Living, Loving, and Learning Our Faith

May 22: Feast Day of St. Rita
May 26: School Celebration of St. Rita. (details forthcoming)
May 26: Spring Musical/Talent Show is now scheduled for June 2 due to celebration of St. Rita (6:30pm)
May 27: STAR Assessment ends
May 30: Memorial Day-No School
May 31: F&P Running Records Due
June 5: Physical Education Field Day

From the Desk of Dr. Sue!

Greetings,

We are so excited to feel Spring is in the air...despite the snow falling this past Thursday...ummm. The students are really working hard on the Wisconsin State Exam, known as the Forward Exam. We appreciate that they are taking the exams seriously and committed to showing us how much they have learned. This test demonstrates how much they have learned and retained. We also know it is hard for many; who does not have test anxieties.

Congratulations to all of our students who competed in Siena's Spelling Bee on Thursday, March 24. I applaud each student for their confidence in standing before a large crowd and presenting St. Rita's in an outstanding manner--A truly Royal. Abigail E. and Olivia L win 2nd and 3rd respectively

Join us tomorrow, March 26 at 2:15PM for another round of great basketball. St. Rita's boys basketball team has made it to the final round. See further down in this newsletter for more details. Come on come all!

Friday, March 25, all Siena staff participated in a Standards Based Grading professional learning around scoring based on current student work. Staff utilized the SBG proficiency levels to review and reflect and apply a proficiency level. The goal of this type of assessment for student in grades 1-8 is to ensure mastery of their learning each standard.

Gospel Verse, Jn 1:14ab:

The Word of God became flesh and made his dwelling among us; and we saw his glory. During Lent, we solemnly keep a feast day in honor of the Annunciation. The Annunciation is a mystery that belongs to the temporal rather than to the sanctoral cycle in the Church's calendar. For the feast commemorates the most sublime moment in the history of time, the moment when the Second Divine Person of the most Holy Trinity assumed human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Thus it is a feast of our Lord, even as it is of Mary, although the liturgy centers wholly around the Mother of God. —The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

Please take time to review the calendar as we had to adjust our Spring Musical Performance due to our school wide celebration of St. Rita's Feast Day.

We truly love the unique gifts your child(ren) bring to us. They are a blessing.

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.

STATE REQUIRED

FORWARD EXAM UPDATE

We are very pleased with the students concentration and committed to the exams.

Just a quick reminder, please no scheduled appointments during the testing windows; if these can be avoided.

Student make up dates will be provided for your child if they missed any tests.

These exams are for grades 3-8 respectively.

Below you will find the schedule for the Forward Exam.

Yearbook Sale: ONLINE ONLY

Order your yearbook today at https://ybpay.lifetouch.com/

Yearbook ID Code: 2270722

Middle School ELA with Ms. Thomas

Middle School ELA classes have been working hard. We’ve definitely been taking advantage of the nicer weather and reading or taking a five minute break outside.

Sixth grade is finishing up their book, The Boy Who Harnessed, and started researching innovators in science. We are just finishing up research papers about any topic we choose. Next up will be literature circles.

Seventh grade has been reading poems and stories from the Harlem Renaissance and writing literary essays. Seventh grade is just finishing up research papers as well. We will be starting literature circles next.

Eighth grade is working on reading To Kill a Mockingbird. They have been discussing how and why people take a stand. They will be starting literary essays soon. Eighth grade is finishing up research papers, and will begin literature circles next.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Hello St. Rita families!

We have been staying very busy and active in class! We recently completed our volleyball units with 4th through 8th grade. We had a lot of fun learning the basic rules of volleyball and working on the fundamentals of setting, bumping and serving while putting them to use in games.

We also played some special St. Patrick’s Day exercise games with K-3 through 3rd grade. We learned that catching a leprechaun is not easy! If we guessed right where the leprechaun was hiding we got to dance with a leprechaun. If we guessed wrong we had to do a special exercise!

Enjoy the rest of March!

Mr. Schwaiger

Thursday Mass & Altar Servers

Seventh grade led this week's Mass. Altar Servers were Ethan N. and Ella P.

8th Grade Basketball Padre Tournament-Join Us!

We are so proud of the team! We wish them well on their next game scheduled for Saturday, March 26.

Game time is 2:15PM.

Please join us to cheer them on to the final round-Sunday, 4:30PM.

All games are at St. Thomas More High School.

Boys Basketball-Thursday Night Game

Tomorrow's game will be will be held at :

St. Thomas More High School

2601 E Morgan Ave

Milwaukee, WI 53207

At 2:15pm

IF THEY WIN they will play Sunday, March 27 at 4:30PM.

The Sunday game is the Championship game.

Stations of the Cross

St. Rita's students have been engaging in the Stations of Cross for Lent. We started this devotion week one. On Monday's each class rotates through the church and the stations are led by students. For those that may not know,

the Stations of the Cross are a 14-step Catholic devotion that commemorates Jesus Christ's last day on Earth as a man. The 14 devotions, or stations, focus on specific events of His last day, beginning with His condemnation. The stations are commonly used as a mini pilgrimage as the individual moves from station to station. At each station, the individual recalls and meditates on a specific event from Christ's last day. Specific prayers are recited, then the individual moves to the next station until all 14 are complete.The stations are most commonly prayed during Lent on Wednesdays and Fridays, and especially on Good Friday, the day of the year upon which the events actually occurred.

COVID-19 Testing at St. Catherine's High School

Siena Catholic Schools has maintained a focus on safety throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As an organization, Siena continues to find ways to support our students, staff, and family as the pandemic progresses. Testing has become a key resource to monitoring the spread of COVID and identifying proper quarantine timelines for students, staff, and family members.

Siena is happy to announce that we will be providing onsite testing for our students, staff, and family members. This service will be available from 7:30 a.m. until 3:15 p.m., Monday through Friday. We have designated a testing location at St. Catherine's High School (1200 Park Ave., Racine, WI 53403, Door 9) which is located on the west side of the building with parking on Villa Street.

Here is what you need to know:

Testing is free: you will not be asked to provide any insurance or payment information.
Testing is walk-in, but it is recommended that you pre-register for your appointment. The attached document is the same process for registering, just select the school where you work.
Paper registration forms will also be available for walk-ins.
Parents should complete registration forms prior to their students arriving for a test and accompany their students for testing.
Antigen tests will be used when available, but PCR tests may also be used with results arriving in 24-48 hours of testing.

Below you will find a link for Instruction on how to pre-register. By pre-registering prior to testing the process will run more smoothly, will cover consent for testing, and the patient will receive an email notification once the result is available in their patient profile.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aNYoowlYuPb8opDnckQXII3ZToRA9TKd/view?usp=sharing

We are excited to continue to support our system through this next stage of the pandemic.

SCRIP

While we cannot have SCRIP in person like we used to, we CAN participate in SCRIP online with E-gift card delivery, which is instant and completely contact-free.

You can ONLY purchase E-gift cards (there are over 750 vendors to choose from, including Amazon, Target, Kohls, Home Depot, Walmart, Starbucks, etc.!)
A percentage of that purchase (2-17%) "gives back" as a rebate:
- 50% of the rebate goes toward your family's tuition bill, student activity fees, spirit wear or a check at the end of the school year
- 50% of the rebate directly supports St. Rita’s.

Click on the link to Learn more : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UAVWKOFQDJwnlFhUO_3CJ3Z7OUaaGPS8/view?usp=sharing

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.