"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people chosen as his inheritance. " Psalm 33:12
Message from the Principal
Dear St. Michael-St. Gabriel Families and Friends,

We began our second quarter yesterday, which means that if students struggled during the first quarter, they now have a fresh start in all their classes. One of the things we noticed is that many students struggled with completing their homework. There is rarely an evening where students do not have assignments to complete. Homework is a great way for students to practice the skills they have learned, and it allows teachers a chance to review and reinforce material that students do not understand through re-teaching, but it is difficult to know what students do not understand if they do not see the work completed by our students. In this newsletter below, we have provided some resources for you to help students practice their reading and math skills. 

Our leadership team met earlier this week and discussed plans for re-opening our school more to our junior high students. We know that what we have been doing to keep our students and staff safe has been working for us, but we also understand the importance of having our students back in the building. Our plan right now is to allow all Junior High students to come in four days a week, beginning November 9th, two weeks after Fall Break. This means that Grades 6, 7, and 8 would be in each day except for Wednesdays. Wednesdays will continue to serve as days for students to check-in with teachers, catch up on work, or attend a mandatory study hall due to multiple failing grades.

The next two weeks are four-day weeks, as our Fall Break begins next Friday, October 23rd. Classes resume on Tuesday, October 27th. We also want to continue to remind families that we have added three days of school to our November calendar. We will be in school on November 5th and 6th, since the teachers’ conference has been postponed until next year. We also will be in school on November 30th, as we did not meet our Walk-A-Thon goal. Please be sure you have these dates recorded on your calendar.

God bless,

Mrs. Ramos
Faith & Service
Prayer for Students

Lord our God,
in your wisdom and love
you surround us with the mysteries of the universe.
Send your Spirit upon these students
and fill them with your wisdom and blessings.
Grant that they may
devote themselves to their studies
and draw ever closer to you,
the source of all knowledge. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

R/. Amen.
Thinking Catholic Podcast
Anthony Basso, a theology teacher at CRHS, is now hosting a podcast about living the Catholic faith. Each episode is about a different aspect or topic related to understanding and living the teachings of the Church and strengthening our discipleship of our Lord, Jesus Christ. If you have feedback, questions or would like to suggest future topics for the podcast you can email Mr. Basso at abasso@cardinalritter.org. You can listen to the Podcast by the button below, Twitter: @TCpodcaster, or Facebook: Thinking Catholic Podcast.
Pope Francis prayer for protection from Coronavirus

O Mary, you shine continuously on our journey as a sign
of salvation and hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick.
At the foot of the Cross you participated in Jesus’ pain,
with steadfast faith.
You, Salvation of the Roman People, know what we need.
We are certain that you will provide, so that,
as you did at Cana of Galilee,
joy and feasting might return after this moment of trial.
Help us, Mother of Divine Love,
to conform ourselves to the Father’s will
and to do what Jesus tells us:
He who took our sufferings upon Himself,
and bore our sorrows to bring us,
through the Cross, to the joy of the Resurrection.
Amen.
We seek refuge under your protection, O Holy Mother of God.
Do not despise our pleas – we who are put to the test
– and deliver us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin.
Announcements
Due to Fall Break there will be no SMSG Newsletter next week October 23rd. The newsletter will resume on October 30th.
Flu Shot Information 
8th Grade Parent Meeting and Cardinal Ritter High School Parent Preview

Cardinal Ritter High School will be at St. Michael-St. Gabriel on Tuesday, October 20th, at 6:00 p.m. to discuss what they have to offer your 8th grade student. This meeting will be held in the St. Michael-St. Gabriel cafeteria. We will also have an 8th Grade parent meeting after the preview. We would like to begin this meeting at 6:45 p.m. We ask that due to social distancing and the limitations we have in the cafeteria that students stay home for these meetings. Please be sure to bring your mask.
Updates to the SMSG November Calendar 


The INPEA Conference scheduled for our teachers in November has been canceled. Because of this change, we will be in school on November 5th and 6th. For Junior High students, November 5th is a White Day and November 6th is a Red Day. Please make these updates to your calendar now. 
Employment Opportunity

Little Ritter Daycare is looking for a Part-Time helper for the upcoming school. You would receive a discount off your tuition and you would be off when your kids are off. If interested, please contact Becky Wehrle by emailing her at bwehrle@cardinalritter.org
Volunteers Needed for Morning Drop-Off and Afternoon Pick-up

This fall we are in need of dedicated volunteers to help with our morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up, as teachers and staff will have additional duties and supervision roles within the school. Volunteers will be asked to help with directing traffic and guiding cars to the proper locations for drop-off and pick-up. Morning volunteers are needed generally from 7:00-7:50 a.m. Afternoon volunteers are needed from 2:00-3:00 p.m. All volunteers, even those working outside our building, must have completed the Safe and Sacred training required by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. If you can help, please contact Mrs. Ramos at lramos@indyarchangel.org. 
Box Tops for Education

In case you haven’t heard, the collection of Box Tops is now moving away from the traditional clipping of Box Tops to now scanning your receipt! The new and improved Box Tops mobile app uses technology to scan your store receipt to find participating products and then instantly adds the Box Tops to our school’s earnings online. Simply go to your app store and download the Box Tops for Education app. Then choose St. Michael School (3352 West 30th Street, Indianapolis). It’s easy and saves you time! For more information, click here.