St. Stephen Catholic School
September 19, 2024
Important updates in this week's Tidbits
Book Fair
Picture Retake/Graduation Pictures
Spirit Night
Volunteer Opportunities
Afterschool Programs
31st SSMC Golf Scramble
Angel Among Us Save the Date
Home Game Schedule
Homeroom Mom Emails
Principal's Points
Good Afternoon St. Stephen Families!
Who's ready for an exciting week of Book Fair events? Our committee is here today decorating and getting things ready for the event. Please be sure to read about everything in Tidbits about all the events. On Friday, grandparents/ grandfriends are welcome to join us at Mass. Just as we did last year, they will sit with a class and only one grandchild. This year, we are asking that they sit with the youngest sibling to help with supervision on this busy day. If there are two grandparents, they can split up and sit with different classes. For the safety of the children, it is important that they sit with their class as the teachers are responsible for them once they have arrived at school. We appreciate everyone's cooperation with this.
By now, every student has received their Be Kind spirit shirt and these are to be worn next Friday if your child is participating in jean day. Students may choose to wear jean shorts or pants or their PE shorts with their Be Kind shirt.
Thank you to those parents who came to our PTCO meeting Tuesday night. Our presenter gave valuable insight and information regarding how to protect our children when using technology.
One of the things we like to do here at school and in the parish, is support our families businesses. If you have a business that makes a product or service or have a connection with someone that we may have a need for, we would be interested in learning more and partnering with you. This year, we are grateful for our partnership with Dr. Ahrens who provided our calendar refrigerator magnets (if you didn't get one your child probably put it inside their locker), the Bosley family and the Apostoleres families who are helping with pizza and donuts for our book fair events, Mrs. Sarver who is using her knowledge of grant writing to help the school pursue grants we may qualify for, as well as many other families who have helped in the past. Please let me know if you wish to discuss this further.
Please take the time to read all of Tidbits, as we have a lot of events happening at school this month.
Peace,
Linda Umoh
Upcoming Events
September 20 - Marvelous Mustang at 8am
September 23-27 - Book Fair
September 24 & 25 - Donuts with Grownups 7am
September 26 - Family Event 3pm
September 27 - Grandfriends Day 8am
September 27 - Jean Day
September 27 - Noon Dismissal
October 1-11 - Boo Gram Sales
October 1 - Picture Retake/Graduation Pictures
October 12-13 - Holy Card Uniform Weekend
October 14 - NO SCHOOL
October 15 - Holy Card Free Dress
Joke of the week
Why don’t fish go on vacation?
See below for the answer.
Grandparent/Grandfriends Day 2024
Join our school community for Mass, breakfast, and the joy of attending our annual book fair.
Grandparents and Grandfriends of K- 8th graders can join their student(s) in school before Mass or meet them in church for 8:30 Mass. If joining your student at school before Mass, please check in at the front office between 7:50 and 8:15 and proceed to the student’s classroom. If you are meeting a student in church, you will check in after Mass in the breezeway on your way to the school. Please note a guest can only sit with one student during Mass. Guests can come into the school if they are not attending Mass at approximately 9:15 and meet their student(s) in the classroom. Please use the main lobby to sign in.
PRE-K 3 and PRE-K 4 students will not be attending Mass. Guests can sign in at the PRE-K gate and enter the classrooms with the student. They are welcome to visit the Book Fair at 8, enjoy a breakfast treat (brought by the student), and spend time enjoying the children in the classroom. When entering the school buildings, all guests should be signed in and have a visitor’s badge, which will be available anytime from the front office, the breezeway after Mass, and at the Pre-K gate during drop-off.
This year, individual students have been invited to pack a special breakfast for their Grandparent or Grandfriend. This will be enjoyed in the classrooms after Mass.
Classes will be called one at a time to visit the Book Fair. Students and their guests may return
to the classroom after their visit to the bookfair. Early dismissal is permissible. There will be a parent volunteer in each classroom (one for the middle school wing) for checkout. Grandparents and Grandfriends must sign out with this parent prior to leaving. If their name is not on the checkout list, they will need to go to the office without the student to sign out. Once the front office verifies the Grandparent or Grandfriend, then we will call the student down to the office.
When coming back from Mass, we recommend Grandparents/Grandfriends go with the youngest child.
- Middle School Students without younger siblings visit first.
- K-2 students will go next. If they have older siblings, they should pick them up and go together.
- Third through fifth grade students will go last. If they have older siblings, they can pick them up and go together.
Volunteers Needed for Grandparents and Grandfriends Day
We need two volunteers at the front office and one volunteer per classroom. See the link below to signup!
Grandparents and Grandfriends Day Attendance and Sign Out Form
We are asking the parents of the students from PreK to 8th grade to let us know which Grandparents/Grandfriends will be attending on September 27, 2024. We also need to know if your student(s) Grandparents and Grandfriends plan on signing the student out for the rest of the day. If you have multiple students please submit the form below for each student by 9/24/24.
PICTURE RETAKE AND 8TH GRADE GRADUATION PICTURES
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1
Every student regardless if you placed an order or not, received an envelope with a small proof of their photo, a summary of the order they placed and information (including their password) about how to place an order online.
Only students that placed an order, new students that have joined us since picture day and if the student was absent may have a retake on Tuesday, October 1. If you want a retake that day please go to www.VernonPhoto.com/retake and complete the retake pass. Students must bring their original package with them to retake day. If you have any questions please contact Vernon directly at Service@VernonPhoto.com
ITEMs Needed For PK3
PK3 needs the tops of baby food and apple sauce or yogurt pouches.
Thanks to All Who Contributed to the Blessing Bags
An Amazing Display of the Kindness of SSCS Families
Last Day to Donate is Monday, 9/23/24
Our third grade kindness crew helps promote kindness in the classroom and encourages their classmates to support the Blessing Bag campaign for those in need in our community.
Help Our Kids Help Others! Donations accepted through 9/23
Angels Among Us Requests Student Artwork
In Celebration of 25 years Supporting SSCS, Angels Among Us is offering students the opportunity to use their creativity and skills to recreate the Angels Among Us Wings. A print of the Wings is provided to use for your design. The design should closely resemble the wings provided and be recreated using a material of your choice. Suggestions include wood, ceramic, canvas, pottery, paper mâché, cardboard, foam, plastic, and fabric. Feel free to use paint, feathers, lights or other embellishments. The presentation can be 3 or 4 dimensional, a carving, a sculpture, a painting or wherever your imagination takes you. Be as creative as you like. The size should be no more than 3 feet by 3 feet and no heavier than 4 pounds.
All entries will be part of the Angels Gala on 2/15 and will not be returned to the student. Artwork is to be delivered to the school office on or before Monday, November 11. Our principal will select the most creative and best executed work of art and the winning artist’s parents will receive two complimentary tickets to Angels.
Mustang Sports
MUSTANG SPORTS:
Girls Volleyball: The girls varsity volleyball team beat Villa Madonna, two games to zero, and the JV lost two games to zero in their match last Thursday. The varsity got their third win in a row beating local rival Nativity in three games. The JV lost to Nativity, two games to zero. The Mustangs are back on the court today against Corpus Christi here at St. Stephen in the FLC. The varsity plays at 4:00 pm and the JV at 5:00 pm. The varsity plays in a one-day tournament tomorrow at Berkeley Prep. The girls have pool play matches against Christ the King at 4:30 pm and Berkeley Prep at 5:30 pm and then have a bracket match at either 6:30 pm or 7:30 pm.
Coed Soccer: The soccer team started the season with a 3-0 shutout of St. Joseph, with the goals scored by Benjamin B., Maddie T., and Justin C. The Mustangs won their second game in a row, beating Villa Madonna, 6-1. Matthew B. and Diego M. scored two goals, and Benjamin B. and Javier B. each had a goal. The Mustangs are back on the field today against and at St. Lawrence at 4:15 pm. They also host local rival Nativity here at St. Stephen on Tuesday at 4:00 pm.
GO MUSTANGS
Coach Green
Coach Green
Homeroom Mom Emails
ANSWER to the Joke of the Week:
Because they’re always in a school.
COVID 19 Decision Tree
Safe Environment Training and Fingerprints
Everyone needs updated safe environment training and fingerprints in order to volunteer in the school or to chaperone a field trip. Safe environment and fingerprints are good for 5 years. Attached here are the instructions on how to get your safe environment certificate and to have your fingerprints done. If you have any questions please contact Karen Biase at kbiase@sscsfl.org or call the front office at ext. 1100. Click the link for information here regarding fingerprints. Click for the live link here. For the safe environment click here for the live link .
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Mission Statement
St. Stephen Catholic School is devoted to inspiring students to achieve their full academic potential while demonstrating a desire to continue Jesus' mission by applying Catholic morals, beliefs, values, and practices in their everyday lives. We are committed to motivating students to sustain a lifelong love of learning.