SMCMS News 11.30.22

Welcome to Advent!

A time of preparation for the coming of our Lord. While our students are preparing for Concerts, Vex tournaments, and basketball games, let us not forget the reason for the season. Take time with your family to be present in Advent. Whatever your traditions are, it means an opportunity for us to work with our children on what we can do to be prepared for our Lord, humbling Himself to be human with the sole intention of saving us from our sins by dying on a cross. As we look at what God is willing to do for us on a regular basis, what are we willing to do for Him? Throughout Advent, your children will be exploring this idea in discipleship groups. They are reading Luke 12: 35-40. I encourage you to talk with them about this scripture and reflect with them what it means to be ready for the coming of the Lord. Keep your lamps burning by filling them with the oil that is your relationship with God.

Safe Environment Training for Children

Mrs. Kalaus will be in the seventh-grade religion lasses on December 6 and 7 to teach the diocesan mandated lessons on Safe and Sacred training. The following week, December 14 and 15, she will be in eighth grade classes and sixth grade after that. All lessons can be found here. The Diocese of Green Bay subscribes to VIRTUS® for Lesson Plans to provide a consistent Safe Environment foundation for our children. It is the shared responsibility of parents and teachers, to give our children the awareness and tools they need to overcome anyone who intends to harm them. It is an expectation that all Catholic Schools and Faith Formation programs use the VIRTUS® Lesson plans. Please call Mrs. Kalaus with any questions or to opt out of these lessons.

Character Strong

Teachers continue to lead the grade level sessions of this new curriculum. Over the next two weeks sixth graders will work on building and practicing listening skills; seventh graders are working on understanding and managing stress; eighth graders are learning to recognize emotions, especially happiness. Please reinforce these skills at home. On way to do that is to participate in Family Dares. There are two more attached to this newsletter. The goals of these challenges are to increase connection and conversation at home as well as providing students with more opportunity to practice habits discussed in class. If our family participates in any of the “dares”, please take photos and send them to school!

As you are all aware, our children have a small army of amazing staff that are instructing and guiding our Middle Schoolers every day.

Let us make it easy to acknowledge ALL the staff as we head into the Christmas Season. No shopping or decision making to be made!

The SMCMS Staff Christmas Gift Fund is your answer!

Here is how it works… After all the donations are received, the fund is divided equally between the school teacher’s and staff. Each teacher/staff member gets an equal “credit” to use towards his or her SCRIP purchase of choice.

The Christmas Gift Fund is a win/win/win situation for everyone!! You, as parents, can enjoy giving a nice gift to ALL your child’s teachers, stress free!! The staff will receive a VERY nice gift that fits their particular needs/wants!! AND the St. Mary Catholic School System receives a benefit from the purchase of SCRIP!!

All you need to do is send in a monetary donation of your choice to the school office c/o Christmas Gift Fund by Friday December 9th, 2022. Please include your name, as the staff would like to send thank you notes. Donations are completely voluntary, and no amount is too small. Checks can be written, payable to SMCS.

Builder’s Club (Service Club) will meet on Wednesday, December 7th from 3:30 – 4:30 in Miss Schmitz’s room. We will be writing Christmas cards to send to homebound members of our local parishes and enjoying a Christmas show. New students are welcome to join.

In November we recognized the following students for setting the example leading with faith, hope, and love.

In 6th grade: Faith, Max, Jude, Noelle, and Flora

In 7th grade: Jacob, Molly, and Ashlyn

In 8th grade: Caruso, Gavin, and Brandon

Auditions for the middle school play will be on Monday December 12 & Wednesday December 14. THE TEMPEST is a Shakespeare tragi-comedy full of wonder, treacherous plotting, young love, slapstick humor, spells, and a few, silly non-human characters. And what’s more non-human than middle schoolers? The story opens with a massive storm that strands political foes on an island full of magic. The natives want to regain control of their island and the new arrivals want revenge on one another. This production will use Shakespeare’s words but will be a much-shortened version of the original. Rehearsals will begin second semester and performances will be in April. If you would like more information, please email Mr. Breadon, ebreadon@smcatholicschools.org.

Emergency Closings & Delays

Living in Wisconsin, it is inevitable that we sometimes experience delays or cancellations due to weather. Sometimes weather conditions change quickly, and our decisions are made accordingly. If either the Neenah or Menasha public school district is delayed or closed due to weather, SMCS follows suit.

Text Message Notifications

As soon as a delay or cancellation is determined, the information is posted on the SMCS Facebook page or on the homepage of this website, and local TV and radio stations are alerted. It is also sent directly to the phones of people who have signed up for our emergency notification system as a text message.

How to Sign Up for the SMCS Emergency Alert System

You may subscribe, at no cost, to the SMCS emergency alert system. To enroll your phone number, please text SMCS to (844) 947-5948. You will receive a confirmation text and a text indicating that when you want to opt out of this service you simply need to reply STOP. You may enroll multiple cell phone numbers using that same process (text SMCS to (844) 947-5948

We do our best to immediately notify SMCS families and staff members when cancellations or delays are determined, but please understand that we do not have control over how quickly a TV or radio station gets the information worked into their own notification systems.

You can prevent being unpleasantly surprised by a change in schedule by doing the following:

• Be aware of potential weather conditions that may impact the next day’s SMCS schedule, such as an expected sustained wind chill factor of approximately -35 degrees, icy conditions or significant snowfall
• Sign up for the SMCS emergency notification system
• Check the SMCS Facebook page
• Check with another SMCS parent or employee.
• Check on multiple radio or TV stations if you don’t see/hear it on the first one; if we are not listed, check to see if anything is listed for Neenah or Menasha schools.
• 
  

SMCS contacts the following television & radio stations to help share notifications:

• Television: WBAY, WFRV, WLUK, WGBA
• Radio: WIXX (101.1 FM), WNCY (100.3 FM), all other area Midwest Communications affiliates

If you cannot find anything posted for SMCS, Neenah or Menasha schools, SMCS is operating on a normal schedule.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4fadaf2ba6fdc34-smcms17

7th grade assignment sheet

6th grade assignment sheet

Middle School after school care now available. Please use this link to sign your child up for after school care. A great place to be with the changes in the fitness center hours.

Wednesday November 30th; MS Liturgy 9:40

Monday December 5th; Morning Advent prayer service 7:40

Wednesday December 7th; MS Liturgy 9:40

Saturday December 10th; MS VEX IQ home tournament

Monday December 12th; Morning Advent prayer service 7:40

Wednesday December 14th; MS Liturgy 9:40

Thursday December 15th; HS/MS Band concert 6:30 pm

Friday December 16th; Christmas Social 3:30-5:30 pm

Monday December 19th; Morning Advent prayer service 7:40

Tuesday December 20th; HS/MS Choir concert 6:30 pm

Wednesday December 21st; MS Liturgy 9:40

Wednesday December 21st; Reconciliation 1:00-2:30 pm

Thursday December 22- Tuesday January 3rd Christmas Vacation

View our monthly calendar here.

A printable system calendar is available here.