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A Message from the Principal
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Congratulations to Fiona Archer for a wonderful showing at the Diocesan Spelling Bee last Saturday. To read how she did, click HERE for Ms. Therrell's weekly message. You will also find an invitation to join Ms. Therrell at her monthly Coffee with the Principal, as well as read about a few school highlights.
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Progress Reports - Tuesday, March 8
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We are already approaching progress report time. We encourage parents with students in grades 3 to 8 to check the Power School Parent Portal on Tuesday, as that is the halfway mark for the quarter. Lower grades will provide hard copy progress reports to parents on Tuesday.
Parent Portal Reminders:
Go to https://arlingtondiocese.powerschool.com/public and enter your user name and password. Please keep your user name and password in a safe place so you will have easy access to the Parent Portal. Remember, three tries and your locked out. If you do get locked out, call the school office to request your account be reactivated.
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Tuition Assistance 2016-2017
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Families applying for assistance should submit their application and supporting tax documentation by March 14, 2016. Information can be found by visiting our website at stann@stann.org),visiting Smart Aids website at support@smartaidforparents.com, or by calling Smart Aid directly at 1-800-360-8027.
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Justice Is Served
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Justice is Served, a Friday collection of non-perishable food items, has been a service project in the middle school since 2004. Last year the Student Council voted to extend it to the entire school community during Lent to practice the first corporal work of mercy, Feed the Hungry. All grades are now involved in "Justice Is Served" this year and are asked to bring in nonperishable food items to be collected on all Fridays during Lent. There will be a large box marked "Justice Is Served" in each hallway every Friday morning. Food items should be put in these boxes upon arrival. Following morning announcements, Student Council members will collect and deliver the food to the Narthex prior to the start of our Friday morning Mass.
The food collected is given to the Arlington Food Assistance Coop to serve the needs of local families faced with not having the food they need due to poverty, loss of job, or other causes. Within the boundaries of our diocese, there are over 236,000 people who do not confidently know where their next meal is coming from. As you can see, the demand is overwhelming and our response needs to be substantial. Last Lent we raised over 800 items, we now have about 200 items raised; let's aim for 900!
Please be generous over the next two weeks.
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Lenten Sandwich Making - Grades 4 & PreK
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Sandwich making continues next week, Thursday, March 10, with 4th grade and preschool participating. Preschool students will be making sandwiches during the school day, while 4th graders will be going to the parish hall at dismissal to make their sandwiches. The remaining schedule, listing faculty and staff making sandwiches next week, is attached HERE in case our 4th grade parents would like to read details surrounding assistance needed. Permission forms for our 4th graders will be sent home via your room parents, and can also be found HERE.
Contact Amy Stephenson at raecsteph@aol.com or 703-527-2042 if you have any questions.
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Season of Lent
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Saint Ann Parish offers many opportunities to assist us in preparing for the Season of Lent. We have listed them below for your convenience. Be sure to review the list and take advantage of those opportunities that will help you along your Lenten journey.
Mass Times
Daily - 8:30AM
Saturday - 8:30am and 5:30pm Vigil
Sunday - 7:30am, 9:00am, 11:00am, and 1:30pm Spanish
Lenten Soup Suppers for Charity - 5:30-7:00pm - Parish Hall
March 9 - Chicken and Rice & Chef's Choice
March 16 - Hamburger ABC and Vegetarian (Chef's Choice)
March 23 - Beef Noodle and Chef's Choice
Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction
Thursdays in Lent through March 17 - 7:30-8:30pm - Chapel
Fridays (Except Good Friday) following 8:30am Mass in the Sanctuary or Chapel and concludes with Benediction at Noon
Stations of the Cross
Wednesdays March 9 to March 23 - 7:15pm - Church
School Stations - every Friday - 2:30pm - Church
School Living Stations - March 23 - 1:00pm - Church
Church Living Stations - March 23 - 7:15pm - Sanctuary
Hispanic Stations - Sunday's prior to 1:30pm Masses
Confessions - 7:00-8:00pm
Every Wednesday during Lent - 7:00-8:00pm
Saturdays - 3:45-5:00pm - English
Sundays - 1:00-1:30pm - Spanish
Holy Week and Easter Mass Times
Palm Sunday - Regular Sunday Schedule
Holy Thursday - 8:30am Morning Prayer, 7:00pm Bilingual Mass of the Lord's Supper, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until 12 Midnight
Good Friday - 8:30am Morning Prayer, 3:00pm Lord's Passion, 7:00pm Lord's Passion (Spanish)
Holy Saturday
8:30am Morning Prayer
7:30pm Easter Vigil (Bilingual)
Easter Sunday
7:30am, 9:00am, 11:00am and 1:30pm (Spanish)
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OPCYP Continuing Education Update
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GREAT NEWS! The Office for the Protection of Children and Young People (OPCYP) is currently making some changes to their requirements. An area of change will be the necessity of viewing the Keeping the Promise Alive video every year for continuing education. Going forward this is obsolete and will no longer need to be viewed each year. The diocese will be going to a new system where you will only need to update your continuing education every three years on your anniversary date of attending a seminar. All volunteers who attended a seminar prior to this year, and through 2015, will have a seminar anniversary date of July 1, 2015. This new system will begin in 2018.
The new program, Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse, will be conducted via an online video that will be sent to individuals on their anniversary date. For those who do not have email accounts, live viewing will be available on request. This program is updated and will provide more relevant information to assist our volunteers.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact Judy Karinshak at 703-525-7599.
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March is Nutrition Month
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To increase health awareness during this month, the Wellness Committee has planned the following:
- Update bulletin boards with health information in each building;
- Hold class sessions by our counselor on respecting our bodies;
- Nutrition lessons to be presented in PE classes;
- Healthy tips will be read over the intercom prior to lunch prayer on Tuesdays;
- Healthy snack discussions on Thursdays led by the student council representatives.
Help us to encourage healthy habits in our students this month and throughout the year.
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2014-2015 Saint Ann Variety Show Video
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THE 2014 AND 2015 Saint ANN VARIETY SHOW VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD!
As announced at the September PTO meeting, the 2014 and 2015 video editions of the Saint Ann Variety show are ready! Given the preference in this day and age for all things digital, the shows will only be available as video files (.mp4 and .mov) which can be downloaded through the online file transfer service, Dropbox. To access the content, please click HERE.
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Arlington County Stream Clean-Up
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The Madison Manor portion of the Arlington County Annual Stream cleanup would welcome the participation of Saint Ann students and Scouts. The cleanup will start with a brief presentation on stream conservation, introducing the concepts of surface water runoff, ground water, and watersheds.
This event will take place Saturday, March 19. The group will participate in Arlington County's Annual Stream Cleanup by removing litter from our local stretch of Four Mile Run. All participating will gather at 9:30 am by the Madison Manor Park picnic shelter. Waterproof boots and work gloves are strongly recommended. Bags will be provided. It is County policy that an adult must accompany children under 16 years of age. Please call 571-331-1478 or email jonathan.p.walsh@gmail.com if you plan to attend or if you have any questions.
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Family STEM Activity
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Are you looking for an exciting, yet educational, family activity and outing? Check out the USA Science and Engineering Festival in April. Follow the link below to find out more information.
The USA Science & Engineering Festival will be held at the DC Convention Center on April 16 & 17, 2016. Click HERE for additional information.
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A Message from Faith Formation for 6th, 7th & 8th Grade Students
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The Faith Formation office has created a SignUpGenius site to pilot an online opportunity to inform Saint Ann teens and their families of opportunities to earn service hours needed for Confirmation. Some key dates/opportunities to consider include:
- Classroom Aide for Kindergarten Faith Formation on Sundays
- Office Assistant on Wednesdays, Fridays or Sundays
- Penance Service Reception: March 12
- 1st Communion Retreat (also known as Jesus Day): April 30
- Vacation Bible School (VBS): August 1-5
For students preparing for Confirmation at Saint Ann, please note the minimum number of service hours is 15. However, we encourage our teens continue to engage in service through spiritual and corporal works of mercy organized through Saint Ann School, Saint Ann Parish, family, and through their own initiative. For Confirmation, students are required to submit a written reflection about the service they performed. We will provide more details, including a deadline, in the coming weeks.
Faith Formation would also like to extend this invitation of service to any 6th and 7th grade student, as well as those 8th graders preparing for Confirmation.
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Volunteer Reminders & Needs
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Below are sign up genius links for assistance. Sign up where you can.
Lunch Duty:
Library Assistance Needed:
Reminder for ALL Volunteers:
- All parents must be fully compliant with Diocesan Child Protection requirements if you wish to volunteer where supervision of students is involved. Compliance consists of attending a VIRTUS Child Protecton seminar, undergoing two background checks and filling out additional miscellaneous paperwork. Packets of paperwork can be obtained from the school office.
- When visiting/assisting at the school you must sign-in at the front office upon arrival. Volunteers will be given a pass. The pass alerts the faculty and students that you are an approved visitor.
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Smart Lunches
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Smart Lunches has provided us with their March Menu. Due to popular demand, you will see that they have added another Menu Week this semester! Once again, they are trying out some new menu options to keep their lunch offerings fresh, kid tested and approved!
While several schools will be on Spring Break the week of March 21st, Smart Lunches will be providing lunch services that week. Following are new offerings that will be available for you:
- Monday, Chicken Picnic Basket featuring classic picnic flavors of chicken, corn and cole slaw!
- Tuesdau, Chili and Cheese Baked Potato
- Wednesday, Corn Dogs
Check out the March Menu and give them a try, if you haven't done so already!!
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Summer Camp Opportunities
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Have you started looking for summer camp opportunities for your child(ren)? See below for your consideration.
Saint Agnes Summer Camps
Saint Agnes has put together another great summer camp program.
They will be offering a preschool and kindergarten camp and a camp for students in grades 1 to 8. Click on the following attachments to view your options.
CATHOLIC DRAMA & ART CAMPS
This camp has been providing day camps to students in Pre-K through high school in Theatre and Art for over 10 years. All instructors are faithful Catholics and VIRTUS approved. They only advertise through Catholic parishes & schools. Expert instructors in Drama, Music, Dance, and Art are providing one week camps this July for students as young as Pre-K and as old as high school. Learn from some of the areas top Catholic teachers within the creative arts through camps like Camp Broadway, Art Explorer, Drama Bootcamp, Creative Kindergarten, and Art Fun Camp. Registration is $20 off per camp through April 15th. Plus, families registering 3 or more kids can take an additional 10% off. All of the details can be found at www.SpotlightSummerCamps.com
Camp Veritas is a one-week "pray-and-play" sleep away summer camp for teens going into 7th through 12th grades. It will be held at Summit Lake Camp in Emmitsburg, MD from July 31 to August 6. The cost is $400 per camper (or $370 if paid in full by April 1) and scholarships are available. More details and enrollment forms for campers and adult volunteers (18 and over) can be found at www.campveritas.com.
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Newsletter Submissions
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Items to be included in our weekly newsletter must be submitted to jkarinshak@stann.org by Wednesday noon of each week in order to be included in that week's edition. All submissions must be in print ready form. Any items received after the deadline will be included in the following issue.
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St. Ann School Mission Statement
We, the family of Saint Ann Catholic School, embrace and share the Gospel values of Jesus Christ and His Church by fostering a faith-filled community. We promote an educational environment where everyone is respected, everyone learns and everyone is encouraged to reflect the glory of God by contributing to the greater good of our world.
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Saint Ann Catholic School is accredited by the
Virginia Catholic Education Association whose accreditation process has been approved by the Virginia Council for Private Education
as authorized by the Virginia State Board of Education.
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After School Enrichment Activities
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