St. James Knightly News April 16, 20211

Edu����on C����ra���� We�kThis week marks the Education Celebration at the Capitol in support of nonpublic schools. It’sgood timing because Iowa legislators are still considering options for helping the parents ofnonpublic school students as the end of the session nears. Please take a few moments to go tothe Iowa Catholic Conference's Action Alert Site to let the Governor, your Senator, and yourRepresentative know of your support of school choice and of your hope for enhancements of theSTO program, increases to the Tuition Tax Credit program, and the creation of EducationalSavings Accounts.

Stu���t T�i���� Or�a��z��i�� (S�O)The Student Tuition Organization (STO) application DEADLINE has been EXTENDED TOMAY 17th to correspond with the tax deadline. Please drop off your STO applications along withpage 1 and 2 of your IRS form 1040 on or before May 17, 2021. Contact Mary Sue Marek if youhave any questions.

Iow� S���e��d� A��es���n� �� Stu���tPro���s� (IS���)

Third through fifth grade students took the ISASP tests in reading, math, language/writing, andfifth graders will take an additional test on Monday in science. I applaud the efforts of our St.James students. Students worked diligently and used the accommodations provided from breaks,calculator, answer eliminator, highlighting, bookmarking difficult questions, reviewing answers,and scratch paper. I was truly impressed in observing student grit as I proctored the testing.Thank you to Mrs. Brinning and Mrs. Heisdorffer for working with students on practice testingso that students were prepared to use the assessment.

New �����l We���t�!I would like to give a huge shout out to Mrs. Brining for her time, energy, ideas, and savviness indeveloping our new school website! Our old website was connected to the Parish website and

Our Mission is to Glorify God Through Word, Worship and Service.

St. James Knightly News April 16, 20212

with some changes in compliance, we have decided to designate a website specifically for theschool. Please visit our new website at: www.sjknights.org. You are going to love it!

Some features to check out:- Ability to pay your lunch account balance from the home page! Just click on Donations andPayments in the upper left hand corner.- You can now subscribe to a St. James Google Calendar and have alerts sent straight to you! Allyou have to do is locate the calendar (under Events and News) and in the bottom right handcorner click:

- Under the "parents" tab, you can locate login pages for commonly used websites and haveinformation specific to you right at your fingertips.

Mas� ���n�� &Pri�� At�i��

As a friendly reminder, students shouldwear their Pride shirts and khakis (pants,shorts, skirt, dress, sweater or cardigan) onPride days. Sweatpants, leggings, athleticpants/shorts are discouraged. Sweatshirtsand hoodies that cover Pride shirts arediscouraged. Next year, students will NOTbe allowed to wear sweatshirts, hoodies, or jackets to Mass. Students may wear a

zip up jacket, sweater, cardigan over their Pride shirt for warmth, however, the Pride logo and orpolo should be visible. There are lots of options for Pride attire. Students can have polos longand short sleeve, sweatshirts, sweaters, cardigans embroidered with our logo. Pride shirts arenavy blue or light blue. Let's show that we are PROUD to be St. James!

Sp�i�g C����r�Ms. Marner has been working hard with K-5th grade students in preparation fortheir spring concert. While it will look different this year, Ms. Marner is preparing athemed presentation titled "We are always there for each other." Each grade levelselected two songs to show how we are never alone because our family, friends, andGod will be there whenever we need them. The students are currently working onadding in solos, small singing groups, and actions to make these songs moremeaningful. In the coming weeks each class will record their musical selections to

Our Mission is to Glorify God Through Word, Worship and Service.

St. James Knightly News April 16, 20213

make a virtual spring concert for everyone to see. The video will be sent out via email. Belowyou will find the songs and artists for each grade level.

Kindergarten:

All the People said Amen-Matt Maher

True colors-Billy Steinberg

Featuring movement scarves

1st Grade:

You got a Friend in Me-Randy Newman

Good Good Father-Chris Tomlin

Featuring movements

2nd Grade:

Lord of my Life-Matt Maher

Count on Me-Bruno Mars

The 2nd grade class made up their own

movements for “Count on Me”

3rd Grade:

Brother-Bo and Bear Rinehart

Shoulders-Joel and Luke Smallbone

Featuring xylophones and small vocal

groups

4th Grade:

Fix My Eyes- John Smallbone

Featuring body percussion and vocal solos

5th Grade:

Stand By You- Rachel Platten

Featuring vocal trios

4th and 5th Grade Combined:

Stand By Me- Ben E. King

Ear��l�

Ble���n��Earthly Blessings is ablessing to St. JamesSchool! The storewas established in thefall of 1999. They area non-profit,charismatic, special, and solely volunteer run faith basedshop. Proceeds go to St. James School! Parish and

Our Mission is to Glorify God Through Word, Worship and Service.

St. James Knightly News April 16, 20214

community members share their love of Christ and serving others by donating their time toselect, arrange, and sell a variety of religious books, rosaries, gifts for confirmation, FirstCommunion, baptism and weddings. They also have home decor, Willow Tree Angels; theperfect gifts you are looking for! Because of Earthly Blessings, St. James was able to purchase25 Chromebooks (pictured are 3rd graders using Chromebooks in Mrs. Sheetz’s class) thatstudents in 3rd-5th grade use for technology and are currently using for ISASP testing. TheChromebooks have touch screens making them more student friendly and most importantly theywork and work extremely well! The antiquated MacBooks caused a lot of frustration for studentsand teachers. They also were not able to support applications such as TestNav used for ISASP.Earthly Blessings needs volunteers in order to continue being a source of support for St. JamesSchool. Please consider donating a couple hours of your time to work behind the counter. It is acharming and warm place to spend your time, to give to the community, to St. James and St.James students. Please contact Christal Quigley at 319-863-3610 to become a blessing, anEarthly Blessing volunteer.

Hours of operation:

Tuesday 10:00-2:00pm

Wednesday 10:00-2:00pm

Thursday 10:00-5:00pm

Friday 10:00-2:00pm

Saturday 10:00-2:00pm

Happy, happy birthday to Luke (K) andMrs. Heisdorffer this week! May yourday be as special as you!

Our Mission is to Glorify God Through Word, Worship and Service.

St. James Knightly News April 16, 20215

Wha�’s Co����g?Caroline (K) chose to help in the kitchen for her PBIS reward and she loved it!She wants to do it again. She helped put cheese on top of the entree andcounted out snacks.

Min�-BusPlease be sure to contact the mini-bus if there are changes in your child’s transportation inaddition to letting the office know.

En� o� t�� Y�a�The last day for three and four year old preschool will be Thursday, May 13. Monday, May 24 isa snow make-up day. Tuesday, May 25 is a snow make-up day and the last day of school with a1:00pm dismissal.

We are looking forward to the following activities for the end of the year!

Our Mission is to Glorify God Through Word, Worship and Service.

St. James Knightly News April 16, 20216

Step Up - students in kindergarten through 4th grade will spend a half hour in their upcomingclassroom to get to know their new teacher and learn about what will be different.

Track & Field Day - this will be held onsite including individual and relay activities such as the50 meter dash, 100 meter dash, 50 meter hurdles (child size), frisbee throw aka discus, softballtoss aka shot put, javelin throw (with pool noodles), standing long jump, sponge bullseye akaarchery, crab soccer, chicken sticks relay, tug of war, and sit up ball relay.

STEM/STEAM - exploding paint rockets, firework salt painting, and paper plate hovercrafts

Carnival

Ear�� ��t�The Washington Community School District’s school board approved additional early out daysfor the second semester. All other early out Fridays were already part of the master schedule.This means that EVERY Friday is an early out. St. James will NOT be participating in theadditional early out days as approved by our school board on Wednesday, January 20. Ourteachers want to remain in session instructing students. Dates below in red are theadditional early outs for WCSD. These are dates when alternate transportation for yellowbus will be needed. St. James will continue with our original calendar.Friday, April 23Friday, April 30Friday, May 14Friday, May 21

Mas� ��he����April 21st Ms. Spears

April 28th Ms. Cole (aka Mrs. Stoutner)

May 5th Mrs. Fritz

May 12th Mrs. Heisdorffer

May 19th Ms. Matheson

Cal����rMonday, April 19 5th grade ISASP testing

Wednesday, April 21 Midterm grades due

Our Mission is to Glorify God Through Word, Worship and Service.

St. James Knightly News April 16, 20217

Friday, April 23 Midterms sent out; WCSD EARLY OUT; ST.JAMES IN SESSION 8:05AM-2:55PM (ALTERNATE YELLOW BUS TRANSPORTATIONNEEDED)

Friday, April 30 WCSD EARLY OUT; ST. JAMES IN SESSION8:05AM-2:55PM (ALTERNATE YELLOW BUS TRANSPORTATION NEEDED

Wednesday, May 12 Spring Concert

Saturday, May 15 5th grade graduation 6:30pm

Wednesday, May 19 Step up Day 9:15-9:45am; STEAM/STEM Activities9:50-11:25; K-2nd Tee Ball; 3rd-5th Flag Football

Thursday, May 20 Track & Field Day (this has changed)

Friday, May 21 WCSD EARLY OUT; ST. JAMES IN SESSION8:05AM-2:55PM (ALTERNATE YELLOW BUS TRANSPORTATION NEEDED); GRADESDUE

Monday, May 24 5th grade to Adventureland

Tuesday, May 25 Carnival; last day of school; early out 12:55pm

Our Mission is to Glorify God Through Word, Worship and Service.