Living, Loving, and Learning Our Faith

It is very hard to believe we are now in the last month of the year, and we opened our doors only four short months ago. So many exciting events and new learning have taken place since August that I would need several pages to capture all that has happened. I hope you have been able to experience some of our learnings via our newsletters, Class DOJO, emails, FB , Siena Community Newsletters and videos posted.

I have truly enjoyed getting into the holiday spirit with all the students and staff. The true meaning of Christmas is in everyone’s heart. And, as I write this message, the students are singing “Silent Night” with Mr. Scaffidi--just so beautiful to think about the excitement and birth of our Lord.

We have only two days of learning and fun next week before the Christmas Break which starts on Dec. 22. All of our families, our Royal Parent Student Association (RPSA) have made a huge difference in providing an additional layer of support and care. We are forever grateful for the many, many (did I mention many) contributions. It does take a community to embrace the quality educational environment needed and St. Rita’s is by far the BEST!

In our last several newsletters, I mentioned the community outreach initiatives that our students and families supported. This season is about kindness, joy and giving to those in need. And, that we did with your support. Thank you for your generosity.

We are excited to post our Christmas videos on Monday. In order to see the videos, please check out St. Rita's FB page. Love to have your "LIKE/LOVE" our page.

Once we wrap up this month, we will be embarking into a new semester. On January 19, the second quarter ends. On January 20, the new quarter begins! We have a lot to be thankful for and seeing each child grow in their learning has been a tremendous gift thus far. I am looking forward to 2022.

We are fortunate and should remind ourselves of the hard work that you as parents/guardians and we as a school community are doing for all our students. They deserve our best and we are striving to provide that for them; even amidst these most challenging times we are in. We will continue to work hard and wrap up the first half of the year on a good note!

Our time away from school should include recreational activities, spending time with our families, friends and hopefully some snow so we can hit the sledding hills, build snow forts, go ice skating and maybe even an old fashioned snowball fight. And, somewhere in between, a good cozy nap!

I wish each one of you a beautiful Christmas Season and a very Happy New Year! May this new year bring love, peace, joy and happiness.

Blessings,

Dr. Sue

St. Rita's Mission

Living Loving and Learning Our Faith: Living as members of our Catholic Faith Community; Loving God and all of His creation; Learning for our future on Earth and Heaven.

Due to the short learning week, no newsletter next week.

LAST TWO DAYS!

LAST TWO OOU DAYS!

Monday December 20

"Silent Night" Prepare for a perfect break in your comfiest pajamas; prefer Christmas PJ's but others are accepted and please make sure all body parts are covered.

Tuesday, December 21

"Jingle Bells " Show off your best Holiday BLING Wear festive hats, headbands, antlers, etc. and casual clothing.

Middle School: Science and Math come together in GRAPHING.

Goal: To learn the skill of graphing

2nd Goal: To have lots of fun doing it!

Our 6 - 8th grades are learning the valuable skill of creating and reading graphs. But we need data in order to have a graph, so we are creating fun ways to get data!

Students tested their dominant hands and non- dominant hands at catching rulers and running obstacle courses to get data for graphing.

Our math classes are working hard on PEMDAS, percentage equations, and graphing

equations. Looking forward to specific topics in Earth Science and Physical Science where math and science can come together again after break. Stay tuned!!

Out of Uniform Days

Hello St. Rita families!

Middle school has been staying very active in class playing a game called Spike-ball! It is a great game that incorporates passing, spiking, serving, hand-eye coordination and teamwork. It is played with a rubber ball slightly bigger than a baseball and a circular taut net placed on the floor.

The elementary and primary grades also participated in Spike-ball action using modified equipment and rules!

Students will finish the month of December playing some holiday themed games which will include reindeer racing!

Have a Merry Christmas!!

Mr. Schwaiger

Gifts for St. Monica’s Nursing and Assisted Living Facility

We are so proud of our 3K and 4K students and staff. As a team they exceeded the number one of socks needed! We cannot thank all of the community support. Many warm toes this winter.

Grades 5 and 6 made over 200 Christmas Cards with a joyous personal message inside. And their thoughtful messages will bring warm greetings to warm their hearts!

Altar Servers

We continue to be so very proud of our students who serve during weekly Mass. This week our servers were Sophia L. and Ella P. It is very special when one can serve at Mass. It brings each student closer to God and lays a foundation for their Catholic Faith. If you would like your child to be trained, please reach out to kdahlgren@sienacatholicshools.org

*Must be a practicing Catholic and have received Holy Communion

Siena Catholic Schools: Inclement Weather Policy

As we approach winter, we wanted to remind you of our procedure for closing schools due to inclement weather. Siena Catholic Schools of Racine follows the decision of RUSD with regard to weather-related closings, delays, and cancellations. When school is canceled, all scheduled athletics/activities and before/after school care are also canceled. All families will receive an email, phone call, and a text message announcing the closing; these announcements will also be posted on all school facebook pages. Depending on the forecast, decisions about closures may be made as early as the afternoon before or as late as the morning of. Please monitor local television/radio/news sites for any announcements.

As far as instruction goes on any snow days, students in grades 3K-8 will have true snow days. While teachers or principals may have a fun activity planned that students can participate in from home, there will be no instruction. Students at St. Catherine’s High School will have one snow day. Should the weather cause school to close more than once, high school students, faculty, and staff will switch to virtual learning. This is due to the hours of instruction required by the State of Wisconsin.

What doe this mean for St. Rita's?

For St. Rita's, no one with the possible exception of maintenance is expected to report to work. Staff will receive an all users communication from Siena/Ms. Kimberly Gardner.

Handbook Language we will follow:

The school will be closed including CARES supervision, on days when Racine Unified School District is closed. Closings are announced over local radio (WISN 1130, WTMJ 620 / 94.5, WRJN 1400), television (FOX 6, TMJ4, CBS58, WISN 12), and their media websites. Parents/Guardians will not hear our school name announced on public media unless there are specific circumstances affecting only our school or only all Catholic schools.

School closings will be announced in the media as Siena Catholic Schools of Racine. Staff will receive an email from Ms. Kimberly Gardner. Rarely used, but if a delayed start is announced for Racine Unified School District, St. Rita will follow the same schedule and delay the start to the day.

Parents may use their own discretion to decide whether to keep their children at home for safety if at anytime a closure is not called and school is in session but believe it is too dangerous or hard to get to school due to the weather circumstances. This absences will be recorded as an excused absence.

PARENTS-It is important to ensure that we have your correct email and cell phone in our system for weather alerts. Please log in to your PowerSchool account and verify.

Children’s Liturgy and Family Resources

Today we read that God had faith in people and places that the world discounted. In the first reading, we heard that a great ruler would come from Bethlehem, which was considered least among the clans of Judah. The Gospel reading told of Mary, a poor, young girl from a rural village in an occupied country, who was to be the mother of Jesus. She visited her cousin Elizabeth, who exclaimed “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Luke 1:45 The support of family can be so wonderful during big life events, especially when the odds are stacked against us. Mary had faith and went about doing the work that God had given her. May we be open to God’s plan in our lives.

Bringing the Gospel home:

*Does your family know an expectant mother? In honor of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, think of something your family could do to help with the preparations for the baby. Could you send a card of encouragement, make a meal for the family, put together a basket of needed baby items or create something by hand such as a baby blanket?

*In this last week of Advent, choose one special way your family can keep the focus on Jesus...add a special prayer time, learn a new prayer, contribute to a local charity or help with a service project.

*Video about The Visitation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tmkp1zPnfw

*Read The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado https://maxlucado.com/watch/the-crippled-lamb/

Need your child during the school day? Picking up for appointments and emergencies or when sick?

Please remember to call Ms. Lopez in the main office at 262-639-3333. We handle all student departures during the school day. THANK YOU!

How to Keep you Chromebook Healthy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H8jGt__rtc

Facebook

Be sure to check out our Facebook page and all the great videos we post! We need you to "LIKE" us!

https://www.facebook.com/stritaschoolracine

K3 and K4 Early Bird Registration

Siena Catholic Schools K3 and K4 Early Bird Registration Begins October 1, 2021! Click this form to request information about the enrollment process:

https://forms.gle/Bqy6e32D2VTnSzGTA

For more information, contact the Siena Admissions Office at (262) 812-0155

Catholic Social Responsibility Guidebook

Please see the newly released Catholic Social Responsibility Guidebook from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee under the direction of Dr. Kathleen Cepelka. It is available at https://www.archmil.org/Education/Catholic-Social-Responsibility.htm.

COVID NOTICE

Hello Siena families,

As we committed to do throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have needed to respond to the changing needs of our students, families, and staff and want to ensure the safety and health of all. Our leadership team recently met in order to reassess Siena’s COVID communication procedures to ensure that families are well informed.

In addition to communicating directly with families who experience a positive case and those who are considered close contacts, a letter will now be shared with the entire school community when we are made aware of a positive case in our building. We hope that this additional layer of information, along with our COVID dashboard, will help families keep a closer eye on any symptoms your child(ren) might be experiencing.

Please regularly monitor your children for COVID symptoms, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell, fatigue, headaches, diarrhea, etc. If anyone becomes symptomatic, please keep them home and call your healthcare provider to inquire about testing.

Thank you for your partnership in keeping our school communities safe!

Sincerely,

Kimberly Gardner

Chief Advancement Officer

Siena Catholic Schools of Racine

COVID REMINDERS

We do want to ensure that each child that comes to school is healthy and ready to learn.

Please review the following:

If a vaccinated person is a close contact of a positive individual, they do not have to quarantine UNLESS they have symptoms.
Masked individuals who are close contacts of a positive individual who was also masked during interactions will not have to quarantine per the CDC.
Quarantined individuals will be able to get tested six (6) days after exposure and will be allowed to return seven days after exposure with a negative test UNLESS the County Health Department shares something different with the family.
Students who TEST POSITIVE or who are considered close contacts will receive a letter from the school.
Siena Catholic Schools also has a dashboard updated weekly showing where numbers are by school.
IF your child is in quarantine and/or positive, please work with your child's teacher regarding classwork.

Inclement weather on school days

In rainy or subzero weather, students need appropriate outerwear. Students are outdoors several times a day. A hooded sweatshirt for example is not as adequate as a winter jacket. If the outdoor temperature is 10 degrees or below, wind chill factor of “zero” degrees or below, hard rain or blizzard like conditions, recess is most likely to be indoors. The decision is up to the Principal and at times in collaboration with supervisory staff. While outside, if any playground supervisor determines that the weather is too severe for outdoor recess (as our weather changes often), the outdoor supervisor is authorized to bring the students inside.