Crusader Chronicle

At the Back to School Night this past week, I shared our theme for this school year. I shared with those of you who were able to attend that Pope Francis, following a 700 year old tradition of the Catholic Church, has declared a Jubilee Year in 2025. Jubilee Years are scheduled every 25 years, with added Jubilee Years in between, at the Pope's discretion. Pope John Paul II's last Jubilee Year, in the year 2000, celebrated the theme, "Meeting Jesus Christ." Pope Francis declared an off-schedule Jubilee Year in 2016, with the theme, "Merciful Like the Father." The theme for the 2025 Jubilee Year is "Pilgrims of Hope." Connecting to that theme, the theme for the 2024-2025 school year at St. Ignatius of Antioch is "Jesus Is Our Hope."

Pope Francis has asked all of us to pray in 2024 in preparation for the 2025 Jubilee Year. The prayer below is the official prayer for the 2025 Jubilee Year. Please take time to pray this prayer with your family as you prepare to celebrate the 2025 Jubilee Year.

Father in heaven,

may the faith you have given us

in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,

and the flame of charity enkindled

in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,

reawaken in us the blessed hope

for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us

into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.

May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos

in the sure expectation

of a new heaven and a new earth,

when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,

your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee

reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,

a yearning for the treasures of heaven.

May that same grace spread

the joy and peace of our Redeemer

throughout the earth.

To you our God, eternally blessed,

be glory and praise for ever.

Amen

Thank you to Mrs. Crozier, our Home and School Board, our faculty and staff, and all of our parents for a wonderful Back to School Night. Many parents were able to attend, visit classrooms, enjoy refreshments, meet other parents, and sign up to volunteer for the many activities being planned for this school year.

Save the Date Middle School Parents ...

Parents with children in Grades 5 through 8 please join us on Wednesday, September 25th for Roster Night. The evening will include going through class schedules, Elective information, representatives from Conwell Egan, Notre Dame, Holy Ghost Prep and Villa Joseph Marie available to answer your questions and more.

The doors will open at 6:00 pm with an introduction starting at 6:30 in the cafeteria.

Welcome Back Beef and Beer

Saturday, September 28th at 6 pm. Celebrate with fellow SIS parents, adult alumni, and faculty in kicking off our new school year! Featuring BBQ catered by Sweet Lucy's Smokehouse and beer provided by Yardley Beer Company. This event is taking place in the school parking lot by the blue canopy (in the event of rain, the event will move indoors). Tickets are on sale for $60 per person or $100 per couple.

(Registration Deadline 9/26) https://forms.gle/2Cg3zEBF6iUUMCpv8

Take a chance at winning the pot in our 50/50 raffle or leaving with one of our incredible raffle baskets! Can't come but want a chance to support and possibly win?? No problem! Using the registration link above you can still purchase 50/50 raffle tickets without attending. You will be contacted if you win!

Save the Date

Welcome Back Beef and Beer

Saturday, September 28th

6:00PM

This is a fun-filled evening including our current parents and friends of St. Ignatius School. Our hope is to bring the community together to support as well as celebrate our wonderful school. The evening will include Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse, lots of beer, music, raffles and a 50/50. If you have an item to donate towards the raffles, please contact Helene Crozier at hcrozier@sischool.org

Thank you to the following for donating raffle items and certificates to the Beef & Beer:

Adventure Aquarium

Carlucci's (Capuano and Coppola Families)

DeLorenzo's Tomato Pie (Longo Family)

Pita Chip

Seasons 52 (Vetter Family)

Sesame Place

Shady Brook Farm

St. Ignatius CYO

St. Ignatius Home & School Board

Trattoria Rosa Bianca

TreeTrails Adventures

Trenton Thunder

Valet Auto Wash

Wegmans

If you have an item or certificate you would like to donate, please contact Mrs. Crozier.

SHOW YOUR SCHOOL SPIRIT!

St. Ignatius School Grey Quarter Zip Sweatshirt

Please see attached order form for this uniform approved quarter zip sweatshirt with black embroidery. ALL orders are due by Friday, September 20th. Orders should be sent to the school office c/o Mrs. Crozier.

See the attachments below for more information.

Thank you to Lieutenant Kurt Bradley from Lower Makefield Police for coming to our faculty in-service last week to share some important information on school safety. We are especially grateful that Lieutenant Bradley could update us on the most current advice from law enforcement on keeping our students safe in school.

Please follow these procedures for PreK drop-off and pick-up:

Upon arrival, please pull into the “Pre-K parking lot” which is directly across from the golf course and to the far left of our campus. The entrance to our parking area looks directly straight back to the yellow door of our Pre-K building. Please pull all the way forward in the designated parking lanes, leaving exit lanes empty and available. Exit lanes are marked with cones to indicate that cars are not allowed to park there. Park your car and walk your child to the Preschool yellow front entrance (“map area”).

For safety purposes, our parking area is a ONE WAY zone. All cars should exit via the

driveway to the farthest end of our campus. No car should ever back-up to exit. There is NO PARKING along the grass leading up to our building nor in the main parking area

in front of the big school. Please pass this information along to anyone who may do

drop-off or pick-up for you.

Parking Lot:

For the safety of ALL, it is imperative to abide by the arrival and dismissal procedures

stated above. All cars must enter, pull all the way forward down the designated parking lanes of the

preschool lot, and exit via the farthest driveway. We appreciate your support with this.

Please see the map below as a visual representation of the guidelines above.

Please see the attached letter below for more information on pre-school, including parking guidelines, drop-off times, and other important information.

A few reminders as we start our new school year:

• Kindergarten through Grade 8 students who arrive at school between 8:00 am and 8:15 am will go to the Gym and wait until they are sent to their homerooms.
• All Kindergarten through Grade 8 students should arrive at school by 8:30 am.
• PreK-4 students must be walked to the PreK building between 8:15 and 8:30 am.
• PreK-3 students must be walked to the PreK building between 8:30 am and 8:45 am.

Please read these procedures for car drop off and car pick up.

Kindergarten through Grade 8 car drop off:

• Please stay in the drop off line and do not drive around the car in front of you.
• Please wait until the car in front of you pulls forward before you pull forward.
• We ask that parents do not get out of the car; if your child needs help, one of the staff members on duty will help your child to exit the car.

Kindergarten through Grade 8 car pick up:

• Please park in one of the parking lanes between the church and the playground.
• Please wait near the lines of cars until your child exits the school building and comes to you.
• When all your children have come to you, please take them to your car and wait.
• Please wait until the school staff member gives the signal for your line of cars to pull out and drive out of the parking lot before starting to drive away.

For Pre-K drop off and pick up:

• Please use the long parking lanes between Reading Ave. and the big field behind the Pre-K building.
• Please leave the lanes with cones at the end of the lane empty for parents to drive out once they have walked their Pre-K students to the Pre-K building.
• Please take extra care as you are driving, parking, and leaving after Pre-K drop off and pick up.

St. Ignatius School provides before and after school care through our CARES program for all students in PreK-3 through Grade 8.

Please read the attached letter from our CARES Director, Mrs. Brenda Goring. New Families needing CARES, please complete the online registration.

This past Thursday, our students were introduced to one of our new seminarians for this new school year. His name is Matthew Pace. Some of you know Matt already, as he began his internship at St. Ignatius in the summer. Matt and his fellow seminarian Jonathan Emgott, will be visiting classes every Thursday during the school year. Jonathan will begin his Thursday visits this Thursday, September 12. We look forward to our time with Matt and Jonathan this year!

Thank you to Mrs. Emily Tallman for continuing to beautify our school hallways. Her latest creation can be seen inside the main entrance to the school, and it is another colorful and inspiring message. Thank you, Mrs. Tallman, for your talent, time, and effort!

Tuesday, September 17 - First School Mass - all classes attend 9:00 am Mass

Tuesday, September 17 - Grades 3 through 8 Confessions

Wednesday, September 18 - Fall Picture Day (School Uniforms)

Saturday, September 21 - Parish Picnic - 5:00 pm

Wednesday, September 25 - Middle School Roster Night - 6:30 pm

Saturday, September 28 - Beef and Beer - 6:00 pm

Wednesday, October 2 - All Classes attend Mass at 9:00 am

Wednesday, October 2 - Home and School General Assembly - 7:00 pm

We would like to thank Jack Longino, St. Ignatius of Antioch Class of 2023, for choosing St. Ignatius as the beneficiary of Jack's Eagle Scout Project. Jack has been working this summer to renovate the St. Ignatius Gym, a project that benefits not only the school but our CYO Program and our entire parish. Please consider donating to this worthwhile project; see the photo above for more information on how you can support Jack.

St. Ignatius of Antioch Elementary School has once again been honored by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as a School of Distinguished Instruction. Schools of Distinguished Instruction are determined by their Terra Nova test scores. This year St. Ignatius was one of only three schools that scored 100% in the "Potential" category, meaning that 100% of the grade levels that took the test scored higher than expected, based on the InView scores. Thank you to our teachers, our parents, and our students for this achievement!

The 2024-2025 St. Ignatius of Antioch Faculty and Staff list is below.

PreK-3: Mrs. Azara

PreK-4: Ms. Tabeek

PreK-4: Mrs. McBeth

PreK aides: Mrs. Garcia, Mrs. Stasse, Ms. Herbine, Mrs. Morrison, Mrs. Beck

Kindergarten: Ms. Dionne

Kindergarten Aides: Mrs. Morrison, Mrs. Garcia, Mrs. Beck

Grade 1: Mrs. Edwards

Grade 2: Mrs. Ficarro

Grade 3A: Mrs. Montemarano

Grade 3B: Miss Lynch

Grade 4: Ms. Schmidt

Middle School: Mrs. Michel, Mr. Weinert, Ms. Hensler, Mr. Spadea, Mrs. Casey

(See below for specific Middle School teaching assignments)

Art: Ms. Murray

Music: Mr. Escandon

STEM: Mr. Seibel

PE: Miss Weight

Spanish: Mrs. Gray

Learning Support: Mrs. Hastings

Librarian: Mrs. Casey

Director of Advancement - Mrs. Crozier

Administrative Assistants - Mrs. Perini, Mrs. Chapuis

Health Room Nurse - Mrs. Kriger, RN (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday); Mrs. Barnette-Eckenrode, RN, CSN (Wednesday); Mrs. Petrillo, RN (Friday)

CARES - Mrs. Goring

Assistant Principal - Mrs. Michel

Principal - Mr. Meade

Mr. Spadea - Grade 5 Homeroom, Grades 6 and 7 ELA, Grades 5 and 8 Religion

Ms. Hensler - Grade 6 Homeroom, Grades 5 through 8 Science, Grade 6 Religion

Mr. Weinert - Grade 7 Homeroom, Grade 8 ELA, Grades 5, 6, and 7 Social Studies, Grade 7 Religion

Mrs. Michel - Grade 8 Homeroom, Grades 5 through 8 Math

Mrs. Casey - Grades 4 through 8 Math Honors, Library

Mrs. McBride - Grade 5 ELA

Mr. Seibel - Grade 8 Social Studies, STEM

Mrs. Gray - Spanish

Ms. Murray - Art

Mr. Escandon - Music

Miss Weight - PE

Please click the link below for the latest 2024-2025 St. Ignatius of Antioch Elementary School Calendar. Our initial calendar was shared with all of our families in May, and the calendar has been updated since then. The attached calendar will continue to be updated as the year progresses and is subject to change.

As we look forward to starting school again soon, we want to remind all families that if you have moved, if you have a new phone number or email address, or if you have any other changes in important contact information, we need to know. Please notify the office of any changes in family or parent email addresses, mailing addresses, or phone numbers. Thank you!

Share your summer adventures with your St. Ignatius Community. Email pictures and places to Mrs. Crozier at hcrozier@sischool.org for others to enjoy on our school Instagram!

Follow us @sischoolofyardley

Thank you to Mrs. Crozier for her great work in keeping our Instagram account up to date!

Congratulations to our September 500 Club Winners .....

The 500 Club winning numbers for September are below!

Congratulations to the following winners:

$50: Doreen Holmgren (Ticket #076)

$100: James Pearce (Ticket #032)

$250: Joe Bockin (Ticket #324)

$500: Cathleen Lupisella (Ticket #063)

There are still 64 tickets left for purchase and only 12 chances left to win - one of those may be your lucky number! See below for information on how to buy a ticket and join the 500 Club.

Thank you again to all the faculty, parishioners, friends, relatives and school families who have purchased tickets. We have sold 436 tickets so far; only 64 tickets left for the 2024 drawings! There are three monthly drawings left!

Our next drawing will be in early October so make sure you have your ticket!

There are still 12 chances to win during 2024!!

TICKETS CAN BE PURCHASED BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK:

https://tinyurl.com/SIS500club

l.com/SIS500club

• Look What's Coming Up!

  (Additional Details Below)

  • LAST CALL!!! Pizza and Pretzel registration closes TODAY!
  • Pretzel Snack will begin this Tuesday, 9/17 and Pizza Lunch will begin this Wednesday, 9/18
  • Fall Pictures- THIS WEEK Wednesday 9/18 (school uniform)
    
  • Parish Picnic- THIS Saturday 9/21 Following 4 pm Vigil Mass Registration Required
  • Middle School (5th-8th) Roster Night Wednesday 9/25 at 6:30 pm (Additional Details to come)
  • Welcome Back Beef and Beer Saturday 9/28 at 6 pm (Registration Deadline 9/26) https://forms.gle/2Cg3zEBF6iUUMCpv8
  • First General Home and School General Assembly Meeting Wednesday 10/2 7 pm

  Active Registrations

  (Additional Details Below)

  • Pretzel Snack (Registration Deadline TODAY Sunday 9/15) https://forms.gle/gMyLHJSyPSDKft43A
  • WEEKLY Pizza Lunch (Registration Deadline TODAY Sunday 9/15) https://forms.gle/mSqahRRyjdtSfssf8

  • SHOW YOUR SCHOOL SPIRIT! St. Ignatius School Grey Quarter Zip Sweatshirt This is for our uniform-approved quarter zip sweatshirt with black embroidery. An order form was included in the HSA Wednesday email last week and will also be included in this week's email. ALL orders are due by Friday, September 20th. Orders should be sent to the school office c/o Mrs. Crozier.

  Volunteer Opportunities (Up-to-date Clearances Required) and Donations

  • We are still looking for gift cards and event tickets to be used as raffles for the Welcome Back Beef and Beer parent/adult event. If you have any donations, please send them to the school office marked Beef & Beer.
  • Lunch Duty: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0E49A8A723A7F94-50680029-lunchrecess?fbclid=IwY2xjawFKopZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHUKQ6TZ0TO1ePInxGpk0ItZUcdNVUivon2OaLsbUasPrcDsA9KlLD8yvKg_aem_iNCtywKOcEnt8lM4Vte2Wg#/
    • We still need volunteers for the following dates! Thank you!!
    • Monday, September 23rd (1 volunteers)
    • Tuesday, September 24th (1 volunteer)
    • Wednesday, October 2nd (2 volunteers)
  • Here is the link for the Volunteer Survey: https://forms.gle/fNnkScN1mgAVWSMi6 PLEASE NOTE: This link is for ALL events through the end of the school year! Sign-up sheets available at Back-To-School Night only included events through the end of 2024, so there are more opportunities to volunteer! Thank you to those who have already expressed interest. Remember, this survey is for expressing interest in learning more about events you may want to help with. You are not committing to anything!

  Upcoming Event Details:

  
  

  Fall Pictures Students will have their picture taken THIS Wednesday 9/18. This picture requires students to be in their school uniform (including preschool). They will have another opportunity to be photographed in their Sunday Best in the Spring. Picture Make-up Day will be on Monday, November 4th.
  

  St. Ignatius 2024 Parish Picnic Saturday, September 21st following the 4 pm Vigil Mass. It is free to attend but registration is required. Please bring a dessert to share. See the Crusader Chronicle or the Parish Bulletin for the registration form and additional information.

  Welcome Back Beef and Beer Saturday, September 28th at 6 pm. Celebrate with fellow SIS parents, adult alumni, and faculty in kicking off our new school year! Featuring BBQ catered by Sweet Lucy's Smokehouse and beer provided by Yardley Beer Company. This event is taking place in the school parking lot by the blue canopy (in the event of rain, the event will move indoors). Tickets are on sale for $60 per person or $100 per couple. (Registration Deadline 9/26) https://forms.gle/2Cg3zEBF6iUUMCpv8

  Take a chance at winning the pot in our 50/50 raffle or leaving with one of our incredible raffle baskets! Can't come but want a chance to support and possibly win?? No problem! Using the registration link above you can still purchase 50/50 raffle tickets without attending. You will be contacted if you win!

  HSA General Assembly Meeting Wednesday, October 2nd at 7 pm. Our first general assembly meeting of the year will be held in the school cafeteria. Please enter the school by the blue canopy. All in attendance will earn their child(ren) a free dress-down day. We encourage everyone to join us!

  Important Information

  • For those purchasing pretzels and/or pizza, please make sure to fill out a form for EACH child in your family. After filling out the form for each student, please follow the link to Paypal, select pizza or pretzel from the pull-down menu, and click add fees. You can combine all pizza payments into one transaction and all pretzel payments into another single transaction. If you are paying with a check, please send in your payment made out to St. Ignatius Home and School Attention JR Longino c/o Charlie Longino 8th Grade. Failure to complete BOTH of these steps (form AND payment) will prevent us from being able to ensure your child receives their snack/ lunch. You will receive an email for each Google Form response you submit and an additional email confirmation will be sent on 9/13. If you did not receive the initial confirmation email or you do not receive final confirmation on 9/13, please contact Andrea Rozo (andrea.v.rozo@gmail.com) for assistance.
    • Pretzel Snack (Registration Deadline Sunday 9/15) https://forms.gle/gMyLHJSyPSDKft43A
    • WEEKLY Pizza Lunch (Registration Deadline Sunday 9/15) https://forms.gle/mSqahRRyjdtSfssf8
  • Volunteer Clearances: Please visit http://www.stignatius.church/safe.html for information on submitting clearances!
  • For upcoming events, information, school calendar, and registration forms/ links please visit the HSA school website (https://www.sischool.org/home-school and https://www.sischool.org/hs-forms-and-links)

Please use the link below for you and your family to sign up for the Family Adoration Hour.

As we wind down these last few weeks of summer, St Ignatius is excited to once again offer CYO Soccer this coming fall. While the registration period for the Novice, JV and Varsity programs has closed due to teams being formed and schedules set, we are able to keep the registration for the Pee Wee programs open for another couple of weeks. The Pee Wee program will include 2 age groups: (1) Pre-K & Kindergarten, and (2) 1st & 2nd grade.

The program will be held at St Ignatius on Saturday mornings, beginning on Saturday, September 14 and will run through early November. The program will run clinic style, with the goal of developing soccer skills in a fun and interactive environment. Each session will consist of training of the fundamental skills and techniques, followed by collaborative small-sided gameplay where the kids will have an opportunity to use the skills and techniques that they just learned.

The program will be run by Bryant Hosler, and Tiff Hutcheson. If you have any questions regarding the Pee Wee CYO soccer program, please reach out to Bryant Hosler at bryant.hosler@gmail.com,

Below is a link for you to register your child:

St Ignatius CYO - Fall 2024 Soccer Registration

Annmarie Flanagan is retiring from PREP at the end of June. After that she will continue with RCIA (now called OCIA). If you or someone you know (maybe your spouse) would be interested in becoming Catholic or just thinking about it, please tell him/her to call Annmarie on her cell --- 215-370-5701. The person does not have to be definite about it.

St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish has a parish-wide subscription to FORMED, a Catholic website with diverse Catholic movies, audio books, podcasts, shows, and more. You have free access to the content. Simply go to formed.org/signup, type in St. Ignatius of Antioch, look for the Yardley address on Reading Ave., click NEXT, type your name and preferred email address, and you will have access to the vast amount of content on FORMED.

This Year of Parish Revival is about falling deeper in love with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus and following him more closely. Mirroring this internal journey with an external one is a beautiful way to connect body and soul in the pursuit of Christ.

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is not one event or a road trip—it is an exciting opportunity for American Catholics everywhere to physically embody our nation’s journey of Eucharistic Revival. Whether you are on the shores of Hawaii or in the mountains of Alaska, needing to stay close to home or deployed overseas, you are invited to be a part of this journey.

Visit: https://www.eucharisticpilgrimage.org/plan-your-own-pilgrimage

Different questions were asked at the last General Assembly Meeting regarding teacher certification and teacher professional development.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia and St. Ignatius of Antioch advertise for and seek certified teachers for all subject areas. In individual cases, teachers are hired due to need, certain qualifications, and experience, with the expectation that those teachers are already or will be pursuing certification.

Teachers who are already certified are required to pursue continuing education through Act 48, a State of Pennsylvania professional development law. Act 48 requires that teacher certification is kept active by the completion of 180 hours of Act 48 approved professional development every five years.

Act 48 Professional Development hours can be earned through college credits or other Act 48 approved professional development courses or programs. Teachers often attend or participate in professional development during the summer months, but professional development opportunities are offered in various settings throughout the calendar year.

The Office of Catholic Education of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a state-approved provider of Act 48 Professional Development. Each school year, the Archdiocese offers regional professional development sessions, in addition to professional development opportunities for specific disciplines. The Archdiocesan Induction program, outlined in an earlier Crusader Chronicle and included in the "Repeating School Information" at the end of this school newsletter, is also part of the Archdiocesan Act 48 Professional Development. St. Ignatius of Antioch Elementary School participates in both Archdiocesan Professional Development and the Archdiocesan Induction Program.

Teacher attendance at Professional Development sessions and programs can be funded by the parish (with prior approval), by colleges or universities, by Federal Title II funds, or by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

At the General Assembly Meeting on Tuesday, March 19, Greg Lucidi, the St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish Business Manager, led a presentation and discussion of the budget for the coming 2024-2025 school year. The attached document was distributed as a hard copy at the General Assembly Meeting, so we wanted to share it with those parents who could not attend the meeting.

Three topics that were raised in the questions for the last General Assembly meeting, along with a response to each topic, are:

1. Religion Bee - we plan to participate in the Archdiocesan Religion Bee in the 2024-2025 school year.

2. Lunch Program - we have looked at several lunch programs since YAY! Lunch stopped service at St. Ignatius of Antioch. Some programs are not financially viable and some do not offer enough variety or enough healthy lunch choices or enough child-friendly choices. We are looking into the idea of starting with one or two local restaurants that would offer lunch service items for our students in the 2024-2025 school year, with the intention of expanding to more restaurants in the future. This is an ongoing topic of discussion with the Home and School Board.

3. First and Second Academic Honors - the possible return of a program of academic honors for our middle school students is also a topic of discussion at Home and School Board meetings. We are looking at the requirements of the Archdiocese for such a program, as well as the structure of similar programs at area Catholic elementary schools.

Questions were asked about the evaluation of teachers at both the January General Assembly and the March General Assembly.

New teachers in Archdiocesan Catholic schools are required to participate in the Teacher Induction Program. This is a state-mandated program that is coordinated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and it is composed of three meetings/trainings during the first year of teaching. Teachers who are in their second or third year of teaching may also be required to participate in the Induction Program if they did not complete Induction previously. Experienced teachers who are new to Catholic schools may participate in Induction voluntarily.

New teachers are assigned a mentor. Mentor teachers are chosen by their level of experience and are often chosen to mentor a new teacher who is teaching the same grade level or in the same range of grade level. Mentor teachers work with the new teacher for the first year and then continue mentorship as needed in the second year.

New teachers are formally observed at least twice a year. In addition, new teachers or teachers who are completing a teacher certification process may be observed by college or university personnel. Experienced teachers are formally observed at least once each school year. The Archdiocese asks principals to utilize the Danielson Framework as the preferred instrument for formal observations.

Informal observations and walk-through observations are done more frequently.

This is a repeat message; the original message below was sent through Option C on February 2, 2024.

At the Home and School General Assembly Meeting on Tuesday, January 30, 2024, some parents asked questions about the Archdiocesan Curriculum.

The link to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Office of Catholic Education Elementary School Curriculum webpage is below:

https://www.aopcatholicschools.org/elementary/curriculum?post_category_id=37

You will find links on this page to the curriculum guidelines for Kindergarten through Grade 8, as well as the curriculum for Special or Enrichment Classes. Within each grade level, you will find curriculum guidelines for content areas.

Please take time to peruse these pages to learn about the curriculum in Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese.

A question that was raised at the January General Assembly Meeting was in regards to report cards and the availability for teachers to write comments. As some of you may have noticed, the report card format was changed from the 2022-2023 school year. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia controls the format of the report card, and a committee from the Archdiocese updated and finalized the 2023-2024 report card format in the summer of 2023. Currently, there is no part of the current report card format that allows for teacher comments.

One other change that you may have noticed is in the "Personal, Social Growth, Conduct", "Effort and Study Skills", and "Listening and Speaking" sections of the report card for Grades 1 through 8. The "+" mark and the "x" mark are clearly defined for the different specific areas under the three above headings, but a blank space with no mark is not defined. If a teacher leaves the space blank, without a "+" or "x', that indicates that the student is developing appropriately in that specific area - in other words, it is not an area that needs improvement, and it is not a strength either.

Another question that was asked at the General Assembly Meeting on January 30 was in regards specifically to the Journeys series, which is utilized at St. Ignatius in Kindergarten through Grade 4 classrooms. The questions that were asked were in regards to the replacement of that series due to the Journeys series being discontinued in the future.

The Journeys series will be discontinued in June of 2025. We plan to continue to use Journeys in the 2024-2025 school year. A small group of our St. Ignatius teachers are previewing other series in order to choose a replacement for the future.

The publisher of the Journeys series, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has a new reading series, which is already in use in some schools and which has been approved by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. We are looking at that new Houghton Mifflin Harcourt series as one of the options.

At the last General Assembly meeting, some parents asked about the choice of textbooks in Archdiocesan Elementary Schools. This is the Archdiocesan policy for textbook choices:

"As a service to the elementary schools of the Archdiocese, programs and textbooks are reviewed and evaluated each year by the respective curriculum committees, and recommendations are made to the Office of Catholic Education. Approval of programs and textbooks is made by the Office of Catholic Education through the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment and related Staff Development for PK-8.

The publication of Programs Approved for Use is published on the AOP Elementary Website. This resource aids administrators and faculties in the selection of the program and textbooks which best meet the needs of the individual school. Administrators are encouraged to involve the faculty in textbook selection. Program continuity is essential in the selection of textbooks and materials.

Administrators are responsible to consult the faculty to update programs and textbooks on a rotating basis. The recommended cycle for renewing curriculum resources is six years. Schools that wish to select programs or textbooks other than those reviewed and approved by the curriculum committees should seek further information and approval from the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment and related Staff Development for PK-8. No pilot programs should be engaged in without the approval of the Office of Catholic Education.

School administrators should consult the guidelines when ordering programs, textbooks, and materials prior to completing state-funded instructional materials orders."

In addition to the above, administrators consult each other, and teachers also consult other teachers, for recommendations of textbook series. As we approach the 2024-2025 school year, we are looking specifically at a series to replace Journeys, which is being phased out. We have looked at the series that are currently recommended by the Archdiocese and are taking into account the advice of teachers and administrators at other schools.