September 3, 2010

Friday & Saturday, Sept. 10th & 11th Diocese of Charlotte Eucharistic Congress
Monday, September 6th NO SCHOOL! Labor Day
Tuesday, September 7th 4:15 pm Volleyball Game @ SMCS
4:15 pm Soccer Game – Away
Thursday, September 9th 4:15 pm Soccer Game @ Home
Friday, September 10th 1st Grade Trip To Schiele Museum
8th Grade Field Trip
Monday, September 13th Great American Fundraiser Due
4:30 pm Cross Country Meet - Away
Thursday, September 16th 6:00 pm Fun Fair Meeting In Library
4:15 pm Volleyball Game @ SMCS
4:15 pm Soccer Game @ Home
Sunday, September 19th Catechetical Sunday 10:00 am Mass

Liturgies: Friday morning we joined together with Father Arnsparger to celebrate the real reason we are here – to join together to pray and to take part in the Mass. Father Arnsparger wanted us to wait until he was back in town so he could open our school year with us. Friday was the Feast of St. Monica. St. Monica was a Christian during a time of Christian persecution. Through her prayers, she converted many people to Christianity including her husband. She taught St. Augustine to be a strong Christian and a philosopher of the church. Father Arnsparger brought these ideas to our students when he talked to them about how easy it is to talk about Religion and to study it just like we study Math and Science. However, just as learn to use Math and Science in our everyday lives, we must also learn to apply out religion training in our lives. We put our faith into practice when we speak well of each other, when we help at home, when we help and obey our parents, not because we have to, but because we love them. Father Arnsparger challenged our students, our teachers and our school to work together with you to be better people because they attended St. Michael School. This is a great theme for our year.
Eucharistic Congress: This is a unique opportunity to join with members of our whole Di0cese to celebrate our faith. Please join with us as we come together Friday evening and all day Saturday. For more information to the Diocesan Website www.charlottediocese.org for a complete schedule.
PTO Meeting and Parent/Teacher Meeting: We thank Deacon Art Kingsley for joining us to start our meeting and year with a prayer. We had great reports from our PTO President, Mrs. Mindy Seward, and then on to all of the special groups that do so much for our school. All of the groups, such as the Booster Club, the Fun Fair Committee, the Great American Fundraiser, the PTO officers and the School Board have all been working since the last school year to help make our school the best place, and this year the best year, for our students.
-The Parent/Teacher meetings were well attended, and it was great to see how strong our Middle School is this year with the great support of so many parents. Some teachers had almost 100% of their class represented that night.
-Again, thank you all for your great support, especially your great recruiting powers. As I said, we opened school this year with 201 students, only 4 away from our budgeted number.
Protecting God’s Children Workshop: St. Michael’s Catholic Church will host a Protecting God’s Children Workshop on Thursday, September 30th at 6:00 pm in the Parish Center. If you wish to attend, you need to register on-line at VIRTUS.com or call the church office. Remember, if you want to volunteer in the school for any reason, you must take this workshop and have a background check done.
Fun Fair T-Shirt Contest: Remember the Fun Fair T-Shirt contest for grades 5-8 ends on Tuesday, September 7th.
Carpool Notes: So far things have been running very smoothly thanks to everyone’s cooperation. Just a few helpful hints:
-Signs: Every year we ask you to have a sign with your name or child’s name on it large enough for us to see it through your windshield. Tinted windows, sun (or rain), glare, and “old eyes” often make it hard for me to see into your cars.
-Pick-Up: Please send a note to your child’s teacher if someone else is picking up your child, especially if they are not on the emergency card list.
-Please remember not to move your car even if you are ready to go until a teacher gives you the signal. Some of our little ones cannot be seen as they go between the cards. Again, thank you for your support and remember, safety is our top priority even if it takes a few minutes longer.
Website Update: Mr. Tom Riley, who has been working on the Parish Website has recently been helping us update our website. Right now, you will see several of our pages “under construction” as we update our information with Mr. Riley’s help.
Hospitality News: Thanks to those of you who signed up to assist with monthly teacher luncheons this year. We had a great response, but we still need more volunteers. Please contact Michele Sparks 704-810-6770 sparksmg@earthlink.net or Elizabeth Lowry 704-868-2664 melowry@carolina.rr.com. If you are in Kindergarten or second grade please call us to remind us. Those sheets were misplaced.
Presenting John Rosemond: The Gastonia Parish Nurse Ministry is presenting John K. Rosemond, family psychologist, best-selling author, nationally-syndicated columnist, America’s most popular parenting speaker on Wednesday evening, September 8th at 6:45 pm at First United Methodist Church Sanctuary. The event is free, however, there is a suggested donation of $5.00.