OUR LADY of the SACRED HEART SCHOOL

PRINCIPAL'S BULLETIN for DECEMBER 3, 2004

Friday, December 3   Interims coming home with all students

Saturday, December 4 8:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m.--St. Xavier High School Entrance Test

8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.--St. Ursula Academy Entrance Test

Sunday, December 5 Second Sunday of Advent

2 p.m.-5 p.m.--Moeller High School Open House

Monday, December 6 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.--Choir practice for Half Notes and Upper Notes

Tuesday, December 7 2:30 p.m.-4 p.m.--Drama Club for all grades

7:30 p.m.--Mass for Holy Day of Obligation (Feast of the Immaculate Conception)

Wednesday, December 8 8:30 a.m.--All-School Mass for Feast of the Immaculate Conception

9 a.m.-12:45 p.m.--Grade 8 to Playhouse in the Park (A Christmas Carol)

12:30 p.m.-1:15 p.m.--Mary Messenger speaker for grades 5-8

1:30 p.m.-2:15 p.m.--Mary Messenger speaker for grades 1-4

2:30 p.m.-4 p.m.--Practice for Choir (both groups) and Drama Club (both groups)

4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.--Market Day pickup

7:30 p.m.--Mass for Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Thursday, December 9 Santa Shop

Beginning Band during Music Class

Advanced Band during lunch

7:30 p.m.--Christmas Concert/Drama Presentation in Activity Center

Friday, December 10   NO ALL-SCHOOL MASS TODAY

Santa Shop

Saturday, December 11 8 a.m.-noon--The Summit Country Day School Entrance Test

8:15 a.m.-noon--Moeller High School Entrance Test

INTERIMS: Please look for your child's interim report for the second quarter, which will come home today.

CHOIR/DRAMA PRACTICE SCHEDULE: Please note the changes in the practice schedules for both Choir and Drama Club next week, in preparation for their performances on Thursday, December 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the Activity Center. The Choir will present a Christmas Concert; the Drama Club will make its debut performance in "The Mysterious Gift". Please join us for these special activities that are sure to put you in the Christmas spirit!

MARY MESSENGERS: The entire student body will be visited by a speaker from Mary Messengers on Wednesday, December 8 (the Feast of the Immaculate Conception). Mary Messengers is a group of people organized to bring Mary's message to schools, retirement homes, prayer groups, churches, and senior citizen groups in Ohio, Kentucky, and Florida. It was started following a 1988 visit to Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, where Mary has been visiting visionaries since 1980. During the Mary Messengers presentations, the speakers share visual miracles that have occurred before, during, and after previous presentations. Encourage your children to share with you this speaker's message.

SANTA SHOP: It's that time of year, and we are once again preparing for OLSH's Santa Shop. Sale dates are Thursday, December 9 and Friday, December 10. The Santa Shop offers our children the opportunity to purchase inexpensive holiday gifts for their family and friends. We are still accepting donations of holiday gift items or handcrafted treasures. Individually wrapped Christmas candy is always a big hit, too! You can send in any donated items with your child to the school office or call Julie Mehbod (733-9636) for pickup. Please look for two papers coming home today regarding the Santa Shop: a flyer with an envelope attached that will help you and your child budget your shopping, and a volunteer form to be filled out and returned (or you can call Julie directly to volunteer).

SAVE THE CHILDREN: Dear parents and students--This is the fifth year that OLSH teachers and staff have sponsored a child from Manila through the Save the Children Foundation. His name is Silvester Aberion, and he is a 14- year-old eighth grader whose favorite subject is Mathematics. Silvester is the usual shy type of child, and he loves doing creative art. If you would like to correspond with Silvester and let a new friendship begin, he will be happy to answer your letters. In this way, we can learn more about each other's culture, lifestyle, and thoughts from across the globe. You may send e-mails to jdelacruz@savechildren.org or to the following address: Save the Children, P.O. Box 4448, Manila Central Post Office Building , Liwasang Bonifacio, Metro Manila, Philippines. Last year many of you joined us, and we were able to continue to help and support Silvester and his family because of your generosity. Again this year, we are inviting you to join us. We have been blessed with so much. Christmas time, especially, offers us a great opportunity to share our good fortune with those who are less fortunate. If you would like to be a part of our sponsorship, please send your donation to school in an envelope marked "Save the Children". Please make checks payable to the same. Thank you so much for your help and generosity.

THANK YOU, MEN'S CLUB…FROM OUR SCHOOL LIBRARY: For the second year in a row, the OLSH school library has been the very fortunate recipient of a most generous donation by the Men's Club as a result of their annual golf outing. The Men's Club gave us a check for $850, and we sincerely thank them for their thoughtfulness and for making it possible for us to purchase new books and approximately 300 additional Accelerated Reader tests. Their most kind donation benefits not only our library, but our teachers and students as well, since the Accelerated Reader Program is an integral part of our school's curriculum. We are truly grateful. --The OLSH Library Staff

LIBRARY BOOKS TO BE COVERED: We have entered more books into the Library System, and they are ready to be covered. If you have covered books before or would like to, please stop by the library and pick up a box of books to take home. Thank you for your help!

HOTLINE: Thank you to all of our Hotline volunteer callers. The testing went well on Tuesday, November 16. Volunteer callers: Please remember to keep your Hotline handy so it is easy to get to at 6 a.m. Please make your calls as soon as you receive your Hotline call. Be considerate when you receive and make your calls. Remember--we are all volunteers, and this is a service to our school and families. Thanks!

SCHOOL CLOSINGS: With winter definitely upon us, we'd like to remind you of our policies/procedures regarding school closings.

Early-morning closings: You will be notified via the Hotline if OLSH is closed for the day. (If you are a designated caller on the Hotline list, please follow your instructions for notifying other families on your list.) Our school closing will also be announced on both Channel 5 and Channel 9. We normally follow the lead of the Reading School District in determining whether to close school. However, the decision is ultimately up to Mrs. Adelmann, so OLSH may be closed even when other Reading schools remain open because we have students and teachers driving in from outlying school districts. For this reason, please rely on the Hotline call.

Delays: We will follow the decision made by the Reading Public School District where a delay of any length is concerned (i.e., if Reading schools are on a one-hour delay, we will also be on a one-hour delay). Please watch either Channel 5 or Channel 9 for this information. If you live in a school district other than Reading and that school district is on a delay when Reading is not, please use your own discretion as to whether to drive your children in at our regular start time or allow them to wait for your district's delayed transportation to OLSH. Students who come late to school because of bus transportation delays are not considered tardy.

Early closings once students are at school: Please watch either Channel 5 or Channel 9 if the weather turns threatening enough to cause concern that school may be dismissed early. (The Hotline will not be used, as most parents would not be at home during the school day.) We will follow your directives on the Emergency Plan for Early Dismissal form that you filled out at the beginning of the school year. If you indicated that your child is to be sent home on the bus in the event of early dismissal, he will be placed on the bus. If you indicated that you or a relative/friend would pick up your child, you or that secondary person must come into school to sign out your child. If you indicated that you want to be notified before your child is dismissed, we will call you. Please do not call the school, as that will only tie up needed phone lines.

SCRIP: Christmas is coming! Scrip gift certificates will be sold after all Masses for the next few weekends leading up to Christmas. Gift certificates make great gifts, and we can order them from nearly 500 stores. Sometimes they become unavailable as we get closer to Christmas, so order early! If you have internet access, you can print a copy of all available stores from this website: www.glscrip.com. Click on "Retailers", and there is an option for a printer-friendly version that you can print yourself. Call Sandy Champlin (733-5235) with questions.

NURSE'S OFFICE VOLUNTEERS: Nurse's Office volunteer moms for next Friday, December 10 are Gina Prickel (8 a.m.-11 a.m.) and Melissa Fahr (11 a.m.-2 p.m.). Please check the OLSH website for a complete Nurse's Office volunteer schedule.

CALENDAR CORRECTION: The PTA calendar for December 2004 which is coming home today indicates a return date of January 2 following the Christmas break. As much as you may want to return your children to school a day early, we will not take them back until Monday, January 3.

GYM UNIFORMS: Parents (especially parents of junior-high students)--Please check your children's gym uniforms over the Christmas break. Some of them are starting to look pretty shabby and may need to be replaced. We've seen holes, stains, and general disrepair over the last few weeks. Remember that this is a uniform, too; and it should be kept in the same condition as the school uniform, both of which are outward representations of OSLH.

MENU for the WEEK of DECEMBER 6

Monday………………chicken patty on bun, mashed potatoes with gravy, applesauce, milk

Tuesday………………mini corn dogs, corn, cinnamon apples, animal crackers, milk

Wednesday…………....chicken nuggets, mixed vegetables, pears, roll, milk

Thursday……………...cheese coneys, peaches, juice bar, milk

Friday…………………fish nuggets with tartar sauce, green beans, juice, macaroni and cheese, milk