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Principal's Corner
Dear Parents,
This week I received a memo from the Diocesan Office of Risk Management. I have attached the memo and a copy of the section of the Parent/Student handbook that covers our arrival and dismissal procedures. I ask that you read the attached information and adhere to the guidelines stated for everyone's safety. Please understand that SAFETY comes before convenience. Patience is a safety requirement.
Please note: For everyone's safety and for good order, if you pick up your child from Extended Day and the carpool dismissal is still in progress, you must wait in the courtyard with students being dismissed. The dismissal process is set up to have all children secured in a safe place before cars are directed to move. Thank you for placing everyone's safety before your convenience and for cooperating with our system.
God Bless,
Eleanor McCormack
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Breezy Point
On Friday, November 30, 2012, Katie Fuller, Megan Fuller, Cindy Fuller (Katie and Megan's Mother), Alexandra Quaadman and myself, went to deliver the monies STM collected from our Dress Down Day and the matching funds from the PTO to our sister parish -- St. Thomas More in Breezy Point, New York. We were welcomed so warmly by the faculty, staff and students. The students' and families' stories of survival and courage were just amazing. Sister Pat, the Principal of the school, said that each one of these students has a story. One such story was of a 5th grade boy who took his grandmother to safety on a surf board because she is blind in one eye and their home was flooding. We also learned of a father who used wire to secure his family together as they escaped the raging waters. After we presented the check, STM sweatshirts, and our Prayer banner, I knew that our community could do more. I know that the STM community is a wonderful and generous group. I spoke with Msgr. Curran, pastor of St. Thomas More (who by the way went to school with Father Rippy in Rome - small world) and asked what they needed. Most of the families on Breezy are Irish Catholics - salt of the earth kind of people, who do not like hand-outs. But, they need help. If you can, please send in gift cards - to Home Depot, Kohl's, Target, and Lowes. I will get them to Msgr. Curran and Father Sean for them to distribute in Breezy Point.
There will be other opportunities to help these families since Mrs. McCormack has decided that we will continue to support them throughout the rest of the school year. Please keep them in your prayers. Thank you and God Bless. Tara Quaadman Please click on the link to the coverage we received in NY. NY1 Coverage
  
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 Pizza Lunch This Friday Benefitting Third Grade |
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Book Fair - This Saturday December 8, 2012
Barnes and Noble Seven Corners Center Route 50 Falls Church, VA
Come see our Choir Sing Christmas Carols at 10:00am
After shopping at any Barnes and Noble, present your voucher with our unique bookfair number (10914273) with your purchases. We will send more vouchers home with the students closer to the 8th and you can pick up extra vouchers in the STM office. You can also shop online the day of the book fair and 5 days after the instore bookfair (December 8th-13th). Simply enter our book fair number (10914273) on the payment page to identify your purchase. It's easy! We shop, and Barnes & Noble gives STM a percentage of net proceeds from the bookfair sales. Remember, the more supporters shop in store and online, the more we earn. Note re: on line purchases: On the payment page for your online purchases, you will see a prompt "Check if this is a Bookfair Order". When you click on it, you will get a payment screen where you can enter your book fair ID number (10914273) in the space provided. Flyer Vouchers |
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Blessed Mother Grotto Dedication this Saturday, December 8, 2012
You are invited to the dedication of the
Blessed Mother Grotto
after the 12:05 mass on December 8th
St. Thomas More Cathedral
3901 Cathedral lane
Arlington, VA 22203
Grotto is located between Bishop's residence and side door of Cathedral-facing Thomas Street and circle drive of Cathedral.
Doug Lorge, an alumnus of STM Cathedral school and a Boy Scout with BSA Troop 111 wishes to thank all who made his Eagle Service Project become a reality and a beautiful place for prayer.
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Breakfast with Santa - Many Thanks!
This year's Breakfast with Santa was fun for all. The PTO wants to take a moment to thank all of the volunteers who generously gave of their time in making this year's Breakfast with Santa such a big success. It was a wonderful event for our STM community, especially for our children, and we could not have held Breakfast with Santa without their help.
In today's hustle & bustle world, time is our most precious commodity and those who donate their time are the backbone of our STM community. Please join us in thanking:
Chris Abi-Najm
Regina Aquino-Smith
Tara Ashworth
Brenda Bauer
David Bayliss
Matthew Beck
Emanuele Cognetti
Jose Dimas
Bridgette Faber
Cristina Farias-Gomez
Cecilia Fernandez
Mary Fissel
Stephanie Fissel
Jaime Flores
Olivia Garrett
Dina Gebrehiwot
Lisa Grieco
George Hardman
Maggie Hickey
Tara Hicks
Lakeisha Kennedy
Jennifer Kerr
Natalie Leiva
Lucia Loveland
Dominique & Phil Ludvigson
Amy McConville
Morita Family
Chris O'Connor
Nancy O'Reilly
Elaine Perkins
Jane Posey
John Rider
Kristin Rider
Allison Tracey
Adrienne Vincent
Tadesse Woldehawariat
Donna Young
Traci Yourse
Michelle Zelsman
We also want to thank all those families who baked muffins and those who donated items for our raffle. All of these contributions greatly added to the success of this year's Breakfast with Santa.
To all those parents who volunteer throughout the year:
Please know that PTO members genuinely appreciate and value your commitment of time to STM and THANK YOU!
Happy Holidays!
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Order Your STM Spirit Wear!
If you missed us at the Santa Breakfast on Saturday - you are in luck and can still order your STM Spirit Wear. Show your school spirit and order today's fashion clothing with the STM name & logo! High quality, super soft long-sleeve Ts, fleece pullovers, and knit caps in time for cold weather are a few of the offerings. There is something fun for everyone.
Please see attached flyer and order form. Orders received by this Thursday, December 6, will be delivered before the holiday break - makes a great Christmas gift for grandparents, godparents, aunts, uncles and you!
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STM Auction
2nd Annual Stock the Cellar Party
Please join the STM Community for our 2nd Annual Stock the Cellar Party!
Thursday, December 6 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Grateful Red Wine & Gift Shop , 2727 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, VA 22201 (gratefulredwine.com)
The owners of Screwtop Wine Bar have opened a new wine and gift shop, Grateful Red, and want to host a tasting in support of the STM Auction. Admission is a bottle donation to the Instant Wine Cellar, which will be raffled at the STM Festival del Sole auction on March 2, 2013.
Friends and family are welcome to come and support STM. If we collect 100 bottles, we will split the cellar into two, so there will be TWO lucky winners!
Please RSVP via Evite, so the tasting can be appropriately stocked with tasty wines, cheeses and charcuterie! Please contact Ali Chen to receive the Evite at alichen0907@gmail.com.
RJ Thacher and Ali Chen
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STM Boy Scout Troop 2535
STM Boy Scout Troop, 2535 will be selling Advent calendars, wreaths and candles after morning masses and at Breakfast With Santa.
Cheers and Thanks, Chris O'Connor
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STM PTO adds Chick-fil-A Lunches to Friday Menu Options
PTO will be offering Chick-fil-A lunches on 5 Fridays during the year. Use the attached form to order a meal for your child.
Chick-fil-A Order form
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Lessons and Carols
You are also invited to hear the Youth Choir participate in a Festival of Lessons and Carols on Sunday evening at 7:30 in the Cathedral. The Youth Choir joins with the Adult Choir and the Handbell Choir in this beautiful Advent service. The students will be singing 2 pieces by themselves, and will join the Adult choir in singing two other pieces. In addition, Debbie Dereje and Natalie Leiva, two 7th grade choir members, will sing the opening solo. It is a beautiful service and a perfect way to reflect on the meaning of Advent.
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Enrichment Classes
New sessions of Enrichment classes will begin January 7, 2013. New classes will be added in the Winter Session - such as Math Lab, Mad Science, Yoga and Mobile Robotics. We are still working out the details and schedules. As soon as all the classes are confirmed we will send out information.
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 This Advent season Student Council chose to help our community by supporting children served by the Catholic Refugee and Relocation Center. Our students created gift request tags which are hanging on the Giving Tree in our front hallway. These were all requests given to us by the Center and are the very basic of needs for children who have recently arrived to the US and have need of the school supplies or warm clothes.
We have asked the students to go home and discuss this commitment with their parents before taking a tag from the tree. If you feel you would like to participate, please do so. We are asking that you return the unwrapped gift and the attached gift tag to school as soon as possible before December 14th . This will allow our Student Council members to get them to the center in plenty of time for Christmas.
Thank you for your generosity and May God bless you during this holiday season.
Sincerely,
STM Student Council
*Please consider donating to the Giving Tree instead of buying a teacher gift this Christmas.
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Help Needed
Mrs. Meehan needs parent volunteers for Tuesday, December 11, for Team and Club Picture Day (the time would be from about 9:00-2:00).
Please contact her at nmeehan@stmschool.org if you can help. |
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Toy Drive
The STM 7th Grade Cadette Troop 5744 is conducting a toy drive for the children of our sister parish St. Thomas More of Breezy Point, NY. Many of these families have lost everything and we hope to brighten their Christmas with lots of toys! Please place new, unwrapped toys for ages infant to 12 years in the boxes located near the office, in the lower hall and in the Cafeteria by December 17. For more information please contact Cindy Fuller
on 202-812-0801 or fullerdc@comcast.net.
Thank you for your help!
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  Library news The STM community was delighted to welcome authors Michael Keane and Adam Gidwitz this week to read their books and talk to STM students about being an author. The kindergarten and 1st grade students had lots of questions about Santa and how NORAD tracks him. Our 2nd through 4th graders told lots of their own stories about their moms and dads serving in our armed forces. Mr. Keane told them he was inspired to write this book while spending a Christmas in Afghanistan with moms and dads who were missing their families very much. We had a wonderful day. Today Adam Gidwitz arrives and the 5th through 8th grade could not be more excited! It promises to be a very spooky and exciting day for all. Thanks again to the PTO for sponsoring this series of authors' visits. I could not be more proud of the children's participation or the quality of the questions they are asking our visitors. STM has great students. Mrs. O'Rourke |
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Looking Ahead:
December 8, 2012
Barnes and Noble Book Fair at Seven Corners
December 9, 2012
Lessons and Carols
7:30pm
in the Cathedral
December 10, 2012
11:30 Dismissal
December 10, 2012
All School
Nativity
Miracle at Midnight
6:30 pm
in the Cathedral
Students arrive at 6:00pm in Burke Hall
December 13, 2012
Beginner and Advanced Band Concert
December 21, 2012
11:30 Dismissal
No Extended Day
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EBlast
Submissions for the EBlast are due on the Tuesday before the Wednesday Eblast. Send articles to:
Eblast@stmschool.org
Thanks! |
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Advent Weekday Masses
7:00 am, 8:15 am, and 12:05 pm 
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