Saint Pius X School
Bi-Monthly Update
December 18, 2020
Mark your Calendars:
Dec 21—Jan 3 Christmas Break
Jan 4—All School Remote Day
Jan 5—All School Remote Day
Jan 6—School In Person
Jan 14—School Pictures
Jan 15—All School Remote Specials Day
Jan 18—Martin Luther King Day—No School
This week, Father Dave, Mrs. Ruth and I visited each of the classrooms to wish the stu-dents a holy, healthy and happy Christmas break. As we near this 4th Sunday of Advent, we can reflect upon Mary’s “yes.” Please take time to remember the real reason for the season. The following information (from TeachingCatholicKids.com) has beautiful sug-gestions for prayer, activities, and reflection.
“The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High’” (Lk 1:30-32).
Advent Wreath Prayer Light the fourth candle and say… “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:1). God of wisdom, bless us with Mary’s “yes” as we welcome Emmanuel into our hearts and homes. Amen.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Family Advent Activity Spend time at the Crib – Encourage each member of your family to spend some quiet time in prayer near the Nativity scene at home or in your parish. What does the manger teach us? How could God allow his Son to be born in a stable? Give thanks for the gift of Christ and the joy of the Christmas season to come. Reflect Like the angels, how might we be witnesses of God’s miraculous love?
All-Remote Days in January
Because our two remote days that followed the Thanksgiving break seemed to prevent students returning to school with symptoms, Monday, January 4 and Tuesday, January 5 will be Remote Days for all students.
In addition, Friday, January 15 will be a “Specials” All-Remote Day with a winter or Olym-pic theme. Our “specials” teachers spend a great deal of time creating these fun activities, so please encourage your child to participate. We had wonderful feedback about our De-cember Specials Day, so we are excited to see what’s planned for January.
Check out these photos and videos that some of our students shared from our “Specials Day” on December 11. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gTajO5iurTr5P3NU6GZnpIaJ5daCuIuL/view?usp=sharing
IMPORTANT-- 3rd Quarter In-Person or Remote Learning Decision
We will not be sending home a survey to request a change of your child’s learning model for 3rd Quarter. If you would like to switch your child from remote to in-school or vice-versa, you must notify administration NO LATER THAN Tuesday, January 5th at [email protected] and [email protected]. Quarter 3 begins on Tuesday, January 19th.
At this point, many of our classrooms are at capacity with adherence to our 6 ft social dis-tancing guidelines. If a number of remote students wish to return, we will need time to de-termine how to move forward safely. School Picture Day
Students will have their photos taken for the yearbook on Thursday, January 14th. Re-mote students will also have the opportunity to be photographed that day. Order forms and more information about specific photo times for our remote students will be sent after we return from Christmas break.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gTajO5iurTr5P3NU6GZnpIaJ5daCuIuL/view?usp=sharingmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]
National Junior Beta Club Congratulations to the following students who were inducted into the National Junior Beta Club on Tuesday: Ryan Bassetti, Kristin Brinkman, Evie Campbell, Nyla Crumwell, Jimmy Dennett, Graham Ewing, Keeley Fishking, Audrey Grossman, Hannah King, Mary Kate LeMay, Patience Locklear, Jamie Mahoney, Mallory Matheny, Max McFadden, Keegan McKnight, Layla Murphy, Martina Rees, Ad-am Rodenkirchen, Mick Temple, Dawit Tesfaye, and Dominic Woods
We are extremely proud of these students who were selected based on academic achievement, leadership, service and strong character. If you’d like to watch the video of our induction ceremony, please see this link: https://youtu.be/uM4j9JjRroA
https://youtu.be/uM4j9JjRroA
Spelling Bee Winners
We would like to thank all of the participants in this year’s SPX Spelling Bee and congratulate them for their accomplishments. The students listed below were the top spellers for their grade levels, and they should certainly be proud of this accomplishment. This year’s spelling bee was quite different from past years, and it was not without a number of challenges. The first challenge was to get the technology to work so that we could accommodate both remote and in-school stu-dents who were participating. This year, instead of finishing the spelling bee in one afternoon, it took three days of attempts to find our winner! After 23 rounds and 250 words, Ben Hinckley won the championship. He will be moving on to the local area spelling bee sponsored by Ohio Uni-versity. All participants will receive a certificate for participating. Congratulations to these stu-dents for their hard work:
Fifth Grade: Nathan Acha, Afomia Ambelu, Daniel Cannon, Jace Harmon, Nora Kieffer, Mariella Solinger
Sixth Grade: Samuel Gerardi, Jack Gilmore, Anna Kieffer, Brendan Reade, Ysa Vega, Sydney Vonderwell
Seventh Grade: Kristin Brinkman, Cora Caltrider, Evie Campbell, Ben Hinckley, Aidan Leist, Martina Rees, Aidan Reeves
Eighth Grade: Connor Caltrider, Audrey Jones, Alex Le, Vincent Mampieri, Adam Muhirwa, Jaxson Payne, Kyle Pitcock, Kate Thomas
We’d like to thank Mrs. Trainer for organizing our SPX Spelling Bee!
Congratulations to Mrs. Smith! Yesterday, Mrs. Smith delivered her beautiful twins, Genevieve Marie and Oliver Michael Smith. Mom, Dad and babies are doing well, and we are incredibly excited to welcome them into our SPX family!
Oliver Michael Genevieve Marie
Staff Appreciation Week We dedicated this week to celebrating our EXTRAORDINARY staff for constantly going above and beyond which has allowed us to offer both in-school and remote instruction for our students. Staff members were treated to a food truck lunch, a special Christmas Dress Down Day, lottery tickets, donuts, and a daily raffle drawing. Thanks to Laurie Louiso, Meghan Swails, Dennett Designs, Mrs. Schneider (Susie’s Slates), Mersh’s Cafe, and SPX Spirit Wear for donating items to our raffle. The students erupted in excitement whenever their teachers’ names were called over the PA system. In addition, each staff member received gifts by special delivery from Rudolph, Cindy Lou Who, and Father Dave.
If you want a DELICIOUS breakfast, be sure to look on your local Food Truck Finder app for the location of Mersh’s Breakfast Cafe! Our very own Davis family owns this food truck and our staff was treated to an incredible breakfast for lunch today. Everybody RAVED about the food, so we highly recommend it!
I am elated that we were able to keep our students in the building up until Christmas break. Thanks to everyone for being flexible and following all the protocols surrounding COVID-19. While we are looking forward to ringing in the new year, 2020 has led me to reflect and be thankful for how wonderful the St. Pius X family is, and how lucky I am to lead this wonderful school community. Please continue to pray for all of those affected by COVID-19.
Merry Christmas!
Darren Smith Principal
