December 12, 2023



“The Lord is coming, always coming. 

When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord.” Henri Nouwen

Dear St. Philip Neri Families,

During this second week of Advent, we are reminded that Jesus came to be the Prince of Peace. The word peace in Hebrew is shalom which means completeness or well being. Jesus did not come just to end wars but to make us complete by saving us from our sinfulness which is the mindset or behavior that keeps us from fully experiencing God’s love. All of our students in Grades 3-8 will have the opportunity to experience and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation next Tuesday, December 19, in preparation for Christmas. Non-Catholic students who have not received the Sacrament of Reconciliation are also invited to speak with one of the four priests and receive a blessing during this quiet reflective time in Church.

Gratitude and congratulations to our PTG who hosted the Winter Wonderland event last Friday. Thank you to the chair of the event, Kitty Esparrago, and the volunteers who helped make the event so festive and fun. Many thanks, too, to all families for  your generosity and thoughtfulness that went into the Adopt-a-Family project this year. Special thanks to our parents, Remely and Jess Laguicao, for organizing this project and delivering all of the donations to the various organizations.

Preparations are nearly complete for our Christmas Concert, “Jesus, Born For All the World,” on Thursday, December 14, 7:00-8:00 p.m. in the Church. Remember that students in Grades TK-8 should be in Nice Free Dress and arrive at their classrooms between 6:40-6:50 p.m.: Church doors will open for parents and guests at 6:40 p.m. We look forward to this event every year because it always gets us all in the Christmas spirit. 

Please remember to read through this Newsletter for important information about school that you won’t want to miss.

Peace & Blessings,

Ms. Thomas

There have been three (3) COVID cases since December 8, 2023.

Please continue to conduct Daily Health Screenings and inform the school office of any exposure or positive cases.

December 2023

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

January 2024

January 4 - Classes Resume

January 5 - Vision screening for all students

January 9 - PTG Meeting, 6:30 p.m.

January 10 - Information Night for prospective families, 7:00-8:00 p.m.

January 12 - NO SCHOOL, Elementary Staff Day, No Share and Care

January 15 - NO SCHOOL, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, No Share and Care

January 16 - AB Meeting, 6:30 p.m.

January 17 - Come and Play in TK and K, 9:00-11:00 a.m.

January 19 - 8th Grade portraits

January 22 - SAB Meeting, 6:30 p.m.

January 23 - Free dress for January birthdays

January 24 - Noon Dismissal, Teachers Professional Development

January 25 - School Spirit Day - Class theme

January 28 - Catholic Schools Week kick-off with All School Mass, 9:00 a.m.

January 28 - Open House, immediately following Mass/Science Fair 10:00-11:30 a.m.

January 28 - February 2 - Catholic Schools Week

Did you know that you can purchase Scrip online to be picked up in the front office? Enter group ID 510521SPN when you register a new account.

Hello Spartans!

We have one last hosting date for this calendar year this Saturday 12/16 at Alameda Point Gym. It is a day filled with volleyball and basketball games and tons of fun and excitement. We need some help filling in positions to make the day a success. Please use the link below to sign up for a job/shift. Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday in some shape or form.

Our 8th Grade Volleyball team beat Corpus Christi in straight Sets over the weekend and the 7th graders battled hard against Saint Joseph eventually falling in three sets. Keep up the hard work Spartans!

Happy Holidays and Go Spartans!

https://volunteersignup.org/YYHDQ

Jeff Croft

PE Teacher and Athletic Director

Saint Philip Neri Catholic School

(510) 219-0773

Go Spartans!

If you'd like to earn service hours over break, please sign up to help take care of the garden December 20-January 1. Email Ms. Kristen at ksmeal@csdo.org for more information. 

Thank you to 8th grade volunteers who helped the parish by decorating the Giving Tree in the vestibule of the Church.

Cristo Rey De La Salle Intern, Lyla, helps students in 4th Grade transplant winter vegetables into the garden beds.

A huge thank you to Antonia and Hank Hernandez for all of their efforts in coordinating our 8th Grade fundraiser at Elk's Lodge. It was a terrific experience for our 8th graders! 

Happy holiday season to all!

Take care, 

Jodie Nakamura

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

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

Lunch Servers Needed

Help serve lunch. Please contact Janelle Sheets with any questions.

Log your volunteers hours HERE! Please contact Ms. Trujillo for help.

Families can now get volunteer hours for buying items from Grade Level and Department Amazon Wishlists. You will get 1 volunteer hour for every $20 spent. If the class does not have any items available on their list, Amazon gift cards are welcome, too!

Please include a gift receipt so we know who to thank!

Please contact Ms. Trujillo with any questions.

Preschool

TK

Kindergarten 

1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

5th Grade

6th Grade

7th Grade

8th Grade

Art/Spanish

Library

MakerSpace

Music

Office/Shared Areas

PE

Resource

Share & Care

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”.