. Like a farmer that has to plant seeds every year in order for the crop to yield the harvest, the same is true for our faith. And like the farmer who has to care and nurture the crop no matter if the weather is good and beneficial or if it happens to be otherwise, we have to do the same with our faith. Each day, no matter what the conditions are in the world around us, we need to care for and nurture that faith so we and our children are growing in our relationship with the Lord and His Church. It begins by faithfully keeping the first day of week Sunday. Since the late first century, despite persecutions and other obstacles, Christians have come together on this day to worship the God of our salvation. Being a part of the liturgical assembly is part of our identity as members of the Church. Eventually, Sunday came to be known in Christianity as the Lord s Day a reminder that this one day each week belongs especially to God and has been proposed that it be kept as such. In 1998, Blessed John Paul II wrote in his Apostolic Letter Dies Domini ( On Keeping the Lord s Day Holy ): Sunday is a day which is at the very heart of the Christian life. Planting the seeds of faith also occurs by living the faith each day in one s home. Having regular times for prayer is an important way in which we grow in our faith and in our relationship with the Lord. The old cliché, The family that prays together, stays together is true. Prayer is meant, in the first place, to unite us to God, but prayer also unites us to our family as well as the human family. We grow in a sense of solidarity with the needs of others as we offer our prayer and lift up the needs, the intentions of one another. The important place of prayer can never be underestimated in helping one s faith to grow. And don t forget about the Word of God Holy Scripture. Taking time to read, reflect and meditate on passages from the Bible is another way that we plant the seeds of faith and nurture it. Don t be intimidated by the Bible. It s God s Word. Our former bishop, Victor Galeone, often said that the Bible is God s love letter to humanity. God so much wants us to know and experience His love. If you don t know where to start, read the First Letter of St. John. The message is clear and straight-forward. The letter declares God is love (1 John 4:8). It can t be much clearer than that. Finally, put the faith into action. Finding ways to come out of ourselves and share the gift of faith, hope and love is essential. Get involved in a ministry in your parish. Why not, as a family, offer to be the ushers at one of your parish s Sunday Masses each month? How about, as a family, being the altar servers? Not only will it draw you closer together as a family, it is a great statement of faith to the wider community. Parents who let their children know the faith is important to them tend to raise children who will keep the practice of the faith important for many years to come. It doesn t mean they won t stray. It s inevitable that teens and young adults will have to make the faith their own. But you can plant the seeds now, so that there will be good fruit thirty-, sixty-, and a hundred-fold (Mark 4:8).