St. Matthew Elementary Jaguar Journal

December 20, 2019

St. Matthew Elementary
Jaguar Journal

This week's to-do list:

Christmas Break is from December 21st through January 1st
Classes resume on Thursday, January 2nd
Have a VERY MERRY Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2020!

"Paws"itive Students

Oliver Wood

Clayton Barrett

The 4th Grade Class

We love hearing about our Jaguars doing Pawsitive things outside of school, too. Sophia Bates donated all her birthday gifts to the Children's Hospital at Colorado Anschutz Medical Center. Way to help others, Sophia!

Important Upcoming Events

Mon, Dec 23 - Jan 1 - No School - Christmas Break

Mon, Dec 30 - AirFX Fundraiser

Thur, Jan 2 - School Resumes

Fri, Jan 10 - End of 1st Semester

Sun, Jan 12 - Jump Into St. Matt's

Mon, Jan 13 - No School - Professional Development

Wed Jan 15 - Kindergarten and JK Roundup

Mon, Jan 20 - No School - Professional Development

Fri, Jan 24 - Sock Hop

Jan 26 - Feb 1 - Catholic Schools Week

Sat Feb 22 - St. Matthew Mardi Gras

Merry Christmas

A Christmas note to you! First, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your generous support of our new reverse Advent calendar option. It is these times of the year that I know families are being pulled in a ton of different directions but I appreciate your generous support of those in our community without. I am hopeful this lead to meaningful conversations at home as well. Kate from Metro Catholic Outreach was here this morning to share about MCO and helped the students understand the magnitude of their reach by helping out. I am grateful for your support!

Additionally, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas. We have spent the last month in waiting and talking about the upcoming birth of Jesus. We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to talk about and reflect on the reason for the season. I hope that all have many days of fun and fellowship with one another. The Christmas season begins on December 25th and leads us through the Baptism of the Lord on January 10th; we look forward to continuing our conversations as we celebrate the many feast days when we return in 2020.

Thank you for all of your assistance this fall to make St. Matthew a place of faith and joy. I am so thankful for all of you and blessed with such an amazing staff and community. You truly all make this place like none other.

Wishing you the best this holiday season.

Amy

Please help me in welcoming Jana Freeman

Jana will be the new St. Matthew secretary effective January 1, 2020. We are so excited to have Mrs. Freeman join the school staff and continue her great ministry of helping our families. Jana has served as the Preschool Assistant Preschool Director for the last year and a half; her role included many school-related components as well, this will certainly allow for a smooth transition. Jana's email is: jfreeman@stmatthewcr.org, please update your records to send any school office questions (attendance, etc) to her.

We are excited to have Jana join our staff, please help me in welcoming her.

Student Tuition Organization (STO)

I have been putting a note about the STO program for the last couple of weeks but wanted to share some insight to help you understand the magnitude of this program. For this school year, 2019-2020, the STO program has helped 50 students across 43 families for a total of over $106,000 to help make St. Matthew affordable. This is an amazing benefit to our community, but this program needs your help.

Please consider making a donation to this cause by visiting the website below. One easy click provides you the opportunity to make a donation that benefits students at St. Matthew, while also providing a tax incentive to you as well. Your support of this organization helps so many of our families. Please join me and give today, there is no amount too large or too small. Please prayerfully consider, the deadline to take advantage of this opportunity is December 31, 2019.

Donate HERE

Sign Up Here!

To Volunteer

On Sunday, January 12 come and "Jump Into St. Matts" with us!

We have a full day of activities to bring our St. Matthew's community together in fellowship and faith. Across the generations, this is a chance to celebrate, share, and learn together.

Pop in for any or all of the day's activities including:

10:30am - 11:30am -- Celebrate -- Mass featuring the St. Matthew's Jubilation Choir.
11:30am-12:30pm -- Share -- Join us for lunch and bring a dish to share if you choose. We will serve walking tacos.
12:00pm - 2:00pm -- Learn -- Cycle through the open house stations to learn more about the school, Early Childhood Center, Parish, famous Mardi Gras event, and other opportunities and programs available at St. Matthew.

Don't Forget Your Winter Gear!

This month in Character Counts we are talking about RESPONSIBILITY. In order to help the kids be responsible and have all the things they need to go out for recess each day, we created this little reminder chart for you to print off at home. Please use it to help your child remain responsible (and warm) during the coming weeks and months. We will send everything home today...wash it up over break and send it back in when we return!

We are in Need of any old cell phone devices - Android 4.4 and iOS 8.0 or later

Thanks to the generous donation of virtual reality headsets, we are needing old phones! If you have any old phones around your house that are not being used, we would gladly take those off your hands and use them in our VR setting. This is a critical part of our implementation.

Thank you Regis Royals!

We were thrilled to have the Regis Choir and Band students stop by this morning to perform some of their Christmas music for us. Our students loved it and were so impressed! It was great to see so many former Jaguars participating too. See the photo above that also includes another special former Jaguars visitor today! Check out our Facebook page for more photos on the busy day in Jaguarland today!

Our next Mardi Gras meeting is set for Monday, January 6th at

7 pm in Kearn Hall. And mark your calendar and plan to join us at Mardi Gras on February 22nd!

SCRIP News

During the month of December, for each family who makes a SCRIP purchase, their name will be placed on a paper ornament. These ornaments will decorate our Christmas tree, located on the wall of the main entrance. Our goal is for 60 families to participate in SCRIP this month.

Shop Here!

Enrollment Code: 6DA5ACAD63825

Volunteer Here

42 families have made a purchase already; that 70% of the way! We can do this!

If we reach this goal, there will be a school-wide treat provided on Friday, January 3rd.

Tired of Cutting Box Tops

1. Simply download the app

2. Select St. Matthew School

3. Scan your receipt within 2 weeks of purchase
The school will automatically get a check twice a year!

Download the Box Tops App

St. Matthew Parish News

We are now using Flocknote to sign up for bringing food (salads and desserts) to funeral luncheons hosted here at St. Matthew Church. If you would like to be a volunteer in this capacity and receive notifications when we need contributions, please sign up here.

Funeral Luncheon Volunteers

Regis Middle School News

Families of Fifth Graders -- Save The Date to Explore Regis!

Please mark 9-11 am, Saturday, Jan. 25th on your calendars to come and Explore Regis at Regis Middle School, 735 Prairie Drive NE, Cedar Rapids. You and your fifth grader will have a chance to learn about all the opportunities Regis offers and will get to meet Regis students, parents, teachers and staff. More information will be coming soon, but you may contact Dianne Clarke at dclarke@regisroyals.org or

319-363-1968 if you have any questions.

So SAVE THE DATE -- January 25th to Explore Regis!

Xavier High School News

Dancing with the Saints: Season 5 Live Event

Date: Saturday, January 18, 2020
Location: Doubletree Hotel, 350-1st Ave. NE, Cedar Rapids – Grand Ballroom

For tickets, voting and more information visit: https://www.xaviersaints.org/dwtslive

Message from the Principal

See message above! Have a great weekend and a Merry Christmas! See you in 2020!

--Mrs. Conlon

Essentials Team Highlight

We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season--Merry Christmas from the Essentials team! We look forward to starting fresh again in the new year!

Link to Cup Stacking

Birthdays Over Christmas Break

December 20--Maggie Lyon

December 21--Corin Guthrie

December 22--Nolan Foss

December 22--Mrs. Miller-Smith

December 26--Madeline Maxwell

December 27--Ms. Carney

December 28--Lillian Prunty

December 28--Mrs. Giorgio

January 3--Cate Charkowski

January 3--Genna Haan

Make sure to follow us on social media:

Twitter - @StMattsJags

Facebook - @StMatthewCedarRapids