ST. LAMBERT SCHOOL NEWSLETTER December 2016

St. Lambert School 1000 S. Bahnson Sioux Falls, SD 57103 Phone: 338-7042 Fax: 336-8727 Email: cdavis.sfcss.org

Happy December! It’s such a wonderful time of the year – and for many of us, a very busy time of the year. As I prepare for the holidays with all the hustle and bustle, I try to keep the focus on the many gifts God has given me and how God is at work daily in my life. I am reminded that everything we have, no matter how little or how much, is a gift from God. We can pass these blessings on to others by helping those who are in need. I am humbled in the knowledge of the help our students and staff give others in our community through the charitable acts they perform. In November we collected food to donate to the Food Pantry and in December we are collecting baby items for the Advent Baby Shower and the staff is volunteering at Feeding South Dakota. These acts of giving are life-long lessons of charitable works we can instill in our children about sharing with others the gifts they have been given from God. My prayers are with all of you for a joyous and blessed Christmas. Merry Christmas! Ms. Colleen Davis For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. John 3:16

WISH LIST   

Clorox or Lysol Wipes Cough drops Children’s pain reliever/fever reducer chewable tablets

THANK YOU Thank you to the following people for fulfilling our wish list requests last month: * Jackie Lefdal * Sam Pellman * Marlayne Sage

——————Coming Events—————— Dec 2 Dec 5 Dec 8

8:30 am - School Mass (5th grade plans) 7 pm - Band Concert in the school gym Feast of the Immaculate Conception 8:30 am - School Mass (4th grade plans) Dec 12 Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Dec 13 6:30 pm - Preschool & Kindergarten Christmas program at St. Lambert Church

Dec 16 8:30 am - School Mass (3rd grade plans) Birthday Lunch with Ms. Davis Dec 20 7 pm - Christmas Concert for grades 1-6 @ OG Performing Arts Center Dec 21 Dress Down/Up Day for Christmas Dec 22 11:30 am - Early Dismissal Christmas Break begins Jan 3 School Resumes

Weather Dictates…. Please help us Shower Christ's Little Ones this advent season with providing new, unwrapped gifts for newborns through 12 months. During the month of December, we will be collecting donations for the Advent Baby Shower. If your family would like to donate to the Baby Shower, donations are to be new items for newborn babies through 12 months old. Your child may bring an item(s) to school for the Advent Baby Shower between now and Dec. 22. These will then be donated to local families in need within our parishes, community, and diocese.

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Thank you to everyone who participated in Rake-aDifference on Nov 5th. A special thanks to Kate Althoff for coordinating this event! We couldn’t have asked for better weather that day. The home owners are always so grateful for this service. Many wonderful comments were heard about the good job that was done by the rakers! The total amount of money raised for St. Lambert school was $10,176.00!

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Weather Alert

UNIFORM CODE REMINDER According to our uniform code only “Dennis Uniform” girls skirts and jumpers are to be worn to school (so that they will all look the same). We have some “gently used” ones available for purchase in our uniform closet. Also remember that tights and socks must be white, navy, or black.

Just a reminder to take pictures at the Christmas programs, and any other school events that will be coming up, for the school yearbook. You can email the pictures to [email protected] or the school office at [email protected] or [email protected]

 Winter weather is upon us.  Please have your child bring all winter gear to school every day to be prepared—coats, hats, gloves, boots and a pair of shoes to wear inside the school building. Plan to do this until April 1st and then with discretion after this date. Recess duty supervisors will assess the weather and the state of the play area each day and let classroom teachers know if any of these items are not necessary to be worn. From a parent’s vantage point it may seem like a nice day outside and no need for boots, but the staff know the status of the play area. We thank you for your help and support. As inclement weather approaches, please remember to listen to TV or radio for announcements about Sioux Falls Catholic Schools’ closing or early dismissals. We will also be using the School Messenger program if school is closed or dismissed early. Please discuss with your child what he/she should do in the case of an early dismissal. This provides your child some security and makes it quicker and easier for us to get your child home in case of bad weather. Also, please remember that during inclement weather, the decision to send your child to school or pick your child up early rests with you. The safety of your child is our #1 priority!

 If we have a one hour late start due to inclement weather, morning Preschool students should report to school one hour later than usual. Before School Care will begin at 7:30 am.  If we have a two hour late start, there will be no Morning Preschool for students not enrolled in Preschool Plus. Preschool Plus students would then start two hours late, and Before School Care will be cancelled.  If there is an early out, there will be no After School Care - and all students should be picked up at school dismissal time.

SCHOOL MESSENGER    

Please make sure you keep the office informed of all phone number changes. School MESSENGER will be contacting only home and cell numbers. If you have not received phone calls and you know others have, please contact the school office. If there are numbers that are being contacted and should not be, please contact the school office.

Holiday greetings from the art room! Our art students at St. Lambert have had a very creative year so far. Everyone is looking forward to creating special Christmas projects to show in our school hallways. Throughout the year, I have been holding back some of the students’ artwork as possibilities for our upcoming art show at the Washington Pavilion. The show will run throughout February with a special reception on Saturday, February 11th at 10:30 a.m. We hope to have lots of families and friends come to show their support for our St. Lambert Artists! Please mark your calendars for this special event. I will be sending letters home with more detailed information the middle of January to parents who have children participating in the art show. Wishing you a blessed holiday season, Lori Boldt

Service, the act of helping, is our virtue of the month of December. The saint of the month is St. Vincent de Paul, who dedicated his life to helping others. December is a time when we are thinking of Christmas, excited about the holidays, buying or making gifts for others. What a great month to focus on helping others! Service comes in many forms. Many families will have nothing for Christmas and we can support these families by contributing to the Angel Tree, the Food Pantry, Sioux Falls Cares or a host of opportunities in Sioux Falls. The St. Lambert staff will be packing back packs for Feeding SD this month. Helping also includes doing chores for others, listening and respecting parents and teachers, helping someone who is hurt or in need, using good manners or any kind deed. This is the season of love and hope. Sharing our gifts with others by serving them and showing kindness is one of the greatest gifts that we can give. May you have a blessed and joyful Christmas! Mrs. Horacek

CHRISTMAS PROGRAMS... The Christmas Program for Grades 1-6 is Tuesday, Dec.20, 7:00 pm. Location: O’Gorman High School Performing Arts Center Important Christmas Program Reminders:   

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Students will meet in the OG High School Cafeteria at 6:45 pm that evening. Please keep your child with you until 6:45- do not leave them unattended. Teachers will be there by 6:45 to get students lined up. Piano Recital students need to meet Mrs. Helling at 6:40 in the PAC. The recital will begin at 6:45. Following the student’s performance, they will go to line up with their class. All students wear dressy clothing. (6th Grade students who are playing these roles are exceptions: Magi, Innkeeper, Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Angel. I have a costume for these students. They should wear light, comfortable clothing that can be worn underneath their costume.) Each child should have brought $3.00 to school by Wednesday, Dec 7th (and the signed field trip form) to cover the cost of bussing to and from OG for rehearsal. We expect all students to be in attendance to this once a year event. Unexcused absences from the program will negatively affect the student’s music grade. Thank you! Mrs. Helling

The Preschool & Kindergarten Program will be held at St. Lambert Church on Tuesday, December 13th at 6:30 pm. All students should wear dressy clothing.

Band Concert for 5th & 6th grade band is Monday, December 5th @ 7 pm in the school gym.  

Students should meet in the band room no later than 6:30 pm. Students should wear their Sunday best - no blue jeans.

December Birthdays

June Birthdays

Edwar Arteaga-Cruz & Maura Hassebroek - December 2

Kelemente Pio - June 1

Angela Starr - December 6

Yoseph Bushen - June 2

Nway Thai - December 7

Jamison Canfield - June 6

Riley Hagen - December 8

Akot Akot & Fr. David Stevens - June 9

Alice Althoff - December 12

Wilainu Farhat - June 10

Joshua Woelfel & Marta Woldu - December 18

Ivy Adler, Rowan Ellis & Mrs. Horacek - June 15

Adam Hammer - December 20

Zacary Henning - June 16

Dane Andersen - December 24

Genevive Hassebroek - June 18

Braxton Parrack & Yabsira Dereje - December 27

Tsion Wondim - June 20 Melanie Gutierrez & Jago Jago - June 22 Mrs. Bannwarth - June 24

***There will be a Birthday lunch with Ms. Davis for those students in grades K-6 celebrating December and June birthdays on Friday, December 16th in the art room. No need to bring or buy lunch that day!

The Scholastic Book Fair was a big success this year thanks to all the students and families who came to shop. Thank you to all the parent volunteers who helped during library time and also to the O'Gorman High School Students who volunteered after the masses on the weekend and during Conference Day. We were able to add $630 worth of new books to our libraryMaybe your child has checked some of them out? I also have $1,500 to spend with the Scholastic Dollars Catalog. Yay! How many candy corn can Mrs. McInerney stuff into a jar? The answer is 212. The kids who came closest to the correct answer got to pick a book from the book fair for free! (Up to a $7.00 value.) 2nd place got a previously selected new book and 3rd place got a poster. This year's winners (in order of 1st, 2nd and 3rd) were (K) Michael Decker, Alex Madrigal Tapia, Philomena Gallagher (1st) Ellie Olson, Damian Gallagher, Brayden Erickson (2nd) Dominic VanWagner and Ben Troll (tied), Norah Stone (3rd) Jack Canfield, Delaney Berg, Genevive Hassebroek (4th) Nyun Dut, Brenna Olson, Sophia Andersen (5th) Alyai Dut, Nick North, Amauel Gebremedehine (6th) Ava Hillberg, Samantha Clark, Andrew Fatland. Congratulations everyone! Mrs. McInerney, Librarian ~~ We have over 10,000 books, let's read them all. ~~

The yearly raffle to raise funds for our technology needs is coming up quickly. Raffle selling will begin Jan. 13. Volunteers are needed to help assemble the selling packets and count money on the three turn in dates. Catholic United Financial sponsors the raffle by providing all the tickets and the top-seller prize. The money from every ticket we sell stays at our school! We are grateful for Catholic United Financial’s support of our school. If you would like to volunteer to help assemble the student selling packets or count money, please let Ms. Davis know. ([email protected]) Packet Assembling: Jan. 10th at 6:00. Money counting dates are: Jan. 20, Jan. 27, and Feb. 2nd at 9:30.

December 2016 Sun

Mon

Tue

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Thu

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Sat

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3

8:30 am School Mass (5th grade plans)

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5

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7:00 pm - Band Concert in the school gym

Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day

6:30 pm Preschool & Kindergarten Christmas concert in the church

20

Immaculate Conception Holy Day - 8:30 am School Mass (4th grade plans)

8:30 am School Mass (3rd grade plans) Birthday Lunch

18

19

25

26 NO SCHOOL 27 NO SCHOOL 28 NO SCHOOL 29 NO SCHOOL 30 NO SCHOOL 31

7:00 pm - Gr. 1-6 Christmas Concert at OG PAC

21

Dress Down/Up for Christmas

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11:30 ~ EARLY DISMISSAL

23 NO SCHOOL 24