Dear Parents:
For a long time now, many have lost sight of what Christmas really
means. People these days think Christmas is just giving and receiving presents.
We ask that you take time from your busy schedule to reflect on the true
meaning of Christmas, Jesus' birthday, and that you remind your children of
this. As you make holiday plans, don't forget to include Advent and Christmas
services at your local church. Please continue to use the Advent calendar you
received last week to help your family prepare for the birth of Jesus on
December 25th.
Many
thanks to all the students and their families, along with our friends at Alma
Via who generously donated to the Thanksgiving food drive. We provided
the San Francisco Food Bank with two full barrels of canned and boxed foods to
be distributed to our hungry brothers and sisters in San Francisco. The
staff of the St. Francisco Living Room were thrilled to received the many jars
of peanut butter and jelly for the seniors in their breakfast program who look
forward to a healthy and nutritious meal. Your compassionate and
charitable deeds are much appreciated by the various organizations we serve
through our community outreach programs.
Our
second peanut butter drive this holiday season was for the benefit of the St.
Vincent de Paul Society. You may recall us mentioning ‘Peanut Butter Friday’ in
last week’s letter. If we reached our goal of 300 jars of peanut butter by last
Friday, the student body would enjoy free dress on Wednesday, December 19th.
We are happy to announce that not only did we reach our goal, we exceeded it by
over 100 jars. That’s right – we collected over 400 jars of peanut butter! What
a great accomplishment. Thank you to all who brought in one jar, or two, to
donate to the St. Vincent de Paul Society. For your efforts, we can all enjoy
free dress next Wednesday, December 19th!
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM: Tomorrow
evening, Dec. 13th, our students will present our annual Christmas Program in
the Church. All students will be involved in this production.
Students should wear dressy clothes unless notified otherwise by their teacher.
No t-shirts or sweats please. Please review the clothing suggestions sent
home last week. The front door of the school will open at 6:15 pm to allow
students to enter their classrooms. Students are asked to line up on the
sidewalk in an orderly manner until the doors open. Families with preschoolers
will enter through the side gate and drop their children in their classroom. All
students need to arrive by 6:30 pm at the latest. The yard will be
open for parking at 5:30 pm. As we said last week, this year, we will present
the program in the church. We ask that everyone respects the 5:30pm Mass that
evening and remain outside the church until Mass is over. School staff will be
stationed at the church doors and will let you know when you may enter. Parents
may line up at any of the three entrances. We will begin the program promptly
at 7:00 pm. We look forward to your attendance for this faith-filled and
fun-filled program. Everyone is welcome!
SANDWICHES-FOR-THE-NEEDY:
Our last collection for the year is this Friday, December 14th,
when the 2nd and 6th graders will take the lead. We
encourage ALL families to provide an extra sandwich for this last collection of
the year. Some of our older students will once again work with residents from
Alma Via on Friday to make at least 50 additional sandwiches to add to this
collection.
FEES: A reminder that the
Capital Improvement fee of $350 per family is due no later than dismissal
Friday, December 14th. Please note that this is also the due date
for the November Extended Care payment.
CHRISTMAS VACATION: Christmas
vacation begins
at 12:15pm for grades K-3 and at 12:30pm for grades 4-8 on Wednesday, December
19th. Preschool will also be dismissed at 12:00pm. There
is no afternoon extended care that day,
so plan ahead. Staff members will not be available to babysit! Classes resume
at 8:10am on Monday, January 7th, 2013.
USF BASKETBALL NIGHT: The Athletic Board presents a Night at USF
Basketball on Saturday, December 29th. General admission
tickets are only $2 and a discounted food voucher is also available.
Reservation forms for this fun event were included in your envelope last
week. The deadline to purchase tickets is tomorrow, Thursday, December 13th!
CHRISTMAS SPORTS CAMP: There are still some
spots available in the Downy Sports Camp. Check out the flyer you are receiving
again today.
PUNTO Y RAYA: STM students have gone international! Three animated films created by
STM students made it as finalists in the Punto y Raya Junior Film Festival in
Barcelona. Unfortunately, they didn't win the grand prize, but did very well to
be finalists against many other entries from around the world. The finalists’
work has been put on a 'Best of…' DVD. Click here
to see a trailer. Congratulations to the following finalists: Matt Nuris,
Rainier DeLa Cruz, Elyssa Nicolas, Gaby Freedland and Isabel Sanchez. A big
thank you to Sharon Lawrence, who helped the students prepare for this contest.
Sharon offers many afterschool technology programs to our students throughout
the year.
Finally,
congratulations are in order. Our first grade teacher, Sue Kapovich is a brand
new grandma! George Douglas Kapovich was born yesterday to Greg Kapovich (class
of ’95) and his wife, Vanessa. Our best wishes go out to the Kapovich Family.
Sincerely,
Marie Fitzpatrick
Principal
