"Sharing" and children's health

By Lawrence Manetti, St. Joseph School Principal

Teaching children to share is one of the most important things that parents and teachers can do.

Yet there are times when we much teach youngsters not to share.

Of course, I am talking about the times when sharing can lead to spread of disease among children and others.

Let’s all teach our children:

** do not share hats, caps, headbands or anything else that touches your hair. Sharing such items can lead to the spread of head lice from child to child.

** do not share anything that has already been in or on someone else’s mouth: a can of soda, a sports drink bottle, food, drinking straws, lip balm or lipstick, and so forth. Certain types of bacteria are spread by shared saliva, including some types of bacteria that can cause illnesses like meningitis.

** do not share towels or anything that may have come into contact with another person’s open cut or sore. Certain types of bacteria can be transmitted this way, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of staph bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics and can in some cases be dangerous.

Additionally, we must teach youngsters not to “share” coughs or sneezes. Cover your cough, cover your sneeze, use facial tissues and discard them promptly, and wash hands regularly with soap and water. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizers when soap and water are not available.

Finally, the best way to teach these lessons is to lead by example. When children see adults with healthy habits, they understand that we mean what we say about good hygiene.

For more information, here is a link to a helpful page on hand washing, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/HandWashing/

Have a great day…

Join us at the Gran Kermes Festival!

By Tim Hadac, SJS  Director of Development, Alumni Relations and New Media

All St. Joseph School families, as well as parishioners, alumni and alumni parents, and all our friends are invited to attend the Gran Kermes Benefit Festival, set for 1:00 to 10:00 p.m. this Saturday, September 3 right here on the parish parking lot.

Led by the parish's Hispanic Ministry team, the event will feature family-friendly live entertainment---music, singing, dancing, a puppet show, and more.

Additionally, there will be a food fiesta featuring tamales, tostadas, enchiladas, flautas, gorditas, horchata, snow cones/rasapadas, and more.

Raffle tickets will be on sale for five dollars apiece, with prizes including a flat-screen TV, gift baskets and more.

Admission is free, and proceeds from food and raffle ticket sales will benefit the parish.

For full details go online to http://kermesfestival.homestead.com/

See you there...

Is Your Child Ready for Kindergarten?

By Lawrence Manetti, St. Joseph School Principal

Decades ago, the term "kindergarten readiness" meant little more than parents making sure their five-year-old sons and daughters were equipped with an ample supply of pencils, crayons, paper and folders.

In recent years, with advances in our understanding of early child development, "kindergarten readiness" has become a much more complex term encompassing whether or not a young child has reached certain levels of social and emotional development, cognition and general knowledge, language development, and physical well-being and motor development.

Understandably, the "Is my child ready for kindergarten?" question---along with the "Should I delay my child's entry into kindergarten to give him/her an extra year in preschool to develop?"----is one that mothers and fathers ask more frequently than ever.

While there certainly is no "one size fits all" kindergarten readiness checklist, I found an interesting one online recently:

http://school.familyeducation.com/kindergarten/school-readiness/38491.html

(One note about the checklist, relating to the "If your child has acquired most of the skills on this checklist and will be at least four years old at the start of the summer before he or she starts kindergarten" sentence: The school code in Illinois states that a child entering kindergarten needs to be five years old by September 1st.)

One thing all parents should remember is not to keep your concerns to yourself. Share your concerns openly and honestly with your child's teacher. Work together with your child's teacher to monitor your child's progress and determine the best course of action.

As a parent, you want the very best for your child, and you prove it every day by giving your best efforts. At St. Joseph School, we share your goals and will work with you as partners in your child's education.

Have a great day...

Back-to-School Cheer and Optimism

By Lawrence Manetti, St. Joseph School Principal

Well, the optimism of a new school year is upon us.

Yesterday we gave a cheerful "Welcome back!" to our students in grades 1-8. It was great to see so many familiar faces (and a few new ones).

This is my 33rd year as a school principal and my 15th year as St. Joseph School principal; and I still find the first day of school as exciting as ever.

Today, we welcome our preschoolers and kindergarteners. Connected to that, our Parent Club will be hosting its "Boo-Hoo Breakfast" for parents of preschoolers and kindergarteners. This is a nice little "getting to know you" event designed to build camaraderie among our parents, encourage them to join and be active in the Parent Club, answer any questions they may have about the school, and help make their children's transition from home to school smooth and enjoyable.

Please keep in mind that we are still accepting students in all grades for the 2011-12 school year. This is especially important information for parents who may have registered their children elsewhere but found that the school was---for whatever reason---not as good a fit as they had hoped.

If you know any parents who fit that description, please spread the good news about St. Joseph School and encourage them to call me directly at (708) 458-2927. I will personally answer any questions they may have, and I will help walk them through the registration process.

Have a great day...

Greetings From Principal Lawrence Manetti

Welcome to the first-ever, official blog of St. Joseph School.

For those unfamiliar with us, we are located at 5641 South 73rd Avenue in Summit, Illinois. For nearly a century we have provided an excellent Catholic elementary education to boys and girls in St. Joseph Parish (which includes the northern half of Summit plus the westernmost section of Chicago's Garfield Ridge neighborhood), as well as boys and girls in nearby suburban communities like Bedford Park, Bridgeview, Justice, Willow Springs, Forest View, Stickney, Lyons and McCook, among others.

This blog is the first of several Internet-based communications tools we plan to launch and utilize in the 2011-12 school year.

This blog is primarily designed to:

** ...provide up-to-date news and other information for St. Joseph School parents and students, faculty and staff, parishioners, alumni and everyone in our school community.

** ...publicly thank individual members of our local business and professional community for the many ways they support St. Joseph School.

** ...encourage our alumni---graduates, as well as alumni parents---to share positive memories of yesteryear, and encourage all alumni to re-connect with St. Joseph School and give a helping hand to today's boys and girls.

** ...occasionally raise and discuss larger issues associated with Catholic education, to promote better and stronger Catholic education at all levels.

On a day-to-day basis, this blog will be administered---under my supervision and authority---by Tim Hadac, St. Joseph School's Director of Development, Alumni Relations and New Media. Mr. Hadac, a father of two St. Joseph School graduates and a past president of our School Board, is also a longtime journalist and public relations professional.

We welcome your feedback and encourage you to check back here frequently...