2024

Last week after our school mass, we honored students from each grade recognized by their teachers by way of living the virtue of the month, which for November was gratitude. There could not have been a better virtue to study for the correlation with the Thanksgiving holiday. This week, we celebrated the beginning of Advent in our Monday Morning Prayer Assembly, and students were busy working on calendars, Advent chains and other studies that relate to a fan favorite of our beautiful liturgical seasons.

The virtue of the month for December is optimism, which fits as we think about preparing our hearts for the birth of our Lord on Christmas. We have spoken in class, staff meetings and elsewhere about repentance, patience, joy and prayer as we reflect during this season. It is easy for most of us to associate optimism with Advent and the preparation of our Lord, because...it is the birth of Jesus Christ!

It's also understandable that many of us overlook the setting and hardships that Mary and Joseph faced before the birth of Jesus, even if we set up our Nativity scenes at home as we decorate our houses for the season. They were essentially wandering and homeless, with nowhere to rest or call home.

I have reflected every December since I came to St. Therese, and been so pleasantly surprised to see how the young people in our school are aware of the less fortunate in the world, in their own community even. I say it in all earnestness, that I love watching how happy our kids are to bring in food for the St. Vincent de Paul food drive. The authentic smiles and the frantic energy of counting frozen turkeys, cans of green beans, and stuffing is real! Don't get me wrong, students also enjoy their class Christmas parties and other festivities, but their joy over helping others is really something else--it's deeper and more meaningful than a pizza party.

I overheard a Student Council meeting this week--actually I was summoned to attend because the students needed to broker deals with school administration, in order to attain their end goal, which was a spirit week of funny, whacky, festive dress. Again, they were excited about Christmas pajama day but they made sure to mention the fundraisers and the causes they wanted to support with the money from those events, Christmas-grams and the Doernbecher Toy Drive. It may not sound earth shattering, and it's very possible that my account of this doesn't do it justice.

Nonetheless, I am proud of our students, your children, and how they think about helping perfect strangers during Advent, and throughout the year. For me that is a testament first to the families and parents, their first teachers, and also what we do at school, by putting Christ and our Christian values at the center of our school community and our studies.

I encourage you all to keep doing what you are doing at home to cultivate thoughtful, kind, amazing young people. On behalf of St. Therese faculty and staff, it is a pleasure to work with our students and I extend my gratitude for the privilege, and they keep me optimistic about the future of our community, our Church, and our world. I know, believe me, I know how busy this time of year is for all, but if you have a quiet moment with your family, I would encourage you to talk with them about what we can each do to help someone else this Advent season and beyond. I'd bet they surprise you with their ideas, because they have that effect on St. Therese staff and me!

Happy Advent to each of you all. Please take a moment to read the balance of the notes on upcoming events and opportunities.

In Christ the Teacher,

Chris

There will NO EXTENDED CARE on the following dates:

Friday, December 13th- The staff will be preparing for the Christmas Pageant.

Wednesday, December 18th- All Staff will be attending the St. Therese Staff Christmas Party.

This week our students met in family groups to make shoes in preparation for St. Nicholas Day. On Friday, each class had a visit from St. Nicholas. This is an annual family group activity that many of our students look forward to each year! Each student received a golden chocolate coin.

This year we are having a Toy Drive for our whole school service project. The toy drive will benefit children at Doernbecher Children's Hospital. They are looking for brand new items such as art supplies, stuffed animals, board games, and other toys. Our school goal is to raise at least 75 items to donate! All toy items can be brought to school starting Wednesday, December 11th. The Toy Drive will end on Wednesday, December 18th.

This year our student council will be selling Jolly-Grams! What is a jolly-gram, you ask?! For $2.00 you can send a classmate, teacher or staff member a bag of jolly cheer! Each jolly-gram includes a packet of hot cocoa, candy canes, and a holiday themed pencil! The money raised from these jolly-grams will be used for whole school activities such as assemblies! Order forms will go home on Monday, December 9th. The jolly-gram sales will go from Wednesday, December 11 to Wednesday, December 18!

We are so excited to announce our new Hot Lunch program for St. Therese students. St. Therese is partnering with My Hot Lunchbox! My Hot Lunchbox partners with local restaurants our school requests and facilitates delivering meals individually packaged, labeled, and sorted for your students. Parents can now download the My Hot Lunchbox app for easy ordering, or order online. We will be offering this lunch service two days a week: Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our first Hot Lunch day will be Tuesday, November 26th.

What are the big details to know?

• Orders must be completed AT LEAST 24 hours ahead of time. Students can not bring money to school and order lunch from the office.
• Ordering can ONLY be done via the app or website- the school cannot take money from students for lunch orders.
• Tuesday lunch is provided by Red Robin.
• Thursday lunch is provided by Chick Fil A.
• The menu includes meals and a la carte options.

How do I order?

• Lunch can be ordered via the App or go to https://ordernow.myhotlunchbox.com/sign-up and click the ‘Create Account’ button under ‘Customer’.
• Fill in all required fields, agree to our terms and conditions, and click ‘Create’!
• Once you have created and logged into your My Hot Lunchbox account, select the 'My Profiles' tab on the left sidebar. Click 'Add Profile' and fill in your child's first & last name, type of organization (School), organization name (St. Therese School), teacher and/or grade, if applicable. Click 'Add Profile' again to add other students once you're done!

Attached you will find the following:

• Family FAQs about how to order, download the app, and how the lunch program works. (Also available in Spanish)
• A flyer with instructions for downloading the app.
• A QR code for a YouTube tutorial video.
• Benefits for Parents

Our middle school students have the opportunity to join Mr. Rymer for a Robotics specific elective class! They are having a blast learning how to operate and create their very own robots!

Join us on December 17th for a Parent Info Night for De La Salle North Catholic High School. Any interested families are encouraged to join us! The night will start at 5:00 PM in the PSC!

The Parents Club Meeting will follow this event!

St. Therese Church is looking to form a Children’s Choir for the Christmas Day 10AM Mass **OR 5pm Mass on Christmas Eve. No prior experience necessary, ages 6-12 preferred but exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis. There will be an optional rehearsal on Friday, December 20 at 4PM, and a rehearsal on Christmas Day, December 25th from 9-9:40AM. Please reach out to Emily Bavaro at ebavaro@archdpdx.org or in person at Mass to sign up.

n preparation for the Christmas Pageant, please work on two Christmas Carols with your child if you can: Silent Night and Hark the Herald Angel’s Sing. Don’t know where to start? Here are a couple of Youtube videos:

Silent Night: Silent Night with Lyrics Christmas Carols & Songs for #kids #choirs and #families

Hark the Herald Angels Sing: Hark the Herald Angels Sing - Kid's Version w/ Lyrics

Please follow the link below to read the letter detailing the Christmas pageant, from Ms. Bavaro.

Thank you!!

Emily Bavaro

Director of Music

St. Therese Church and School

Our Christmas Pageant will be Friday, December 13th. The pageant starts at 5:30, please have your K-5 students dropped off to their classrooms between 5:00 and 5:10. Middle school students should meet in the PSC.

After the pageant, students and families are invited to join us in the gym for a Christmas Social. We still need volunteers to help get students dressed and ready for their parts in the pageant. If you are able to help in your child's classroom at 5PM to help, please sign up with our Sign Up Genius! An email was sent out earlier this week with a lot of information!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4AACAC29A6FECF8-53683746-christmas

We are having a Christmas Bake Sale after the Christmas Pageant on December 13th. We are looking for baked goods donations! We want cookies, cheesecake, cake pops, brownies and any other sweet treats! Bake sale items will be available for purchase in the school gym following the school Christmas Pageant. All donated baked good items are worth Fair Share hours!

Please reach out to Mrs. Baumbach cbaumbach@stthereseschool.org with any questions or if you are able to help out at this event!

• Hot Shots and Basketball registration is open through the end of the month

• Deadline to sign up is December 1

• Jamboree for basketball is the week of December 7th and 14th

• We will start practice as soon as teams are finalized -- we need a minimum of 8 players per team and currently only have 2 full teams

• We will combine grades for partial groups in order to make a full team.

• We will send out the agenda so you know what is being covered

• Hoping to have coaches present so that you can ask questions

• Cover key dates, things to know

• Volunteer opportunities, learning sessions and more

• Second week of December we will open a meeting to all parents interested in supporting the decisions and direction of the program for St Therese.

• We want to increase visibility and partnership with the school community

• Talk about priorities and focus points

• Review finances and goals

• There are plenty of opportunities to work concessions, or as a site monitor, or just be available to help in the gym when we run games, to get your Fair Share Hours!

• 12/9 School mass at 1:15, Feast of the Immaculate Conception
• 12/11 - 12/18 Toy Drive for Doernbecher Children's Hospital
• 12/11 - 12/18 Jolly-Grams for Sale
• 12/13 Christmas Pageant at 5:30 PM in the church
• 12/16 - 12/20 Christmas Spirit Week (more info to come!)
• 12/17 Parents Club Meeting at 6PM
• 12/23 - 1/6 Christmas Break

Tuesdays

• Vietnamese classes has changed from leveled classes, to one class from 3:30 - 4:30

Wednesdays

• School mass: 1:15 - 2:15 (subject to change based on holy days of obligation, feast days etc.)
• Sacraments classes with Sister Martina: 2:45 - 3:45 in the PSC.
• Open Gym Time, 6 - 8 pm. St. Therese Students from Grades 3 - 8 are all welcome! Free!

Last year Mr. Rymer showed his students the new Glowforge laser cutter, which he got for the school through a grant. By showing the kids the hardware, Mr. Rymer and the kids came up with the idea of making Christmas ornaments for their families. In doing so, the students are learning about engineering, design, and production. They are handmade by the students, with Mr. Rymer's guidance.

Post-pandemic, the prices of materials have gone up significantly and Mr. Rymer uses Baltic birch for these, which isn't cheap. It's a great way to get a custom made keepsake for loved ones and support the school at the same time. The price is $30 per ornament, or $50 for two ornaments.

Please see the links for a video with more information from Mr. Rymer, and the order form.

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Registrar/Office Mrs. Barnett, barnetta@stthereseschool.org

Principal Schoning schoningc@stthereseschool.org

Vice Principal Baumbach cbaumbach@stthereseschool.org

School Phone: 503-253-9400