December 7, 2016 Newsletter
St. Thomas of Villanova School
a Catholic School Family
1141 East Anderson Drive
Office Hours:
Palatine, IL 60074
7:30 am – 2:30 pm
847-358-2110
fax: 847-776-1435
www.stvschool.org
From the desk of the principal…
The Door Decorating Contest begins today at 4:00! Please go to the STV
Facebook page to enjoy all the Christmas Door decorations. Teachers
and students went all out to convey their Christmas spirit. Vote for your
favorites by pressing “Like.” Have fun!
Can you even fathom how amazing our faculty is? The following is a brief
insight into what some of our school children are experiencing in their
classrooms:
Preschool 3 year old with Mrs. Fisher: The Preschoolers have been very busy
with the holidays. We enjoyed singing our Thanksgiving songs and eating our
yummy Feast! Now we are preparing for Baby Jesus to come. We continue to do our
schoolwork - we are learning our letters, letter sounds, and how to write the letters.
Kindergarten with Mrs. Pratt: It is an exciting time of year in kindergarten; the
Christmas season is upon us! Students are learning about Advent and preparing for
Jesus. Our goal in literacy right now is learning how to decode words, read, and write
sentences. Addition has been our main focus in math, along with learning different
strategies and ways to add. The highlight of these last two weeks has been traveling
to different countries in South America! It is such an interesting continent!
Upcoming Events
December 8
School Mass – 8:00 am
K, 1, 2 Field Trip 9am noon
December 9
Lego Club – 1:50 – 2:45 pm
December 11
School Mass – 9:30 am
December 13
Two Can Tuesday!
December 14
School Mass – 8:00 am &
Reconciliation Gr. 2-8th
Save the Date(s)!
Tuesday, December 20th
Christmas Program –
Church - 7 p.m.
Second Grade with Mrs. Kerr: STV Second Graders are hard at work building
upon their reading and writing skills on a daily basis. The science unit that we are
working on involves hands on testing and experimentation to learn about the
properties of matter. In math we have been learning a variety of strategies for solving
2- and 3-digit subtraction. Lastly, and most importantly, we continue to deepen our
faith through prayer, God's word, and self-reflection during the season of Advent.
Fourth Grade with Mrs. Shepke: We have been busy researching information
on a state that the students chose. They are creating Power Points and floats and will
present both in front of their classmates. The culminating activity is a 50 state
luncheon where the kids get to try authentic foods from the states that were chosen.
Sixth Grade with Mrs. McGarvey: The six and seventh grade science students
are preparing for their Science Fair in January by submitting their final copy of their
research paper called a Review of Literature. This research paper enables them to
form their hypothesis before they begin their experimentation.
Wednesday, December 21st
Santa’s Breakfast
11:00 a.m. Dismissal –
No pm bussing
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Eighth Grade with Mr. Olson: Sixth graders are doing a little “time traveling” back to the time of the Aztecs. Eighth
graders are preparing for their History Fair by researching and analyzing data being collected. This is the first year of
participating in the state History Fair.
Spanish with Ms. Brady: The preschoolers and 1st graders are learning some Spanish songs to help them practice how
to say various parts of the body in Spanish; we sang "Cabeza, Hombros, Rodillas, y Pies" and "Mi Hombre de Nieve" and
decorated the song lyrics to sing at home during classes these last few weeks. In Kindergarten, we have been travelling
around the world and learning all about Mexico, Ecuador, and Argentina. Second graders just learned how to say various
colors in Spanish and are now working on counting, while the third graders have practiced colors in Spanish and are now
beginning to learn the names for the days of the week. In fourth grade we are practicing our numbers and colors
vocabulary, fifth graders are learning the names of various classroom objects and designing and labeling the objects in
their own classrooms and sixth graders just finished learning about colors and recently started our family unit. Our
seventh graders are practicing terms to describe individuals and are beginning to learn how to write complete sentences in
Spanish, while the eighth graders just finished learning vocabulary to describe individuals and identify items at a
restaurant and are now reviewing Spanish vocabulary and concepts before the winter break.
STV Happenings
*******New School Communication System*******
Over the next week or two, we will be testing a new communication system called
School Messenger. This is a very useful tool not only for emergencies, but also for
efficient communication with our families. There may be calls, emails, texts or all of
the above. It may take a few tries to get this system working just right, so thank you
in advance for your patience.
Lunch/Recess
From now until Spring Break, we will switch recess and lunch.
Lunch will be served first and then the students will go
outside for recess. Please don’t forget boots and snowpants!
8th Grade Bake Sale – This Weekend
Our 8th Grade Class is hosting their last Bake Sale to help fundraise for the
Washington DC Trip this upcoming school year. Please stop by and support the
8th graders this weekend—December 10 /11—at their Bake Sale in the
Gathering Area after Mass! There will be plenty of holiday treats for all! Free–will
donation.
Football Fundraiser Wrap-up Results
Our 4th Annual Bear’s Football Fundraiser held on, November 13, at Durty Nellies was a huge
success. We raised over $12,000, all of which will be used to further help the kids of St. Thomas of
Villanova School. Thank you to all who attended, donated auction and raffle items and helped
with the event. We hope you had a good time.
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January 6th is the Deadline for the 2016/2017 Yearbook Cover Contest!
Calling all artists: This is your chance to design a cover for this year’s STV yearbook.
The winning entry will appear on the cover and the artist will receive a free yearbook in the spring.
The entries of the runner-ups will appear inside the yearbook. (Sorry, the runner-ups do not receive
a free copy of the yearbook.) Please submit your entries to the School Office on or by Friday,
January 6th, 2017.
Contest Rules:
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All STV students are eligible. One entry per student. Submit original student artwork only.
The drawing must be of the STV School building, STV Church or the whole campus to be
considered for the cover.
Drawings of notable Palatine landmarks, Viking mascot, or features on the STV campus may be
chosen for runner-up positions.
Use 11” x 17” white paper in landscape orientation if you would like to have your art
considered for the cover. Art done with a portrait orientation or in a smaller size shall be
considered as a runner-up, but can’t be used on the cover.
No words, letters, or numbers may appear anywhere on the drawing.
Drawings done in crayons, markers, paint, or colored pencils are all acceptable. Keep in mind
that colored pencils in very light colors may not reproduce clearly.
Write your name and your grade in pencil on the BACK of your entry.
The winner will be determined by the Principal and Yearbook Editor.
The winner will be announced between April 25 and May 20 at the Principal’s discretion. The
free yearbook will be awarded as a credit to the artist’s TreeRing account or as otherwise
agreed upon with the Principal.
General Reminders
Dine-n-Share
Join us for another Dine-n-Share for the entire month of December at Chilis in
Arlington Heights AND Deer Park. Grab your family and friends, celebrate the
Christmas season together, and support St. Thomas of Villanova School. Please see
enclosed flyer.
STV Lottery Tickets
Lottery tickets went home the week before Thanksgiving. Each family is required to
sell 20 tickets (preschool families are strongly encouraged to participate as well).
Each ticket is only $10, and provides 74 chances of winning! Drawings are held
monthly. Ticket stubs and money are due on Thursday, February 23rd, and may be
sent to school via the Family Envelope. Please write clearly and fill out the entire ticket, including
address and phone number, being that checks are mailed directly to the winners. The lottery
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proceeds provide funds for extra activities and for those needs of the school not covered by
tuition. Don’t forget! After selling 20 tickets for FSA, any additional tickets sold go 100 percent
directly towards your fundraising goals!!!! If you have questions or need additional tickets, please
contact the school office or Shanna Mitchell.
STV Athletics
Altar Servers
Basketball Season is in full swing.....
Boys Basketball - Lots of tournaments happening this month! This past
weekend our 5th Graders played in St. Emily's Tournament and won 2nd
place! Our 8th Grade boys participated in the Quest Tournament and won
4th Place! Congratulations! Coming up this weekend:
• 8th Grade will be participating in the Holmes Junior High
Tournament
• 6th Grade will be participating in the St. Emily's Tournament
• 7th Grade will be participating in the St. Emily's tournament
weekend of 12/16
Home games before break:
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12/12 - 6th @ 6:00 pm, 7th @ 7:00 pm vs. St. Emily's
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12/19 - 6th @ 6:00 pm vs. Holy Family, 8th @ 7:00 pm vs. Quest
December 10 & 11
Saturday 5:00 PM
Josh Hulsebosch
Konrad Malik
Mia Martino
Sunday 7:30 AM
Maura McGarvey
John Mepham
Sarah Mepham
Sunday 9:30 AM
Ian Cameron
Tyler Murphy
Michael Nix
Girls Basketball - Last weekend we hosted the 5th grade girls’ games. The
Sunday 11:15 AM
6th and Varsity season officially began this past week with their Home
Kelly O'Shea
Opener on Tuesday. Varsity Girls will be hosting a Tournament on
Kathy Palmowski
December 15th-17th. We need your help! If you can sign up for a slot it
would be most appreciated. Go to the Athletic website and see Girls
Basketball Tournament under the Volunteer tab. Home games before
break: 12/13 6th @ 6:00 pm vs. St. Al's
See full schedules on the Athletics Website. Come out and cheer on our Vikings!!!
Coming Soon: Registration for Spring Sports
Boys – Volleyball, Track and Field
Girls - Softball (mid Jan)
SAVE THE DATES:
Pack The Gym will be 1/10, 1/17, 1/31 More info to follow.
GO VIKINGS!!!! Jenny Parlier, Athletic Director, [email protected]
847-380-9208
FSA CORNER
Target.com is offering great deals and discounts on all sorts of items and conveniently shipped to
your door. For every dollar spent at Target.com, STV School will receive a commission on the
purchase! If you are ready to shop, this will take you to STV’s Fundinco homepage.
http://www.fundinco.org/orghome.php?orgid=1210
Then, click on the button to start shopping at Target.com. As long as you click through this link
every time you make a purchase at Target.com, all of your purchases are being tracked back to
STV School for commissions. It’s really that simple!
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