School Newsletter 12-10-20

Happy Advent!

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is only 15 days away! As a reminder to all families, our Christmas break runs from Wednesday, December 23 until Tuesday, January 5.  There will be no one at the school campus so please conduct your business prior to break. Remote instruction begins on Wednesday, January 6 and concludes on Friday, January 15.

We will not be hosting extended care services during the Christmas break or during remote instruction as we had no one contact us with a need for the services.  This means that no one will be on the school campus until Tuesday, January 19.

We hope everyone has a safe, peaceful, and blessed Christmas and New Year! 

Advent Prayer for Children

Dear God, we eagerly await the birth of your Son, Jesus, with a hopeful heart.

Help us to stay awake and alert to your presence in our lives,

And may we see Jesus in one another this Advent season.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen

I-Ready Diagnostic Testing

New this year, all St. Gerald students from kindergarten through eighth grade will be tested in I-Ready for proficiency in math and reading.  I-Ready is an online formative assessment.  It helps teachers determine what skills the students have and what skills they are ready to learn. 

The Archdiocese of Chicago urged all schools to adopt I-Ready this year as a way to track student progress, or lack thereof. Kindergarten, first, and second grade students tested in October. We are now ready to test students in third through eighth grades after securing funding from District 123 to pay for testing. Third through eighth graders will test in both reading and math next week.

These tests do not get “graded” and do not count like normal tests.  They are measures for teachers to learn where students are in relation to grade level skills.  If you have questions about the tests, please reach out to your child(ren)’s reading and math teachers. 


Advent Cheer

This year more than ever before, we need some holiday cheer!  While our activities have been canceled due to the pandemic, we want to celebrate with our students, staff, and families in other ways.  Instead of “Christmas Around the World”, we’re doing “Christmas Around St. Gerald”! Take pictures of some family traditions or activities that you are observing and email them to Mrs. Blaha,  ablaha@stgerald.com. Maybe your family bakes Christmas cookies or makes a gingerbread house? Or maybe your family decorates a tree together or opens days on an Advent calendar?  Whatever fills your home with holiday cheer can help all of us smile these days! Just snap a picture and send it to Mrs. Blaha with a brief description of the tradition. We’ll post these to our Facebook page so that everyone can enjoy some Advent Cheer!


Parish Registration and Donations

After the holidays, the school will begin reaching out to families who are receiving parishioner tuition rates but aren’t registered at the parish.  If you haven’t registered yet, but are receiving parishioner rates, please register online asap. Our tuition is subsidized by the parish.  If families are receiving parishioner rates but aren’t contributing to the parish, the school has to make those funds up.  Please join the parish and donate via Mass envelopes or online. After the holidays, we will also check the status of donations from our families.  The office has had some requests for donations “owed” to the parish.  We’ll update that in January so as to not tax families right before the holidays.  If you would like to make a donation to the parish prior to December 31, you may donate online or send in a check.


Empower Illinois– Important donation information

The state of Illinois created the Invest in Kids Act several years ago.  It is a scholarship fund for schools like St. Gerald.  The Invest in Kids Act helps kids from low-income households attend Catholic and other private schools of their choice.  The way the act works is donors give funds to one of the scholarship granting organizations in the state – we use Empower Illinois– and the donors may specify which school (St. Gerald) the funds go to.  The school then gets those funds to pay tuition for students in need. The donors in turn get a 75% tax credit for the funds! 

Right now, the Archdiocese of Chicago is making the donations even more profitable for schools.  They are matching all private donations 2:1 until February 28! For example, if St. Gerald raises $10,000 in private donations, the Archdiocese will give us another $20,000!  That would bring our scholarship funds to $30,000 for next year, helping a lot more families meet the tuition. Watch for a letter and more information on how you can support this endeavor over the next few weeks.  It is a win – win for the donors and for the school!  For example, if a person donates $1000.00, they get a $750.00 tax credit. It’s a great way for both parties to operate. Please consider donating.

For more information, please go to:  http://track.spe.schoolmessenger.com/f/a/0xp1OAt2dVFclx8PvaPgdw~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRhs9T7P0SNaHR0cHM6Ly9zY2hvb2xzLmFyY2hjaGljYWdvLm9yZy90YXgtY3JlZGl0LXNjaG9sYXJzaGlwcz91dG1fc291cmNlPUludGVybmFsJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09SGVybyUyMEJhbm5lciZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249VGF4JTIwQ3JlZGl0JTIwU2Nob2xhcnNoaXBzVwdzY2hvb2xtQgpfz3uh0l_ey8luUhNkYW5jZXJjZW9AeWFob28uY29tWAQAAAAB


Calendar Reminder:  The next Out of Uniform day will be Friday, December 11. Students may bring in $1 and be out of uniform for the day.


Cold Weather Reminder: Please make sure that students have coats, hats, and gloves for outside recess each day.  We will take the kids outside for fresh air whenever the windchill is 30 degrees or higher and no snow or rain.


Virtual Make-up Snow Days

Since we are approaching the winter months, we wanted to remind everyone that “snow days” are now virtual learning days.  If we have to cancel school in person due to weather, students will log into their Google classrooms and learn online for the day.  This will keep us from having to add days to the calendar in June. When information goes out to cancel school, students will be prompted to check their homeroom teacher’s Google classroom.


Mothers Club:

To All St. Gerald School Parents:

Christmas is the perfect time to share our love and gratitude with our children's teachers and school staff.

Mothers' Club will provide the opportunity for you to show your genuine appreciation by collecting and distributing a staff Christmas Fund.  It has been very successful in the past and crosses off a few people on your list, too!

If you would like to participate and make a donation to the Christmas Fund, please send a check payable to St. Gerald Mother's Club, and return it to school no later than December 18th  to:  Mothers' Club – Attn:  Sharon Duggan.

A card listing all the participating families will be included with each monetary gift.  Teacher and staff gifts will be distributed on Tuesday, December 22nd.

We are truly blessed to have such dedicated teachers and support staff tending to our children's education, spiritual, and social needs.  What a great way to say "Thank You!"

If you have any questions, please let us know. 

Happy Holidays!

​Marla, Sharon, Jen, Nikki, and Lisa


Manna Information:

Important Information for Manna Christmas Orders

The final order date for Manna in time for Christmas is THIS SUNDAY DECEMBER 13TH BY 6PM. 

To order, please print out the order form on the parish or school website. Fill it out, enclose your check and drop off at the school or parish office. There will not be any manna pick up dates from December 18th to January 3, 2021. 

You may also email your order by December 13 to   development@stgerald.com. Emailed orders can be paid for at pick up. No orders will be sent home without payment.

Thank you and Merry Christmas! Let’s look forward to 2021!!

Manna Team