EXTERIOR
The parish has an active building fundraiser underway for construction of a second floor. Plans call for a 400-person capacity multi-function assembly hall, kitchen, classrooms and offices. |
ENTRANCE
Welcome to St. Francis School. The main school entrance is located on the west side of the building facing the Merrimack River. The main hallway leads down to classrooms and the church area. |
PRINCIPAL
Principal Shannon Dannible was appointed to her position in 2007 after 6 years of teaching in Catholic schools. She has come to us from Presentation of Mary Academy in Methuen, MA. Mrs. Dannible has a Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction as well as a Masters of Education in Administration and Supervision. |
ADMINISTATION OFFICE
Mrs. Geraldine Monnelly has been the school secretary at St. Francis for several years. She consoles children and supports parents and teachers every day.
Volunteers perform a variety of tasks under her direction. Most of the volunteers at our school are parents who have a large diversity of skills and talent. The technology committee members are volunteers also. They provide the support to the school personnel and ensure the reliability of the network systems.
Once again, St. Francis School has achieved the Blue Ribbon Award for our volunteer efforts. This award is granted by New Hampshire Partners in Education. It is always an honor to achieve this award. It honors those volunteers who make our school so successful. |
HALLS
The Teachers are encouraged to display the work of their student's projects along the hallways. The art teacher takes full advantage, posting the students work outside their classroom doors. Seen here, an Autumn Poetry projects hang in the main hallway. Come visit our school and see what the students are displaying today. |
KINDERGARTEN
St. Francis School is quickly developing a reputation for preparing children for success in elementary schools in the area. Our curriculum is designed to stimulate learning in all areas of development. We stress beginning reading, writing, listening, math and religion. Activities are designed to address different levels of ability, development and learning styles. |
HALF-DAY KINDERGARTEN
St. Francis also offers the traditional Half-Day Kindergarten. Both the morning and afternoon classes receive two hours and fifty minutes of quality academic learning. Children are prepared for reading with the Read, Write and Listen program. We continue the religious formation begun by the parents. |
GRADE 1
The theme for grade 1 is: Growing in God’s Love. Students learn appreciation for God’s gifts in creation by studying living and non-living things and being good members of their family, Church, and community. Children learn to become successful readers using phonics, listening, and language experience. Math is an activity-based approach that encourages the development of computation and conceptual skills. |
GRADE 2
Children in grade 2 receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist for the first time. Phonics continues to be part of the reading program and children write book reports. Children watch butterflies hatch as one part of the of the science curriculum. They learn about their cultural background, neighborhood and community. The math curriculum includes independent work and problem solving. |
GRADE 3
Students in grade 3 learn about the Church, the Christian community and our call to love all people. Students participate in the Adopt a Whale program and work with the second grade on a butterfly garden. The significance of our national holidays is a favorite topic in social studies. Students learn the multiplication tables during this year and in reading they read and write book reports on different types of fiction. |
GRADE 4
Children in grade 4 learn that they are called into a deeper relationship with God through the commandments and the Beatitudes. Children enjoy writing to seminarians and helping their grade 1 prayer partners. Students learn how to use the Internet properly and do research on nutrition. The students are preparing to pilot the AWS weather system in the spring of 2003. |
GRADE 5
Students in grade 5 learn that they can deepen their relationship with God through the sacraments. The DARE program is taught by an officer from the Litchfield Police Department. Children design and build roller coasters as part of the physical science curriculum and broaden their knowledge of fractions, measurement, and geometry in math. |
GRADE 6
In grade 6 students learn that that both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures are testaments to God’s love for His people. The students prepare for junior high school by learning organization and time management skills. This year the boys and girls spent one week at an environmental camp called Nature's Classroom. We are proud of the students who meet the expectations of our school curriculum. Many students are placed in advanced math and literature classes when they enter grade 7. |
LIBRARY
All students receive one library period each week. Our school librarian, Mrs. VanUden, constantly strives to increase the school collection. She is concentrating on building the non-fiction and reference sections. Her goal is to have the entire collection listed on the computer system. |
COMPUTER LEARNING
Teachers recognize that computer skills are an essential medium in today’s educational setting, and they are constantly learning of ways to incorporate this technology into the classroom. Students have access to 48 computers, which are enabled with a high speed Internet connection. Our sophisticated filtering software protects all users from inappropriate sites. Please refer to our Internet Access Policy and Websense for further information. |
PLAYGROUND
Students have two opportunities for recess. All of our children enjoy this state of the art playground area. The family of Donna Anne Poulack donated funds in her memory for the area. |
CHURCH
Celebrating our faith is an important part of Catholic education. Students lead the school in worship and song. We celebrate many of the special feasts during the liturgical year. Fr. Rey takes an active role in giving students opportunities to better understand our faith. |
AFTER SCHOOL
St. Francis operates a full After School Program that features both before school and after school hours. Students can be dropped off as early as 7:00 AM. To accommodate the afternoon commute, the last pickup of the day is at 5:45 PM. Our program is structured with homework time and activity time, both outside and inside. Pictured here, students watch a movie with popcorn on the projection TV, every Friday afternoon. |
