St. Ambrose School

Dear Parents,
Happy Monday! Thank you for all your prayers this weekend. It POURED at the beach, but there were smiles and lots of sunshine in our beachhouses. Cooking for 80 is a challenge, but the rewards were immense.

ALTAR SERVER TRAINING
Boys in grades 4-8 may attend the altar server training sessions on Wed. Oct. 5, 12, and 19 from 3:00-4:00 in the Church. We will send home a permission slip tomorrow. Please return it as soon as possible. ALL CURRENT SERVERS should attend the first training session on Oct. 5.

OUTBACK KNIGHT this week – Thursday, Sept. 29
Great news! The Burke Outback Steakhouse has agreed to cater our Gala again this year – for the same perfect price – free! Their generosity is laudable. Please be sure to let the Manager know that you are from St. Ambrose when you dine there. We will have three Outback Knights this year – Sept. 29, Nov. 16, and Jan. 23. Please mark your calendar and plan to have dinner with your family at the Outback. A flyer will come home in the Wednesday folders. See you there on Thursday!

JCYO BASKETBALL
Sign up for Basketball! Grades 4-8 are eligible to represent St. Ambrose. The Player’s Enrollment  form and Coach’s Registration form  are on the school website: http://stambroseschool.org/activities/formsdocuments/.
We hope to start practices in mid-October, so sign up today!

We need one more volunteer – a Registrar who will help collect signup and medical forms required by the league and assist the coaches in getting the team registration forms into the league’s diocesan coordinator. No basketball knowledge is necessary—just good organizational skills. Virtus paperwork is not required. Please contact Dave Guy to volunteer for this important position – guyjd@yahoo.com.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST THIS SUNDAY

The following invitation is from the Knights of Columbus. As you know, they were very instrumental in getting our school back in session so quickly. Please come out to the pancake breakfast and say thanks!  I will be here to let people see the beautiful classrooms. I look forward to seeing you all there!

This Sunday, October 2, the Knights of Columbus will host a Pancake Breakfast in the school after the 8 AM and 10 AM Masses. Come for pancakes, eggs, sausage, coffee, milk and juice – all you can eat. The price for families of four or more is only $20. Any proceeds from this event will go to charity.

SHOPPERS FOOD – SCRIP Program
Do you shop at Shoppers Food Warehouse?  Gift Cards for Shoppers Food
Warehouse in the amount of $100 are available now through the school office.

The cards are worth their face value, but the school receives a 5% profit,
which goes directly to the school, on the sale of the gift card. These gift
cards are easy to use and help you budget your grocery money.

Gift cards make great Christmas and birthday gifts-or use them yourself and
support St. Ambrose while you shop. Please consider participating in this
opportunity.

Anyone who wishes to purchase a Shoppers Gift Card may do so by filling out
a Shoppers Gift Card Order Form.  Please turn the form in, along with
payment (checks made out to St. Ambrose PTO), to the school office
(either in person or by sending the form and payment in to school with your
child). Orders that are turned in by Friday will be returned in the next
Wednesday folder.

If you have questions, please contact Caryn Graham (Brenningmeyer) at
ecosse@cox.net.

God bless,
Barbara Dalmut

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Dear Parents,

Due to the torrential rains of the past month, our phone lines need to be replaced. The 703-698-7171 line is being redone, so you may not be able to access us through that number today. Please call on this line:

703-698-9196 or 703-698-9197.

The PTO is sponsoring a Coffee & Donuts Sunday this Sunday after the 10:00 Mass. I hope you will be there – to celebrate the beginning of school and this wonderful parish community!

I am sorry I can’t make it — I am off to cook for the Marymount University Beach Retreat — breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 75 college students for 2 days! Prayers welcome…

Reminders:

Book Fair next week

Be sure to sign up for the Giant A+ program (St. Ambrose School’s ID number is 03247):

Log on to www.giantfood.com/aplus to register online

OR

Dial 1-877-275-2758 to register your card over the phone

Thank you!

God bless,

Barbara Dalmut

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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Dear Parents,

Tomorrow morning we will begin to learn the new musical parts of the New Roman Missal. Right before Mass we will practice the Memorial Acclamation, which will be used hereafter in all our school Masses.

Track News: If you do NOT receive an email from Mrs. Dean this afternoon/evening, then you are not on her important track email list. Please email her at ndean@stambroseschool.org if you do NOT receive an email. Thank you!

BOOK FAIR! BOOK FAIR! BOOK FAIR! BOOK FAIR!

Begins on Monday! Parents may visit Wednesday afternoon from 3-8:00. Be sure to stop in if you would like to help your child select books.

Signing off for today!

God bless,

Barbara Dalmut

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September 21, 2011

Dear Parents,

Thank you for coming to Back to School Night last night! It was a pleasure to see you all. I apologize for not introducing Mrs. Raphaela Eleuterio last night. As I said, I always forget someone! Mrs. Eleuterio is our Clinic Health Aide and will be running the health clinic and maintaining the health records. We are pleased to have her in the office each day from 11am-3pm (the equivalent of Clinic Rush Hour!)

I have not told you much about our Design for Excellence review. During the two weeks that we were delayed, the teachers worked on the document that will be our application for recertification with the Virginia Catholic Education Association, which is approved by the Virginia Council for Private Education and recognized by the Virginia Department of Education for our school certification process. We are examining every part of our school, and need your participation.

One important element of the DFE is a Parent Survey. Your copy of the survey was placed in your child’s Wednesday folder today. We would appreciate it if you would carefully respond to the survey and return it to the school office as soon as possible. The results of the survey will become a part of the official document.

We take all your comments to heart. As we go through the certification process, we are making improvements and changes. At the end, we will make recommendations about things we would like to improve over the next five years. We look forward to this process, and have already made considerable progress!

Thank you again for your cooperation.

God bless,

Barbara Dalmut

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Monday, September 19, 2011

Dear Parents,
Tomorrow night is Back to School Night! It seems as though we are just beginning the year! The evening will be very productive. You will have a chance to meet all the teachers and hear about our academic programs, as well as gather information about communication, field trips, extracurricular activities, etc. Here is the schedule for tomorrow night:

6:30 K-5 Parents go to their child’s homeroom to meet with the teachers.
7:00 K-5 Parents go to the Gym for a short meeting with Mrs. Dalmut
7:15 6-8 Parents join us for Joint meeting and slide show about our School “Renovations”
7:40 K-5 Parents may go home or visit in the foyer; Middle School Parents have a meeting in the Gym with Mrs. Dalmut and the faculty (Interested parents are welcome even if you don’t have a child in the middle school.)
8:00 Middle School Parents go to meet with the homeroom teachers

The PTO will also have a few announcements at the joint meeting.

Today we had an assembly about the Dare to Dream – Expect to Succeed contest. There are quite a few winners in this particular contest. Students can win educational computer software, computers, or a $5000 scholarship to college. There have been several winners from St. Thomas Aquinas School in Woodbridge, as well as other local public schools. We will set a mid-January deadline for our contest so that students can work on their projects over the Christmas holidays if they would like.

For our participation, our school will be given software that we can use in the classrooms, and allow all of you to access a website that gives students practice on the Terra Nova test questions. These opportunities coincide with our academic goals for the year – improvement in reading comprehension, math skills, and test-taking skills. You do not need to purchase anything. Please send back the bottom part of the yellow form tomorrow. The upper half goes on your refrigerator so you’ll be able to find the details about the project. (We will post a copy on the website too!)

I am attaching a letter from Mrs. Eleuterio about allergens in the school. We want to keep all our children safe, so please pay special attention to this letter. Life-threatening allergies require special care. I will address this issue tomorrow night as well.

Thank you for your patience as we cleaned up our building. As Dorothy said, “There’s no place like home!” We are so happy to be back in our classrooms!

See you tomorrow night!
Blessings,
Barbara Dalmut

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The Wednesday Folder is coming soon.

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Dear Parents,

The school project is getting close to completion. Please keep the workers in your prayers. We are hoping that they finish soon so we can start to put everything back in place. Monday morning, we should be back to “normal” with a beautiful school!  I am sure you will all be at BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT on Tuesday, so you can see for yourselves!

I am attaching the latest school calendar. It is also posted on the school website. Each time I post a new calendar, I will put the changes in bold. The last calendar had a mistake — Nov. 4 is a 3:00 dismissal. Please note it on your calendar.

Band Information Night has been rearranged. Mrs. Maskelony will have the demo with the classes on Monday, the 19th, and have Parent Info Night on Wed. Sept. 21 at 7pm. I am sorry for the late notice. THERE IS NO MEETING TONIGHT! We are not quite ready for hosting an evening meeting.

Please be sure to turn in your Volunteer Signup forms! We still need room parents for grades 1,2,5, and 7. Thank you for your important contributions to our school!

The field trip to the police station was super! As the Lieutenant commented, we probably have the safest location in the county!

The lunch menu is now on the Schoolhouse Grill website for September and October.

More tomorrow–

God bless,

Barbara Dalmut

PS You can see a picture of Ms. Koner’s sister on B-10 of today’s Arlington Catholic Herald!

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Dear Parents,

Track is off to a fabulous start! We have participants from all grades and the kids are very excited about the meet on October 1 and 2 at Falls Church High School. I am very proud of the effort and team camaraderie they have shown during practice. The turnout for our team is very encouraging. I am confident that our team will excel at the diocesan meet.

We should know by tomorrow if we can have a Saturday practice at FCHS so we can practice running on a real track. I will let the team know tomorrow at practice, and Mrs. Dalmut will follow up with an email as well.

We decided that St. Ambrose will not be participating in the Practice Track Meet on Sunday the 18th at Potomac Falls High School. Although the practice meet is fun, we thought that the runners would benefit more from the Saturday practice at Falls Church HS.

Please return the blue form that was handed out at practice today. If your student was not at practice today, they can get one at practice tomorrow or from Mrs. Dean.

All for one, and one for all!

Mrs. Dean

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September 14, 2011

Dear Parents,

We have some good news — The September lunch menu is now on the www.schoolhousegrill.com website. The school code is 20214. There is a cutoff of 5:00pm on Sunday for ordering for the next two weeks. Throughout the year, pay attention to deadlines. If you miss the deadline, you’ll miss lunches for the following two weeks. You are charged the same ordering fee whether you order for one lunch or two months, so it pays to plan ahead.

A few notes:

–We alternate Monday’s menu between Chick-Fil-A and Baja Fresh.

–Fridays are always Vocelli’s Pizza day.

–Thursday’s Smoothies are ordered on a separate order form.

– Watch for October’s menu — it should be up very soon.

FIELD TRIPS!  The 6-8th grades have had wonderful retreats! The 1st – 3rd grades will be taking a local field trip tomorrow — to our next door/backyard neighbor, the Fairfax County Police Station! They are rolling out the red carpet for their neighbors, and showing our kids whichever units are available — K-9, motor patrol (motorcycles), Bomb squads, SWAT teams — what a great learning experience! Mrs. May is setting up a similar opportunity for our other students. Please look for the permission slip in your child’s folder — grades 1-3.

Friday after Mass, the Fairfax County Fire Department will be stopping by for a demonstration with our K-3 students. No permission slip is needed for this one — they will be in the front parking lot. Please don’t be alarmed if you come to Mass and see the fire truck!

We have had comments from some students that this has been the best first week of school — ever! Please rest assured that the teachers are hoping and praying that we won’t have this much excitement next year!  We are looking forward to being back in our classrooms!  Your children’s enthusiasm is heartwarming!

God bless,

Barbara Dalmut

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Dear Parents,

Learning continues… as I walk from classroom to classroom, I hear many good things happening at St. Ambrose.

A request:

We still need drivers for the 6th grade field trip to the Youth Apostles Retreat Center in McLean tomorrow — leaving St. Ambrose at 9am, and leaving the Retreat Center at 2:15 to return to school. Please email me immediately if you can help. I need time to rearrange if necessary.

Thank you!

God bless,

Barbara Dalmut

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