We Came! We Saw! We FallFested!

Thank you to all who participated and attended another great FallFest! 

Shout out to our FallFest! heroes: the volunteers!

You kept the games going, the food and drink flowing & the kids bouncing! 

A special thank you to our FallFest! committee: Teresa Dodson, Maria Mangano, Jordan McKinley, Cynthia Muse & Peter Riccobono for your tremendous support and enthusiasm for our event. 

Official results of the Trunk or Treat contest & Chili Cook Off will come out in next week's newsletter

Want to get involved with FallFest? Email Georgia.a.Riccobono@gmail.com for more info.

• MON. Oct. 17th: BSN Ordering Deadline for Spirit Wear! See below.

• THURS. Oct. 20th: TAG DAY! $2 to participate. Tag Day rules apply. 

• FRI. Oct. 21st: NO SCHOOL - End of 1st Quarter

• Comet Sports! Check the schedule here for your team.

• Club Activities this Week! - Click here!

PLANNING AHEAD...

• October 25: Make Up Picture Day
• October 28: 1st Quarter Report Cards Post
• November 1: Grandparents Day RSVP's DUE
• November 2: Coffee with Mr. Cruess - 6th Grade
• November 3 & 4: Parent-Teacher Conferences
• November 4: NO SCHOOL (Parent - Teacher Conferences)
• November 5: Grandparents Mail DUE (if Grandparent NOT attending Grandparents Day)
• November 8: Parents in Prayer Meeting

Parents in Prayer - Month of October Prayers

Bible in a Year Challenge

Last year we challenged families to join our faculty and staff in listening to the daily Bible in a Year podcast. If, like me, you've fallen behind schedule a bit, I want to encourage you to continue plugging along. If you never started, it's never too late ! By committing to 20-25 minutes per day, you'll hear the entire Bible over the course of the next year with the extraordinary insights of Fr. Mike Schmitz. As families working to pass on the Christian faith to our kids, knowing the Bible is a vital foundation. The Bible in a Year podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz can be found on any podcast app and is even available as Youtube videos.

ALSO! Here's a link to Father Mike's YouTube Channel by Ascension Presents where he shares interesting & relevant issues of the spiritual life in short 10 minute talks. Finally, Father Mike will be presenting the much anticipated Catechism in a Year through Ascension Press beginning Jan. 1st! You can sign up for the reading plan now. What a great way to deepen our knowledge, understanding and love for our Catholic faith!

Grandparents Day is Nov. 11th!

Your grandparents should have received their invitation by email on Friday Oct. 7. Parents, please make sure your grandparents RSVP by 11/1 - even if they can't attend. We have asked grandparents, who cannot join us in person, to send a letter of love for their grandchild to open that day (due 11/5). Their RSVP lets us know if we should be expecting them OR a letter for their grandchild.

ALSO - because space will be VERY limited at the school, we ask all of our parents to honor the day and our request that ONLY GRANDPARENTS attend the morning events at the school (unless your grandparent requires physical assistance or you are a registered parent volunteer for Grandparent's Day). Parents are welcome and encouraged to please join us at 10:30am at the Church for Mass and the student's Veteran's Day Salute. We just ask you to please save the forward rows for our special guests, because it is their day and we want to show great hospitality to our grandparents!

Grandparents Day is a 12:30pm dismissal day (with ASE available til 6pm). We will have regular carline dismissal at school, however, if you and/or your Grandparents would like to have your student/s released with you from the Church, following the performance, please let your child's teacher know. Your teacher will dismiss each student in their class from Church only if they have a note from you. Teachers will be reaching out closer to the event as a reminder.

Santa Shop Planning!

Christmas will be here before we know it, and so will our beloved Santa Shop! Please remember to hold onto gently used games, books, stuffed animals and home decor items so you are ready when the call for items goes out in early December!

How to report your PTO Volunteer Hours:

• Click here to go to Parentsweb on our website.
• On the left-hand sidebar, click on FAMILY.
• In the center of the page, click ADD+ in the SERVICE HOURS section to enter your PTO Hours.
• Please be sure to do this right after you volunteer for an event so you don't lose track of your PTO hours.

Become a Playground Champion!

(Earn an easy PTO Hour too!)

Our campaign to raise $300,000 by January 1st is off to a great start,

but we need EVERYONE'S help to get there!  

Here are 2 things that we are asking ALL of our families to do:

1. Make your best gift to support our new playground. (Send it in now or wait til Day of Giving, just please do what you can to support this important and exciting effort for our school!) We can't get there without you.
2. Become a Playground Champion!

Our Day of Giving and Service is Tuesday, November 29th (Giving Tuesday), and we will once again be using the iGiveCatholic platform to help us receive online donations from our community and enable each of us to do some critical (and easy) grassroots fundraising. We need that outreach to help us broaden our support from family and friends who would like to help us make our new playground a reality for our children.

As a St. Benedict Playground Champion, you'll create your own giving page  (past example below) on the iGiveCatholic platform (there's an easy template) and then send the link out to your family and friends to invite their support. Use your social media accounts to powerfully broaden your reach and opportunities for support. Since Covid, we know how much our children need healthy, positive socialization, team building and creative play...plus outdoor learning space - so this is something we can all be proud to champion for our children!

Plus, once you create your page and send your link out to at least 5 people - or post on your social media page - you'll earn 1 PTO Hour for participating in this important effort for our Comet community.

So what's next? 

In next week's newsletter, we'll give you a link to set up your own Playground Champion Page for your family. It only takes a few minutes to post a picture (and/or video if you want) and a personal message asking your friends & family to join us in this worthy mission for our kiddos! We'll even provide some sample text that you can cut and paste right into your message. We just ask that you complete your page by November 14th because that's when Advanced Giving kicks off and when you'll email your link to your contacts and post on your social media. When donors want to help, they'll just click on the donate button on your page and the iGiveCatholic platform will take care of the rest! That's it!

Just think...

We have 133 families at St. Benedict, with 237 children who are REALLY EXCITED for us to build them a new playground. 

If 133 families make their best gift to support our playground, 

that will be an INCREDIBLE BLESSING & WITNESS OF SUPPORT

for our school and playground project!

AND...

If 133 families become Playground Champions and invite at least 5 friends each to support this worthy effort, we will broaden our outreach to 665 potential supporters - and that doesn't even factor exponential social media outreach!!

💫 So, Let's Do This, Comets!! TOGETHER, WE CAN! 💫 

Think Christmas!! Order your exclusive centennial P.E. uniform TODAY! 

Youth and adult sizes available. This online shop is only available until

October 17th, so order today!

Legacy P.E. uniform designs are still acceptable. Uniform items will be delivered before Thanksgiving.

Contact Juliet D'Agostino with any questions @ julietdagostino@yahoo.com

• The next Middle School Youth Group will meet on Wednesday, October 26 from 6:30pm-8:15pm at St. Anselm Hall. All those in grades 5-8 are invited to attend.

• All those with children in grades Pre K-4 are invited to attend Family Faith Formation at St. Benedict Church, which meets on the first Sunday of the month. Our next session will be on Sunday, November 6. Please contact Ben Fleser about registration

• Ben Fleser Contact Information: bfleser@saintbenedictparish.org

Families - whenever you are in need of basic school information, please check our website! We try to keep everything you need to know easily accessible there. Most information is located under our SCHOOL LIFE tab, but here are some ready links:

Calendar

PARENTS WEB 

FACTS

Past Issues of Newsletter

Uniform Guidelines

School Handbook

School Supplies List

Summer Reading & Assignments

Forms

Faculty & Staff Contacts

Online School Directory (log into ParentsWeb, select Directory)

And some other helpful info (non-website)...

Need to book Afterschool or Morning Care?

Need to pick up your child early from school?

Is grandma or someone else picking up your child?

Email Mrs. Autry: pautry@saintbenedictschool.org or call 804-254-8850

Tia Lukanova - School Counselor

And don't forget to follow us on Social Media!

Instagram

Facebook

Orders need to be placed by Sunday at noon.

Executive Order Two requires that as of January 24, 2022 parents make the decision about whether their students wear masks in school.

ONLY COME TO SCHOOL IF….

• Your temperature is under 100.4 degrees.
• You do NOT have other symptoms of COVID-19, without an alternative diagnosis. Other symptoms include chills, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
• Please notify the school about a positive COVID test or possible exposure by sending an email addressed to pautry@saintbenedictschool.org, mmeadows@saintbenedictschool.org and scruess@saintbenedictschool.org.

Helpful resources for our families:

School Covid Guidance as of April 2022

COVID-19 Testing Information

Free At-Home COVID Tests

Richmond/Henrico Testing

Chesterfield Testing

How to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine

Richmond Health Department