Weekend Warriors

As many of our students prepare academically for midterms this week and spiritually for reconciliation tomorrow, some had an opportunity to test other skills honed through the fires of preparation in other ways this past weekend.

On Saturday, our Girls Basketball team successfully completed their run and repeated as champions of the Hillsborough Catholic Youth League. This is their fourth championship in five years--forget about the Belichick and the hoodie, it cannot compare to Kroll and the brooch.  

However, no matter how talented the coach, the players still need to play the game and our girls did an excellent job. They were losing at halftime and quickly came out to take the lead in the 2nd half and withstood a late run by Nativity at the end of the game to win 35 to 31. The difference in the game was the team work and toughness of our girls diving after loose balls, getting back up after hard fouls and keeping calm during the intensity of the game--all attributes we hope to instill in all our students. Attributes that will make them champions:

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to see our students participate in a different kind of performance--a musical one. In addition to the vocal music instruction our students receive during music class at CKS, many students receive instruction on musical instrumentation from Matt Jeffries both at school and at his studio. Yesterday, he held three different concerts, one of them just with CKS students. 

It was amazing to see students from 5-15 years old enjoying their time in the spotlight--from banging on the drums to the White Stripes, playing Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite," and even one student writing his own guitar solo. I was proud of them for sharing the gift of music they developed through practice and preparation.

CKS 4th Grader (on left) Performing his Original Song

CKS 1st Grader Getting Set for a Drum Solo
Click Here for video

Advent is the season of preparation for Jesus. As we head in to Christmas, thank you for all you have done this semester to contribute to our success. Enjoy the break and time of preparation for the 2nd semester. 

Advent: Preparing Mind, Body and Spirit

Advent is a time of preparation. Spiritually, we are preparing for Christmas and the arrival of Jesus. Physically, we may be trying to squeeze in an extra workout or eliminate certain foods to prepare for Christmas and New Year's feasts. Mentally, our oldest students are preparing for another mid-term tradition--exams.

In 5th through 8th grade, these cumulative assessments count as a large portion of the 2nd quarter grade. The 1st and 2nd quarter grades make-up a student's semester grade. In addition, our 8th graders take three high school credit classes--Spanish, Algebra and Physical Science. The exams in these high school credit classes are averaged with the 1st and 2nd quarter grades to determine a semester grade that may go on their high school transcript.

While we have modified and made more age-appropriate the exams our students in 5th through 8th grade take, this can still be a stressful experience for our students. Aside from prayer, here are three tips to help your students properly prepare for exams and avoid stressful study times:

Study in Small Chunks of Time

The brain needs time to process information. Hopefully, your child has been studying, learning and reviewing information all semester long. If so, the study guides should be just that--a guide to what information needs to reviewed--not relearned--before the exam. However, whether the time this week is spent relearning or reviewing, make sure your student studies in short increments. The brain can only hold so much information without taking time to process. 

Be Tech Free

When students do take a brain break to process, keep them away from their mobile devices. It may seem like an obvious stress reliever to let them play a game or catch up on social media, but research has shown that while technology provides a break from thinking about the material you are studying it does not let the brain rest.  In fact, game play and social media actually stimulate the brain. Therefore, the brain does not have a chance to rest and process information. 

Take It Outside

A great alternative to turning to the screen is turning to the outdoors. Encourage outside physical activity during study time. Physical activity promotes the production of endorphins, which can help with sleep--the ultimate stress reducer and peak time for brain processing. Get involved with your child and go on a bike ride, jog or walk with your student. Ask them to tell you about what they are studying (a form of processing) while you enjoy being outside. 

I don't think these tips are anything parents don't know or haven't learned. Hopefully they are just like a study guide--pointing out important information for your review. 

A Little Bit Can Go a Long Way...

I know it can be a bit of a struggle getting back in to the grind after a long break. I hope your Monday began a little better than mine, though.

To be honest I am not even sure how one's tie ends up in a coffee mug but it did, so hopefully I get a Tervis top in my stocking!

My day quickly got better with two messages: one being the announcement that our Diocese now has a new Bishop -- Most Reverend Bishop Gregory L. Parkes. You can read more about him by the following the link in the newsletter. 

The other message was from our contact at the St. Vincent de Paul Society Food Pantry thanking our students and families for their participation in the food drive two weeks ago. Here is her message:

"The CTK School Food Drive was an amazing success. There were 7400 pounds of food collected and donated to the SVDP Society Food Pantry.  This surpasses the previous year's collection. We were touched by the children's letters requesting donations from neighbors which helped make the Food Drive such a success.

Please convey to all involved, our appreciation. Many families in critical need and the homeless will be helped due to the generosity of CTK School families.

Thanks for caring and sharing and providing Thanksgiving blessings according to the gospel message to feed the hungry."

I shared this message with our students this morning. I pointed out to them the HUGE difference that can be made when our community puts their individual efforts together. Bringing 20 cans may not seem like a big difference, but when combined with the contributions of their classmates it equaled more than three tons of food to feed the hungry in our community. 

As we prepare our hearts during Advent for the arrival of Christ at Christmas, I hope our families can find more ways to combine their individual efforts to make a positive impact on our community.  

Gratitude = Great Attitude

I hardly ever use the phrase "Where did the time go?" Having lived most of my adult life on a school bell schedule, I know exactly where my time has gone. This morning, however, when I looked at the calendar and realized that we have only FOUR weeks of school left in this semester, I did say, "Where did the time go?!"

I am thankful for a job that brings me so much excitement and fulfillment that the time moves more quickly than a second grader on his way to recess. The CKS community has much to be thankful for and here are three events that have me showing my gratitude:

Retreat

I know many of us lamented having to come in last Friday, which was previously a scheduled holiday. Our 8th graders and some of their teachers were excited though, because we had a retreat and team-building day. We took our 8th graders to a scouting camp where they were able to rappel, zip-line, and play team games. It was a great day of relationship-building with our students and staff. We hope it's the beginning of a new CKS tradition. 

Food Drive

A current CKS tradition is our generous participation in the St. Vincent DePaul Thanksgiving Food Drive. Every year this organization counts on CKS to stock its food pantry for the holidays. I set a goal for the students of 10,000 food items. Breaking that down on a smaller level, each student needs to donate just 20 food items to surpass that goal. Individual classroom teachers have set their own classroom incentives to encourage participation and spark generosity. I know our families will respond to the challenge. 

Admissions Open House

The generosity and enthusiasm of our families is one of our greatest strengths. This week we have our EC4 and Kindergarten Admissions Open House on Wednesday at 7PM. At this event, and on subsequent tours, I am often asked what I think is our greatest strength, and I always respond that it is our families. Our best marketing is word of mouth advertising of our families. Thank you for spreading the good word and be sure to check out our latest marketing video on the school website later this week.

CKS Roars! Again

Take a moment and think back to your time in school.  Whether your fondest memories are of your time in elementary, middle or high school--imagine that someone at that time told you in the future you would walk around with the world's information in your pocket. Younger me would have thought no matter how small writing gets for encyclopedias or how many pockets they add to cargo shorts,  that is crazy talk. We all know, however, with cell phones, tablets and the internet, our students have exactly that--a world's worth of information in their pockets.

As we prepare our students for the future, it is not enough to simply KNOW information.  They must be able to evaluate which information is worth knowing and how to use it. Enter CKS Roars. CKS Roars is a school-wide writing assessment of our students' opinion and argument writing--see the featured post at the left where I explained the difference between the two different types of writing. In both of these types of writing, students must take a position and use information to support their position. Tomorrow, all of our students will participate in this writing task through their language arts class.

The complexity and expectations vary by grade level, from an EC4 student drawing or telling the teacher that God's greatest gift is _________ because of __________, to 8th graders using 45 minutes to support a claim about the appropriate amount of screen time for teenagers. Our teachers worked together to create common rubrics and will double score student writing pieces. Much of this first round of writing is to help calibrate our teachers and set a standard for what great writing looks like. It will help them plan instruction for the second semester and our next prompt in the spring. After both prompts, we will share information with parents about what we learned from the writing assessments.

I am proud of the work our teachers have done to create this program and feel it will be key to the continued success of our students. This type of demand-writing helps prepare for the writing expectations in high school and college. Most importantly, though, the type of thinking required by these tasks will prepare our students to become more discerning consumers of information, helping better prepare them for life.

A Halloween Treat: Guest Blogger

One of Halloween's biggest appeals, I think, is that for a day we get to be something different--a TV character, something from a movie, or a superhero. We have a real life superhero on our staff, Coach Nancy Kroll, who returned from a mission trip to Sainte Suzanne, Haiti last week. Here are some of her thoughts about the experience: 

To start, I want to thank my husband who was the one to give his blessing to go on quite a unique adventure.

My expectations began very mixed.  As Hurricane Matthew devastated western Haiti, I was nervous and apprehensive. However, educating my loved ones to the geography of Haiti and the fact that we were flying to Cap Haitien relieved some of their nervousness--and mine.

My first impression was the contrast of the country's physical beauty to the devastating level of poverty. After making our way through Customs, we took a very bumpy ride to our St. Suzanne church "compound."  We were greeted with welcoming arms by Father Volvick, Mrs. Boehm and Mrs. Tanis, who had arrived two days earlier. The women's quarters were apartment-like with a living room, small kitchenette and two bedrooms with an adjoining bathroom.  The men's quarters were on the top floor of the rectory. The rooms were equipped with several bunkbeds and mosquito nets. No alarm clock needed--the church bells are rung heartily at 5:30 am and 6 am, accompanied by dogs barking.

One thing I dreaded and was warned about was the food. Breakfast was served at 7 am and dinner around 6 pm.  I tried everything cooked and was very pleasantly surprised... Delicious. Refrigeration is a luxury so we did not have any milk or cheese products. We did have fresh mango, papaya, avocado and banana at most every meal. Rice was a staple at all dinners, and I tried the fish, chicken, goat and beef. 

Throughout the trip I grappled with many different emotions and thoughts swirling in my head.  I had the opportunity to tour two schools and received royal treatment--a creole welcome song (see the photos below), with visitation to each classroom. It felt like home and was fun to interact with the kids. One thought: it does not matter where you travel or the level of wealth, kids are the same. They are just kids. They do not know they are missing electricity and many other "necessities" of our Americanized way of life.  To me: unimaginably disadvantaged; to them: just another day at school.  

The students were extremely well behaved and polite. I told a few of my PE classes we could learn from their example.  Our CKS 3rd and 5th graders wrote pen pal letters to the students and each one was answered back. They exchanged their favorite classes, their favorite meals and their favorite way to play--futbol, tag, hide and go seek were very popular.

     

The medical/dental mission trip was also a success, especially when you look at the numbers -- and we are all impressed by numbers! We served close to 1000 men, women, and children in the medical and dental offices and chairs. I assisted the pharmacists with 677 prescriptions being filled. This was over the course of three and a half days. At the end of each day we were exhausted by the heat and happy to have a fan or two in the evening. We were buoyed each day by the people we served, who very appreciative and gracious.

My overall impression and the very shortened version of my trip: It's like the story of the boy on the beach with the starfish. Thousands and thousands have washed ashore and an old man is watching the boy throw the beached starfish back in the ocean. He finally says to the boy, "It doesn't make a difference; you can't possibly throw them all back in." The boy looks at the man and answers, "It made a difference to that one."

We did make a difference! Thank you to all our students who filled our suitcases with supplies and prayed for our safe trip and who continue to support our missions!

Red Ribbon Week at CKS!

We begin our celebration of National Red Ribbon Week today at CKS. The campaign, which began in 1985, was created to raise awareness of the destruction caused by illegal drugs and substance abuse. At CKS, it has been a tradition for our Student Government to plan activities to educate our students during this week. 

Many other worthy causes have used a ribbon to raise awareness over the past 31 years, as you can probably tell from your vast collection of different colored ribbons!  That is why, this year, we have expanded our focus at CKS during Red Ribbon Week to encompass making good decisions in all aspects of life, not just related to drugs and alcohol abuse. Here are the themes for each day this week:

Monday

"Have Clear Vision and Make the Right Decision" 

Tuesday

"Being Kind vs Being Mean"

Wednesday

"Be All God Wants You to Be"

Thursday

"Make Studying a Habit"

Friday

"Good Choices = Good Health"

We will have activities for the students throughout the week, culminating with a field day on Friday!

The CKS Difference

As I enter my 5th year at CKS and we prep this week for PTC on Thursday, I am reminded of one difference between my experiences in public and private school -- PTC night.  It was called PTSA in public school and the purpose was the same, foster collaboration between parents and teachers, but that is where the similarities stopped. I think our PTC nights are unique, even among private schools.  Mrs. Lowrey and teachers on our staff who have come from other schools will tell you how impressed they are by our PTC night.

Here are my top three things that make our PTC meetings the best thing to do with your Thursday Night:

Teachers 

You may be thinking to yourself, "I just met the teachers on Friday, do I really need to see them again on Thursday?" PTC night is more than just a meeting, our teachers use it as an opportunity to showcase the work they have been doing with our students over the quarter. This is your opportunity to see your child's work, leave them a note and do a quick check-in of the classroom.

Attendance

During my tenure in public school, our quarterly PTSA meetings averaged around 30 people. Other private schools often hold meetings during the day, averaging even less people. In many cases this makes the meetings more of a formality than an event. We strongly encourage our parents to attend and use PTC as a night to communicate important information. It is easy to become overly focused on the happenings of only the grades in which your children are enrolled. PTC allows us to communicate the bigger picture and vision for our school.

Fellowship

I won't make any assumptions, but I think our strong attendance may be influenced, slightly, by the refreshments we serve--you'll have to show up Thursday night to if you want more detailed information!  We serve adult refreshments because this encourages fellowship and that is really what we try to accomplish at PTC.  This fellowship is necessary to build the strong relationships essential for a successful school.

I am convinced we have something very special here at CKS -- the only other time there are lines this long on campus is at the Carnival beer tent!

I thank you for your continued partnership and will see you this Thursday night!
Classroom visitation begins at 6:45 pm; meeting begins at 7:30 pm in the McLoughlin Center.

I Bet You Learned It Wrong...

On Monday, our teachers attended a Professional Development workshop. One of the presenters was Dr. Jeff Borden, the Associate Vice President for Teaching and Learning at St. Leo University. He delivered some shocking news to teachers: most of us have been tying our shoes inefficiently for most of our lives. There is even a TED talk to confirm this:

Click Here for the TED Talk

Alright, this is not the most shocking news to rock the educational world in the past century. Dr. Borden used it as a lead-in to how the brain is wired and how education in today's classroom should be the place where neuroscience, educational psychology, and educational technology meet. For a much deeper--and better--explanation in Dr. Borden's own words, check out an article he wrote for Wired about Education 3.0. Without quoting much heavy science, here are the three things I learned when I tried this shoe-tying experiment on my own this morning:

1 - Learning--and especially re-learning--takes time 

I fell into the large category of people who tie their shoes inefficiently, so this morning I was determined to right the wrong that had become an automatic part of my day. The result: tying my shoes the proper way added about 5 minutes to my morning routine. I had to stop and think about each step of the shoe-tying process. Hopefully I can make up the time by not having to re-tie my shoes throughout the day. So far, so good. 

2 - Learning takes perseverance over failure

Part of the added time to my morning was spent in futile attempts to actually make a knot. I sympathize with all our kindergartners learning (and probably re-learning after their parents read this) how to tie their shoes.  Just when you think you've followed all the steps properly and you pull the bows expecting a tight knot, failure. Let's try again. 

3 - Learning takes repeated experience

It will take continued practice and experience with tying the knot for this new learning to stick and become automatic. This is the KEY take-away for educators. When students learn material in isolation from REPEATED practice that applies the learning, it is forgotten. 

As we all reflect on the end of the 1st quarter and look ahead to the beginning of the 2nd quarter, I am encouraging our teachers to create learning experiences that are meaningful for our children. Although it may take more time, as well as perseverance through failure, it will ultimately make our children better prepared for the changing world in which we live. 

At the very least, they will know how to properly tie their shoes!

Rainy Day PE

Imagine the situation: You are gathered--closely--with 60 students in a classroom designed to comfortably hold 30 students. It has been raining continuously since the morning and all the students really want to do is go outside but you can't --  the fields are flooded, the pavilion floor is wet and lightning has been detected. What do you do? 

Increase your Annual Fund gift, so we can build a gym! Although our coaches would love that idea, they became creative last week and declared September 28th Attitude of Gratitude Day in PE. Before jumping into a game of Silent Speedball--the greatest rainy day activity since Heads-Up, 7-Up --the coaches asked the students to take some time and write a "thank you" to someone on the staff who has helped them this quarter. 

They gathered these notecards together and delivered over 200 notecards to 24 different staff members. Look below to see some pictures. It was amazing to see the reactions of the staff members after receiving these and the reaction of the students when they found out their message had been delivered.  Just a simple message of gratitude that only took a short time to create had a clear and immediate effect. 

Take a moment today and say, "Thanks" to someone.   You'll be amazed at the impact those two words can have on someone's day!

The Hidden Curriculum

The picture below, from Catholic Boys High School in Arkansas, was making the news rounds in early August:

In addition to the published curriculum (i.e. math, language arts, science, social studies, religion, etc) all schools have a "hidden" curriculum (i.e. problem solving, social interaction, following directions, responsibility, etc). Although teaching the "hidden" curriculum is less direct, it is almost as important as the published curriculum. 

While policies like the one pictured above may seem extreme, there is great value in policies that do not permit lost items to be delivered to students. I wrote about the impact of these policies, called "No Rescue" last year (see that featured blog post on the left navigation bar).  Granted, it is a Monday, but as of 10:13 am today, this was the mountain of forgotten items delivered to school and burying Mrs. Nesmith:

When I asked if this was a normal occurrence, she replied, "No, this is a light day." While I am certain Mrs. Nesmith doesn't mind--and is too nice to ever admit it if she did--these forgotten items represent the constant, numerous disruptions to the classroom. 

To minimize those disruptions, we will only deliver forgotten items that a student NEEDS.  These include lunches, eyeglasses or medications. Please consider that students' grades are NOT significantly impacted if they forget their PE clothes; there are enough water fountains on campus to soothe the thirst of a forgotten water bottle; there are enough classroom computers for a student to use if a Chromebook/Surface is forgotten at home; and we even have emergency lunch for those that forget them at home. 

This is a great lesson in responsibility for our children.  If an item is forgotten, our staff will help your child through the day, so there is no need to drop everything you are doing and rush the item to school. I promise, based on experience, students only need to face the consequences of a forgotten item once or twice to remember it the next time!

Thank you for being our partners in teaching our children some of life's most important lessons.

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24 years ago...

This past weekend, I celebrated my Plant High School 20 year reunion. More importantly, though, that also meant celebrating my CKS 24 year reunion! Rather than regaling our students with captivating stories from my childhood, I gave them the top three things people really want to know after not seeing someone for a long time:

What do they look like now?

Looks, of course, are not the most important thing, but we are human and that is the first thing we notice about others. To help our 8th graders figure out what they would look like in 24 years, I told the boys they just need to look at their 8th grade yearbook photo, subtract hair from the top, add hair to the face and mix in some gray--I think the example below justifies my advice: 

For the ladies, I told them to take their picture--and leave it alone--because they will not age and will still look the same! 

What are they up to now? 

For just about everyone, the common answer to this question was "not what I was doing 24 years ago." Pictured below, I thought I was well on my way to a career as a professional athlete: 

At NO point in my CKS career--or high school one--did I imagine I would ever be at CTK for anything except Sunday mass, let alone be the principal of the school! My friends were very surprised. My career, however, was not the biggest surprise of the night. That honor went to my 4th grade best friend, J. Ben Hooks--or as he is referred to now, Father Hooks. He is a Jesuit priest, teaching Spanish in Dallas. 

Although neither of us saw the path our careers would take us, we were well prepared because we gave our best effort in everything we did. My advice to the students was that no matter what you think you will be when you get older, put in the preparation now so you can be whatever you want to be. 

How will people remember me? 

The final thought on everyone's mind was how will people remember me. As I told the students, people did not remember the clothes I wore, the type of car I drove, the type of backpack I owned or some embarrassing thing that happened at lunch. I encouraged our students that while these things may seem like the world to them now, they are less important than what people really remember: how you make them feel. The only regrets shared were for not keeping in touch or wishing that they were nicer to some people. 

I know how I must have sounded to the students and hope that at the very least they remember the two most important things I told them about CKS: learning how to better love God and better love each other. If we do that, then we can look back with pride on our days at CKS. 

CKS Roars!

Typically when we think about the roar of a lion, we think of the sound produced by its voice. One other way we would like our students to think about their roar and voice is in their writing.

CKS has a long tradition of producing students who are strong writers, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that one of our school-wide projects this year is the implementation of a new writing program we call CKS Lions Roar.  This standards-based curriculum provides a strong, age-appropriate foundation on which to build each year and gives us an opportunity to prepare all of our students for continued success with the rigor and challenge of timed-writing tasks.

Why an emphasis on writing?  Here are three main reasons:

1. Preparation for High School--8th grade students wishing to go to area private schools or public magnet or IB schools must submit a writing sample as part of the admissions process.
2. Preparation for the SAT and ACT--You can see a sample SAT prompt here and a sample ACT prompt here. These sample prompts indicate the type of writing expected of college students, hence their inclusion on these college readiness exams--a type of writing that focuses on students compiling and evaluating information on a topic, forming their own ideas, and being able to articulate those ideas to others.
3. Preparation for College--Most universities require an essay to be submitted as part of the application process. Other universities strongly encourage it--which we all know really means "if you want to be accepted you better submit it." An example of the writing prompts for UF can be found here.

I know high school and college may seem like a long way off, especially for students like the writer pictured here:

Writing, though, like any skill, should start with an early foundation and be built upon with continued practice. Plus, if you ask Mrs. Fogarty in KB, everything worth learning is learned in kindergarten anyway!

   

:

 

Joy in Others

As I am sure most of you know, this past Sunday Pope Francis canonized a new saint: Mother Teresa. This morning at assembly, Father Bill shared a few of her more famous quotes with our students:

"If you spend time to judge people, you have no time to love them."

"I am a little pencil in the hand of God who is sending a love letter to the world."

"If you can't feed 100 people then just feed one." 

When I think about the different components of our Lion Joy this school year, I can think of no better patron saint for "Joy in Others" than Saint Theresa of Calcutta. In fact, I am sure she must have whispered in the ear of one of our 1st grade students last week. 

The student, pictured below, teamed up with his brother to sell lemonade. Unlike most children, who look to turn a profit for a new toy or video game, the boys donated half of their money, $22, to our mission collection, which we take up during school mass on Wednesdays. 

This money will go to our sister parish in Sainte-Suzanne, Haiti for the purchase of Christmas presents for children of the parish. These students, and I am sure there are many more in our community like them, are living Joy for others and making sure God's "love letter to the world" is being sent. 

Undercover Carline

Last week, I conducted an experiment. Much like the CBS show Undercover Boss, where the head of a large company puts on a disguise and works in different departments of company to see the "real" way a company behaves, I went undercover in the carline to find an opportunities for improvement.

While I won't be giving anyone a life changing promotion (like they do in the show) to the front of the carline, I do have some SPOT-on tips to help improve carline life for all of us:

S--Safety is the most important part of carline

Despite our love of Gasparilla and the pageantry of a good parade, the carline is not an opportunity to practice.  Children should not lean out of windows or sunroofs; instead, they should remain inside the vehicle at all times and wave from the safety of their seats.

P--Pull-up all the way

Getting children safely from the vehicle and into school is the main goal. The secondary goal is to keep traffic moving and avoid congestion on Morrison. The two or three foot gap each car leaves adds up and causes frustrating congestion. Friday afternoon, I asked four cars in the front of the stack to pull up several feet each and was able to bring in 6 other cars from the road. Pull up today because tomorrow you might be the one stopped on the street.

O--Observe good carline etiquette and share with other caregivers

Although we communicate our carline procedures to all of our parents through RenWeb and the Handbook, many of our carline patrons are nannies, grandparents or other care-givers. It can be intimidating to pull through our carline and not be certain of your child's dismissal location or pick-up area. Please share the procedures in this link.

T-- Timing is everything

In the morning, if you arrive anytime before 7:35 am you will breeze through the line with no problems. The closer you creep towards 7:40 am (the official time cars need to be in the lot), the more congestion you'll encounter, so be prepared to be calm.

Most of these SPOT-on tips refer to procedures in the morning carline.  Stay tuned for another expose' on the afternoon pick-up procedures. Until then, remember to keep the JOY in the carline by thinking in this order: Jesus, Others, then Your car.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

This school year, Mrs. Lowrey and I have been visiting classrooms and spreading the Lion Joy (see last week's post for the presentation). 

At Morning Assembly today, we showed the students how they can spread joy this year using the rosary bracelets pictured below, and we also used a little magic. Click the link below the picture for video from assembly. 

Though the video is a little grainy, the message is clear! Lions Roar!

Click Here for the Video

The Lions' Code

This week Mrs. Lowrey and I are visiting with all of the classes to explain in more detail the Lions' Code. If you would like to review the presentation, they are embedded below. Simply enter a name in the appropriate box and click "send" for the specific presentation you would like to view within the blog.

5th through 8th Grade

EC4 through 4th Grade

Feel free to use this presentation to review the Code of Student Conduct with your child. The signature page is required for each family, so please submit yours by this Wednesday, August 17. Throughout the school year, we will continue to challenge our students by asking the question "Who are you?" and following up with the question "Who do you want to be?"

Finally, if you are still struggling to get information out of your child about the school day, check out my featured post from last year.  

Ready or Not, Here it Comes!

The 2016-2017 school year is here--signifying the end of summer for our students and the end of finding ways to entertain your children for our parents. Whether you are lamenting the end of summer or cheering it, these are five essential points to make the start of your CKS school year a success: 

1) Check the dress code AND your child's uniform. Make sure your child's school uniform is in good condition, complete and fits properly. Also, new this year, every Friday is a spirit day, so make sure you check the dress code for spirit day rules. As much as our children want to stand out, trust me, they do not want to stand out because they are not compliant in the dress code. Stop by the Used Uniform Sale at our Open House on Monday. 

2) Make a plan AND a back-up plan for pick-up in the afternoon. The most stressful event the first two weeks of school is afternoon dismissal--students don't know if they are going to aftercare, going to an after school activity, getting picked up by a parent or grandparent, going home with a sibling, or going home with a friend. Make a chart for your child at home so they can check each day where they should be going at the end of school. 

3) Don't panic if you haven't purchased every supply on the list by the first day. The first few days of school are an adjustment period for all of us--students, parents AND teachers. We will not let your child go without the first few days. As long as they have their backpacks and lunch, they will be just fine.

4) Practice your morning routine BEFORE the first day of school. Few things can be as flustering on the first day of school for your child than being late. All students must be in the Pavilion by 7:45 a.m. for the start of assembly, so your car should be in line by 7:40 a.m.

5) Know the arrival and dismissal procedures. No one wants to be "that car" in the carline who goes out of turn, cuts off another driver or causes a long delay. Mistakes will happen, but review your procedures to lessen that possibility of being "that car." 

For some carline reminders, see the videos below from our teachers. 

 

EC4 through 1st Grade

Click Here

2nd through 4th Grade

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5th Grade

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6th Grade

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7th and 8th Grade

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I don't think James Corden of the Late Late Show has anything to worry about, but our teachers are surely destined for fame! Speaking of celebrity, check out the video below to see an interview with CKS celebrity, Mrs. Lowrey. 

 

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How Was Your Day?

"How was your day?"

This is a question I get from time to time...mostly from my wife, but sometimes from my colleagues and even students. As you might imagine, so many things happen during the course of a school day that it's not always easy to give a short answer.  Rather than give a detailed account of my last week, I thought I'd give you a snapshot...they are worth a thousand words, or so I'm told:

Eating Lunch with 1st Grade

In 1st grade, students earn "buckets" for positive behavior. This is based on the Carol McCloud book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The premise being that each interaction we have with a person either adds happiness to someone's bucket or takes it away from it. The girls in the above picture saved up 40 buckets to earn the special treat of eating lunch with the Principal. Having three young boys, it was the quietest and most peaceful lunch I have had in a long time!

These students told me about summer plans, American Girl dolls and favorite foods. I would recommend that anyone who needs to have their buckets filled eat lunch with 1st graders.  We can all learn a lesson from them, especially about relationships with people. If we view each of our interactions with a person as a transaction, one in which we make either a withdrawal or a deposit, it can change our perspective. Personally, I would rather be considered a bucket filler than a bucket dipper.

Have a great final week of school and get to work filling those buckets.

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

As we begin to say goodbye to another school year, we also start our farewells to our graduating 8th grade class. For many, June 3rd will cap the end of a tremendous 10 year journey through CKS. Before they leave CKS, I thought you'd like to see where the CKS Class of 2016 will go -- by the numbers as of today:

14 Academy of the Holy Names

1 Clearwater Central Catholic

 

23 Jesuit High School

18 Plant High School
 

1 Berkeley Prep

1 Robinson IB

1 Out of State
 

Beyond these numbers are some impressive students:

2 young women -- Kennedy Wilson and Julianne Hahn received scholarships from the Academy of the Holy Names for academic excellence and outstanding leadership. 

4 young men -- Bennett Andersen, Christopher Browy,  Spencer Farfante and Christopher Hill received Ignatian Scholarships from Jesuit High School for scoring in the top 5% of the applicants taking the entrance exam. 

• As a follow up, these boys were encouraged, along with other Ignatian scholars, to write an essay for the top scholarship; this award was received by Christopher Browy. 

3 of our students -- Brennen Gil, Christopher Hill and Parker Maddox were awarded Pope Francis Merit Scholarships from Tampa Catholic for scoring in the top 2% of the entrance exam. 

5 of our students -- Bennett Andersen, Chris Browy, Brennen Gil, Parker Maddox and Brooke Rodriguez were accepted into Robinson's International Baccalaureate High School.

Many of these students had great options to continue their education and some are still making final decisions. I am glad CKS could provide them that opportunity. 

In addition here are some other numbers about our 8th graders:

24 boys and 27 girls participated in extra-curricular athletics

2000 hours of service with 20+ different organizations 

318,600 Hail Mary's over the course of the year! 

It is hard to dispute the numbers and quite obvious the CKS Class of 2016 has grown in the love of Christ, the joy of Knowledge, and the spirit of Service. 

Understanding Iowa Assessments

This week we will send home information regarding our recently completed Iowa Assessments including a letter from me, a list of our school averages compared to other schools in the Diocese and the State of Florida, and your child's individual score report. Overall, I am pleased with our score results. As you will see, we continue to out-perform the Diocese and other schools in the state of Florida--an accomplishment of which our entire school community should be proud. The question I think many people ask, though, is "What does this test really mean?"

To answer that question, you have to know that standardized tests can fall into two main categories: criterion-referenced and norm-referenced. This psychology website has an info-graphic to help explain the difference. A simple explanation is:

Criterion-referenced tests measure how well an individual student knows a specified amount of material (think semester exams or the SAT).

Norm-referenced tests measure how many students scored lower than your child on that test (think Iowa or CTBS).

Even simpler: criterion reference tells how much a student knows and norm reference tells how they compare.  Since the Iowa is a norm-referenced test, I'll focus on these types of tests. Click the link on this site to read specific information from the University of Iowa regarding how results should be interpreted.

This begs the question, why should we be concerned about how well our students do on a test made in Iowa? The test is produced by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in conjunction with the Iowa Testing Program. It remains one of the most extensively researched comprehensive tests of basic skills. Its results are normed against a national sample of students. This was last done in 2011 -- which is an important note for interpreting results and making comparisons.

The test results we receive DO NOT compare the performance of our students against other students taking the test in a given year. It compares the results of the student against the performance of the normed group in 2011 with slight adjustments made each year. This is why you can have multiple schools and districts claiming raised test scores or why a decrease in one area for a school does not necessarily mean an increase in others. It is also important to note that norm-referenced tests are designed to create a bell curve, with the majority of students scoring at the 50th percentile and fewer students scoring above or below it.

Given this information, how should you, as parents, use it and how do we use it as educators? In a word, CAREFULLY. As a parent, avoid overgeneralizing student performance. Look at growth over time and performance from year to year. Celebrate maintaining a score or improvement. If a score lowers, look at specific skills for improvement. Keep in mind that answering one or two more questions correctly in a section can change the national percentile rank by almost 10 points!

As educators, we look to see how groups of students perform. Individual scores, being a comparison, should be used to form instructional groups within a class, allowing for more differentiated instruction. The Iowa scores are also measured against other benchmark testing (STAR Math and STAR Reading) to measure similarities or differences. Rather than using the results to inform what we teach, we use them to inform how we teach to different groups of students, with the goal of providing the right amount of challenge to all learners. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or Mrs. Metz.

Accreditation Update

As you hopefully know, several weeks ago we received a visit from the Florida Catholic Conference. The visit was successful and we will maintain our Accreditation status. It is always rewarding to have outsiders come and evaluate our school community--validating the awesome things we have been doing! Below is a recap in each of the four domains listing strengths and recommendations:

Domain A - Mission and Catholic Identity

As I would hope, the visiting team found ample evidence of our Catholic faith and Salesian spirit. From the exit report, "Upon entering the school building, one immediately feels the presence of God." That is something I hope translates into the actions of our school community even when they leave the campus.

One recommendation was for school leadership to provide additional opportunities for parents to participate in service activities. While we know the success of our different food drives cannot be done without parental service, we want to increase the opportunity for parents to participate in authentic service, just as we do for our students. We have created a new position with the PTC to address this need and look forward to providing those opportunities next school year.

Domain B - Governance and Leadership

As a parish school, the committee evaluates how well the leadership team (school administration, Fr. Len, and the School Advisory Board) guides Christ the King towards fulfilling our mission. According to the visiting team, the leadership team "...articulates a clear mission and vision for the school and engages the school community to ensure a school culture that embodies the mission and vision." The team also noted that the "...mission and vision are continuously forming the foundation for all decisions."

The team did recommend that the school develop a five-year strategic plan for maintaining enrollment, personnel, budget, and operation reserves. It was from the last strategic plan that the decision for the new school was made. We will begin our latest planning sessions this summer. If you are interested in serving on that committee, please let me know. Who knows what will come out of this planning session...a gym?

Domain C - Academic Excellence

One of the distinctions of Christ the King Catholic School is that we offer an education that promotes academic excellence as well as spiritual enrichment. The visiting team saw this and commended "...the pastor, administration, faculty and staff to their dedication to the Catholic education of their students." It was also clear that "Faith, love and care are evident in all that they do."

Some of the recommendations included additional integration of technology to core classroom instruction. In addition to what students are learning in computer class, classroom teachers should incorporate more activities to build 21st century learning skills. This would also include more use of small group differentiated instruction.

We are taking steps to address these needs in our creation of the Makerspace and Elementary STEM lab over the summer. The main goal for the teachers of these classes is to incorporate what is being taught in the math and science classes and help students put it to use to create solutions to real-world problems. In addition, we will have additional school-wide professional development on differentiated instruction to help teachers provide the appropriate level of challenge to all students in their classes.

Domain D - Operational Vitality

In this area, the site team evaluates the practices of our admissions and advancement department. As you would expect, they could not stop singing the praises of our team. Here are just some of their comments: "Their research and practices are outstanding." and "We feel the office is doing a tremendous job researching, implementing and evaluating best practices."

The only recommendation by the site team was to create and publish a formal enrollment plan and calendar. This would be beneficial for succession in those positions--not that I am letting Mrs. Welsh or Ms. Campbell go anywhere!

Overall, I was pleased with the results of our Accreditation visit and thankful for the feedback. I am excited to create a strategic plan that will help guide Christ the King over the next five years, and I am even more excited to be the one leading the school into that future.  

Carnival Recovery

Much like me, the blog is taking a Carnival Recovery Day. I hope you all had a great weekend. We had some record numbers which I hope to be able to share with you soon. Even if you are feeling down with the post-carnival blues, just "Take my hand. We'll make it. I swear. "