STM Newsletter for Wednesday, April 29, 2020

View this email in your browser Eighth Grade drew self-portraits, contrasting their lives from just a few weeks ago with their new distance-learning reality. Dear Parents, May is a special month set aside in the Catholic church to honor and show special devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Traditionally, many schools and churches plan celebrations to show our devotion to the Blessed Mother during this month. This is usually kicked off on May Day, May 1st, with a special ceremony crowning Mary as Queen of Heaven. This year, because we are not in school, the teachers have prepared a prayer service for a May Crowning which we will share with you on Friday.  Many homes and classrooms set up a May altar where they can pray especially to Mary during this special month. I encourage you to help your child set up a May Altar in your home. If you don't have a statue of Mary, perhaps they print and color a picture to place by the altar. Other items may include a set of rosary beads, a cross and of course some flowers. Make this a special place in your home to pray during this month. As a family recite the Hail Mary or a decade of the Rosary. In many parts of the world there are special processions and other customs associated with this special time. Use this opportunity to share some of the customs you remember from your childhood with your children. Catholic Schools consistently outperform public schools in national assessments. The Nation's Report Card shows that Catholic schools achieve academic excellence, year over year.  This report, prepared every 4 years, just released its findings on April 24. Kathy Mears, NCEA Interim President/CEO in response to the report said, "As communities of faith, Catholic schools fulfill their mission to educate the whole person: mind, body and spirit." "The NAEP results bolster the decisions of the families of nearly 1.8 million Catholic school students to attend Catholic schools where students are provided with the best tools to fulfill their future roles as good citizens, productive and caring employees, competent professionals as well as future saints." As we continue with distance learning for the remainder of the school year this is a timely reminder of the benefits of Catholic education. Catholic schools were the first to embrace distance learning protocols and ensure that our teachers stayed connected with their students. Collectively, we figured out ways to ensure that students continue to learn, and we will continue to support our students and families in any ways possible as we move forward together. The full report is available here: The Nation's Report Card.  CALENDAR  Friday, May 1 May Crowning Prayer Service Finish Up/Flexible Friday Attendance Link: https://www.stthomasmoreschool.org/attendance.html Check out our Parent Calendar for upcoming events. Register on Team Sideline by 5:00 PM on Friday, May 1, 2020 www.teamsideline.com/catholiccharitiessf Below is a message from Tabia Ye, SF CYO Athletics Coordinator: We hope you and your families are all doing well during this time. We are saddened that we could not continue our spring 2020 sports season this year, but would like to still engage your students. We are excited to host our first NBA 2K Esports Tournament for all your students whether they participated in CYO sports or not. Please see below for more information. Game: NBA 2K. This is a popular online basketball video game. Platforms: PS4 or Xbox Registration Fee: FREE Registration Deadline: Friday, May 1st Tournament Start Date: Monday, May 4th - Depending on the number of registrations, we will determine the length of the tournament. Time Slots: 5pm to 10pm Format/Duration: 1v1 with 5 minute quarters for a total of 4 quarters - see our rules below for more information. 1st Place Prize: Choice of Indoor/Outdoor Basketball, Adidas Hoodie, or Adidas Shoes (hoodie and shoes are limited to sizes that CYO have in stock). Please have parents register their children if they are interested in participating. We will be using our new website on TeamSideline for the registration process. PARENTS CLICK HERE TO REGISTER HERE: www.teamsideline.com/catholiccharitiessf ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tournament Rules NBA 2K Tournament - CCCYO NBA2K May Madness Games will be streamed on YouTube - the "Home" team will be the streamer. If there is a protest, the game can be reviewed via the YouTube stream. "Home" team must report the final score to CYO for the results to be entered, along with the link to the YouTube stream. Players must coordinate with their opponent to schedule their game for that day between 5pm - 10pm. Players must provide their gamertags to CYO. The following settings are to be used in official matches: Connection: Play With Friends Quarter Length: 5 Minutes Game Mode: Private Match Game Style: Simulation Fatigue: On Difficulty: All Star One pause is allowed per player per half. Teams must be current rosters, no use of All-Star or Legends teams is allowed. If a game disconnects in the first quarter, the game will simply restart. If it disconnects after the 1st quarter, the players will take note of what the score was at the end of the last completed quarter then start a new game and play the remaining quarters and add their scores. Reminder, only a total of 4 quarters should be played. Please reach out if you have any questions. Thank you, CYO Athletics    Our continued prayers are with you and your family. Let us count our many blessings, especially our children, as we navigate through this new normal. We look forward to the day we can all be together again in our school and in our classrooms on the STM campus. GO BRONCOS! Sincerely, Marie Fitzpatrick Principal Copyright © 2020 St. Thomas More School, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email from the office of St. Thomas More School.   Thank you for helping us go green. Our mailing address is: 50 Thomas More Way San Francisco, CA 94132 www.stmsf.org unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

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Parkmerced Community Meeting: Brotherhood Way Presentation Video

View this email in your browser Dear STM Community, As you recall many of our parents and students attended a meeting a few months ago. The follow up meeting regarding the removal of the pedestrian bridge scheduled  for March 12 with Parkmetrced and city officials had to be postponed because of school closure. In its place, I attended an online meeting with the involved parties earlier this month. The following letter and presentation outlined some of the new ideas for keeping a pedestrian bridge crossing on Brotherhood Way. Some ideas show  keeping the existing bridge with modifications, other proposals are for a new bridge.  Please share your opinions directly with me or through the email address given by Parkmerced. Your input is extremely valuable. When we met previously, there were no options in consideration for keeping a pedestrian bridge in place, now there are several.  I look forward to your recommendations and thoughtful input. Regards, Marie Dear Residents, Friends, and Neighbors: Due to the San Francisco Department of Public Health's current precautionary Coronavirus (COVID-19) recommendation against Non-Essential Group Events, the Parkmerced Community Meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 12, 2020 was cancelled.  In line with our commitment to continuing the Brotherhood Way conversation, we have developed presentation video which can be found here for you to view:  http://parkmercedvision.com/whole-living/outreach/brotherhood-way-streetscape-improvements-presentation/ After watching the video, please communicate your feedback, comments and questions to us either through email at info@parkmercedvision.com or via phone at (415) 405-4666. Hopefully this video is helpful. We tried to incorporate much of your feedback and explore various alternatives to maintain the pedestrian bridge as we heard from our previous meeting.  We know that these times are challenging for all of us as we all learn how to navigate this new (hopefully temporary) normal.  In the future, we hope to be able to get back to face to face meetings, but we are also researching alternative meeting options for future discussions. Parkmerced is still working to maintain the same timeline to start construction at Parkmerced in Q4 of 2020.  We will keep you apprised of the community feedback we receive now and continue communication as we all work together to narrow down options.   We want to make it clear that the community will be included before decisions are made during this shelter in place order and beyond. For the City's latest developments and updates on COVID-19, please visit sfdph.org or call 3-1-1. If you have any questions on the Parkmerced Vision, please email us at info@parkmercedvision.com or call (415) 405-4666. For general information on the Vision Plan, please visit the Parkmerced project website www.parkmercedvision.com. We hope that you and your families are all staying healthy and safe in these times. Thank you, Parkmerced Copyright © 2020 St. Thomas More School, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email from the office of St. Thomas More School.   Thank you for helping us go green. Our mailing address is: 50 Thomas More Way San Francisco, CA 94132 www.stmsf.org unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

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STM Newsletter for Wednesday, April 22, 2020

View this email in your browser Dear Parents, It is now official that distance learning will be in place for the remainder of this school year.  We are confident that instructional excellence and student success will continue, and we thank you, our community, for your flexibility, resilience, patience, courage, creativity and faith in St. Thomas More School. Together, we will ensure a bright future for all our students. To help guide your understanding of what the next 6-7 weeks of learning looks like, our teachers have developed distance learning curriculum plans that outline the goals for student learning and achievement from now until the end of the school year. Please visit our school website or follow the link below:   Distance Learning Curriculum Plans Our next major goal will be to look at all the different options presented to make decisions for how student progress and/or grading will look at different grade levels. Our teachers, under the guidance of the Department of Catholic Schools, are currently studying different models and current research, in an effort to make decisions and any necessary adjustments to our report cards. End of the Year School Closure Due to the shelter-in-place orders, all Archdiocesan schools will continue with distance learning through the end of the school year, June 5, 2020. For more information, please refer to Monday's newsletter that included Superintendent of Schools, Pamela Lyons' message to Archdiocesan families. CALENDAR Friday, April 24 Finish Up Friday - No additional online school work will be assigned - These days are for following up on missing or make up work. Teachers may set up individual assessments time and recommend virtual field trips and activities.  Monday, April 27 - Minimum Day 12:15/12:30 dismissal from Distance Learning  Friday, May 1  May Crowning Prayer Service Finish Up Friday  Attendance Link: https://www.stthomasmoreschool.org/attendance.html Check out our Parent Calendar for upcoming events. A MESSAGE FROM DR. COLORADO Check out Dr. Colorado's video to our students and families. Feel free to contact Dr. Colorado, our school counselor at hcolorado@stmsf.org.  Link: https://youtu.be/bcNxiyXJKLE CANCELED EVENTS The following events have been canceled. Refunds, where applicable,  will be issued in the next week and may take 3-5 business days to process. Checks submitted for events will be mailed back to families. Mother and Son Bowling Mother and Son Dance Homework Club 7th and 8th Grade Social March and April Pizza Sale STAR Testing - Q4 standardized testing has been officially canceled in California RESCHEDULED EVENTS We are working on find alternatives dates for the following events:  First Reconciliation First Communion Confirmation Eighth Grade Graduation  Parents of 8th grade students have received a survey regarding their preferences for graduation. We want to ensure that all students and their families have the opportunity to celebrate this major achievement. I am working with Fr. Marvin to reschedule First Sacraments for early in the Fall. To the best of my knowledge, Confirmation will be next year, with both 7th and 8th grade students receiving the sacrament at the same time. 2021 Parents' Club Nomination & Sign Up We are seeking interested parents to take a leadership position as part of the 2020-2021 Parents' Club. While we understand that these positions may require additional support during the school year, the benefits to our children and our community are invaluable. We hope you all consider yourself an interested candidate, or if you know of someone else who should be considered, please write that name next to the position you feel appropriate. Your suggestions do not obligate these parents in any way, but only assist us in the selection.  Parents' Club Nomination & Sign Up Form  Thank you STM students and families for collecting sponsors and donations for this year's Spell-a-thon. This year's pledges totaled $12,413! Your contribution supports our technology program and funds online programs and digital resources such as ALEKS, PowerSchool, STMath and Vocabulary.com as well as network upgrades, equipment and broadband service for our school.  And finally, I am sharing with you two short youtube videos. The first is a short video-summary of the Pope's Urbi et orbi blessing from 27 March, for a world suffering from the coronavirus pandemic. Link:  In one minute: Pope's Urbi et orbi for an end to the coronavirus pandemic This beautiful version of Amazing Grace was sung by Andrea Bocelli on Easter Sunday as part of his music for hope concert in Milan. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0l5dGiaXCo Sincerely, Marie Fitzpatrick Principal Copyright © 2020 St. Thomas More School, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email from the office of St. Thomas More School.   Thank you for helping us go green. Our mailing address is: 50 Thomas More Way San Francisco, CA 94132 www.stmsf.org unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

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