Dear St. Michael School Families,

I wish each of you a Happy St. Michael Feast Day as we end this week! Everyone is invited to morning assembly tomorrow for a special prayer service led by our 8th grade class. I hope that you will have a little time this weekend to stop by and celebrate the Feast of St. MIchael and our Church’s centennial at the Parish Festival. The Festival is a family friendly event with fun games, delicious food and great entertainment. Our Parish generously supports our school financially. Attending the Festival is not only a community building event, but also a way to say thank you for the financial support.

I’m sure by now you have heard about the Pie in the Face game. We thank the Leonetti Family for building this new game for our school volunteers to run during the Festival! It’s been fun to watch the faculty and staff playing against one another this week. Tomorrow afternoon the winner of the week will be playing against me! You are welcome to come and watch us play the last 10 minutes of the school day.

As you know, our students are called to be followers of Jesus. Yesterday, the 8th grade class, Mrs. Calhoun and I attended 8th grade day at our Cathedral, Christ the Light, with Bishop Barber. It has become a tradition each year for Bishop Barber to host this celebration, which included mass. As we boarded the bus to come back to school, I felt like a proud momma bear. Our 8th graders displayed incredible behavior. They were reverent and fully participated in the mass. Our school tradition of attending Friday morning mass, your commitment as parents to being the primary educator and modeling our Catholic faith,  along with our strong Religion curriculum taught by our teachers all contributes to our success in carrying out our Catholic Identity.

Please remember that Friday is a student holiday. Our Centennial mass with Bishop Barber is at 6:00pm with a music prelude to begin at 5:30pm. A dinner reception will follow the mass.

Alison 

     News from Eagle’s Nest:
 
What a great month we have had visiting Tomorrowland.  We explored some fun new galaxies, met some futuristic friends and had a blast…..
Next month our Disneyland adventure take us to New Orleans Square.
We will wander the charming streets of 19th-century New Orleans. We will pay our respects to the grinning ghouls at the Haunted Mansion where there are 999 haunts who are "dying" to meet us — and they always have room for one more!  We will board a boat in the Pirates of the Caribbean and sail down into the misty pirate caverns to discover the curse of Davey Jones.  We will listen to the lively music of the Jambalaya Jazz Band and get down with the traditional jazz and blues of the Royal Street Bachelors.  We will also be on the look out for princess Tiana and her Mardi Gras celebration as she performs hoppin' songs from The Princess and the Frog.  Lots of fun ahead! Lets hope for smooth sailing and no hitchhiking ghosts!
 


A Special Thank You to…..
Sablan family for the donation of several chapter books.



Helping Hands
Our special “Helping Hands” students are:

• MacLaren H. for his help in keeping the room clean and being a friend to others when they need it.
• Isaiah D. for his help cleaning up in the mornings.
• Kai F. for his positive attitude.
• Johanna and Sofia  M. for helping with crafts.
• Elise S. for helping with the crafts and keeping things in order.

Looking Forward:

Art Class begins on Thursday, October 11.
Mrs Salerno has agreed to offer her creativity to another session of classes.
Click here to view the Art Class flyer for all the information
 
Updates:

• Mad Science for grades 5-8, Oceanology, has been cancelled due to lack of sign ups.
• Mad Science for grades TK-4 will begin this Wednesday, September 26.

The last water day was last Friday September 21. Please make sure your child no longer brings their water days gear.

                                                                FUN RUN NEWS

      READ ALL ABOUT IT!

The Fun Run is on Friday, October 26^th.
Below are important details to know about the Fun Run.

Purpose

• This is our 5^th annual health focused fundraiser where the students, Faculty/Staff, and Fr. Carl will be running 40 laps on a track set up on the school courtyard
• The funds raised go to the school to cover operating expenses, including but not limited to, covering expenses for a shade structure for the TK and K lunch area, sports equipment, Kindergarten Classroom furniture, and updated technology (iPads, Chrome Books)

 
Kick-Off

• The Fun Run officially kicks off on Thursday, October 11^th at morning assembly
• A unique website is created for the school to collect and track donations
• Next week (Oct 3^rd or 4^th) an email will be sent to parents from Healthy Kids (the company that puts on the Fun Run) providing a heads up about the program and a link to your student’s unique webpage which is used to collect donations
• Donations can be collected as soon as the webpage link is received

 
Donations

• Students collect donations based on running 40 laps on the track
• Donations can be made as flat amount or per lap
• The student’s webpage can be sent via text or email and placed on social media sites allowing for collecting donations across the country
• Paper pledge forms are also available for use

 
Prizes

• Students earn prizes based on money pledged and collected (note: some prizes are awarded based on pledged donations and some are awarded based on actual collected amounts.)
• Earned prizes will be provided to the students every 3 days starting on October 15. As we get closer to the Fun Run date the frequency of receiving prizes will increase (note: this is different from last year where we handed out prizes every day)
• The prize sheet will be provided as we get closer to Kick-Off day.

 
Sponsorships

• We are still accepting sponsorships; please consider being a sponsor or asking a local business to sponsor our Fun Run.
• Payment and Company Logo/Name due Oct 1^st; see Sponsorship Letter for details (copies available in the office.)

 
Join the fun...

THIS WEEKEND!!!
There will be games, auction items, raffle, pinewood derby races, pumpkin patch, tot-lot, live entertainment, tasty food and refreshing drinks. It’s a great time. Come out and enjoy a sense of community!

Don't forget to wear your SMS swag and get counted in the SMS Spirit Contest!  Parents, friends and relatives are all welcome to show SMS spirit and get counted for the grade of their choice.  Winning class gets a Build-Your-Own Ice Cream Sundae Halloween Party. 

While at the SMS Booth cast your vote for the best Decorated Pumpkin Display.  The winning class get passes to the G&M Farms Corn Maze.
 

AND  THANKS GOES TO…
A huge thank you to the Parents of the TK and 4^th Grade Classes for providing recess snacks earlier this month to the Faculty and Staff!
 

PARENT TEACHER GROUP (PTG) MEETING...
Our next PTG Meeting is Thursday, October 18^th at 7pm on campus. Come learn what we are working on. Questions, comments, or suggestions can be sent to, 
Chris Bongfeldt at smsptg@smsliv.org.
 

SAVE THE DATE...
Below is a list of our School Events for 2018 – 2019.
Please save these dates to your calendar.
 

• September 29 & 30 – Fall Festival
•  October 26 – Fun Run
•  December 1st  Downtown Christmas Parade
•  December 19th  Christmas Concert
•  January 27th – Catholic Schools Week Open House 
•  February 1st– Special Guest Day
•  February 9th – Wine Gala & Auction
•  February 23th – Father/Daughter Dance
• March 22nd– Shamrock Bingo & Knights of Columbus Fish Fry
• April 6th– Tabletop Luncheon

• May 6th thru 10th – Teacher Appreciation Week
• May TBD – Mother/Son Game Night

Parent Volunteer Update
 

We will be participating in the Livermore Christmas Parade on December 1^st.
The coordinators for our participation in the parade are looking for someone who
has a flatbed trailer or truck we can borrow for that weekend. If you do or know someone who does, contact Vanessa Gallo for questions: 925-963-7958, vanessa@gallocommunications.com .
We are happy to offer volunteer hours as trade for usage. Having our school represented in the Christmas parade is a wonderful opportunity to show the community who we are, especially as we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ.

            WE STILL NEED HELP IN THESE AREAS:

___________________________________________________________________________________

Drop Off Duty Help needed from October 15 and on—volunteers stand in front of the school and monitor the morning drop off process to ensure drivers move through smoothly; it’s a 15-minute shift each time: www.signupgenius.com/go/4090e4cada623abf94-drop/58542372
 

Parent Volunteers Who Are Great With a Camera and Who Like Photo Editing

We have a parent volunteer, Jacqueline Garrett, who will be coordinating the
yearbook editing process for our school yearbook this year. We are looking for a
parent volunteer who enjoys photo editing, who would be interested in assisting
Jacqueline later in the year with the process of setting up the yearbook vendor
and helping with edits. Also, we are looking for parents who have cameras
 of their own and who enjoy taking photos.
 Those who decide to do this will collaborate with Jacqueline on those days
at school or during events where we need photos taken
 in order to get that coverage in the yearbook. If you are interested in helping in this area, your time will count toward your hours. Contact Vanessa Gallo at vanessa@gallocommunications.com or 925-963-7958.

 
Tabletop Luncheon—we are still in need of two parents to help coordinate our
Tabletop Luncheon set for April 6^th. Vanessa Gallo can assist and provide support.
This is an event where volunteers sponsor tables and decorate them according to a theme of their choice and all the guests enjoy the same luncheon.
Link to sign up: www.signupgenius.com/go/4090e4cada623abf94-tabletop
 

 




60^th Wine Tasting Gala & Auction Committee Helpers Needed—this is an exciting event with wine tasting, dinner, and silent and live auctions that will take place on February 9^th at the community center on East Avenue.
We do not have this event listed on Sign-up Genius yet, but we are still looking for help in certain areas.
Contact Co-Chair Stephane Lemoine, stephanie_lemoine@hotmail.com .
Here are the specific committee roles we need help with:
 

• Procurement Team (work with Procurement Leader to secure sponsorships)
• Silent Auction Support (this person works with others on silent auction team to organize donations, put them in baskets, set up baskets on the day of the event, label them, etc.)
• Event Paper Program (drafting, editing and finalizing content for the paper program guests receive at the event)
• Raffle Coordinator (oversee the online raffle ticket process before the event takes place)

Thank you to everyone who has so generously been helping us to fill and overflow our St. Vincent de Paul bin and additional bags! Tomorrow is the last collection of rice and canned vegetables. The next couple of Fridays we will focus on canned fruit and toilet paper. Please only send a 4 pack of toilet paper as space is limited in the food pantry.
Thank you for your generosity as followers of Jesus!

Celebrate Mass with Bishop Michael Barber this Friday, Sept. 28th at 6 pm. Enjoy Food, Entertainment and Fun at the Fall Festival  Saturday Sept. 29th & Sunday 30th

Celebrate Father Carl's instillation mass as our Pastor followed by a reception on Friday, Oct. 19th at 7pm.