January 19, 2018 Dear St. Al’s Families, Catholic Schools Week is fast approaching. Since 1974, National Catholic Schools Week is the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States. It begins on January 28th, the last Sunday in January and ends on Saturday February 3rd. The theme for the National Catholic Schools Week 2018 is “Catholic Schools: Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed.” Catholic identity is what sets Catholic schools apart from public, independent and charter schools. Our school has three key components to our identity: our Catholic faith-filled education, our academically excellent focus and, also important, our community. We are recognized by the Milwaukee Archdiocese as an Exemplary school for Mission and Catholic Identity. Here are some of our activities for our very special week: Sunday: Open House from 10:00am-1:00 Bring a new family! Monday: HATS OFF to Catholic Schools Wear your favorite hat. Tuesday: Thankful Tuesday--Special writing activity for students; no homework night. Wednesday: Buddy Day--special activity at 2:00pm Thursday: Spirit wear-wear your favorite team shirt/sweatshirt 4K-3rd grade Dance in the Community Room 4th -8th grade "Name That Tune" in the gym Friday: Service Project Day 4K-3rd grade can wear PJ’S 4th-8th grade can wear sweats Mrs. Wadzinski

Parents of St. Alphonsus, It is that time of year when we host an Open House for prospective families and provide tours on Sunday January 28th. We need parent tour guides! Our parents are our best ambassadors! If you have never given a tour before; don’t worry, we will provide you with talking points and a list of rooms to visit. Please use the  Sign-Up Genius  link to choose your volunteer time slot. For any questions please reach out to Kristin Wagner at  Kris0324@hotmail.com .   http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0b4ea9af2aa3f49-open P.S. Don't forget to invite friends and family who might be interested in visiting our beautiful school to see what we have to offer!

COME AND LEARN ABOUT THE ST. ALPHONSUS LEADERS IN VIRTUE (LIV) TEAM DURING OPEN HOUSE! Please take some time during Open House on Sunday, January 28th to come to the Community Room and enjoy a tasty treat! You will also have the opportunity to meet some of the St. AL’s LIV team parents, participate in a fun virtue based family activity and learn more about the VBRD program at our school. Hope to see you there! The purpose of the LIV team is to bridge the gap between faculty and parents on understanding Virtue Based Restorative Discipline (VBRD). The VBRD program has been used by the faculty at St Al’s for two years. We are in our third year of practice and continue to strengthen our mission by building relationships with families to expand the use of virtue in both home and school and by increasing awareness of how to live in virtue with God.

FAITH AND FAMILY DAY WITH THE MILWAUKEE BUCKS! We have the opportunity to sit at Center Court in the Upper Bowl for $21 a ticket if we can commit to at least 20 tickets. The Bucks have reserved at least 50 tickets for us and we hope that we will sell them all! Our time frame to order tickets is VERY SHORT so we need your order form and money returned to us - no later than Friday January 26th. Please return the following ORDER FORM and money to the school office by Friday January 26th. Tickets are reserved on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE basis. Contact Taimi in the office for questions (taimi@st-alphonsus.org) Cash or check accepted, made out St. Alphonsus School. FAITH AND FAMILY DAY FLYER

Parents, The cognitive testing to be held on Jan 24th is still open for registration. If you missed the session on the 11th, there is still time to register your child. You will be able to gain information on students processing speed, visual processing skills, auditory processing skills, memory, logic and reasoning. Understanding students cognitive skills can make a huge impact on learning. This is a computerized assessment that takes 40 minutes and the results will be yours to learn from. Kevin Pasqua will come to St. Alphonsus and hand-deliver the results on Jan 31st at 6:00pm. He will explain the test scores and help interpret the results.  You can obtain the registration form from Marita Thiele in room 327 or by email at  thiele@st-alphonsus.org.

Please note: The Mad Science date of February 5th has been moved to February 26th because the noon release time. Please adjust your calendar.

STAR TESTING RESULTS We have completed our second round of STAR Reading and Math assessments. The results will be coming home with students on Feb. 2nd in an envelope addressed to the parents. You will see a record of the tests taken so far this year along with a graph plotting the student scores for each test. We use this data to determine what types of differentiation we can do as teachers to meet the needs of each student. As parents, you can use this to determine if your child is making growth as you watch the scores trend upward. This can give you an indication of what academic areas to spend evening and weekend time with your child. Our hope is that with teamwork between teachers and parents, we will create a love of learning that leads to achievement in all of our students. We will administer at least one more STAR assessment this year.

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES 01/22/18 - 01/28/18 Scholastic Book Fair 01/22/18 7th & 8th Grade DC Parent Info Meeting 6:30 PM - 7:45 PM in MPR 01/22/18 Mad Science 3:10 PM - 4:10 PM 01/23/18 Chess Club 3:10 PM - 4:30 PM Room 200 01/24/18 Mass 8:00 AM  01/24/18 Unity T-Shirt Day 01/26/18 Non-Uniform Day 1/26/18 DEADLINE to order Milwaukee Bucks tickets 01/28/18 Open House for New and Current Families 10AM - 1PM 01/29/18 Mad Science 3:10 PM - 4:10 PM 01/30/18 Chess Club Room 200 3:10 PM -4:30 PM 02/05/18 12:00 NOON Dismissal 02/05/18 - 02/07/18 Dine Out at Topper's Pizza 27th & Rawson 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM (Attend one night and non-uniform on 2/8/17) 02/06/18 Chess Club Room 200 3:10 PM - 4:30 PM 02/06/18 Home & School Mtg. in Rm. 200 6:30 PM  02/06/18 NET Retreat for 6-7 grade Community Room 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM 02/09/18 FUN FAIR

SURVEY MONKEY In the next several weeks you will be receiving a Survey Monkey email regarding Church attendance. We ask that you be very honest. It is strictly anonymous. Your input will be very helpful. Thank you in advance. Pastoral Council

HELP!! The kitchen is requesting any extra food storage containers such as cool-whip containers, ice cream containers, cottage cheese and sour cream containters. If you have any that you would like to donate to the school kitchen, please send them into the school with your student. Thank you

LAST CALL FOR FUN FAIR RAFFLE ITEMS! The Annual Fun Fair is Friday Feb 9th - less than one month away!  If you, someone you know, or an area business would like to donate a prize for the Fun Fair Raffle table, we would love to have it! Raffle items, baskets or gift cards would be wonderful prizes! Basket themes may include but are not limited to: sports, arts, tickets, books, entertainment items, food, clothing, toys, movies, and more!  Please be sure the basket contains new items and that its value is a minimum of $30.  Please let Kerri Singer ( Kerri.S inger@wellscap.com ) know if you will be donating a basket or raffle item! Items will be need to be turned in to the school office no later than Friday Feb 2nd.  BASKET REQUEST FORM

Did you know one of the easiest ways to help make money for the school is by clipping box tops?? Each one is valued at 10 cents! Our last check from box tops was over $2,000 all from clipping box tops from participating products! So clip and turn in those box tops!   Current Classroom Contest Rankings for 2nd   Trimester:  ·         Mrs. Ramion 1st place ·         Ms. Uciechowski 2nd place ·         Ms. Boyle 3rd place

YEARBOOK ORDERS Yearbook order forms were sent home with your student this week. Don't wait! Order now! Return orders to school by March 9th. Cost is only $10. Make check payable to Scholastic Reflections. If you did not receive an order form please let your child's teacher know.

 SAFETY PATROL  Cadets should report at 7:15 a.m. each scheduled day. They will have the privileged responsibility of assisting our parents and students during morning drop off.  They are supervised by a staff member.   January 22nd - 26th: Mrs. Ligocki William H. Andrew H. Finley G. Tyler K. Karl K. Dylan M.

ST. ALPHONSUS HAPPENINGS

FUTURE CITY CHAMPIONS!! Please join me in congratulating both of our Future City Teams for an excellent performance at the Regional Competition. We would like to thank all of you for your prayers and help.   Team Sedai (Maggie, Abby, Isaac, Isabelle, Grace, and Quentin) are the Regional Champions and will represent Wisconsin at the finals in Washington D.C. starting February 17th. They won the award for Best Essay (Note of gratitude to Mr. Strangfeld). Additionally, the team was one of 5 finalist out of 66 teams. During the finals they were impressive. They answered questions professionally and calmly (another note of gratitude to Mr. Strangfeld and forensics).  Terra Sem Idade (Coleman, Tori, Karl, and Jack P) were also flawless and deserved to be in the finals. Unfortunately, only one team from each school could be in the finals. They still won the award for best Healthcare system. The team also piqued the interest of Mayor Barrett who visited the team and their model. Congratulations for a job well done! Both teams put many of hours of work into their projects. I am proud of ALL of their hard work.  In gratitude, Mary D Team Sedai Team Terra Sem Idade

EXCITING NEWS! Our Future City Champs will be featured on The Morning Blend next Wednesday January 24th. The Morning Blend airs on Channel 4 from 9am to 10am.

FUN FAIR

FUN FAIR IS 3 WEEKS AWAY!! Fun Fair is 3 weeks away - February 9th 5:30-8:30 pm  in the Gym, Community room and MPR! See the following link for a description of some of the fun and exciting things you can expect at the 2018 Fun Fair Carnival! We have some great raffle items this year!  RAFFLE INFORMATION Also see the link to the Advanced Ticket Order form! Save yourself time and order tickets for general raffles and games ahead of time!  ADVANCE TICKET ORDER FORM Thank you to everyone who sent in prizes/money for the prize room! Your donations are greatly appreciated.  Also, just a reminder to the 7th grade families to send in to the school office, their 4 cans of pringles and 8 pack of 20 oz soda bottles for the ring toss game.  Thank you!  The 6th Grade class Please direct any questions about Fun Fair to Madeline Schmidt ( madelinedahl@hotmail.com ) or Wendy Halser ( wendybettinger@hotmail.com )

HOME AND SCHOOL CORNER

8TH GRADE COUSINS SUB FUNDRAISER Reminder!! 8th grade Cousins subs luncheon is on Friday February 2, 2018.   For $5.00 your student will receive a Cousins sub, chips, dessert and water. Please return one order form per student with a check made out to St. Alphonsus Home and School no later than Friday January 26, 2018. The forms were sent home with your student last week, however a copy is also attached.  Any questions, please contact Lisa Graber  (414) 807-2767 . Thank you for supporting our 8th grade class! ORDER FORM

Scholastic Book Fair Next Week! This year our Scholastic Book Fair will be held Monday & Tuesday, January 22 nd & 23 rd , through Sunday, January 28 th in the Community Room. Grades 4K through 8 will preview books on Monday & Tuesday and will have the opportunity to purchase books on Wednesday and Thursday. 3K families will have an opportunity to shop during the school day on Wednesday, January 24 th & Thursday, January 25 th , from 10:55-11:20am. The Book Fair will also be open on Saturday, January 27 th , from 5:15-6:15pm and on Sunday, January 28 th , from 8:30am-1:00pm. Here are a few details: ·          Books may be purchased with cash or check made out to St. Alphonsus Home and School. Charge cards will ONLY be accepted on Saturday and Sunday. Do not add sales tax to payments. ·          On Wednesday and Thursday, any child who spends $20 or more may fill out a raffle slip for a chance to receive a free book or poster. ·          Please review the information sent home in back pack mail this week to ensure you have all the details on the Scholastic Book Fair and how to participate! ·          The Online Book Fair will be open January 17 th through January 30 th . Any books purchased online will benefit the school. See the below link to access our book fair electronically: http://www.scholastic.com/bf/stalphonsusschool10 If you have any questions, contact Lindsay Rugg at 414-617-6180 and thank you for supporting your child's reading! You are invited to please help us out at our upcoming Scholastic Book Fair! Help is needed for set-up & clean-up, on both weekdays (Jan. 22 - 25) and the weekend of January 27 th and 28 th . We're using SignUpGenius to organize our sign-ups. Please click this link to sign up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4fa4a92cabf94-volunteer Thank you for your help in making this year's Scholastic Book Fair a success!

FISH FRY 2018 This year's fish fry is less then one month away!  We'd like to invite everyone to join us at fish fry on Fridays during Lent. Invite your friends and family to the weekly St. Alphonsus fish fry. The fish fry is an important fundraiser for our school, and we couldn't do it without everyone helping out. Sign up today, there's so many ways to help! We're looking forward to seeing everyone there! >>  Sign Up Today!  << Grade Hosting Schedule Feb 16 - 8th Grade Feb 23 - 7th Grade Mar 2 - 6th Grade Mar 9 - 5th Grade Mar 16 - K3 / K4 / K5 / 1 / 2 Grade Mar 23 - 4th Grade Mar 30 - 3rd Grade Questions? Please feel to reach out to Michelle Waddle -  mlwaddle@gmail.com or Mandy Sowa -  mandy1212.sowa@gmail.com

UPCOMING HOME & SCHOOL MEETINGS Feb 6th (tentative) Topics: Fish Fry, Recap of Jan events Mar 6th  (tentative) Topics: Fish Fry May 1st (tentative) Topics: Teacher appreciation week

SCRIP

 When and where is Scrip available in the next week? Sat. Jan. 20 th   4:00 - 4:30pm in the Community Room Sun. Jan. 21 st   8:30 - 11:00am in the Community Room Thurs Jan. 25 th  Backpack mail (Please send orders in by Wednesday) Fri. Jan. 26 th      7:30-8:30 am in the School Lobby    Stay up to date with Scrip Follow us on Facebook for the latest news. Find us at: https://www.facebook.com/StAlphonsusScrip/

IN OUR COMMUNITY

CMH Sports Shadow Day MONDAY JAN. 22, 2018   7 th  & 8 th  Graders are invited to see what a day is like as a student at Catholic Memorial and participate in fun sports-related activities throughout the day!   SIGN UP AT:  www.catholicmemorial.net AND CLICK ON ADMISSIONS & VISIT US!

CMH Fun Friday January, 26 th  2018 6:15pm-8:30pm All 7th and 8th graders are invited to attend! Come to CMH to meet and socialize with your future classmates at a Pizza Party followed by a CMH vs Mukwonago Varsity Boys Basketball Game...all for FREE!!! Students should be dropped off and picked up at the main entrance of CMH (main entrance is located off College Ave. on the circle drive) and check in for the event in the Cafeteria. Students should be picked up after the end of the Basketball Game (approximately 8:30pm) RSVP at  www.catholicmemorial.net  and click on CMH Fun Friday!

FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN PREVIEW NIGHT Mark your calendar for the Freshman Preview Night on both February 5th and February 7th at Franklin High School. This would be for any 8th grade students who might be attending Franklin High School in the fall of 2018. Please see the flyer HERE for more information.