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From The Principal On a recent visit to school, a parent mentioned how very busy everyone seemed to be. They saw band practice in the music room, physical education classes in the gym, a PTO meeting in an atrium, students taking MAP tests and more. What they didn’t know is that is a normal day at St. Michael School. We are always bustling with activity every day. We run so many extracurricular clubs but are always open to offering more. If you have a special talent (chess club, sewing club, etc.) and wish to help us offer an activity for students, please send us an email!

I can’t thank everyone enough for the amazing outpouring of support that you gave during our Fun Run! The kids and staff had a great week. The PTO support was amazing and the fundraising was phenomenal. What amazed me the most was the fact that the funds we raised only came from 33% of our parents. That is the power of social media. 67% of the money raised came from family, friends, corporate sponsors and coworkers. In the end, we raised $28,000…far exceeding our goal of $12,500. Thank you so very much for your support that week!

We just wrapped up Catholic Schools Week and what a tremendous week it was! We showed off our school spirit, learned about vocations, celebrated our nation and volunteers and more. I think the highlight for the students was the Faculty vs. Students Annual Basketball Game that was played on Friday. I can’t thank our spirited staff enough for volunteering to play against our amazing student players. Everyone had so much fun and were cheered on by the rest of the school. Many thanks to our CSW Committee of teachers and staff who planned out the week for our students. We are delighted each year to celebrate all that a Catholic education gives to a student!

Coming up we have the Ladies’ Choice Dance, Valentine’s Day and February vacation. I still can’t believe we have accomplished 100 days of school already!!! We also have our school Spelling Bee where one student will be selected to compete in the regional Spelling Bee. It’s so fun to see students in grades 1-8 compete against each other. These students are true scholars and have studied their hearts out!

It’s a short month with February vacation week so before we know it, March will be coming in like a lion or a lamb. I’m hoping for a quiet March and very few snow days! March brings with it our Trivia Night, Boys’ Night Out with their mom (or female parent figure), Ash Wednesday and the annual Book Fair. Keep your eyes posted on backpack flyers for more information on these activities as we approach March!

I wish you all a very happy, safe and fun February vacation. I hope it’s a time of family fun, sledding, long games of Monopoly (I know that happens at my house!), skiing, movie nights and more!

Peace,

Susan Gosselin, Principal

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Pastor's Corner

One of the many blessings at St. Michael’s School is our PTO. I am so impressed with their

dedication to making our school a better place. They continue to sponsor many activities for our

students and our families. St. Michael’s School is a better place because of the many hours these

parents volunteer each week. Thank you to all who are involved in our PTO! You make a

difference here!

God Bless!

Mission Statement Saint Michael School offers an exceptional Catholic education to our students, nurturing their desire to achieve academic excellence and encouraging spiritual, artistic and athletic development in a caring, family environment. We motivate our students to become well-rounded, moral young men and women who are prepared to live a faithful life with intellectual rigor and spiritual awareness.

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Mary Poppins, Jr. We are so excited about this year’s spring musical, Mary Poppins, Jr. Our Upper School cast members have been working hard since January. Crew is just starting up and they have lots of great ideas. Our third and fourth grade cast members will be starting after February vacation. All together, we are 127 exceptional students! We are so proud!

We recently took our upper school cast members to the movies! Together we saw Mary Poppins Returns. A big shout out to all the parent volunteers! Without your help, the trip wouldn’t have been possible.

And to quote Mary Poppins these students are “Practically Perfect in every way!”

Mary Poppins 1st Half ...................... Shaelynn Carey

Mary Poppins 2nd Half ..................... Mika McLean

Bert 1st Half ...................................... Beau Manzi

Bert 2nd Half .................................... Joe Masterson

George Banks First Half ................... Neko Kady

George Banks 2nd Half .................... Ben Harrington

Winifred Banks 1st Half .................... Tori Wilson

Winifred Banks 2nd Half ................... Alexis Buwembo

Mrs. Brill 1st Half .............................. Stephanie Sayegh

Mrs. Brill 2nd Half ............................. Emily Hildago

Michael 1st Half ................................ David Topi

Michael 2nd Half ............................... Jimmy Falzone

Jane 1st Half .................................... Cassie Hubbard

Jane 2nd Half ................................... Gianna Ciampa

Mrs. Corry ......................................... Abby Gionfriddo

Robertson Aye 1st Half .................... Michael Hamlin

Robertson Aye 2nd Half ................... Brendan Larkin

Jack Bristle ....................................... Julian Leon

Chairman .......................................... Frankie Rondinelli

Nelus ................................................ Caleb Cascio

Katie Nana ........................................ Megan Erwin

Miss Smyth ....................................... Abby Sarver

Bird Woman ...................................... Abigail O’Connell

Von Hussler ...................................... Jackson Brady

Northbrook ........................................ Jasmine Medina

Miss Andrew ..................................... Grace Wolf

First Half Bank Tellers:

Sofia Tagliaferri .................... Julia Tavares Gabriella Tryon .................... Olivia Boucher Anna White

Second Half Park Strollers:

Kristine Sader ...................... Jennifer Saouma

Maggie Bernal ...................... Chloe Simoes

Mia Durkin ........................... Sophia Serafino

First Half Statues:

Meredith Rhodes ................. Gianna Sacchetti

Ava Sarver

First Half Park Strollers:

Lily Amari ............................. Kayla Barchard

Julia Matachun ..................... Bella Thurmond

First Half Sweeps:

Christian Boucher ................ Sebastian Catalano

Nikolas Catalano .................. Keegan Paradis

Vanio Pernikliev ................... Trevor Wlodyka

Second Half Bank Clerks:

Caroline Melvin .................... Lily Hamlin

Elizabeth Hauze ................... Serena Sader

Amber Boardman

First Half Maids:

Isabella Tagliaferri ............... Aailyah Veloz

Sarah Mellor

First Half Butlers:

Daniel Topi ........................... Jacoby Cascio

Joe Leal

Second Half Chimney Sweeps:

Luca D’Agata ....................... Joey Rondinelli

Ella Levesque ...................... Addy Plouffe

Kaylie Ruelle ........................ Sadie Tackaberry

Sierra Hudson ...................... Shannon Larkin

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Grade 7B

High Honors

Maggie Bernal

Janette Douglass

Mia Durkin

Derek Furtado

Luke Manzi

Kristine Sader

Sophia Serafino

Sofia Tagliaferri

Honors

Torin Baggs

Jackson Brady

Bryan Garcia-Pandolfo

Michael Hamlin

Salinas Perez

Jennifer Saouma

Chloe Simoes

Mathieu Tardif

Honor Roll

To be eligible for High Honors a student must receive all A’s in all graded subject areas. Conduct and effort grades must be 1 or 2 in all classes.

To be eligible for Honors a student must receive all A’s and B’s in all graded subject areas. Conduct and effort grades must be 1 or 2 in all classes.

Grade 8B

High Honors

Alexis Buwembo

Shaelynn Carey

Emily Hidalgo

Beau Manzi

Mika McLean

Joseph Quaratiello

Olivia Ribaudo

Stephanie Sayegh

Cierra Townshend

Lizzie Welch

Honors

Gianna Ciampa

Jimmy Falzone

Mckenzie Hamilton

Ben Harrington

Nichole Lanik

Ava Samataro

Tori Wilson

Grade 8A

High Honors

Kate Ciesieleski

Justin Hardy

Robert Kirby

Maidson Landers

Joseph Masterson

Brooke Moore

Frank Rondinelli

Anthony Sadek

Mackenzie Taylor

Honors

Bella Bouraphael

Madison Briggs

Andrew Cafua

Matthew Gregoire

Neko Kady

Madison King

Michael Pappalardo

Lee Poulin

Owen Sheppard

Neave Sullivan

Aiden Riley

Grade 7A

High Honors

Olivia Boucher

Caleb Cascio

Andrew Haykal

John Khoury

Amani Malika

Brandon Monahan

Cole Morrison

Phillip Neff

Abigail Sarver

Luke Surette

Anna White

Honors

Megan Erwin

James McGaffigan

Jack Stanisewski

Emma Swinarski

Julia Tavares

Gabriella Tryon

Grace Wolf

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Tiernan was the high scorer for his age at the Knights of Columbus free throw shooting contest in January. He then moved on to the semi –finals and rocked it there! Off to the finals, now! We are all wishing you good luck—way to go!

We are pleased to welcome two new staff members to St. Michael School…

Mr. Douglas Dunbar is our new part-time Spanish teacher. Mr. Dunbar will be

working with students in grades 4-8 this year. He is the product of Catholic

education, having attended Catholic elementary school as well as Catholic high

school and college. He brings a love of foreign language and learning to his

classroom lessons!

Mrs. Linda O’Connell is joining our team on Fridays to work with small groups of

students in grades 1-4. Mrs. O’Connell’s focus is math and she will provide small

group instruction in our resource room. Mrs. O’Connell is a current parent at

St. Michael School as well!

We are delighted to have these two amazing people join our school community

and family!

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We will celebrate the First Friday of each month by coming together as a school community for Mass at 9:15am in the Church. At each Mass, a specific grade will lead us. Mark your calendar, the next First Friday Mass is March 1

Saint Michael School strives to be a peanut butter free school. Please do not send in items that contain peanut butter. Thank you for your consideration.

JUST A REMINDER Please do not bring in food for your child's birthday. Also, do not send flowers, balloons, or large gifts for your child. Some great ways to celebrate your child's birthday are: book for the library, gel pens, goodie bags, pencils, bookmarks, stickers, coupons for ice cream cones, etc.

No Food Policy For the overall health and wellness of our students, we have eliminated food at parties at school. Parents should never send in food for parties, special occasions, birth-days, etc. Additionally, we kindly ask that parents re-frain from delivering special lunches for their chil-dren including McDonalds, Sal's, local sub shops etc.

We greatly appreciate your support with this policy. No popsicles even in hot weather.

Please note; that we will continue to have class parties for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc., however, those parties will be planned and organized by the teach-er. We are doing this to keep all the children safe and ensure that no child will feel singled out or left out. Thank you for your continued support

THE 2017-2018 YEARBOOKS The Yearbooks are available – only $15 each. All grades from Nursery to Grade 8 are represented from the 2016-2017 School Year. If you want one, please send a note to the Office or they can also be purchased before/after school at Mrs. Donahue’s desk.

DO NOT SEND CASH INTO SCHOOL When paying for field trips, art projects, etc. for your child, all payments will be made through our new Student Information Service Program, RenWeb/FACTS.

Dates to Remember February 18-22 ......February Vacation

March 1 .................First Friday Mass at 9:15am

March 5-7 ..............Book Fair

March 7 .................Boys Breakfast

March 9 .................Adult Trivia night

March 22 ...............Early Release Day

March 22 ...............Entire Upper School Drama Practice ...............................12:15pm until 4:45pm

March 22 ...............Uniform Exchange

Tuition Update

Active Contributing Parishioners - As a reminder, to be considered an active parishioner (and receive a parishioner tuition rate for 2018-19), families must make a minimum total offertory donation of $400 to our parish beginning July 1-April 1. This can be done on a weekly basis when you attend mass BUT it must be made in a trackable manner. You NEED to be a parishioner and use a parish envelope. If you wish to receive envelopes from the parish, please email Dorothy_varga@saintmichael.com. Donations made at Easter and Christmas are for the benefit of the Clergy Health & Retirement Fund and therefore do NOT count toward the annual $400 donation to St. Michael Parish.

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CHECK THIS OUT!!!!!

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We hope you enjoyed this special newsletter section written by two awesome

third graders during an indoor recess period. A big thank you to Olivia deMars

and Cole Hashem for sharing!

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Help SMS Without Spending Extra Money Did you know you can raise money for SMS without spending extra money? Here‘s how:

Send in your Boxtops (cereal boxes and other items that have the Boxtop label)

Consider donating your old iPad to the school when you upgrade

Register your Stop and Shop Card (SMS ID 06688)

Send in your used ink cartridges from your home computer printers

Send in your company‘s used ink cartridges (not toner) from the copy machine or computer printers

Buy gift cards from the Scrip Program Shop at J.B. Edward Uniforms (they give the school a percentage back)

We‘ll continue to update the list to help you help SMS!

Extended Day Billing Changes

With our new Renweb/FACTS system, there are a few changes to note.

Hours will still be tracked by completing the form at drop off and pickup. Please make sure to write legibly.

At the end of each month, all fees (including the registration fee if applicable) will be uploaded to FACTS

You will be given until the end of the month to make that payment before late fees will be applied

All payments must be made via your FACTS account—the school can no longer accept cash or checks

Only one parent/guardian can receive the bill in FACTS. If you have multiple parents/guardians, you’ll need to con-

tact Mrs. Rogge to tell her who to bill.

Last month’s statements were uploaded the beginning of this month and will be due the end of the month. Any ques-tions or concerns, please reach out to Mrs. Rogge at susan_rogge@saintmichael.com

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Welcome to Ms. Lavallee’s Music Class

Sounds of music are all around us!

Let’s begin with Nursery and Pre-K students. This year students are introduced to our percussion musical family. They enjoy playing and making sounds and, of course, always following the conductor.

Kindergarten has been busy throughout the school year, learning holiday and seasonal songs, learning rhythm movement with partners, keeping steady beat, following direction, posture and all the beginning music skills that are the foundation of music education.

Grades 1 and 2 are at a fun age. They are curious, but can follow directions a little more than our smaller grades. They are excited, joyful and always ready for a challenge. Students perform alone or with others. Singing expressively, demonstrating and responding accurately to the beat. We have fun!

Grade 3 are introduced to the simple instrument, recorder. This is the formal process of learning to read music notation. Also the third grade will participate in our “Disney Day” Concert. They are learning to identify notes and also preparing for the concert!

Grade 4, I am happy to say, has been working, practicing very hard with the recorders. Students are achieving different degree belts and some have successfully completed the method book Karate 1..Black Belt! BRAVO! Students are wel-come to practice in the music room on Wednesday and Friday mornings starting at 8:30am.

Grade 5 had music for the first half of the school year. They were phenomenal at the Veteran’s Day Concert. I am look-ing forward to having them next year as 6th graders.

Grade 6 is in the process of learning and reading music at a higher level. We learn notes, reading rhythms, writing and composing their own songs. Soon the students will be introduced to other instruments; guitar, xylophone, and world

percussion instruments.

Grade 7 is learning how movement is an essential part of music education. Throughout this term students will learn sev-eral world folk dances and will perform at the end of the school year.

Grade 8 had music the first half of the school year. They have learned many music skills over the years. I am proud of them and wish them well in high school!

Thank you, parents, for all your support!

Musically yours, Ms. Lavalle

Coming Soon!!!

Get Ready to Celebrate in the Month of March

Disney Day Concert

Performed by

Nursery through Grade 3

...more details coming soon…

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Fine Arts with Mrs. Donegan The sixth and seventh graders ended their semester of art by spending their last class doing action painting. We talked about Jackson Pollock the famous artist, watched a video on how he created his artwork and then spent the rest of class throwing paint at canvas. The results were beautiful; check out the pictures on the next page.

The 3rd

grade was lucky enough to have guest art teacher Mrs. Hart, for three weeks while they learned about, and then created their own Batik Paintings. Batik has been around for thousands of years. Originally it was used as a wax resist to make designs on dyed cloth. Although that is still the main purpose of Batik it has been used for a variety of other types of art and materials. Indonesia, Africa, India, and China all have their own forms of Batik. Third grade created their resist using oil pastels. They put a focal point in the center of their paper and then created a pattern that went around the whole border. Students created a strong resist by applying two layers of oil pastel to their pencil marks. Students then used tempera cake paints to fill in their entire paper, and show off their amazing resists. As you can see the results are beautiful!

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Upper School Social Studies 5/6 Grade 5 and 6 just celebrated Chinese New Year making name banners. Grade 6 learned how to write their names in Chinese! Grade 5 had a fun time reading with our grade 2 buddies during Catholic Schools Week. We can’t believe we are more than half way through the school year!

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Upper School ELA 5/6

The 5th grade ELA students are back in Reading Street. You should see a Family Times coming home each Friday for them to start studying for their spelling/vocabulary quiz and reading test. They should also continue reading their AR books and taking a test for each book they read. The 6th grade ELA students just finished reading The Egypt Game and taking the end of the book test. They will now start a com-pare/contrast paper using the novel for text evidence. They should also be reading two books this term for AR and taking the tests on those books. We all had fun during Catholic Schools Week. They enjoyed dressing for their future careers one day and wearing their pajamas the next day! We're loved the Academic Game Show and the student/faculty basketball game!

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Upper School Science 7/8 The Science students continue to work hard. The most popular time of the year is upon them. The Science Fair will take place in April. The students were given their packets and should start thinking about ideas and how to proceed with their projects. The students in the past have really enjoyed this time of year. I, also, enjoy this time of year it is over whelming, for me, to observe the amount of effort the students put into their projects. I am sure this year will not be any different.

As the second half of the year continues I’m sure it will proceed as smoothly as the first.

Check out some great pictures of our 8th grade reading buddies below.

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