STM Newsletter

View this email in your browser Dear Parents, This Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, is known as Palm Sunday. It is the beginning of Holy Week. It celebrates Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Great crowds of people thronged the streets waving palm branches to welcome Him. The people shouted "Hosanna" and laid their cloaks and palm branches from the nearby trees in His path. As we mentioned last week, as part of our preparation for the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, students in grades 3-8 will receive the sacrament of Reconciliation on Tuesday.   Please consider joining the student body for mass next Wednesday, also known as Spy Wednesday, at 8:30am to continue our liturgical preparation during Holy Week. Following mass, we will present the 3rd quarter Academic Awards.  RE-REGISTRATION You must complete one online form for EACH child currently attending STM/Utopia Preschool. (Preschool families who are entering kindergarten do not need to register online.) Deadline to complete re-registration online is Wednesday, March 23rd. If the online form is not completed by the due date, a seat will not be saved for your child. As always, re-registration fees are non-refundable (will be billed on March 24th - due by April 15th). Families returning to STM/UTOPIA for the 2016-2017 school year click here. Families NOT returning to STM/UTOPIA for the 2016-2017 school year, click here. ERIN GO BRAGH! HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! St. Patrick is one of the three patron saints of Ireland. We celebrate St. Patrick's feast day every year on March 17th. Tomorrow we will hold our annual celebration of this great saint who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. As is our custom, we will mark the day with a celebration of dance and song with an Irish slant. Please join us at 1:00pm in the gym. Students may also wear St. Patrick's Day accessories to add a little color to their uniforms. ST. PATRICK'S DAY DINNER RAFFLE: Check out the raffle flyer your are receiving today for a chance to win $1,000! Additional raffle tickets are available in the school office. Have you bought your tickets for the church's St. Patrick's Day dinner? Please join us. $30 covers a great dinner and lots of entertaining Irish music and dance! Tickets are still available through the school office.  SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: We are very pleased and honored to welcome author Marion Blumenthal Lazan to our school on Friday, March 18th. Her book "Four Perfect Pebbles" is one of the books our 7th graders study in-depth each year. Mrs. Lazan is a Holocaust survivor and will share her message of hope and tolerance with our 5th-8th grade students. Her presentation will begin at 9:30am in Carroll Hall. Parents are invited and encouraged to attend. SPELL-A-THON: Please remember that all monies pledged are due back by Wednesday, March 23rd. All families who do not submit their monies by this date will be charged the $30 fundraiser minimum to their FACTS account. We are very happy with the way this fundraiser went and look forward to having another Spell-a-thon next year.  EASTER VACATION: As a reminder, Thursday, March 24th is a minimum day for all Preschool-8th graders and the beginning of Easter Vacation. Preschool will dismiss at 12 noon, K-3 at 12:15pm and 4-8 at 12:30pm. There will still be extended care until 6pm that day for K-8 students (lunch will NOT be provided). Street parking will be limited because of the early dismissal schedule. The school yard will be open between 11am-noon to facilitate the pick up of Preschool students. SPRING SHOW/SAVE THE DATES: Thursday, April 14th and Friday, April 15th, are the dates of the Spring Shows, under the direction of Mary Powelson, our Theater Arts teacher. This year, we have divided the school into two performances on different days. The upper grades (4, 5, 6, 7 & 8) will perform on Thursday night, April 14th at 7pm in Carroll Hall. The following day on Friday, April 15th, at 1pm in Carroll Hall, the lower grades (PK, K, 1, 2 & 3) will perform. We look forward to seeing you at one or both of these fantastic productions. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Go raibh mile maith agaibh!   Marie Fitzpatrick Principal Copyright © 2014 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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Re-registration for 2016-2017

View this email in your browser RE-REGISTRATION FOR 2016-2017  Thank you for another wonderful year at St. Thomas More School. It's time to re-register for the 2016-2017 school year. We ask all families, preschool through seventh grade, to complete their re-registration online. The re-registration fee is $375 for each child and will be billed to your FACTS account on Thursday, March 24th. The payment deadline is Friday, April 15th. After this deadline of April 15th, the re-registration fee is $500 per child. As a reminder, any family not-having-fulfilled all of its financial obligations to the school may be dropped from the registered list. These include scrip purchases and parent hours.   Re-Registration Guidelines You must complete one online form for EACH child currently attending STM/Utopia Preschool. (Preschool families who are entering kindergarten do not need to register online.) Families returning to STM/UTOPIA for the 2016-2017 school year click here. Families NOT returning to STM/UTOPIA for the 2016-2017 school year, click here. Deadline to complete re-registration online is Wednesday, March 23rd. If the online form is not completed by the due date, a seat will not be saved for your child. As always, re-registration fees are non-refundable. Copyright © 2014 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

View this email in your browser Dear Parents, Students are learning that Lent is a time for preparation for the Resurrection of Jesus. Throughout the Lenten season, students discover how forgiveness, charity, and faith can help them participate in the sacrifice of Jesus. Please work along with us as we help your children explore how they can prepare their hearts for Easter. Discuss with them some of the changes they are hoping to make in their lives during the season of Lent. Share with them some of the changes you hope to make. Together we can help the children understand the significance of this important time in our church calendar. Check out this site for activities you can do with your children.   Thank you to all who joined us for our Family Mass this past Sunday. The 6th graders, along with their teachers, Mrs. Santillan and Mr. McKillion, prepared a meaningful service. Thank you also to our wonderful choir and their director, Shelley White, for gracing us with their beautiful voices. Yesterday, our second grade class received the sacrament of First Reconciliation. When we receive this sacrament we find God's unconditional forgiveness for each and every one of us; as a result we are called to forgive others. The peace of mind and soul which this sacrament imparts to us is one for which there is no substitute. It is a peace that flows from a certainty that our sins have been forgiven and that we are right with God. Please keep the second graders in your prayers as they continue their preparation for their First Communion on Saturday, April 23rd at 10:00am. STATIONS OF THE CROSS:  Please join us this Friday at 1:30pm in the church for 4th grades presentation of the Stations of the Cross.   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, March 23rd. PARENT SERVICE HOURS SNACK BAR: Girls' basketball is about to begin and there are many 4 hour shifts available on Friday nights and Saturday mornings at the gym's snack bar. To sign up for a snack bar shift click HERE. Don't forget that families that do not fulfill the 12 hour minimum service hour commitment will be assessed $450 at the end of the school year. 7th Graders can also earn service hours towards their Confirmation commitment. The sign up for 7th Graders can be found under the Athletic tab on the STM website. TRIVIA NIGHT: We are still in need of a couple of volunteers to help when we host the Winter League Trivia Finals on Saturday, April 9th. If you are available and have not completed your hours, click HERE to sign up! SPRING SHOWS!   SAVE THE DATES: Thursday, April 14th and Friday, April 15th, are the dates of the Spring Shows, under the direction of Mary Powelson, our Theater Arts teacher. This year, we have divided the school into two performances on different days. The upper grades (4, 5, 6, 7 & 8) will perform on Thursday night, April 14th at 7pm in Carroll Hall. The following day on Friday, April 15th, at 1pm in Carroll Hall, the lower grades (PK, K, 1, 2 & 3) will perform. We look forward to seeing you at one or both of these fantastic productions. SEE'S CANDIES: A BIG thank you to Trilce Farrugia, mother of Enzo (3rd grade). Trilce has volunteered to head up the See's Candies Spring Fundraiser. Please follow the deadline for ordering. Candy orders will be delivered in plenty of time for Easter. Complete and return the form you are receiving this week if you wish to order. Don't forget to get up early and set your clocks ahead at 2:00am on Sunday, March 13th, or even better, set them ahead on Saturday night. And while you are at it, change the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. Finally, while our school calendar for 2016-2017 has not yet been approved by the Archdiocese, we want to let you know that we have requested to begin the new school year on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2016. Hopefully this will help those of you who are planning your vacations now. An official 2016-2017 school calendar will be sent home as soon as it has been approved. The new school year for Utopia, our preschool, will begin on August 15th, 2016. The 2015-2016 school year is certainly flying by! Sincerely,   Marie Fitzpatrick Principal Copyright © 2014 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

View this email in your browser Dear Parents: 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 Laos, Rwanda, Columbia, Honduras, and Madagascar. The children learned they could help missionaries do Jesus' work by praying for them and by sharing their resources. Please ask them about how they might help others during Lent. Encourage your children to continue to fill their Lenten boxes so that the MCA missionaries can continue their good work in the world. Family Mass: Please join us this Sunday, March 6th for our next Family Mass. Thank you to our sixth grade families for taking the lead in this Mass beginning at 10:00am. See you there! Cioppino: Cioppino 2016 is history! What a wonderful event. Thank you to all who supported the event in any way. There were over 350 diners and countless volunteers for set up, the event itself, and clean up. It was so impressive to stop by the night before during set up and see the beehive of activity with dozens of people working to prepare for the big night…a wonderful involved community of school and alumni parents. Thank you to the cioppino committee made up of April Dominguez, Trilce Farrugia, Jessica Ramirez, Anarose Schdelstrate, Linda Shah, Judy Silva, Zodine Spiegel, Val Willsea and Shelley White, for all their hard work. Congratulations to head chef, Robert Maldonado and his wonderful crew made up of Don Brenes, Anthony Bustos, Jason Bustos, Joe Goncalves, Grant Jung, Julio Fontes, Benny Sablad, Charles Farrugia, Seth Maldonado, Matt Goncalves and Reuben Sablad for catering such a scrumptious meal. A special thank you also to Boy Scout Troop 343 for donating their time to assist with parking and serving dinner. This was our 24th Cioppino. Next year we are planning many fun activities for our 25th anniversary celebration in February 2017. Golf Tournament: Thank you to everyone who supported our 2nd Annual Golf Tournament, The STM Classic. It turned out to be a wonderful success. In all, we raised $7,201 to aid in the construction of a stage in our new Creative Arts Center. Congratulations to the winning team - Joe O'Brien, George Birmingham and Mark Lynch. A big thank you to Sinead Foley (mom of Anna O'Shaughnessy, 3rd) for planning and organizing the tournament. SPELL-A-THON: Just a reminder that pledges for the Spell-a-thon are due to your child's teacher by dismissal on Friday, March 4th. Keep those pledges coming! STREAM: Today we began our Spring STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) electives for the 6th, 7th and 8th graders. These classes nurture students' interests and love of learning through a project based learning approach that emphasizes our school learning expectations (THINK) as well as inspire innovation and creativity. Classes take place on Wednesdays through April 6th with a showcase on April 7th. STREAM students will share their work and projects with STM students and families in the showcase that shows the rigorous work and training resulting from student collaboration, problem solving, effective communication, and the use of critical thinking skills. Ask your junior high student how their STREAM class went! RE-REGISTRATION: Re-registration for current K-7th grade students will be online again this year. More information on how to re-register will be available mid-March. PM EXTENDED CARE: Do you need a 2015 payment summary from Afternoon Extended Care for your flexible spending account or your 2015 tax return? Payment summaries for January through December are available through your FACTS account. JOB LISTINGS: The Archdiocese has some job openings available. Click here to view their listings.  Sincerely,   Marie Fitzpatrick Principal Copyright © 2014 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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