Week of November 25, 2013 Announcements

Cornerstone Students Information System (SIS)
The Cornerstone Information System has been turned on for parent review. As with any new computer system adoption there were a number of flaws the last few weeks that have been resolved. Parents are reminded that in looking at marks we are now in Quarter 2. After Thanksgiving staff will be available to assist parents with passwords and logins.

Thanksgiving Turkey and Canned Food Drive
The Confirmation Class has spearheaded a canned food and Turkey drive to assist the Little Sisters of the Poor.
The last day for canned food is Tuesday November 26th as they will be delivering the turkeys and food to the Sisters on that day.
The last two weeks of dress down day enabled the class to purchase 32 turkeys for the Sisters outreach program planned for Thanksgiving. The Confirmation Class is grateful for the outpouring of generosity of all students and parents in assisting them with their service project to the poor.

Dental Screening
A form will be sent home to those parents who did not fill out a form during Parent Teacher Conference. The dental screening is FREE and will be part of a Health class given to students on proper brushing and flossing along with testing for oral pH levels for cavity prevention. The screening will place in school on December 9th or 11th based on the number of responses received. Students will receive a free NUT (No Uniform Today) card for remembering to give their parent the form and returning it back to school.

Picture Day
Individual Picture Day will be December 11th. Envelopes were sent home with your child last week and should be returned to Mrs. Resto in the tuition office.
Again please return the envelopes early so that we may contact the company as to how many photographers should come for the day.

Candy Bars
Candy Bars are available in the school office to assist parents in their fund raising requirements. As a reminder the money for the sale must be returned to the school office - NOT Smart Tuition.

Smart Tuition
As a reminder parents who need an extension for payment of tuition must see Mr. Woods to have their late fee removed. Parents who are having problems with Smart Tuition should see Mrs. Resto in the office she will inform Mr. Woods of the problem which will hopefully be resolved in a timely manner. Parents who never saw Mr. Woods prior to report cards and have an outstanding balance must have either have conversation with Mr. Woods or pay the balance before December 16th for their child to attend class. December 16th will be a Tuition Suspension Day wherein your child will need to remain home until a plan of action is made with Mr. Woods concerning the outstanding balance.

Morning and Evening Prayer - Advent 2013
The Confirmation Class will be leading morning prayer at 7:30 AM each school day during Advent. Evening Prayer will be led at 2:45 PM.
Parents are welcome to join the class in their preparation for the celebration of the Birth of Jesus at Christmas. The students will be using Give Us This Day which supports the students desire to establish prayer as a part of their life. We are grateful to Liturgical Press for their donation of the booklets for the Confirmation Class. Advent begins Sunday December 1, 2013.

Interim Assessment # 2
The second Interim Assessment will be administered to students in grades Kindergarten through grade 8 during the week of December 9th.
Students in grades K, 1 and 2 will have the assessment administered with paper and pencil. Students in grades 3-8 will be administered the assessment online in the computer room or using the school iPads.
The interim assessment will cover materials covered in Unit 2 of the Common Core Curriculum. Parents in grades 3-8 would be of assistance if they practice drilling their child with the multiplication tables. Yes, memorization is a good thing for many skills that have a wide variety of application and multiplication is one of them.

Monday - November 25, 2013 Feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria
Dental permission slips will be sent home today.

Tuesday- November 26, 2013 - Last day for canned foods.
Confirmation Class will deliver turkeys and canned foods to the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Touring Tuesday.

Wednesday- November 27, 2013
Thanksgiving Mass 9:00 AM led by the Confirmation Class - Parents Welcome
Honors Assembly for the First Quarter following Mass
Mathematics Coach will work with students.

Thursday - November 28, 2013
Thanksgiving Day School closed

Friday - November 29, 2013
School Closed

Saturday - November 30, 2013 - Feast of St. Andrew, the apostle

December 1st- First Sunday of Advent
Mass at 1:00 PM for all students - NO CLASSES.

Saturday-

Week of November 18, 2013

Catholic New York Article regarding Notre Dame Visit
Catholic New York reported in their weekly newspaper the visit by Notre Dame University. You may read the article by clicking the link above and looking on the school web site.

Report Card Day - November 21st
Report Card Day will be Thursday, November 21st. Fr. Antonio will distribute report cards to students in the classrooms.
Students who are experiencing academic difficulty will need to have their parents pick up their report cards during Parent Teacher Conferences from 2:00 PM - 7:00 PM.
Parents are reminded that teachers will only be able to speak to them for approximately 5 minutes so that all parents may have time to meet with their child's teacher. Teacher's will be able to make an appointment if here are more concerns that can be addressed at a later time.
Honors Assembly will be held after Mass on Wednesday November 27th - Parents invited.

Cornerstone SIS System
As some parents know the Cornerstone SIS was turned off this past week. There were a number of issues that needed to be fixed both on the school side and the Archdiocese's side. The report cards will be ready for distribution on Thursday, November 21st as planned. The system will not be turned back on for parents until November 22nd. I was surprised to see that last week when we sent the message through the Cornerstone system that 29 e-mails were returned due to an incorrect e-mail address. Parents who still have not received a password may see Alan on Thursday in the library to receive one. This will be the last opportunity for parents to obtain their password until Christmas break. We will be focusing on giving students in grades 4-8 their own logins and passwords during the month of December.

Thanksgiving and the Little Sisters of the Poor--Dress Down Day November 22nd.
This year the Confirmation class from both the 7th and 8th grade will be delivering turkeys and canned foods to the Little Sisters of the Poor for their outreach program with the elderly.
The class is collecting money on Friday November 22nd for dress down day to purchase turkeys - last week they gathered enough money to purchase 32 turkeys. They are hoping to do the same on Friday November 22nd.
The food and turkeys will be delivered on Tuesday November 26th.

Monday - November 18th -
Reading coach will work with students.

Tuesday- November 19th
Touring Tuesday - if you know a parent that is interested in turing the school please have them contact Alba in the office.

Wednesday - November 20th
Math coach will work with students in classroom.

Thursday - November 21st - EARLY DISMISSAL DAY 12:00 NOON
Report Card Day
Parent Teacher Conferences 2:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Friday- November 22nd
Ms. Kaplan will work with students in grades 1, 3, and 6.

Sunday- November 24th - Feast of Christ the King
Communion Class 12:00 noon
Mass at 1:00 PM for all students.

Week of November 11, 2013

Notre Dame University Visit - November 6, 2013
This past Wednesday we were privileged to welcome Notre Dame University ACE (Alliance for Catholic Education).
ACE is responsible for 64 Madrinas scholarships at OLQM and we were very proud to show our gratitude on their 20th anniversary tour in celebration of their work with inner-city Catholic Schools.
If you go to the school web site by clicking the tab at the top of this page and then clicking videos you will be able to see the warm welcome that the students gave to Notre Dame.
Thank you to all parents who came and offered support. Thank you to Michelle Eusebio and Arelis Suarez our Madrinas who have coordinated the program. Thank you to Ms. Wong and Ms. Serewko for their work in organizing the rally outside the school and a big thank you to Angel Vasquez of the 8th grade, the grand MC.

Canned Food Drive
The annual Thanksgiving canned food drive begins this week. The class with the largest amount of cans collected will be awarded a pizza party from an anonymous donor.

Report Cards and Tuition
A reminder that Report Card Day is Thursday November 21st.
Parent Teacher Conferences will be held from 2:00 PM - 7:00 PM.
At the parent conferences teachers in grades 5 and 7 will be giving parents the New York State Test Results from the Spring 2013 ELA and Mathematics Testing.
The Superintendent of School Office made a decision this week that the Benchmark Test results would not be distributed to parents at this time. They are processing the data from those tests and are using it for the time being as a diagnostic tool.
Tuition must be up to date for students to receive their report cards. Mr. Woods will meet with parents who would like an extension on their tuition on Thursday November 14th from 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM and/or 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM.
Letters will be sent home on Tuesday and Wednesday alerting parents to the fact that their child's report card will be held because of an outstanding balance.

Cornerstone Student Information System (SIS)
Alan will be in the school library from 7:00 AM - 8:30 each day this week to assist parents with either their SIS login or password.
This will be the last week that Alan will be in the library to assist parents in the morning.
The SIS will be turned off for parents for the week of November 18th so that Mr. Woods may process the report cards. It will be turned on after report card distribution.
A reminder that we are in Quarter 2 - please make sure that you are scrolling down to see quarter 2 marks.

Monday - November 11, 2013 Veteran's Day
School Closed

Tuesday- November 12, 2013
PWC - Price Waterhouse Cooper will be in school auditorium to work with students on a course entitled Income and careers.
Parents are welcome to attend.

Wednesday- November 13, 2013
Grades one and two will be administered on-line testing for Rowland Reading Program.

Thursday- November 14, 2013 Feast of St. Lawrence O'Toole
Ms. Kaplan will be in classrooms to work with students

Friday- November 15, 2013 - Early Dismissal Day at 12:00 noon.
Ms. Sampson - the instructional specialist for the Board of Directors will be visiting classrooms today.
Faculty Meeting.

Sunday- November 17, 2013
No Classes.
Ms. Larios will be taking attendance at the 1:00 PM Mass.
All students are to be in the same seats as usual to be counted present.

Letter from Dr. Timothy McNiff, Superintendent of Schools

November 4, 2013

OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK
1011 First Avenue,
New York, New York 10022
Phone: (212) 371-1000 Fax: (212) 758-3018

Dear Parents,

November 8, 2013 will be our Fourth Annual Data Day. This is an important date in our academic calendar when teachers and schools administrators meet for a full day of student data analysis. This review and analysis results in action plans and the development of modified and improved approaches to instruction to meet assessed student needs.

In the past, our teachers analyzed ITBS results on Data Day. For the 2013-14 school year, we discontinued ITBS testing in favor of the implementation of a diagnostic tool that better reflects and supports our new curriculum. Interim Assessments are better indicators of student growth (three ELA and three Math will be administered for grades 3-8 during the 2013-14 school year). The makeup of the assessments, i.e. the phrasing of questions and curriculum topics addressed, coupled with the frequency of delivery of these assessments, provides teachers with more opportunities to enhance instruction based on student results.

As stated in my September 3rd letter, the new State tests designed to assess student performances with this new curriculum is challenging. The decision to administer Interim Assessments was a direct response to those State assessments. Interim Assessments are a diagnostic tool that will familiarize students with the types of questions they will see on the state exams in the spring and will also support and inform instruction for teachers. Interim Assessments are not and should not be viewed as a ''test." It is not to be factored into the students' report cards and will not be made accessible to the public (i.e. city/state reporting).

Our new learning standards are rigorous and hold students accountable for college and career readiness. They focus on literacy, active problem solving, and 21st century skills necessary for success in life. We will continue to provide the resources and tools necessary to ensure your child achieves under these new challenges. Please know that the Interim Assessments are one of many ways we are responding to the demands of our new curriculum.

I hope you have a better understanding of Data Day 2013. Please contact your principal should you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Timothy J. McNiff, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

Week of November 4, 2013 Announcements

Common Core Mathematics Vocabulary
At the top of this blog there is link that contains the vocabulary that is part of the Common Core in Mathematics.
The PARCC Assessment that will be administered to students beginning in the 2014-2015 will expect that all students know this vocabulary fluently in order to do the word problems on the test.
What does fluent mean? Fluency means that a child or adult does not merely know the definition but that they can apply that definition. So a KINDERGARTEN student when asked is able to point at a series of figures and say this one is a hexagon because it has six vertices.
Parents are urged to look over the vocabulary posted and review the vocabulary with your child as the teacher moves through the Common Core Units.

Cornerstone SIS (Student Information System)
In order to assist parents with the NEW Cornerstone Student Information System ---Alan will be in the school library from 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM each morning this week.
A number of parents are not logging into the correct website. It is a new system not the same as last year. The new system REQUIRES that you change your password immediately following their specific directions. Please see Alan this week.

Class Picture Day
Class picture day is Tuesday November 5th. All students are to be in full dress uniform. There will be no gym classes on Tuesday.

Regional Board of Directors
The regional Board of Directors will make their initial visit to OLQM on Tuesday, Novemner 5th. They will be visiting classrooms and looking at the overall setup of the school.
In the future the Board of Directors will be meeting with parents.

Notre Dame University Visit - Madrinas Scholarship Program -- Wednesday November 6th -----10:30 AM
On Wednesday November 6th ACE - Alliance for Catholic Education will be visiting OLQM with their tour bus in honor of their 20 years of service to Catholic Education.
ACE is responsible for the Madrinas Scholarship Program. Parents, especially those who have received a Madrinas Scholarship, should come that day to meet with the sponsors of this program and thank them.
The assembly will be from 10:30 AM -12:00 noon.

Monday - November 4th - Feast of St. Charles Borromeo
Unit II Week 3

Tuesday- November 5th - Election Day
Class Picture Day - NO GYM CLOTHES -- FULL DRESS UNIFORM
Board of Directors visit at 11:00 AM

Wednesday November 6th - Alliance for Catholic Education visit 10:30 AM
FULL DRESS UNIFORM DAY

Thursday - November 7th
Reading Coach will work with students.
Dress Down Day - No NUT card needed.

Friday - November 8th
SCHOOL CLOSED - Data Day.
TACHS Exam for 8th grade students.

Saturday - November 9th- Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Sunday - November 10th
Confirmation Class 12:00 NOON
Mass at 1:00 PM for all students.