St. Agnes School
Family Newsletter
November 17, 2010

Mission Statement of Saint Agnes School
Saint Agnes Elementary School strives for excellence in providing a Catholic education that inspires and empowers our students to embrace the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ as compassionate and faithful Christians, who continue to pursue their spiritual journey, their highest academic potential, and stewardship to others.

There will be no newsletter next week due to the holiday.

Parent Teacher Conferences: Conferences are Tuesday, November 23rd, from 12 to 5 and 6 to 8pm. Students are dismissed from school on that day at 11 am. We will not serve lunch, but buses will run. There are no kindergarten classes. Please honor the 5 to 6 dinner hour for teachers, for it is a long day.

No School: There will be no school on Wednesday, November 24th. Happy Thanksgiving!

Items Coming Home Today:

1. Market Day Form
2. 365 Lotto flier with the youngest student
3. Smile Safe Cards from Lifetouch for each student

Thanksgiving is Thanks-living: May the holiday be a day of peace and a time for being grateful for all our blessings! Know you will be remembered in my prayers on Thanksgiving Day…for we are grateful for our wonderful families at St. Agnes School. Remember that the children may bring a food item, a paper item, or Thanksgiving item to share with BeCon on Thursday or Friday of this week. Students will carry the items up in the offertory procession in our school liturgy on Friday. Thank you for your generosity.

Blessed Advent: Advent begins on Sunday, November 28th. Advent has a twofold character: first, as a season to prepare for Christmas when Christ’s first coming to us is remembered; and also as a season to prepare our mind and heart for Christ’s second coming at the end of time. Advent is a time for joyful, devout expectation!
     The Advent season in our school will be one that reflects our active waiting…for the beautiful Christmas season. Again we will have Advent symbols in our school, our classrooms and our halls. Our daily prayers will have the theme of waiting and longing for Jesus.
     During the weeks of Advent, each homeroom will concentrate on filling a Christmas stocking for Jesus. The stocking will be filled with your donations of socks (children’s, ladies’, men’s, infant’s, sport socks, work socks, dress socks, school socks, footies, booties, panty hose, etc.) We will watch as the Christmas stockings grow and then we will collect all of our gifts and share them with the service agencies in our area. Monetary gifts may be put in the stocking also for the needs of those agencies.
     Just as each of us likes to see our Christmas stocking filled with goodies, Jesus will be delighted to see His stocking filled with gifts for others. We will also be praying daily for the recipients of our gifts. All donations should be brought to school by December 17th. Thanks so much!

Sacrament of Reconciliation: The second graders will receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time on Tuesday evening, November 30th.

Children’s Christmas Concert: Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the primary students Christmas Concert on Thursday, December 16th. You won’t want to miss it!

cNotify Calling: Thank you for your response to sending in the phone numbers for our new all-call system. We will do a trial run this evening. If you have any concerns, email or call the school office tomorrow and let us know.

Spiritwear Day Tomorrow: Students may wear a St. Agnes spiritwear shirt/sweatshirt with gym uniform pants/shorts or regular uniform pants/shorts tomorrow.

PTO News:

Ladies Night Out! Don't miss out! Please get your RSVP to Ann Flood (in school office) asap for the 3rd Annual Ladies Night Out. Come enjoy good food, games, mini spa from Salon Beck and dancing, spend time with old friends and make some new ones. Don't forget the event is at The Gardens of Park Hills Arbor Room this Friday at 7:30 pm. Walk-ins will be allowed, but we really appreciate advance RSVP so we can plan accordingly. Thanks! The LNO Committee

SubStation II Eat Out Night is tonight from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. If you choose to eat out, please keep them in mind. Thanks!

Market Day: LAST REMINDER! IT’S A SHORT MONTH! NO SALE IN DECEMBER! Due to the upcoming holidays, this will be a short month for Market Day. Our sale will take place at the end of the month and we will not have a December sale. So stock up on your Market Day for the holidays! The Market Day Sale deadline for this month is 11/23. Please make a note! Orders can be kidmailed through Aidan Mast – 2W. Order online at www.marketday.com and get access to special Web Clearance only items. Pick Up will be on 11/30 at 5:30 in the school cafeteria.

365 Lotto: The holidays are right around the corner. Don’t have time to do all that shopping? Buy a 365 Lotto ticket to help support St. Agnes School and use them as gifts for those special people you like to remember. Here are some other gift ideas:

 Teacher/priest appreciation gift
 Stocking stuffer
 Employee/employer gift
 Perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for person
 Hostess gift
 Coach gift
 Secret Santa
 Surprise your child and put one in his/her lunch box
 Gift exchange
 Babysitter gift
Plan ahead this holiday season and let us do the work for you. Buy your ticket now!

Parish Council News:

Parish Council is hosting an event to be known as “Saint Agnes SOS” on Saturday December 4, 2010. Click on the attached bulletin article which covers the details of the event. This event could be used by your family for fulfilling School Service hours. We hope to see many of our school families on “Saint Agnes SOS” day.

Boosters News:

Spring 2011 Soccer Registration: Registrations will be accepted December 1, 2011 through February 7, 2011. There will be no in-person registration. Unfortunately, NO REGISTRATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER FEBRUARY 7, 2011 and there will be NO EXCEPTIONS! Click here for a registration form and for more information.

Parish Advent Wreath Session: There will be an advent wreath making session on Tuesday, November 23rd from 7 to 8:30 in Murphy Hall. The cost for materials is $10. Join others in prayer, fellowship, and snacks as your family begins a prayer tradition in your home. There will also be children’s crafts available. Please RSVP so we know we have enough materials and snacks at 431-1802, or credunn@aol.com.  Thank you, Anita.

The Importance of a Good Night’s Sleep: The latest issue of the 4-H newsletter has an interesting article on the need for children to have 9-10 hours of sleep. It explains why it is so important. Please click here for a copy of the article.

Winter Sale at Schoolbelles: Schoolbelles Winter Sale is here! Get discounts from 20%, 30%, and 40% off retail prices from November 14, 2010 through January 5, 2011. Stock up and save on cold weather items or take this opportunity to freshen your children's worn uniform items. This is also a great opportunity to save on uniform needs for next year.

Around Our School

Did you know…. the sixth, seventh and eighth grade academic teams won their matches against St. Pius last Wednesday? Congratulations to all three teams!

Did you know…the third graders are learning about the earliest settlements in America? They spent a few days learning about Jamestown and next they will be learning about the Pilgrims, Plymouth Plantation, and the first Thanksgiving. Did you know the first Thanksgiving lasted three days and was celebrated in October?

Did you know…the sixth grade students are thankful for their teachers! In our letter writing unit students are writing thank you notes to former teachers thanking them for all the things that they have learned here at Saint Agnes? It is very heartwarming to see the inspirational and creative ways that teachers have touched our students’ lives.

Did you know…the eighth graders have quite the inventive minds? While studying the many inventions of the 19th and early 20th centuries in Social Studies, they were challenged to illustrate their own invention. Some were quite ‘ingenious’: from a better ballet shoe, to a remote controlled lawn mower to an automated pencil that writes, records and then prints out your homework.

Did you know…In seventh grade social studies we have been studying the various events that have led up to the American Revolution? The seventh graders did an anagram on the word REBELLION and illustrated their own timeline of the pre-revolution events.