News for the Week of 11/13/19

Calendar Reminders

NO Hot Lunch on Tuesday, 11/19 or Wednesday, 11/20 - All students should bring a lunch from home.  Students participating in the milk program will receive milk as usual.

School will close early, at 12:45pm, on Wednesday, 11/27, for Thanksgiving.  There will be NO PreK Enrichment or Aftercare on 11/27.  School is CLOSED Friday, 11/29.

Formal Uniform begins for 8th Grade on Monday, December 2.

School Board Meeting - The School Board will meet on Wednesday, 11/20, at 7pm in the Reading Room of the Magowan Center.  All are welcome.

Winter Weather Reminders -
1.  Students wait outside & go outside for recess unless the weather is inclement or below 20 degrees (with the windchill).   Please be sure students have appropriate winter gear including hats and gloves and clearly label all items with names.  Once there is snow on the ground, snow pants and boots are required for playing in the snow and a dry pair of socks in the backpack can help the afternoon be more cozy and warm!

2.  St. Mary's School follows the Simsbury Public Schools in regard to delayed openings, early closings and closures related to winter weather.   If the Simsbury Public Schools are closed, SMS is closed.  If the Simsbury Public Schools are delayed or closing early, so is SMS.  Our early closing time is 12:45pm unless an emergency dictates a change to time.  You will be advised via email and Remind text IF there is a change to our early closing time.

3.  There is NO Early Drop Off if the opening of school is delayed.  There is NO PreK Enrichment or Aftercare if we close early.

Orders for December hot lunches may be placed via the Educonnect Parent Portal through Friday, 11/15.
Please send payment in once your order has been placed.  This is your only opportunity to order hot lunches for December - no late orders can be accepted.

It's almost time to pick up your holiday pies & cookie dough! Many thanks to those that have ordered Lyman Pies and Otis Spunkmeyer frozen cookie dough to support our Knights United - Family & School Association. Your orders will be available for pickup next Tuesday, 11/19, in the Parish Center from 3-5pm. Please be sure to pick up your order as all items arrive frozen and the school does not have freezer space to store uncollected items. If you want your order sent out to carpool or on the bus with your child(ren), please contact the school office. Many thanks to Kristen Lehnhoff and Stephanie Pirrello for chairing this fundraiser!

Senior Luncheon -Our annual Senior Citizen Thanksgiving Luncheon will take place next Wednesday, 11/20.  We are expecting 200 guests!  This annual luncheon is a wonderful tradition that brings our entire community together since there are many donations of food needed and many Virtus trained volunteers needed to make the luncheon a success.  

Thanks to all that have already signed up to donate or volunteer.  If you have not done so, please take a moment to review the Sign Up Geniuses below and sign up to help as you can.  The success of this luncheon depends on these donations and the volunteer help we receive! Some of the Geniuses are full, so please feel free to browse other grade's as well and fill in where you can help.

Here are the links for each Sign Up Genius -
Click here to volunteer to help with setup, serving or cleanup.  *Lots of help is needed!  Please take a peek and see if you can help, even for an hour or two.  You do need to be Virtus trained.

Click here for PreK 3 & PreK donations.
Click here for Kindergarten donations.
Click here for Grade 1 donations.
Click here for Grade 2 donations.
Click here for Grade 3 donations.
Click here for Grade 4 donations.
Click here for Grade 5 donations.
Click here for Grade 6 donations.
Click here for Grade 7 donations.
Click here for Grade 8 donations.

Please be sure to make note of when your donations are due since some are needed as early as this Friday, 11/15 or Monday, 11/18,  and some are needed the day of the luncheon.  Please be sure all donations are clearly labeled for the Senior Luncheon.  Finally, please note - there will be NO HOT LUNCH on Tuesday, 11/19 or Wednesday, 11/20 so that Senior Luncheon preparation, setup and event can take place in the Parish Center.

Gr. 8 is selling Poinsettias - Orders Now accepted until Monday, 11/18!  The 8^th grade at St. Mary’s School is selling lovely poinsettia plants in time for Christmas decorating and gift giving.   Click here for your order form.   Order forms are also available in the school office.  Purchase poinsettias for your own holiday decorating, as gifts or as donation to the Residence at Brookside, McClean or Governor's House. 

 Plants will be available for pick up on December 6-8.  Time for pickup on Friday, 12/6, from 2-4pm.  Weekend pickup is after all Masses.  Donation plants will be delivered for you!  Please consider participating in this fund raiser and spreading Christmas joy!

Come Celebrate the Season! 

Sir Ted's 1st Annual Light Up the Knight Christmas Festival and Market is fast approaching! 

Saturday, December 7th - 5 pm Family Mass followed by festivities from 6-9pm.

* A chance to win: 

    -  Decorated Christmas Trees, Fresh Trees & Wreaths from Sparrow Tree Farm & Gingerbread House Decorating for one lucky student and their whole class! 

* Crazy Christmas Sweater Contest with prizes to win!

* Homemade Christmas Cookie Sale

* Kids in Business spotlighting products from our own SMS student entrepreneurs.  Part of every Kids in Business sale will benefit a charity of the child's choice!

* Christmas Market - Handmade artisan goods and more - everything from Blanket Ladders to Saint Socks to Memo Boards something perfect for everyone on your holiday list.

*Queenie's Cocktails will be back with seasonal beverages to warm you up to your toes!

Admission is free and all proceeds (except Kids in Business charitable donations) directly benefit St. Mary's School.

CHOICE News - We're coming in to the busiest shopping season of the year!  What's in your wallet?

Most of us are looking for bargains and trying to be a savvy shopper.  We're excited to bring you some great hints on how you can maximize your money using our CHOICE program.  Not only will you keep your family budget on track, every use of CHOICE cards helps you meet your family's CHOICE obligation and helps our school's bottom line. Look for a special CHOICE email tomorrow afternoon - Thursday, 11/14.  Questions about CHOICE - call or email Mrs. Howard in the school office.

A big thank you to everyone who came and supported the Book Fair last week.  It was a huge success! We were able to get many new books into the hands of our readers because of our wonderful volunteers and generous families.  Through your Pennies for a Purpose donations, our library and classrooms received 30 new books! Our special thanks to Tricia Prausa for serving as our book fair chairperson!

Our special thanks to 8th grade dad, Mr. Tyler, for coming to our Veterans Day assembly on Monday, 11/11, with his 4 legged companion, General, a Vet Dog in training. Our assembly was a great opportunity for us to remember all those currently serving and protecting us in the military along with all our veterans. It was wonderful to learn more about the great and important work being done by guidedog.org.  Click here to learn more about how you can help this organization.

Community News

Northwest Catholic Invites You to Their Fall Play!

To reserve tickets, email nwcdrama@gmail.com