December 4, 2009
Dear Parents,

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with their families. It’s hard to believe it’s already December. Only 21 days ‘til Christmas! Community service is an important component of our program at Holy Family School. Our clothing drive for Catholic Charities and Social Services has now reached a total of 235 pounds!!! Mrs. Strano’s second graders collected items such as coffee, cookies, candy, razors, toothpaste and other necessities for our troops in Afghanistan. 10 boxes, weighing approximately 12 pounds each, were sent to our soldiers just before Thanksgiving. The project was called GOD – “Giving Others Delight”. The 2nd graders have now adopted a family of four, a mother and three young children, to share the joys of Christmas with. They will be purchasing some articles of clothing and toys for the family. I’m extremely proud of not only our 2nd graders, but all our students for their willingness to help others.

The first Box Tops competition for the year just finished prior to the Thanksgiving break. The proceeds from the Box Tops go towards the transportation costs for our student field trips. Once again, our families have done a fantastic job! Over $669 was raised from the Box Tops. Once again, Mrs. Lawrence’s 4th grade class finished on top. The 2nd graders finished just behind the 4th graders. Each of our 4th graders was given a $10 Scrip card of their choice. All our students should be congratulated for a job well done. The next competition will begin on January 4th. Please start saving those Box Tops over the Christmas break.

Please save the date of Wednesday, December 16th. Our annual Christmas Concert will begin at 6pm sharp. This year, Cassie Buckley has added a play to the festivities. Three Camels is the story of the birth of Christ as seen through the eyes of the camels of the three kings. It should be entertaining as always. Don’t forget to bring your cameras. As an added bonus this year, Sarah Mahan will be displaying some samples of our children’s artwork in the cafeteria. After the concert, we invite everyone to join us in the cafeteria for the art display and refreshments.

Holy Family School has been awarded a technology mini-grant for an online newspaper with podcasted articles. We have received $2,420 to purchase the following:
Toolfactory Podcasting Site License: This allows students to create, record, and upload podcasts with “point-and-click” mouse skills. It also has a music and sound effects library, as well as including a subscription to Clip Art Station, a massive library of pictures and audio. This will enable students to incorporate music and sound effects into their podcasts to keep listeners intrigued.

Two Olympus Digital Voice Recorders which will provide over 1000 hours of recording with 4GB of internal memory and state of the art capabilities such as file move, file copy, sound editing and multi-format recording.

Two Olympus Microphones with Noise Cancellation which plug directly into the computer or digital voice recorder for uni-directional recording in high-noise environments.

Two Olympus FE-46 Digital Cameras with automatic focus and digital zoom.

Olympus Flip Video Ultra HD Series Camcorder with one touch recording and digital zoom. It can capture 120 minutes of HD video on its 8GB of built-in memory. No tapes or additional memory cards are required.

Two instructional books are also included as part of the package.

Kids’ Zone will be open on Wednesday, December 23rd and Monday through Thursday, December 28 – 30.

The Tri-Cities Opera Assembly is being rescheduled for after Christmas. The new date is Tuesday, January 19th at 9am.

Upcoming Events

Monday, Dec. 7 Make Up Photo Day 8:30am
Tuesday, Dec. 8 Mass: Immaculate Conception Holy Day 9am
4th Grade
Wednesday, Dec. 9 Commission Meeting 6pm
Wednesday, Dec. 9 PTO Meeting 7pm
Thursday, Dec. 10 Science Trip to Colgate Planetarium
Grades 3-7 8:15-11:30
Friday, Dec. 11 Grades 5-7
Wednesday, Dec. 16 Christmas Concert/Art Show 6pm
Friday, Dec. 18 Mass: Christmas Celebration 9am
3rd & 4th Grade
Dress Up Day for Students
Wednesday, Dec. 23 Last day of school: 10am dismissal


Gene