Dear All Saints Families, 

Welcome to the second week of Advent.  As we prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ, we help the children by deepening their faith in God, our Father.  In all of our classes we have the Advent Wreath and talk about the meaning of Advent.  Ask your children some questions about Advent.  It would be a wonderful way to bring faith into your dinner conversation!  One of our great ways our school builds anticipation for the birth of Jesus is our Christmas play.  All Saints Catholic School is proud to announce the performance of "The Light Before Christmas" on Tuesday, December 6th at 6:00 PM in the gym.  After the performance our student groups will be selling cookies, hot chocolate, and flowers in the lobby.  It is a truly wonderful evening to see the glory of God in our children, followed by joyous community.  Thank you for helping celebrate the season.

If you have been to the school, you know that we are decorating the entrance and the school for the Christmas Season.  We put up our Christmas tree last Friday.  Our tree is filled with ornaments, made by our families past and present.  We invite all our new families to make a unique ornament that represents your family. Often families decorate a family photo and hang it on our tree.  Please help us to make our family tree beautiful with these memories by adding the unique touch only your family can add.

Thank you to Mrs. Yorty and all her Christmas elves who helped run the Santa Shop.  It was a huge success for our students.  It is so lovely to see the joy in the little ones buying things for mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa.  Our children have huge hearts and rejoice in the giving.  Thank you to our middle school families who also helped support the St. Peter Angel Tree by giving unwrapped toys to children in need.  Our participating in this church event is important and appreciated by Father Don and its organizers.  See above for two other small fundraisers our NJHS and Student Government do to add fun to the Christmas preparation and share goodness to each other.

On another note, it has come to my attention many families are taking extended holidays right now or leaving very early for the Christmas break. Our handbook clearly states:

" Trips and vacations taken outside of regularly scheduled school holidays without administrative permission or an absence for which the school received no note/notification is considered unexcused. The principal determines all excused and unexcused absences."

Without proper notification, a student could be given zeroes for all missed work. The reason schools have this in place is that an enormous amount of learning happens in all grade levels in a week.  That amount of missed instruction can lead to holes in comprehension down the road.  During this busy time of the year teachers cannot leave the classroom to reteach an entire week's worth of learning to one student.  Further, most often teachers gather the work before a child goes away and little or nothing is done.  This is frustrating.  I want all families to know that teachers work extremely hard to enhance learning and teach things in an engaging format that cannot be replaced by parent instruction.  Further, this year NO middle school exams will be done prior to the start of the exam schedule.  If exams are missed during the four day schedule, students will have to complete the exams after the holidays as schedules and times are too tight before.  Incompletes will be given on the report cards.  This puts an added stress on your child knowing he or she has to study for exams over the break.  Exam preparation with the teacher is critical in the process of learning to write exams for high school and college. We understand deaths in the family or illness cannot be planned.  These are excuses the teachers will accommodate.  It is imperative families plan their holidays that coordinate to our calendar.  We appreciate your attention in this matter.

CALLING ALL EAGLES.  If your child is interested in being part of the All Saints team for the JTAA Parade this Sunday, December 11th at 12:30 PM please ask them to see Mrs. Kim Maihack or Mrs. Eileen Malinowski.  Let's go team.  We won 3rd place last year and are working towards 1st this year.  We need your enthusiasm.

Kindly look in your child's backpack for the latest edition of The Messenger!