St. Mike's Matters - Thursday Notes
November 2, 2017 Issue #8
Dear St. Michael Families,
Thank you for taking the time to meet with our teachers last week for conferences. Your partnership with us through ongoing open communication is a key to maximizing your child’s growth this year. As you saw at conferences, your child’s MAP test scores are one of the tools we use in grades 2-8 to chart their academic growth. Your children will be meeting with their teachers to look at their scores again and set academic skill-based goals in response to their testing data. We will then be able to chart their progress towards meeting their goals, enhancing their skills, and boosting their scores on our spring MAP tests.
I have some incredible news to share with you. While you received your child’s individual MAP scores at conferences, you may have been wondering about our school’s scores and how we compare to school’s nationally and to Catholic schools here in Western Washington. Please see the link at the bottom of this newsletter to see our school-wide MAP scores. This chart shows the percentage of students in each of our grades that scored above the national average and the archdiocesan average on each test. This testing data is simply outstanding and speaks to the high academic value of our curriculum and teaching. It also reveals the increased rate of academic achievement the longer a child stays at our school. In particular, our middle school scores reveal the tremendous benefit of enrolling your child at St. Michael through 8th grade. For example, 100% of our 8th graders tested above the national average in reading and 90% of 8th graders tested above the national average in math-WOW! It truly takes a community-wide effort to foster our culture of academic achievement. Bravo to all of our students, parents, and teachers!
After the great fun and success of our S.M.A.R.T. Family Night, it is time to start looking ahead to another beautiful night of stewardship and community building for our spring gala. We are looking for a team of gracious stewards to serve as co-chairs of our S.M.A.R.T. Gala this spring. Our Stewardship Development Director, Mrs. McGill, will be running the day-to-day operations of the auction that have been traditionally coordinated by the co-chairs. The areas of facilities, vendors, auction budgeting, and managing the auction committee groups will be coordinated by Mrs. McGill to enable greater access to the leadership of the co-chair positions for our families. This year’s co-chairs will serve as auction spokespersons for the greater school and parish community. They will work with Mrs. McGill and the auction committee groups to organize and coordinate the theme and mission of the auction. Our goal is to lessen the burden of managing the details of the auction in order for the co-chairs to focus on celebrating our proud legacy as well as plan for our future. Please contact Mrs. McGill if you feel called to be a co-chair.
In order to move forward with auction planning, there will be an auction kickoff meeting on Monday, November 13th at 9:00 (after MMO) in the school library. We are also looking for parents to lead and be active members of our auction committee groups. The committees are as follows: Procurement, Decorations, Marketing, Data Entry, Advertising, Sponsorship, and Volunteer coordination. We are looking for both leaders and group members. The auction will be held on May 5th, 2018 at Indian Summer Golf & Country Club.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of how you can be a steward for this amazing community celebration!
Blessings,
Connor Geraghty
Principal
Calendar for the week
Friday - 11/03 - All School Mass - 9:00 AM
Monday - 11/06 - MMO - 5th Grade- 8:30 AM - Final Day to pre-order Christmas wreaths
Thursday - 11/09 - Veterans Day reception @ 1:00 PM - Veterans Day assembly @ 1:30 PM
Movie Night @ 6:00 PM
Friday - 11/10 - NO SCHOOL - Veteran's Day observed
Send a 5th Grade Thespian to Ashland! Pre-Order your wreaths today!
Last Chances to Pre-Order Your 5th Grade Advent or Christmas Wreath!
Help send the 5th grade class to Ashland, Oregon for the annual Shakespeare Festival. Order forms for these beautiful, northwest, fresh, hand-made wreaths are linked below as well as on the school website. You can also pick up a form outside the 5th Grade classroom.
All pre-sale order forms for before Thanksgiving pick-up dates must be in the school office by Monday, November 6.
All pre-sale order forms for December pick-up dates must be in the school office by Monday, November 13.
Thank you for your support of our 5th grade class!
Order form is here: http://bit.ly/2wTIanz
Wreath examples are here: http://bit.ly/2yI3UXZ
Thank you for your support!
Thanksgiving Basket Drive “Compassion in Action”
This year the St. Michael Parish School Saint House of St. Maximilian Kolbe is coordinating our annual Stewardship Project in conjunction with the St. Vincent de Paul Society to distribute Thanksgiving Food Baskets to low income families in the Olympia area. This program will help meet the immediate needs of families during Thanksgiving. Jesus had a special love for the poor and the weak. Here is an opportunity to put the needs of those less fortunate, first. Our goal is to provide baskets for 40 families!
Timeline:
Food Collection - November 1st to the morning of November 17th.
School families can pick up baskets for delivery on November 17th after school.
Deliver baskets on November 18th or November 19th.
Each class has been assigned an item to fill the baskets.
Canned Veggies – Pre-K
Packaged Beans/Potatoes/Rice - Kindergarten
Cake/Brownie – 1st Grade
Pie Ingredients – 2nd Grade
Gravy Mix – 3rd Grade
Canned Veggies – 4th Grade
Canned Fruit – 5th Grade
Stuffing Mix – 6th Grade
Cranberry Sauce – 7th Grade
Stuffing Mix – 8th Grade
Each classroom will have baskets outside their door for donations.
We are also seeking frozen turkey donations via a $20 donation. The kids will be outside the office before and after school to take donations, and of course they can come directly to the office. We will have a bulletin board up to acknowledge those making a turkey donation.
Please contact the office if you would like to deliver a basket. This is an excellent opportunity for families to reach out and share our abundance with others in our community.
Thank you for putting the lives of those in need, first!
Veterans Day Assembly - Thursday, November 9th
Our annual Veterans Day assembly will be held on Thursday, November 9th at 1:30 PM in the gym. There will also be a reception beginning at 1:00 PM in the gym. All Veterans are invited as we honor their service to our country. If you are a veteran or know of a veteran and would like to participate in our celebration, please invite them to join us! Please see the notice sent home in the purple envelope.
Got stamps?
St. Michael Parish Small Groups
Interested in joining a small faith-sharing group this Advent? We will be meeting after drop-off for six Wednesdays, starting November 8th. We will meet from 8:10am to 9:30am in Room 4 of the Gathering Space. Childcare is available! All faith backgrounds are welcome. You can sign up online on the SMP website or email Christina Hu: cahill4@aol.com. We hope you will join us.
Lost and Found!
Please check out our lost and found cabinet by November 13th! Anything remaining in the closet will be donated to St. Vincent de Paul. Thank you!
PTSA NEWS - PTSA Meeting - 11/15/2017 5:30 PM in the GYM (note location change.) CHILDCARE PROVIDED in library!
Movie Night - November 9th at 6 PM
Mark your calendars and get ready to vote on what movie we watch! Once again, pizza and soda will be for sale, and popcorn will be provided for free. Click here to vote for the movie we will watch:
Box Tops-
Ouch, hunger-pains! Bob, our Box Tops Monster, hasn’t been receiving as many snacks from you, and he is awfully hungry! Collect those Box Tops and stop by and feed Bob.
Which class is in the lead? Here are the current standings:
#1: 1st Grade
#2: 2nd Grade
#3: 3rd Grade
Scrip - DONUT CONTEST
The scrip sales are up but we still haven’t reached our goal of full participation in the monthly Scrip Club, and our office sales are below where they need to be to fund and subsidize various activities throughout the school year (including Field Trips).
In order to help spur sales, we are going to have a contest! At the end of November, the classroom that has the most Scrip Club participation will win a donut party. In order to make things fair, families that join (or have already joined) will receive a point for each of their children’s classrooms.
Try it Friday - a new feature in the Cafeteria!
Something new is coming to the cafeteria! “Try it Friday” is a once a month event where ALL students will have the opportunity to sample something yummy from the kitchen. The samples will be a possible new menu item or an existing menu item. Students will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire. Tomorrow’s sample will be Pesto Flatbread. All "Try it Friday" samples are free!
The tuition assistance application window is open for the 2018-2019 school year!
The tuition assistance application window is open for the 2018-2019 school year! If you plan to apply for tuition assistance for the 2018-2019 school year, then you need to apply by the deadline of January 5, 2018. The application can be accessed here: https://online.factsmgt.com/aid
Once an online application has been completed, please send the required supporting documentation to FACTS. Please note that your application is not complete and you will not be eligible for tuition assistance through the Fulcrum Foundation or our school’s endowment if you have not submitted the requested documentation. Documentation can also be faxed to 866-315-9264 or mailed to FACTS. If you have questions or concerns about the application process, you may speak with a FACTS Customer Care Representative at 866-441-4637.
Extended Care Payments
Stewardship & Fee Statements
THANK YOU!
School Commission Corner
The St. Michael School Commission is consultative and advisory in nature. Members meet once a month to advise and support Mr. Geraghty and Fr. Jim as they (Mr. Geraghty and Fr. Jim) form school policies to support the ongoing growth of our parish school. The St. Michael School Commission collaborates with the Pastoral Council and the Parish Finance Council and has liaisons from these councils attending the meetings.
Last evening, the St. Michael School Commission held their second meeting of the year.
The meeting focused on the following topics:
· A principal’s report featuring highlights and updates from the month of October (including school finance, enrollment, accreditation, and MAP testing results)
· An overview of our parish strategic planning process
· The development of School Commission work plans aligned with our parish strategic plan
St. Michael Parish School - a Family of Families
Email: connect@stmikesolympia.org
Website: www.stmikesolympia.org
Location: 1204 11th Avenue Southeast, Olympia, WA, United States
Phone: 360-754-5131
Facebook: facebook.com/St.MichaelParishSchoolOlympia