Mid-Week Announcement for September 26, 2023
Greetings
I hope everyone has had a wonderful week so far. The weather has been excellent.
I want to start briefly by discussing students’ tardies. While our daily tardies are minimal this year, it is still very important for all students to arrive at school on time every day. I know that sometimes there are reasons a student can’t arrive at school on time, but even missing 10/15 minutes of school can cause a student to miss a valuable introductory lesson on new content. Again, tardies this year are down, and I appreciate everyone’s effort to help us.
We have begun our Accelerated Reader program (AR) with a bang, as many students are already working hard to reach their reading goals. In fact, a few of our students have already reached their goals. Please encourage your child to participate in the program as it strengthens a student’s reading skills. If the school can reach its overall goal, the students will receive an ice cream sundae party.
Teachers are working very hard on our new online report card. We will release the new report at the end of the first trimester (November 17). After that date, all parents will be able to access their child’s grades at any point during the 2nd trimester to get an instant update on how their child is doing in each subject. We will send a hard copy to parents with the first-trimester report card.
Our Afterschool Enrichment Program is available to 3rd through 8th-grade students. This daily program is held each afternoon from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. It allows students to get extra help with a subject they may be struggling with, work on extra enrichment subjects, or get caught on missing assignments or homework. The best part of this program for parents is it is a free program.
Students will have no school on Friday, October 6, as it is a special Faith Formation Day for our faculty and staff. Students will also have the following Monday off, October 9, for Columbus Day.
I have attached here two memos. One is information about our new Pep Squad program, and one contains information on our upcoming basketball season.
I have permitted two of our 7th-grade boys to begin the SMSM Fantasy Football League. The League is free and is open to 6th through 8th grade students. I will be announcing the league to the students at the morning meeting to them and if any of them would be interested in participating. No instruction time will be lost at school, and with any league, discussions will go on at recess only. Students can join on their computers at home and not at school.
I hope the rest of the week goes well for your family, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
God bless,
Mike Alford
Greetings,
Good afternoon everyone,
Next Tuesday, we will have our first fire drill. While always telling the students that it is only a drill and not a real emergency, some students get frightened. Please spend a few minutes at home and reassure them they are safe while we run the practice.
I have attached two forms for your review and completion. One is for Household Income for Vermont, and the other is from Father Pat’s requesting the names of those children who will receive sacraments this year. Please return this to school via your child as soon as possible.
Also attached is for parents of our cross-country team members. If this form still needs to be turned in to Coach Meyer, please do so as soon as possible to avoid team members being unable to participate in the first meeting this Friday.
We sent home New School Year Packets on the first day of school. The vast majority of the forms have been returned. However, we are still missing these forms from some families If you have not been able to return the completed forms, please try to do so as soon as possible. Delays in receiving documents for a specific child keep us from giving the student’s passcode to their Chromebooks without a parent’s
Open House is next Wednesday, September 20, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This will allow you to visit your child’s classroom and meet their teacher. It also allows setting up a future parent-teacher conference.
Our first monthly Parents and Grandparents “Lunch with the Students” Day is next Tuesday, September 19. This was very successful last year with excellent attendance. This monthly event gives parents, grandparents, and special friends valuable time with their students.
Listed below is the lunch schedule for each grade
Grades 6, 7 & 8 – 11:10 am to 11:35 am
Grades 3, 4, & 5 – 11:35 am to Noon
Grade K, 1, & 2 – Noon to 12:25 PM.
Pre-K classes will have their lunch/snack inside the classroom. The Pre-K teachers will let you know the time to arrive.
Lastly, we have been informed by our local hospital in Berlin that there is a current significant blood shortage in the Barre area. Please consider donating at one of the local blood donation centers if you can.
In closing, I wish everyone a great rest of the week.
Thank you, and God bless,
Mike Alford
Greetings,
Our school year has started well, with many daily positive activities and new learning. The students have had excellent behavior!
Picture Day will be arriving earlier this year! Lifetouch will be here next Monday morning, 9/11/23. We will be handing out picture forms this week. Please feel free to use their online portal at https://lifetouch.com/. Ordering online gives you more options. You can access your student’s photos online once Lifetouch has uploaded them to their website (it may take 2-3 weeks). If you have any questions, please contact our administrative assistant, Haley McNally.
Our Open House is fast approaching, scheduled for Wednesday evening, September 20th, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. You can visit your child’s classroom and meet the teacher. While Open House is not a time for teacher conferences, it is an opportunity to schedule a future one with your child’s teacher.
Also, at Open House, you can visit our Performing Arts Director, Mrs. Sandra Pozobut, in the performance room on the 2nd floor. She is presenting a demonstration of band instrument practice techniques and guidelines demo for parents/guardians.” hosted by the members of the SMSM Wind Ensemble.
We have received an exceptional donation of a very special American Flag. Last year, they flew the flag at the 911 Memorial in New York City. Father Robert prayed to commemorate the flag during the Morning Meeting this morning. Our Eighth Grade Flag Corps received it and raised the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance. This flag will be our official school flag for the school year.
A reminder that tardy students must report to the office first and receive a late pass before entering their classroom.
Our teachers have been working hard in implementing our online report card. We plan to release the program to our parents and guardians when we issue first-trimester report cards.
We have started our Positive Behavior Support (PBS) – The Bee Philosophy. The Bee Philosophy works on Random Acts of Kindness. Students observed doing a good deed, being polite and respectful, and reaching out to another student to be a friend are rewarded with a Bee sticker. The Bee Sticker is returned and placed on the Classroom Bee Hive. The Bee Hive has 30 spots for stickers, and once the Bee Hive is completed with stickers, the class will receive a Bee sticker. Last year, we had over 100 Bee Hives filled.
We are seeking parent volunteers to help serve popcorn on Fridays. Please use this link to sign up if you can help us with the Popcorn Program.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0848A4AC2BA4FF2-friday1#/ .
Have a blessed remainder of the week.
Mike Alford
Greetings,
We are announcing some changes to our faculty in this upcoming year.
Kay Cronin will be teaching in Kindergarten.
Please welcome our new school teachers.
Sara Hinkley is our new Pre-K Saints teacher. Sara is certified in Early Childhood Education. She received a Bachelor of Science from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and she also has 18 hours of postgraduate courses in Early childhood. Sara has seven years of teaching experience in an early childhood environment.
Johnnie Alford is our new 2nd-grade teacher. Johnnie replaces Tiffany Seitz. Johnnie received her Bachelor of Science in Education from Southeastern Louisiana University and a Master’s in Elementary Education with a Kindergarten certification from Southeastern Louisiana University. Johnnie has over 30 years of teaching lower elementary classes.
Angela Perkins will be our new aide working with Sara Hinkley. Angela is a lovely addition to our early childhood staff.
Thank you, and please let me know if you have any questions.
God bless,
Principal Mike Alford
Greetings everyone,
I hope your family has enjoyed the summer. I look forward to the upcoming school year and can’t wait to see our students return. The first day of the new school year is Monday, August 28th.
This will be the first of the weekly informational letters I will send out for the next 4 weeks. Today I am sending out the Classroom supply list/, the school calendar, a list of the school events, a Summer Reading reminder, and our Pre-K and Kindergarten Popsicle Party date.
The annual uniform swap will be held Tuesday, August 22nd, and Wednesday, August 23rd, from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm under the school’s carport.
Also, consider joining our PTO. There is no fee to join, you will be helping our school in many ways, plus it is a great way to obtain your required volunteer hours.
Our office is open every day, Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.
You can find all of the forms on our school website- smsmschool.com
Thank you, and have a wonderful weekend.
God bless,
Mike Alford
Good morning,
I hope everyone is having a great week despite the hot weather. It looks like it will be a very pleasant weekend.
Today, I want to speak about our Cultural Arts Program at our school. I sincerely believe we have one of the best Cultural Arts Programs in our state. Our Visual Art Program is second to none to any school as is our Performing Arts Program. They are just simply outstanding. There are two reasons why they are so good and it is the teachers, Mrs. Diadel Ortiz and Mrs. Sandra Poczubut.
If you were able to visit our Art Show last week, then you got to see the art of many creative projects from every student in Pre-K through 8th grade. The students all had works on display with the upper grades showing their individually made sculptures. All during the school year, Mrs. Ortiz was constantly putting up fresh student art everywhere in our halls. The quality of the students was awesome but also creative.
If you were able to attend the performing arts last week, then you can easily see why I think our program is the best. Our middle school band is a large group but exceptional musicians. Many students in that group have become quite good at their instruments. I need to give our 4th-grade band kudos for their performance and their progress during the year. This year we also started a Jazz Band and if you saw their performance last week, it was quite impressive. Lastly, our school chorus is so pleasant and refreshing to hear. They are simply good.
Next week. June 9, our Drama Club will be presenting its Spring play, “Captain Bree and Her Lady Pirates” I am very proud of our in-house acting troupe. If you were able to see their play last Fall, then you know these actors and actresses take their club very seriously. Please make plans to take in one or two performances next week. The first show, our matinee, starts at 1:00 pm and the evening show starts at 6:30 pm. Both will be in the café. There is no charge but please consider a small donation to this very dedicated club.
Overall, if you attended the end of the Cultural Arts Day last week you were privileged to hear the musical and visual arts talents of every student of our school. We are blessed to have two passionate and devoted teachers running our Cultural Arts Program. Whenever you have the opportunity please let them know your appreciation.
God bless,
Mike Alford
May 16, 2023
Greeting everyone,
This week is our first school fair in many years and we are looking forward to everyone having a great time. With that in mind here are a few notes about the fair:
We dismissing early this Friday before the fair starts. Our Pre-K and siblings will be dismissed at 2:30 pm in the circle in front of the main entrance with K- 8th will following at 2:45 pm.
I am giving the whole school a free dress day on Friday. The students were exceptional in the safety drill we practiced today.
The gates to the fair will open as soon as our last student has been picked up from dismissal which should be 3:00 pm.
We are asking parents to accompany their children to the fair.
Ticket prices for the bracelet are $10.00 per adult and $5.00 per child. This entitles everyone to play various games, play on the inflatables, and do face painting. The Dunking Booth, Pie-in-the-Face, jail, and food all require tickets. Ticket prices are 10 tickets for $15.00
Below is the schedule for our various SMSM staff for both the Dunking Booth and Pie-In-the-Face
Dunking Booth Pie in the Face
4:00 pm – Mr. Meyer 4:00 pm – Mr. Sines
4:20 pm – Ms. Haley 4:50 pm – Mr. Alford
4:40 pm – Father Robert 5:10 pm – Mr. Meyer
5:00 pm – Father Pat 5:30 pm – Father Robert
5:20 pm – Mr. Haigh 6:00 pm – Father Pat
5:40 pm – Mr. D 6:30 pm – Mr. D
(time in the dunking booth is 20 minutes)
(Each pie in the face happens right at the time listed)
All proceeds from the fair go directly to the school’s expenses.
I hope to see many of you at the fair and thank you for your support
God bless,
Mike Alford
Mid-Week Announcements for Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Greetings everyone,
First, I hope you and your family had a great Spring Break. It was very nice to see our students and teachers when they returned on Monday.
A few things:
This week we have been administering to our students (first grade through 8th grade) the Terra Nova Standardized Test. This test is very important as it gives the school and the parents valuable information about each student on how they are progressing. The assessment also is very prescriptive as it gives a report on specific areas within a core subject where the student is either excelling or needs additional help. The results of the tests will be sent out to you in the Summer.
Please mark your calendar for our May Family Fun Fair scheduled for Friday, May 19 from 3:00 pm to 8:00. It will a fun time fill with games, music, and food.
Also, our annual Saints Shuffle is coming up on Wednesday, May 31st. This again is a fun event for everyone. Please check our Facebook page for details.
First Farewell Middle School Dance. We are announcing our Frist Farewell Dance. The Dance is sponsored by the eighth grade. All middle school students (6th through 8th) are invited to the event. The cost to attend is $5.00 per student. Proceeds from ticket sales will be used to defer the cost of the dance (music, snacks, decorations). More details will be posted in the newsletter this week concerning dress code and dance rules. We would like this to become an annual event to celebrate the end of school and to honor our 8th-grade students.
Our Box Tops for Education participation has been a huge success for our school. We sincerely thank you for your help. We are able to get many needed school materials and supplies from the proceeds of this program. We also just received a $1,000 prize from a special contest held by Box Top for Education. We are asking for your continued support for this awesome program. See the attached flyer for more details.
A special thanks to Thomas Landscaping for the work they did in front of the school and the fresh flowers they planted in our planters.
Lastly, but most importantly, we are celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week this week. We have exceptional teachers at our school and I am proud of each one of them for their dedication and loyalty and their focus to ensure each child attending our school knows that they are important and cared for. With this in mind, when you have a minute I would request that you send your child’s teacher an email of thanks for what they do.
Thank you for your support of our school.
May God bless your family.
Mike Alford
Greetings,
I hope everyone is doing well.
Just a few reminders
Report cards will be going home tomorrow, (Wednesday)
The 3rd grade Wax Museum presentation is tomorrow. It has two showings the first being from 10:00 am to 11:00 am and the second in the afternoon, 12:30 to 2:00 pm. This is a really good program put on by Mr. Haigh, Ms. Vanetti, and the 3rd-grade class. I hope many of you may be able to attend.
The Mother/Son Brunch is this Friday, April 21st. There will be sessions to attend: 8:15 am and 9:15. If you would like to come and still have not registered, then please complete the attached form and return it to school either with your child or by email as soon as possible.
On Friday, May 19, we will be holding our SMSM May Fair. This is going to be a really fun and affordable event for all families. We will have Bounce Houses & Inflatables, games, face painting, food, and music. We also will have three nice attractions. One will be a dunking booth where students will get a chance to dunk their favorite teacher, principal, staff member, and priest (Father Pat and Father Robert). We will also have a Pie-in-Face event where parents, students, and guests will bid to throw a real pie in the face of a favorite teacher or staff member, principal, or priest. Lastly, we will have a Fair Jail. Here students, parents, and staff can go to the sheriff of the jail and ask him to arrest someone and place them in the Fair Jail. It will cost tickets to have someone arrested and it will take the same amount of tickets to bail them out of jail. Please note this event is a special fundraiser to help offset various expenses such as heating oil and electricity.
On Wednesday, May 31st we will have our annual Saints Shuffle Fun Run. This is always an awesome community event and brings lots of people in our community together. We hope our parents and students can join us in this event.
We are announcing today the first Farewell Dance for our middle school students. The event will be held on Friday, May 26, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm in the school gym. The dance will be a Lock In so once students enter the dance area (gym and lobby) they will not be able to leave until their parents come and pick them up. There will be a small ticket charge to help defray the cost of the music, decorations, and refreshments. In the next few weeks, we will be sending out specific details about the dance including dress code and appropriate behavior.
Spring Break is next week April 24th through April 28th. Also, the last day of school is June 16th and 8th Grade Graduation is Wednesday afternoon, June 14th.
Have a great break and I look forward to seeing all of our moms at the Mother/son Brunch on Friday
God Bless,
Mike Alford
Principal
Greetings
I hope all of our families had a nice 4-day vacation and a blessed Easter.
Just a few notes this week.
Since the temperatures are now beginning to warm up significantly it is ok for our students to wear shorts to school.
Friday, April 21, we will have our Mother/son Brunch. The Brunch tentatively will be divided into 2 different times – Pre-K to 3rd grade will begin at 8:15 am with a second event starting at 9:15 am for grades 4th through 8th grade. These times are tentative at this point and will depend on the number of guests in each grade that will be attending. With this in mind, we will be sending home registration for the event. If you are planning to attend, then please return to us by Wednesday, April 19. If the times have to be adjusted due to numbers, then we will let everyone know as soon as possible. The event includes a morning brunch, music, photos by Life Touch, and a special program for each brunch. Please note that there is no cost to attend.
We have begun to promote our upcoming School Fair. The SMSM May Fair will be held on Friday afternoon, May 19, from 3:00 pm to 8;00 pm. Our fair committee has been very busy planning a fair that will be fun for the entire family. You will be hearing from our PTO in the coming weeks looking for volunteers to help manage the various events and games. Also, in the next few weeks, we will begin to send out details about the fair including the various attractions, games, food, and ticket prices.
This week is the end of the third quarter with report cards going home next week.
The last day of school this year will be Friday, June 16. The 8th-grade graduation is planned for Wednesday, June 14.
Lastly, we look forward to seeing our students tomorrow and to a great week at SMSM.
Thank you and god bless,
Mike Alford
Good morning,
A few things today:
Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 5, will be our first Father Pat Easter Hunt. During Mass tomorrow morning, Father Pat will be explaining the spiritual meaning of the Egg during the Easter season. After Mass, we will start our Easter Egg Hunts. The students do not have to bring an Easter Basket as we will provide each student with a small white paper bag with handles to put their eggs in. Also, the egg hunt will be moved to the gym if our outside hunt is rained out. The students will be hunting colored plastic eggs with prizes inside. Please note that the eggs are peanut free.
A special thanks to Mrs. Lori Brazelton and Mr. Jon Sine and, most importantly, our 8th grader who organized this event.
Easter Egg Hunt Schedule:
- 9:00 am – Pre-K and Kindergarten
- 9:30 am – 1st, 2nd, & 3rd grade
- 10:00 am – 4th and 5th grade
All students from 6th grade through 8th grade will receive a bag of Easter treats.
On Thursday afternoon at 1:00 pm our middle school students will be performing “A Journey with Jesus,” This is a children’s version of the Stations of the Cross. The program will be presented to Kindergarten up to 8th-grade students. The event will be held in our gym and all parents, grandparents, and special friends are invited to this very beautiful and solemn play.
There will no school this Friday (Good Friday) and Monday.
Lastly, if you have not registered and you intend your child(ren) to attend SMSM next year, then please consider registering soon. Our registrations at this point are way ahead of last year. We are trending to have a record number of students attending next year with many new students registering.
Thank you and have a wonderful Easter Holiday.
God bless you,
Mike Alford
Greeting everyone,
I hope everyone is having a great week and looking
forward to a beautiful weekend.
Last Tuesday in my mid-week email I included our
current safety plan and protocols for any type of
a dangerous situation that we may have. I think it is very
important that our parents and guardian know what our
the school will do to protect our students. With that in
mind, I am going to include my message again in this
weekly newsletter.
The number one priority of our school is the safety of
our students and staff. With the recent school incidents
across our country, it becomes even more important
that we practice our safety protocols. On Tuesday we
practiced our “Intruder” drill which is also called
“Lockdown”. Lockdown means all doors in the school
are shut and locked if there is a danger of an intruder. In
our school, this happens automatically with a punch of
a button. When teachers hear the Lockdown
announcement and their doors automatically shut, they
then move their students to the far corner of the
classroom, furthest from the door. The teacher then
instructs students to be still and quiet until they hear
the all-clear announcement. Teachers text the office
that all students are accounted for or if anyone is
missing. The school would also contact the police via 911
We have two different people responsible for
notifying authorities. One is our administrative
assistant in our office and the other is our 8th-grade
teacher on our second floor.
Last Tuesday we ran the intruder drill for the fifth time
this year and our school staff and students executed the
drill very well and followed the plan 100%. On an
additional note, we are also in the process of getting
bids to upgrade and increase our camera system and to
convert our school entrance doors to wireless
electronic doors. These two additions will add to the
the overall safety of our school.
We also practice once a month the evacuation of the
entire school for any type of dangerous situation or
the emergency which would require a quick evacuation.
We can safely evacuate our school within two minutes.
I hope this information helps to reassure you that our
students and staff’s safety is our number one priority,
and we take this very seriously.
God bless,
Mike Alford
Principal
Greetings.
I hope everyone has had a great start to this week.
A few things:
Tomorrow, Thursday, March 23, is the monthly 8th-grade bake sale. Please support our 8th graders as they are working to earn money for their end-of-year trip.
Our Book Fair last week was a tremendous success as we set a school record for sales of over $6,000. The school receives approximately half of this to use to buy new books for the school library. Thank you everyone for your support.
Grandparents Day turnout was awesome. A very special thanks to all of our grandparents and special friends who attended last Friday. It is so nice to see the special bond between our students and their grandparents.
Our School Program needs additional staff. We have two job openings but also could use volunteer parents to help once or twice a week. If you have not yet completed your volunteer hours for the school year, then this is a great way to complete the requirement. Please consider helping us out with this very important service.
On Wednesday, April 5, we will have our first Father Pat Easter Egg Hunt. The hunt is sponsored by our 8th-grade class and will have four different hunts. One for Pre-K and kindergarten, one for 1st and 2nd grade, one for 3rd, 4th, & 5th, and lastly, one for our middle grades. More details will follow next week.
On Thursday, April 6 (Holy Thursday) our middle school students will be performing a live Stations of the Cross entitled “A Journey with Jesus”. The event will start at 1:00 pm and be held in our gym. Our parents and grandparents are invited to this very beautiful play.
Lastly, if you have not yet completed your volunteer hours, there are still plenty of projects and activities we can use your help. The most important need is helping with our upcoming school fair in May. It will take a lot of volunteers to help the fair be successful. Please contact our office to see how you can help and get involved with our school.
Thank you all for your support of our school.
God bless you and your families,
Mike Alford
Greetings,
This a reminder of our Mardi Gras Parade, “The Krewe of Saints” tomorrow, Tuesday, March 21st, starting at 1:30 pm. The parade starts in the 2nd-grade classroom and travels down the first-floor hallway into the gym. The parade will then move around the perimeter of the gym before heading back to the 2nd-grade classroom. The parade will feature our grand marshal, Father Pat, our king, and queen, and then our parade revelers (1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders). The revelers will be throwing the crowd lots of beads and trinkets. Mardi Gras music will be playing over our intercom, and many of our students will be dressed in Mardi colors and costumes. Students will be able to wear a costume or dress down for the school day. Please be sure that costumes are appropriate for this event. Mardi Gras colors are green, gold, and purple.
Parents, grandparents, and friends are invited to attend the parade. After the parade, parents who attend the parade may check out their children and take them home. We are looking forward to seeing many of you as we celebrate Mardi Gras at SMSM.
New Disciplinary Program. We have instituted afterschool detention for those students who are disrespectful to students or teachers. Teachers will now have the option to send students (3rd grade to 8th grade) who are disrespectful to afternoon detention which will run from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm each school day. If your child has been assigned detention, the teacher will notify you directly. You and the teacher will decide the day that is best for you and your child. I really do not believe we will be using this very much, but it will help stop any disrespect.
Also, remember Winter Break starts next Monday, February 27 with students and staff returning on Wednesday, March 8.
Have a great week, and we hope to see many of you tomorrow at our parade.
Mike Alford
Principal
Mid-Week Announcement
First of all, today is the 100th day of school. This a specific milestone, especially for our lower grades, as they make this day of celebration. 100th day of school also means we have completed more than half of the school year. This year seems to be flying by.
Father/Daughter Dance is this Friday, February 8. Dads, tickets are still available at our office or online if you consider attending with your daughter.
Early registration continues through this Friday, February 10, with open registration for all new and existing students starting Monday morning, February 13.
Our monthly parent/grandparent lunch is next Tuesday, February 14, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.
Parents, grandparents, and special friends are invited to come to school and have lunch with their child or grandchild. Please remember to bring your lunch.
The lunch schedule is as follows:
6th grade to 8th grade – 11:12 am to 11:37 am
3rd grade to 5th grade – 11:37 am to 12:02 pm
Kindergarten to 2nd grade – 12:02 pm to 12:27 pm
When you arrive at school, you can wait in the lobby and meet your child when they enter the cafeteria for lunch.
Attached is a copy of our revised school policy concerning students’ use of cell phones. Recently, we have had an increase in students using their cell phones during the school day. While we allow students to bring phones to school for emergencies, we expect students to keep them in their school bags and turn them off while on campus. Students are only allowed to use them on campus when their teacher is doing a lesson in which their phones can be utilized and have permitted access. Please take a minute to review the attached policy and discuss it with your child.
The Saints Shuffle Fun Run/Walk is coming. Please mark your calendar for our annual event scheduled for Wednesday, May 31. We are currently seeking sponsors for this event. Please see the attached sponsorship application if you are interested or know someone who may be interested.
I appreciate your support of St. Monica-St. Michael Catholic School.
May God bless your family,
Mike Alford
Principal
Greetings,
First, I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and a great beginning to the New Year.
A few things to review:
Next Monday, January 16, there will be no school as we celebrate Martin Luther King Day.
Next Wednesday, January 18, starts our Annual Winter activities. We Are looking forward to this event as our students have so much fun during these special times.
January 30 through February 3 is Catholic Schools Week. We have several activities planned for our students each day of this week as we celebrate our Catholic School. Starting on Monday of Catholic School Week we will have a special wall of letters focusing on why our students, parents, and staff choose or like their Catholic school. With this in mind, I would like for you to consider writing a letter about why you and your family have chosen to send your child to St. Monica-St. Michael School. If you can write a letter, it would surely be appreciated by me. If you do decide to write a letter, then please send it to me via email, with your child, or you can drop it off.
Bishop’s Mass – On Wednesday, February 1, we will be taking our 6th through 8th-grade students to St. Joseph Cathedral in Burlington for the annual Bishop’s Mass. This special trip is part of Catholic Schools Week. I know we have sent a memo and permission slip home already, but I wanted to be sure you were aware of it. We will be leaving at 9:30 am in the morning and we will arrive back by 2:30 pm We will stop for lunch on the way back at Zachary’s. Students are to wear their school uniforms.
Our first Father/Daughter Dance is fast approaching. We will have it on Friday evening, February 10th from 6:30 pm and 8:00 pm with the dance being held either in the cafeteria or gym depending on the number of people attending. Snacks and refreshments will be included along with great music. Please note the dance is open to all SMSM girls- even the youngest students. There will be a small fee to help defer the cost of the refreshments and decorations ($5.00 a person). We will also have a photographer taking Father/Daughter Photographs, but please note there will be an affordable cost for these pictures as the photographer is our regular school photographer – Life touch. Lastly, there will be a presentation from several of our students on what makes their dads so special.
We are happy to announce that we have hired a permanent substitute as our PE teacher to replace our previous teacher. His name is Chris Meyer, a parent of two SMSM students, and will fill this position quite well.
Early registration for next year will open to existing students beginning Wednesday, February 1st, and run through February 15. Those students who are registered during this time frame will receive a discounted rate of $190.00 registration fee (saving $60.00 per child). Registration for new students will begin Thursday, February 16. We will be sending more details about registration early next week.
Lastly, the postponed Holiday concert will take place on Thursday, January 19 at 6:00 pm. We are looking forward to a fantastic performance by our students!
Thank you and have a blessed rest of the week.
Mike Alford
Principal
St. Monica-St. Michael Catholic School
Christmas Message
12/12/22
Good evening,
Truffles have shipped and should arrive mid-week so we should be distributed the candy to students to take home by Friday
First, our Christmas Gala and Raffle was a huge success. I want to take a minute to thank several parent and staff volunteers who helped make it a success. This includes Jason and Laurie Brazelton, Natalie Pingle, Mike O’Hara, Lori Larose, Sandy Riddle, and Jeff Cheung. A special thanks also to several staff members who helped with the success of the event: Kae Zaino, Patty Rizzo, Sandra Poczobut, and Johnnie Alford. The winners of the raffle will be posted on both our Facebook and Website.
Monday, December 19th is the Annual Christmas Craft Fair for the children of St. Monica-St. Michael School to do some shopping for their loved ones. All items will be $1.00 each. There will be a limit of 5 items per student (except for those students who have larger families) to assure enough for everyone. Please have students bring the following:
- a list of names of the loved ones they will be shopping for at the craft fair
- a reusable shopping bag to bring their gifts home in
All proceeds will be donated equally to the St. Monica Food Shelf and St. Augustine Soup Kitchen. Any student who is not in school on Monday will have the opportunity to shop on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Parent Alert – This Thursday we will be doing a test of our family alert system. You should a voice alert on Thursday from the school. If you do not receive this alert, then please contact the school.
I will be leaving for a trip home to Louisiana on Wednesday, December 14, for three weeks. While I am gone Mr. Jon Sines, our 8th-grade teacher will be the acting principal.
Last, I want to close today by wishing your family a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
God bless,
Mike Alford
Greetings
I hope your week is going well.
This week we celebrated a special St. Nicholas Day. On Tuesday morning each student was asked to place one shoe outside their classroom. Afterward, the St. Nicholas’ team of Father Pat, Kae Zaino, Sandra Pozabut, and I passed by each classroom and place small treats in each student’s shoe. After every shoe was filled a special jingle bell was sounded and students could retrieve their shoe and their treat. The students loved it, especially our younger ones. St Nicholas’ helpers had lots of fun also.
Our Grand Raffle is still going on. Parents can still purchase raffle tickets each morning before school and after school in the school lobby. Raffle tickets are $10.00 for 10 chances or $25.00 for 25 chances. The winning ticket will be pulled this weekend at the Christmas Gala. We also have a 50 – 50 raffle at $5.00 a chance. Also, we still have a few Gala tickets available if parents are interested in attending. Gala tickets can be purchased at the school office. All proceeds from the raffle to help with Tuition Assistance and to replace a back door in our cafeteria.
Our Christmas Craft Fair for Students is fast approaching and scheduled for December 19th
Lastly, Below is a link concerning our upcoming Winter Activities. This link is to a survey that will help us appropriate the various activities scheduled for the winter activities.
Mike
Thank you and God bless,
Greetings,
It was nice to see all our students returning to school this week. Again, I hope your family had a very nice Thanksgiving.
Our Christmas Gala is fast approaching with only 10 days left to this nice event. This promises to be a very nice event for our parents, grandparents, and special guests so I hope you can join us. I have attached the flyer to review all the details of the review. You can purchase tickets online line https://www.givesignup.org/TicketEvent/SMSMChristmasGala or at our office. Also, we will be providing a gluten-free option for the dinner. Please us know in advance if you need this option for your meal.
We will also be offering at the Gala a Kid’s Night Out at $10.00 per child up to a maximum of $25 for parents with three or more children. We will also be ordering pizza for any child who would like a snack with the cost of this at $5.00 per child. All proceeds from the Gala including the raffle will go to our tuition assistance program.
St Nicholas Day – Next Tuesday each child will receive a small bag of treats to celebrate St. Nicholas. Children will place one of their shoes outside their classroom. Their shoe will then be filled with a bag of treats as a gift from St. Nicholas.
Volunteer Opportunity– AM Parking Lot Monitor! We have an opening Monday and Thursday morning from 7:40 am- 8:00 am for a volunteer to monitor drop-offs in the carport lot. You may opt for one shift or both! Volunteers will need to complete the background check process. Please contact Kae at kzaino@stmonica-stmichael.org.
Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, December 15, at 6:00 pm for our annual Christmas Concert presented by our Performing Arts Department. This is always a very nice concert and an opportunity to really get into the Christmas Spirit.
I hope you have a nice rest of the week and may continue to bless your family
Mike Alford
Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving,
This Thanksgiving, I find myself being very thankful to our good Lord for bringing me to St. Monica- St. Michael School. In the short five and half months, I have been here, I have been blessed by the many people who have crossed my path and whom I have met. SMSM has really good, well-behaved students, highly effective teachers, involved and positive parents, a very supportive advisory board, and of course, Father Pat, our leader, and Father Robert, a spiritual role model for all of us.
I love this school and I am highly motivated to guide the school from a very good school to an even greater school. My personal goal, while I am at SMSM, is to create lifelong learners, and to instill in our students the inspiration and drive to always be eager to learn throughout their lives.
Our Truffle Sale has ended and was highly successful. Your support helped to sell over $12,000 in Truffle candy sales. The exciting news is we will receive half of the sales as profit so we will make around $6,000. This is so awesome and again thank you so much for making this fundraiser a success. We ordered the Truffles today and we are expecting them to be in by the end of the first week of December. I wish to thank two of our staff, Kae Zaino and Haley McNally for ensuring the fundraiser was very organized and successful.
The Red Bucket Food Drive was also a huge success as we collected over twenty-five hundred lbs. of food. We have already taken the majority of the donations we have received to St. Monica Church’s Food shelf.
Lastly, we have started selling tickets to our upcoming Christmas Gala on December 10th. We created this fundraiser specifically for the SMSM parents and grandparents of our students. It will be a fun time for all starting with a delicious meal, music, dancing, games, raffles, and so much more. We will also offer a Kid’s Night Out for parents to bring their children during the gala. We can accept 3-year-olds to 12-year-olds at a very affordable price of $10.00 per child. There will be an option with an additional $5.00 for
your child to have pizza and a drink. All proceeds from our Christmas Gala fundraiser go to our tuition assistance program.
You can purchase tickets directly online at the following link: givesignup.org/TicketEvent/SMSMChristmasGala or you can purchase them at our school office. Tickets are $45.00 for a couple or 25.00 for a single ticket.
Lastly, and most importantly, I want to take this opportunity to wish your family a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Blessing,
Mike Alford
Greetings Parents,
I hope your week is going well for your family and there is no sickness in your household.
Here are some mid-week announcements and reminders:
Our Truffle Candy Fund Raiser has started off well, already seeing lots of truffle sales. The fundraiser will continue through Monday, November 14. On Monday 14th, please begin to send your candy order form and funds to us that day. I again thank you for your support of this fundraiser.
Next week, Monday, November 14, we will begin our one-week food drive to support St. Monica’s Food Shelf. We call it “A Red Bucket of Food” drive. This Friday, we will be sending home to each family a small red bucket. We are asking our families to donate non-perishable food items or items. Send only what your household can afford, as this is not a contest on who brings the most but rather the student’s way to show compassion and support for the needy. You can start sending the buckets back Tuesday, November 15. The drive will end on Friday, November 18th.
Report Cards for the first quarter will be coming home this Thursday, November 10. First-grade through 8th students will have included in their report card envelop a copy of the most recent results from the Renaissance 360 assessment. This assessment will give you a snapshot of where your child is performing in both ELA and Math. It will show you your child’s grade level in both ELA and Math. Please get in touch with your child’s homeroom teacher if you would like to have a conference to discuss your child’s grades. You can contact teachers via email from the faculty page of our webpage.
Christmas Gala. Our school will be presenting the first annual St. Monica-St., Michael Christmas Gala on Saturday, December 10th, from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm. The Gala is an adult event for our parents and their extended family members, such as grandparents. The Gala will include a delicious meal, beverages, music, a performance by our School choir, a raffle for an assortment of prizes, a 50/50 raffle, games, dancing, and many, many other fun things to do. We will also include child care at a very affordable, minimal price. The ticket price for this event is $45.00 for a couple or $25.00 for a single. The funds from this event will be used to support our tuition assistance program. Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday, November 15. You will purchase tickets directly from the school office or can buy your tickets online.
Our Performing Arts Department is sponsoring a Dinner and Play (Spaghetti dinner and Hamlet) event this Saturday evening, November 12, in the school cafeteria. Tickets are still available through this Wednesday, November 9. If you are interested in going, then please get in touch with the office to reserve your tickets.
Lastly and most importantly, thanks for your support of our school. Please know you can always come to me with any concerns or suggestions. My door is always open.
Sincerely and God bless,
Mike Alford, Principal