The Golden Apple Award was established by the Joplin Chamber of Commerce to recognize excellence in teaching and the positive influences a teacher has in a child’s life. The challenges of Covid-19 have reminded families of the importance of educators, what a challenging AND rewarding profession teaching is, and how hard teachers work each day for the benefit of their students. St. Mary’s teachers go above and beyond to educate, love, and nurture your child regardless of current challenges, it is what St. Mary’s teachers have ALWAYS done and will continue to do. It is an honor to work alongside teachers who use their gifts and talents to educate and instill not only the joy of learning in each of our students, but the love of Christ as well.

Please take a few moments to nominate one of St. Mary's outstanding teachers for this award. Golden Apple nominations may be written on paper and mailed in or submitted digitally. More information about the Golden Apple and the Nomination Form can be found at www.joplincc.com/goldenapple. If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie McGrew at the Joplin Chamber, 624-4150. Please consider taking a few moments to say “thank you” with a nomination for one of our outstanding educators.

The Golden Apple Award is a one-time honor, making the award that much more special. The St. Mary's school family is the home to several Golden Apple Award winners recipients who may not be nominated again, Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Conklin, Mrs. Lone, and Mrs. Lown.

Mrs. Stremel is holding a second round of auditions for "Newsies, Jr." on Wednesday, February 2 from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. at St. Peter's Middle School. The auditions will take place in Mrs. Stremel's second floor classroom located at 931 South Byers Avenue. This musical is open to any JACS student in 2nd - 12th grades. Performances of the musical are scheduled for Friday, April 1 - Sunday, April 3.

If the February 2 audition date does not work well for your family or if you have any questions about the musical, you may reach out to Mrs. Stremel at (417) 627-2351. We are all looking forward to another wonderful theatre production from Mrs. Stremel, what a fun experience for our students!

Two more Wednesday classroom spelling bees are planned for January 26 and February 2. The final spelling bee is being held on Friday, February 4, starting at 10:00 a.m. Parents may not attend the classroom spelling bees, but parents of the spelling bee finalists are invited to attend the final spelling bee on February 4. There will be three winners from Mrs. Lone’s and Mrs. Staton’s classrooms, so there will be a total of 6 students in the final spelling bee The winner of the St. Mary’s Spelling Bee will represent our school on Friday, March 17th at the Joplin Globe Spelling Bee.

• January 26 Classroom Bee: 6th Grade and "Hard" word lists
• February 2 Classroom Bee: "Harder" and "Hardest" words lists
• February 4 Final Spelling Bee: Combined words from all 6 word lists

If you would like an additional list of the 2022 Joplin Globe Spelling Bee words, the following link will provide each of the 6 lists used in the 4th and 5th grade spelling bee:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1C_t4l8A-d2eDrRuViz4wSbj14pFDFqjE?usp=sharing

Tuesday, January 25: 3rd Grade Field Trip to Spiva Art Center

Saturday, January 29: K of C Free Throw Championship, 9:15 a.m. at McAuley

January 30 - February 5: Catholic Schools Week

Tuesday, February 1: Catholic Schools Week Mass with Bishop Rice, 1:00 p.m.

Friday, February 4: St. Mary's Spelling Bee, 10:00 a.m.

Wednesday, February 9: Charity Dress Day

Monday, February 14: Valentine's Day Parties starting at 2:00 p.m.

Tuesday, February 15: Dr. Wilson's Dental Office visits Preschool classes and Kindergarten

Thursday, February 17: Free Dress Day

Friday, February 18: Noon Dismissal, Faculty PD Day

Monday, February 21: No School, Presidents' Day

Saturday, February 26: St. Mary's Preschool and Elementary Open House, 9-11:00 a.m.