| | | | Newsletter for Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Ash Wednesday, which this year falls on February 18th, marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season to Give, to Pray and to Fast and prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday. In his Ash Wednesday homily last year Pope Francis said, 'Lent is also a privileged time for prayer', He quoted St. Augustine, who described fasting and almsgiving as "the two wings of prayer," because they are signs of humility and charity. | | | Yesterday, Mr. Mike from the Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) visited with the students to let them know about the important work MCA is doing in Korea, Nigeria and Mexico. The children learned they could help missionaries do Jesus' work by praying for them and by sharing their resources. Please ask your children about how they might help others during Lent. Today, students are receiving Lenten boxes to aid them in sharing their resources with MCA so that their missionaries can continue their good work in the world. | | | L♥VE THY NEIGHBOR CAMPAIGN: Here's an opportunity to help closer to home. Our twice-monthly sandwich collection serves the needs of clients at St. Martin de Porres House of Hospitality. They are currently in need of some specific items for their mostly male clients. The items they are requesting are blankets, men's socks, travel sized toothpaste, toothbrushes, shaving cream, and razors. We will be collecting these items through the month of February. Please send them with your child or drop them off in the bins at the front office. Your acts of kindness do not go unnoticed. | | Friday, February 6th
Archdiocesan Teacher Inservice Day
School closed | | Wednesday, February 11th
Spell-a-thon pledges due
| | | Friday, February 13th
Knockout Grades 3-8
at 10:45 am Gym
| | Saturday, February 28th
Cioppino 5 pm
| | | | Thank you to Becky Wong, John Kavanagh and Heidi Haas who organized a great Grandparents and Special Friends Day and to everyone who made it such a success! The children were so happy to have over 250 special guests join us for this fun event. A HUGE thank you goes out to Jeffrey and Maria Spiegel and our awesome 8th grade cooks for their help in preparing over 500 pasta lunches for all to enjoy. Thanks also to the many other parent volunteers who pitched in to make the day run so smoothly. | | | | Also a HUGE thank you to, Judy Silva, and her competent committee of booksellers for the great job they did all last week with this year's Book Fair. Thanks to all of you who bought books to enrich your children's lives and to donate to the classroom libraries. Don't forget that the online Book Fair will continue through Saturday, February 7th. Click here to make those last minute purchases. Orders will be shipped to the school free of charge and sent home to you shortly. We are close to our goal of receiving 60% of our sales back in Scholastic dollars. This will be used to purchase additional books for the library. This year, our librarian, Ms. Silva, is planning to use some of the funds to set up a comfortable reading nook area where students can relax with a good book. | | | | Spelling Bee: Another thrilling Spelling Bee, complete with a nail-biting ending, was enjoyed by all on the last day of Catholic Schools Week! Our new spelling bee champions this year are, 8th grader Jacqueline Villarosa, and runner-up, 8th grader Lara Bautista. Our 1st place winner received a $25 iTunes gift card! Congratulations also to third place winner, 8th grader Kevin Dunn. Other school participants included: 4th graders, Isabel Sanchez, Jacob David, and Eric Duarte; 5th graders, Matthew Lim, Ethan Nguyen and Nicoli Panelo; 6th graders, Zhari Malig, Aysaiah Radoc Manrique and Gabriel Santos; 7th graders, Abigail Atkin, Christopher Law and Dylan Limjoco. Congratulations to all our participants! You are ALL winners! | | | | Cioppino 2015 and FREE DRESS: Work continues in preparation for our BIG fundraiser on Saturday, February 28th. 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 $25 and includes dinner and snacks. To purchase tickets, please use the flyer you are receiving today. | | | DONATIONS NEEDED/FREE DRESS PASS: Thank you to those who donated items last week that we can use in our baskets at Cioppino. We depend on your donations, so please keep them coming! As a bonus, every school parent who buys a ticket or makes a donation (value $20 or more) for Cioppino will receive a FREE DRESS PASS for their child/ren to be used on Monday, March 2nd. | | | Silent Auction: Another exciting part of the Cioppino Fundraiser is the Silent Auction. The auction catalog will be going home next week and has many offerings that you can bid on even if you are unable to attend the event. New this year is a Lake Tahoe Weekend Get-a-way for 2 nights valued at $2000! This Cabin has 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, indoor pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and over 4,000 square feet of living space. The package will include a gift basked filled with wine, wine glasses, hot cocoa, mugs and more! Perfect for 2-3 families! Start calling your friends & families! Click here for pictures and more information. | | | PARENT VOLUNTEER HOURS: SIGN UP FOR CIOPPINO NOW! As a reminder, each family is required to volunteer for a minimum of 12 hours for Parents' Club activities. As this is our major fundraiser, we have many volunteer slots available now. Chances to accrue volunteer hours are limited for the rest of the year. | | | School Holiday: This Friday, February 6th is a school holiday for the students. Teachers and administrators from all the Catholic elementary Schools in the Archdiocese will be attending an all day professional development in-service at Archbishop Riordan High School. Our Preschool staff will have their in-service at Our Lady of Mercy School in Daly City.
| | | | SPELL-A-THON: Students had lots of fun preparing and studying for the Spell-A-Thon and have completed their part in this fundraiser. Today, your child will bring home their pledge sheets and information on the number of words they spelled correctly. Please remember that all monies pledged are due back by Wednesday, February 11th. | | | | Knockout Competition: The flyer for this competition is going home again today. Due to high interest from 3rd graders, we are opening up the competition to them as well. Good luck to all! | | | | Sincerely,
Marie Fitzpatrick
Principal | | | | | | | |
