December 2016 SCHOOL NEWS St. John the Baptist Catholic School Newsletter Mark Your Calendar! Dec. 3: Breakfast with Santa Dec. 3-9: Scholastic Book Fair Dec. 8: 9 AM Mass, Reconciliation for grades 3-6 after Mass Dec. 9: Field Trip to York College to see A Christmas Carol Dec. 10: Retreat Day for Grade 4 (Bake Brownies and serve at the Lord s luncheon) and School Band concert at 2:00 PM in the Main Church Dec. 14: Mission Casual Dress Day. Donations will go to the Food Pantry. They are still asking for gravy and stuffing mixes. Dec. 15: Christmas Concert at 7 PM Dec. 17: First Reconciliation for Grade 2 at 10 AM in the Main Church Dec 17 and 18: Poinsettia Sale after all the Masses this weekend Dec. 22: Last day of school before Christmas vacation Dec. 23- Jan 2: No school, Christmas vacation From the Principal s Desk Wow, it s December already! Seems like just a short time ago we were welcoming everybody back to school. Every day I am inspired by the kindness and thoughtfulness the children and staff display towards each other to make St. John the Baptist School be a happy place to learn and grow. Every year at this time, we hear about peace and good will towards others. Our children live that out every day of their lives and is the underlying principal of what our faith is all about. I wish you all lots of love, peace and happiness all through the year. Merry Christmas. Jan 3: School resumes Scholastic Book Fair: Our Scholastic Book Fair will be open in the social hall 9:00-9:30 on Monday, Dec. 5 th Friday, Dec. 9 th. The book fair will also be open during Breakfast with Santa. Please stop by to check out the many books that will be on sale. They make great Christmas and birthday gifts! Volume 2, Issue 14 Page 1
U p c o m i n g E ve n t s Breakfast with Santa It s not too late to get your tickets for Breakfast with Santa. Seats are still available for the 10:30 AM seating. The 9 AM is sold out. Don t miss this delightful event. Be sure to bring your camera to capture those priceless moments when you child talks to Santa! Order online at https://st-johns.ticketleap.com Save the Date for the 2017 Auction and Dinner Dance on Saturday, April 29! The theme will be a Hawaiian Luau! If you volunteer 10 hours of your time to school events up to that date, you will be able to purchase 2-for-1 tickets to the event. Just go into the link for the volunteer sign up! http://www.stjnschool.org/volunteer-sign-up/ Missions Congratulations to Mrs. Miller's First grade class for raising $220 for the Pontifical Missions from their beautiful and scary decorated pumpkins! Mrs. O'Byrne's class will be decorating gingerbread houses in December. Students may again bring in their pennies to vote on their favorite gingerbread house. These proceeds will benefit our local food pantry. Thanks for your support. Catholic Schools Week To begin our Catholic Schools Week, the teachers of St. John's school will compete with the other schools in the York Deanery in a Minute to Win It style competition hosted by York Catholic. More information will follow, but please mark your calendar for January 28 th for our annual Battle of the Building at York Catholic. Come and cheer for our school! School Christmas Concert: This year our school musicals will take place on two separate days. Having our wonderful band playing at the end of the choir concert made the evening go too late for our children last year. This year, our band will be performing on Dec. 10 th at 2:00 PM in the main Church. Our school Christmas Concert is on Dec. 15 th at 7 PM, with the entire school participating. You are welcome to join us at both events the children have worked very hard for these presentations. Please feel free to invite as many friends and family as you wish to come and see their performances. We also ask each family to donate a small plate of cookies to share after the concert on Dec. 15 th. The school will provide treats for the band reception. Volume 2, Issue 14 Page 2
The students in the 5 th and 6 th grades attended the All Saints Day Mass dressed as saints and gave a brief history of their lives and accomplishments. Some of the saints portrayed were St. Luigi, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Elizabeth of Hungry, St. Padre Pio, St. Joseph, St. Ambrose, St. Agnes, St. Claire, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Gabriel the Archangel, St. Longinus, St. Dominic and St. John Neumann. REMINDERS SCRIP Don't forget to purchase your Scrip shopping cards for the Holidays from St. John's school. All the monies earned go towards helping students attend our school in the form of a scholarship. Scrip cards to many retailers are available. Snow closures: In the event of inclement weather or for any other event that causes us to cancel school, it's important to know what procedures we follow. You will receive a notice from the school (One Call Now) to your home phone, cell phone or email (or all of the above) if there are any changes to our school schedule. We also have announcements made on WGAL news 8 and FOX 43 if there is a delay or cancellation. Any change in routine will also be on voicemail (Julie/Kim) for the school. Volume 2, Issue 14 Page 3
STEM in our classrooms.the students were challenged to build a structure that could support the weight of a basketball using only popsicle sticks and clothespins. Five teams worked to construct sturdy bases to support the basketball. Volume 2, Issue 14 Page 4
Poinsettia Sale Our school will be selling Poinsettias in the atrium of the church on Dec. 17 th and 18 th. If your child can volunteer after the Mass you attend to help sell poinsettias and simply to greet the people in uniform, they will earn a free homework pass. Participating Makes a Difference! Spirit Night at Seven Sports Bar and Grill Spirit Night On November 9 th, St. John's patrons spent $2,320 on food and beverages! We receive 10% of our sales for that night, so total proceeds are $232. Thank you all so much for your support. Enjoying a night off from cooking benefits many! Bingo Night St. John s School held a CASH Bingo on Thursday, November 17 th at the New Freedom Community Center. It was a fantastic success! The event was a sell-out, and we even had to turn some people away at the door! St John s school received proceeds of over $8,000!!! Thanks to all parents and parishioners who came out to have a fun night and to support our school! Many people have expressed an interest in having another Bingo next year, so it may become an annual event. Papa John s Pizza Cards We still have coupon cards available for $10 each, and our school keeps the entire $10 proceeds! Buy a large pizza and get a medium pizza for free. The coupon card can be used 12 times. Papa John s even delivers. We have proceeds to date of $540! Please stop in the school office to purchase your card soon as December 31 st is the end of this fundraiser. Original Artworks Beautiful art pictures were completed by the children and sent to Artworks on Oct 17 th. They provided sample magnets displaying each child s art, and orders for items with pictures were placed on November 8 th. Orders will be ready for pickup here at the school on December 9 th. Clair s Gourmet was a great success! The school made proceeds of almost $1,000! Thanks to all who purchased items for this fundraiser. Volume 2, Issue 14 Page 5
Principal s Awards This award is given for being kind, helpful and compassionate. The following students have earned the Principal s Award The following students all won awards for helping another student in a time of need: Tyler Burgess Emma Crone (twice!) Jacob Kelchaw Joey Kelchaw Jake McKnight Mason Miller Gabrielle Simmons Wyatt Traband: Cleaned up the mulch without being asked. Volunteering... This is the season to give...give the gift of volunteering. Our events depend upon the generosity of time and talent from volunteers. The events are outlined on our website: http://www.stjnschool.org/volunteer-sign-up/ Recently, one of the students stated that volunteering made him feel as if he was making a difference for our school and it gave him the chance to meet other kids from the parish. He further stated that he loves doing it because he can help the younger children. Last year, a student who helped at Breakfast with Santa was disappointed that there was not another breakfast on Sunday. What a generous heart! At such an early age this young child understood the rewards of volunteering. The time commitment is minimal. The rewards of making a difference last a lifetime. Give yourself the gift of giving this year.give your time. Volume 2, Issue 14 Page 6