School Newsletter 4-15-21

REMINDER: Tomorrow is our monthly out of uniform day. Students may dress down for $1. Proceeds this month will go towards a Student Sunshine Fund. This fund provides small “get well” gifts to students who have been hospitalized or had surgery.

Uniforms: Students may continue to wear gym uniforms or spirit wear through the remainder of the year. Students may resume wearing shorts, weather permitting. Please keep in mind that students will go outside for recess whenever possible so make sure they wear pants/sweatshirts on cool days.

CALENDAR REMINDER: We will dismiss at 1:30 on Wednesday, April 28 and there will be no school on Friday, April 30 for a religious staff development day. Please contact the office by Monday, April 26 if you need extended care services for April 30.

2020 (Last Year’s) First Communicants

Wednesday, April 21 will be a make-up photo day for First Communicants from LAST YEAR. Because of the pandemic, we did not take any class photo for First Communion. This year we are making that up at 4:00 on 4/21.

Current (2021) First Communicants that weren’t able to have their pictures taken earlier this year may get pictures taken on April 21 as well. Please let Mrs. Reynolds in the office know if you will be making up missed pictures that day.

May Crowning

A May Crowning ceremony will be held this year at 1:00 on May 11 in the church for 8th graders and their parents only. Due to the on-going pandemic, we must maintain social distancing and cannot invite other guests. We know that this usually a time to bring a couple of grades together, but with the new COVID variants and on-going health risks, we must be vigilant in maintaining smaller groups. We apologize for any disappointment this causes.

Save the date: We will be hosting Father Malcolm Memory Walk on Friday, May 21 (rain date Friday, May 28). All proceeds will go to the school. This walk will take the place of field day this year since we can’t share equipment or combine cohorts.

Students will be challenged to get donations from family and friends to complete laps around the parish/school campus. The laps will have a few twists and turns to keep them fun for the students. And, there will be prizes for the 3 cohorts (homerooms) that raise the most donations!

Since this will be an outside event, we will be asking for parent volunteers to join us. If you’d like to help supervise or hand out refreshments, please email Mrs. Markham, [email protected]. We’re looking forward to making this a fun-filled day!

Class of 2021 Graduation

Congratulations to our 8th graders! Before we know it, they will be in high school!

We will be celebrating their accomplishments this year on Sunday, June 6 at 3:00 in the church. Due to social distancing requirements, only parents and graduates may attend the Mass and ceremony in person. We will set up virtual viewing for other family and friends. More information will be sent home next month.

Mr. Bilotto, Gym Aide

It is bittersweet that we inform everyone that Mr. Bilotto (Mr. B.) is no longer at St. Gerald. While he loved working with the kids and really enjoyed how respectful they are, he has accepted another full-time teaching position to finish the year. We appreciate that he stepped up to help us this year and we wish him well.

Mrs. Prieto (St. Gerald parent) will be filling in as we end the year. We will be hiring a gym teacher for the upcoming year, as well as some other special instructors for classes that we lost due to the pandemic (computer, library, etc.) It is our goal to offer specialized instruction in a subject (computers, library, gym, foreign language, music) to students each day as part of an enriched curriculum.

Summer Camp

This summer we will be running summer camp. The camp will be split into 3 – 3-week sessions. We are working on organizing activities now and should have more information available the first week of May. The first camp will tentatively begin June 14 and end July 2. Updates, schedules, and activities will be forthcoming. To create safe cohorts, participants will sign up for a 3-week session at a time. New participants will not be admitted until the next 3-week camp begins.

DRIVE THRU MC DONALD'S FUNDRAISER

When: Wednesday April 28 from 4-8 pm

Where: 10533 S. Cicero, Oak Lawn

20% of food purchases will be donated to St Gerald School

100% of apple pie purchases at the second window will be donated to St Gerald school

100% of tips placed in the tip jar go to St. Gerald School

(cash only for pies and tip jar donations)

REMEMBER TO SAY YOU ARE WITH ST. GERALD SO WE GET CREDIT FOR YOUR PURCHASE