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Set of weekly School Newsletters
St. Henry
School Newsletter
“She wrapped him in
swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
because
there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke
2: 7
My goodness. Please have a wonderful, blessed and Merry
Christmas! I wish you all could have
been with us to celebrate the beautiful Advent mass with us on Wednesday
morning. The songs and readings were
full of anticipation and alleluias and excitement over the gift of the
Lord. And what a gift He was and is!
What a nice turnout for the
Christmas program last Thursday night! The music was delightful, the students
were truly precious, and the evening was a great prelude to the big day. Thank you for coming and thank you for all
the treats. By the way, $147.80 was
collected for the drumming curriculum.
Since the Home and School has so generously (again!) offered to cover
the remaining costs, we have ordered the equipment. How exciting.
And a HUGE thank you to all those who contributed individually. (A total of 1,138. 80 was collected that
way.) The actual cost was $3418.56. (Shipping and handling was 223.65 – grrrr!) We are also
hoping to be able to reimburse HASA some of their contribution from a grant
Mrs. Oestreicher applied for.) Anyway, we are looking for some neat
deliveries to come fairly soon.
I accompanied the fifth through
eighth graders and their teachers to the special showing of the Nativity
movie Tuesday afternoon. It was well
done -- pretty faithful to the Biblical
accounts and modest in how they decided to fill in the blanks. What struck me, however, assuming the
moviemakers had done their homework on the living conditions of that time and
place, was how very poor and simple and hard (by our standards) the daily life
of Mary and Joseph and Jesus must have been. How extraordinary that God chose
that time and place for his Son to come among us! How ordinary his life must have been
until the time of his preaching. He must
have looked and lived like millions of poor, peasant people before and after
him did and still do. God truly must have a special place in his heart for
common people and their daily lives. No
wonder the only physical thing Jesus asks for in the “Our Father” is daily
bread! That alone is a great blessing.
Our youngsters in grades 4-8 had
some preparatory geography bees in school recently in preparation for the
school level bee on the Friday of the week they come back to school after
vacation. Teachers asked me to share the
winners so far with you.
Congratulations, students, and good
luck on January 5th!
Grade 4: Brian Hogan and
Greg Magnan with alternate Caleb Walter.
Grade 5: Justin Drebenstedt
and Jessica Mallow with alternate
Angela Breunig.
Grade 6: Patrick Roche and
John Tesensky with alternate John
Wagner.
Grade 7: Francis Hertel and
Alicia Strupp with alternate Jacob
Jurgella.
Grade 8: Jarrett Beal and
Kate O’Connor with alternate Megan
Feilbach.
GRADE SIX NEWS IN A
NUTSHELL
As always, December has been a busy month for the sixth graders. This week we were able to walk to Towne Cinema in Watertown to watch The Nativity Story. The students were excited to have the opportunity to have a new way to envision the story of Jesus’ birth. After viewing the movie, we’ve had some interesting discussion comparing and contrasting what we know from scripture with the movie as well as the conditions the Israelites lived in during those times, and how their lives compared to ours today.
In reading class, sixth graders recently finished Where the Red Fern Grows. Although some hadn’t been sure about the book when they started it, by the final pages they were very involved in the story and its plot twists. After finishing the book, they moved on to short Christmas stories. Finding (and defining) unfamiliar words in the stories is giving the students the opportunity to increase their vocabularies in addition to enjoying the stories.
The sixth grade decided that for Christmas instead of giving gifts to one another, they would donate money to Catholic Relief Services, an organization that helps some of the poorest people in the world.
Thank you to all of the students (and some of their family members) who made such generous donations. How pleased Jesus must be! Merry Christmas!
Miss Boettcher
SPECIAL BIRTHDAY IS
CELEBRATED
The preschoolers have been busy preparing for Jesus in many ways. The first, of course, was the gift of music. I was so proud of them at our Christmas concert. Not only were they incredibly cute, but they also sang loudly and beautifully too!
Secondly, our room has become a Santa’s workshop. We have been very busy making our gifts for our parents. Just as the Wise Men gave Jesus gifts, we are excited to give the ones we love gifts also.
Our birthday party was definitely the highlight of the week. The Thursday kids decorated a cake for Jesus and the Friday kids enjoyed birthday treats from Tony Zinda. It was fun to sing to Jesus and Tony. Have a wonderful Christmas!
Mrs. Kemp
Dates
to Put on Your Calendar
DECEMBER
Friday 22 Christmas break begins
Mid-quarter reports go home
Both parishes grades 6-12 youth go caroling
at Marquardt Manor,
JANUARY
Registrations
for new students for school year 2006-2007 open. Official acceptance, based on Education
Commission criteria, done on Sunday, February 4. After that, first come, first served!
Wednesday 03 School
resumes
Grade
8 fills liturgical roles at 8:15 am Mass
Play
group in PC,
Athletic
Assn. mtg., computer lab,
Friday 05 Geography Bee, grades 4-8 in PC,
Athletic Assn. Parents’ Night
Monday 08 Home and School Association mtg.,
Tuesday 09 No
basketball practices – Net Retreat late afternoon and evening for high
schoolers
(Education
Commission also rescheduled for next week.)
Wednesday 10 Grade
6 fills liturgical roles at 8:15 am Mass
Friday 12 Student Council Crazy Day
No
basketball practices – Net Retreat for Grades 6-8,
Tuesday 16 Rescheduled
Education Commission mtg.,
Friday 19 Second set of Accelerated Reader points should be earned
by now (Grades 4-8)
Market
Day
Thursday 25 St. Henry/St. Bernard Winter Band Concert at St.
Bernard’s,
Friday 26 NO SCHOOL
Sunday 28 Catholic Schools Week officially begins!
FEBRUARY
Thursday 01 Annual school parents night out with HASA chili supper
(free!)and speaker. No basketball or
Meetings so
everyone can attend! Set it aside and line
up the babysitters for a nice evening out.
Saturday 17 Biannual
Parish/School Dinner Auction!
Memory
verse for January 3-5
Corinthians 12: 4
“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is
not inflated.”