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“Y“YOUOU WEREWERE
BORNBORN TOTO
BECOMEBECOME THETHE
BESTBEST VERSIONVERSION
OFOF
YOURSELFYOURSELF!”!”
M. KM. KELLYELLY
“DEVELOPING
PERSONAL
AND
ACADEMIC
EXCELLENCE
IN THE
CATHOLIC
TRADITION”
STM CSTM CSTM CAVALIERAVALIERAVALIER
CCCHRONICLESHRONICLESHRONICLES
Shopping Shopping
GamesGames
Inflatable AdventuresInflatable Adventures
Cotton CandyCotton Candy
Dunk TankDunk Tank
Food Food sponsored by Mission Trip to Jamaica Teamsponsored by Mission Trip to Jamaica Team
Join us for a day of fun and games to support the RCCSS!Join us for a day of fun and games to support the RCCSS!
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2015 Fall Sports Program
We would like to thank the following businesses
for their support in the STM Fall Sports Program!
Opportunities to advertise in the Winter edition of the program are available. Please
contact Liz Myscofski at [email protected] for more information.
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Greetings from the St. Thomas More Middle School Library!
This year is off to an amazing start! In addition to traditional book checkout, the STM Middle School Library is providing opportunities for students to explore electronics and circuitry, arts and crafts, and book clubs. We now have an Amazon Wish list that includes books and more supplies for our electronics and craft activities in the Library. The best way to find it is to search using the email, [email protected], at the Amazon Wish list website (http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/search). Thank you for your continued support of our Libraries!
Many Blessings,
Jenelle Kirchoff
RCCSS
School
Board
Meeting
Schedule
Meeting begins
at 5pm, unless
otherwise noted,
on the 4th
Monday of
every month.
September 28
October 26
November 23
January 4 (in place of
December
Meeting)
January 25
February 22
March 21 4:00 pm
April 25
May 16
June 27
Use Scrip All Year Long!
Available all summer by contacting Liz in Development—348-1477 x.
122
Www.shopwithscrip.com
Order by Monday to receive your gift cards on Friday!
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September, What a great start to the new school year!! Cavalier Nation is going strong and I personally want to welcome all of our new families. Hopefully all families are now on Portal Plus and you are connected with our new app for RCCSS. Please let me know if you have any questions concerning school. Again, we have Mass on Thursdays at 9am. I invite you to pray with us and please know you may sit with your children (if they are ok with it). This is a great time to come together as a school community. We want to wish all Fall activities the best of luck. They are all in full swing. Come and cheer on the Cavaliers. The booster club has worked very hard this summer to have new apparel available for our families and fans. St. Thomas More families, there are many ways that we as a school can earn money without having fundraisers! I will list a few items that can earn money for our school that I am sure you are doing and do not even realize the potential of income for our school. They are: Family Thrift receipts- for every $150,000 dollars of receipts our school receives $1,000. (We are only $10,000 short of another $1,000!) Every “Our Family” UPC code is worth - $.05 Every “Box Top for Education” is worth - $.10 If you simply send in these items, we will have groups such as Student Council and National Honor Society at our school add them up, we then collect the monies for our school. It is that easy! We appreciate your support.
“It’s easy when you know how” Have a wonderful month and may God Bless you and your family. God Bless, Mr. Sullivan
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Middle School Memo
Parent Involvement: Getting the Right Balance
What constitutes the right balance of parental involvement for your child’s success? There are no parenting manuals to follow on this subject. On the one side is the “no-rescue” philosophy where parents let their child struggle on their own and
then there is the other side where parents do everything within their power to steer their child in certain directions, making decisions to “soften” situations. There needs to be a balance between these two extremes and teachers rely on family partnerships to support student growth and success. Parents can best support their child by: Making sure they attend school Working collaboratively with the teachers on academic or behavioral issues Setting high expectations focused not on ability but on effort As mentioned during the Middle School Orientation, it is important to communicate through the right channels. Our teachers want you to reach out to them if you have concerns. They have their eyes and ears on the pulse of school activity. It is also hard for them to “see” everything. When we know about problems or issues, we can help your child with the problem-solving process. Students need to develop a sense of autonomy and take responsibility for their own learning with caring adults to provide help and guidance along the way. In line with that reasoning, you have to let your child see the consequences of forgetting his gym clothes, homework, or lunch. As a parent it is often difficult to “give up the reins” and watch your child become distressed. It’s a fundamental challenge of parenting to gradually release responsibility to your child and let go of your own control. Overhelping your child can make them feel like they can’t do things by themselves and can lead to feelings of incompetence. This extends also to the homework “challenge” as I like to call the nightly battle to ensure that students are getting their work done. We encourage you to simply check that homework is completed rather than helping your child do the homework. Try to put positive emphasis on the effort, that they put into work rather than their ability level or “how smart they are”. Say things like, “you have worked really hard on that” or “You’ve spent a lot of time on this and are still frustrated. Let’s take a break.” If your child is struggling with homework, rather than help them with it, encourage them to go in and talk to their teacher. This helps them to learn to be their own advocate not only in their academic success but throughout life’s other problems. If you would like to read more about building your child’s confidence so that they can take responsibility for their own learning and growth process, here are two good books that might help: “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol Dweck “How Children Succeed” by Paul Tough We are off to a great start this year! Thank you for sharing your child’s growth and development with us. It Takes A Village... Keiz M. Shultz STM Middle School Principal
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6:00 p.m.—10:00 p.m.
Adoba Hotel
445 Mt. Rushmore Road
Special Room rate available for $64
which includes breakfast buffet on Sunday.
Join us for specialty beers, over 40 varieties of wine, appetizers, Arm & a Leg Raffle baskets, a Wine Pull, and a DJ!
Tickets are $50 or $75 for Primo Vino tasting! Log on to www.rccss.org/winefest2015 to
purchase tickets
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Homework Does homework have to be a battle? Absolutely not. In fact, the more we battle with our kids over it, the less enthusiastic they'll be about learning. Listed below are some practical and powerful tips for keeping things positive and productive: Set a time and place for your child(ren) to learn. To avoid power struggles explain, "This is your time to learn. You may learn by either completing your home-work or thinking really hard about it. If it were my learning time, I'd probably use it to complete my homework…so that I don't have a hassle with my teacher." Help only when it’s clear that they aren’t tuning out their teachers. Ask your child, "How did your teacher describe this?" If your child appears to be ignoring their teacher, say, "I help when I see that you've been trying hard to pay attention at school." How important is it for kids to know that they should listen carefully to their teachers? Help only as long as they are working far harder than you are. Too many children become far too dependent on their parents to complete their homework. It's far better that they don't complete it than have you do most of it for them. If they don't complete their homework, allow it to be their problem…not yours. While it's a tough pill to swallow, we must admit that we cannot learn and achieve for our kids. What we can do is allow them to explain their lack of effort to their teachers…and support their teachers in assigning commen-surate grades. We can also match their level of effort with the number of privileges we provide. For more information on homework, schoolwork, and how to help kids love to learn, purchase our School-work/Homework Package. If it doesn't completely change your life, I'll buy it back.
Thanks for reading! Our goal is to help as many families as possible. If this is a bene-fit, forward it to a friend. Dr. Charles Fay
Stay connected:
Download the RCCSS app
from
App Store or Google Play!
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Scholarship and Financial Aid News from the
School Counselor's Office
Please See Mrs. Strand For More Details
Just a reminder: Juniors and Seniors feel free to take any information about scholarships and college information off the bulletin boards and brochure rack next to Mrs. Strand’s room.
ACT and SAT test dates are posted in several places in the building and free student guides are available outside Mrs. Strand’s room. Be sure to request that the ACT/SAT test scores be sent to the colleges that you are interested in attending. SCHOOL CODE IS 421-245
School Soup!!! You may go to this website, http://www.schoolsoup.com/scholarship-directory and complete a profile. This site will provide you with scholarship opportunities based on the following: City, Colleges, Special Situations, Race/Minority, Major, Activities, Religious Affiliation, and more!!! Big Idea Scholarship **Tell us your best business idea and compete for cash and scholarships. What type of business would you start? Money: 1st $1000 2nd $500 3rd $250 *Bonus: Marketing Competition-Create a logo and ad to promote your idea and win $500 For more information visit www.BigIdeaSD.com. Danforth Scholars Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Students who exhibited a capacity for service and leadership, students who show academic excellence, students who embrace a challenging and rigorous academic curriculum Deadline: Must be received by October 16, 2015 Money: Full and partial scholarships are available This scholarship requires a nomination from STM in addition to the scholarship application. If you are interested in being nominated for this scholarship please see me in the Guidance Office before October 9, 2015. Horatio Alger Scholarship This scholarship awards students who possess the character to succeed in life. They help students overcome the financial barriers of pursuing higher education. To qualify students must have at least a 2.0 GPA and require financial assistance to go to college. For more information visit www.scholars.horatioalger.org Deadline: October 25, 2015 Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation Qualifications: motivated, dedicated, involved high school senior Money: $3 million in scholarships to 250 deserving students Deadline: October 31, 2015 For additional information and to apply online go to http://www.coca-colascholars.org/
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