News for the Week of 2/8/17

Conferences for PreKindergarten and students enrolled in grades 1-8 will take place from Tuesday, 2/14/17 - Thursday, 2/16/17.  (Kindergarten Conferences have already been held).   

Tuesday, 2/14/17 - Thursday, 2/16/27 will be 12:45pm early dismissal days.  Friday, 2/17/17, is also a 12:45 early dismissal for professional development.  Please note that there will be NO PREKINDERGARTEN ENRICHMENT OR AFTERCARE AVAILABLE ON TUESDAY, 2/14/17 - FRIDAY, 2/17/17.  Please make note of this and plan accordingly.  

Sign Up for your conference(s) now via Sign Up Genius - 

PreKindergarten Conferences - Click here.

Grade 1 - Click here.

Grade 2 - Click here.

Grade 3 - Click here.

Grade 4 - Click here.

Grade 5 - Click here.

Middle School Conferences - Click here.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT WINTER WEATHER POSSIBILITIES - In the (hopefully unlikely) event that there is a delayed opening next week on any of our early dismissal days, that day will become a regular (3:20pm) dismissal day.  Conferences scheduled for 3:45pm or later will take place.  Any conferences scheduled between 1-3:30pm will have to be rescheduled.  If there is a regular 3:20 dismissal, both PreK Enrichment and Aftercare will be available and may be requested by email or phone call to the school office.

Hearts of Gold- Students in Mrs. Jehning's first grade have created beautiful valentines to share throughout the school!

2017 Altar Server Training for New Servers
New altar servers are needed at Saint Mary’s Church and School. Are you interested in joining this wonderful ministry?  All children in the 4th grade or above are invited to join us.

Classes will meet Saturdays from 1-2pm, February 25, March 4, 11, and 18 (please attend all 4 sessions).  Please call the parish office (860-659-7627) or contact the altar server coordinator (ServerLeader@StMarySimsbury.org) with any questions.

Munson's Chocolates Fundraiser!  Again this year, our 7th grade class is running a Munson's Chocolates Fundraiser to offset costs associated with their field trip to Boston.  Order forms will be coming home with all students on Friday, February 10th. All orders and payments are due NLT Wednesday, March 1.  Chocolates will be available for pick up the week of 3/27 or 4/3 in time for Easter giving.  Date and time for pick up will be announced soon.

As part of our Catholic Schools Week activities, students in grades 4, 5 and 6 participated in a Spelling Bee.  Preliminary grade level rounds were held during the week of 1/30/17 and our school final rounds were held on Wednesday, 2/8/17.  Congratulations to our school's top spellers:  Madeline P., Winner & Will O., Alternate from Grade 4; Marleigh M., Winner & James F., Alternate from Grade 5 and Faith P. , Winner & Maggie S., Alternate from Grade 6.  The winning students will advance to the Knights of Columbus regional spelling bee.  The time and place for this event will be available soon.

Gr. 4's top spellers - Madeline P. & Will O.

Gr. 6 top spellers - Faith P. (l) & Maggie S. 

Gr. 5 top spellers - Marleigh M. & James F.

Thanks to all that supported last week's Art Show at the Hill-Stead Museum.  It was a wonderful Cold Winter's Night that spotlighted our students' art work and highlighted the wonderful community we have created here at SMS.  Our special thanks to those that coordinated the event and beautifully decorated the venue and those that prepared the delicious food and beverages.  We also extend special thanks to our art teacher, Mrs. Alane Powell.  Mrs. Powell's creative spirit and encouragement were evident in our students' beautiful pieces of art and we are grateful for the time and talent she shares with us.

Long Winter Weekend Ahead! School will be closed on both Monday, February 20th & Tuesday, February 21st for a "long winter weekend".

Calling all girls!

Here is a message from Amelie C. in the third grade:

“If you have long hair and are thinking of cutting it, DON’T. I, Amelie, in the third grade am donating my hair to Beautiful Lengths which is a program to help women battling cancer by donating real hair for wigs. I hope you will join me during Lent in this community project. More details will follow.”

On a date to be determined between March 1 and April 6, St. Mary’s will sponsor a hair cutting event for girls (and women) to donate 8 inches of hair for this program. So, please consider donating and stay tuned for more information!

Looking ahead to our 2017-18 School Year - Do you have a child who will be eligible for Kindergarten in 2017-18 that is NOT attending our PreKindergarten?  If so, now is the time to complete an application form for next year's Kindergarten.  Click here for an application.  Please note - if your child attends our PreKindergarten it is not necessary to reapply for Kindergarten.  We assume that all PreKindergarten students will attend our Kindergarten unless we are told otherwise.

SMS Good Sports!  Just look at the smiles on our JVB Basketball teams!

CHOICE Program - CHOICE statements have been emailed to all families that have participated in the CHOICE program.  If you did not receive a statement, it means that there have been no earnings applied to your account.  All CHOICE Card purchases made until 4/30/17, will be applied to this year's CHOICE obligation.  Purchases made after 4/30/17, will be applied to your family's 2017-18 CHOICE obligation.  Families that prefer not to purchase CHOICE cards may "opt-out" of the program by sending a check in the amount of the annual CHOICE obligation ( $325 for families with one child in grades K-8, $360 for families with 2 children in grades K-8 or $400 for families with 3 or more children in grades K-8) payable to SMS CHOICE.  Please contact Tammy Budnick in the school office with any questions about our CHOICE Program.

Box Tops for Education - Our school is collecting Box Tops for Education again this year and we hope you've been clipping your Box Tops!  This is a painless way for our Home & School Association to raise money.  The next time we can submit Box Tops is at the end of February so we are requesting that all Box Tops be sent in no later than Friday, February 24th.  Your Box Tops can be sent into school and turned in to the homeroom or you can send them directly to Richard Kuziak, Kindness of Michael in Grade 6.  Any Box Tops that are saved after February 24th may be sent to school at your convenience or sent directly to Mr. Kuziak.  Thanks to all for clipping and saving those Box Tops and our special thanks to Mr. Kuziak for coordinating the Box Tops program for us!

PreK students celebrated being 100 days smarter on 2-7-17
by counting out 100 pennies!

Students in second grade marked the 100th day of school with
a number of fun activities including a 100 second staring contest!

Community News

My Parish App now available for St. Mary's - We are living in a time where technology can assist us in virtually every facet of our lives. St. Mary's parish has a dynamic website that has aided parishioners for the past decade plus a variety of social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram). And now, yes, “There’s an app for that!” St. Mary's is now using an app called MyParish, which is available for Apple and Android phones and tablets.  Click here to learn more.

PreK & Kindergarten students worked together to make
Valentine placemats for the senior center.