Hello everyone! 

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families! Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent and every day during prayers we light our Advent wreaths in our classrooms and say a special Advent prayer to remind us why we celebrate Christmas and to be patient in waiting for Him to arrive! :)

We are taking the extra precautions again and staying as separate as possible. If I have to, due to Covid reasons, I may have to extend the extra precautions to the following week as well.  The only thing is we will have our first Friday mass together in church Friday, November 3rd,  but children will be wearing masks the entire time and spaced apart. :) Our 4th grade families may attend since the 4th grade is leading us in our mass on Friday. Our November Peacemaker winners will be announced too! Masks need to be worn by all to ensure safety after our Thanksgiving week.

The Annual Day of Catholic Giving is on #GivingTuesday, November 30th! You can support St. Francis of Assisi by donating on this National Giving day that allows us to put Catholic Education first. Tomorrow you will receive an email of the day of giving if you wish to donate!

As of now, the mask mandate from the state of Pennsylvania is still in effect. I do have a DCIU meeting this Wednesday informing us of more information regarding masks, so I will make sure to keep everyone updated!

We have many lost and found items in the office. Please check and see if you can claim any of it! More importantly, please write names on all sweatshirts. Contact Mrs. Johnson (mjohnson@sfaschool.com) if you can claim an item! https://www.sfaschool.com/lost-and-found

Tableau practice begins this week. 8th graders will begin practicing their roles! I have a change of plans for Tableau and it may not necessarily be a popular one, but in order to make sure we can still have Tableau we will have it at 1:00PM in church during the school day on December 16th instead of at 7:00PM. Past years we have Tableau at night and the entire school comes back as well as all of the families. It is usually a packed house with everyone squeezed together and unfortunately we can’t safely do that in Covid conditions. It will be live-streamed and only the 6th,7th, and 8th grade families and grandparents can attend. We can not open it up to all the families of SFA this year, but it is more important to have our Tableau tradition continue, just in a safer way this year. Thank you so much for understanding!

St. Nicholas Day is next Monday, December 6th. Hopefully he comes to SFA and leaves a special treat for our students in their shoes! :)

December 6th and 7th is our Annual Secret Santa Shop! Later this week we will be handing out envelopes for you to put money in for your child to buy Christmas gifts for the family! Items range from about $1-$8 with the majority of items between $3-$5. Keep that in mind when giving your child money. 

Important Dates:

• December 3rd- First Friday Mass: 9:30AM
• December 6th and 7th- Santa’s Secret Shop in the Gym.
• December 8th- Immaculate Conception- Holy Day No school Preschool-8th
• December 9th- Picture Retakes!
• December 9th Kindergarten Christmas Show 6:30 PM in church.
• December 10th- Report Cards Distributed
• December 16th- Tableau at 1:00PM in church!
• December 19th- Preschool Christmas Show in Church at 4:00PM.
• December 22nd- Breakfast with Santa and 11:30 Dismissal for all grades Prek-8.
• December 23rd-January 2nd- Christmas Break
• January 3rd- Classes Resume 

Repeated messages:

• Did you know we have a Scrip program where you can buy gift cards for the holidays and also make money to get taken off your tuition at the same time!!?? Check out the Scrip program to buy gift cards! If you have questions, please email Deb Peterson and Amy Foran at sfascripsales@gmail.com.  Check out all the information on the website! https://www.sfaschool.com/scrip
• Now is the time to start thinking about your Christmas Cards! What better way than to support SFA School in the process! MINTED is a website that personalizes Christmas cards, gifts, and stationery! Use our code: FUNDRAISESFASCHOOL and you will receive 20% off your order and SFA receives 15% of the proceeds! Such an easy way for you to save money! Check it out!! www.minted.com

Mrs. Nicole Hamilton, M.Ed.