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Dear St. Alphonsus Families,
We had a great time at the Milwaukee Wave game on Saturday night! Thank you to all the families who came out to support St. Al's! The Wave won an exciting game in overtime, and Father Anthoni even did the first kick! Check out the pictures and video below.
We are gearing up for Catholic Schools Week in a BIG way this week! Teachers and students are preparing our classrooms and hallways for Open House. Make plans to join us on Sunday, January 26 for Pack the Church at the 9am Mass, and then Open House afterwards from 10am to 12pm. Open House is for current AND new families, so considering bringing a friend! Come check out what we've been up to this year. We could also still use a student lector or two, so if you plan to come, please consider signing up your student in grades 2-8 to read at church! You can sign up here.
Also for Catholic Schools Week, don't forget to turn in your GREEN permission slips for the Miss Kim's Animal Show! If you lost your slip, you can find a copy here.
Today is the last day to pre-order your snack boxes for Family Movie Night on Saturday, January 25. Another great activity to kick off Catholic Schools Week together--thank you to the Home & School Association for putting this on. You can find more details below.
Also be sure to check out the details below about Cougar Carnival, coming up on February 21! You can pre-order your food and raffle tickets now!
A quick reminder that if you purchased an Out of Uniform Pass for this month, it is good THIS WEEK FRIDAY, January 24 instead of next week, because of our special dress down days for Catholic Schools Week.
'Tis the season for sickness, so this is just a reminder that we must have a non-prescription medication form on file for your student to be able to have things like cough drops. You can fill out the proper form here.
Lastly, STAR testing results for students in grades 1-8 will be sent home this Friday. If your student was absent, their results may be delayed due to retakes. If you have any questions about your student's results, please get in touch with their homeroom teacher.
Have a great week!
Best regards,
Ms. Parey, Principal
Mrs. Schermetzler & Mrs. Bruhn, Leadership Team
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Catholic Schools Week Is Coming! | |
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Catholic Schools Week 2025 takes places from Sunday, January 26 to Friday, January 31.
We are excited for another great Catholic Schools Week celebration coming up at the end of January!
This year's national theme is United in Faith & Community, and we will showcase our school-year theme of Small School, Big Faith. What better way to showcase our tightknit St. Alphonsus School!
We have made you a Family Guide to Catholic Schools Week so you can see all the amazing and fun things we will be doing to celebrate our school and students.
Check out the summary below and download the full guide here (or click the picture for a link).
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School Office Supplies!
The school office can always use some help keeping office supplies stocked. Please check out our Amazon wishlist to see some of the supplies that are always needed.
Thank you for your donations!
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It's time to order your yearbooks!
Yearbook order forms went home last week. Only pre-ordered yearbooks are guaranteed, and all yearbooks will be delivered by class at the end of the year. Orders must be received by March 31, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Click on this link to place your order!
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Important Dates to Remember | |
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01/13 - 01/24
STAR Testing
Grades 1 - 8
01/22
Dine Out Night
Red Robin
01/25
Family Movie Night
Details Below!
01/26
Pack the Church & Open House
9am Mass, 10a - 12p Open House
01/30
Pizza Fundraiser Lunch
01/26 - 01/31
Catholic Schools Week
Details Coming Soon!
01/31
Early Dismissal
11:30am
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02/07
No School
Teacher In-Service
02/10
No School
Teacher In-Service
02/12
Dine Out Night
Cousins Subs
02/20
Pizza Fundraiser Lunch
02/21
Cougar Carnival
Updates Below!
02/26
Dine Out Night
Panera
03/03 - 03/17
Iowa (ITBS) Testing
Grades 3, 5, & 7
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Out of Uniform Dates - January
We thought it might be easier for you to have a list of days that are Out-Of-Uniform either with a pass or with special circumstances for the whole month, so here are the Out-of-Uniform Days for January:
01/23
Out of Uniform with Dine Out Night purchase on 01/22 (receipt required)
01/24
Last Friday of the Month
Out of Uniform with Purchased Pass (date moved because of Catholic Schools Week)
01/27 - Catholic Schools Week
See Special Dress Day Schedule in our Catholic Schools Week Guide!
01/28 - Catholic Schools Week
See Special Dress Day Schedule in our Catholic Schools Week Guide!
01/29 - Catholic Schools Week
See Special Dress Day Schedule in our Catholic Schools Week Guide!
01/30 - Catholic Schools Week
See Special Dress Day Schedule in our Catholic Schools Week Guide!
01/31 - Catholic Schools Week
See Special Dress Day Schedule in our Catholic Schools Week Guide!
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January & February Lunch Menus | |
Our Next Pizza Lunch Fundraiser of the Year is Thursday, January 30!
Order forms were sent home last week and are due by TOMORROW, Tuesday, January 21. Please note that there is NO HOT LUNCH OR MILK served on this day, so if your students are not ordering the pizza lunch you will need to send a cold lunch. LATE ORDER FORMS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED--NO EXCEPTIONS. We are held to tight deadlines by the vendor and must have the order forms by Wednesday morning! You can find a copy of the form here.
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Sign Your Little Star Up for CharacterKids! | |
We are so pleased to be partnering with Character Kids to bring you a spring musical theatre opportunity for kids in 1st thru 5th Grades. All of the details can be found at this link! The cost is $154 per student. If the cost is prohibitive for your family but your student is interested in participating, please contact the school office. | | | |
All School Service Program Updates | |
Middle School Winter Reading Challenge | |
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Attention All Middle School Families!
Mrs. Schermetzler is proud to be partnering with Greendale Public Library for an online reading challenge that takes place all this month! It is exclusively for St. Alphonsus middle school students in grades 5-8 and there are lots of fun prizes for the kids to win!
Each middle school library class viewed a quick video about how to sign-up, but I wanted to send parents a reminder to sign your middle school students up. There are two videos and some flyers attached with how to sign up:
Here is a video about our challenge
Here is a video about how to sign up
And here is the Beanstack website! You can also use the app to sign your student up (there are flyers attached for this).
The main thing to remember is to choose the PURPLE AND PINK challenge button when signing up, called Bundle Up with Books. The other challenge listed is for Greendale Middle School students, not St. Al's.
THIS CHALLENGE IS OPEN ONLY TO STUDENTS IN GRADES 5-8. Younger students are not eligible to participate at this time. Thank you!
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The Annual Cougar Carnival is only a month away!
Pre-order your tickets and food now!
Friday, February 21st, 2025
5:30-8:00 pm
at St. Alphonsus School
Ticket and Food Pre-Orders:
Order forms were sent home last week. Please return these by Friday, February 7th. An order form can also be downloaded here or click on the picture below.
Volunteers Needed: In order to make an event like this run smoothly we need help from all families! Please consider helping set up, or help during or after the carnival to ensure the evening runs smoothly. All adult volunteers must be safeguarded. Thank you for your support! Sign up to volunteer at this link.
Thank you 3K-6th Grade families for sending in your prize room donations!
You may still send this in if you have not done so already. We appreciate all of your help with this!
Blue and Gold Raffle Items Still Needed:
If you or anyone you know would like to donate items for the Blue and Gold raffle prizes, please contact Erica Scherbarth at efurumo@gmail.com. Blue and Gold raffle examples include sporting event tickets, golf packages, electronics, entertainment/experiences around the area, etc. All raffle donations are greatly appreciated!
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Girls on the Run Registration will open on February 24!
This exciting program will kick off its third season at St. Alphonsus on March 31. Girls on the Run is a rewarding extracurricular activity for girls in 3rd thru 5th grades that teaches confidence, decision-making and leadership skills.
Practices will be Mondays and Thursdays from 3:00 to 4:15; the official 5K is May 3!
Our 2025 Girls on the Run Coaches are:
Mrs. Domzil (5K teacher)
Mrs. Knautz (3K teacher)
Mrs. Ferrusquia (4K parent)
And we are still looking for others who may be interested in coaching! You DO NOT have to be a runner, just someone who is passionate about teaching girls to live confidently and be amazing!
Please email Kim Domzil at kdomzil@st-alphonsus.org with questions.
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Get your Cougar Athletics Gear Now!
The St. Alphonsus Athletic Association has opened up their own spiritwear shop with the same company who does our school store. Right now, basketball apparel is available, but more sports attire will be added!
You can find the new Athletics web store here.
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Science is Out of This World! | |
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Last week was a really neat day for St. Alphonsus students in grades 4-8!
They had a chance to have a zoom meeting with an astronaut….and not just any astronaut, but Fred Haise, from the Apollo 13 mission!
The Apollo 13 mission took place on April 11-17, 1970 and is considered a “successful failure.” Although the mission failed to get the men to the Moon, after significant issues, they WERE able to successfully return all of the astronauts alive.
Fred, at age 92, is still doing Zoom sessions about his NASA missions (he also flew as a test pilot for the Space Shuttle). To prepare for this event, students had a series of NASA and space-themed science lessons with our building science mentor, Mrs. Biernat.
Everyone really enjoyed this “out of this world” experience!
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Happy New Year from SCRIP!
It's 2025 and time to make a New Year's resolution!
The fiscal year for SCRIP is January to December, which means its time for a quick wrap-up! In 2024, over $15,000 was earned in rebates. Several families earned over $300 to use for their tuition. One family even reduced their tuition by $925 this year!
Those families that have participated in SCRIP during 2024 have received an e-mail from our SCRIP coordinator, Vickie Major. For those that have not boarded the SCRIP train, why not start now?! The school receives half of your rebates and you earn the other half for your tuition.
The app is easy to use and everyone needs gas, groceries, retail shopping and visits to restaurants. You can purchase digital cards right on your phone as you are checking out!
PLEASE NOTE: In the future, orders will be processed on Sunday nights. Please place any orders for physical cards by 5:00 Sunday.
Learn more about the SCRIP program
Learn how to download the app and get started
Learn how to shop with the app
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The Stewardship Committee Would Love Your Help on Name Tag Sundays!
The Stewardship Committee will be holding Name Tag "Sunday" on the weekends that we have Hospitality. There will be 2 tables in the Gathering Space at which we’ll have name tags, markers and signage (you won’t have to do the set-up). We’ll need at least one person at each table.
Tasks:
- Arrive 30 minutes before Mass (we want to make sure that the folks who come early to mass are greeted too)
- Stand at the table and welcome parishioners as they come into Mass
- Encourage them to make and wear a name tag
- Have a friendly, upbeat disposition
- Greet and make small talk with your fellow parishioners
Kiddos and other family members are welcome to help too! Please click on this sign-up genius to sign up!
If you're going to be at Mass already, why not help out? If you have any questions, please contact Sue Ruedinger.
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Join the St. Alphonsus Moms Group!
St. Augustine, the equivalent of the fourth Century frat boy who found Jesus once said, "Give me praying mothers and I will rescue the world.” He knew first hand the power of a praying mama. His mother, St. Monica, was one of them!
There is something special when women come together. Please join some wonderful moms at St. Al's on January 21st at 10 a.m. in the Wiggle Room. Kiddos welcome!
Contact group leader Maggie Ensing for more info.
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Or Join the St. Alphonsus Women's Group!
Can't make the Moms Group? No worries! Join us at the St. Alphonsus Women's Group! Our first meeting of the year will be on Saturday, January 25, at 9:30 in the PMC Room 101.
We will discuss Chapter 5 of "I Believe in Love," but it is totally fine if you haven't read it! The highlights of conversation are super inspiring to listen to.
We will also make vision boards again. It's a relaxed and playful way to flip through magazines looking for photos and phrases that you want to envision for the next year. You then cut them out and glue them on a little poster board for yourself. It's powerful to take a little time to think what God might want you to pay attention to this year.
Contact group leader Maggie Ensing for more info.
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Local High School & Community News | |
Please note that any outside activities are not sponsored or endorsed by St. Alphonsus Parish or School. | |
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Pius XI Spring Application Period Opens March 1!
Spring Application Period is March 1-12, 2025.
Pius XI Catholic High School invites interested 8th grade or transfer students to apply for admission for the 2025-2026 school year!
Visit www.piusxi.org/admissions for more information.
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Do you have items for the newsletter? To submit them or for questions and submission guidelines, please contact Amy Schermetzler.
Please note that submissions are due by 12:00pm Fridays.
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