NO SCHOOL, FEBRUARY 12, 15, 2021
St. Mary's Visitation Parish School's Mission Statement
St. Mary's Visitation Catholic Parish School exists to direct children toward God and toward Christian Service to society through Catholic religious formation, academic challenge, and continuous improvement.
Principal Notes

Dear Families,

This week marks the opening of our next big fundraiser, Blarney in a Box! Proceeds from our Home and School fundraiser supports ongoing school needs like technology, the arts programs, our amazing library, teacher supply funds, our science labs and so much more. It has also supported special projects, like our K3 playground and an outdoor classroom. Many have wondered what about the status of our Outdoor Classroom Project and I’m excited to share the latest update from Fr. Peter. Click here

Thank you for contributing to our Food Drive for the Waukesha Food Pantry. We collected over 2500 hundred items! Your generosity was outstanding.

Next week is Ash Wednesday and it begins the forty days of Lent that leads to Easter. On Ash Wednesday, we come together to remind ourselves that we don’t always follow God’s ways and need to ask God for His mercy and forgiveness. Like God’s people in the time of the prophets, we wear ashes to show that we want to turn away from whatever keeps us from God, and to have a change of heart, so that we can live in right relationship with God and each other. 

For Catholics, Ash Wednesday is also a day of fasting and abstaining from meat. Fasting reminds us that food alone cannot make us happy. We must also be fed with prayer, with God’s Word and by meeting Jesus in the Sacraments, especially Reconciliation and Eucharist. The small sacrifices we make during Lent make room in our hearts to welcome the risen Jesus at Easter. Please take some time to talk with your children about the meaning of Lent and discuss together what could be a meaningful sacrifice for this time. Grades 1-8 will be going to mass to receive ashes and K3-K5 will receive them in their classrooms.

Our Lenten theme is,” Living Lent Through Little Acts of Love.” Click here for the electronic copy of our Lenten Overview. Today your student will be bringing home a hard copy of our Lenten overview.

We will be participating in Catholic Relief Services Operation Rice Bowl. Your donations of loose change will help the needs of our global community. Bowls will be going home next week.

Also, we are asking you to help the Capuchins by filling a special brown bag with personal hygiene products for them. The drive benefits those that are served through both the House of Peace and St. Ben’s Community Meal program. Clients of this agency are the homeless, unemployed and underemployed of the inner city of Milwaukee. Through this collection, we join in solidarity with them so as to be one in Christ with “the least of these.” Bags will be going home next week.

Busted Halo has a short 3 minute video that explains the significance of Lent, though prayer, fasting and giving. Click here to watch.


*Lent is a fitting time for self-denial: we would do well to ask ourselves what we can give up in order to help and enrich others by our own poverty. Pope Francis

Faithfully,
Mrs. Mary Tretow
Principal
mtretow@stmaryeg.org
The 8th graders are doing a lab on Newton's laws of Motion.
School Office Notes
Family Rosary
Have you heard, family Rosary happens every month at SMV on the 2nd Sunday of the month at 2pm. We need your help! We would love to get school families more involved in this rewarding ministry. To that end, we are looking for volunteers to lead the Rosary each month. No training is necessary - we can show you the ropes that day just a few minutes before we start and will be there to assist you!  
   We are interested in any sort of volunteers - individual families can lead together or a group of children from your grade level can lead together, or scouts or other teams can lead as well!   
   We are specifically looking for volunteers for February, May, and June. Please email kellyalinn@gmail.com if you are able to help out. If you don't want to do it alone but are willing to help we can help match you with others from your grade level as well! 
St. John Paul II referred to devotion to the Rosary as a “genuine training in holiness” that guided Christians in the contemplation of the great mysteries of our Faith. Let us help to train our children in holiness through this ministry. 
Thank you for your help, 
  Kelly & Pete Linn, Dave & Laura Linn, Tony & Krista Linn
Ms. Lesnjak's class celebrating 100 days of school.
COVID Reminders
  • Notify the office immediately when you find out if your child is a close contact or tests positive for COVID.
  • If your child is in quarantine/isolation, Nicole Klein will contact you.
  • Contact Nicole Klein, nklein@stmaryeg.org, with any questions. 

Save the Date
February 12 & 15
NO SCHOOL

February 17
Ash Wednesday
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My SMV Family

Home & School News

Our family is made up of Matt, Amy, Owen (5th grade), Emmett (3rd grade), Ada (1st grade) and Iggy (soon to be K4) Scheidt. We moved here in 2018 from Peoria, IL. 

Our family likes to..... stay busy, be social and active! We love any sports! You can find us running our kids to activities such as basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, and swimming. We love to be outside, go on hikes, and bike to the Elm Grove Park. We also love to watch Marquette basketball, too! We are happiest when we are all together! 

Our family pet is..... a 1 year Golden Retriever named Al (after Al McGuire). He is working on his manners! We also have 2 teeny tiny turtles named Sunshine and Carillon (named after the FL beach where we stayed when we got them). 

Places our family has lived... We have moved quite a bit and look forward to staying put! Here are the family stats: 

Our family loves being a part of SMV because of all of the great SMV school families! We have met so many amazing people since we moved here in 2018. We are constantly in awe of the generosity and kindness of those in the SMV community. Everyone is so giving, caring and welcoming! It truly is an amazing group of people to surround ourselves with! We are confident that our children are in the right place. 
The 7th grade girls are leading their homeroom in a Monday Music Prayer Service in theology class.
 Mission & Catholic Identity
                      Effective 2016-2021
TODAY IS THE DAY! Opening day for our next FUNdraiser, Blarney in a Box. Visit 
Today through March 7th to purchase your very own Blarney Box for pick-up on March 13th in the school parking lot. So much to choose from!!

1.      Adult Blarney box- Purchase a Black & Tan, Half & Half, Muddy Udder, Blacksmith, or Snake Bite box and you will receive two 32-ounce growlers of beer, 2 Engravable Guinness pint glasses, a delicious giant soft pretzel, cheese, gourmet mustard, and a mini bottle of whiskey. This box also includes a coupon for O’Donoghue’s Irish Pub.
2.      Kid Blarney box- You have two varieties of soda available—imported Irish orange soda and Sprecher root beer. This box also contains a giant soft pretzel, cheese, gourmet mustard, 4 scrumptious imported candy bars, and two Irish crafts for your little leprechauns to make while you enjoy your adult Blarney box.
3.      Cookie Decorating kit- Once you are done indulging in your Blarney boxes, have the kids decorate 12 shamrock cookies made by Cookies By Design.
4.      Donate-A-Box – …Possibly the box most tailored towards our SMV theme of kindness. “Purchase” a few boxes that will be donated on your behalf to our marvelous SMV faculty and staff first, followed by the seminarians at St. Francis de Sales, and the good people at St. Anne’s Salvatorian Campus in Milwaukee. Nothing says SMV more than showing love for thy neighbor!

Festivities for our Blarney campaign will also include an Online auction, Blarney Bucks cash raffle, “Try Your Luck” items, and a Wine and Restaurant Card Pull.   We are currently still seeking sponsors for our event, and have established a Wish List with Tralee Imports, a local Irish import shop. Sponsorship and the Wish List will wrap up February 15, so shop local and act fast! https://www.traleeirishimports.com/st-marys .  So much blarney for everyone! Please visit blarney.givesmart.com or stmaryeg.org/auction for more information.  Thank you so very much for your support!

Dine for Dough to Support SMV!!!
Why not enjoy a delicious lunch or dinner at Rocky Rococo's, today. Pick up or delivery, order online at rockyrococo.com and enter SMV in the coupon code box.

Mardi Gras Boxed Lunch, February 16th 
 ORDERS due TODAY, 2/11! Click below to order online!
Make your first day back from break easy for you & festive for your children when you order a Boxed Lunch from Subway and/or a Mardi Gras Cookie treat! Proceeds go to SMV Cub Scout Pack 32. 
Mrs. Perez's 3rd grade class showing us their monester valentine boxes that they made.
Mrs. Scherr's class is ready to go play in the snow.


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