WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
March 3rd, 2010
Dear Parents:
Cioppino ’10 is history! What a wonderful event. Thank you to all who supported the event in any way. There were more than 450 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 parents and alumni parents still part of the St. Thomas More School community. Thank you all.
Teachers and students have been doing a good job keeping their blogs up to date. Sign up to be a follower and see the latest information from each classroom.
Today, our friend, Fr. Piers Lahey, pastor at Good Shepherd in Pacifica, spent time with the seventh graders as part of their preparation for confirmation. We are grateful that Father has found time again this year to be involved in the program.
Tomorrow, we have a special assembly for the student body. The Skydome Planetarium returns to St. Thomas More! Their portable, inflatable planetarium will “dazzle the budding astronomers as they are taken on a tour of the solar system”. Shelley White, our 4th-8th grade science teacher, has been preparing those students for this fun and educational program.
Tomorrow evening is the first Thursday of the month and is, therefore, the date for the next Parents’ Club meeting, 7:00 p.m., in Carroll Hall.
Friday is the first Friday of the month. The students will attend the 8:30 Mass together. Please join them if you are able.
Olive, the storyteller will visit again on Monday. She’ll make presentations to the upper grades students that morning. Feel free to join us.
Also next Monday, three of our teachers will attend their second all day workshop entitled “Critical Math Content to Improve Student Understanding and Performance”.
Luckily we have several classroom aides who are fully credentialed teachers available to take over those classrooms on this day. Thank you, Yvonne Benedict, Marie O’Connor and Peggy Clarke.
A compulsory meeting for parents of all students who are receiving First Communion this year will be held in Carroll Hall next Tuesday, March 9th beginning at 7:00pm. Both parents need not attend.
Plan ahead…We have a local holiday on Friday, March 12th. The school and preschool will be closed on this day.
Watch out for two exciting family events scheduled during March. Saturday, March 13th is Family Bingo Night for both adults and children. The following Saturday, March 20th, is a special night for dad’s and their daughters at the annual Father-Daughter Dance.
As you know, one of the decisions made at the meetings with Maureen Huntington, Superintendent of Catholic Schools, was to establish a Principal Search Committee. Representing the Parents’ Club Board are Monica Bickle and Anarose Schelstrate, from the Athletic Board, Mike Mihelich, from the Building Committee, Rob Graham, and from the faculty, Zodine Spiegel and Shelley White. The last two members of the committee, Jessica Ramirez and Steve Nori, were picked from a hat. Thank you to all who volunteered to help with this process. Please understand that this committee has put inmany hours preparing to meet interested candidates and interviewing them.
Please recognize and respect the confidentiality of this process as we move forward.
Hopefully a decision will be reached by the end of this month. We will keep you updated
as soon as we receive word from the committee.
It’s time for re-registration! We have several applications for grades above kindergarten and we need to know if we have any open spaces in those grades for any of those applicants. Sadly, St. Elizabeth’s School families have been notified that their school will be closing at the end of this school year. Most of those families are hoping to place their children in other Catholic schools and several have applied here already. Please complete the form in today’s Envelope and return it to us no later than next Tuesday, March 16th. You need to complete a form for each child for whom you want us to hold a seat. If the completed form is not returned by the due date, no seat is saved. Re-registration fees are due, in the office, by March 30th! They remain unchanged again this year. For students who will be in grades one, two or three, the fee is $200. Students entering fourth through sixth grade have a re-registration fee of $175. Entering seventh and eighth graders have a $225 fee. After the re- registration deadline of March 30th, the re-registration fee is $300 per child. As always, re-registration fees are non-refundable.
Last week you received a foreign language survey. If you have not already returned the completed form, please do so by the March 5th deadline. We will let you know the results of this survey in next week’s letter.
Census 2010 is upon us. The students are doing many activities in school to learn about this process. Don’t forget to do your part. Fill out the short questionnaire you will receive this month and return it as directed. Remember, Mary and Joseph traveled for many days to Bethlehem to be counted in the census. Make sure your family is counted in this census as required by the Constitution of the United of America.
All third and fourth grade students are receiving a permission slip today to see the production of Miss Nelson is Missing on Friday, March 19th, at Skyline College. Return the slip and payment to the teacher, not the office, by Wednesday March 17th.
Looking for something fun to do over the Easter break? Reserve a spot early for the Young Animators Technology Camp. Always a popular activity here at STM! This year camp attendees will have fun making a Stop Motion movie with Playdough characters, create digital music, and make computer-generated animations. You are receiving a registration flyer today. Check it out!
A BIG thank you to Sue Sullivan, mother of Chloe (4th grade). Once again, Sue has volunteered to head up the See’s Candies Spring Fundraiser. Please follow the deadline for ordering. Candy orders will be available on March 29th in plenty of time for Easter.
One way we save money is by using worksheet size recycled paper, paper printed
only on one side. So many of you are kind enough to collect it at your place of
business and bring it to us on a regular basis. Your generous donation of new and
recycled paper is very much appreciated. Please keep these donations coming!
Where have they gone? Looking for yard duty volunteers. At the beginning of the school year, many of you were so generous with your time and helped out with yard duty at both recess and lunch playtime. Recently, very few volunteers have come forward. This means that some days, classroom teachers have no time for lunch or a break. Please reconsider helping out with this enjoyable activity.
What will you do with your child(ren) this summer? You can also check out the abundance of programs with information we have already received. As is the case this time each year, we have been accumulating materials for you to review anytime you like during the school day.
Join us for the San Francisco Parish & Schools Baseball League 2010 Family Day at AT&T Park!Players, coaches, friends and families of San Francisco Parishes are invited to enjoy a game at AT&T Park – a family-friendly and fun environment. Tickets are $14 per person, and include a Tailgate Lunch at Parking Lot D prior to the game. STM Players will compete in a "long-toss" competition on AT&T!! Check out the flyer in your envelope and contact Mike Mihelich at mikemihelich@pacbell.net with any questions.
Finally, best of luck to the first ever Academic Decathlon team from St. Thomas More School. They will be competing against other 7th and 8th grade teams in the Archdiocese this coming Saturday, March 6th at St. Pius in Redwood City. Thanks to teachers, Shelley White and Christina Bourassa, for coaching the team. Go team!
Sincerely,
Marie Fitzpatrick Sr. Patricia Rogers
Assistant Principal Vice-Principal |
