Connecticut Legislative Alert - Your Action is Urgently Needed

LEGISLATIVE ALERT - THE CHALLENGE CONTINUES


Harmful Cuts Proposed in State Budget for Catholic School Busing Funds - Please read the below letter from Dr. Dale Hoyt, Superintendent of Schools for the Hartford Archdiocese and then take action.

Dear Parents/Guardians of Catholic School Students in CT:

Please note that the Appropriations Committee reduced funding for Catholic school transportation (bus) services more than 70%. I need your support in contacting the Governor and key legislative leaders to reverse this reduction of funds.

We need to INCREASE OUR EFFORTS THIS WEEK by calling and stating the following:

Back in April the Connecticut General Assembly proposed a major reduction in state funding for Catholic school busing that many of us depend on to make our children's attendance in a Catholic School in the State of Connecticut feasible. My name is _____________________ and I am a ( principal, parent, teacher, student, etc.,) at ____________________School in the Town of _________________ and I am asking Governor Malloy, Senators Don Williams, Martin Looney, and Toni Harp, as well as, Representatives Brendan Sharkey, Toni Walker, and Joe Aresimowicz to reverse the Appropriations Committee cuts to Catholic school bus transportation.

Use the listing to identify the appropriate key legislative leaders to contact at the following:

Governor Dannel Malloy

860-566-4840

Senator Don Williams, Senate President         Senator Martin Looney, Majority Leader

860-240-8600

Rep. Brendan Sharkey, House Speaker          Rep. Joe Aresimowicz, House Majority Leader

860-240-8500                                                 860-240-8500

Senator Toni Harp, Appropriations Committee Chair

860-240-8600

Rep. Toni Walker, Appropriations Committee Chair

860-240-8500

Peace and blessings-

Dale R. Hoyt, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Catholic Schools
Office of Catholic Schools
Archdiocese of Hartford
860-242-4362
www.catholicschoolshartford.org

News for the Week of 5/29/13

Prekindergarten went on exciting field trip to Little City Pizza earlier this month.  Students got to make a pizza of their own and then enjoyed a delicious lunch.

June is almost here!  As is always the case, the last few weeks of school will be busy ones.  Please take a moment to review the upcoming calendar events -

Wednesday, June 5 - St. Mary's Spring Carnival opens.  See below for more information about this family friendly spring tradition.

Friday, June 7 - Celebrating the Class of 2013.  Join us for Mass at 10am in the Church.  Please remember that no physical education uniforms should be worn to Mass.  There will be a Class Day Assembly celebrating our graduates at 1pm in the Parish Center.  The Graduation ceremony will take place in the Church at 7pm.

June 13, 14, 17 and 18 are all full days of school.  Prekindergarten enrichment and aftercare are available.

Wednesday, June 19 is our last day of school.   This is a 12:45pm early dismissal day.  There is no Prekindergarten enrichment or aftercare available.  Everyone is welcome to join us for an end of year prayer service at 9am in the Church.  The Academic Awards Assembly will take place at 9:45am in the Parish Center.  Parents will be notified if students are receiving an award.

Summer office hours begin Thursday, 6/20/13.  In general, the school office will be staffed daily from 9am-1pm.  Voice mail and email will be checked regularly.  A "Back to School" mailing will be sent out to all enrolled families during the month of August.

A Word about iPads - All iPads will be stored at school over the summer.  Gr. 8 students will turn in their iPads and chargers at the end of the day Wednesday, June 5.  All other iPads and chargers must be turned in at the end of the day on Monday, June 17.

Prior to turning in iPads for summer storage, all students should be sure to back up any content that is stored on the iPad.  One good example is any notes that are saved in Notability.  These notes should be backed up to a "cloud" storage solution like Evernote or Dropbox or even emailed to the student.  Over the summer, all iPads will be "refreshed" to apply App updates and new apps.  Any iOS software updates that may become available will also be applied. Most of the time, no loss of content will occur during this process but it is a real risk and backup of important information is advised. When school begins, your student will be given back the same iPad they used this year.

Welcoming Committee - Each year, our Welcoming Committee does a great job of helping new families get acquainted with our school.  In addition to providing new families with a central spot for information on the school website, this group assigns "buddy families" and also hosts a Welcoming Reception each September.  Helping our new families feel comfortable and at home is so important.  All of us can easily relate to how wonderful it feels to be made to feel welcome and important to a community.  The Committee is currently chaired by Mary O'Bryan.  Mrs. O'Bryan will be retiring from Welcoming after this coming fall's reception.  If you think you would like to help welcome new families, please contact her. She encourages anyone who is interested to speak with her to get more information.  This is a job that could easily be shared by a couple of people.  Contact Mary at 860-217-1817 or marobryan@gmail.com

Home & School Association News
The next HSA meeting will be Thursday, May 30 at 9:00am in the music room in the lower church.  Click here for an agenda. The new board will present next year's budget at this meeting. 

Scholastic Book Fair is here!  Below are the hours of operation for the book fair - 

5/30 Thursday    -  8-4

5/31 Friday         - 8-4

6/1  Saturday       CLOSED

6/2  Sunday        - 8-12:30      Coffee & Donuts Following Mass

The schedule for remaining Classroom Visits are as follows:


Grade 6:            Fri.    5/31   @ 2:00PM
Grade 7:            Fri.    5/31   @11:45AM (includes Grade 7 Literature class)
Grade 8:            Fri.    5/31   @ 2:35PM  (Literature class)

The Book Fair will also be open during the lunch hour (11:30AM - 1:00PM) from Wed. 5/29 through Fri. 5/31 for students and parents to browse and shop.  The Spring Book Fair is a "BOGO" ("Buy One Get One Free") event, so it will be a great opportunity for everyone to stock up on summer reading books.  Teachers will also be given an opportunity to make selections for their classroom libraries.

Bookfair clean up is scheduled for Sunday, 6/2 from 1-3pm.

CHOICE News  - Big Y 6% still available!  We still have a supply of Big Y at 6%, so take advantage of this great profit percentage (normally 2%).

MAX Restaurant Group cards are now available in $100, $50 and $25 denominations.  

HomeGoods/TJMaxx/Marshall's cards are now available in both $100 and $25 denominations.

CHOICE payments are due  Just a reminder that CHOICE balances for 2012/13 were due May 31.  Anyone with an outstanding balance has a statement coming home in your child's backpack this week.  If you just paid your balance within the past week, and you still receive an outstanding statement, please ignore it.  Most recent payments were not processed before the statements were printed.  Thank you.

Community News

The St. Mary's Youth Group invites all current 7th and 8th grade students to an evening of laser tag and bowling at Blue Fox Rock 'N Bowl on Saturday, 6/1/13, from 6-8pm.  Cost is $10 per student. Please click here for a registration form and more information.

St. Mary's Spring Carnival is Coming Soon!  This year's carnival will take place from June 5-8.  For more information, click here.  To become a carnival sponsor, click here.  St. Mary's School receives 50% of funds raised by the carnival, so let's show our support by volunteering! Your help, even for an hour or two, would really be appreciated and it's a lot of fun!  The Spring Carnival is one of the most family friendly traditions in the Farmington Valley!  Click here or contact Peg Mancarella at Margaret.Mancarella@gmail.com.

Would you like a chance to win $10,000?  Raffle tickets are now available at $20 each.  The annual St. Mary's Spring Carnival will be held June 5-8, and the raffle will be held Saturday, June 8th at 8 pm.  Winner need not be present.  If you are interested in purchasing tickets, simply kidmail a check payable to "St. Mary's Spring Raffle", and include the name, address and phone number of the person to which you would like the ticket(s) issued.  Remember that half of the profits go to St. Mary's School, so please support the carnival!

Martocchio Music is offering several summer music camps along with private lesson packages.  For more information, contact them at 860-651-6683 or www.martocchiomusic.com.



Alumni News - It's getting to be that "time of year" - college acceptances, graduations, weddings, new opportunities and new successes!  Do you have news about an SMS alum you would like to share?  Please send your news to dhatch@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net.   Click here to read all our alumni news.

News for the Week of 5-22-13

Thank you to those who took the time to email their legislative leaders. We are asking for your help once again in regards to Harmful Cuts Proposed in State Budget for Catholic School Busing Funds. We need your help to ask for the reinstatement of bus funding for parochial schools, which has existed in our state for decades. Your effort can make a difference.  Please take a moment to read the CALL TO ACTION that appears below:

At this point in time it is imperative to call and ask to speak to key members of the legislative body. The contact information for the State officials involved in this decision making appears on our website.  Click here.

NBC 30 "Shout Out" - Last Friday, our school community was filmed for another NBC 30 "Shout out".  The  "Shout Out" was led by one of Mrs. Gannatti's Principal Helpers, Paige from Grade 1. After being wired with an NBC 30 microphone, Paige did a great job beginning the "Shout Out". As we did in the fall, we strategically arranged students so that those that are not to be filmed so that they were not visible in the "Shout Out".  We were not given information regarding the date the "Shout Out" was to be aired.  We have been told that the airing was on Monday morning.  When the link is available on the NBC 30 website, we will share it with you so we can all enjoy it.

Instrumental Music News - FMI All State Jazz Band Performance is this Friday, May 24th at the Old State House in Hartford. Parents need to arrange for transportation of their musicians.

 

Students should arrive at the Old State House no later than 11:30am in their relaxed uniform. Students will need to bring their own music stand and All State Jazz Music listed below:

• Children of Sanchez
• Free Ride
• Fantasy
• Jersey Bounce, and
• James Bond Theme     

Students should bring sun screen and a water bottle and clothes pins (if you have some) to keep music on the stand if it is windy.

Athletic News - As our school year comes to an end Mr. Gangloff is requesting that any team uniforms or jerseys that have not be returned to be sent to school as soon as possible.  Uniforms should be returned clean in a bag labeled with the students' name(s).  Mr. G. asks that all returns be in NLT 6/7/13.  We are also requesting that all outstanding sports fees be turned in as soon as possible and NLT 6/7/13 -

 

Fall Sports $25.00/participant

Winter Basketball $50.00/JVC player, $150.00/JVB/JVA and V player, $275.00 family limit.

Jump Rope Club $15.00/jumper $25.00 family max.

Running Club $15.00

Softball $15.00/player

Home & School Association News

The next HSA meeting will be Thursday, May 30 at 9:00am in the music room in the lower church.  The new board will present next year's budget at this meeting. 

Scholastic Book Fair is next week!  Below are the hours of operation for the book fair - 

5/28 Tuesday  -     2-4    Teacher Preview

5/29 Wednesday-   8-4

5/30 Thursday    -  8-4

5/31 Friday         - 8-4

6/1  Saturday       CLOSED

6/2  Sunday        - 8-12:30      Coffee & Donuts Following Mass

The schedule for Classroom Visits are as follows:

Kindergarten:   Wed. 5/29   @12:30PM
Grade 1:            Wed. 5/29  @1:30PM
Grade 2:            Wed. 5/29  @10:30AM
Grade 3:            Wed. 5/29  @ 2:00PM
Grade 4:            Wed. 5/29  @10:00AM
Grade 5:            Wed. 5/29  @ 9:30AM
Grade 6:            Fri.    5/31   @ 2:00PM
Grade 7:            Fri.    5/31   @11:45AM (includes Grade 7 Literature class)
Grade 8:            Fri.    5/31   @ 2:35PM  (Literature class)

The Book Fair will also be open during the lunch hour (11:30AM - 1:00PM) from Wed. 5/29 through Fri. 5/31 for students and parents to browse and shop.  The Spring Book Fair is a "BOGO" ("Buy One Get One Free") event, so it will be a great opportunity for everyone to stock up on summer reading books.  Teachers will also be given an opportunity to make selections for their classroom libraries.

Bookfair setup is scheduled for Tuesday morning, 5/28, from-9am-12 noon and breaking down the fair on Sunday, 6/2 from 1-3pm.

Community News

The St. Mary's Youth Group invites all current 7th and 8th grade students to an evening of laser tag and bowling at Blue Fox Rock 'N Bowl on Saturday, 6/1/13, from 6-8pm.  Cost is $10 per student. Please click here for a registration form and more information.

St. Mary's Spring Carnival is Coming Soon!  This year's carnival will take place from June 5-8.  For more information, click here.  To become a carnival sponsor, click here.  St. Mary's School receives 50% of funds raised by the carnival, so let's show our support by volunteering! Your help, even for an hour or two, would really be appreciated and it's a lot of fun!  The Spring Carnival is one of the most family friendly traditions in the Farmington Valley!  Click here or contact Peg Mancarella at Margaret.Mancarella@gmail.com.



Alumni News - It's getting to be that "time of year" - college acceptances, graduations, weddings, new opportunities and new successes!  Do you have news about an SMS alum you would like to share?  Please send your news to dhatch@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net.   Click here to read all our alumni news.

News for the Week of 5/16/13

Important Calendar Changes for 2013-14 - This week we were advised by the Simsbury Board of Education that the decision has been made to abbreviate the February vacation next year.  As you know, our school does follow the Simsbury public schools in regard to the major holidays and school vacations.  Please make a correction on your preliminary calendar for 2013-2014 to reflect that school will be closed on Monday, 2-17-14 and Tuesday, 2-18-14.  School will be open and in session on Wednesday, 2-19-14, Thursday, 2-20-14 and Friday, 2-21-14.  Due to the abbreviated February break, it has also been decided that school will be closed on Monday, 12-23/13.  This was previously planned to be an early dismissal.  The detailed 2013-2014 school calendar will be published this summer as school events are finalized.


Last week, we notified you about a pending piece of state legislation that could result in the termination of bus services for Catholic School students.  Mrs. Gannatti has been in touch with Simsbury's State Representative, John Hampton.  He has advised Mrs. Gannatti to strongly urge all of our families to get in touch with our State Senator, State & House Senate leaders, and leadership of the State Appropriations and Education committees.  The contact information for all of these State officials has been posted on our website, click here.  Please make it a priority to contact these individuals and express your opposition to the proposed cuts in transportation funding for Catholic school students.  The loss of school bus transportation will be a significant issue for over 50% of our school's population. This is your opportunity to demonstrate the qualities of good citizenship to your children and show democracy in action.

 

A Special Thank You to the SMS Community - Thank you very much for the recognition of my retirement at St. Mary’s School during the vocal Spring Concert.  It truly was a special night.  The songs sung by each class and the chorus were fantastic.  I was very touched to have received such a memorable gift, the framed autographed basketball shirt from this year’s NCAA Championship UCONN team.   This gift was made even more special by having Geno Auriemma personally signing it and wishing me a happy retirement.  It was the perfect gift.  Thank you, Mrs. Rushin, for your effort in making this special gift happen!  And to top it off, the roses were beautiful!  St. Mary’s will always have a special place in my heart.  Thank you.  Marilyn Szilva

GOLF TOURNAMENT A SUCCESS!!! On Monday, May 13th, 82 golfers arrived to the Golf Club of Avon to enjoy 18 holes of golf on a partly sunny, but chilly afternoon. Everyone had a wonderful time and in the evening additional guests joined us for our dinner and auction. A special thank you to Ryan Hall, the club’s golf pro; Rebecca Rushin, our auctioneer for the evening; Mrs. Gannatti and Fr. Matera who greeted the golfers throughout the day; Tammy Budnick for all her work creating the invitations and keeping track of reservations and donations; the golf committee for their time and talents in preparing for the big day and the many donors and sponsors who gave generously whether they were able to attend the event or not. Although the final tally has not been completed just yet, we know it will be great and will benefit each and every student here at St. Mary’s! THANK YOU! Sue Zordan & Fay Lenz, Golf Tournament Co-Chairs

Used Uniform Exchange: Thank you to everyone who has donated gently used uniforms.  We have quite a supply, thanks to this program.  When going through your items, please note that we can NOT accept the following:  clothes from any manufacturer other than Lands' End or Dennis (our previous supplier); items that are stained or show wear; old-style plaid jumpers (the ones with multi-pleated skirts that were worn with cross tie); girls' navy vests (worn with previous uniform); socks; tights.  Note that the brands sold at Vincent Sport Shop (that conform to our P.E. uniform) are acceptable.  Thank you for your compliance.

Athletic News - 

Field Day for students in grades 5-8 will be held on Monday, 5-20-13.  Here is a list of things students should bring.  Please note, these are recommended items.  Parents are requested NOT to make any special purchases:

Team Color Outfit (if available)

Glove

Bat

Sunscreen

Water bottle

Sneakers

Baseball hat or sunglasses

LUNCH for Middle School field day -  If you have not ordered hot lunch for Monday, 5/20/13, please bring a bagged lunch to eat at the fields.  Room parents are requested to arrange a cooler for each class to hold bagged lunches.  If any parents would still like to volunteer your more than welcome to come.

Private Coaching with Mr. G. - Beginning this summer and continuing through Spring 2014, Mr. Gangloff will be offering private coaching sessions.  Please click here for more information.

Home & School Association News - 
The next HSA meeting will be Thursday, May 30 at 9:00am in the music room in the lower church.  The new board will present next year's budget at this meeting. 

Scholastic Book Fair will be here soon!  Below are the hours of operation for the book fair -

5/28 Tuesday  -     2-4    Teacher Preview

5/29 Wednesday-   8-4

5/30 Thursday    -  8-4

5/31 Friday         - 8-4

6/1  Saturday       CLOSED

6/2  Sunday        - 8-12:30      Coffee & Donuts Following Mass

              

In addition to these hours, we will be setting up the book fair on Tuesday morning from- 9-12 and breaking down the fair on Sunday from 1-3.

CHOICE Program News 

Big Y 6% Cards Still Available!  We have a good supply of 6% Big Y cards still in stock, so take advantage of this bonus percentage.

End-of-year CHOICE statements were sent home this week in your youngest/only child's backpack.  Please contact Kristin Potter if you did not receive your statement.

Community News

The St. Mary's Youth Group invites all current 7th and 8th grade students to an evening of laser tag and bowling at Blue Fox Rock 'N Bowl on Saturday, 6/1/13, from 6-8pm.  Cost is $10 per student. Please click here for a registration form and more information.

St. Mary's Spring Carnival is Coming Soon!  This year's carnival will take place from June 5-8.  For more information, click here.  To become a carnival sponsor, click here.  St. Mary's School receives a large percentage of funds raised by the carnival so let's show our support by volunteering! Your help, even for an hour or two, would really be appreciated and it's a lot of fun!  The Spring Carnival is one of the most family friendly traditions in the Farmington Valley!  Click here or contact Peg Mancarella at Margaret.Mancarella@gmail.com.



Alumni News - It's getting to be that "time of year" - college acceptances, graduations, weddings, new opportunities and new successes!  Do you have news about an SMS alum you would like to share?  Please send your news to dhatch@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net. 

Mr. Cosham prepares for his presentation at UCONN

On Wednesday, 5-14-13, Mrs. Hatch and Mr. Cosham represented St. Mary's School at University of Connecticut's Neag School of Education's "Teaching and Learning with iPads:  Apps Applied" conference.  We are proud to share that they were the only presenters from a Catholic School at this conference that was attended by approximately 400 educators from across the state of Connecticut.  Mr. Cosham presented "Blogs as an Assessment?  YES" and Mrs. Hatch presented "Children's Literature - A Cross Curricular Approach suing the iPad and Project Based Learning".   Mr. Cosham and Mrs. Hatch were also able to attend several sessions while they were not presenting and have come back with some great new ideas!

News for the Week of 5/9/13

Our annual Evening of the Arts was a great success!  The evening was dedicated to Mrs. Marilyn Szilva, our 6th grade homeroom teacher for the last 38 years!  Mrs. Szilva will be retiring at the end of this school year and was presented with flowers and a signed UConn Women's Basketball jersey.  Our thanks to Mrs. Patty Lepak for working with our students to prepare a vocal concert that was unparalleled in quality and tone.  We also thank Mr. Rich Faucher for working with students to create beautiful bulletin boards to display class art work throughout the building.

Spring is in the air at SMS - Look who's MVP on this year's kickball team during the K-2 recess!

Grandparent's & Special Person's Day will be held on Friday, May 10, 2013.  Again this year, this special day will also include our May Crowning Ceremony coordinated by our second grade.  Guests are welcome to join us for community prayer in the parish center at 8:45am.  After prayer, coffee and light refreshments will be available along with student entertainment.  There will be time for classroom visits before the community transitions to the church at 10:20 for May Crowning at 10:30am.  At the conclusion of May Crowning, we will bid farewell to our guests and resume our normal academic day.

Fairway to Heaven - Golf Outing at Avon Country Club on Monday, May 13th.  Join us for a day of golf or just for a lovely dinner and exciting live & silent auction.  For more information and a registration form, click here.  If you have not registered yet, please RSVP to Tammy Budnick at tbudnick@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net NLT Saturday, May 11th.

Spring Instrumental Music Concert - Our annual spring instrumental music concert will be held on Thursday, May 16th, in the Parish Center beginning at 6:30pm (NOTE:  This is a time change).  The concert will feature performances by our Cadet and Advanced bands, our Jazz Band and third grade recorder students.  Please click here for important information regarding student arrival, dress and concert requirements.

Athletic News - On May 22nd, there will be a meeting to discuss the 2013-2014 basketball season for JVA and Varsity athletes. The girl's meeting will be at 6:00pm and the boy's meeting will be at 7:00pm. The objective of this meeting is to give you (parents) an opportunity to present any concerns, ideas or suggestions you have for the 13-14 season. Click here for more details.

Jump Rope Club has 2 shows scheduled.  Click here for details from Coach Liljedahl.







Home & School Association News - 
The next HSA meeting will be Thursday, May 30 at 9:00am.  The new board will present next year's budget at this meeting.


Community News

Connecticut Legislative Alert - Bus Transportation - We have been informed of proposed budget cut which would reduce the amount of assistance for Catholic School bus transportation by 70%.  If approved, this proposal would seriously jeopardize the availability of bus transportation to Catholic School students who attend schools in their town of residence.  It would seriously impact approximately 50% of our student population.  Please take a moment to read the Legislative Alert regarding this proposal and then contact your Connecticut State Representative and the Governor's Office.  Click here.

The St. Mary's Youth Group invites all current 7th and 8th grade students to an evening of laser tag and bowling at Blue Fox Rock 'N Bowl on Saturday, 6/1/13, from 6-8pm.  Cost is $10 per student. Please click here for a registration form and more information.

St. Mary's Spring Carnival is Coming Soon!  This year's carnival will take place from June 5-8.  For more information, click here.  To become a carnival sponsor, click here.

Alumni News - It's getting to be that "time of year" - college acceptances, graduations, weddings, new opportunities and new successes!  Do you have news about an SMS alum you would like to share?  Please send your news to dhatch@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net.  Click here for some alumni news about Emily Bautista, Class of 2011.

Middle School went on field trips on Wednesday, May 8, 2013.  Grade 8 went to New York, Grade 7 went to Boston and Grade 6 went to Mystic.  Despite damp weather, all three grades had a fabulous time and acted as fabulous ambassadors for our school.  Below are some pictures from the Mystic trip.  Thanks to parent with a working association with Mystic, the students were given a special opportunity to feed the stingrays!  If you have field trips photos you'd like to share, please email them to Donna Hatch at dhatch@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net.

News for the Week of May 1, 2013

Spring "Night of the Arts" Celebrating Marilyn Szilva!  Our Night of the Arts featuring student art work and our vocal music concert will take place on Tuesday, May 7th.  The evening's festivities will be dedicated to our 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Marilyn Szilva, in celebration of her retirement.  Students should plan to arrive at their classrooms no earlier than 6:40pm.  The vocal concert will begin promptly at 7pm in the Parish Center.  Prior to the concert, guests are invited to tour the halls to view class art work on the bulletin boards.

Students should wear "Sunday Best" for the evening.  "Sunday Best" for boys means dress pants and collared shirt with no logo. For girls "Sunday Best" means a  dress or skirt of modest length - 3 inches above knee, shoulders should be covered.  Both boys and girls should wear dress shoes -  no sneakers or flip-flops.  If "Sunday Best" is not available, the relaxed or formal uniform may be worn.  Please remember that student attendance at the Spring Vocal Concert is considered mandatory.  Performance is an important assessment tool in the Music curriculum.

Our next School Mass will be on Friday, May 3rd at 9am in the church.  Everyone is welcome to join us.  We will also attend the 12:15 Parish Mass on Ascension Thursday on May 9th.  Please remember that the relaxed uniform may be worn to Mass but no physical education uniforms should be worn.

Grandparents & Special Person's Day & May Crowning will take place on Friday, 5/10/13.  Guests are welcome to join us for community prayer in the parish center at 8:45am.  After prayer, coffee and light refreshments will be available along with student entertainment.  There will be time for classroom visits before the community transitions to the church at 10:20 for May Crowning at 10:30am.  At the conclusion of May Crowning, we will bid farewell to our guests and resume our normal academic day.

Fairway to Heaven - Golf Outing at Avon Country Club on Monday, May 13th.  Join us for a day of golf or just for a lovely dinner and exciting live & silent auction.  For more information and a registration form, click here.

Spring Band Concert will be held on Thursday, May 16th at 6:30pm (NOTE:  THIS IS A TIME CHANGE FROM THE ORIGINAL SCHOOL CALENDAR.) in the Parish Center.  The concert will feature performances by our Cadet and Advanced Bands, the SMS Jazz Band & Third Grade Recorder students.  Everyone is welcome to attend this concert.  This is a great opportunity for those not familiar with our instrumental music program to see the fabulous results of the FMI music program.

Congratulations to the FMI Band Students that traveled to New York City on Monday, April 29th to play outside Lincoln Center.

Athletic News - Jump Rope Club has 2 shows scheduled.  Click here for details from Coach Liljedahl.






Home & School Association News -  

Grandparents & Special Person's Day, Friday May 10 - Volunteers are needed to help set up, serve and clean up for this event.  Grandparents and special guests meet in the Parish Center for morning prayer followed by coffee and a light breakfast with entertainment provided by their grandchildren and favorite students.  Then, off to visit them in their classrooms.  Finally, they are invited to attend the May Crowning in the church, presented by our second grade class.  May Crowning ends the day's festivities and students then resume a normal academic day.

Please contact Nancy Figulski at cuplfigs@gmail.com if you can spend an hour or so helping out.  Set up will start at 8:15am and clean up should end by 11:15am.

Congratulations to the newly elected HSA Executive Board members:

Maggie Domashinski - President
Ellen Bompane - Vice President
Lynn Mogielnicki - Treasurer
Jen Hoffman - Corresponding Secretary
Jennifer Pavlonnis - Recording Secretary

We are all looking forward to an exciting and successful 2013-2014 school year!  Thank you for volunteering to serve on the HSA Executive Board.

The next HSA meeting will be Thursday, May 30 at 9:00am.  The new board will present next year's budget at this meeting.








Kindergarten honored Earth Day last week by learning about recycling, planting flowers with their Prekindergarten buddies and using the iPad app called "Educreations" to create a presentation about the earth.