St. Patrick Catholic Parish and School will be holding our Wild Irish Week March 10-16, 2019. This week will kick off with our annual Leprechaun Chase, a 10k, 5k, and 2 mile color fun run to be held March 10th. This event will have live music, food, DJ, prizes and giveaways. Fun for the whole family you don't want to miss! You can register online at leprechaunchase2019.eventbrite.com or submit your registration to the school or church office in person or by mail.

Students & Faculty at St. Patrick School celebrated the feast day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Sr. Margaret. Nano Nagle, the foundress, was known as the Lady with the Lantern, because she used the light to walk thru the dark lanes of Cork, Ireland, looking for children to educate and taking care of the poor. The students presented the story of Nano and each child carried a paper lantern to remind them of our byline "Be God's Light in the World.”

Six of our wonderful teachers were awarded grants from the Baldwin EMC Operation Round Up Star Light Foundation. Deborah Brown was awarded her grant for “Joyful Noise” which will bring music-based literacy to her classes. Kelly Cote, 5th grade, received a grant for “Anyone can Code.” With this, her class will be learning to program Robots. Fun! Our next recipient was Natasha Pratt for “Art on Another Level.” With her grant, she has big plans to bring in artist Ricky Trione and Timmy Abell for the entire school. We are looking forward to their visit! Jamie Koons was awarded her grant for K-NEX in the K-lassroom! Her science classes will have so much fun with that. Our resource teacher, Laura Terrell, was awarded her grant for “Dr. Seuss Week.” She will be able to provide fun activities, such as a Dr. Seuss themed breakfast, and Dr. Seuss library books for our students. Our last recipient was Moira Flint for “Digging for Knowledge.” We can’t wait to see the raised gardening beds that will be used to grow edibles as well as plants that support pollinators, butterflies, and caterpillars. The combined total awarded to our teachers was more than $5000! We are very excited for you all!

An exciting time for students and faculty at SPCS! We’ve been preparing and rehearsing for a commercial. The filming was done this past week and still photos and other information has been submitted. We can’t wait to share the final product with everyone! Thank you to Mrs. Sharee Fincher and Mrs. Miska Dembowski for scheduling and organizing the activities. [photos - Natasha Pratt]

Fifth graders from catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Mobile took part in the Vocational Youth Conference with Father Victor sharing the message, "we are all God's gifts". The conference gives the students an opportunity to meet, mingle, enjoy games, and fellowship. Afterwards, all attended the annual Blue Mass; a special Mass for police officers, firefighters, and first responders.

Today our morning assembly was held outside by the statue of Mary as the flag was raised to half-staff on this 17th anniversary of the horrific attacks of 9/11. Students, faculty, and friends joined Sr. Margaret in prayer remembering those tragic events that forever changed so many American lives. Mrs. Natasha Pratt led the group singing our National Anthem. We keep all first responders, active military, and their families in our daily prayers.

Mrs. Amanda Campbell’s 2nd grade class enjoys daily reading centers. In groups, students rotate between five centers throughout the week—computers/iPads, read to self, word work, listening, and writing. Each center allows the students to practice their reading, writing, and spelling in a creative way. Centers are always an exciting time of day.

Our K4 class met their 8th grade buddies today. Their task was to play with center materials and then clean up before moving on to explore the next center. During the year, 8th grade students will spend time guiding our K4 students as they attend mass with the school. The students will also partner up for shared reading, art projects, and a variety of other learning tasks. (Mrs. Shelly Bosarge, Teacher)