December News

St. Gabriel the Archangel Cathol ic School

Blessing of the

Nativity Scene

God of every nation and

people, from the very begin-

ning of creation you have

manifest your love: When

our need for a Savior was

great you sent your Son to

be born of the Virgin Mary.

To our lives he brings joy

and peace, justice, mercy,

and love.

Lord, bless this manger

scene ┼ and all who look

upon it; may it remind us of

the humble birth of Jesus,

and raise up our thoughts

to him, who is God-with-us

and Savior of all, and lives

and reigns for ever and

ever.

R/. Amen.

When he came to us as

man, the Son of God scat-

tered the darkness of this

world.

May the God of infinite

goodness brighten our

hearts with holiness.

R/. Amen.

God sent his angels to

shepherds to herald the

great joy of the Savior’s

birth.

May he fill us with joy and

make us heralds of his gos-

pel.

R/. Amen.

May almighty God bless us,

┼ the Father, and the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

R/. Amen.

Advent a Time of Preparation

Important Happenings in December

Dec. 1: Food & Fuel Weekend, Gr. 5

Dec. 2: Poinsettias pick-up 3:00-4:30p

Dec. 3: 7:00p Pre-Registration Mtng

Dec. 4: 8:45a Gr. 6 Reconciliation;

Lunch orders due

Dec. 5: Friday schedule; 7:00p PFA

Parent Mtng (Café)

Dec. 6: Thursday Schedule; 8:00a All

School Mass - St. Nick’s Day

Dec. 10: 12:30p Dismissal; 1:00p Faculty

Mtng.

Dec 11: 7:00p Vocal Concert Grs. 2, 4,

6, 8 & Honor Choir; Lunch order due

Dec. 12: 8:00a All School Mass - Feast

of Our Lady of Guadalupe; 7:00p Band

Concert

Dec. 13: 8:00a Band to perform for

school; 8:30a SSDN Gr. 7 Group 4

Dec. 15: 10:30a - 12:00n Registration

for Archangel Activities in the School

Meeting Room.

Dec. 18: Lunch order due for Janu-

ary.; 8:45a Gr. 8 Reconciliation; 1:30p

Grs. K-1 Storyteller from Buder; 2:00p

This passage from Isaiah is the basis

for the Jesse tree, which has become a

symbol of Christ’s heritage or roots and

God’s covenant with the Jewish people.

Very popular in church art in the Mid-

dle Ages, the Jesse tree appeared on

candlesticks and stained-glass win-

dows.

Today the Jesse tree is used to trace

God’s promise of a savior and Christ’s

ancestry and thereby allow us to share

in the waiting and hoping for the prom-

ised savior.

Our school day during Advent will

begin with prayer and a different sym-

bol of the Jesse tree explained each

day. Some classes will also continue

with the tradition of the advent wreath.

We will end our Advent celebration on

Friday, December 20th with a prayer

service at 12:45 p.m. in church. The

prayer service will be the Stations of

the Crib.

We hope you are able to join us on Fri-

day.

Rejoice! The Wisdom

of God draws near.

God desires to make us

a new.

It is a time for rejoic-

ing. It is a time for

singing, dancing and

celebration. Something

exciting is happening.

In Advent, we rise in splendor because

the light has come into our world. The

miraculous is seen in a simple stable.

Our God comes to us in the flesh and

blood. What was impossible is possible

in Jesus.

Advent is a time of waiting, preparing,

praying in anticipation of Christmas.

Advent is a time to become better peo-

ple.

At St. Gabriel this year our focus for

Advent is the Jesse Tree.

“A SHOOT SHALL COME OUT FROM

THE STUMP OF JESSE, AND A

BRANCH SHALL GROW OUT OF HIS

ROOTS.” Isaiah 11:1

Grs. 2-3 Storyteller

from Buder.

Dec 19: 8:00a All

School Mass - Baptis-

mal Celebration

(December/June))

Dec. 20: End of 2nd Quarter; 2:05p Holiday

Treats; 3:00p Dismissal - Christmas break begins

Classes resume Monday, January 6th

Three of our students from St. Ga-

briel Honor Choir, G. Lepak, G. No-

lan and M. Sise, participated in the

Metro District 8 Honor Choir.

These students had three rehears-

als prior to the concert on Novem-

ber 16th at the First Baptist Church

- St. Charles.

Three of our band students audi-

tioned and were selected for the St.

Louis Metro District 8 Honor Jazz

Band and Concert Band. S. Pot-

tinger on Alto saxophone and T.

Curdt on trombone did a great job

in the Jazz Band. K. Murati repre-

sented our school in the Concert

Band. These students performed

with other middle school students

from public, private and parochial

schools in the St. Louis area at

Chaminade on Sunday, November

24th.

A special thank you to Sr. Gail and

Mrs. Shaver-Krus for giving of their

time to practice and be at the re-

hearsals and concerts.

On, November 9th four of our 5th

graders, N. Apprill-Sokol, Q. Cook,

L. Puder and J. Wolf participated in

the Metro District 8 Elementary

Honor Choir. They spent all day

Saturday rehearsing with 50 other

students from the area public , pri-

vate and parochial schools. They

then presented a wonderful concert

after the full-day rehearsal. St. Ga-

briel the Archangel School was the

only Archdiocesan school that par-

ticipated.

We are grateful to SLU for offering us these

tickets at no cost.

REMINDER:

Sunday, December 1

12:00 p.m.

SLU vs. Wichita State

Tickets were sent home on Wednes-

day, November 20th in the yellow fold-

ers.

If you have students in 7th-12th grade

attending the game, their tickets will

be available at Gate A. If you arrive

after the game starts, you will need to

go to Gate B at Will Call to get your

tickets.

Congratulations to Our Band and Choir Members

Family Day at SLU - Sunday, December 1 at 12:00 p.m.

DECEMBER NEWS

Surface RT (aka Microsoft 8) an

Added Technology Resource

total of 40 tablets.

Mr. Ashby attended a technology workshop this summer and found an educational pricing on the Sur-face RT. We were able to purchase 25 of these with a cart. The teach-ers in Grades 3-8 now have a set of tablets/computers they can use in their classes.

Miss Schmitt’s class was the first to use the new technology. They took a practice reading test on-line. Mrs. Slama had the 8th grade use the tablets to research their saint for Confirmation.

Since the computer lab is used most

Through the generosity of a friend of St. Gabriel, we received a donation last year with specifications to add more technology to the school. The donor was also able to get a matching gift with their company. Last year, we were able to purchase Nexus 7 Tablets for the Kdg classes. A total of 15 tablets.

Since we received a good pricing on the tablets, we were able to purchase more

tablets with the donation. We expanded the Nexus 7 Tablets to the 1st grade this year. We now have a

of the day, this is a great alterna-tive to bring the lab to the stu-dents. As teachers plan their lessons, the cart will be used a lot more throughout the year.

Part of the Surface RT was a gift from the Class of 2013. Money left from their Class Funds was given to the school for a special gift.

Tuition Payment

this meeting. If a new

family is coming from an-

other Catholic school, they

have to obtain permission

from their pastor to attend

St. Gabriel School. If the

family is non-Catholic,

they do not need permis-

sion from their minister to

attend St. Gabriel School.

The reason for having the

meeting this early is that

it helps us to better pre-

pare the budget in know-

ing the number of stu-

dents entering Kindergar-

ten.

There will be a registra-

tion meeting for our cur-

On Tuesday, December 3rd,

at 7:00 p.m. in the cafeteria,

we wi l l have pre -

registration for those cur-

rent families with children

entering kindergarten or

any other grade level for the

first time at St. Gabriel

School. If you know of a

family that lives in the area

and would like to send their

child to St. Gabriel School,

they, also, need to attend

Pre-Registration Meeting for 2014-2015

Congratulations to our 2nd Graders

who made their 1st Reconciliation

on Saturday, November 16th.

This is a reminder that the semi-annual tuition payment is due by December 15th. Please send the payment to the recto-ry office. You will receive an invoice indicating the balance due by December 1st.

The second quarter ends on Thursday, December 20th. Report cards will be sent home on Friday, January 10th. If a family is delinquent with their tuition, report cards will be held. Access to grades on-line will be disabled for families whose report cards are held.

Questions regarding your tuition balances should be directed to Joan Miller at 314-353-6303 x 121.

On Friday, December 6th, St. Nick will

visit Mass. Students are asked to bring a

NEW toy to donate.

The gifts collected are given to St. Henry/

Immaculate Conception Center. Some

bags of toys are given to our parish Giving

Tree program.

Spirit of Giving on St.

Nick’s Day

rent families held on Tues-

day, March 4th and Thurs-

day, March 6th at 7:00 p.m.

in the cafeteria. Please

mark your calendars. This

is a mandatory meeting;

you must attend one of the

evenings.

Student Honored at Powell Hall for Artwork

Food & Fuel Weekend

This month our Food & Fuel Weekend, November 30 and December 1 will focus on Our Lady of Perpetual Help. This center assists families in the North City area. The 5th grade is asked to donate food for this month. Students can bring the canned goods to any of the masses on this weekend.

Thank you from the Class of 2014

The 8th graders thank those that purchased Poinsettias. The money raised will be put toward the Mys-tery Day trip and the end of the year Farewell Din-ner.

Congratulations to the fol-

lowing members of our

Speech Team who partici-

pated in the meet on Satur-

day, November 9th at An-

nunciation - Holy Cross

Academy

Red Ribbons went to:

T. Leos - humorous catego-

ry.

Blue Ribbons went to:

Beginning with Advent, the Kindergarteners will attend Mass on Thursdays with the whole school. The Kindergar-teners will have mass buddies like the 1st and 2nd graders. The 6th graders are their bud-dies and will stay with them

through 1st and 2nd grade. This is a wonderful opportuni-ty for the older students to be leaders as well as a way to bond with the younger stu-dents over a three year peri-od.

5); J. Sise (Gr. 4); B. Williams (Gr. 3);

I. Ruggeri (Gr. 2); M. Leonard (Gr. 1);

and Z. Hannasch (Gr. 1).

A. Gherardini received 1st place in the

K-6th Grade category. M. Phegley

received 3rd place in the K-6th catego-

ry. H. Stanze received 2nd place for

her artwork in the 7th -12th grade

category.

A number of our students had their

artwork displayed the 2013 Des Lee

Showcase at Powell Hall on Thursday,

November 21st. The Concert Band

was also showcased and did a wonder-

ful job.

The following students had artwork

displayed: E. Olwig (Gr. 8); J. Lux (Gr.

8); C. Polk (Gr. 7); H. Stanze (Gr. 7);

A. Gherardini (Gr. 6); M. Phegley (Gr.

Congratulations to our Bellarmine Speech

League!

C. Berns - serious category

H. Hunter - serious category

A. Gherardini - humorous

category

B. Junker and H. Noel - duet

category

W. McCann and J. Mullen -

duet category

A gold ribbon went to C. Bra-

zile in the humorous catego-

ry. He received a perfect

score of 30 points.

Special thanks to the teach-

ers who coach and Mrs. Kid-

well who judged for the

speech meet.

Kindergarteners Attending Mass

Thanksgiving Feast - Kdg & 6th Gr. Buddies

Congratula-

tions to all our

students who

were show-

cased at this special event.

A special thank you to Mrs. Boles-

ta and Sr. Gail for working with

our students.

Archangel

Activities has

had another

successful

semester.

The classes

offered this past session were ex-

citing for the students. When I

would walk by during the classes,

the students were engaged in the

activities. We had chess offered

by the St. Louis Chess Club. BJC

provided the “Little Med” class.

We had art and crafts, cooking

and many other classes.

The committee is working fever-

ishly for the next semester offer-

ings. A class description is being

put together and will be available

on the website after the Thanks-

giving break. This will be listed

won were: Grs. K-2 T. Krueger; Grs. 3-5 B. Kittner; and Grs. 6-8 A. Evola.

The money raised from the raffle will be used to purchase an item for the auction donated by the students of St. Gabriel.

The auction is scheduled for Sat-urday, March 1st at Bishop Du-Bourg High School. Thank you to those who supported the stu-dent raffle the week of Novem-ber 18th. The students who

PFA Auction

DECEMBER NEWS

Veterans’ Day Mass &

Reception

This was our

second annu-

al Veteran’s

Day Mass &

Reception.

Our 5th

Grades host-

ed this event

on Wednes-

day, November 6th.

The day began with our vet-

erans, family, friends and

parishioners, attending the

8:00 a.m. Mass with our stu-

dents in Grades 5-8. After

mass, the 5th graders and

the veterans held a reception

in the cafeteria.

The 5th graders sang a few

songs for their guests. After-

wards, some of the veterans

shared their stories with the

students. Some brought memo-

rabilia from their tour of duty.

Everyone enjoyed meeting the

veterans and talking to them

about their experiences of serv-

ing our country.

ARCHANGEL ACTIVITIES

under the Parent/Student sec-

tion on the website.

Fr. John Spending

Time with the

Students

REMEMBER TO PURCHASE

YOUR SCRIPS

You can purchase:

On Tuesday/Thursday from 3:00—3:15 p.m. in

the meeting room

Backpack Scrips—Monday - Thursday

through the school office

After Masses on Sundays

...to the Sucher Family for donating books to the library.

...to those who voted on FACEBOOK for their favorite school with the Target promotion. We received a check from the “Give with Target” program for $74.00.

...to everyone who supported the Book Fair in November. We increased our sales from last year.

...to the 3rd grade parents for organizing the reception for the 2nd grade 1st Reconciliation.

...to the 2nd grade teachers for preparing the 2nd graders for their 1st Reconciliation.

...to Angela Kittner and Jim Uxa for providing the Family Movie event on December 14th.

...to those who donated clothes for the School-a-Stitch program.

A Special Thanks…

Thanksgiving Observation

The students and faculty celebrated Thanks-giving with our annual all school Mass. The students took up a collection of $824.00 at offertory.

This money will be given to the St. Gabriel Conference of St. Vincent de Paul to help serve those in need in our area of the city.

Fr. John”. If he is not

in the cafeteria, he

finds his way to the

playground to join in a

game of kick ball. He

has also visited the

classrooms. As time

permits with the teach-

ers’ lesson, he will be

coming to the religion

classes.

Fr. John has made a hit

with the students. He

makes time in his sched-

ule to be with the stu-

dents. Some days, Fr.

John is out in the morning

greeting the students be-

fore school begins. Other

days, he will stop by the

cafeteria to visit with the

students. When he enters

the cafeteria during the

lunch period for Grs. 3-5,

he normally gets a stand-

ing ovation with loud

claps and shouts of “It’s