SMS School Calendar - Additional Event Change for the week of 6/17/13

Please make a note that there will be no Physical Education Awards assembly on Tuesday, 6/18.  It has been decided that the physical education awards will be presented at our general awards assembly on Wednesday, 6/19 at 9:30am in the Parish Center.

SMS School Calendar - Correction to Last Day of School Events

Please note the highlighted change below - 

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.  There will be no prayer service in the Church but morning prayer in the Parish Center will be extended and everyone is most welcome to join us.  Morning prayer begins promptly after our 8:40 bell.  The Academic Awards Assembly will take place at 9:30am (this is a change, originally it was slated to begin at 9:45am) in the Parish Center.  Parents will be notified if students are receiving an award.

News for the Week of 6/12/13

Congratulations to the Class of 2013 - We wish all God's blessings and success in all their future endeavors to our graduating class of 2013.  Last Friday's Class Day and Graduation were beautiful events that showcased the many gifts and talents of these fine students.  Our graduates will be moving on to high schools including Northwest Catholic, Simsbury High, Granby High, Avon Old Farms, Westminster, the Master's School and Northwestern Regional High School.

School Calendar Review -

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.    All  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.

Health Office Reminder - Please come in no later than Wednesday, June 19th at 12:45pm and pick up any prescription medications you may have at the school's Health Office.  Medications cannot be sent home with students and leftover medications will be discarded.

Yearbooks are in!  Teachers will be distributing the yearbooks over the next few days. There are a few extra books and they are available for sale, first come, first serve.  If you would like to purchase one, the cost is $28.00 and you can send in cash or a check made out to St. Mary's School with "yearbook" on the memo line.  When yearbooks are distributed, we'd be happy to add your child to the list!   
                                                      Thank  you!


Community News

The inaugural NWC Scholarship Scamper 5k Road Race will take place on Saturday, June 22 at 10:00 am, beginning and ending on the Northwest Catholic High School campus. With all of the proceeds going to support scholarships for deserving NWC students, this chip-timed event is planned to be competitive for serious runners, welcoming for casual runners and walkers, and fun for the whole family. The race/walk will be followed by a picnic and activities for children of all ages.

Participant registration is available securely on-line here or printable registration forms are available here. Pre-register by June 18 to guarantee you'll receive a race t-shirt and to take advantage of early bird pricing for adults.  Registration is also available on race day starting at 8:30 am. We hope you will consider this opportunity to support NWC while enjoying family fitness and fun!

Questions? Contact NWC 5k Chairperson Patrick Williamson at pwilliamson@nwcath.org or Patricia Walsh, NWC Dir. of Advancement at pwalsh@nwcath.org.

Art Truck Visit!  Give your child a taste of the 13-14 art program that coming to SMS!  The Art Truck is offering a complimentary session on Wednesday, June 26th from 1-2pm in the North parking lot.  The program is open to students from PreK-Grade 8 and is being offered at no cost.  Space is available to 16 children - first come, first served.  For more information or to reserve a spot, contact Donna or Tammy at smsoffice@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net.  

News for the Week of 6-6-13

Kindergarten got a visit from our newly assigned Parochial Vicar & School Chaplain, Father Santiago.
Welcome, Father Santiago!  We are so happy to have you as part of our community!

Calendar Review - It's one of the busiest times of the year!  Please take a moment to review upcoming events.

 St. Mary's Spring Carnival is underway.  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.  Community prayer will be extended in the Parish Center and there will be no prayer service in the Church - This is a change from the original school calendar.  The Academic Awards Assembly will take place at 9:30am (this is also a change, original start time was 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 Sweet Treat!  In response to the wonderful get well cards our students prepared for him after his recent surgery, Father Michael Whyte, Pastor of St. Catherine of Siena in West Simsbury, provided every student at school with one of the season's best treats:  a visit from the ice cream truck!  Every student (and every adult that wanted to join in on the fun) was allowed to select the ice cream treat of his/her choice.


Our thanks to Father Michael for his generous and fabulous treat and to Rebecca Jaoui, owner of "Ice Cream on Wheels".  If your summer event needs an ice cream truck, you can reach Rebecca at rebjaoui@yahoo.com.

A Word about iPads - All iPads will be stored at school over the summer.  Gr. 8 students have turned in their iPads.  We are still waiting for a few of their chargers to be returned.  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.

Student Directory Update - Please update your student directories with a new address for the Gomez-Nieto family.  The new address is:  2 Litchfield Drive, Simsbury, 06070.  There is no change to phone number or family email.

Reminder to SMART Tuition Account Holders - As you begin making payments in June on your 2013-2014 SMART account, please remember to change the school year in your account number from 12 to 13.  Account numbers are broken down as follows:  02300 is the school code; 13 refers to the school year; and the last six digits reflect your individual family's account.  If you continue making payments using the 12 school year, they will apply to your 2012-13 account, generating an overpayment status.  Your 2013-14 account will then appear delinquent, causing $45 late fees to accrue each month the payments are missing.  If you have any questions about this, please call SMART Tuition's Parent Customer Care at 1-888-868-8828.

Connecticut Legislative Alert - Mission Accomplished!  Transportation saved!  Thanks to the action taken by so many of you, Connecticut's legislative leaders have restored the funds needed to provide safe bus transportation to Catholic school students. Please take a moment to read an update from Dr. Dale Hoyt, Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Hartford:

Dear Catholic School Administrators, Parents/Guardians, Teachers, Students, and Friends of Catholic schools:

Thank you for your extremely hard work during the past few weeks, the General Assembly and Governor Malloy decided to fully restore the funding for buses (they also restored virtually all of the funding for public school  buses -- $24M).

Below is the text of line T625 of the Budget Bill, HB 6704, that shows $3.5M has been restored.  The House of Representatives enacted the budget at 12:20am on Sunday, and the Senate will enact the Budget on Monday morning.  I think that it is now safe for you to pull the alerts from your school websites.  There is no need to make any more phone calls to the State Capitol at this time.  

T625

Non-Public School Transportation

3,595,500

3,595,500

This is great news at the start of a new week.

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

Yearbooks have been distributed to grade 8 students. The rest of our student body will receive their yearbooks next week.  If you did not preorder a yearbook, there are a few extra available for purchase in the School Office.  Please call or email smsoffice@stmarysimsbury.eduk12.net for more information.

Home & School Association

Spring Book Fair:  Thank you to everyone who helped make the Spring Book Fair a great success, especially Jennifer Pavlonnis, Laura Williams, Karen McKenna, Amber Hall, Bridget Shanley and everyone who spent time helping our students pick out some great summer reading material.  Our volunteers worked early in the morning, throughout the day and over the weekend to make the Book Fair happen.  Parishioners were happy to be able to purchase some summer reading as well at the Coffee and Doughnut hour after the Sunday Masses.

Community News -

St. Mary's Spring Carnival is underway and continues through June 8th. For more information, click here.  To  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 is underway from 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.





Altar Server Recognition - During the past year, the altar servers of our parish have contributed to the beauty and devotion of our worship by the reverent and careful way in which they have served at the Altar. During the 11:00 AM Mass on June 9th, their service will be recognized.  Novice servers will be promoted to the rank of “acolyte.” Many of the present acolytes will be promoted to the rank of “crucifer.” And some of the “crucifers” will be promoted to the rank of “master server.” Please join us in thanking our altar servers on Sunday, June 9th.

Avon Soccer Club Announces Fall Clinics - Click here for information about Fall recreational clinics open to Avon residents.

 

Prekindergarten went on a field trip to the Simsbury Fire Department. 

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.