One of our favorite times of the year is upon us - Catholic Schools Week! We have a lot of fun activities planned to celebrate our Catholic school community, beginning with a special Mass on Saturday, January 25th. Please click here to see the full calendar of events. We hope to see you there!

Wow, what a busy month! December was full of fun and learning as we wrapped up 2019 at St. Clare. The whole school celebrated the Advent season with Advent wreaths throughout the building. The students worked very hard on their annual Christmas concert and performed for families and community members on the 19th. We ended the school year with giving a brand new St. Clare sweatshirt to every single student in the school, thanks to a very generous donor. The students loved their sweatshirts and continue to wear them to school! We had a great 2019 and we look forward to what's in store for 2020.

November was a busy and exciting month! At the beginning of the month, our whole school participated in the annual Turkey Trot. Students ran through the neighborhood behind the school, and the winners from each grade won a turkey to enjoy with their families. The first instructional quarter ended, and parents met with their children's teachers at conferences. We ended the month celebrating Thanksgiving with our school community by collecting food donations for families in need. We have had a great month and are now looking forward to all the exciting things that will be happening in December!

Our National Junior Honor Society hosted a very successful fundraiser dinner at Traffic Jam and Snug! Thank you to all parents, families, friends, and supporters of St. Clare for coming out to this event and making it so enjoyable. Proceeds from this event will assist NJHS members with the cost of attending a leadership conference in the spring. Special thanks go to Traffic Jam owners Carolyn Howard and Scott Lowell for allowing us to host this dinner in their Midtown restaurant.

Our library/media and German teacher, Mrs. White, has been busy shopping for all our readers big and small! These new books will be available in our school library soon. We can't wait to check them out!

Wow - what a month! October was full of exciting events and great learning for everyone at St. Clare. We celebrated our annual Blessing of the Pets in recognition of St. Francis of Assisi. Our sixth graders enjoyed their time at camp, while we missed them dearly! We celebrated Halloween throughout the entire month with events like Scary Skate, Trunk or Treat, and Haunted Garage. We ended our Halloween celebrations with an assembly in the school gym, where the students and teachers all wore their costumes. We also had our school-wide field trip to Blake's Cider Mill, which was a great time! We were joined by almost 30 parents and family members. We rounded out the month by celebrating All Saints Day on November 1st, with the sixth graders leading us in prayer. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast provided by the Knights of Columbus following mass. October was a great month. We can't wait to see what November has in store for us!

The Indian River Fruit Sale is in full swing at St. Clare School. The sale has been extended until Monday, October 21st. The fruit is picked fresh and on the road in less than 24 hours. We must sell at least 100 cases to have a delivery. Each student that sells at least 5 cases will receive a free Jeans Day on Monday, November 4th! Ask your friends, relatives, and neighbors to support St. Clare. There are order forms in the office and at the back table in church, or you can click this article for the link to order online. Fruit will be delivered the week of November 18th. If you have any questions, contact Ann Conlan at 313-647-5101 or aconlan@stclarem.org.

St. Clare of Montefalco 4th and 5th grade students and families attended a follow-up meeting with the park design team of The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park, the western extension of the waterfront Riverfront Walk, on Monday, October 7th. The students were part of the Children's Design Team for the 4.5 acre Children's Play Garden last school year. Our students saw where some of their suggestions were incorporated into the park. One of our students, Lauren Harris, designed a statue that will be built in the park! The St. Clare students impressed the designers and participants with their astute questioning about all aspects surrounding the various sections of the park. Materials, safety, water flow, flora and fauna, and seasonal use questions were all posed by the St. Clare students. Proud to be falcons!

This has been a great first week of October as we began our Iowa testing. The students have been using best practices during testing to demonstrate their proficiency. We also celebrated a fantastic school Mass celebrating the Feast of the Guardian Angels, planned by our 4th/5th grade class. We love having our school families and parishioners join us every week! We are looking forward to our Blessing of the Pets to celebrate St. Francis of Assisi, which will take place Friday, October 3 at 2:55 pm.

No school for students this Friday, September 27th! Teachers and staff will be attending a Professional Development Day for the AOD at University of Detroit Mercy. Enjoy your day off, students!

There will be a Beginning of School Picnic on Sunday, August 25 in the church gazebo area from 2-4. Please come and meet each other, the teachers, see the grounds, and especially welcome all newcomers. Bring a chair or a blanket and a snack to share. School begins on Tuesday, September 3 at 7:55 with dismissal at 12:00. The Book Sale will be the second week in September. We still need books-to be dropped off in the bins in front of the school or on Tuesdays from 4-8. Help is needed, so if you are able, please offer. For questions call the school office 647-5101. This book sale is a huge fundraiser for the school. We appreciate your support by donating books for sale and offering to help.

I am excited to introduce a new leadership team to the St. Clare of Montefalco Catholic School Community.  We are introducing a new leadership framework to our school that ensures the needs of our teachers, students and families are met while at the same time we work to strengthen and grow our beloved school.

St. Clare Basketball Camp: St. Clare will host a 5th-8th grade basketball camp for boys and girls, July 22 - July 25 from 9:00-11:00 am. The camp will be run by Coach Steve Hammel and Coach Lance Jeffries. Cost will be $85, which includes a camp t-shirt. This camp is open...

Student Council Happenings: Wow! Where did the school go?  Our Student Council did a great job this year.  We had many exciting events.  We had the Halloween celebration, Black History Month program, and bunny grams to name a few.  Our most recent happening was the school talent school.  Twelve children from grades 2 to 7, sang or danced for us on May 8th. Not bad for our first time.  Next year should be bigger and better. They were all great!

Another exciting year at Saint Clare is coming to an end. Our eighth graders are leaving to go great places in the world. Remember you will always be part of the St. Clare Family. While we say goodbye to the 8th grade, we say welcome to the new families and returning families of the All-day Preschool. Currently, we have already doubled this year’s enrollment for the upcoming 2019-20 school year. What a great success for our...

February was a snowy month resulting in more than a few snow days! In response, our first available “Topic Tuesday” for all English classes, 6-8, was; “What if we had a “snow-in” day? So much snow we had to stay in school overnight….with no pizza delivery?” Students shared some of their journal responses. Check out some writing consistency I noticed: “Somehow, the teachers would get locked into the Teacher’s Lounge. Ice cream from the lunchroom would be the main staple for dinner, unless they could take the tunnel to the social hall, where most writers were sure there was enough food to stay for a week, if necessary. Hallway sports, music over the PA, game rooms, reading rooms, and movie rooms were proposed, along with taking care of Little Buddies. After parents rescued them by morning using skis, snowblowers, bulldozers or snow tunnels (that worked like waterslides?) the whole school would get to go home… for another snow day! There is no shortage of creative thinking or writing in the Junior High at St. Clare.

We are well into the third quarter and the fifth grade students are working hard to get their Accelerated Reading points.  This is a reading program where the students read a book and take a computer quiz on that book.  They will need to get 13 points by the end of the quarter to meet their goal.  In reading, we are starting the novel Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.  As we read the book, the students will take quizzes, reenact some scenes, and rewrite parts of the book in their own words.

It is time for our parents to complete the 2nd Annual Catholic Schools Program Effectiveness Survey. The results of this survey are used at the AOD to make data-driven decisions for our strategic planning process. The survey will take 5-10 minutes to complete. Your feedback is vital to our continued improvement. The survey link is located at...

Beginning January 26, 2019 Catholic Schools across our nation will be celebrating Catholic Schools Week, an annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States. Catholic Schools Week is sponsored by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA). The observance of this annual tradition began in 1974. You will find that Catholic schools typically observe this week with Masses, open houses, service projects and other fun activities for students. These events, center on the value Catholic education provides to children.

It is hard to believe that it is January, 2019! The Kindergarten children are waiting for more snow! We cut, glued, and painted Snowmen in hopes of the fun to come! We celebrated the Feast of the Three Kings with cupcakes. We are learning about the Holy Family and ways to show love and kindness to our friends. We recognized the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Kindergarten students did their best coloring and made a tribute to Dr. King, which is displayed outside of our Kindergarten classroom. Catholic Schools Week begins Sunday, January 27th. Our school will have an Open House from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm. It would be wonderful if you could stop by and take a look at what’s happening in our school! We continue our celebration of Catholic Schools with a variety of activities planned through the end of January. On behalf of everyone at St. Clare of Montefalco School, I would like to thank you for your support and prayers.