Friday Flash
December 14, 2018

The January menu is attached.

Limited supply of PTG  “Always an Eagle” sweatshirts ($35) and V-neck “SMS” various colors ($15) are available for purchase in the Spirit Shop.  These would make great Christmas presents for mom or dad and any grandparents, aunts and uncles on your list! Subject to stock on hand in various sizes and colors.  Please stop by today to check some shopping off your list!

PTG/St. Matt’s Holiday Sale at Boon Supply – 50% of the purchase price comes back to the school.  Great way to get your holiday shopping done!  Easy to order and nice selection of unique items!   Link to order is: https://www.boonsupply.com/collections/all?fundraiser=93354&complete&utm_source=share&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=fundraiser-detail-share&utm_content=PTG%20Holiday%20Shopping%20Made%20EASY

Last chance to order the Holiday Dress Down Pass Package! The booklet includes 5 dress down passes, 1 per month from January to May for $25. The limit is 1 package per student with all orders due back to the PTG by December 17th.  Order forms are in the office.

Lego League for Kindergarten through Second Graders will meet from 3:30pm to 4: 30pm on the First and Third Wednesday from January through May.  Specific dates are 1/16, 2/6, 2/20, 3/6, 3/20, 4/3, 4/17, 5/1, and 5/15.  To register your child, email your child’s name and grade, and the authorized pickup person’s name(s), to Katherine Linares at laurelin1813@gmail.com.

Parents:  Every student is asked to bring an old t-shirt, preferably over sized, to use as their “smock” for art.  They will store them in their classroom, bring them to art each time, and take them back to their classroom after art.  Please put your child’s name on the smock. They will not use their smocks every week.  If they use the smocks, we will remind the students to take them home to be laundered.  Art smocks are used to protect your child’s clothing from stains which could be caused by acrylic paint, oil pastel, clay, glue, or plaster.  Many of these mediums will permanently stain clothing.  Therefore, a smock must be brought to art each week and worn when requested.  Thank you for your help.  Grades that need them always: 1st – 7th grade

From St. Stephen, Martyr – Las Posadas – Join us Sunday, December 16 at 3:45pm to participate in Las Posadas before the 5:00pm Mass.  Bring a side dish to share for the FIESTA after Mass!  We will serve a Taco Bar!  Las Posadas (Spanish for “the inn”) is a traditional Mexican ritual that takes place from December 16th through December 24th.  It is, in essence, a novena.  Families re-enact the moment when Joseph and Mary search for a room as her time to give birth approaches.  We will “travel” around St. Stephen’s property in a procession with Joseph and Mary asking for lodging for the night.  You are invited to pray and sing as we travel to find a place for Mary to give birth to Jesus.

Parents, it’s that time of year when children may be receiving electronic devices to bring to school (BYOD). If you will be giving your child a Chromebook for Christmas for him/her to use at school, please have him/her sign onto the Chromebook using his/her Google school account at home BEFORE bringing it to school. Once at school, they must use the student wifi (SMS WiFi) and will only be able to use their SMS credentials (computer login) on wifi if they have already signed onto the device with their SMS Google (email) credentials.

Donations needed for the Art Room:

•        Newspaper
  ·        Plastic bags (Grocery store or Wal-Mart type)
  ·        Shoe boxes- all types
  ·        Large yogurt containers (2Lb)
  ·        Small yogurt containers (around 5oz)
  .        Talenti containers with lid
  ·        Egg crates
  ·        Random art kits with missing pieces
  ·        Paint brushes- used or new
  Please contact Mrs. Mercado by e-mail at tmercado@smsvb.net or 757-420-2455 or drop donations, labeled “Art Room,” at the office.

No Chess Club on January 9th.

As part of a school service project, one of our SMS graduates is collecting book bags for the NEST (Norfolk Emergency Shelter Team) homeless shelter program at Oaklette United Methodist Church in Chesapeake. These items will be distributed to homeless adults in January 2019.  Any new or in-good-condition book bag would be greatly appreciated! 

Field Hockey News:  The registration forms will be coming out when we get back from Christmas Break!  We are in the need of coaches; please contact Mrs. Liebold at kliebold@smsvb.net if you are interested or have any questions.  All coaches must be Virtus trained.

American Heart Association News:  Our jump date will be February 7, 2019.   The assembly to kick off our jump date will be January 7, 2019.  Anyone who raises $150 before the kick off assembly will be recognized at the assembly and receive Finn (see attachment).  Any student who raises $50 before the kick off assembly will receive a complimentary ticket for a Washington Wizards basketball game and be recognized at the assembly. Any student who raises $35 the week before the kick off assembly could win a plush teddy bear (see attachments).

Shoe La-La News:  It’s back by popular demand!  Please start thinking about or designing your high heel shoe!  Shoes are due in by January 16th at the latest.  They will be voted on during lunch.  Please see attachment for rules.  Contact Mrs. Liebold for any questions at kliebold@smsvb.net or feel free to contact Mrs. Mercado for any design help at tmercado@smsvb.net.

Phone: (757) 420-2455

Friday Flash
December 7, 2018

ParentsWeb Update-We hope you like the new look of ParentsWeb. This format is much more mobile-friendly so we hope that you will find it easy to navigate. Currently, there are a few known issues we’d like to share. If you click on a student’s class, you will be redirected to the home screen instead of the class screen. While tech support works on correcting that, you can reach the class page by selecting School > Classes > then select the class.  We have also noticed that classes cannot be clicked for some students (there is no link). This happens when families have more than one student. Again, this is a known issue and tech support is working on it.  Thanks for your patience as FACTS works through these issues.

The Amy Folkes SANTA SHOP 2018 – We have finished up another very successful Santa Shop! I feel incredibly blessed to have spent time with your children as they shopped for gifts for their friends and families. Their happiness and cheer makes every minute of Santa Shop a true joy! A BIG thank you to all of the volunteers who gave up their time to shop, restock & wrap; we would not be a success without them! Merry Christmas and many blessings for the New Year! From Santa & his head elf Louise Lewis.

**Is your New Year’s Resolution to re-organize? The Amy Folkes Santa Shop is happy to accept donations of the following:

Christmas wrapping paper
Christmas gift bags
Tissue paper (any color)
JUMBO grocery bags
Curling ribbon (any color)
Self-adhesive gift tags
Scotch tape
These items may be dropped off at the front office. Thank you!

Advent Mission at St. Stephen, Martyr – We are just weeks away from our Advent Mission here at St. Stephen, Martyr! Are you waiting with great anticipation for the second coming of Jesus, just like a child waits for that special gift on Christmas morning?  With great excitement, we will be preparing our hearts for Jesus and Christmas with an Advent Mission and special guest, Fr. Kevin McGoldrick. Fr. Kevin is an American Dominican Priest and professional musician living in Nashville, Tennessee. Fr. Kevin’s bluesy-pop style music invigorates ALL ages. His song, “Square Peg, Round Hole” went to #1 on the global chart CECELIA. Fr. Kevin also has produced a contemporary version of The Divine Mercy Chaplet that is sung every Tuesday night in the Upper Room Prayer Fellowship gathering. This will be a glorious weekend of worship, purification and adoration!  The total cost for the Advent Mission weekend is $10/person and/or $20/family and lunch is included! This event takes place Friday/Saturday – December 14/15. A concert will be held Friday, December 14 at 7:00pm (doors open at 6:30pm). On Saturday, December 15, we will begin with Mass at 8:30am, attend a presentation by Fr. Kevin, followed by a Holy Hour/Adoration. We will close the Advent Mission with lunch and reconciliation. Purchase your tickets online at www.ssmrcc.org, events, 2018 Advent Mission.

Field Hockey News:  The registration forms will be coming out when we get back from Christmas Break!  We are in the need of coaches; please contact Mrs. Liebold at kliebold@smsvb.net if you are interested or have any questions.  All coaches must be Virtus trained.

American Heart Association News:  Our jump date will be February 7, 2019.   The assembly to kick off our jump date will be January 7, 2019.  Anyone who raises $150 before the kick off assembly will be recognized at the assembly and receive Finn (see attachment).  Any student who raises $50 before the kick off assembly will receive a complimentary ticket for a Washington Wizards basketball game and be recognized at the assembly. Any student who raises $35 the week before the kick off assembly could win a plush teddy bear (see attachments).

Shoe La-La News:  It’s back by popular demand!  Please start thinking about or designing your high heel shoe!  Shoes are due in by January 16th at the latest.  They will be voted on during lunch. Please see attachment for rules.  Contact Mrs. Liebold for any questions at kliebold@smsvb.net or feel free to contact Mrs. Mercado for any design help at tmercado@smsvb.net.

Tuition/Cash Raffle Winner – this year’s Auction Tuition/Cash Raffle winners are Mr. and Mrs. Reyes who are St. Matthew Church parishioners! They were so excited about winning and chose the Cash option. Thank you to all of the SMS School and Church families for participating in the Tuition/Cash Raffle! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit (EISTC) for 2018 is quickly coming to a close. The deadline to file your Pre-Authorization and Letter of Intent is Friday, December 14th to receive the 65% tax credit in 2018 and federal deduction. Contact Mr. Goldberg via email at Lgoldberg@smsvb.net or Liz Allen at Lallen@smsvb.net if you have any questions or need a copy of the forms. 59 SMS students received scholarship money from this program last year that totaled $122,349!

Forensics: NO Meeting on 12/11; our next scheduled meeting is 12/18.