"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?" PS 27:1
Message from the Principal
Dear Families and Friends,

Next Friday our students in Grades 3-8 will have the opportunity to participate in our Advent Penance Service. Through this Sacrament of Reconciliation, we cleanse away our sins and prepare ourselves to once again receive Christ into our lives. In the next few weeks, I challenge you to take some time to pause and remember what Jesus’ entrance into this world means to us and to find a way in which you may prepare for our Lord’s coming. Several parishes also offer other opportunities for Penance throughout Advent, as well as Advent prayer services to help us prepare for Christmas. We encourage you and your family to attend those that you can.

During the next few weeks, we will continue collecting money for the Holy Childhood Association. Mission boxes went home with students last month. Their donations will be collected at Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12th. This is yet another small way that our students and our community can affect the lives of so many others less fortunate during this Advent season.

God bless,

Mrs. Ramos
Announcements
Winter Skateland Party

Our Winter Skateland Party is Monday, December 9 th from 6:00-8:30 p.m. Students should have received a flyer last week. 
Student Council Cookie Grams

Student Council is selling Cookie Grams for $0.25 from December 9 th -13 th before school and during lunch. Students or parents may send a Cookie Gram to wish someone special a Merry Christmas. 
Box Tops for Education – Jolliest Teacher Contest

Next week PTA is sponsoring a Box Top Jolliest Teacher Contest from December 9 th -13 th . You can place your vote one of two ways:

  1. You can clip your traditional Box Tops from participating items and place them in an envelope or bag, write the name of the teacher you believe to be the jolliest, and bring those in to the main office.
 
  1. Save your receipts from items you have purchased that contain Box Tops, on the receipt write the name of the teacher you believe to be the jolliest in the school, and bring those receipts to the main office. 
Early Dismissal on December 19th

Please note that we will dismiss at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 19th. There will be no after care that day, so please begin to plan accordingly.
Christmas Concert

This year’s Christmas Concert will be held on Wednesday, December 18th at 6:30 p.m. in St. Michael Church. Students in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 5, plus any student in Choir and Beginning Band will be performing. Students in Pre-K through Grade 3 will need to wear a white sweatshirt, shirt, or blouse and any color pants or skirt, plus garland around their head for a halo. Students in Grades 4 and 5 will be assigned a part in the play. Please contact Mrs. Richardt or Mrs. Cleary if you have any questions. 
PTA Meetings

The December PTA meeting has been canceled. Meetings will resume on January 19 th .
Christmas Feast

Several volunteers are needed to help with our annual Christmas feast, which will be held on December 19 th . If you are interested in helping, please use this link to sign-up.
21 st Century Scholarship

The 21 st Century Scholarship is a program for students currently in seventh and eighth grade. This scholarship program provides income-eligible students the opportunity to earn a scholarship that covers up to four years of tuition and regularly assessed fees, such as technology and health services fees, to several public colleges and universities in the state of Indiana. For those families considering private institutions in Indiana, the scholarship will cover part of the cost to attend these schools as well. Families interested in applying for this schol arship should do so by June 30 th of a student’s eighth grade year. Several of our families have already registered for this program. For more information about this scholarship and how to apply, visit https://learnmoreindiana.org/scholars/enroll/ .
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 30 th Street, Indianapolis). It’s easy and saves you time! For more information, click here .
Safe and Sacred Training

We would like to remind all our families wishing to help with activities where our students are present that individuals must have completed the Safe and Sacred online training and completed a background check in order to volunteer or to serve as chaperones for a field trip. Please understand that until the certificate and background check are on file, we cannot, per the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, allow individuals to volunteer or work as employees of the school without this training and background check completed. If you completed your Safe and Sacred training, but did not complete the background check, simply log in to your account with your password and press the background check to complete the entire process. If you completed your training over a year ago or are unsure of your status, please log in to your Safe and Sacred account to see whether your training and background check are current. All Safe and Sacred certificates will have an expiration date on them, allowing your training to be valid for three years. To access the Safe and Sacred website, please go to the following: https://safeandsacred-archindy.org/login/index.php . 
Trash Bag Order Forms

To place your order for trash bags and help support the 8th grade class, please complete this order form and return it to the main office, or call us at 317-926-0516.