Monday Memo

Thank you to all of the parents and students who played a part in last week's Community Night. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and have the opportunity to have you in our classrooms. Our students did a great job welcoming and speaking to all of our visitors!

Today, we celebrated the feast day of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was born in the present-day country of Turkey and lived in the Third Century. He became a bishop who was renowned for his generosity. Over time, a tradition evolved of leaving your shoes out in preparation for a visit from St. Nicholas on his feast day in return for small gifts. Our students left their shoes out this morning and St. Nicholas visited us and left us treats!

We will celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary on Thursday. This feast day celebrates the doctrine that Mary was conceived without original sin. This is a holy day of obligation for Catholics, meaning that we must attend mass on this day.

The December lunch menu is attached at the bottom of this newsletter. Lunch on December 7th will be the ham and beans that was originally scheduled for today, December 6th.

God bless,

Janet Abdoulaye, Principal

Tuesday, December 6th

• Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Wednesday, December 7th

• 2:50 PM Release - EDM until 6:00 PM
  
• One Body in Christ shirts

Thursday, December 8th

• School Mass at 8:45 AM; Mass hosted by 3P; Holy Day of Obligation: The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

• Spiritwear for students and staff

• K-4 Christmas Pageant at 6:30 PM in Zore Hall.

Future Events such as the mass schedule can be found here: https://saintsusannaschool.com/events?page=1

It is time to once again be thinking of the manger on Christmas Eve. More specifically, the manger at Saint Susanna's 4:00 PM Mass. If your family will be in town and you have young children, please click the link to review the details on how they can be part of our wonderful manger and pageant celebration. https://catholicforms.com/forms/view.php?id=1211125

Come join CYO for our annual Bingo Night on January 21, 2023, at Primo Banquet Hall (2615 National Ave. Indianapolis, IN 46227). You must be 21 to attend. The evening includes dinner, beer, wine, soft drinks, snacks and 10 games of Bingo. Register online at CYOARCHINDY.ORG by January 11, 2023. Come have a great time with family and friends while helping support all that CYO has to offer.

Advent is a busy time at Saint Susanna as we wait and prepare for the birth of Jesus. Each classroom has special activities to help our students experience Advent. In first grade, students created their own Advent wreaths. Our second graders created mangers for the baby Jesus, and they add a small piece of straw throughout the month as they do kind deeds.

8th Grade attended a virtual field trip with the Children's Museum this week, learning about soybeans, how to find their genotype and phenotype, and extracted some DNA.

Preschool will have their turn to lead us in prayer at 2:15 pm on Wednesday, December 14th. They have been learning about the story of Jesus's birth and are ready to teach us about it!

7th grade has been learning about plant and animal cells and their organelles. They created and presented their 3D cell models....and in some cases, even ate them.

A few gentle reminders about our dress code:

• Shorts are not allowed after fall break. Students may wear these again after Spring Break. Girls should wear plain black, white, or navy leggings under their uniform skirts.
• Uniform shirts are red monogrammed, light blue and white polos. Dark blue polo shirts (excluding the monogrammed middle school shirts) are not part of our dress code.
• As the weather turns colder, students may want to wear an additional layer. Acceptable additions to a uniform polo include:
• A navy or red cardigan or pullover sweater. These cannot have any designs or other colors.
• A navy or red pullover crew-neck sweatshirt. These may be plain or monogrammed through Avon Sports Apparel.
• A plain white short or long-sleeved undershirt.
• All students in K-8 must wear a belt with uniform pants. Uniform pants must have belt loops.

I have included our uniform policy summary at the bottom of this newsletter.

The Archdiocese recently changed their safe environment training provider to Safe Parish, from the previous Safe and Sacred system. In the new system, all volunteers are monitored quarterly. As long as you have a previous background check, your background check will be monitored on an on-going basis and it will not expire after five years as it did in the previous system. All volunteers must be registered in the Safe Parish system before they can volunteer. Instructions for registering and training are in the newsletter each week (see below).

In order to volunteer in our school building during the day or attend field trips as a chaperone, you must have a current safe environment training on file with us. This requirement includes safe environment training and a basic background check through the Archdiocese. The training and background checks are good for five years from the time of completion.

To check your current expiration date, contact Mrs. Carson at kcarson@saintsusanna.com

To obtain a new training and background check:

1. Go to the website www.archindysafeparish.org
2. Create an account as this is a new system. Previously the Archdiocese used a system called "Safe and Sacred."
3. You will need a passcode in order to create an account. The passcode is Archindy2021
4. Complete the background check for school or parish VOLUNTEER and select Saint Susanna as a recipient of your information.
5. Complete the training video and questions.

Please allow up to two weeks for this process to be completed.

The service hour tracking form can be found here and a copy will be sent home in the back-to-school packets. We ask that each family complete five service hours this school year. These hours can be completed during school or parish events.

Box Tops for Education

Here’s how it works:

• Step 1: Download the new Box Tops App (iTunes or Google Play) – it’s free
• Step 2: Create a username and connect it to your child’s school
• Step 3: Scan your grocery store receipt. Items with the new Box Tops label will be automatically credited to your school

Does this mean I should stop sending in my paper Box Tops that I have already clipped? No! Continue to send those to the school!

Kroger Community Rewards

Information on the Kroger Community Rewards program can be found here on their website or under the "rewards" tab in your Kroger app. You will need to search for the exact name of our organization as SAINT SUSANNAS SCHOOL PTP . From there, you can link your Kroger card with our organization and a portion of your spending at Kroger will come to us.

St. Susanna Catholic School's mission is to provide a Christ-centered, quality education that prepares and inspires its students to excel as they progress in their scholastic careers. Based on Catholic teachings, our students and staff exemplify the value of faith, service, love, and respect in all situations and with all people.

Email: jabdoulaye@saintsusanna.com
Website: www.saintsusannaschool.com
Location: 1212 East Main Street, Plainfield, IN, USA
Phone: 317-839-3713
Facebook: facebook.com/stsusannaschool