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Dear Parents,
October is a very special month in the Catholic Calendar as it is known as the Month of the Rosary. STM continues to practice the Marian traditions established by our founding order, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Prayer is powerful, especially when prayed sincerely by children. On Monday, students in grades 3 to 8 gathered in the Cathedral to pray the Rosary and venerate our Blessed Mother. Earlier that day,
the middle school students were asked to join Most Reverend Bishop Burbidge in prayer at Mass "to bring an end to all violence in our world and nation so that we can live together in unity as members of God's holy family and together profess victory that is ours in Christ Jesus Our Lord. Amen." We are so pleased that the Bishop has established a personal connection with our students and they with him.
Please be sure to read further in this week's Blast for a link to registration for the 2018-2019 calendar year. Registration for current families opened yesterday, October 3rd.
God
Bless,
Eleanor McCormack
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| Most Reverend Bishop Michael Burbidge greets STM students as they depart from Mass |
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CHICK-FIL-A THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, FOR YEARLY SUBSCRIBERS
A Chick-Fil-A lunch will be served this Friday,
October 5,
to those students who purchased Chick-Fil-A for the 201
7-18
school year.
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PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
Remember to Save-the-Date for a portion of either Thursday or Friday afternoon, November 9 and 10. These are the dates reserved for annual Parent-Teacher conferences. A Signup Genius link will be sent out next week to all parents so that they can schedule a conference with their child's teacher.
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NEWS FROM THE STM LIBRARIAN
Bestselling author Ridley Pearson is coming to
St. Thomas More on Friday, October 13 to speak to students in 4th through 8th grade. He is the bestselling author of over fifty novels, including
Peter and the Starcatchers (co-written with
Dave Barry), the
Kingdom Keepers
(A mystery series about Walt Disney World) and
Lock and Key (a series about young Sherlock Holmes and
James Moriarty). We are very excited to have this wonderful author share his knowledge of writing with our students. An order form for his books will be coming home with your students or you may follow
this link to print and send it in yourself. Thank you for your support!
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RE-REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN 
Registration is now open for
current STM families.
Please click
here
to
be directed to the site and the digital registration form.
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STM STUDENT COUNCIL
DRESS DOWN FOR CATHOLIC CHARITIES
Are you ready to show your tropical side? The STM Student Council is sponsoring a Dress Down Day on Wednesday, October 11, 2017, and the theme for the day is "Island/Tropical!" So bring out your Hawaiian shirts and dresses! Don your favorite bright colored floral clothing! Wear your lei! Let your outfit be sunshine!
To participate, we ask that each student bring a $1 donation to support Catholic Charities and their mission throughout the world. The money will be collected on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 in all the homerooms.
Please do remember: though we want the students to have fun with what they wear that day.
They must follow the guidelines outlined in the handbook, so please no open-toed shoes, flip-flops, sandals, or anything heeled. The students have recess everyday and it is important that the footwear suit the activity they engage in at STM.
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION
FOR STUDENTS RECEIVING CONFIRMATION OCT 2017
Girls Retreat - October 14, 2017
Girls meet at
8:00 am in the Cathedral parking lot. Groups will be going to the Franciscan Monastery for the day and will return to the Cathedral in time to attend
5:30 pm Mass with families.
Sunday, October 22, 2:30 pm: Rehearsal Students and Sponsors
Monday, October 23, 6:00 pm: Confirmation Students and Sponsors meet in Burke Hall
7:00 pm: Confirmation Mass
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STM SEAPERCH
FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS
Students in grades 6 to 8 are invited to participate in "SeaPerch," a STEM based curriculum project developed by MIT in which students build underwater rovers from a basic kit of everyday materials. The program introduces students to the basics of engineering and physics as they learn how to use tools to create an underwater robot, then modify their design, test and troubleshoot electrical connections, and finally remotely navigate their vehicle through a series of underwater challenges.
The first STM Sea Perch meeting and build/revisions will be this Saturday, October 7 from 9-11 a.m. in the STM cafeteria. Formal registration will take place at that time for new and returning middle school students. The second meeting will be the following Saturday, October 14, from 9-11 a.m. in the STM cafeteria.
Parent attendance is an absolute requirement for this project.
All parents must complete certain paperwork and attend Virtus training
BEFORE the first build session in order for their child to participate. All parents must attend all the build sessions and all competitions with their child.
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FAMILY ENRICHMENT/DC
Family Enrichment DC is offering their First Steps Course this Fall and Spring. Designed for parents of children 0-3 years old, the course utilizes case studies to enhance communication skills for parents to help you discover practical tools for raising your kids that will be useful for the rest of your life.
Register quickly, since the first meeting is on October 21! See
www.fe-dc.org for more details and to register.
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INCIDENTAL FEES
Parents--Please take a few minutes to log on to your FACTS account and review and pay your incidental fees.
Auto-payments do not roll over from year to year so you may need to reactivate your incidentals account for auto-pay. Families with an outstanding incidental account will not receive their child's report card. If you have any questions, please contact Tara Ashworth via email at
[email protected].
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RACE FOR EDUCATION
STM's Race for Education 2017
(October 25, 2017) has gone digital! Students
created donation pages in the computer classes. A
n email was sent to parents with a link to the student's page. Students in grades 6-8 will use their school email accounts.
Now that these sites are created, they can be used to solicit donations from friends and family!
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ATTENTION ALL STM HOOP PLAYERS!
It's time for the STM CYO basketball registration and season! Many of you will remember that last year the Diocese adopted a new online registration system for all CYO sports. It is mandatory that you use this system to sign up your child for basketball.
I have attached a link here for you to register:
If you have not done so already, you must set up an account first and then register your child for their grade and team. You also need to set up an account if you wish to coach. All teams and classes are listed as unassigned. For grades with more than one team, your child will be assigned to a team by your coach after you register.
A video to help you navigate the sign up can be found here:
Couple of things to note:
Teams are forming now with the hope of getting practices started by the third week of October. No child may practice until they have fully registered and turned in their paperwork and permission slip to their coach. These can be printed during the registration process.
The fee this year is $80 per player for grades 3-5 and $90 for grades 6-8. You may select to have your fees billed using the FACTs program. The uniform deposit is still $65 per player, and we ask that you send a check to your coach for the uniforms or indicate that you wish this to be billed to your FACTs account if a uniform is not turned in at the end of the season. Our costs are still lower than most programs in the Diocese. Any family needing financial aid should email
[email protected]. Due to the generosity of so many of our families, we have money set aside to make sure that every child that wants to play can play!
You will be prompted to print your forms during the sign-up process.
WE STILL NEED COACHES and Assistants FOR SEVERAL TEAMS, if we don't have a coach we won't have teams. Right now we need head coaches for the 3rd-grade boys and 5th-grade girls teams.
Go Royals!
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USED UNIFORMS
Thank you to all who turned out for our successful Preowned Uniform Sale this week! You all raised $491 for the PTO!
As we get closer to the October 10th uniform switch over, please consider donating your old uniform pieces to the PTO. We especially need girls' pieces in good resalable shape. Shirts, pants, skirts, skorts, shorts, sweaters, belts, and ties (please no shoes) can be dropped off in the school office. Thank you for your continued generosity!
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Have You Linked Your Cards?
Please take a moment to register your
GIANT CARD
with our school id
#02198
Here's How You Can Help Starting TODAY:
- OR...call the A+ Hotline at 1-877-Ask-Aplus (1-877-275-2758) they can register your card for you! You'll need your 12-digit Giant Cardnumber.
IF YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR GIANT CARD NUMBER CALL 1-877-366-2668 OPTION #1
To earn points:
- Use your Giant Card each time you shop at Giant, and you will earn CASH for my school. You can track the number of points you are earning for our school by checking your grocery receipt starting now through March 15, 2018.
- At the end of each month, your points are calculated and converted to CASH rewards. These CASH rewards for our school are updated monthly on the Giant A+ website.
- M
y school will receive one CASH awards check at the end of the program and can use this cash for any of its educational needs.
Harris Teeter's Together In Education program is a fundraising program for schools in our community. When customers purchase selected HT Brand products using their VIC card, Harris Teeter contributes a percentage of those purchase dollars to STM.
LINK
your VIC card to
STM #2069
Linking your VIC card to your school is easy.
* Simply give the cashier your VIC card and the school's Together In Education number (2069) during checkout.
OR
* Go to
www.harristeeter.com
, click on "Community", "Together in Education", "Link to your school",
"Link to your VIC card" then log-in to get to the "My Schools" section.
That is it! This one time sign-up process must take place each school year. The school of your choice is linked to your VIC card until May 31 each year. You can link your VIC card to up to five schools and Harris Teeter will evenly distribute funds to the schools. Look for special promotions where you can earn even more money for your school.
SHOP
for HT brands
When you purchase HT brand items, a percentage of those purchase dollars goes back to STM. Prescription purchases also qualify.
Earn
with no limits, for
STM
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Bishop Burbidge and the Arlington Diocese are sponsoring a Pilgrim Experience for the Whole Family on Saturday, October 14th at the Basilica in Washington. The day includes a Holy Hour with reflections on the Message of Fatima, Mass, and a Eucharistic Procession to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine. To view the entire agenda visit arlingtondiocese.org/diocesanpilgrimage
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BLAST SUBMISSIONS
STM Blast items
must be submitted to [email protected] by noon on Monday
in order to be included in that week's edition.
All submissions must be in print-ready form.
Items received after this deadline will be held until the following issue.
Thank you for your cooperation.
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Upcoming Events
Monday, October 9
NO SCHOOL
Columbus Day
Tuesday, October 10
WINTER UNIFORM BEGINS
Wednesday, October 11
$1 Dress Down for Catholic Charities
Saturday, October 14
Confirmation Retreat for Girls
Saturday, October 14
Diocese of Arlington
Pilgrimage
9am to 3pm
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Wash. DC
Monday, October 16
Individual Picture Day
Saturday, October 21
International Fest
Noon-3pm
STM School
Monday, October 23
CONFIRMATION
STM
Confirmandi
and Sponsors gather in Lee Hall at 6:15pm
Confirmation at 7pm
Wednesday, October 25
RACE FOR EDUCATION
Friday, October 27
NO SCHOOL
Professional Development Day for Teachers
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