Dear Parents,

September has come and gone. The first month of school has been impressive. The students have already begun to settle in with much ease. They are very busy learning new material and getting acquainted with their daily routines. We were glad to have the opportunity to talk to our parents at our first parent meetings. In our attempts to always keep the lines of communication open between teachers and parents, please feel free to ask any questions you might have regarding our program.

Our revised Parent Handbook is under final proofing and we hope to have it out this week with this week's newsletters.

We had a great turnout for our annual Star Party. Besides being a great chance to see what's up in the sky, the event provided a wonderful opportunity for families to get together. Joe Eiers gave a talk about what we would be seeing, and set up a medley of telescopes for viewing. We were able to see Jupiter, four of its moons, a star cluster, and our own moon with great clarity on Steve's telescope. On Joe's telescopes, we viewed the moon, Jupiter, and other miscellaneous objects such as a double star. If you would like to contact Joe for any astronomical reason, you may e-mail him at: alberio@ns.net, or you may visit him at his web site at: http//www.ns.net/users/alberio. Thank you for attending.

Every year, when the children first come back to school, it seems that colds and flu run rampant through the classrooms until everyone's immunities have built up. Unfortunately, many of the other children not only get sick, but they give it to the staff, too. Please do not send your children to school if they are ill. See Medication, Illness, and Attendance in the Parent Handbook on page 14 for further information.

There are two proper methods to make your payments. The preferred method is to make a separate check for each child, and mail your payment to:

The second method is to bring cash, check, or money order by the office at 6400 Freeport Blvd. See page 5 under Billings and Payments in the Parent Handbook for more detailed information.

Field Trips for all classes have begun. Look in your child's weekly and monthly newsletters for each month's trip and information regarding the trip. Please refer to your Parent Handbook on page 25 under Field Trips for more information regarding these excursions.

If you or your child have an inclination to see high schools up close and personal, several of the local high schools will be having open houses. Jesuit and Christian Brothers High Schools' will be on October 12. Christian Brothers will have their open house from 1 - 3 PM and Jesuit's will be from 11 - 1. Loretto High School's open house will be on October 19, at noon. St. Francis will be holding their open house on October 26. St. Francis will visit our school on October 7. Mark these dates on your calendar and take your children with you. Eileen Thomas, from Loretto High School, was here in September to talk to the Adolescent girls about their school. The presentation went very well. Jim Hughes from Christian Brothers High School came by last week to talk to the adolescent boys and girls. Graduates Kenny Aber and Nathan Browne, who now attend Christian Brothers, came along with Jim Hughes to help recruit more students from our school. It was great to see them again and catch up on their lives. It is nice that the local high schools have seen the value of our program from our previous graduates and now come here to recruit future students.

The Pre-school will have a Mom's Night on October 9, from 6:00-7:00 PM. Dads will have a "Night" of their own on March 5. The Kindergarten/6-9 classes will have Dad's Night on the same night, October 9, from 6:00 to 7:00 PM. Moms will have a "Night" of their own on March 5. The children will demonstrate some of the jobs that they particularly enjoy doing during the school day. We hope that you will enjoy sharing this part of your child's day, and we look forward to seeing you there. For those of you who have not been to one, this is a great event. The children are so proud to be able to share their work.

The make up day for school pictures will be announced. The make up day is for students who missed picture day on September 24 or 25. Unfortunately, your child will not be in the class picture, but they will be in the yearbook. All make ups will be taken at Freeport Boulevard (we will transport).

The big event for October is, of course, Halloween. For the Kindergarten and elementary classes, we regard this holiday as an opportunity for a very special history lesson. On page 26, in the Parent Handbook under International and Historic Day, there are more details of these events. Please read the description carefully, and check with your child's teacher if you have any questions or need some suggestions.

Our first Elementary Continent Party will be held at the Freeport Campus on Friday, November 7. We will be enjoying food, art projects, and activities from Asia. Watch your child's weekly newsletter for information about each classes' specific country or area of study. If you have any artifacts or recipes that you are willing to share with us, please let your child's teacher know.

Saturday, December 6, is a date to mark on your calendar now! The children will be working on crafts for our Annual Elementary Christmas Craft Faire over the next two months. While we make many things in class, the children are invited to work on projects at home. Please make sure these are crafts made by the child (this has become a major concern of many parents). You will be hearing more about this event in the coming weeks, but we wanted to give you the chance to plan ahead. Invite your relatives, friends, and neighbors!

The Mortensen Math Workshop was presented on Saturday, September 20. If you missed it, there will be another on March 7. Steve had a nice small group of staff and parents. As usual the parents were amazed with the complex mathematical principles that could be reduced to simple mathematical operations.

SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS

Teacher	Day and Date	Time	Place
Anne	TBA	TBA	Sacramento River
Heidi	Friday, October 17	10:30 AM	Sutter's Fort
Anastasia	Monday, October 13	9:30 AM	Capital Nursery
Ranji	Thursday, October 23	10:00 AM	Crocker Art Museum
Dharmeeka	Wednesday, October 15	10:00 AM	Land Park Pet Center

SCHOOL EVENTS and HOLIDAYS

EVENT	DATE
Mom's Night Pre-school/Dad's Night Kindergarten/6-9	October 9
Picture Make up	TBA
Historical/International Day	October 31
Continent Party	November 7
Christmas Craft Faire	December 6