Saints School News
School News – January 18, 2021
Saint Wenceslaus Catholic School Office Update
From the Office of Principal:
Dear Parents, Grandparents, and Friends of SWS,
Let me be very blunt. We need your help!
Our Starry Night will be virtual this year. For this to be successful, we need lots of event sponsors, cash donations, items for bidding, events to bid on, and an unlimited amount of gift cards to local and Minnesota establishments.
Donation request letters will go out this week. Please consider or please help us find good donations! All donations can be sent to the office or logged online at our Starry Night website. (click here)
Registration this year will be free to the event. Log in as a guest and pass the webite on to as many friends as you can both near and far. Everyone can participate. Logging in early will give you insightful updates for sponsors and the best donated items.
https://saintwenceslaus.ejoinme.org/2021starrynight
Thank you for helping to make “A Starry Night 2021” successful.
Kim Doyle, Principal
Pray Often, Work Hard, Trust God!
Preschool Open House/Registration Night
Fall 2021 Classes
Live in-person
*See our preschool hallway and classrooms
*Meet our teachers
Tuesday, January 19
Stop in anytime between 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM
Park on Columbus Avenue and enter through the doors named “Preschool Entrance”.
Not Required for families familiar with the school and the teachers. Simply mail forms or drop off to school office.
(download registration form)
Bussing changes on Wednesday, Jan., 20.
Busing will return to the same routes that were open at the beginning of the school year. (Must be signed up to ride)
Wednesday will be different: pick up for SWS will be at 12:30 for those kids with no other ride home. SWS will remain in session until 2:30, not doing the early release like the public school.
We continue to recommend that kids use car transportation due to Covid.
School Sweepstakes Raffle
Only 2 more weeks!
All tickets are $10 each
K-8 – $300 of tickets and Preschool – $50 of tickets.
The raffle is for cash prizes.
Drawing will be: Catholic Schools Week – February 3.
If you can sell more than your share at your place of employment or with your relatives, we would greatly appreciate the help. We need to raise $25,000 with this raffle for our school budget. This is one of our three required fundraisers. (Marathon, Sweepstakes, Fish Fry)
Pot-O-Gold Tickets are now being sold.
Here is your chance to win $20,000 in cash!
Tickets are $100 each and only 650 will be sold.
Drawing will be at our summer golf event on June 11.
1 = $20,000
4 = $1000
2 = $500
Total of $25,000 cash prizes
We appreciate if each family would consider buying 1 ticket! Send a check in and we will send your stub home.
Can you help sell 3-5 tickets? We will not send blank tickets home with the children.
Contact sherry.hartman@swsaints.org to arrage to pick up tickets.
Parenting Session with Dr. Jules
Take advantage of the free group counseling webinars brought to you by CSCOE (Catholic School Center of Excellence).
The next session – January 28.
https://calendly.com/drjulesnolan/positive-discipline-and-parenting-during-stressful-time?month=2021-01
A Starry Night
SWS Annual Event
March 20, 2021
Cash sponsor
Item donor
Gift of a cabin week or sunny condo
Sporting event or any other fun event
Gift cards (we need lots of them)
Item deadline- March 1
Online cash and item donations, become a sponsor, or register for the event.
https://saintwenceslaus.ejoinme.org/2021starrynight
Summer Preschool and Summer Club House
(preschool and grades K-5)
Yes- we will open 2 programs
Preschool – Mixed class of 3-5 year old children. Open 7:00-5:00 with academics 9:00-3:00 (same as schoo year)
Club House – Open for Kindergarten – Grade 5, 7:00-5:30
If interested
https://forms.gle/QtZayqGug16WpYAD
We will be sending you registration forms soon
NWEA Winter Testing
K-8 will begin winter testing again this week. Each student will take a test in reading and math. Most students complete each test in about 45 minutes per section.
The NWEA tests are used to track growth during a particular school year. This helps our teachers stay on track with the curriculum and the standards set for learning. We will not look at national and state standard comparisons this year. We want to look at growth from one time to the next. Teachers in grades 1-8 will compare to fall results. They will they compare again when taking the spring tests. Kindergarten will take the test for the first time now and teachers will want to see growth from now to spring testing.
Our teachers know what their curriculum goals are. They want to make sure all students are successful to get there. These tests break skills down so teachers can focus more on each child.
Please encourage your child to do their best.
Catholic School Week Plan – Click here
January 31 – February 5.
We have a super fun week planned.
Please see the schedule to plan ahead for the dress-up days.
We are also doing a collection of brand new sealed packages of socks and underwear for the homeless.
Book Fair to take place virtually this year – February 1
Our usual Catholic Schools Week book fair will take place virtually this year. The goal is to seel books so that every child get a new zest and energy for reading and to raise a few bucks to help keep new books in the library.
Here is a link for a tutorial on browsing and buying in the online book fair for the parents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0DaPNwGmkE&feature=youtu.be
We will send you a link to the Book Fair on Feb. 1 and then you can make a purchase.
Fish Fry – delayed until April
Reminder for Fundraising and Volunteering
Required fundraisers for families (3 required):
Marathon, Sweepstakes, Fish Fry
Required volunteer activities (2 shifts or 2 events required):
Fish fry, Starry Night event, Golf tournament
All other fundraisers are necessary but not required. We appreciate all participation and hope most join in.
All other volunteer activities are greatly appreciated. This year those opportunities are very limited.
Registration for Kindergarten Families
Now – Open to the public!
1. For every kindergarten student who registers from this point until June 1 – all kindergarten tuition gets lowered by $50 for every kindergarten family upto 28 students.
Click for registration form
2. Kindergarten students who are registered by January 31, 2021, and stay enrolled in fall 2021 will receive an additional $150 tuition credit from a CSCOE (Catholic School Center of Excellence) grant! – This is a firm deadline so don’t miss it.
Aim Higher Foundation Tuition Scholarships for K-8
The window is now open for applications for the 2021-2022 school year. Apply before February 20 deadline.
This is a needs-based scholarship program. Families apply through TADS by filling out the TADS application and then clicking on the scholarship button for the Aim Higher Foundation. Click here for more information.
Registration for Preschool 2021
We are accepting registration for preschool for fall 2021.
Little Saints Preschool – Click here for forms.
Please help us by passing this form on to family and friends who might be interested in our preschool program.
Preschool 2021-2022 Early learning Scholarship
All students going into the prekindergarten and one year away from kindergarten may qualify for this program.
Get a preschool scholarship $500 to $3000!
Spread the word! This is open to everyone who is “middle income”. Students likely to enroll in our SWS kindergarten the following year are given highest priority for getting this award.
Click here to get more information and the application link.
Enrollment for students in Grades 1-8 for next fall.
We will have an automatic re-enrollment again this year.
This is great for you because you do not need to fill out any paperwork now. It is necessary for us so that we can make sound financial decisions and staffing plans.
The registration fee is required and will be automatically charged to your TADS account on March 1st. Registration fees are $50 per student.
We will assume your child/ren is/are returning to SWS in the fall unless you make arrangements directly with Kim Doyle. Please contact KIm before March 1 to workout any details. kim.doyle@swsaints.org
14 day Quarantine stays in place for SWS
Some of the directives have recently changed with the CDC, however, St. Wenceslaus will continue with the 14 day plan (when there are exposures)
Directives from the Archdiocese allow for exceptions to go to a 10 day quarantine only in certain cases and when the risk of exposure and academic programming need to be weighed and determined- at the discretion of the school principal.
Here is a letter from LeSueur County officials as it concerns the 14 day timing and safety. Click here.
Mon. Jan 18 – Teacher retreat – No K-8, No Preschool, and No Club House. (Martin Luther King Holiday)
Tues. Jan. 19 – Preschool open house and registration -5:00-7:00 PM
Wed., Jan. 20 – Mass (gr. 5 plans)
Wed., Jan 27 – Mass (gr. 4b plans)
School Advisory Council Meeting 6:30 PM
Fri., Jan. 29 – NO K-8 classes – Preschool and Club House are open
Sun., Jan 31 – Catholic Schools Week begins
Mass at St. Wenceslaus 8:30 or 10:30.
Mon., Feb.1 – School Bookfair begins (virtually)
Tues., Feb. 2 – Sweepstakes Tickets are due
Wed. Feb. 3 – Sweepstakes Winners Pulled!
Wed. Feb. 3 – School Mass (Gr. 3)
Looking ahead:
Kindergarten preview night: February 9
Mon. Feb. 15 – President Day Holiday – School Closed
Sat., March 20 – A Starry Night!
Saints Return 2020
Contains all Covid related plans.
Go to swsaints.org
COVID Contacts
Health Aide – teresa.rademacher@swsaints.org
Principal – kim.doyle@swsaints.org
Office Manager- sherry.hartman@swsaints.org
Amazon Smile Program
Sign up. Name St. Wenceslaus Catholic School (make sure it is our school in Minnesota because there are also schools by the same name in other states) Our school receives 0.5% back on all purchases. It might not seem like a lot, but it all adds up over time.Go to this link to register.
https://smile.amazon.com
Coborns More Reward Points
Here is such an easy way for you to contribute to the school. Coborns give away $150,000 each year to schools. The money is divided between all schools that have members with points. It is so easy to sign up. Then we get the rewards each time you shop and SWS gets a donation.
1. Go to: moreRewards.com
2. Create an account
3. Proceed to login
4. Goto: manage my membership
5. Choose school reward
6. Select: St. Wenceslaus Catholic School