A Newsletter to Parents and Guardians January 8, 2015 Dear Parents and Guardians, CALENDAR CHANGE Friday, February 13th was scheduled as a 12:10 dismissal. Please not that this has been changed to a FULL DAY OF SCHOOL. On Tuesday, February 17th will be NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS. February 13th was scheduled to be an early dismissal day. This date was scheduled before the school was advised of the dates of our Middle States visit. At the time, we only knew that we would host our visiting team in the Fall or in the Spring. Since we no longer need the early dismissal on February 13th, that date will be a full-day of school. May 22nd was the original date that was scheduled for our annual faculty retreat. Since the Diocesan theme for the year is “Lead Me Lord,” and the focus is on the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, we have planned for the faculty to spend 3 hours of the retreat day volunteering at either Joseph House (Salisbury, MD), Casa San Francisco (Milton, DE) , Seton Center (Princess Anne, MD) or Diakonia (West Ocean City, MD). After volunteering, the faculty members will return to MBS for a prayer service and lunch. Our goal is for our faculty to gain first-hand experience in serving God’s people who are in need. After contacting the various social ministry agencies, we discovered that Friday is not the best day as the agencies usually don’t serve their constituents on Friday. In addition, the agencies advised us that the best time to participate in their work is during the winter months. As a result, we have scheduled February 17th as our faculty retreat day and May 22nd will be a full day of school. We appreciate your understanding of the need to make these calendar revisions. Thank you! CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK: JANUARY 25th-30th MBS will join with Catholic Schools across the nation in celebrating Catholic Schools Week from January 25th-30th. The theme for this year’s celebration is “CATHOLIC SCHOOLS: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.” (Attached) Parents will find a listing of the scheduled events for that week included in this week’s Thursday folder. Our Catholic Schools Week Planning Team has scheduled activities and events that highlight our school’s commitment to being a community of faith, knowledge and service. MBS will begin the week with an Admissions Open House on Sunday, January 25th from 13:00 p.m. Parents and guests are welcome and encouraged to join us for as many of the events as their schedules allow. Please note that there will be NO AFTERCARE on Friday, January 30th. During our Catholic Schools Week celebration, students are invited to participate in an Essay Contest. The subject of the essay will be “What Our School Pledge Means To Me”. This will be an at-home essay and either handwritten or Digital entries will be accepted. Digital entries must provide an audio and visual presentation. One winner from each pod will receive an A-La-Carte gift certificate. Check with your child’s teacher for more details. RE-REGISTRATION SEASON HAS BEGUN! It’s that time of year again where we are starting the re-enrollment season for the 2015-2016 school year. In today’s folder, we have included the RE-REGISTRATION FORM FOR THE 2015-2016 SCHOOL YEAR. In order to have the necessary information to plan the 2015-2016 scholastic year, we ask that current school families complete this re-registration form and return it to the office no later than February 8th, 2015. Please include a $100 non-refundable DOWN PAYMENT PER CHILD toward next year’s tuition. (This fee is for returning students ONLY. Students who are new to the school will be charged a separate registration fee.) Returning this form and down payment by February 8th will assure your child’s enrollment in Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic School for 2015-2016. Several of our classes are full for next year, so it is imperative that you meet the deadline or your spot will be given to one of the people on the Wait List!! CASINO ROYALE 2015 Formerly known as Casino Night, this year’s event will be held on Saturday, February 7th, 2015. Plan now to join us for Most Blessed Sacrament's PREMIER event of the year! MBS Casino Royale will be a night to remember. Music, great food from the area's BEST restaurants (HOOKED, Seacrets, & Sunset Grill just to name a few), fun and fantastic auction items and exciting gaming tables. Come try your luck and be a part of our school's largest fundraiser. Tickets are $45 in advance* and $50 at the door. Make your reservations by emailing [email protected]. New this year, you may log onto mostblessedsacramentschool.com and buy tickets ONLINE! How easy is that??!! Pick your lucky number and take a spin on The MBS Tuition Wheel. Don't miss a chance to win one FULL year of in-parish tuition or $4,000 in cold, hard cash! Tickets are $100 per number and the odds are ever in your favor. You may "buy" your number online as well or complete & return the Tuition Wheel form in today's folder. Go in on a ticket with friends or family and SPLIT your winnings!! You can also contact Angela Simmons at 443-523-2205 to reserve your number today! We are still accepting and looking for donations -- NOTHING is too small or too big!! Gift Certificates, sports tickets, artwork...ANYTHING will be accepted!!! We need 100% participation and support from every family in any capacity -- we need volunteers to help set up, work the event, clean up. If you are not able to attend, tell your friends, neighbors, or co-workers. To find out how you can help, please contact your auction co-chairs: Anne Flaherty ([email protected]) or Sean Kilroy ([email protected]). Thank you for your support of MBSCS!!! MARYLAND EDUCATION CREDIT Information is contained in the folder this week regarding the Maryland Education Credit. Families who reside in Maryland are asked to contact their State Legislators and urge their support for this worthwhile program. About the Maryland Education Credit Helps Schools Business donations for public school students help families and schools give children the extra support they need to Spurs Business Investment in Education A business may receive a tax credit of up to $200,000 equal to 60% of their total donation to a registered nonprofit Student meet core academic goals. Business donations will help nonpublic schools and students continue to save the State and its taxpayers billions of dollars annually. An influx of business investment will lower costs across the board for parents and schools. Assistance Organization. Maryland businesses may receive up to $15 million dollars per year in tax credits, helping to stimulate the economy. Businesses eligible for the credit include business corporations, S corporations, sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability corporations, and business trusts. Increased business support stabilizes nonpublic enrollments, which improves schools’ financial viability. A higher nonpublic student enrollment, in turn, decreases the burden on public schools, which improves educational quality for all students. CALL BACKS FOR ALADDIN Students will be notified by Mrs. K if they are to attend call backs for Aladdin. Call backs will be held on: Wednesday, January 7th 3:15 p.m. – * Thursday, January 8th 3:15 p.m. - * *Closing times will be determined by number of students who attend. Parents are asked to wait in their cars in front of the school for their child to be dismissed. Mrs. K will dismiss students as they finish trying out. COLD WEATHER…The colder weather is here! We would like to remind parents that on days when the temperature is lower than 45 degrees, children must have a coat or sweatshirt in order to go outside for recess. Girls will be allowed to put on their gym sweatpants under their skirts or jumpers for recess on cold days. Please be sure that children are dressed for cold weather each day and especially on Thursday when we walk to Mass. HEALTH SUITE NEWS As you are well aware, the cold, virus, and flu season is in full swing. You must keep your child home if they have a fever (MUST REMAIN HOME until fever-free without fever reducing medications for 24 hours). Children with repeated episodes of diarrhea and vomiting, fever or rash must remain home. If your child has Strep throat he/she needs to remain home for at least 24 hours after the onset of antibiotic treatment. If your child has conjunctivitis or “Pink Eye” he/she must remain home until they have received at least 3 doses of eye drops. We are asking for your cooperation in helping to prevent the spread of these illnesses/viruses by keeping your child home and for your child to get the rest he/she needs to get well. When calling the office in the morning to report your child out for illness, it would be helpful if you could let the office know the illness or symptoms. With respect to your privacy, any help will allow the school to better track viruses or flu. When children have been absent from school for more than three days, a note is required from the health care provider for re-entry. This lets the teachers and health suite know that the student is no longer contagious. By working together, we can all contribute to a healthier learning environment for our students and your children. Thank you for your cooperation. COUNSELING CORNER Welcome back and Happy New Year! I will begin this week seeing the 2nd and 5th grade. We will be discussing Peace and Friendship. All grades will follow with similar lessons as well as bullying, dealing with worries and test taking skills prior to Terra Nova. We will work on goals for the year and continue practicing love and kindness. As always feel free to contact me if you have any concerns, [email protected] . MBS ATHLETIC DEPT. NEWS Sports Physicals: A current sports physical MUST be filled out before your child can participate in practice/games, no exceptions. VERY IMPORTANT: There will be no Boys V practice on Tuesday, Jan. 13th . Boys V will practice on Thursday Jan. 15th 3:30pm-5pm. Boys Basketball: Practice for JV will be held on Tuesday & Thursday 3:30-5pm. Practice for Varsity will be held Tuesday & Thursday 5-6:30pm. Varsity players will stay after school for study hall in either the library or cafeteria. We will need the help of parents to assist in this study hall, I am asking that you email me your availability asap. Thanks. Please be prepared to arrive 5-10 min. early to pick up your child from practice. When practice is over a parent/guardian should walk up to the front door to pick the child up, it is very dark and we want to make sure all students have a ride. JV has 2 games next week: home against Lighthouse @ 5:00pm & away against Eagles Nest @ 5:00pm. Girls Basketball: We are in need of parent volunteers to supervise the varsity team during study hall. I am asking that you email me your availability asap please!!! Thanks. Please be prepared to arrive 5-10 min. early to pick up your child from practice. When practice is over a parent/guardian should walk up to the front door to pick the child up, it is very dark and we want to make sure all students have a ride. JV has 2 games next week: home against Lighthouse @ 4:00pm & away against Eagles Nest @ 4:00pm. Hydration!!!!: I am adding a new wrinkle to our athletic program this year, hydration is very important to everyone whether an athlete or not. This year, students participating in any sport(s) at MBS are required to have some sort of water bottle with them here at school…at all times. This is in an effort to promote hydration throughout the day and not just before or during practice/games. If there is an issue with providing your child with a water bottle please feel free to contact me and I will make sure they get one. Fitness & Sports Equipment: We are looking for gently used fitness/sports equipment such as dumbbells, BOSU balls, medicine balls, cleats, lax sticks/helmets etc. for our teams/faculty to have access to. Since the beginning of the year there has been a strong push to improve physical fitness from both the students and staff here at MBS. Before I go out and purchase more equipment I wanted to ask our MBS families first. For more info. or to set up a time to drop off equipment, please contact me via email. Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!!: We are currently looking for any sports pictures from the 2014-15 MBS Athletic Season(s). Any pictures you may have or will take during our various seasons, please email them to [email protected] or [email protected]. Thanks! LIBRARY NEWS Happy New Year from the MBS Library! Stop by and check out our Brr-illiant books to warm you up on a cold day. Pour yourself and your child a nice steaming cup of hot chocolate and have story time. Please feel free to stop by anytime and select a book if you would like. We have stacks of winter themed books all around the library on display. Please check your home to see if your child has any books that need to be returned to the library. We are missing many from the end of December. Thank you very much for your continued support of the MBS library. We are praying for a great, healthy and happy year for us all! BOOK FAIR NEWS Our new Book Fair theme for the Winter 2015 is Sir Readalot’s Castle: Enter the Kingdom of Books. This season’s Book Fair will be an exciting celebration of hundreds of books that kids want to read. The Scholastic Book Fair will be different from years past as we are only holding one large Fair during Catholic School’s Week, January 22, 2014 through February 3, 2015 from 8-4, and a special Pancake breakfast that is scheduled for January 25th. Set up will be January 21st and break down on Feb 4th. If you have some time to help us conduct our next Book Fair, please contact Kerry Staniewski at [email protected]. EMERGNECY CLOSINGS AND DELAYS WHEN IN DOUBT Closings And Delays Are ALWAYS Posted On WBOC, WMDT, And Froggy99. Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic School is listed by itself. As in the past, parents and guardians will be notified of emergency closings and delays through our School Reach notification system. Because of this it is VERY IMPORTANT that we have your updated contact information as soon as possible. In the case of delayed openings, parents will receive a recorded phone call on the family home phone numbers and a text message on cell phones. In the case of school closings, parents will receive a recorded phone call on the family home phone numbers and a text message on cell phones. In the case of emergency early dismissal, calls will be made to the parent’s landline, cell and emergency numbers. Calls regarding delayed openings and school closing will be made before 6:00 a.m. Also, please remember that if school is delayed, Before Care begins at 8:00 a.m. CAMPBELL’S SOUP LABLES AND BOXTOPS FOR EDUCATION As a result of the wonderful support that our school enjoys in response to our collection of Campbell soup labels and General Mills box tops, we have just received a check for $1,450.10. “Thank you” to everyone for your support. HARRIS TEETER: THANK YOU! “Thank you” to everyone who has supported our school through the Together in Education Program through Harris Teeter. We recently received a check for $647.86. We appreciate your continued support. LOST AND FOUND Our lost and found container is OVERFLOWING with MBS sweatshirts. If your child is missing a sweatshirt, hat, jacket, shirt, etc.., please encourage him/her to look in the lost and found for the missing item. Our lost and found is located in the cafeteria next to the drink machine. If these items are not claimed by the end of the month, we will recycle the MBS sweatshirts to the used uniform closet and they will be available for any families looking for items. Any other unclaimed items will be donated to charity at the end of the month. If you have any questions, or wish to check for a particular item, please feel free to take a look or you can contact Lisa Edmunds and she will try to locate your missing item. Thank you. IMPORTANT DATES January 2015 19 23 25 25-30 Martin Luther King Holiday – School Closed Parent Conferences – 12:10 Dismissal Open House Catholic Schools Week PARISH NEWS ST. JUDE THE APOSTLE St. Jude the Apostle Parish Book Club will begin meeting on the first Wednesday of each month from1:00-2:00 p.m. in the St. Jude’s Religious Education Center at St. Jude The Apostle Parish in Lewes, DE. You are invited to join in discussion of books that feature biographies, fictional works, and spiritual classics to inspire us as Christian thinkers. For further information, call the Religious Education office at 302-644-7413. A listing of upcoming book selections can be found on the parish website at http://stjudeslewesde.org/religiouseducation/adultfaithformation.html. St. Jude The Apostle Church is located at 152 Tulip Dr. and Highway One, Lewes, just north of the Five Points intersection. ST. LUKE CATHOLIC PARISH Tickets now available for our 2015 50/50 Year Long Raffle. Winners drawn the 1st Thursday of each month. Tickets are $12.00 - Good for ALL 12 months of drawings! Give them 12 chances to win !! Call the Parish office to order tickets 410-250-0300 ST. MARY STAR OF THE SEA Opportunities for Faith Enrichment: We offer the following opportunities to enrich your faith............. Lectio Divina is held every Tuesday at 6:30pm in our parish center room 116. During the hour we read the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday and share what it is saying to us. All you need is an open heart and mind. Walking Towards Eternity is a DVD Series that helps you connect the Scriptures to your daily lives. This series and the continuation of the set are held Tuesday mornings following 8:30am Mass and Thursday evenings at 6:00pm in our parish center room 110. Word of Life meets the second Sunday of each month in room 116 of our parish center at 9:40am. This month we will share how we lived the August word: "Forgive your neighbors the wrong done to you, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray." (Sir. 28:2) ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL St. Peregrine Society is our society that supports cancer victims and those touched by the suffering of loved ones. We meet on a monthly basis to pray for our loved one and those touched by cancer and any other illness. Any questions please contact Deacon Dave at 302-945-8317. The purpose of this society is to meet on a monthly basis to pray for intercessory prayer to Saint Peregrine, the patron saint of Cancer. We will be meeting on a Sunday in the latter part of the month at 3 PM alternating between Mary Mother of Peace and Saint Michael the Archangel. St. Michael the Archangel: 2015: January 25 (moved to Mary Mother of Peace), March 22, May 31, July 26, September 27, November 22 Mary Mother of Peace: 2015: February 22, April 26, June 28, August 23, October 25, December 27