St. Mart o in f Tours Academy Parent Newsletter • November 20, 2014 CONNECTED MISSION STATEMENT St. Martin of Tours Academy, in partnership with parents, is a Catholic parish elementary school that prepares students to be lifelong learners through a curriculum that has a strong moral, spiritual, and academic foundation. Students understand the need for peace and justice, and as responsible Catholics, are challenged to answer the call to service and become engaged citizens of the world. Dear Parents, At our school Mass tomorrow, we will be celebrating our patron saints. Students will be given a holy card representing their patron saint for the year. We teach the children to call upon their patron saints to guide and protect them and to help deepen their relationship with Jesus. In addition, they learn that they have special and holy persons to intercede for them. Over the course of their years at St. Martin of Tours Academy, the students learn about good role models of Christian living by studying the lives of many saints. Please join us at 8:30 Mass on Friday, November 21, especially since this weekend will begin our Thanksgiving break. Speaking of Thanksgiving, imagine a nation where people did not bother to express gratitude or was lacking benevolence and humility. Thanksgiving is an integral part of our American culture. The underlying philosophy and historical meaning of this holiday is to offer thanks to God. In our busy lives, we sometimes forget to do this. Thanksgiving is an opportunity for all of us to express gratitude, to remember how fortunate we are and to thank God for our many blessings. At this time, I want to express my gratitude for the wonderful, dedicated teachers and staff that I work with each day. I am very blessed to be a principal of a Workshop Way® school with students who love to learn and who display many life skills consistently. And last but not least, I am grateful for parents who support our school and work collaboratively with us to educate their children. God bless and happy Thanksgiving, Toni Dimuzio Please read the enclosed article by Richard Weissbourd. It has some practical suggestions about how to raise moral, caring children.  Announcements   SMA Great Cash Giveaway - More Incentives! Monday we held the drawing for all those who turned in their dozen tickets for the $50 Vons gift card. Congratulations goes to the Redfield family! Our second drawing is Dec. 8th after the school Mass. The prize is a $50 Target gift card. Our last incentive drawing will be on Monday, Dec. 15th for a $50 gift card to the Yard House. (compliments of the Colbert family!) ! W The top two families who bring in the most tickets will win the VIP parking spaces for the 2015-2016 school year! NE In addition to the gift card drawings, families who turn in their dozen tickets will receive a complimentary GCG ticket and a “free dress” ticket for their child(ren) to use any school day except for Mass days. If you need help selling your dozen, contact Denise Duppee at [email protected], and she will sign you up for a shift after Mass on the weekend or for a shift at Bingo. This is a wonderful opportunity to get donations for your “family dozen”! Page 1 of 2 SMA news Bits! REMINDERS Play-offs this weekend! All are invited. √ school Mass tomorrow @ 8:30 (dress uniform) SMA Varsity Football vs St. Johns at OLG @ 1:15pm √ No school (11/24-11/28) √ Fair Trade gifts in school office on sale! (chocolate bars, coffee & tea) SMA JV Football Championships 1:15 @ Holy Trinity Please note: correction to the Sports Flyer The JV boys football team qualified for the invitation only Mater Dei Parochial Football Tournament, however the tournament has been cancelled. It was scheduled for Dec. 13th. A Thanksgiving Prayer O God, our Creator, we thank you for the gift of life. We thank you for the blessing of family and friends so that we might know and experience love and fellowship, caring and respect. We thank you for all the gifts of nature and for giving us this earth to use, to respect and to cherish. We pray that we will be responsive to the needs of those on this earth who are suffering from poverty, loneliness, illness. May we be strengthened in our love for you and for one another. We ask this in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Spirit. Amen ENCLOSURES: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ December Calendar December hot lunch menu Five Strategies to Raise Moral, Caring Children Classroom newsletters (1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) Sports flyer Helix High School information (gr. 8) Parish bulletin 11/16/14 Page 2 of 2