Dear St. Maria Goretti Catholic School Families,

I hope you all are enjoying the weekend!

As always, there is a lot happening at SMGCS! Last Wednesday, we celebrated our first Household Mass of the school year. In their homeroom Households each week, students work together to help each other grow in mind, body, and spirit. Their Household banners represent their Household in name and symbol, each unique to that group. Our Households have cultivated a positive, faith-filled school culture that is transforming and identifiably Catholic. A photo collage of the Household Mass can be found below.

We are excited to announce that Texas 4-H is coming to SMGCS!! Nolan Catholic High School has teamed up with Texas 4-H and the Tarrant County Extension Program to create a sort of "mega-club" for the whole diocese, with each of the diocesan schools that are in Tarrant County eligible to register. Please see the information about the SMGCS 4-H Club, including how to register your student(s), below in the newsletter.

On Friday, all school families were notified via email of our plan to move to virtual Distance Learning for two weeks following the Christmas break. Please understand that this decision did not come easily, but is one that after consultation with Fr. Jim, our School Advisory Council, faculty/staff, and the diocese, we feel is most prudent to keep our entire school community safe. We will be working on student schedules for virtual learning over the next couple of weeks and will communicate those to parents (and students) once complete. Families who may need to borrow devices (i.e. laptops, ipads) for their students to utilize during that time are asked to contact Mrs. Daly (jdaly@smgschool.org) to make arrangements. The letter that was emailed and the link to the acknowledgement form can be found by clicking on the following link.

https://smgschool.org/documents/2020/11/SMGCS%20Holiday%20Travel%20Plan%20Letter%202020-2021.pdf

Upcoming Events this Week: Please see below in this newsletter for details.

• Faith Family Assembly & the Box of Joy service project-Monday, November 9th. Please help us make a difference to less fortunate boys and girls by donating needed items.
• Veterans Day video-This year, we are creating a video honoring our veterans on Veterans Day. The video will be shared with the SMGCS & parish community on Wednesday morning.
• Turkey Bingo-Friday, November 13th. We are hosting an all-school Turkey Bingo to support updating the sign in the cafetorium with our new school logo. Click on the link in the ad below to learn more and to purchase bingo cards for your students.
• Progress Reports-Progress reports will be emailed to parents on Friday, November 13th. Please contact teachers directly with any questions or concerns.
• ACT Aspire Reports- Students in grades 3 - 8 completed the ACT Aspire Interim Assessments over the last several weeks. Please look for a copy of the report and information explaining the results, which will be sent home in the Friday Folders this Friday.
• Reminder: Early Dismissal at 12:10PM on Friday, November 13th. SMEED is available; No Lunch Service.

Have a great week ahead and may God continue to bless you and your families.

St. Maria Goretti, Pray for Us!

Blessings,

Laura Behee, M.Ed.

Principal

Volunteer Hour Policy-

We will be continuing with our SPIRIT Hour policy from last year. In the absence of Kountry Karnival, we will be working to find other ways that families can earn hours. Opportunities will be communicated via emailed SPIRIT Updates, the Trojan Times, and on our website.

All SMG families must complete 40 hours (20 hours by December 18, 2020, and 20 hours by May 14, 2021). Please note that due to having fewer events and volunteer opportunities at which to earn SPIRIT hours right now, we will defer charges for incomplete SPIRIT hours for 1st Semester until the end of the 2nd semester, and will reevaluate at that time.

Current Volunteer/Donation Opportunities:

• Water Donations- The school will have an ongoing need for water bottles this year. Having plenty on hand allows us to provide water to students when they run out or forget their own. Please consider donating a case or two whenever you can throughout the year. One SPIRIT Hour will be provided per 48 water bottles donated. Donations can be brought to the school front office, Monday - Friday between 7:30AM - 3:30PM.
• Disposable Face Masks & Gloves-Donate boxes of disposable face masks and gloves of all sizes and earn one SPIRIT hour for each box donated. Donations can be brought to the school front office, Monday - Friday between 7:30AM - 3:30PM.
• Items for Christmas Store 2021-Purchase new items for next year's (2021) Christmas store and receive one SPIRIT Hour for every $10 spent. Needed items include small toys, small household items, trinkets, gift bags, and tissue paper. Receipts must be included when donation is dropped off in order to receive SPIRIT hour credit. Donations can be brought to the school front office, Monday - Friday between 7:30AM - 3:30PM.

Monday

· 3:30-4:15PM 3rd-5th PSIA Ready Writing (Cruz) Begins Nov. 2

• Nov. 2, 16, 30, Dec. 14, Jan 11, 25, Feb. 8, 22, March 8, 22, alternating Mondays

· 3:30-4:30PM 5th-8th Drama Club (Richards)

· 3:30-4:15PM 4th-8th PSIA Maps, Graphs and Charts (Daly) Begins 10/26

• Oct. 26, Nov. 2, 9, 16, 30, Dec. 7, Jan 11, 25, Feb 1, 8

· 3:30-4:15PM 6th-8th PSIA On-Site Drawing (Jamison) Begins Nov. 9 (Please note change from Wednesday to Monday)

Tuesday

-Rubik’s Cube Club (Utendorf)

• 12:09-12:39PM in Library: 6th-8th
• 12:29-12:49PM in Library: 4th–5th
• Google Meets Available for Distance Learners

• 6:00-7:00PM SMG Cafetorium, Begins 10/20
  

Wednesday

· 3:30-4:30PM 5th-8th Garden Club (Pick) Begins Oct. 21

· 3:30-4:15PM 6th-8th PSIA Ready Writing (Juergens) Begins Oct. 28

· 3:30-4:15PM 4th-5th PSIA Math (Schump) Begins 10-28

· 3:30-4:15PM Running Club (weather permitting) (Gutierrez/Salomao)

• Nov. 4, 18, Dec. 2, 16, Feb. 3, 17, Mar. 10, 24, April 14, 28, May 12

· 3:30-5:00PM Cheer Club (Paladini)

Thursday

· 3:30-4:15PM 3rd-8th Cecilian Singers Club (Richards)

· 3:30-4:15PM 2nd-8th PSIA Spelling (Vasquez)

• bi weekly: Oct 22, Nov. 5, 19, Dec. 3, 17

· 3:30-4:15PM 2nd PSIA Math (Gutierrez)

• Oct. 29, Nov. 12, Dec. 3, Jan. 14, 28, Feb. 11 alternating Thursdays Begins Oct. 29

· 3:30-4:15PM 3rd PSIA Math (Gutierrez)

• Nov. 5, 19, Dec. 10, Jan 21, Feb. 4, 11 alternating Thursdays Begins Nov. 5

· 3:30-4:15PM 4th-8th Chess Club (Nguyen) Begins Nov. 5

· 3:30-4:15PM 6th-8th PSIA Math (Utendorf) Begins Oct. 29

• Oct. 29, Nov. 12, 19, Dec. 3, 10, Jan. 14, 28, Feb. 11

We are excited to be announce that SMGCS has joined the Diocese of Fort Worth-Tarrant County 4-H Club! Membership is open to all 3rd - 8th Grade students. For more information or questions, contact Mrs. Pick at apick@smgschool.org. As well, see the information below and at the following link with details on how to register! Parents are welcome (and encouraged) to volunteer!

More info here: https://smgschool.org/documents/2020/11/4H%20Flier%20for%20families.pdf

Joining information:

go to https://v2.4honline.com/#/user/sign-in

(if that link doesn’t work, go to https://agrilife.org/urbantarrant4h/join/, scroll down, and click on 4-H online)

Create new account as a new member

Choose "Diocese of Fort Worth-Tarrant County" for your club

Pay the $30 registration fee

Parents, if you are interested in helping as project leaders, you can register the same way. You should have one account per family, and then click “add family member” to the first account. Parent volunteers must be current on their VIRTUS training, and the membership fee is $10.

You can learn more about the Texas 4-H projects here:

https://texas4-h.tamu.edu/projects/

Lunch orders must be placed for the entire week (Monday through Friday) by Sunday at 3:00pm. We cannot accept orders placed after the Sunday deadline.

We will continue to text families on Friday morning each week, which will allow parents/students to place lunch orders for the upcoming week. The link is also available on the school website and will continue in the weekly Trojan Times. The form has a link with the menu attached as well.

Click below for the order form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfR9IEn2hFKzTGM1ATmQsrtzsL6V-F7_fwop8Zb8rwtGO2HPw/viewform?usp=pp_url

All students, whether learning On-Campus or via Distance Learning, have school email accounts that they generally access during computer class, and will also need to access Google Classroom. Parents of students in Grades 4th - 8th who are attending classes On-Campus were sent information and instructions for their student(s) to access their email accounts, log-in to Google Classroom, and create a bookmark on their home devices. Students have also be given this information during computer class, as many 4th-8th Grade teachers provide feedback on assignments, etc. to students via Google Classroom. As well, being familiar with logging in to Google Classroom will be helpful should we ever need to move to distance learning during the school year. If you did not receive your student's log-in information or have questions, please contact Mrs. Daly (jdaly@smgschool.org).

As well, please check out the following tutorial for detailed instructions on signing into Google Classroom.

https://spark.adobe.com/page/6MoktPH9QsQCt/

Please see the SMG Safe Return to School plan that was sent to all school families last week, by clicking the following link.

https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/12396/documents/2020/7/SMG%20Safe%20Return%20to%20School%20Plan%20FINAL%206.pdf

We are hoping to update our official Facebook page with some more recent, positive reviews, likes, and shares. Please visit our official Facebook page (Facebook@StMariaGorettiArlington) and help us spread the word about our great Catholic school!