Charger Check-In

As you know, we are winding up our first week of the school year! Students are learning new routines and meeting new teachers. Our PK students are learning how to come into their classrooms and how to move around the room safely. Today, our kindergarteners and 1st graders visited church to help prepare them for tomorrow's all-school mass. Our 2nd graders are mastering walking quietly and quickly as they travel through school. Our 3rd graders Saved Fred this afternoon and our 4th graders built towers using toothpicks and marshmallows. Our 5th graders wrote about various stages of their life experiences. In 6th grade, students are discussing Fire Girl. In math, 7th graders are exclaiming, "I can do this!" Our 8th graders are excited to host our first all-school liturgy tomorrow!

Please be sure that your child brings a reusable water bottle to school each day. This is especially important next week as we anticipate temperatures in the low 90s and high 80s along with increased humidity. In 3rd-8th grade, water bottles need to be transparent and not made of glass.

Back to School Night is Tuesday, August 27. We will follow the same schedule as last year. School doors will open at 6:20PM. All school families are strongly encouraged to attend this evening event to visit your child's classroom, meet your child's teacher(s) and hear about the good things happening at St. Catherine. School families with one child can choose either the 6:30 or the 7:30 session.

• 6:30PM - Classroom presentations
• 7:00PM - School-wide presentation in church
• 7:30PM - Classroom presentations

A Bit More News...

• New this year, students arriving to school after 8:05AM will be marked tardy. (In past years, it was 8:10AM.) This moves the start of instructional time to five minutes sooner than in past years and will capture an additional 100 minutes of instructional time each month.
• Tomorrow, we will celebrate our first all-school mass of the year. Fr. Matt will be our celebrant!
• Thank you to our wonderful FSA for hosting our annual Ice Cream Social following the first day of school. We had a fabulous turnout and the weather was perfect. Also, thank you to Culvers of Evergreen Park for donating the custard! 🍨 🍨 🍨
• Our first Eat & Earn of the school year is at Andy's (9507 S. Cicero in Oak Lawn) on Wednesday, August 28 from 4-8PM. Show the flier (further down in the Check-In) and SCA's FSA will earn $1 for each treat purchased. Last year, we raised over $230 with Andy's!
• Mr. Gula will host a short band meeting for students the morning of Thursday, August 29. The first band class will meet on Thursday, September 5.
• Information about this year's Charger Crawl is further down in the Check-In. Registration opens at noon on Sunday, August 4.
  
• If you know of an SCA family who owns a small business that we can publicize here to help support them, please reach out to me via email. Scroll down to see local businesses we can support.
  

These links will take you to the updates to the Parent-Student Handbook. There are three additional updates in the fifth bullet-point. These do not have links, but they are highlighted in the table of contents.

• Daily Schedule - update to tardy bell and morning entry procedures
• The added flexibility for morning entry is intended to help those families with children in multiple grade levels. We ask, as much as possible, for K-4th grade students to continue to enter the building via Door 9 on the main/center parking lot. This is the same door we used last year.
• Cell Phones, Smart Watches and Similar Devices - update to end of day usage
• Supply of Undesignated Opioid Antagonists - new state law as of 1.1.24
• Uniform - update to uniform shorts for boys and uniform pants for girls
• also updated: milk program, timing of fall PTC, teacher requests
• clarification on shoes
• Hey Dudes may be worn; they should be considered dress shoes and must adhere to the expectation that school shoes be brown or black

As we begin the school year and ramp up for the start of athletic events in the gym, please remember that scooters are not permitted in the gym, in the gym kitchen or in the Alexandria Center. If your child rides their scooter to the gym for a game, for practice or for another occasion, it should be charged before leaving home, and the scooter should be locked up at the bike rack.

Registration for Bitty Basketball is open. This program is open to SCA students in 1st through 3rd grades - both girls and boys!

On behalf of the Chairs of the SCA Charger Crawl, we would like to invite you to participate in this year's event and wanted to tell you a bit about this awesome event if you haven't attended before.

What is the Charger Crawl?

The Charger Crawl is a Family School Association event held at the start of each school year to bring together the parents in the school to socialize, cocktail and eat at local school family homes. 150 parents meet at the first house and then spend the next three hours rotating between three middle houses meeting new parents and hanging out with veteran families in a casual environment. All 150 attendees then meet up again at the final house to end the evening.

What is the cost of the Charger Crawl?

The Charger Crawl is $75 per person and your ticket includes Charger swag, cocktails (beer, wine, seltzers and water), appetizers and a food truck at the final house.

How do I register?

Get your fastest fingers ready on Sunday, August 4 as this event always sells out fast! You will find the flyer with a QR code just above as well as the registration link just below. At noon on Sunday, August 4, the link will go live and the first 150 people to register will be in. All registered attendees will receive an email confirmation and payment is then required within 24 hours or your spot will be released to someone on the waitlist. Payment will be to the FSA Venmo or you can drop a check or cash off at my house (details are included in the registration form). The next 50 responses will go to a waitlist and be contacted if and when a spot becomes available. Please do not pay until you receive an email confirming you are in.

Why should you come?

The Crawl is a great way to meet new families and have a great night out all at once. We make sure to mix the crowds at each house switch so you will get to hang with everyone! This year's Crawl has some awesome swag too! As always we will have split the pot! It is sure to be the kick-off event of the year!

Still have questions?

Feel free to reach out to us at RNealis@gmail.com or kmkevin715@gmail.com

Thanks,

Rhonda and Jeff Knight and Kristy and Dan Kevin

St. Catherine of Alexandria parishioners can easily set up recurring contributions via Give Central.

Visit the link below to set up your recurring contribution. Donors can change the amount of the contribution or pause it at any time.

For many years, our small business neighbors have been stalwart partners with St. Catherine through offering Eat & Earns, sponsoring SCA events and offering discounts when the school places orders. Now is the time for our SCA community to show our support of these amazing small businesses. Please take the time to visit the "live" buttons below, and, if you are able, support them.

If you know of an SCA family who owns a small business that we can publicize here to help support them, please reach out to me via email.

Friday, August 23

• All-School Mass at 8:30AM

Saturday, August 24 & Sunday, August 25

• Backpack Blessings at all masses

Tuesday, August 27

• Back-to-School Night from 6:30-8:30PM

Monday, September 2

• No School - Labor Day

Wednesday, September 4

• Picture Day for PK3-8th grade

Saturday, September 7

• Homecoming Mass at 4PM

Sunday, September 8

• Homecoming Games and Homecoming Celebration

Website: www.scaoaklawn.org
Location: 10621 South Kedvale Avenue, Oak Lawn, IL, USA
Phone: 708-425-5547
Facebook: facebook.com/scaoaklawn/