Open House and Space

Open House -
We will have an open house in August before school begins.  This will be similar to Open House in the past.  Students will have the opportunity to bring their supplies, meet their teachers, and tour the building.  We will also have an informational meeting at that time to discuss specifics such as drop-off, lunch, etc.

We are also planning an "orientation" day in March for students entering grades 4 - 6.  Students and parents will have the opportunity to tour the building and ask questions.

Space - We have been renovating various spaces at Garrigan to accommodate for the additional students.  Students in grades 4 - 8 will be housed in the north end of the building.  There are doors that will provide a natural divide between these students and the high school students.  We are moving six classrooms to Garrigan.
1 - The board room will be located in the addition, so Mr. Wieland will move to the current board room.
2- We no longer use a wired lab because we have laptops/Chromebooks, so Mrs. Even will be moving into the computer lab. (Lab has been renovated.)
3 - Mrs. Vaske will be moving to the ICN room.  (Currently being renovated.)
4 - Linda Peterson will be moving to Jeannie Farrell's room.
5 - Colleen Schiltz's room will be used as a classroom.
6 - The Development office will be located in the addition, so the current Development office can be used as a classroom.


We also have some additional spaces:

• Colleen Schiltz will move to John Byrkeland's office area.
• John Byrkeland will move to Sister Janet's office.
• Speech (Diane Capesius) will be located in the Scrip office.  
• Scrip Office will be located in the new addition.
• Middle School Special Education (Julie Illg) will be located in an empty room in the science wing.
• Middle School Music will be located in the previous high school choir room. 
• High School Choir is now located in a new room at the east end of the hall.

Catholic Schools Week

What a week! This is one of my favorite times of the year because we celebrate who we are during this week. We started our week with the celebration of Mass.  It's a wonderful time to come together to celebrate our Catholic identity with Mass. We had lots of things going on throughout the week--we collected items for Mary's Place, our high school friends came to read in our classrooms, we met with our  partners and made "Prayers from Bears", watched a movie, played on the inflatables, and had root beer floats! We also had lots of learning too.  I want to thank all of you for choosing Bishop Garrigan Schools.  It's awesome because of our parents, students, teachers, and staff!

What' Changing?

Happy 2015!
This year will bring more changes to the Bishop Garrigan system.  The new addition is coming along nicely.  Rumor has it we may be ahead of schedule.  Can you imagine that?  Plans are also moving forward to bring students in grades 4 - 6 to the Garrigan campus this fall.  Over the next weeks I will try to update you on some of the details of the move.  This week I will begin by mentioning some of the topics that I will address and some of the questions that you are asking.  Please remember to comment on this post or to email me if you have other questions.

What do we need to consider before we start moving?

• How will we feed all those students at Garrigan?
• Will the kitchen be ready at Seton?
• When will the Academy be torn down?
• Will there be enough room in both buildings?
• Will there be a playground or play area at Garrigan?
• Where will students be dropped off and picked up at Garrigan?
• Will there be a bus from Seton to Garrigan before and after school?
• Are there enough lockers at Garrigan?
• Will there be books in the library for all ages in both buildings?
• Will we continue some of the traditions?
• Will there be mass on Wednesdays?  Where?
• When will the move occur?
• Is there enough technology?
• Will students still have PE and music?  Who will teach it?

Renovation Update:
We already have the new rooms for high school choir, Mr.Wieland and Mrs. Even almost ready.  We have begun remodeling the ICN room for Mrs. Vaske and the old choir room for Mrs. Black.

As you can see, there is a lot to consider but we are well on our way.

December 12

Strong Catholic Families - 

I hope that you enjoyed our first Family Night.  I loved blessing our Christmas tree. We hope to have another night before or at the beginning of lent. The Diocese of Sioux City has created a website with resources for teachers and families to use.  Please check out this website.  http://www.scdiocese.org/resources 

Merry Christmas!!!

Bonus Blog - December 2

I read this in the Seton newsletter and I thought that it was great!

WHAT ARE THE IOWA CORE STANDARDS?
The Iowa Core standards are statewide expectations for what students should know and be able to do in English, Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Stud-ies, and 21st Century Skills, such as financial and civic literacy. The goal of the standards is to make sure students are prepared for college or career training after high school. The standards establish what students need to learn, but not how they should be taught. Local schools and educators continue to set and oversee decisions about classroom instruction.

Many emotions surround the term "Iowa Core".  The state recommends the following site to help parents have accurate information.

https://iowacore.gov/parents-community

November 21

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

We have a technology fundraiser coming up on December 5.  You received an email asking for volunteers and donations.  This week I would like to share with you how the technology meals and Cash for Classrooms (Gala) help our students and teachers.

In the past 4 years we have purchased:
48 laptops with two carts for the Garrigan building
11 Chromebooks for the Garrigan building
20 Chromebooks with a cart at Seton
11 Ipads for Seton
Each classroom at Seton has some form of an interactive whiteboard (Mimio or Smartboard)
Each classroom at Seton has a mounted projector
Updated approximately 25 teacher laptops
Added access points making both buildings wireless
7 new printers between the two buildings
This list does not include the yearly maintenance.

We hope to purchase:
Updated technology for the Mrs. Vaske business lab.  (24 laptops and software updates)
20 Chromebooks for grades 2/3
5 Ipads for grades K/1
20 Chromebooks for grades 5/6
Increased bandwidth to 100 mbs

You can come and eat even if you don't attend the game!  Thanks for your support!

November 6

Hello again,
Congratulations to all of the fall activities.  I am so proud of how hard our students work both in school and outside of school.  Did you know that about 95% of BG students participate in an after school activity and over 85% of our students are in more than 2 extra-curricular activities?  Most of the students who are not involved in extra-curricular activities hold jobs or work for their families.  This makes me think twice when I say, "I am SO busy!"

Thank you to all of our students, parents, and community members who make it all work!!!