Thursday Newsletter
October 27, 2011
FROM THE DESK OF MS. HESED
The walk-a-thon was a great success – at least in terms of fun had and friendships forged. Pledges continue to be brought in, Chris Stephens is calculating just how much we made and whether or not we reached the $15,000.00 mark. On that note, if you were unable to attend the day, feel free to make a donation that will help us reach our goal.
Some participation stats for the day:
- The faculty earns the gold ribbon for the greatest single group’s participation – 83% of our faculty and staff participated in the day. Super thanks to each of them!
- Coming in at a close second and earning a pizza party is Mrs. Finnegan’s 3rd grade class with 82% participation.
- Coming in 1st place among the older students is our 7th grade, who will also earn a pizza party for 77% participation. This is their 2nd year in a row for this distinction. I look forward to next year.
NOTE: Very often the true success of an all school event can be measured by the participation of junior high. So often the junior high students become bored or think themselves too good for all-school events. Congratulations and thank you to all of our junior high who chose to participate and did that extremely well. They looked to be having a great time together. (53% of our 8th graders participated; 45% of our 6th graders – not bad, not bad at all!)
57% of our 354 students participated in the walk-a-thon. Some of them walking 10 or more miles (20+ laps around the course); some of them walking only 1 mile. It was a beautiful day; we had a great time together. It would have been nice to have had even greater participation – the more the merrier – I loved getting to interact with every single one of our students who walked. For the students a highlighted moment was when our former pastor, Fr. Tom, stopped by for a quick visit.
Many hands make light work – super thanks to all who helped but especially to Chris Stephens and Anne and Joe Hagen. The day simply could not have happened without them.
Annual Dragon’s Grove Pumpkin Fest
Tomorrow is the big day! – the 2nd annual Pumpkin Fest. From 3:00 to 5:00 after school on Friday the children can play games, get their faces painted, decorate pumpkins and cupcakes and even go home with a pumpkin. All proceeds for this event help to support our outdoor learning center. If you have not already registered, come anyhow. The children will have a great time.
November – A Month of Big Events
No school:
- Several days out of school: November 1st, All Saints; November 11, Parent Teacher Conferences; and Thanksgiving, November 24 and 25. November 23 remains a possibility depending on the walk-a-thon pledges.
Parent Meetings:
- Parent of Second Graders who will be receiving the Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Communion. Please be present at an important meeting on November 3rd at 7:00 pm in the school cafeteria. Please park in the lot off of Shaw.
- Parents of Sixth Graders, please join us in a meeting for parents only on the topic of your child and growing up. The Archdiocese makes this professionally presented event available to all parents of sixth graders who attend our Catholic schools. Please make every effort to attend. We will be meeting on November 14 at 7:00 pm in the school cafeteria. Please park in the lot off of Shaw.
- Parents of all SMOS students, hopefully you’ve read the emessage via Fast Direct from Mrs. Stephens inviting you to sign up for a time for Parent Teacher Conferences. 150 parents have sent in their responses thus far – first come first served. November 10 and 11.
- Parents of students in SMART, you are invited to join some of the SMART coaches in an evening of “How to do SMART.” We will talk research, bibliographies and lots and lots of expectations. Meeting in the cafeteria at 7:00 pm on November 29th.
Enough with meetings, let’s have some fun!
- The Highlander is November 12 in our gym. That evening it will be transformed into a speakeasy of the 1920s when all was in abundance and the gin flowed free, despite prohibition. It will be a great evening, tickets were sent home with your child; if yours did not arrive call the rectory office for a new set (776-0363)
- VIP Day, November 16, is that day when the children invite the very important people in their lives to visit them at school. We have tied our VIP Day with the feast day of that very, very important person in our lives, St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland. The Kindergartners through eighth graders and their VIPs will begin the day with Mass (yes, even though it is a Wednesday) while the preschoolers stay back at school visiting with their VIPs. After Mass, we invite our K – 8 VIPs to stop by our cafeteria for a light breakfast while our students get themselves situated in their classes. The K – 8 VIPs will then have time to visit classrooms, while the preschool VIPs enjoy a light breakfast in the cafeteria. We close the day with an all school performance in the gym. Festivities will end near 11:30.
- Vespers and Dessert come close your Sunday and our celebrations of St. Margaret on November 20th with prayer and dessert in the midst of good company. Vespers is very lovely, quiet form of evening prayer. Vespers will begin at 6:00 pm to be followed by dessert in the church hall.
- Suddenly, it’s Thanksgiving and then it’s Advent. Please plan to join the PTA and St. Vincent De Paul Society on Monday Nov. 28 for an evening of advent wreath making. More information yet to come.
Keep an eye on the school calendar either on our SMOS website or on our Fast Direct. The Fast Direct calendar is hiding in your child’s teacher’s bulletin board.
Other information and announcements…
Walk-a-thon - a big thank you to all who helped keeping the children safe along the path. Also for all those grillers of hot dogs and sellers of chips and candy. As a reminder, all pledges are due on November 3rd….please be timely.
From the PTA
The PTA is introducing a new fundraiser this fall. Included in your child's back pack is an order form for 2012 St. Louis Cardinals Calendars. The calendars cost $15 each and will be delivered in time for Christmas. The proceeds from the sale of the calendars will help support the various events that are sponsored by the PTA throughout the school year. This is a no pressure fundraiser and you are not required to sell any of the calendars, however we thought it was an excellent gift idea that some of you might be interested in.
Please return the forms to the school office, with checks made payable to SMOS PTA by November 9. Calendars will be delivered in early December. If you have any questions, please contact Dan Carpenter (dacstl@sbcglobal.net). Thank you for your support of the PTA.
SHOPS -
Please make sure you check out the full list of vendors, under Links….think about Christmas gifts….there are so many vendors to choose from…
Please, remember to buy your grocery / shopping certificates through our “SHOPS” program. Below are the certificates we always have in stock. There are dozens more vendors to choose from. These make great last minute gifts as well!!!
The certificates are being sold directly from the school office for your convenience. Please participate weekly!!! Simply send in the order form, provided below. Your child will bring the certificates home to you!
Name:__________________________________
Child’s grade:____________(to send home)
Shop and Save ________$25.00
Shop and Save _________$100.00
Dierbergs ________$25.00
Dierbergs _______$100.00
Home Depot ________$25.00
Lowe’s ________$25.00
Starbucks ________$10.00
Walgreens ________$25.00
Panera (Bread Co.) ________$10.00
Target ________$25.00
Target _______$100.00
BP Gasoline ________$50.00
Shell Gasoline ________$25.00
Papa John’s Pizza ________$10.00
No Attachments!