St. Brendan School

March 6, 2024

The mission of St. Brendan Catholic School, in partnership with parents and our parish community, embraces a Catholic Identity centered on the Eucharist to empower our students to act as Disciples of Christ, use their God-given gifts in service to the Church and community, and achieve academic excellence.

A wonderful blessing of attending Catholic school is that our beloved priest, Fr. Wichert, can teach religion to our 8th grade students.

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Please save the date for our next Parent Club event on March 26^th at 6:30pm in the gym. Max Stossel from Social Awakening will be joining us to discuss the topic of technology and social media's impact on children. Max is an internationally renowned speaker on this topic and we are lucky to host him at our school. This presentation will be geared for parents with students of ALL ages. We are hoping to have a large majority of our parent community at this amazing event. Parents will receive a volunteer hour and free dress pass for their student(s) for their attendance. Thank you for saving the date. See you on the 26th!

I am excited to announce our long-term substitute teacher for 4^th grade! Mrs. Rosa Nafziger will take over for Mrs. Spudich while she is on leave. Mrs. Nafziger has recently completed her master's in teaching and has completed a successful student teaching assignment in a 4^th grade and 5^th grade classroom. Mrs. Nafziger is an engaging teacher and utilizes research-based teaching strategies to improve student achievement. She is also a parishioner at St. Theresa and is excited to have the opportunity to share her Catholic faith in the classroom. Please join me in welcoming Mrs. Nafziger to our school.

We are hiring! Do you know someone committed to our Catholic School mission? Encourage them to apply for one of our open positions:

1. Two of Mrs. Lambert's roles that we will backfill are the job of Office Manager and Admissions Director. These positions are posted on the Archdiocese website. In the meantime, qualified individuals can reach out to [email protected] for more information.

2. We are seeking Instructional Aide substitutes to add to our substitute pool. Our instructional aides work with grades PreK-5 and play an important role in the classroom. Qualified individuals can reach out to [email protected] for more information.

3. We are seeking to add additional math support to our school programs. In order to add additional math support hours, Mrs. Rooney would not be able to fulfill both of her roles due to the hours needed for scheduling. As we consider the best path to move forward with additional math support, we have posted a science teacher position to the Archdiocese website. By hiring a part-time science teacher, Mrs. Rooney would have the capacity to focus on providing additional math support for our students.

I wanted to remind you that this summer St. Brendan will be hosting a summer camp! Overtime Athletics will run their summer camp at our school for 8 weeks this summer. Families can sign up now and receive a discount if registered before March 31st . Please see information in the bulletin below.

Blessings,

Catherine Shumate

Catholic Corner

Welcome to the third week of Lent! We are halfway to Easter! The final New Year’s Resolution sums up the whole purpose of Lent: Be more like Jesus! We are called to follow Christ's examples, all of which are clearly outlined in the Bible. In John 8:12, Jesus says, "...I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the light of life." During Lent we are called to be like Jesus, shining light throughout the world through Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. Another opportunity for prayer and almsgiving will be Friday, March 22. On this last Friday before the Triduum, St. Brendan will welcome the St. Stephen the Martyr Youth Group and their amazingly moving Living Stations of the Cross. The school will be hosting Soup Night and we will need the help of many families to make and bring soup for this popular night. Look for a sign up in Volunteer Hub to come soon, and mark your calendars to attend!

The Virtue in Practice for March is: Mercy-Caring for those who suffer. If you opened a dictionary to Mercy, you might just find a picture of our Saint of the Month! St. Teresa of Calcutta, known as Mother Teresa while she was alive, was so well known and respected all over the world for living Mercy that she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize! You can read about her life in the Guessing Jar Story and place a guess in the guessing jar outside the office for a chance to win a prize! If you’d like to find ways to practice Mercy at home, check out these suggestions for the month of March.

This week’s Kindness Journal is about someone who is a role model in your life. Give this person a call and tell them: 1-Why your life has been made better because of them, 2- What you’ve learned from being around them, and 3-How you will continue to improve because of their incredible influence. The Kindness Challenge for this week is: Tell a friend why they are special to you!

Rice Bowls were sent home. Please consider contributing to the Rice Bowl throughout Lent and return to school at Easter time.

Donations help fund CRS development projects in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America to produce more food, increase income and address poverty. 25% of every gift to your CRS Rice Bowl supports nearly 300 projects in the Seattle Archdiocese. Visit www.seattlearchdiocese.org/ricebowl to learn more about projects CRS Rice Bowl supports in your community.

Librarian for the Day

Remy “Mr. Naughton” from 1st grade was our librarian for the day, relieving Mrs. Munoz of her duties. Remy was given a special shirt for Dr. Seuss Day, and he spent the day reading with several classes, checking out books with the scanner, shelving books, handing out Dr. Seuss bookmarks and pencils, and he even got a special lunch in the library! The other students loved having a guest librarian. Mrs. Munoz said he did it all with joy and kindness. Way to go, Remy!

This was a winning auction item from the 2023 auction. If your child would like the chance to be Librarian for the Day, be sure to lift your bid paddle high at the auction next month!

Congratulations Spelling Bee

Congratulations to our Spelling Bee finalists. The competition was tough and, in the end, Maria B. from 5th grade emerged as the St. Brendan School Spelling Bee Champion. Maria will represent our school at the Regional Spelling Bee of King and Snohomish County. Lucas T. in 4th grade is our runner up. We are so proud of all our students who had the courage to stand in front of their peers and test their spelling skills. Amazing job!

8th grade is Ben Davidson
7th grade is Aidel Pinto
6th grade is Michael Mascarenhas
5th grade is Maria Badri
4th grade is Lucas Thorstenson
3rd grade is Kendrew Nguyen
2nd grade is Johan Joseph Joefry
1st grade is Emery Tran

Call for Elective Teachers for T3

We are looking for some awesome parents/volunteers to teach electives this year (Fridays from 2:00-2:55; if we don’t have a Friday, or if there is an early release, there will not be an elective that day). We have had amazing electives in the past like Strategy Games, Chess, Cooking, Fine Arts, Spanish, Legos/Robotics, Web Design, General Tech, Guitar, Gardening, etc. We are always open to new and exciting offerings for our students, so we are absolutely willing to bounce around ideas if you are interested.

If interested, please contact Mrs. Deehr: [email protected]

Lost & Found

We still have many coats, water bottles and other items that are unclaimed.

Lost small items: jewelry, hair bows, air pods, etc. can be found in the office.

Please check out the lost and found or call if you know something is lost and we can take a look for you.😊

St. Brendan School App Download Today!

We are excited to announce the NEW School App Download the St. Brendan Catholic School App to access all the schools news and resources right at your fingertips Available on Google and Apple Phones.

Happy Birthdays

March Birthdays

3/7 – 3/13

3/7 Mrs. Weatherbie

3/8 Reuben Hansen PreK

3/9 Genesis Machuca Silva 3^rd Grade

3/10 Brayden Yarbrough 4^th Grade

3/13 Amelia Baylon Preschool

3/13 Charlie Miura 3^rd Grade

More birthdays will be announced in the next bulletin.

Spiritual Adoption

This Lent, Middle School participated in a spiritual adoption project: praying for children in danger of abortion, for the first nine months of each baby's life. Middle School students chose hearts to decorate with their chosen names. Each student received a prayer card to remember this intention. Lastly, Middle School student council arranged the named hearts on a poster nearby the lockers in the school hall.

Knights of Columbus Potato Bake Next Monday

The Great Potato Bake is on Monday, March 11th from 5:00-7:00 pm in the school gym. Join us for dinner and entertainment by the 3rd grade class! Tickets available for purchase or at the door (cash/check only).

St. Patrick Day Snake Hunt

St. Patrick’s Day Snake Hunt

Legend says that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland, and that is why there are no snakes in Ireland to this day!

In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, on Monday, March 18, we will re-enact St. Patrick’s work by driving the snakes out of St. Brendan School! Please encourage your child to join us on the playground during recess. Hundreds of snakes (all fake!) will be hidden all over the playground (big toy/swings area).

If you would like to earn some easy volunteer hours, please join us on Monday, March 18^th, at 10:15 AM to help hide the snakes; then stay through recesses to help monitor, count, and re-hide the snakes. This fun and student favorite day can only happen with several volunteers! We need one coordinator and several volunteers.

If you are able to volunteer, please contact Eileen Warner at [email protected].

Gift Card Inventory Sell Out

RaiseRight (formerly Scrip) is closing down at the end of March! The Parent Club is currently challenging the community to buy out the inventory. Your purchase will help fundraise for the school. So, what’s on hand?

Inventory includes:

Kroger

Sprouts

Game Stop

Gap/Athleta/Old Navy

Panda Express

Panera Bread

Chuck E Cheese

Macy's

Nordstrom

IHop

Buffalo Wild Wings

Ross

QDoba

Landry's

Applebee's

Arco

Barnes & Noble

Best Buy

Kohl's

See's Candy

Sephora

Ulta

Subway

In addition, any final orders must be placed before Friday, 3/29. Scrip orders will be delivered 4/12.

Lego Robotics March Madness Tournament

St. Brendan Legos & Robotics Club

Visit our club website for updates, photos, and calendar!

https://sites.google.com/view/stb-lego-robotics/home

https://sites.google.com/view/stb-lego-robotics/fll-teamsschedule

Setup/event/clean-up volunteers wanted for March-22^nd tournament & ice cream social!

Please contact [email protected].

Additional updates

March 8^th – Friday: School closed.

No sessions for Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1^st, & 2^nd grade teams.

VEX GO Friday team (3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grades) will still meet at 3 PM.

March 9^th – Saturday:

VEX GO teams sign up here for weekend tournament practice times.

March 11^th – Monday:

VEX GO Monday team (3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grades) meets at 3 PM.

Social Awakening Parent & Student Presentations

Max Stossell, a nationally renowned speaker on the topic of social media’s impact on children will be presenting on March 26th. We will have a 5th-8th grade student assembly in the afternoon (1:15pm), teacher/staff professional development after school (3:20pm), and a parent talk in the evening (6:30pm). (Socialawakening.org). You can preview his talk in the video below.

Have you Saved Your Seat at the Auction Yet?

Get a sneak peek to all the exciting items by visiting the Auction Page

Don’t forget, ticket registration is due Friday, March 22^nd, 2024! You can purchase auction tickets directly on the website: https://secure.maestroweb.com/default.aspx?OrgID=950

Want me to mail a ticket to a guest? Email us at [email protected]

Attention All Alumni, Babysitters, Older Siblings, Grandparents, Family and Friends (who are not attending the auction)

We are looking for qualified “sitters” available Saturday, April 27th!

If available, please submit your contact information to https://school.saintbrendan.org/apps/form/auctionchildcare

Save the Date Grandparents & Special Friends Day

Save the Date for our Annual Grandparents' and Special Friends' Day!

Friday, May 17, 2024

Please make sure grandparents and special friends know this date. This date coincides with First Communion weekend at St. Brendan Parish.

Hot Lunch News

Lunch is in need of volunteers on Mondays and Wednesdays. We have some solid volunteers for the other days of the week (THANK YOU!), but we often have no volunteers on Mondays or Wednesdays. Please consider giving of your time on either of these days. Thank you!

Lunch Menu: https://school.saintbrendan.org/apps/food_menu

Lunch Payment Portal: https://www.schoolpaymentportal.com/Default.aspx

Summer Camp at St. Brendan

!!!Discount Deadline Approaching!!!

Overtime Athletics is once again hosting their camp at St. Brendan School. St. Brendan families get a discount if they enroll by March 31st. Registration is open now: https://ota-seattle.jumbula.com/Summer2024/OTASummerKidsCamp2024

Archdiocese of Seattle Summer Camps

Registration for Camp Don Bosco is now open. Resident and Day programs will operate with the most update to date guidance provided from the State and County. Our number one goal is and always will be the safety of our campers. Camp Hamilton programs are still being worked on and will be offered based on staffing availability.

Registration and Information: https://cyo.camp/

CYO Sports

Congratulations to the K-3rd grade teams on a successful and fun basketball season. Over the season, the players developed their skills, increased their knowledge of the game, focused on sportsmanship, and had a lot of fun in the process. We are especially grateful for the volunteer coaches for their support and patience with our youngest players. We could not make these wonderful team memories without our amazing volunteers.

From the Parish

Please join us at the Church on Fridays during Lent for soup supper at 6 PM followed by Stations of the Cross at 7 PM.

Holy Week at St. Brendan

Looking ahead to Holy Week, on Holy Thursday Father Wichert and the 8thgrade students will lead the school in a prayer service at 8:45 a.m. in the church. On Good Friday, the 7^th grade students will lead us in a living station of the cross at 9 a.m. in the church. Families are welcome to join us!

We have a NOON dismissal on Good Friday and there will be NO extended care in the afternoon. Noon is a significant time as it begins the three hours of Christ’s suffering on the cross. It is appropriate to observe the time from noon until Christ’s death at 3 p.m. All students and staff will exit the building to carpool in SILENCE at noon to observe this time.

The Triduum

Holy Thursday - March 28

8:45 AM - School Prayer Service/Foot Washing

7:00 PM - Mass of the Lord's Supper (Bilingual)

8:30 PM - Midnight Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

Good Friday - March 29

9:00 AM Living Stations of the Cross presented by 7th grade

11:00 AM - Stations of the Cross

12:00 - 3:00 PM - Seven Last Words

3:00 PM - Divine Mercy Novena

7:00 PM - Solemn Celebration of the Lord's Passion

Holy Saturday - March 30