St. Joseph School was proud to put on the 2013 Spring Fling on Thursday, April 25 in the school gymnasium. The Spring Fling this year was called Seussical Musical and featured medleys and themes from many of Dr. Seuss's best-loved books. Many of the students had leading parts and supporting parts, letting them all come together as one terrific musical ensemble! Check out our awesome Seussical picture page! Thanks to Mrs. Ferree and everyone else who made this year's Spring Fling a success!

Stop by our new Heart of St. Joseph website for information on this year's golf outing which will be held Friday, May 17 at the Pekin Country Club. The theme for the outing is "Family Game Night," and it promises to be very exciting! Even if you don't like to golf, you should come out and see what all the excitement is about. The new website contains information on auction items, our fundraising goals, and the Toyota Prius C car raffle. Thanks to everyone who is working hard to make this event successful!

Bonnie Engstrom recently spoke to the 5th graders on the alleged miraculous healing of her son James Fulton, who was a stillborn and did not have a pulse for 61 minutes. James is now a healthy 2 1/2 year old. Bonnie and her husband and many others believe that James was healed by Jesus Christ through the intercession of Venerable Fulton Sheen. James's story is currently under investigation in Rome for possible use in Sheen's beatification. Click here or at right for a video of this amazing talk!

The theme for Catholic Schools Week this year was Raise the Standards. Students and staff enjoyed a full week of fun but meaningful activities, including the Book Fair, spelling and religion bees, special persons lunch, and the annual volleyball game. Throughout the week, we also had several donation drives! For more information on this exciting week, click here or on the picture at right! Thanks to all who made this week a terrific success!

We are beginning a page that will feature various informational items about the status of our school. Some of the items that will be covered are Education Commission budgets, agendas, and minutes as well as Extra-Curricular minutes and agendas. These items will help us keep you informed about the health of our school as well as what is covered in our committee meetings. Feel free to read them at your leisure. If you have any questions, please contact us. Click here or on the image at left for this information.

On January 14th, St. Joseph School celebrated the annual Bulls Night and 8th Grade Parent Recognition. This is a night that our student athletes look forward to because they literally get to be in the spotlight reminiscent of the Chicago Bulls lineup! With swirling lights, music, and entertaining announcements, the boys took on St. Mary's and soundly won! Click here or on the picture at left for more!.

Though the snowstorm postponed the annual Christmas program to the morning of Friday, December 21, the snow could not keep the Christmas spirit away! Beginning at 10 AM in the school gymnasium, the program featured lavishly orchestrated dances, speaking parts, and Christmas songs topped off with memorable Christmas medleys. The program concluded with a Living Nativity by the 8th grade. Thanks to Mrs. Ferree and everyone who made this year's program one of the best! Click here for pictures or at right for a You Tube compilation video.

St. Joseph School students have been busy in their computer classes making Christmas projects using technology. The 1st and 2nd graders created pictures of decorated Christmas trees, while the 3rd graders showed how to make a snowman. The 4th graders each made a picture depicting a line from the classic poem "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." All projects were created using the painting program Kid Pix. Click on the links below for videos of each project!

St. Joseph School is now bringing you our very own classroom websites! Each classroom has its very own website where you can get specific news, additional information, and links. The sites are listed below. Be sure to check back often for updates!

St. Joseph School is proud to announce that Fort’s Toyota of Pekin has donated a 2013 Toyota Prius C for the Heart of St. Joseph Raffle! This raffle is a terrific fundraising opportunity for St. Joseph School this year. All we have to do is raffle as many tickets as possible for a chance to win the Prius! Feel free to contact the school office for questions. We thank you for your continued support and we thank Fort's Toyota of Pekin! Click here or on the picture at right for more information!

While many schools were off on Veteran's Day, St. Joseph School was fully in session. We were fortunate enough to be visited by veterans who are family members of students and alumni. We kicked the celebration off with a dove-release on the playground, followed by a slideshow in the gym, accompanied by singing for our veteran guests. The rest of the morning was spent with veterans visiting classrooms and talking to students about their experiences. We thank everyone who helped us celebrate, but most of all, veterans, we thank you!! Click here or on the picture at left for more!

The junior high recently visited Our Lady of the Snows Shrine and Cahokia Mounds. At the shrine, the students ventured all around the grounds to find various spots of interest. They ended their visit by praying the Rosary in the grotto area. At Cahokia, the students learned how this site contains the remains of the largest prehistoric Indian city north of Mexico. This adventure was a great experience for our students! Click on the picture for more!

St. Joseph School staff and students recently had loads of fun with our 4th annual Trunk-or-Treat as well as the Halloween parade and classroom parties. Both events featured games in the gym, treats, and even a costume contest! Everyone was encouraged to dress up and join in the fun. The students especially enjoyed showing off their costumes at the Halloween parade! To see a video of the parade, click the picture at left. Click here for more pictures. Thanks to everyone who helped make these events fun and safe!!

The annual St. Joseph School carnival was held in the gym and cafeteria on Friday, September 28! Students enjoyed such major attractions as the inflatable obstacle course, soda ring toss, and balloon animals. Other attractions included movies with popcorn and candy, face-painting, a rock star picture set, and drawings and prizes. Thanks to everyone who helped make this carnival one of the best St. Joseph School has had! Click here or on the picture at left for more!

On Monday, October 1st, St. Joseph School participated in the Living Rosary. This is an annual event where the school honors the Blessed Mother by reciting the Rosary together as a school. This year, we united in prayer for the special intention for an end to abortion.   The 8th grade students presented the Joyful Mysteries to the school by preparing a skit for the Rosary with each group. This was a wonderful way for the school to begin the month of October which is devoted to Our Blessed Mother.

The St. Joseph Saints cross country team had a great showing September 29th at the Delavan Dare Classic Invitational in Delavan. A big congratulations goes out to 6th grader Kaylie Wolters. Kaylie finished 8th out of over 190 runners in the girls open race. Great job, Kaylie, and terrific work, Saints cross country! We look forward to many more successes in the future! Special thanks to coaches Sheri Robison and Angela Stahl!

The annual Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus Walk-a-thon was held on Friday, September 14 at James Field. Students were organized into teams based on their shirt colors and then trekked around the park for well over an hour. Along the way, they enjoyed stops for water, Catholic trivia, and a dancing activity with Mrs. Ferree. Everyone had a fantastic time! Click at left for more pictures or here for a full sized picture of all of us together!

The St. Joseph School boys baseball team took the regional baseball title on September 17 against Hollis. But with expert pitching by St. Joseph eighth grader Michael Dickey, coupled with the tremendous base-running skills and hitting abilities of his teammates, the Saints came out on top with a 4-3 victory. This is the first regional win in baseball for St. Joseph School. At this point their record is 16-5. They are coached by Tom Swanson and Bryan Dean.

Since September 19 was National Talk Like a Pirate Day, the SJS kindergarten classes dressed up like pirates. Throughout the day, they sang pirate songs and read books using pirate talk. They even went on a treasure hunt through the school! At the end of the day, the classes celebrated with a party that included treats, more Pirate talk, and music. Look for a new bunch of buccaneers to join our crew next year!

Recently the 4th grade used their creative talents to make sculptures out of marshmallows and spaghetti. They enjoyed themselves as they discovered how challenging it could be to create something that stood erect. They also used their creativity to name their sculptures. Some examples of their titles were "Man Verses Bunnies," "The World of Triangles," and "The Ring."

Congratulations to the SJS cross country team who just competed in their first meet of the season on August 18th! All of the team members did a great job and most importantly, they showed great sportsmanship toward their teammates and the other participating schools. Keep up the great work, Saints!! Click here or on the picture at right for more!

The St. Joseph School 8th grade class graduated at the Mass held on Saturday, May 19 at St. Joseph Church. The Mass was a beautiful celebration led by Monsignor Nolan. During the graduation ceremony, students were given awards for their accomplishments throughout the past year. Special thanks to everyone who made this Mass a wonderful success! We wish our graduating class of 2012 the best of luck and blessings in their future!

The annual Spring Fling was held on the night of April 26 in the St. Joseph School gymnasium. The theme this year was "Music Through the Decades." The students wore clothing popular during the last few decades, and sang several era-defining songs by such artists as The Beatles, Three Dog Night, and Cyndi Lauper. Click here or on the picture at left to see more!

In order to help raise interest in the 12th Annual Golf Classic this year, we have put together a short video about St. Joseph School and its students. One of the major focal-points of the video is how the school benefits from the funds raised by the Golf Classic. Click here or on the picture at right to see the video!

Another successful Catholic Schools Week just wrapped up! This year the theme was Faith, Academics, Service. The week was filled with many exciting events. Some of the activities we all enjoyed were Jeopardy, the Book Fair, special persons lunches, spelling and religion bees, scholastic bowl, and volleyball game that pitted the teachers against the 8th grade class. We also collected a lot of food for our food pantry, St. Vincent de Paul. Click here or on the picture at right for more!