Greetings St. Ignatius Families,

How did November arrive so quickly? As we celebrate our beloved saints  and remember our dearly departed this month, may we take time to count our blessings. Our fourth grade class recorded a wonderful All Saints Day  prayer service for our school. I know we are all thankful to have the students back to school, in person, learning and growing week by week. We are grateful for our deeply caring and talented staff. We appreciate how our families partner with us in their child’s learning journey.  

Our students are learning and growing each week. Our pre-K students are busy exploring and learning about the beauty of God’s creation in the falling leaves, forest animals, and varieties of squash. They continue to build their skills through imaginative play, painting and sculpting. The kindergarten students have been studying the saints and learning about Veterans’ Day. The beautiful voices of our first graders singing, “God Bless America,” fill our halls most mornings as they learn about our country and the amazing people that protect our freedoms. In second grade, the students are busy making an “array city” with repeated addition sentences and exploring math through the website Boddle. Our third graders are practicing their writing skills by typing stories through a Scholastic story starter website. The fourth grade students are writing about their favorite foods and studying why the leaves change color. In fifth grade, the students are studying character development through historical fiction readings. In sixth grade, the students are studying the novel, “The Giver,” and comparing the rules for the society in this novel with their own lives in school and in the United States. Our seventh grade students are learning about financial literacy and comparing the economies of countries from around the world to the United States. The eighth graders are studying force and motion by building car kits to experiment with weight, distance, and tracking as they launch their car creations from a ramp in the hallway. 

We are blessed to have a supportive, diligent community during this challenging time. Please remember proper masking and maintaining social distancing are the best ways to keep our community safe both in and out of school. Please keep in mind each time a student tests positive for COVID-19, we must seek guidance from our Local Public Health Authority of Multnomah County (LPHA). When we speak to our LPHA, they walk us through the contact tracing process and provide us with guidance on how to proceed based on the circumstances of each individual case. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we deal with the outcome of each case. 

Please send your child to school with a uniform sweatshirt in addition to a raincoat. Our boiler is currently working at a limited capacity while we await parts to fix the issue. Since we open the windows for ventilation as much as possible, the classrooms can sometimes be a bit chilly when the heat is not on full capacity. Students are allowed to wear their sweatshirts and coats in the classrooms while the heat is not running at full capacity.  
 
Our school safety committee will study our arrival and dismissal procedures in the coming weeks to determine if further adjustments are needed to keep our students and families safe to and from school. We must continue to reduce the amount of people crossing 43rd Avenue during our arrival and dismissal times.  The drive up car line is the safest drop-off and pick-up option for our students. If you wish to use the car line with no waiting time, drive through at 8:20 for drop off and 3:20 PM for pick up. 

May we take time to thank our Lord for the many wonderful people in our lives, especially those who have protected our freedom.  As we hear in the first book of Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” 

​Peace be with you, 
Carol Pausz 
Principal