Volume 19, Issue 26

2 P.M. Dismissal Tomorrow

March 5, 2020

Lion’s Roar Newsletter Upcoming dates for

your calendar:

3/6 (Fri) ~ Last day to turn in Soccer Registration; 2 P.M. Re-lease, 5-7 Knights of Columbus Fish Fry; Station of the Cross (7 P.M. in English, 8 P.M. in Spanish)

3/8 (Sun) ~ Daylight Savings Time begins, 9 A.M. School Mass

3/9 (Mon) thru 3/16 (Mon) ~ Spring Break

3/13 (Fri) ~ 5-7 Knights of Columbus Fish Fry; Station of the Cross (7 P.M. in English, 8 P.M. in Spanish)

3/17 (Tue) ~ Return from Spring Break, 5-9 P.M. Spirit Night @ Spring Creek Barbeque; Cub Scout pack meeting

3/19 (Thu) ~ Mass Attendance Free Dress; 6:30 P.M. PTO meeting in FLC, childcare in St. Mary’s Hall

3/23 (Mon)-3/26 (Thu) ~ 8th gr Washington DC trip

3/24 (Tue) ~ Cub Scout Den Meeting

Notes from the Nurse 2

From the Principal’s Desk 2

Spring Creek Spirit Night 2

Carnival News 2

Msgr. Paul Procella Fund 3

Spring Creek Spirit Night 3

What HAVE We Been Up To? 4

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

You do not need to make a reservation for the P.R.I.D.E. Academy on 2 P.M.

release days. AND you do not have to pay $1 to wear blue jeans on early

dismissal days. BUT you will need $1 if you want to purchase ice cream from

the NJHS or a Spirit Stick from Ms. Sam!

Our Knights of Columbus always host a delicious Fish Fry on the Fridays of Lent from 5-7 P.M. They will do the cooking for you for $8 for adults

and $4 for children. The great thing about eating with the Knights (in addition to the com-pany you get to enjoy!) is that you can go directly to Church for Stations of the Cross at 7 P.M. in English or 8 P.M. in

Spanish after you eat.

All School Mass If your family will be in town, we invite you to

join us for our next All School Mass

Sunday, March 8th, at 9 A.M.

We ask that students attend in their Mass uniform.

Daylight Savings Time begins at 2 A.M. on Sunday. Remember to set your clocks ahead one hour so you’re not an hour late. The Fire Department encourages everyone to check the batteries in smoke alarms when we have a time change.

2020-2021 Enrollment Have you re-enrolled your student? Classes are filling up fast

now that we opened them to the public. To make sure your

student has a spot for next year, please take a moment to re-

enroll him or her by logging into your FACTS Family Portal.

Need assistance with re-enrollment? Contact:

Laura Rocha Director of Admissions lrocha@smmcs.org

PAGE 2 VO L UME 19, ISSUE 26

I know everyone is concerned with the coronavirus, so I wanted to share some quick tips that worked for me dur-ing my many years as an emergency room nurse.

As an ER nurse, I was the first person to come into contact with illnesses that were not diagnosed until days/weeks later. By then, I had already been exposed and exposed my family as well. My co-workers and I learned a few tricks of the trade to protect ourselves and our families as much as possible. I thought I would share what worked for my team and I to keep germs away from us and our loved ones. Please read the attachment to this week’s Lion’s Roar and, as always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Enjoy Spring Break!!!

Notes from the FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK:

As we enjoy our Spring Break next week, I hope you and your family will be able to take some time to reconnect with each other. If you are traveling, I pray that you will have a safe journey.

We still have a lot of events between now and the end of school. Our 8th graders will be off on their Washington DC trip at the end of this month. Af-ter the Easter break, our 5th graders will get to ex-perience Camp Kappe! Testing will be the last 2 weeks of April. And we will fit the Spring Book Fair, Cinco de Mayo, graduation and Splash Day into May before our last day on the 22nd.

As soon as we return from Spring Break, we will be charging ahead with plans for our Spring Car-nival, one of the major fundraisers for the school. We hope you can all join us on Saturday, April 4th, to celebrate our school family. We will need a lot volunteers to have a successful event. Mrs. Bridget Walker is looking for items for sponsors for our t-shirt and help on the day of the Carnival. Can we count on you?

~ Mr. Raab, Principal

We’ve got spirit! Yes, we do!!! We’ve got spirit!! How about you?

Join us for a real treat ~ our Spirit Night at Spring Creek Barbeque on Tuesday, March 17th, when we return from Spring Break.

As an incentive, each student in the class with the highest representation on our Spirit Night will receive a t-shirt from Spring Creek. When they wear it to Spring Creek for the next year, they will receive FREE BLUE BELL ice cream!!! (Teachers & staff will be serving the hot rolls, so come hungry!!!!)

Come to the Atascocita address: 5613 E FM 1960

We need all kinds of help to make this year’s Spring Carnival a smashing success!!! Our Carnival will be held on Saturday, April 4th. Here are a

few things you can help with: Pre-order your Carnival t-shirts for everyone

(the order form is attached). The class with the most t-shirt sales (proportionally) will receive a special prize!!!

Consider sponsoring the t-shirts (order form is attached) or help us obtain sponsors for the t-shirts.

Bring in your stuffed animals for the prize booth. Put them in a black plastic bag and bring them to the front office. The kiddos will never know!!!

Sell raffle tickets when we send them home tomorrow. The class that sells the most (proportionally) will get a pizza/movie party!!!

Volunteer!!! Volunteer!!! Volunteer!!! Check with your Room Parent. Each class will be re-sponsible for staffing one of the game booths. My Mom (you know, Grandma!) always says, “Many hands make light work.”

Come and have fun on Saturday, April 4th!

PAGE 3 L IO N ’S R O AR N EWSL ETT ER

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM MRS. HUGHES MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

IOWA/CogAT & ACRE Testing Dates: April 20th - May 1st, 2020 There are changes from years past. We have new requirements that have been implemented by the Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Please be aware of the following:

No Kindergarten Testing

8th Grade - Required IOWA Testing

1st & 2nd Grades - IOWA Reading, Language & Math Required

3rd - 8th Grades - IOWA Test all areas

CogAT Required in 2nd, 4th, & 6th Grades

ACRE Required in 5th & 8th Grades

The IOWA Test is not a strategies based assessment and we do not "teach to the test" in the Archdiocese. It is a knowledge-based assessment used to track student growth and provide data for us to compare our curriculum to others across the nation in the same grade level. There will be a more detailed explanation given by Mrs. Hughes at the March 19th PTO Meeting.

For now, please be aware of the dates and do not plan any appointments before noon during these two weeks. Attendance is EXTREMELY important. Testing will start promptly at 8:15 A.M. each morning and those that are tardy will have to wait in the front office until there is a scheduled break in the class. So please make sure students are on time! We know emergencies and illnesses occur but please understand the testing window is short. We appreciate your cooperation and support as always!!!

How you begin your education will influence your learning for

the rest of your life.

~Msgr. Paul Procella

Principal Joshua Raab jraab@smmcs.org extension 145

School Nurse Lori Eaves leaves@smmcs.org extension 120

Director of Admissions Laura Rocha lrocha@smmcs.org extension 146

Curriculum Director Cathi Hughes chughes@smmcs.org extension 159

Counselor Laura Valladares lvalladares@smmcs.org extension 160

Uniform Coordinator Bridget Walker brwalker@smmcs.org extension 144

St. Mary Magdalene Catholic School 530 Ferguson St, Humble TX 77338-8018 Phone: 281-446-8535 Fax: 281-446-8527

Accredited by the Texas Catholic Conference Education Department

Msgr. Paul Procella Legacy Fund Update

The Msgr. Paul Procella Legacy Fund was established to continue this

wonderful man’s vision for our children. All donations (including match-

ing funds from your employer) to the Msgr. Paul Procella Legacy Fund

are credited 100% to your FIC hours.

Our goal this year is $80,000. The next sub-goal we are working to-

wards is $50,000.

Our heartfelt thanks to Christine and Brian Townsend, Andrea and

Jaime Sanchez, The Catholic Daughters of America Court of the

Cross #2374, Rosa and David Herrera, Arcernetta and Billy Williams,

Mary and Bill Turner, Janet Orth, Robert and Micha Rucka, Noble En-

ergy and our many anonymous donors for their very generous gifts to

the fund.

Thank you very much for any assistance you can give us! Mrs. Barbara Biehunko, Msgr. Paul Procella and

Mrs. Jean Johnson during our opening month.

PAGE 4 VO L UME 19, ISSUE 26

What HAVE we been up to???

Quite a few of our students and staff enjoyed

dressing up on Monday for Read Across America,

in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

Here are some of Mrs. Holden’s 2nd graders!

Mrs. Walker presented Fr. Felix with his prize for

raising the most donations for Steps for

Students. Father won a hover board for being

our “Fundraising Champion” with a total of

$2,300! We appreciate his support ~ and his

donation of the hover board back to the school

to use for our Spring Carnival!

Our Mardi Gras parade was well received and the Middle

Schoolers were terrific as our Krewe!

International Day is a lot of hard work, but the students really enjoy the end result!

As soon as Mrs. Rodriguez assigns the countries, each of the classes start their research: What does the country’s flag look like? What is their na-

tional flower? What do they eat?

Posters are made, pictures are colored, food is prepared, dances are re-hearsed and it all comes together in a day of fun and education.

And isn’t that the best way to learn?

International Day gives our students the chance to try new foods from other countries. Thanks to our supportive Moms and Dads and family members, who tried out new recipes and who served small tastes of the exotic food to the students.

Our students used class time to find out as much as they could about their assigned country. They created art work, poster boards and information sheets from what they discovered. Ambassadors from each class manned their table as they answered any questions and stamped those very important passports!!!

Our entertainers practiced many hours to be able to show us dance steps and games that represented their assigned country.

We would like to give Mrs. Carmen

Rodriguez a huge Thank You for

all of her hard work in sponsoring

our International Day. We also

appreciate all of the parents and

family members who made the

day such a success!!!