Dear Parents, Guardians and Students!
The Pedagogical Council along with the School Management of the Jan Matejko Polish Saturday School in McHenry is pleased to welcome you to the new 2009/2010 school year.We are in the new location: 1407 N Richmond Rd in McHenry. This year, the classes will begin at 9:00 AM on September 12. First Day of school this year will PICNIC on August 30/SUNDAY/. Mandatory classes include the Polish language with elements of Polish culture and religion. In the upper grades there is also history and geography of Poland added to the above classes. Music w/ rhythmics, Art Club, Drama Club, Sports and foreign languages- Spanish (beginners and mid-advanced levels) and English for adults (ESL) are the extracurricular activities. We kindly ask you to remember these things on the first day of school: Aesthetic and school appropriate child attire (school T-shirts are more than welcome). Turn in the filled questionnaire and all the required documents to the school office (if you haven’t done so already). Make the school payments. Sign in on the list of duties. Come to the first parent/guardian meeting (right after mass). EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES They were planned in a convenient way to enable every child to take part in numerous clubs and in the same time to continue all of them throughout the year. In rare cases, where students would have to wait, the school provides them with a proper care in the activities (common) room. To reserve a place for a child in any of the extracurricular activities, all the school payments have to be made before September 1. We would like to remind you that the payment for every additional club or activity is lower. Also, if a sibling attends the same club/activity, family discounts are given. Registration for the whole course is available. The school reserves a right to close any one of the extracurricular activities if there are not enough participants. Detailed information can be found in the yearly school bulletin. ACTIVITIES (COMMON) ROOM It will be open from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM. Children attending any one of the extracurricular activities will not have to pay for the activities room. All others will pay $5.00 per hour. If a parent or guardian is late, a child will be automatically taken to the activities room. Then, a parent or guardian will have to pay $5.00 for every 15 minutes the child spends there. OTHERS We kindly ask all the families to sign up for the duties. Every family should participate in at least two duties during the school year. In the case of an absence of a family member on the chosen duty, the deposit in the amount of $50.00 will not be returned. We also ask parents and guardians to familiarize themselves with the duty regulations, which are included in the school packet. The deposit will be return in the end of the school year/ for families who decide to live/ or transfer for the next school year. Families, who will bring new families to the school, will get a refund of $35.00, which is the cost of a monthly attendance. The refund will be given after the new family covers all the school costs. SCHOOL ENTRANCE - The main door located on Richmond Rd. Parents or guardians along with their children can enter the main hallway, where the teachers will collect and escort their students to the classrooms. Parents or guardians (except those on duty) cannot stay during classes anywhere in the school except for the cafeteria. Students of the upper grades will go directly to their classrooms. If a student is late, he will be taken to the classroom by the parent on duty. Parents or guardians will receive children also in the same place. Classes: Preschool to III grade - 12:15PM; classes IV-High School- 12:30PM EVENTS/PARTIES During the school year many events/parties is organized to aid the school funds. The bulletins on our webside contain all the information about them. The first event is a school PICNIC that is organized every year in the end of August or the second week of September /Sunday/  in Marina Forest Preserve Park in Barrington. We warmly welcome everyone and kindly ask for help. Volunteers, please contact the members of the School Management, School Presidents or the Principal. Detailed information can be found in the monthly bulletin and a school calendar size=2>

Jan Matejko was one of the greatest Polish historical painters of the XIX century. He was born on June 24, 1838 in Cracow as the ninth child of Franciszek and Joanna Karolina Matejko. Even though he did not finish high school, he was able to continue his education in the Arts College in 1852. Matejko quickly became known as one of the best students of Wojciech Korneli Stattler and Wladyslaw Luszczkiewicz (a painter and an arts history professor). After the graduation, Matejko was granted a scholarship to Monachium (1857-1858) and Vienna (1860). He was fascinated by the history of Poland, which he studied by reading historical books given him by his brother, Franciszek (a historian, a law professor and a Jagiellonian Library worker). Matejko himself witnessed many important, historical events such as the People’s Spring Uprising in 1848 or the January Uprising in 1863. The fall of the January Uprising greatly impacted his work. Matejko decided then to illustrate

the history of Poland and to analyze the causes of its fall so that the future generations could learn from the mistakes of the past. That is how his most famous paintings were created. Nowadays, people still find the vision of the Polish history presented in Matejko’s works very thought provoking. The paintings like Stanczyk, Kazanie Skargi (Skarga’s Sermon) or Bitwa pod Grunwaldem (Battle of Grunwald) continue to influence the audience today. Jan Matejko is without a doubt the most famous Polish painter who is the author of more than 320 oil paintings (mostly historical), portraits and thousands of drawings and watercolors.

At 55, Jan Matejko died on November 1, 1893. Many people and various delegations attended his ceremonial funeral. Master’s final resting place is in the Rakowicki cemetery.

Here’s what YOU need to know about OUR SCHOOL... :

The school was first opened in September of 2003. Today, there are over 200 students who attend grades from kindergarten to high school. On top of that, the school offers classes in Polish language (the bilingual program) to all people, including the adults, who don’t speak Polish at all. The classes in our school are small therefore the students feel more comfortable. They are able to get to know each other better and that in turn creates a great atmosphere for everyone.

Saturdays are the regular school days, beginning in September and ending on the third Saturday of May. There are many afterschool, extracurricular activities for the students, such as the drama club, arts club, sports club, computer club or even the Spanish language and ESL (English as a second language for adults) classes. The school starts at 8.30 and ends at 11.45 (kindergarten- IV grade) or 12.00 (V grade- high school).

The school also organizes a math contest „Kangur" (Cangaroo) for all pupils. More than that, it initiates the Jan Matejko Art Contest for the students of all ages (including the adults) from all Polish Schools in the U.S.

Our school is well known for its great annual picnics and various unforgettable parties. For more detailed information please call us at 847-809-9375.

Join our happy family today!