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“It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope.”
Dear SPN Families,
As we move past Thanksgiving, we are presented the gift of Advent, the time of preparation for the birth of the Savior. It is a hopeful time, full of light displays and winter decorations that brighten the winter season. These are our external preparations for Christmas. Advent calls us to prepare our hearts and souls for Christmas as well.
Here at St. Philip Neri we host Adopt-a-Family as our schoolwide Advent project to provide Christmas cheer to those who might not otherwise receive gifts. The boxes are ready in the classrooms to receive your donations of gifts (gift cards) for the organizations that we are supporting – Building Futures, Alameda Point Collaborative, and Welcome the Stranger. (see flier below or the 4-part flier sent home today for more details) Donation deadline is December 11, 2023.
At St. Philip Neri School we have many opportunities to prepare ourselves for Christ’s birth. Our Student Leadership Council will prepare Advent Prayer Services for Wednesday assemblies in December. We have our school Christmas Concert on Thursday, December 14 at 7:00 p.m.; while this is a mandatory event for our students in TK-8, it is truly a highlight of our Advent season, and we look forward to hearing and seeing our students delight us with song and our traditional re-enactment of the Nativity by the 8th Grade. The Parish is also hosting a special Concert, A Festival of Lessons and Carols, on Sunday, December 17 at 2:00 p.m. in St. Philip Neri Church where our Children’s and Adult Choirs will perform carols and hymns along with choral readings focused on the miracle of Jesus’ birth. Finally, students in grades 3-8 will have an opportunity to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation on Tuesday, December 19.
While traditions often dominate the season, new activities and events are also welcome to bring us together and raise everyone’s spirits. On Friday, December 8, our PTG is hosting Winter Wonderland, an evening of Festive Family Fun, 5:30-8:00 p.m. at Casitas Clubhouse on Harbor Bay. Food, crafts, games and holiday fun for all. See the flier below or the 4-part flier sent home today for all the details – reserve your spot soon!
SPN is a dedicated and active community of families, faculty and staff that come together to support all students in being successful in school and happy in life. Please read through this newsletter for more information on school events and opportunities.
Peace & Blessings,
Ms. Thomas
Check student backpacks for a 4-part flier advertising Winter Wonderland, Adopt -a-Family, See’s Storefront, and Breakfast at the Elks, complete with QR codes for ease – sent home today with all students.
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There have been zero (0) COVID cases since November 17, 2023.
Please continue to conduct Daily Health Screenings and inform the school office of any exposure or positive cases.
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November 2023
November 30 - School Spirit Day - Pajama Day
December 2023
December 8 - All School Mass: Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 9:30 a.m.
December 8 - Winter Wonderland, 5:30-8:00 p.m.
December 10 - 8th Grade Fundraiser, Elks Lodge, 8:30-11:30 a.m.
December 11 - Adopt-a-Family Gifts Are Due
December 12 - Free Dress for December Birthdays
December 12 - AB Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
December 14 - Christmas Concert, 7:00 p.m. Students' Attendance Required
December 17 - A Festival of Lessons and Carols, 2:00 p.m.
December 20 - Christmas Free Dress
December 20 - Noon Dismissal - No Share and Care
December 21 - January 3 - Christmas Break: NO SCHOOL - No Share and Care
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Belonging and Inclusion Logo Design Contest | |
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Chocolate for a good cause, what could be sweeter?
The SPN PTG needs your support. We are selling delicious See's candies for our latest fundraiser. A portion of your purchase from our virtual storefront link, will go to the SPN PTG, for more fun events throughout the year.
The best part? Our store is open all year long!
We are open for orders now, and all orders will be shipped directly to you, and will be sent as soon as your order is placed. If you have any questions, please contact us at spn.ptg.alameda@gmail.com
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Dear SPN Families,
As we are approaching the Christmas season, we hope you will take part in the annual St. Philip Neri tradition of Adopt-a-family.
For many years, our school has sponsored organizations that assist members of our larger community that are in need of help. This year we are sponsoring Building Futures formerly Midway Shelter, Alameda Point Collaborative and Welcome the Stranger. Our hope is that each student will purchase one or two items from the list. Collection boxes will be placed outside each classroom.
- Pre-School-7th grade: please return the unwrapped gifts no later than December 11, 2023.
- 8th Grade: please return you wrapped gifts no later than December 11, 2023.
Thank you for your generosity and support.
Blessings,
Remely R. Laguicao
Adopt a Family Chair
Pre-School, TK and Kindergarten - FOR BUILDING FUTURES
Children (infants to 12 years old, older kids especially need items)
- Educational toys
- Dolls + action figures - (multiracial preferred)
- Underwear + socks
1st, 2nd and 3rd Grades - FOR BUILDING FUTURES
Teens (ages 13-17, highest need)
- Body spray, full-sized
- Bath + body kits
- Underwear + socks
- Gift cards to activities: movies, ice cream shop, bowling, Exploratorium, etc.
4th and 5th Grades - FOR BUILDING FUTURES
Women
- Full size bath/body kits
- Adult coloring + journals
- Underwear + socks
- Gift cards Target & Walmart (increments of $25 ideally, but $25 or less is important)
6th and 7th Grades - FOR ALAMEDA POINT COLLABORATIVE
- Target, Safeway, Grocery outlet, Amazon and Kohls gift cards.
8th Grade - FOR WELCOME THE STRANGER
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Guster (Dad) - either a warm jacket or a rain jacket with liner, size M
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Berliane (Mom) - either a warm jacket or a raincoat with liner, size XL
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Ruth (almost 2 years old little girl) - a warm jacket or raincoat - size 2 yrs, and one toy
- A couple of umbrellas thrown in would be great.
8th Grade, please wrap gifts for your Welcome the Stranger recipients.
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School Spirit Day - November 30 | |
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SPN Parents,
Pleaser remind your student that free dress rules still apply on our upcoming Sprit Day on November 30, which, this time will be a Pajama Day.
No slippers, open-toed footwear, stuffed animals or blankets.
Students may wear long pants (clean, tear-free jeans or slacks), walking shorts or uniform shorts; dresses or skirts (length must be no more than three inches above the knee). Sweatpants, leggings or yoga pants may not be worn. “Short-shorts” are not permitted at any time. Shorts must be of the same length as uniform skirts or jumpers. Basketball shorts may only be worn on theme-related school events, or unless specified and/or approved by the teacher and/or school principal. No tank tops, spaghetti straps, bare midriffs or halter tops are allowed. Tops must be able to be tucked in. Hats may be worn, but not indoors or during morning assembly. For safety reasons, shoes should be closed-toed and must be appropriate for P.E class. Rain boots may be worn, provided students bring athletic shoes for P.E.
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SPN/SA Parish Christmas Concert | |
Free Covid Tests from HHS | |
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The US Department of Health and Human Services is offering another round of free tests.
Every home in the U.S. is eligible to order an additional 4 free at-home tests beginning November 20. If you did not order tests this fall, you may place two orders for a total of 8 tests.
Your order of COVID tests is completely free – you won’t even pay for shipping.
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Fernside Boulevard Traffic Calming & Bikeways Project | |
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Hello St Philip Neri Community,
We wanted to share that the Fernside Traffic Calming & Bikeways Project has launched with a survey and two public workshops. This project aims to create a design concept to update Fernside Boulevard from Tilden Way to San Jose Ave. It will also develop an interim concept for Fernside from Tilden Way to High St that can be implemented with pavement resurfacing in the near term.
We’d love to work with the SPN community.
Key information:
Best,
Lisa Foster, Acting Transportation Planning Manager, City of Alameda (she/her)
510-747-6833 | AlamedaCA.gov/Transportation
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Dear SPN Community,
We are excited to invite you to join Konstella if you haven't already! It is a web-and-mobile-based app service with various tools that help parent organizations streamline communications, centralize information, and build engaging parent communities. You can create sign ups, share photos, post alerts, and see what's happening in our SPN community with a handy red bubble on your phone. Currently, about half of the parents are on the platform and we would love to get more signed up to really start to use it as a centralized system. Please use THIS LINK to sign up and get an introduction. We will then follow up with an invitation link to join.
Sincerely,
The PTA and SAB
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A New Way to Earn Volunteer Hours & Link to Log Hours | |
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Have you joined SPN on social media?
We would love to have you as a part of our social media community.
It only takes a few seconds to join.
Check us out on Instagram at “spnalameda”.
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