Diocese of Venice Florida - Catholic Schools Hurricane Assistance

We received the following information from the Catholic Schools Office regarding supporting Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Venice that were hit hard by Hurricane Ian. Donations can either be made directly to the Diocese, to individual schools, or items may be sent. Please see the information below. 

Donate to the Diocese of Venice

Give to Specific Schools

St. Andrew’s in Cape Coral or St. Francis Xavier in Fort Myers have been hit hard. Both are preK-8 schools. Many, many teachers and families were devastated by the hurricane. 

• St Francis Xavier Fort Myers
• St. Andrew Cape Coral

Item Donation

If you’d like to send general items, please see the list in the graphic. You can send them to:

Bishop Verot Catholic High School

5598 Sunrise Dr. 

Ft. Myers, FL 33919

Family Learning

We are highlighting a new feature in our weekly insider called the Family Learning section. Each week, Family Learning will incorporate the Learning Commons Literacy Corner information, as well as feature information on reading, math, digital citizenship, or other learning resources for families. 

Family Learning – Practicing Literacy

Your children learn a lot of new skills at school, and there’s a place that’s familiar to everyone where these skills can be practiced and reinforced. What is it? It’s the grocery store. During your trips to HEB or Kroger, keep your children busy and engaged with these grocery store activity sheets. Here’s an article from Reading Rockets and a video from Scholastic to give you some background. Happy shopping!

Learning Commons Literacy Corner

Please click here for our weekly Learning Commons Literacy Corner updates including the quote of the week, vocabulary word of the week, and the high frequency words of the week.

NWEA MAP Growth Assessment: Beginning of Year Assessment Result Going Home

As previously communicated, we administered the NWEA MAP Growth assessment to your child (Kinder through 8th grade) to measure growth. You will be receiving the Family Growth Report for your child on Monday, October 17. Be sure to check your child’s backpack for this valuable report; if you would like more information, click here for the Family Guide to the NWEA MAP Growth Assessments.  

Yearbook Photos

The individual yearbook photos were taken on Wednesday of this week. Freeman Photography will be emailing parents with a direct link to proof your child’s photos. From there you can order photos, which will be delivered to school and then sent home. The make-up Yearbook Picture day is scheduled for Wednesday, November 2nd.

HSA October Meeting

The HSA October Meeting is on Tuesday, October 11th at 8:30AM. The October meeting will be in person at school in the Maker Space Lab and also live streamed on Zoom. We will send an email with the Zoom link the morning of the meeting, and a recording of the meeting will be listed in the Insider at the end of the week. 

Homecoming 2022 - October 17th - 21st

There’s No Place Like HOME-coming!

Homecoming Dress Up Theme Days

• Monday: "Somewhere over the Rainbow” - Each grade wears a color! PK3/PK4 (Red), Kinder/1st (Orange), 2nd/3rd (Yellow), 4th/5th (Green), 6th/7th (Blue), 8th (Purple)
• Wear the grade color as a t-shirt or other top with jeans or uniform bottoms
• Tuesday: “Waking up in Oz” - Wear your PJ’s! Sneakers are required for all students
• Wednesday: Mass Uniform
• Thursday: “There’s no place like home! The yellow brick road always leads to the land of red and white!” - Wear your red and white to welcome the Indians home!
• Wear red / white color as a t-shirt or other top - with jeans or uniform bottoms
• Friday: Normal weekly Friday Spirit Day – any St. Cecilia Spirit top with jeans or uniform bottoms. 

Homecoming Cheerleader Spirit Items Sale

It’s almost time for HOMECOMING! While the actual football game is October 20, 2022, the Cheerleaders are ready to kick off their biggest fundraiser of the year! 

Pre-order your SPIRIT ITEMS using this form and make sure it is completed by Friday, October 14, 2022 (we are not able to accommodate ANY late orders). Items will be packaged and delivered to your oldest/only child’s homeroom on Monday, October 17th. We will NOT be selling items directly to the kids in homerooms or at lunchtime this year.

Check out the items HERE! We have a few returning favorite items like vinyl stickers, perfect for water bottles, camp trunks or laptop covers AND Styrofoam cups (new design) perfect for ANY beverage! We also have fan favorites like hair bows, pom poms, mini footballs, eye black, bam bams, rally towels, hand clappers and temporary tattoos!  

Thanks in advance for supporting our St. Cecilia cheerleaders! Go Indians! 

Blood Drive - Friday, October 21st

There is still time to sign up for the Blood Drive on Friday, October 21st. Signing up to donate blood will be a great way to finish up our Homecoming Spirit Week! In addition to signing up for a time to give blood, we are asking for volunteer assistance to help cover lunch and recess duties for teachers so they can also participate and donate blood. Please view the sign up genius to help cover lunch and recess duty here, and the link for signing up to donate blood is below.

Let’s help give back! Did you know that MD Anderson patients require approximately 200 units of blood every day? This past summer, our very own PE teacher, Mrs. Morton, was one of those blood donor recipients. Mrs. Morton and Katherine Hoag are hosting a MD Anderson blood drive on Friday, October 21st from 8:00AM - 2:00PM in the School Auditorium. The goal is to collect 144 units of blood, which would touch the lives of approximately 432 cancer patients. Let’s show our love and support and give blood. The St. Cecilia School Community has held the hands of Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Hoag during their journey, and they promise to hold yours while you help give back. Click here to register. 

St. Cecilia Girls and Boys Basketball Starting Soon!

Attention all 6th through 8th grade St. Cecilia boys and girls. Basketball season is fast approaching. Please sign up here if your son or daughter will be participating in tryouts for the team. If your child hasn't participated in a school sanctioned sport for Fall 2022, please make sure you have completed the school Pre-Participation form and physical before tryouts. 

Girls Basketball:

• 6th & 7th grade tryouts are on Monday, October 24th and Thursday, October 27th 6:30AM - 7:30AM
• 8th grade tryouts are on Thursday, October 27th and Friday, October 28th from 6:30AM - 7:30AM

Practices for 6th - 8th will be Monday - Thursday 6:30 - 7:30AM

Boys Basketball:

• 7th & 8th grade tryouts are on Tuesday, October 25th and Friday, October 28th 3:30PM - 5:30PM (Playoffs for soccer are this week so please inform coach as soon as possible)
• 6th grade tryouts are on Monday, October 24th, Wednesday, October 26th, and Friday, October 28th from 2:30PM - 4:00PM.

Practices for 6th grade will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 2:30-4PM

Practices for 7th and 8th will be Monday - Thursday 3:30-5PM

National Blue Ribbon Student Celebration Photos and Yard Signs Sale

Student Celebration Photos

We had a great time at our student celebration last Friday. The school brought in some photographers for the event, and thank you to our volunteers that went around with the photographers to help get some great pictures with our signs recognizing our award. You can see a selection of the photos from last Friday here.

Yard Signs

Want to show your family pride in St. Cecilia Catholic School being named a National Blue Ribbon School for 2022? We are offering for a limited time these coroplast yard signs measuring 24" wide by 18" high. They come printed on one side with the metal stand to put them into the ground. Orders begin on Friday, September 30th, and end on Monday, October 10th. Signs will be delivered to the oldest / only student in each family the week of October 17th.

Church Construction / Event Updates

The Plaza area in the front of the Church has now been closed off and the pavers removed to make way for the new sidewalk and greenspace. Please use caution when maneuvering in this area, and never duck under the red construction tape and cut across the construction area as a shortcut. There may be holes or unseen dangers that need to be avoided. To access the Church on the weekends, please come from the parking lot using the steps (or temporary ramp) on the north side of the Community Center, then turn right and use the temporary sidewalk to get to the Church. The entire area is closed off Monday through Friday.

Nursery Building Roof Replacement

The Nursery building will be undergoing a roof replacement over our extended weekend. On Friday, the PK3 and faculty nursery will have classes in the learning commons and maker space to accommodate the roof replacement, to hopefully be finished by Monday, October 10th. As a precaution, we plan on being out of the building through at least Tuesday. We will update families once the repairs are complete.

Event Updates

Due to the ongoing construction in the Church and for the covered walkway, we have to move two upcoming events.

• Living Rosary - Moved from Wednesday, October 12th, to Friday, October 14th. This event will take place in the Church as in the past, the construction crew will clean the Church for this event and the weekend Masses so we are able to have Living Rosary at 1:45PM in the Church on Friday, October 14th. 
• Grandparents Day – Because of the expanded construction for the covered walkway, the removal of more of the sidewalk and patio outside the church, and loss of some parking spaces, we are moving Grandparents Day from Friday, November 18th to Friday, March 3, 2023. 

Please visit our updated one page calendar here.

Employment Opportunities

St. Cecilia Catholic School is hiring! We have open positions to fill immediately including Part-Time Nursery Staff and Substitute Teachers. If you are interested in working alongside our amazing teachers and staff, please check out the open positions available here and apply today!

Faculty Nursery Help Needed

Who wants to hold some babies? The faculty nursery is in significant need of on-call subs. Aside from wanting to spend time with our lovely infants and toddlers, the only requirements are to be current on your safe environment CMG training, and be willing to come fill in if you are available. This can serve as either a volunteer or paid position.  

The St. Cecilia Faculty Nursery serves newborns through three-year-old children of our faculty and staff. is an amazing advantage for the recruitment and retention of teachers. Thank you for considering!  

Calling all Future Strake Jesuit / St. Agnes Academy Band Members!

We would like to invite you to attend our inaugural Middle School Night with the Strake Jesuit Band on Friday, October 21st. We will be performing at our football game on Strake Jesuit’s campus.

There is no cost or fee for students to attend - just bring your instrument and have fun! We will provide dinner and a "Jesuit Band" shirt to our middle school participants.

If you are interested, please fill out this google form. The form contains more details and information about the evening.

Free Love and Logic Webinar - Thursday, October 6th

Looking for some parenting support? If so, Love and Logic is hosting a free webinar Thursday, October 6th. Some parenting styles make it harder to achieve the goals you set for yourself and your child, while other parenting styles facilitate the process and allow us to enjoy our kids more in the present moment. If you want to get on the fast track to fun times and a brighter future for you and your kids, this event can help you do it. Click here for more details. 

Messy Family University

Only a couple of weeks left before the Messy Family University, register today, especially if you need childcare so we can have enough staff at hand. Do not miss this fantastic event.