Holy Week Schedule At St. Cecilia

Friday, April 7 — Good Friday (Celebration of the Lord's Passion)

3:00PM English

7:00PM Español 

*Good Friday is a day of fasting and abstinence.

Saturday, April 8 — Holy Saturday

9:00AM Morning Prayer and Preparatory Rites for RCIA

8:00PM Easter Vigil with the Rites of Initiation

(No Reconciliation or 5:00PM Mass)

Sunday, April 9 — Solemnity of Easter Sunday

8:00AM Cantor, Organ, Trumpets

10:00AM St. Cecilia Choir, Organ, Brass, & Timpani (live streamed with overflow in Community Center)

12:00PM Español

5:00PM Cantor and piano

The Parish Office will close at noon on Thursday, April 6, and reopen at 9:00 am on Tuesday, April 11. Please click here for more information.

School Security – Fire and Lockdown Drill Next Week

There are two planned upcoming drills we wanted to make parents aware of. Next week we will have both our monthly Fire Drill and our second Lockdown Drill of the year. We do not typically announce Fire Drills in advance to families or students; however, since we are doing these drills in the same week, we wanted to communicate this to families to prevent any confusion. 

Next week’s Lockdown Drill will be an opportunity for us to do a reminder for all students, and an opportunity for families to talk to their students regarding these drills in advance. Please click here for some helpful information on how to talk to your children about these drills. Once the lockdown drill is complete we will send a stand-alone Insider Alert email letting our families know the drill was conducted. 

Family Learning

NWEA MAP Growth Assessment - End of Year Administration

St. Cecilia will be administering the End of Year NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) MAP(Measure of Academic Progress) Growth Assessment to all students in K-8 grade. Teachers will be administering these assessments during class from April 24-May 12. Individual grade levels will communicate to families regarding specific testing dates. If you would like to learn more about this assessment, click here for a guide to the Catholic School’s Office “Family Guide to MAP Growth. 

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.

3rd Quarter Honor Roll

At St. Cecilia Catholic School we recognize students who have demonstrated exemplary achievement by naming them to the Principal’s Honor Roll or the Teacher’s Honor Roll. To achieve this distinction students must meet the following expectations:

1. Principal’s Honor Roll: all A’s in academic subjects, no less than Meeting Expectations in all Conduct, maximum one Developing Expectations in Effort or Personal Habits. 
2. Teacher’s Honor Roll: all A’s, with no more than 2 B’s, and no less than Meeting Expectations in all Conduct, maximum one Developing Expectations in Effort or Personal Habits.

Achieving the honor roll takes hard work and commitment over time. It is no small feat. We are very proud of all of the students on the Principal’s and Teacher’s Honor Roll. Please click here for the honor roll list by grade level.

Class Group Photo – Wednesday, April 12th

On Wednesday, April 12th the students will have their class group photos taken after Mass. We would love to have a few parent volunteers come from 9:00AM to 11:00AM to help straighten ties, fix hairbows, and help our kids look their best! Please click here for the Sign Up Genius to sign up.

Softball Playoffs

Congratulations to our Softball team for making it into the playoffs. The first round playoff game is Wednesday, April 12th, 4:30PM at St. Cecilia vs. St. Ambrose. Please watch our school social media and next week’s Insider for any updates on any additional games.

HSA April Meeting

The HSA April Meeting is on Tuesday, April 11th at 9:00AM. The April meeting will be in person at school in the Maker Space Lab. The meeting will be recorded, and a link will be in next Friday’s Insider.

Carpool / Early Drop Off Procedures

If you are at school before Carpool or Early Drop Off begins, as a reminder, please do not allow students to exit the vehicle unless a school staff member is present and can safely let the students enter the building.

• If you are bringing students for Early Drop Off the students need to wait until 7:00AM to exit the vehicles.
• If you are bringing students for early practices for sports, or tutoring, please wait until your child’s coach or tutor is present to exit the vehicle. 

School Supplies for 2023 – 2024 School Year

We are excited to partner again with First Day School Supplies for the 2023-2024 school year in order to offer grade-level supplies packs to our families. Last year, over 85% of school families purchased supply packs through this vendor, and we were very happy with the quality and name-brand items that they offered at reasonable prices. 

In order to support our new Skilled Student Initiative, we have made some important updates to our school supplies lists. As you know, the focus of this new initiative is to help our students continue to improve their executive function skills, and in order to do this effectively, there are specific supplies that are necessary for all students to have. The teachers and administration have been collaborating to refine the school supply list at each grade level so that it supports this initiative and have been working very closely with First Day School Supplies to source the necessary supplies.

Please see this letter and the links below for more details on how our school supplies will align with our new Skilled Student initiative

Important Links

• School Supplies Letter
• The Skilled Student Flipbook 
• The Skilled Student February 28th Parent Presentation Slide Show
• The Skilled Student February 28th Parent Presentation Video
• Order First Day School Supplies 
• Additional Required Supplies for 2023 – 2024 School Year

Cheer Parent Welcome Meeting and Tryout Dates

Are you interested in joining the SCCS Cheerleading Team?! We would love to have you!! We welcome incoming 6th-8th grade girls interested in this fantastic opportunity! Please complete this form ASAP if you want to try out for the 2023-2024 St. Cecilia Cheer Team! The information from this form will be utilized when sending upcoming tryout details. If you have any questions at all, please email Alyssa Hicks. Go Indians!

Please see below for a few important upcoming dates, and stay tuned for more information that will be sent out after Spring break!

• Monday, April 17th - Wednesday, April 19th: Tryout Practices (4pm; Gym)
• Thursday, April 20th: Tryout Day! (4pm; Gym)

Field Day 2023

If you haven’t yet had a chance to review last night’s Field Day announcement email for 2023 you can find that email here. 

Field Day is an annual St. Cecilia Catholic School tradition, where students participate in class field games, carnival rides & games, and most importantly fellowship together as a community. Field Day this year will take place on Wednesday, May 17th, 2023. Please click here for an Field Day FAQ Document with additional details about the event. 

Every student can participate in the excitement of Field Day. The festivities include:  

• Morning field games with their grade level
• A boxed lunch for each student
• A 20 oz. Field day water bottle for each student
• Afternoon Games - access to all the inflatables, rides/games, silly string and one slushy drink per student

To help offset the cost of Field Day, HSA is asking parents to contribute a "flat fee" per student - though this is not required. In addition to what is listed above, families who contribute by paying the flat fee will receive the following: 

• 1 Field Day t-shirt for each of their student(s)
• 5 Prize Room Tickets (a $5 value)

Additionally, adult Field Day t-shirts will be available for sale separate from the flat fee.

The deadline to purchase the Flat Fee / t-shirts is 3:30PM on Monday, April 17th.

Dad’s Softball Tournament – Saturday, May 13th 

Join us for our 13th Annual Dad's Softball Tournament on Saturday, May 13th, 2023. This fun, family event helps to support the Financial Aid program at St. Cecilia Catholic School. The games are played at Baseball USA starting at 8AM, with an after party at the conclusion of the tournament. More details about the tournament schedule will be shared soon.

Team Registration information - There are teams for each grade level beginning with Kindergarten going through 7th Grade. Dads who would like to participate and have students in PK3, PK4, and 8th Grade should sign up as Free Agents, and the tournament committee will place them on teams depending on the number of players on teams as registrations come in.

Please click here for tournament rules, and please click here to register to play, sponsor the tournament, buy t-shirts for your students, and/or tournament hats.

First Eucharist

On Saturday, April 22nd and Saturday, April 29th, second graders in our St. Cecilia community will celebrate a special day – their first Holy Communion. Pope Francis, addressing a group of children in Italy, stated, “You will make your First Communion, always remember that day your whole life: the first day that Jesus came to us. He comes, makes himself one with us, makes himself our food, our nourishment to give us strength.” The Eucharist is an important element of our faith and is the nourishment that enables us to stay spiritually strong and healthy. Congratulations to all our 2nd graders as we unite in prayer and welcome them to the table:

Lord Jesus Christ, bless the children coming forward to receive Holy Communion for the first time. 

May this day be the step toward a life-long love of the Eucharist.

Give them a hunger for this sacred food so that they turn to you for comfort, guidance, and wisdom as they grow into full discipleship.

Thank you for their innocence and goodness.

May their hands, extended in anticipation of your body and blood, inspire all of us to cherish this sacred Sacrament. Amen.

GEM's Pickleball Party: Saturday, April 15th

Gracefully Embracing Motherhood is hosting a Pickleball Party on Saturday, April 15th, from 4:00-6:00PM. GEMs is a moms' group with the church that has fun social events and service projects for moms and families throughout the year. If you’re not a member, we’d love for you to join! So leave your family behind and join us for an afternoon of pickleball fun. No experience is needed. Spots are also open for spectating and enjoying food and beverages. Click here to purchase tickets.

St. Cecilia Cub Scout Rib Sale

St. Cecilia Cub Scout Pack 673 is selling pork ribs to raise funds to support our program! Our annual rib cook is a time-honored tradition at St. Cecilia. Please consider purchasing our delicious pork ribs for yourself or to share with your family and friends. If you would prefer, you may also purchase ribs for donation to a charity, or make a monetary donation to support our Pack. Please click here for more information and to order online. 

Summer Basketball 2023 Camp and Game Time

Join us in the “cool” Gym for three weeks in June for great basketball fun. Open to currently enrolled boy and girl students from Kindergarten through 8th Grade.

Camp Details:

The basketballers will work on ballhandling, passing and shooting via drills and competitions.

• Skills, drills, competition and lots of fun
• Ballhandling, shooting, passing, defense, court awareness
• Daily devotion (a few minutes each day for reflective thoughts and a prayer)

Game Time Details:

Game Time is for middle school players who just want to play basketball games.

More information on dates and online registration can be found here. 

St. Thomas Camps

3rd-8th Grade Summer Programs 

St. Thomas High School is excited to share that we are expanding our Summer@STH program! We have a fun summer planned with enrichment and athletic camps for boys and girls in 3rd-8th grades. Click here for more information and to register today.  

Spring Wrestling Class

St. Thomas is offering middle school wrestling from March through May on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:00 - 7:30PM. Kids will learn both Freestyle and Greco styles of wrestling. Please contact Michael Leholm at (734)883-5632 for questions or to register.  

Step Up Study Skills 

St. Thomas is offering Step Up Study Skills this summer to prepare students for the rigors of high school and beyond. The classes are coed and open to all rising ninth grade students. The cost for each session is $399, which includes class notes as well as access to online courses for effective follow-up and reinforcement throughout the school year. For questions, please contact Rod Takacs.

IWA Summer Camp

Join us this summer to experience a host of engaging activities! We offer summer camps for middle school students and current and incoming IWA students that elevate leadership skills, practice athletic fundamentals and connect young women from around the city. From Podcast Storytelling to Spanish Culture, STEM Adventures, and Discover Downtown, we've got your summer covered! Click here for more information.

Fearless Catholic Writers Camp – June 12th – 16th

The Camp is one-week, June 12-16, 2023, at the University of St. Thomas, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. All of the faculty are professional educators, Virtus or Safe-Haven certified, and writers themselves. Daily Mass is available.  We accept grades 3-8, with supportive instruction and a thoroughly Catholic vision in accordance with the Magisterium. There are many more details on their website or please see this flyer.

Dance Club

Parents of Current 6th Graders: 

6th graders are invited to register for Dance Club on Tuesday, May 9th at 9:00AM. Dance Club was founded to help boys and girls become better acquainted with one another while developing social skills and promoting personal growth, confidence, and character. Please note only a limited number of spots are offered to currently enrolled 6th grade students from seven schools —Duchesne, Memorial Middle, Regis, Spring Branch Middle, St. Cecilia, St. Francis, and St. Michael. 

Participants will receive five dance lessons, a dining etiquette lesson, and a party during 7th grade. All lessons are held at Junior League of Houston, 1811 Briar Oaks Lane.

Spots will fill quickly. Create an account now to save time during registration.

Click Here to Create a Dance Club Account & Register

JDW Cotillion → Register Now → Create Account