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August 1, 2010
Dear Families,
Welcome to the 2010-2011 school year at St. Monica. Just as you were getting used to having summer vacation, it is now time to get back in the swing of things for school. As you know from our last newsletter, school begins for students in Grades K-8 on Thursday, August 19. The day begins as usual at 8:00 a.m. and is dismissed at 3:00. This will give the students a two-day initiation, and then they will have the weekend to recuperate! The schedule for Kindergarten will be a little different as you will see below. Comet Club will be in session for those who need it beginning on Thursday, August 19.
To those who are returning, it will be good to see you all again. To all who will be entering St. Monica School for the first time, I welcome you. I hope you will soon be feeling at home among our school families. I know that sometimes incoming families feel it takes time to be comfortable in new surroundings. If you are ever in a group of school families, please be sure to introduce yourself as being new to our school. We will ask all of you to introduce yourselves at our Back-to-School Night.
To help you new families ease into the year, I will be holding an Evening of Information on Monday, August 16, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., in the Science Room on the lower level. This information will be what some of us oldtimers have come to take for granted.
Our theme for this new school year is: "God Calls Us to Be Faithful Citizens". This is a reflection of this year's Catholic Schools Week Theme: "Catholic Schools, A+ for America". We will also combine the theme of the 2008 U.S. Bishop's Letter on Faithful Citizenship. While the CSW theme seems to be a well-deserved compliment for Catholic Schools, the Bishops' letter gives us some strong encouragement on how we can become better citizens for our earthly and heavenly life. This will give us an opportunity to focus on some of the Church's Social Teachings, such as respecting all life, keeping families strong, maintaining the dignity of all people, and being concerned for our environment. Watch for more information throughout the year.
Mrs. Cramer has a message for those families with Kindergarten students. Kindergarten begins the same day and time as the rest of school: 8:00am, Thursday August 19. Uniforms are required that day as with the rest of the school. (Although K students may wear tennis shoes with the uniform each day.) Parents should plan on coming in with their student and spending the morning in the Kindergarten room with their child. Please bring in school supplies on the first day. Please make every effort to arrange for childcare for younger siblings. Students and parents will leave together about 10:30. Friday, August 20 is a full day of school for Kindergarten, and students should be let off at the door. A parent helper or an aide will be at the door to assist students in getting to the Kindergarten peacefully. Thanks very much!
Our PreK Class will hold a "Come and See" for students and parents on Wednesday, September 1 and Thursday, September 2, any time from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Mrs. White will be getting some information to registered families through the mail. Our PreK class will begin on Tuesday, September 7.
Our Back-to-School Parents' Night will take place on Thursday, September 9, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the gym. You will be getting more info on this evening with the first Communications Envelope.
Our regular hot lunch program will begin Monday, August 30. Due to increasing costs, the price of the lunch will go up a dime to $2.35 this year. The cost of an extra entree will remain at 75¢. For those who bring a lunch, drinks (white and chocolate milk or fruit drink) will be available for 30¢.
We are not sure about the Gr. 8 fundraising lunches that we have had the last couple of years. You will be receiving more information on the first day of school.
We sent home a Supply List at the end of last year. If you have misplaced yours as school draws near, you may pick up one at the office. You may also find it on our school website: www.stmonicamish.org.
Since shorts are a part of our Uniform Code for this time of the year, we will have uniforms worn with the first day of school. I hope everyone is clear on our Uniform Code. Please help us enforce this Uniform Code. It makes it so much easier for parents to monitor what their children are wearing than for teachers to monitor a whole class of children. Once again I remind you that students are to be wearing dress or school shoes. These shoes should be leather or leather-like and a solid color, black, brown, or navy. Even though some local stores sell solid navy jumpers or skorts as uniforms, our policy states that the jumpers, skirts, and skorts are to be in the Schoolbelles plaid. Also, our school uniform code does not allow some of the "trendy" clothing that so many children are wearing, e.g., cargo pants or shorts or the long shorts that are gathered at the knee or clothes with any logo. Also, girls' slacks are not to be the stretch knit -- they should be twill or corduroy as described in the Schoolbelles catalog. Anything that you buy locally MUST look like the items in the Schoolbelles catalog. The full Uniform Code is listed in the Parent-Student Handbook you will receive the first day of school and on our school website. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please call.
We will have our tubs of used uniforms out in the hallway during the next week. If you want to come in and check them out, you are welcome. We will have self-serve shopping!
Please be mindful about getting the proper immunizations for your children. The State of Indiana has mandated that all students in Grades 6 through 12 receive additional immunizations against Meningitis, Varicella, and Pertussis. You received this information in the spring, and hopefully everyone has taken care of this. Thanks.
I'm sure most of you have been hearing about the Mishawaka Schools Study. You can read all the minutes of the meetings on the diocesan website, www.diocesefwsb.org. Go the Catholic Schools Office page and then on the right, find Mishawaka update. We are also trying to get these on our own website. Everyone is invited to a Community Meeting on Monday, August 30, at 7:00 p.m., at the Bishop Crowley Center at Marian High School. I hope we will have many St. Monica families present.
May you and your children enjoy these last days of summer vacation. Hopefully, the children will come to school refreshed, re-energized, and ready to begin a great year! The teachers are beginning to arrive at school with armloads of things for their classrooms! If you have any questions, especially those of you who are new, please feel free to call school
Looking forward to working with you,
Sister Pat
Letter in PDF Format
School Supply List |
