Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School

November 11, 2020 Newsletter
Mission Statement:
Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School is a community that proclaims the gospel by our dedication to quality instruction while fostering our commitment to the needs of others.
An Update from Mr. Mihalyo

Dear Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School Families,

On this Veterans Day, I would like to start our newsletter by saying THANK YOU to all who served our great country in the armed forces. Today our students watched messages from two veterans within our school community, as well as a slideshow with pictures of family members who have served in the different branches of our military. Thank you to everyone who submitted a picture of a loved one for our presentation. Another big THANK YOU to Magi Wilson for her work to make this day possible for our students and veterans.

Want to help our school get money back on things such as our phone bill, internet service, and other communication tools? We are asking all families to please complete a survey for the ERate Program. This information will remain strictly confidential and will be reported only as a group, not by individual families. It will only be used to increase our technology funding and for no other purpose. Thank you for your help! The survey takes about 1 minute to complete and can be found by clicking HERE. 

Each day we recognize a Saint of the Day and pray for a Seminarian of the Week on our morning announcements. If you follow us on social media, you may have noticed some incredible pictures and summaries of the Saint of the Day. These are compliments of Mrs. McElroy’s 8th grade Religion classes. Thank you to our 8th graders for helping to bring these saints to life for our students and families every day! 

Our Task Force is focusing our efforts on updating our Reopening Plan for January. We hope to have this document ready for your review soon. Many of the safety measures we have in place will remain unchanged. We are focusing our efforts on taking what has worked well and improving upon it for our students, families, and faculty. Once the updated document is published, if you wish to change your learning choice from in-person to remote or from remote to in-person, you will have a window of time to do this. The completion of the survey gives us an idea of how many students to expect back in-person in January. This information is helpful in determining if we need to switch any classroom placements to serve a larger class size. Thank you in advance for submitting this information to us by this Friday, November 13th. Click here to access the Learning Preference Survey.

God Bless,
John Mihalyo, Principal
@StMMPrincipal 
UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, November 12th, Day 2 - School Mass 9:15am
Click here to watch School Mass (Jackson's and Fronk's homerooms attend)
Friday, November 13th, Day 3 - Learning Choice Surveys Due
Monday, November 16th, Day 4 - WWCM Holiday Food Drive
Tuesday, November 17th, Day 5 - WWCM Holiday Food Drive
Wednesday, November 18th, Day 6 - WWCM Holiday Food Drive
Thursday, November 19th, Day 1 - WWCM Holiday Food Drive, School Mass 9:15am
(Telke's and Greenberg's homerooms attend)
Friday, November 20th, Day 2 - WWCM Holiday Food Drive, Spirit Day,
Virtual Learning Materials Pick Up
Monday, November 23rd, Day 3
Tuesday, November 24th, Day 4 - Early Dismissal (PK-4 11:30am, Grades 5-8 11:45am)
Wednesday, November 25th - Monday, November 30th - Thanksgiving Break

CHROMEBOOKS FOR SALE

Chromebooks have arrived! Mr. Seus and Mrs. Loeschorn have distributed the ones that were purchased over the last week. There are still some available if you are interested in buying one for your child. The school has secured the following device: Samsung Chromebook 4, Celeron N400/1.1 GHz, Chrome OS, 4GB RAM, 32 GB eMMC, 11.6" 1366 x 728(HD), UHD graphics 600, WiFi in platinum titan.  

If you are interested in purchasing one or more, please click on this link. The cost is $220.00 and they are available immediately. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mrs. Loeschorn or Mr. Seus.
HIGH SCHOOL ADMISSION NEWS

CARDINAL GIBBONS PLACEMENT TEST, APPLICATION DEADLINE
Students interested in Cardinal Gibbons High School must register to take the High School Placement Test (HSPT). There are two opportunities to do so, Saturday, December 5th or Saturday, January 9th at Cardinal Gibbons High School. Please visit www.cghsnc.org/admissions/apply to sign up for the test. The next step is to complete the online application, which is due on Thursday, January 7th. Please contact Marianne McCarty, Director of Admissions admissions@cghsnc.org with any questions.

CRISTO REY RESEARCH TRIANGLE HIGH SCHOOL
Cristo Rey Research Triangle High School is excited to announce that applications are now available. Apply by visiting www.cristoreyrt.org. Virtual information meetings will be held on Thursday, November 12th & Thursday, November 19th in English and Tuesday, November 17th in Spanish. Click on the date to register. For any questions, contact Martha Zaldivar at martha.zaldivar@cristoreyrt.org.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH

WWCM HOLIDAY FOOD DRIVE, NOVEMBER 16th-20th
Support Western Wake Crisis Ministry (WWCM) by donating to our holiday food drive! We will be collecting food and monetary donations Monday, November 16th-Friday, November 20th. WWCM is grateful for all non-perishable items! Consider putting together a bag with all or any of the following:
  • 1 dish soap
  • 1 laundry detergent
  • 2 packs of 4-roll toilet paper
  • 3 cans of fruit
  • 6 boxes of mac & cheese
  • 4 cans of meat (tuna, chicken, salmon, etc.)
  • 3 cans of soup
  • 2 lbs of rice or pasta
  • 4 cans of veggies
  • 2 cans of pasta sauce
  • 2 cans of tomatoes (diced, whole, etc.)

Cost of these items should be around $50. Financial donations are also welcome. Please make checks payable to WWCM. Bins will be available during carpool for donation drop offs all next week. Thank you for your generosity!
2nd GRADE ST. NICK SHOE AND SOCK DRIVE, DECEMBER 1st - 8th
Our season of giving will soon be here! There are so many families in need this year due to the pandemic. If you can, please consider donating any of the following items: new shoes/sneakers, new socks, and new men’s work boots. Gently used shoes will also be acceptable. Put each pair of shoes inside a plastic bag, tie it, and deposit your donations into the bins located outside our school's main entrance. Brown Bag Ministry distributes all of our donations. Thank you for supporting this important service project!
FROM THE CAFETERIA

LUNCH MENU

Thursday, November 12th - Chicken Sandwich
Friday, November 13th - Grilled Cheese
Monday, November 16th - Chicken Nuggets
Tuesday, November 17th - Hot Dogs
Wednesday, November 18th - Pizza
Thursday, November 19th - Quesadilla
Friday, November 20th - Thanksgiving Lunch
Monday, November 23rd - Pizza

Starting next Tuesday, hot pretzels will be available on hot dog days!
Be sure to order your Monarch this tasty treat!
VIRTUAL MONARCHS
MATERIALS PICK UP DATES

Mark you calendar for these upcoming material pick up dates: Friday, November 20th; Friday, December 4th; and Thursday, December 17th. Pick up times remain the same:
PK-2nd: 11:30am-12:00pm
3rd-4th: 12:00-12:30pm
5th-6th: 12:30-1:00pm
7th-8th: 1:00-1:30pm
Our next lunch to go is our traditional Thanksgiving feast! Don't miss out! Order yours by emailing Heather Blake.
PSO NEWS


MONARCH MONDAYS
Thank you to those families and businesses who have already sponsored Monarch Mondays or donated teacher shirts. Will you join them? The PSO humbly asks for your support as we are unable to hold an in-person fundraiser this year and our Walk-a-thon last spring was cancelled as well. This will be our only major fundraiser this school year. Money raised will support PSO programming and allow us to embark on outdoor space and recess improvements at the school.

Check out our cool shirt design, which will feature a list of sponsors on the back! We would love to have your family or business name included on the shirts! StMM students who have a Monarch Mondays shirt or hoodie will be able to wear them to school every Monday in the 3rd and 4th quarters (January-June) with the bottoms of their choice, following school guidelines. Whether or not you are a sponsor or donor, all Monarchs can participate in Monarch Mondays with the purchase of a shirt. The online link to order your shirt or hoodie will be open in December.

Want to get your family or business name on the shirts? Since our Monarchs can wear the shirts weekly through the end of school, we can help you spread the word about your business to our community. Family, non-business sponsors are encouraged as well!

“Monarch” sponsors ($2,500) receive 6 free t-shirts, a spotlight feature on the school’s social media platforms, and their business logo or family name prominently featured on the back – the only logos on the shirts! Act fast: only two Monarch level sponsorships are available! Contact Erin Bonasso to secure this exclusive placement.

“Maroon” sponsors ($1,000) receive 4 free t-shirts, placement at the top of the donor list, and a spotlight feature on the school’s social media accounts.

“Gold” sponsors ($500) receive 2 free t-shirts, name in the middle of the sponsor list, and a group post on the school’s social media accounts.

“White” sponsors ($250) receive 1 free t-shirt and their name in the donor list.

You may also donate a shirt to a teacher for $20, so all our staff can participate in Monarch Mondays too!

There are two easy ways to sponsor or donate a teacher shirt. You may print our sponsor and donor form and mail with a check, or pay online with a credit card or linked checking account in FACTS. The online account has been fixed; please use this new link! If you are a business and need our non-profit tax ID number, please see our donor letter. All sponsorships must be received by Tuesday, November 24th.

Questions? Please contact Erin Bonasso for sponsorship, Kelley Ann Ward for shirt ordering, Angela Malfeo for teacher shirts, and PSO Presidents Molly Pryzwansky and Tina Korzeniowski with general inquiries.
SPIRIT WEAR AND USED UNIFORM
The next opportunity to shop our used uniform store will be in January. In the meantime, do you need a maroon hoodie to wear with your uniform on chilly mornings? You can order one for only $18 from the online Spirit Store with fast shipping to your home. Check the "outerwear" section of the Spirit Store - all maroon hoodies from the Spirit Store may be worn to school daily with the uniform...you don't have to wait for Spirit Day! Visit the online Spirit Wear Shop by clicking here.
COUNSELOR'S CORNER

Parents and Guardians, you are not alone. We want to provide you with resources to help keep your child safe. Students are spending more time online. With the holidays approaching, your child may be spending more time online or may be asking for more technology. If your child is a distance learner or in person at school, they are all using the internet to work on their school work. We want all students to be safe. At school, we monitor activity by using Go Guardian. We also need to partner with parents to protect our students at home as well. Parents can download programs to monitor and block content or to limit screen time. 

At school, students are learning about digital citizenship through google games: https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_us/.

Find ways to monitor your child's searches through one program called Family Link: https://families.google.com/familylink/. Google has safety resources to help you talk with your child about making safe choices while using social media. https://www.safesearchkids.com/.

Common Sense Media is a great resource on videos, shows, and social media for parents and students: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/.

The FBI has created a website with interactive games specific for each grade level. https://sos.fbi.gov/en/.

Talk with your child while completing these games and learning together. The more you talk about the internet and being a digital citizen, the more they will be open talking about it and asking you questions. Creating a contract with your child is a great way to hit at the major points about safety online. Consider this one from Safe Kids: https://www.safekids.com/kids-rules-for-online-safety/.
SUBSTITUTES NEEDED!

StMM is accepting applications for substitute teachers for grades PreK-8. Come be part of the Saint Mary Magdalene faculty and work with our Monarchs! Interested? Email Christa Iozzo.
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Mr. John Mihalyo, Principal
Mrs. Christa Iozzo, Assistant Principal
Mrs. Kate Lawson, Dean of Students
Mrs. Nikki Curliss, Guidance Counselor
Mrs. Lydia Binanay, Marketing & Recruitment
Mrs. Laura Tomczak, Communications & Admissions
Mrs. Carmen Boyd, Business Services
Mrs. Barb Senn, Preschool
Mrs. Wendy Walsh, School Nurse
Mrs. Megan Mastrogiovanni, Special Programs Manager
Mrs. Mary Stein, Receptionist
Mrs. Kathy Loeschorn, Technology
Mr. Tom Milmoe, Athletics Director
Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School www.stmm.net