Learning, Loving, and Leading through Christ

January 29, 2024

Leadership Team Updates

Dear St. Alphonsus Families,

Happy Catholic Schools Week! We are SO EXCITED to be celebrating this special week with students and staff. We want you to know we appreciate the fact that sending your children to Catholic School is a choice, and we are so thankful you have chosen St. Alphonsus.

This is going to be a crazy busy week with lots of fun activities for the kids! We started off this week with a special Sunday Mass dedicated to our Catholic School, and then of course our wonderful Open House! Thank you so much for attending!

Today, we had the Raptor Program from the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center come and give our students a really awesome presentation! Students were able to see up close an owl, a red-tailed hawk, a peregrine falcon, and a bald eagle. All students will also receive a family pass to visit the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center! Passes will be sent home later this week. Be sure to check out all the pictures below and keep up with us on Instagram and Facebook this week to see all the things we are up to!

A few other important reminders:

Tomorrow is our All-School Field Trip for Bowling. NO HOT LUNCH will be served tomorrow--all students will need a cold lunch. Thank you for your cooperation. In addition, students will receive popcorn as a snack at the bowling alley. If your student has braces, please feel free to send an alternative snack from home.

Your child(ren)'s STAR Reading and Math test results will be coming home this Friday. Please review them and reach out to their classroom or homeroom teacher with any questions.

Be sure to check out all the other great information included in this week's newsletter!

Happy Catholic Schools Week. We are so thrilled to be United in Faith & Community with you.

Have a great week!

Ms. Parey, Principal

Mrs. Schermetzler & Mrs. Bruhn, Leadership Team

Important Tax Information for Parents

Tuition paid reports for the current school year (August-December 2023) have been printed and can be picked up in the school office. Also available are current tuition balances by student.

Reports for the prior school year (January-June 2023) can be found in TADS by following the instructions below:

HOW TO ACCESS YOUR HOUSEHOLD PAID TUITION TAX REPORT in TADS (for January to June 2023).

1. Go to TADS.com

2. Login to your TADS account

3. Click on” Billing” and then look below the blue box for the “Household Paid Tuition Tax Report.”

4. Click on Household Paid Tuition Tax Report

5. Enter the year for which you need the information and a statement will appear that details the fees you paid in that year. These include: Tuition Deposit, Tuition, and field trips.

Congrats to Mr. Kneifl!

He was recently awarded a grant from the Whitnall Park Rotary Club for $250.

He will be using the money for equipment for an upcoming science lab that will be focused on learning about the sun's energy & the ways it melts things!

Congrats, Mr. K!

February Dates to Remember

001/28 - 02/02

Catholic Schools Week!

Check out our CSW Guide

for Families below!

02/02

11:30am Dismissal

02/07

Dine Out Night

Cousins Subs

02/09

Cougar Carnival

Details Below

02/14

Ash Wednesday

02/19

Home & School Meeting

6:00pm

02/21

Dine Out Night

Noodles

02/26

No School

Teacher In-Service

February Lunch Menu

February Out of Uniform Schedule

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 the remaining days of January & February:

01/30 - Catholic Schools Week

Unity Shirts & Jeans or Joggers!

01/31 - Catholic Schools Week

Dress UP for Mass!

02/01 - Catholic Schools Week

Dress Like the Decades! Pick any decade from the 1950s to the 1990s

02/02 - Catholic Schools Week

Class Colors & PJ Bottoms

See our Special Dress Day Schedule in

our Catholic Schools Week Guide for your class colors!

02/08

Out of Uniform with Dine Out Night purchase on 02/07 (receipt required)

02/13

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dress in Pink, Red & White to celebrate!

(We will be celebrating Valentine's Day on Tuesday, 2/13

instead of Wednesday 2/14 because of Ash Wednesday)

02/22

Out of Uniform with Dine Out Night purchase on 02/21 (receipt required)

02/23

Last Friday of the Month

Out of Uniform with Purchased Pass

Catholic Schools Week Guide for Families!

We are excited for another great Catholic Schools Week celebration this week!

This year's national theme is United in Faith & Community, and what better way to showcase our tightknit St. Alphonsus School! We have made you a Parent 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).

CSW Penny War, Sponsored by Service Club

You can also read more in our parent letter here!

Cougar Carnival Updates!

St. Alphonsus Cougar Carnival

Friday, February 9th, 2024

5:30-8:00 pm

St. Alphonsus School

What you need to know for an evening of fun for the whole family:

Please enter through the church doors.

Blue and Gold and 50/50 Raffle Tickets may be purchased at the event. General Raffle tickets will also be available for purchase.

All winners must be present to win. Raffle winners will be announced between 7:30-8:15pm

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND:

Sugar Spun Cotton Candy - Enjoy fresh spun cotton candy! Cones are $4 each, prepacked containers are $5 each, glow cones are $6 each…cash and credit accepted. A portion of the proceeds comes back to St. Alphonsus!

Teacher/Student Ping Pong Games - have a chance to play ping pong against one of St. Alphonsus teachers/staff!

Face Painting - Get in the carnival spirit with some face painting!

PLUS ALL THE FAVORITES!

Play Carnival-Style Game Booths to earn prizes.
Try your luck to win one of the many wonderful Raffle Baskets, Blue & Gold Raffle items, and 50/50 Raffle!
Participate in a St. Alphonsus Tradition – the annual Bake Walk to win some delicious baked goods.
Grab dinner! - Hot dog, chips and a beverage will be available for $5.00, while supplies last.

General Raffle and Game tickets: 3 for $1

50/50 tickets: $2 per ticket

Blue and Gold: $3 per ticket

Volunteers Still Needed:

We are especially in need of help with the raffles and concessions the evening of the Cougar Carnival. Please consider helping with one shift if you are able to. School wide events like this are only possible if everyone pitches in.

Thank you for your support! Sign up here!

If you have any questions, please contact Dawn Eisold at [email protected].

Time to Order Your Yearbook!

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 1.

Click on this link to place your order!

Cougar Sports Corner

Below is the schedule for each St Alphonsus team (and students playing at other schools) for the upcoming weekend:

St Alphonsus 5th Grade Boys: 6:00 pm January 29th @ St Agnes, 9:00 am February 3rd @ Milwaukee Montessori School

St Alphonsus 5th Grade Girls: 11:00 am February 3rd @ St Alphonsus

St Alphonsus 6th Grade Boy: 10:00 am February 3rd @ St Alphonsus , 6:30 pm February 2nd @ St Agnes

6th Grade Girls: 12:00 pm February 4th @ St Matthias

7th Grade Boys: 8:00 pm January 29th @ St Agnes, 2:00 pm February 4th @ Burlington Catholic

7th Grade Girls: 9:00 am February 3rd @ St Alphonsus

St Alphonsus 8th Grade Boys: 12:00 pm February 4th @ Burlington Catholic

We still have the follwoing athletic board positions open:

Treasurer

Volleyball Coordinator

Communications Coordinator

If you are interested in helping out with building the future of athletics at St. Alphonsus, please reach out to Nick Warrichaiet.

Middle School Minutes

Our Middle School Students have been busy in Math lately!

6th grade has been busy exploring the area of polygons, including constructing and deconstructing diagrams and complex polygons. This has also included the very important skill of being able to apply formulas.

In 7th grade, students have done an amazing job showing their expertise solving equations by applying properties of equality. They will be well-prepared for high school as they continue to practice and expand on this skill in the next couple of years. Currently they are also exploring infinity with the concept of inequalities, including solving and graphing solutions.

In 8th grade, students have been digging into everything about linear equations and graphing lines by various methods. They have shown they are up to the task of these challenging concepts! They're immersed in the worlds of both algebra and geometry, and are putting these worlds together in our next few units. Next up is solving systems of linear equations!

Home & School Happenings

Our next Dine Out Night is Wednesday, February 7th!

Next Wednesday, February 7th is Dine Out Night at Cousins Subs and we hope to see you there! Dine in or carry out from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Franklin location, 7700 S. Lovers Lane Road. 20% of the sales will go to support St. Alphonsus. Remember to get a receipt (one per child) so that your student can be out of uniform the following day.

Come support our school and let Red Robin do the cooking!

Dine Out Nights - the easiest and most delicious fundraisers around.

Join St. Alphonsus and the Home & School Association at the Milwaukee Wave Game!

St. Alphonsus Catholic School is the featured organization at the Milwaukee Wave game on March 22 at 6:35pm. We hope you can attend, watch a great game and support St Alphonsus Catholic School!

Please use this link to buy your tickets and we’ll see you at the game! St. Alphonsus School will get a percentage of the money from each ticket sold at this link, so feel free to spread the word & share this with your family and friends.

SCRIP Makes $ense!

Updates from our SCRIP Program:

February has two Dine Out Nights! Don't forget to order your Cousins Subs (9%) and Noodles (8%) gift cards. It's a win-win for yourself and school!

We have a number of cards in stock for immediate purchase:

Woodman's - $100

Pick n' Save - $100

Sendiks - $50

Kwik-Trip - $100

Walmart/Sam's Club - $100

Walgreens - $25

Culvers - $10/$25

E-mail Vickie Major if you need them quickly and she will deliver them to school.

Lastly, the SCRIP program could use some help on Sundays for a few hours. Please consider sitting at the SCRIP table from 8:30-11:00. It's not hard and you get a chance to say hi to all your friends at church! Sign up here!

Local School & Alumni News

Please note that any outside activities are not sponsored or endorsed by St. Alphonsus Parish or School

Calling all St. Alphonsus Alumni!

Do you have an alumni student in your home? Are you an alum yourself, or maybe you've heard some great things our alumni are up to? Please share them with us! We would love to share more alumni news in upcoming newsletters and on our social media. You can email items to Mrs. Schermetzler. Thank you!

A Message From Christian Formation

Hello everyone,

I have a dream. And your kids are part of it!

I dream that our world becomes radically transformed by the love of God. I long for each of your sons and daughters to experience this reality first hand. And, I want them to take this encounter out into the rest of the world.

I long for the hungry to be fed, lost to be found and those who feel lonely and isolated to recognize that they have place to belong - and they are necessary!

I believe that the youth of St. Al's can bring this reality about. I know they all have a desire to do great things. And they can. Why? Because God has given them unique gifts the world needs. And, God put them in this time in history because He knows that your kids have what the world needs right now!

See this link for the different opportunities we have to offer the teens to help them to connect to God and bring Him into the world!

Yours In Christ,

Karen Farrell

Director of Youth & Young Adult Ministry

Parish News

Save the Date for the Annual Parish Auction!

On May 10, 2024, we will Roll Out the Red Carpet for the 23rd annual St. Alphonsus Parish benefit auction, and we invite you to join us!

The auction is the only parish fundraiser that benefits all of St. Alphonsus’ ministries, including our school, Christian formation programs, adult education, community outreach (food pantry, community meal programs, giving tree, etc.), support groups and more.

It is sure to be a great evening, so mark your calendars now!

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.