January 13, 2023

Dear St. Mary’s Families:

We are seeing many students dressing out of uniform to school. Just as a reminder, your child may dress out of uniform on their birthday and if he/she has a PNUT Pass. If your child is using a PNUT Pass to dress out of uniform, that PNUT Pass must be turned in to the teacher on the day your child is out of uniform. If your child chooses to use a PNUT Pass and is out of uniform, the clothing he/she wears to school must be “Catholic” school appropriate. Jeans are not to have holes and rips. Pajama pants and lounge wear is not appropriate. Slippers are not appropriate. Designs and sayings on shirts are not to be offensive to others. Due to overuse of the passes, only 1 PNUT Pass can be used per week moving forward. A big part of our structure here at St. Mary’s is the use of our uniform. It creates a tone and atmosphere of respect and reverence for our faith and learning.

Monday is a holiday. Students will not have Tech Day work to complete. Enjoy your long weekend.

Notes of Interest:

School Social Studies Fair is Monday, January 23: If you need to bring your project in early, I will be at the school on Sunday, January 22 at 6:00pm. The following students have signed up for the Social Studies Fair: 3^rd Grade: Iley D, Grayson G, Heston M, Alan S, 4^th Grade: Michelangelo G, Ryan R, 5^th Grade: Blaire M, and 6^th Grade: Nolan P, Kaelynn W, Kyanna W, and Emma Y.

No School on Monday, January 16: Martin Luther King Jr Day

MAP Testing will begin Tuesday, January 17. Please make sure all iPads are charged and ready to go. And, students are well rested.

Report Cards will come home on Wednesday, January 18.

Catholic Schools Week: January 30- Feb 3.

Catholic Daughters Education Contest: Mandatory for all students in grades 4, 5, and 6. The theme this year is “We walk by faith, not by sight”. Students will have guidelines sent home. This will be a Religion Grade for your child. All projects due Jan 25.

Science Fair winners:

Congratulations to:

Kyanna and Kaelynn W.(6^th grade) for winning 1^st place and

Grayson G for winning 2^nd place.

TAPs: Phase 1 of the Tuition Assistance Program application opens on Feb 1 for all Catholic families and closes on April 30. Awards will be announced in May. Phase 11 is now open to Catholics and Non-Catholics and closes on August 31. This application can be submitted during Phase 1 and will not need to be resubmitted a second time. See attached information page.

HandS meeting: Feb 8 @ 6:00 pm in the auditorium.

Shoe Drive Update

We are so close to hitting our next mini goal of 1,000 pairs of shoes! As of this morning, we have collected 961 pairs of shoes. Thank you to everyone that has brought in shoes for our drive. We are so grateful for your participation and look forward to you continuing to spread the word and recruit additional shoe collections.

We only have a few weeks left in our drive and we hope each of you will consider continuing to support our efforts by using one of the following ideas:

Ask your office or business to collect shoes (flyer attached that can be placed on a collection bin). Reach out if you need help picking up the shoes. We have volunteers eager to help pick up and transport donations to the school.
Canvas your neighborhood (flyer attached that can be placed in mailboxes and collected on a day that you choose). We have had several successful neighbor drives already and lots of appreciation from individuals for providing a place to send unwanted shoes.
Ask your team, club, or organization to dedicate a game or gathering to collecting shoes. Every pair counts!

Our shoe drive runs until February 3^rd (end of Catholic Schools Week). Our ultimate goal is to collect 2,500 pairs of shoes to help those in need. Have questions or need help with a large pick up? Text Pam Leonard at 740-525-2846.

******CALENDAR ******

Watch for changes each week!

Upcoming Dates and Events:

January 16: MLK Jr Day – No School

January 17: MAP middle of the year testing begins

January 18: Report Cards Home

January 23: Social Studies Fair

January 29-Feb 3: Catholic Schools Week*** events attached

Feb 13: PK3 and PK4 Valentine’s Party at 9:30 am

Feb 14: K-6 Valentine’s Party at 1:15 pm

Feb 15: Mid-term , Progress Reports home

Feb 20: President’s Day – Tech Day