The Family Mass, Book Fair, the school-wide open house and the general spirit of goodwill were a fitting beginning to National Catholic Schools Week at St. Thomas More School. We have accomplished so much here by working together. A special thank you to our kindergarten teachers, Heidi Haas and Megan Kennedy, for preparing a beautiful Family Mass with the kindergartners and their families. We are so proud of our wonderful kindergarten students. This is a good time to reflect on the benefit of being part of a Catholic school. The strong school community, grounded in a shared faith and the support and high expectations of parents, teachers and the larger community, offers your children a foundation for facing the rapidly changing world around them. By sharing this belief in God’s goodness and living out their faith every day, your children are blessed with a clear advantage. Faith provides an anchor that will serve your children well into the future.
You are welcome to visit the Book Fair any morning this week before school begins or right after dismissal. Just go straight to the library where Joan Cuddihy and her crew of booksellers will be there to assist you. Check out the wish lists the teachers have prepared of books they would like to have in their classroom libraries. Consider donating a book to your child’s classroom. Can’t make it to our Book Fair? Check out our Online Book Fair. Click here to purchase books. All orders will ship directly to school for free when the Online Fair has ended.
Tomorrow is Grandparents and Special Friends Day! Thank you to the 200+ special guests who have RSVP’d for this fun event. The children are really looking forward to welcoming them to our school. Your children are so lucky to have such special people in their lives. Carroll Hall will be open at 11:00am for our early arriving guests. Grandparents Day activities will begin at 11:30 a.m. The day's activities will conclude with a prayer service led by third grade at 1:30pm in the Gym.
REPORT CARDS/HONOR AWARDS: Report cards will be sent home with your child on Friday, January 31st. Make sure your accounts are in order so that your child may receive their report card. We would like to invite everyone to join us at the honor awards ceremony on Friday, January 31st immediately following the 8:30am mass.
SPELL-A-THON: Today you will be receiving your child’s corrected spell-a-thon test and pledge sheet. Just a reminder that all monies are due back by Thursday, February 13th.
SPELLING BEE/ACADEMIC AWARDS: We invite everyone to join us for our annual Spelling Bee on Friday beginning at 1:10pm in Carroll Hall.
CYO HALL OF FAME: As previously mentioned, this year John Bickle has been chosen as one of the honorees for the 7th Annual Catholic Charities CYO Athletics Hall of Fame dinner. This event will take place on Saturday, February 8, 2014 at the Father O'Reilly Catholic Charities CYO gym at St. Emydius. Please consider joining us to recognize and honor John’s legacy at this event. Tickets can be purchased through the CYO website. Individual dinner tickets are $90 each. If you wish to join together with some other families and purchase a table at one of the sponsorship levels this will include a pre-dinner reception, premier seating and a tribute in the printed event program, recognition on-screen and sponsorship acknowledgment in all printed materials.
SCHOOL HOLIDAY: Be prepared! Friday, February 7th is a school holiday for the students. Teachers and administrators from all the Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese will be attending an all day in-service at St. Mary’s Cathedral.
CIOPPINO 2014: Work continues in preparation for our BIG fundraiser on Saturday, February 22nd. We have only had a handful of families send donations into the office. We cannot do this without your help. Most of the items we use in our baskets come to us by your kind donations – please keep them coming! To purchase tickets, please use the flyer you have previously received. Consider getting together with other parents from your child’s class to purchase a table. This event is a lot of fun. Remember, childcare is available for a nominal fee. Please respond as soon as possible as we believe this will be a sell out event again this year. As an added bonus, every school parent who buys a ticket for Cioppino will receive a FREE DRESS PASS for their child/ren to be used on Monday, February 24th.
HIGH SCHOOL RECOMMENDATIONS: Our Junior High teachers and I have been busily writing recommendations and preparing transcripts for the high schools to which our 8th graders have applied. These have all been safely delivered into the hands of the high school admission offices. Our soon to be graduates will be notified of their acceptances by mid-March. Good luck to all.
PARENT HOURS: Last week we wrote about the 10 parent hours that are a requirement for this school year. Many of you expressed frustration with the difficulty in signing up for activities because all the slots had been taken. The Parents' Club is currently doing an audit of the hours that still need to be done by some families and will be opening up further volunteer opportunities in the near future. Note that yard duty service does not substitute for parent club hours. Please consider attending our next PC meeting on Feb. 6th to provide your input with regards to scheduling of hours in the future.
PEN: Parents Education Network (PEN) is a coalition of parents collaborating with educators, students and the community to empower and bring academic and life success to students with learning and attention differences. They are a grassroots organization with national impact, founded in 2003 by a group of parents whose children have learning and attention differences, and who individually struggled to find the information, services, and expertise to help their children succeed academically. Here is a link to their website which provides many valuable tools that you may find useful as well as information about their speaker series. http://
RE-REGISTRATION: Re-
SAVE THE DATE: Please save the evening of Tuesday, March 11th at 6:30pm for a mandatory parent meeting for all families of preschool through 7th grade. Students will not be allowed to attend this meeting. While we strongly encourage you to find a babysitter, we will offer limited free babysitting for those unable to make other arrangements. We will provide more details as we get closer to the date.
Today you are receiving the February calendar of events and hot lunch menu. Keep these handy as February proves to be a busy month.
Marie Fitzpatrick
Principal
