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From The Principal I hope that each of you enjoyed a wonderful vacation and that you made many special memories this Christmas. The students, families and faculty were unbelievably generous during the holidays. We have received many thank you letters from the local community agencies that we supported this Christmas season. In addition, the retired Sisters of Charity were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and their letters reminded us that they truly were the reason for our wonderful school.

For those of you who were blessed to know Fr. Keyes, you know what a difficult loss this was for our parish and school community. He was a kind, gentle man who saw the good in all people. He dedicated his life to sharing God’s plan for each of us. He had a special way about him that reached so many people. He is the reason our new school and new parish were built and always inspired those around him to share in God’s faith and love. He will always hold a special place in my heart!

Report Cards were issued on Thursday, January 17th to students in grades N-8. Remember, you can always keep an

eye on your child’s progress by requesting a weekly or daily update on RenWeb.

Also coming up in January, we’ll celebrate Catholic Schools Week with Catholic schools throughout the nation. We’ll host fun activities during the day and each day will have a theme. Be on the lookout for loads of information about this week which is celebrated Jan. 28-Feb. 1.

Many of our second graders are preparing to receive their First Holy Communion this spring. In January, they’ll get another step closer to being ready by participating in First Penance. All students who plan to receive Holy Communion must receive this sacrament first. Please keep our students in your prayers as they prepare themselves.

Our Ski & Board Club started up after Christmas break. Many students will be spending their Tuesday afternoons at Ski Bradford. Many thanks to Mr. D and other staff and parent volunteers who make this happen for our kids!

On behalf of all of the teachers and staff, I wish you all many blessings in the New Year!

Peace,

Susan Gosselin, Principal

With the hustle and bustle the last few days of school before

Christmas, sometimes a gift is left for us with no tag attached. We are over-

whelmed by your generosity and most certainly wish to send your child a note

of thanks. If a gift was given to Mrs. Donahue, Mrs. Rogge or Mrs. Gosselin

and a note wasn't sent home, please let us know. We each had a few items

with no gift tag and want to be sure we thank you for your kindness.

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Pastor's Corner

As we begin a new calendar year, we pray that the Lord will bless all of us in our mission of providing the best Catholic education possible for our students. We are truly blessed in the talented faculty and staff, enthusiastic PTO, and supportive parents and parishioners, who all help to make St. Michael’s School a special place. Let us together continue to build this community of learning and faith in this New Year.

God Bless!

Mission Statement Saint Michael School offers an exceptional Catholic education to our students, nurturing their desire to achieve academic excellence and encouraging spiritual, artistic and athletic development in a caring, family environment. We motivate our students to become well-rounded, moral young men and women who are prepared to live a faithful life with intellectual rigor and spiritual awareness.

Extended Day Billing Changes

With our new Renweb/FACTS system, there are a few changes to note.

Hours will still be tracked by completing the form at drop off and pickup. Please make sure to write legibly.

At the end of each month, all fees (including the registration fee if applicable) will be uploaded to FACTS

You will be given until the end of the month to make that payment before late fees will be applied

All payments must be made via your FACTS account—the school can no longer accept cash or checks

Only one parent/guardian can receive the bill in FACTS. If you have multiple parents/guardians, you’ll need to con-

tact Mrs. Rogge to tell her who to bill.

December statements were uploaded the beginning of January and will be due the end of January. Any questions or concerns, please reach out to Mrs. Rogge at susan_rogge@saintmichael.com

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We will celebrate the First Friday of each month by coming together as a school community for Mass at 9:15am in the Church. At each Mass, a specific grade will lead us. Mark your calendar, the next First Friday Mass is February 1

Saint Michael School strives to be a peanut butter free school. Please do not send in items that contain peanut butter. Thank you for your consideration.

JUST A REMINDER Please do not bring in food for your child's birthday. Also, do not send flowers, balloons, or large gifts for your child. Some great ways to celebrate your child's birthday are: book for the library, gel pens, goodie bags, pencils, bookmarks, stickers, coupons for ice cream cones, etc.

No Food Policy For the overall health and wellness of our students, we have eliminated food at parties at school. Parents should never send in food for parties, special occasions, birth-days, etc. Additionally, we kindly ask that parents re-frain from delivering special lunches for their chil-dren including McDonalds, Sal's, local sub shops etc.

We greatly appreciate your support with this policy. No popsicles even in hot weather.

Please note; that we will continue to have class parties for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc., however, those parties will be planned and organized by the teach-er. We are doing this to keep all the children safe and ensure that no child will feel singled out or left out. Thank you for your continued support

THE 2017-2018 YEARBOOKS The Yearbooks are available – only $15 each. All grades from Nursery to Grade 8 are represented from the 2016-2017 School Year. If you want one, please send a note to the Office or they can also be purchased before/after school at Mrs. Donahue’s desk.

DO NOT SEND CASH INTO SCHOOL When paying for field trips, art projects, etc. for your child, all payments will be made through our new Student Information Service Program, RenWeb/FACTS.

Dates to Remember January 17 .............Report Cards Issued

January 18 .............No School

January 21 .............MLK Day—No School

February 2 .............First Friday Mass

February 18-22 ......February Vacation

Tuition Update

Active Contributing Parishioners - As a reminder, to be considered an active parishioner (and receive a parishioner tuition rate for 2018-19), families must make a minimum total offertory donation of $400 to our parish beginning July 1-April 30. This can be done on a weekly basis when you attend mass BUT it must be made in a trackable manner. You NEED to be a parishioner and use a parish envelope. If you wish to receive envelopes from the parish, please email Dorothy_varga@saintmichael.com. Donations made at Easter and Christmas are for the benefit of the Clergy Health & Retirement Fund and therefore do NOT count toward the annual $400 donation to St. Michael Parish.

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Help SMS Without Spending Extra Money Did you know you can raise money for SMS without spending extra money? Here‘s how:

Send in your Boxtops (cereal boxes and other items that have the Boxtop label)

Consider donating your old iPad to the school when you upgrade

Register your Stop and Shop Card (SMS ID 06688)

Send in your used ink cartridges from your home computer printers

Send in your company‘s used ink cartridges (not toner) from the copy machine or computer printers

Buy gift cards from the Scrip Program Shop at J.B. Edward Uniforms (they give the school a percentage back)

We‘ll continue to update the list to help you help SMS!

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The first half of the school year has come and gone so quickly. I know, from experience, the second half will go much faster. The Students in the Upper School have a great deal of work ahead of them in Science, but I know that they can all handle and succeed at it. Term II will be ending soon and the Students will be receiving their report cards. All of the Students continue to do excellent work in class. Their grades reflect the amount of effort that they put towards their school work.

Each Student in the Upper School will be handing in their second project of the year in February. These projects are a bit different for each grade. Grade Seven must discuss an invention that has helped their Parents lives. Grade Eight will explain an invention that has impacted their own lives. Reading all the students updates, I cannot wait to read their projects.

The next project that the Students will be working on is the Science Fair. Their experiment will be presented on a tri-fold and then displayed at our school Science Fair later on in the spring. The winners of our Science Fair go on to the region-als at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. If these projects continue to win the next level is the State Fair in Worces-ter. In previous year’s Saint Michael’s had teams qualify for the State Fair and beyond. One project placed on the nation-al level. I am sure this year, the students, will yield similar or better results. More details about the Science Fair will be sent home soon.

This is, also, a special and tense time for our Eighth Graders. They will be hearing from the private schools that were applied to. All of these students deserve to be accepted wherever they applied. They are a special group of young adults and they all work hard. I have enjoyed working with them and look forward to working with them for the rest of the year. That goes for the students in Grade Seven, also.

Mr. Annand—Upper School

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Grades 5 and 6 Social Studies and English Language Arts

Grade 5 is full of energy this week with our Fun Run! They are meeting goals and earning all kinds of fun incentives!! They are doing well with lockers and organization! We can’t believe it is already Term 3!

Social Studies grade 5 is studying the Revolutionary War. We are learning so much about how our amazing country formed. The kids are doing well with completing their study guides and participating in class discussions.

Social Studies grade 6 has just finished our Ancient Egypt Empire Unit. We are traveling through Ancient China, India, and Japan these next few weeks. Kids are doing so well with Ancient Civilizations. By the end of Term 3 ,we will be heading into Ancient Greece.

Grade 5 ELA students are working on a grammar unit about the different types of sentences including compound and complex sentences. They are also memorizing their prepositions and keeping up with reading their AR books each night.

Grade 6 ELA students are continuing The Egypt Game. Once they finish the book, we will work on an academic piece of writing. They should also be reading their AR book each night. They each need to read two AR books each term.

Students in grade 5 are doing well with learning the Sacraments, daily prayers, discussion, and continued use of the Bible. They enjoyed being part of the Christmas Nativity.

We are looking forward to a fantastic 2019! Happy New Year!!

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New Year Prayer

Thank you Lord for giving me the brand new year ahead.

Help me live the way I should as each new day I tread.

Give me gentle wisdom that I might help a friend.

Give me strength and courage so a shoulder I might lend.

The year ahead is empty, help me fill it with good things.

Each new day filled with joy and happiness it brings.

Amen

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