This message was generated by the GA News mailing list, for members of Guardian Angels School and Parish. =========================================================================== Dear G.A. Parents: It is around 4:45 on Friday afternoon and I just returned to my office from monitoring the students' practice of our Spring musical "Annie." It was really great seeing how far the students have come and to see how much talent they have. Geanna Hansell is doing a great job with them, and I know that the students will shine in "Annie." They are having a great time, too. This is such a terrific experience for the students! My first week back was relatively "normal," and I enjoyed the many birthday cards and greetings the students gave me yesterday. Their cards were fun to read, and the younger students are always so sincere. I asked some of the students to tell me how old I was, and I got answers anywhere from 26 to 84. Of course the student who said 26 gets straight A's on his next report card. Fun fact #1: One of the younger girl students asked me in the cafeteria yesterday if I "would like a birthday burp!" Of course I told her, "No, thank you." You never know what will come out of the mouths of babes. Fun Fact #2: Kindergarten teacher Carol Christen and I were watching the students get on the buses the other day, and one of her students came up to her really crying. He had lost his backpack and asked Mrs. Christen if she had seen it. She told him, "Yes, it is on your back." He looked on his back, said, "Oh" and ran off happily toward the school bus. Re: Math Study -- The junior high math teachers, Miss Gallion and I have had very nice visits to St. Xavier High School and McNicholas High School. We learned a lot from both schools, and we received good input concerning how our students do in high school and what they think the benefits of a full year of algebra in grade school would be. St. X told us that we send them "well-rounded students." "good workers" and "nice young men." Both schools said that our students would fit in the normal bell curve when it comes to performance. There are always those who do very well, those who have a rougher time and those who perform as average students. Both schools asked us to please stress the basics and give the students lots of practice so that they have the information they need to succeed in high school "at their finger tips." Pat Gallion and I also met with Sr. Helen Lucille Habig, who is the "math expert" at the downtown school office. We shared with her what we have learned so far, and she gave us her input. One of her suggestions was that we study the brand new Academic Content Standards for Math from the State of Ohio and compare those standards to the Graded Course of Study of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. At the April 22nd in-service day we will be doing a lot of that type of work. What the state will demand of schools in the future is to strive for continuous improvement. As I've said before, what we have at G.A. is good, but let's all work together to make it even stronger. By the way, we meet with the representatives from St. Ursula Academy on Monday and Pat and I also meet with the parents who are assisting us with our study next week. Tomorrow is the OMEA Sole and Ensemble Competition for our students. Mr. Diehl, Miss Hansell and the students have spent much time preparing for this competition. I always look forward to this day. It is great watching our students share their talents with others, and it is a great experience for them to perform in front of an audience and a judge. Good luck to our students! Health news: Computer coordinator Patti Sutter and secretary Tammie Mers are doing well since their recent surgeries. Both of them have a couple of weeks of healing ahead of them, so please keep Patti and Tammie in your thougths and prayers. Note: The father-in-law of seventh grade teacher Stuart Lambing died suddenly this week. Please keep the Lambing family in your prayers. The grandmother of fifth grade teacher Julie Biernat died over the Easter break. Please keep Julie and her family in your prayers, too. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________ Thoughts for the Week: Faith goes up the stair I live in a very small house that love has made but my windows look out and looks out the window on a very large world. which hope has opened. -- Confucius -- Charles H. Spurgeon Outside the open window Look up with unquenchable faith the morning air is all awash with angels. in something ever more about to be. -- Richard Wilbur -- Zane Grey ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________ Have a very nice weekend! God's blessings, David A. Reker Principal ========================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list send a blank message to: ganews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Include the word "unsubscribe" in the Subject line (without the quotes). To subscribe to this list send a blank message to: ganews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Include the word "subscribe" in the Subject line (without the quotes). =========================================================================== Archived messages: //www.freelists.org/archives/ganews/ Guardian Angels School website: http://www.gaschool.org Guardian Angels Parish website: http://www.gaparish.org