Our Lady of Grace Catholic School eLion's Tales - December 6, 2017

A Message from Mrs. Anderson

Dear Families,  The beautiful season of Advent has arrived once again. The four weeks allow us time to prepare for His birth. The word Advent comes from the Latin, “Adventus” meaning “coming”. The four candles on the Advent wreath give us a visual picture of the preparation time with the third Sunday of Advent marked on the wreath with a candle of a different color. It focuses on “rejoicing” from the Latin, “Gaudete.” With only a few weeks to ready ourselves for the precious birth of Jesus, let’s make sure there is time spent in daily family prayer. Then at the end of the four weeks we can bow down to our Savior in acknowledgement of all our blessings. Many Thanks! To all the wonderful families who participated in the Christmas program on Saturday, thank you. The entire evening was spectacular. From beginning to end all was done well. Starting with the Mass with Fr. Paul and then the program in church sung and acted by the children, followed by the reception in Stack with Fr. Tom blessing us all, everyone enjoyed the true joy of the Advent season. Special thanks must be given to Paula Pita and her hardworking crew of volunteer helpers. Without the planning ahead and hard work setting up, serving, and cleaning up afterwards, none of the event would have come off so well. Science Teacher Hired: We are blessed to have a science teacher coming to step in while Mrs. Reily is out having her twines. Her name is Gina Markette. Gina comes to us with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics from Cal State East Bay and graduated from Castro Valley High School before attending CSEB. Her sunny smile and enthusiasm was exciting for all of us to see as she toured our school last week. She will shadow Mrs. Reily this Thursday to get to know the classroom routine. She will take over on December 18th since she needed to give her present employer two week’s notice. Next week Dr. Futagaki will cover Mrs. Reily’s classes so we are all set thanks to these wonderful teachers. Brother Chris has agreed to step in to teach 7th grade religion so your 7th grade students are in good hands all around. Welcome Ms. Markette!

Blue Cards! Blue Card Winners:  Congratulations to Izabella G. in 1st and Izzy E. in 6th grade for being the blue card winners this week! Thank you for showing Unity, Truth, and Love!

Looking Ahead December: 6th, Wednesday - St. Nicholas Day - Please have your child bring in an extra shoe! 8th, Friday - Minimum Day - Teacher In-Service 10th, Sunday - 5th Grade Donut Duty 11th, Monday - Preview day for the Holiday Gift Shoppe 14th, Thursday - Holiday Gift Shoppe - Please send your child with cash only, no checks 15th, Friday - Holiday Gift Shoppe - Please send your child with cash only, no checks 15th, Friday - Free Dress for December Birthdays! 21st, Thursday - Minimum Day - Noon Dismissal - NO KID KARE 22nd - 29th - Christmas Vacation! January: 1st-5th - No School - Happy New Year! 8th, Monday - School Resumes 12th, Friday - No School - Teacher In Service 14th, Sunday - 4th Grade Donut Duty 15th, Monday - No School - Holiday - MLK Jr. 19th, Friday - Spelling Bee - 1:15 p.m. - Stack 20th, Saturday - OLG Family Dance - 6:30 p.m. - Stack 26, Friday - Free Dress for January Birthdays! 28th, Sunday - Catholic Schools Week Begins! - Open House after 9:30 a.m. Mass 31st, Wednesday - Grandparents/Special Friends Day

A Message from the Parish FESTIVAL RESULTS ARE IN! We are pleased to announce the results of our Fall Festival. We received $44,658 in net profit. As is our tradition we commit 10% of our net profit to local charities benefiting families and children. Our Lady of Grace School received $20,129 of the net income and $20,129 will be used for expenses in the Parish programs. Thank you once again to all those who contributed to the success of our annual Parish Fall Festival.

SCRIP News  Safeway gifts cards are once again available in $25 and $100 denominations. You may purchase gift cards at the School Office or the Parish Office. If you are interested in placing a special order for gift cards for the holidays, please visit shopwithscrip.com to view all available vendors. Simply send in your order, along with payment, to Mrs. Russell. Special orders are processed within approximately 7 days. And don't forget, we do carry a number of popular vendors in our in-house inventory. Happy Holidays!

OLG Talents Show is February 2nd! Permission forms are due by January 9th. Please Click Here to print form. Permission for OLG Talent Show- 2018 Due: Monday, January 9th My child, ___________________________, has permission to perform in the OLG Talent Show on Friday, February 2nd at 1:15 PM. I understand my child’s performance must be two minutes or less and must adhere to the modesty/moral guidelines of our school. Performer: _______________________________________ Grade: _____________ Type of Act: __________________________________________________________ _____Performing solo _____Performing with other students; complete name other students in this group: __________________________________________________________ Parent Signature: ____________________________________________ Parent E-mail: _______________________________________________ Please note: the following are due no later than Monday, January 9, along with this permission slip (we cannot make any exceptions, please don’t ask): ~edited music (if applicable) on a CD labeled with the student’s name, grade or an MP3 emailed to Ms. Dito or Ms. Castillo ~lyrics (if applicable) We will e-mail you once we have all the forms to schedule our “dress rehearsal.” Those will be held either January 22nd or 25th right after school. Thank you so much for your support in this endeavor!  Sincerely, Ms. Dito and Ms. Castillo kdito@csdo.org ccastillo@csdo.or g

The OLG promo code for fox river socks is PR17OLG for 30% off and 30% comes right back to OLG. Click https://www.foxsox.com/ to order.

Our Lady of Grace is supporting 5 families who need our help this holiday season. W e still have families that need our help during the holidays. All of the gifts that were not taken from our tree in the Church have now been added to the SignUpGenius. If you are able to help, please log into  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d44a5a82fa3fb6-castro  and choose a gift to give. All gifts are due back by this Friday. We appreciate your generosity.

Please Click Here to print Toyology Registration Form

Click  Here  to order from Schwan's Cares and support OLG! You may also order by phone: 1-855-870-7208, Campaign ID: 34987

SCRIP NEWS We have recently been notified by our gift card vendor that Chevron has withdrawn from the Scrip Program. Safeway gift cards in both $25 and $100 denominations are now available.

Financial Assistance Applications for financial assistance through the BASIC Fund will be available beginning January 1, 2018. Go to www.basicfund.org to complete the application process or call (415) 986-5650.  If you are applying for financial assistance through the BASIC Fund, please notify Mrs. Russell in the school office.

2017-2018 School Calendar Please click   here to view.

Free Dress Pass Information To honor our monthly birthday students, please use your Free Dress passes other than Wednesday Mass day but not on birthday Fridays, the last Fridays of the month.

Parking Lot and Morning Assembly Driving through the parking lot at drop off and pick up: Please limit your speed to 5 mph in the parking lot when children are around. This is a very important safety issue. Please be sure your child is on time at the first bell as at the second bell each student has to be in his/her class line to avoid a Tardy slip. Parents, please stand at the back of the class lines so the class lines are paying full attention to the Student Council prayer time and pledge. Please do not walk your child to the gate to enter school.

Absences and Doctor's Appointments When your child is absent or has a doctor's appointment and will be arriving late or leaving early, please email your child's teacher and the school secretary at  csanchez@csdo.org . Please turn in a doctor's excuse to the school office. Please make sure your child has not vomited and is fever free for 24 hours before returning to school.

PTG Please click here for PTG Members and here for PTG meeting dates Click here for OLG 2017-2018 Room Parents

Support OLG by shopping on Amazon Smile! Click  here  and choose Our Lady of Grace Church & School.

1. Buy your favorite Box Tops products 2. Clip out the Box Top from each product.  3. Send your Box Tops to the school office. Ask your friends, neighbors, and family to save Box Tops. Each one is worth 10¢. Together we can raise $ for our school.

Important Notice from the Office Please be sure to fill out the  Request for Medication to be Taken During School Hours  form for ANY medication including cough drops and lotion like cortisone cream. There are forms in the school office and  here .

Deadline for Lion's Tales   Please note the deadline for submission to Lion's Tales is the Monday prior to publication. All flyers and articles must be submitted in PDF or JPG file format.  Thank you!

OLG Mission & Philosophy Mission Statement  Our Lady of Grace Catholic School serves a diverse community, models Christ through unity, truth, and love to create a balance of spiritual, academic, and social growth.   Philosophy Dedicated to living Christ's message, Our Lady of Grace is a Catholic school made up of students, faculty, staff and families working together with love and respect. While recognizing parents as the primary educators of their children, our community works together to develop individuals who are prepared to think critically, imbued with a strong sense of self-worth, and filled with a Christ-like approach to others.

Office:510.581.3155 | Fax: 510.581.1059| l http://www.olgschool.org