January Newsletter

Third Grade Class Prayer
Dear God, Please wrap your arms around the sick and the poor, especially those in our Parish.  We ask that you put an end to this virus and that life can go back to normal.  Thank you for our food, family, friends and St. Francis School.  We praise you God, for your goodness. Amen
PRAYER PARTNERS:  Please join us as we lift up Mrs.Kulow and our third Grade students in prayer during the month of January.  Levi Acker, June Feuerhelm, Holt Jacobson, Ben Johnson, Walker Loberg, Markus Lorentz, Anna Puhrmann,  Aaron Riester, Lane Rohl, and Grace Turvaville.
Don’t worry about anything: instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Philippians 4:6
During the month of February, we will be lifting up Mrs. Koch and our Second Grade students in prayer.
                   FOLLOWING IN JESUS’ FOOTSTEPS 
VIRTUE AWARDS FOR BEING CONTENT:                                                                        
Content – You are not greedy or always wanting things

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Easton Rohl, Adeline Dopp, Aaron Riester, Taelyn Hines, Evie Peterson, Regan Nelson
AWARDS FOR BEING OBEDIENT:
Obedient – Doing what you are told and doing it right away

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow his commands given today, The Lord your God will set you high above the nations on Earth.  Deuteronomy 28:1

Ruby Feuerhelm, Ryland Hines, Amelia Dopp

4YK – CAUGHT SHOWING CHARACTER:
Content - Rylan Morud
Obedient - Boyer Rohl
Thank you to all of you who have helped us stay open and able to be together as our St. Francis School family should be.  Your care, caution and compassion have kept us healthy and together.  No matter what your personal opinion about Covid 19 may be, you’ve all graciously accepted the ever changing rules of health and safety and kept St. Francis students learning together.  For this we will be forever grateful.  
Wishing all of you a safe, healthy and happy Holiday Season.  May the love of our Savior shine upon you and your loved ones this Christmas.​

CHRISTMAS PROGRAM: Many thanks to Mrs. Penton and our students who performed a beautiful Christmas program called The Last Noel. On December 9th and 10th, the program was recorded and the link will be sent to you on December 21st for your viewing enjoyment.  
We will also have DVD’s available for sale:
Christmas Program DVD copies are $15 each and Blu-ray copies will be $20 each.
Christmas + Spring Programs DVD $25 and both on Blu-ray will be $35
Order forms are included in your monthly envelope.  Please return by Wednesday, January 27th.
 
KC CHRISTMAS POSTER WINNERS:  Congratulations to these students whose entries won top prizes in the Knights of Columbus Christmas Poster Contest.  The posters of the first place winners in grades 1-4 are eligible for the diocesan level of the contest, and will be sent to La Crosse.
 
ALL SCHOOL PAJAMA DAY - TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22:  Our all school pajama day is tomorrow, December 22. 
 
REMINDER: NO BUSES JANUARY 8: The public school will again be giving their teachers an extra inservice day without students.  St Francis IS NOT taking this day off.  We will be counting this Friday, in our attendance. 4YK and Preschool WILL be in session.  Eagles Nest Before School Care and Wrap Around Care WILL be available. Unfortunately, there will be NO BUSES running this day.  You will need to provide transportation for your child or set up a virtual day with your child’s classroom teacher. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you.  Going forward into 2021, the school district WILL transport our children (after Jan 8) even when EES is not in session. This service is ONLY provided to students who have used bus transportation on a regular basis this year. Thanks for your patience with this schedule change.
 
POTENTIAL INCOMING 4YK STUDENTS AND REGISTRATION FOR NEXT YEAR:  We will begin our registration process for next year in early January with a mailing to potential 4YK students.  If you have a child who will be 4 years of age by September 1, 2021, and would like to receive registration materials for St. Francis School, please send me your child’s name and birth date as soon as possible.  If you know of a family in our area who might like to receive registration information for any grade, please send me or call me with the contact information.  Registration materials will be sent home with our current students and to potential 4YK students in January.  Thank you for your help in spreading the good news about our school!
 
REGISTRATION UPDATE FOR NEXT YEAR:  Registration forms for our present students will be sent home after the parish finance committee meeting.
 
FIFTH GRADE THANK YOU!:  The 5th grade class at St. Francis School has spent the Fall learning about the challenges many people face trying to earn enough money to feed their families.  After learning how many of our friends and neighbors the Ellsworth Food Pantry helps each month, the students decided to have a Holiday Food Drive to benefit this program.  On December 11th, our fifth grade students, along with Mrs. Swanson and several wonderful parents and older siblings, delivered 360 pounds of food and $562.77 to the Food Pantry.  We could not have done this without your generosity!  You’ve made a huge difference in the lives of so many this Holiday Season!
 
RECORDERS - GRADE 4:  As part of our fourth grade music curriculum, students will study the recorder.  Each fourth grade student will need to have a recorder and a “Methods” book.  Additional information and an order form is included in the monthly envelope for fourth grade families.  This is part of the 4th grade Music curriculum and students will be learning the fingering, but not blowing into their instruments until this kind of activity is cleared during the pandemic. 
The order form is included in this white envelope and should be returned no later than Wednesday, January 6.

CHRISTMAS VACATION:  Christmas vacation will start on Wednesday, December 23.  Classes will resume on Monday, January 4.

SCHOOL COLORS DAY - FRIDAY, JANUARY 8:  Students are encouraged to dress in school colors, blue and white, January 8.  Show your school pride!

END OF SECOND QUARTER - THURSDAY, JANUARY 14: The second quarter ends on Thursday, Jan. 14.

VIRTUAL PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES – FRIDAY, JANUARY 15 (NO SCHOOL): Parent-teacher conferences are not mandatory and are requested by a teacher or parent. Teacher requests will be sent out closer to the date.  Information for parents that wish to request a conference will be sent out about Christmas break. Please remember that you can view your child’s grades (Grades 3-5) in our JMC program.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK - JANUARY 31 - FEBRUARY 6:  We will join in the National observance of Catholic Schools Week. While we usually kick off this week with a special Mass and Open House, those events aren’t in the cards during this year of Covid 19.  We will have a wonderful, Covidly responsible, Catholic Schools’ Week celebration at school with many fun activities February 1 - 5.

TUITION STATEMENTS: Please contact the school office if you need a copy of your tuition statement.  Parents have mentioned having trouble printing statements from JMC.
 
WI TAX SCHEDULE PS - PRIVATE SCHOOL TUITION:  WI tax Schedule PS is used to claim the subtraction for tuition paid for your dependent child to attend a private school.  The subtraction is available for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014.  The form requires the name, address, and federal employer identification number (FEIN) of the private school where your child was enrolled during 2020.  For St. Francis students, you will need to use:  St. Francis of Assisi Parish, 264 S. Grant Street, P.O. Box 839, Ellsworth, WI 54011.   Reminder: In order to claim tuition expenses on your 2020 tax return, payments must be received by the parish no later than December 31, 2020.
 
SCHOLASTIC VIRTUAL BOOK FAIR  FEBRUARY 19 - MARCH 5:  Our book fair will be virtual and will be a little later this year.  Please watch for more information in the February newsletter.

HISTORY IS ALIVE:  Once again, our 5th grade students will present their historical biography research projects during Catholic Schools Week.  During these presentations our students “become” George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and many more! Because there is no Catholic Schools Week Open House, we hope to stream these presentations to their families. Through their hard work and creativity, history truly is “ALIVE”!

FIRST COMMUNION PARENT MEETING - MARCH 3: First Communion Parent Meeting will be Wednesday, March 3, 2021 from 5:45 to 6:45 pm in the St. Francis Church.  This meeting is for parents only, whose children will be making their First Communion on April 11, 2021. 

NO SCHOOL - MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15:  Students will not have class on Monday, February 15.  This is a district-wide in-service day.

HOME AND SCHOOL ASSOCIATION NEWS
 
Thank you to all who attended our H and S Meeting through Google Meet last week! We had a fabulous turnout. The minutes are included in today's white envelope. The next Home and School Meeting will be Thursday, February 4th at 7p.m. We will evaluate the situation closer to that time to determine if we will do an 
in-person or virtual meeting.
 
We would like to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who was able to give on Giving Tuesday! Due to all the donations and continued support we are able to purchase the three new color printers we very much needed along with a start towards new text books. We appreciate everyone's support and can't thank you enough! 
 
HOME & SCHOOL MEETING - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4: Our next Home and School meeting will be Thursday, February 4 at 7pm. All are welcome! 
 
 
HAVE A SPORTING GOOD TIME CARNIVAL UPDATE: Hello families!  YOU SHOULD HAVE TICKETS IN YOUR HANDS!!  Feels pretty good, right??  Get them into someone else's hands too!  :)  We are asking all St. Francis families to sell 2 Grand Raffle tickets and 5 booklets of traditional raffle tickets.  The Virtual event will take place the week of February 1, 2021.  There will be a schedule of events to come out in January.  We will have fun things going on at the school, a community medallion hunt and a silent auction.  We are also working on pairing with local restaurants so that you can purchase supper from them and they will donate a part of their proceeds to St. Francis.  Classroom basket signs ups are out!!  If you haven't signed up please do so to donate an item(s) on the list. You can drop these off at the school as soon as possible.  We'd like to have all items by January 15th.
Thanks, Carnival Committee
 
CHURCH/COMMUNITY NEWS
 
RECONCILIATION: This year there will not be an "in person" parent meeting for those parents with children in 2nd grade who will be receiving their First Reconciliation. As soon as plans are made for a different kind of presentation regarding this Sacrament we will let you know.  First Reconciliation is scheduled for Thursday, January 14, 2021. 
 
DATES TO REMEMBER: 
Dec. 23 - Jan. 1 - Christmas Vacation
Dec. 25 - Merry Christmas!
Jan. 4 - Classes Resume
Jan. 4 - Home and School Meeting
Jan. 6 - Recorder Order Form and Money due (Grade 4)
Jan. 14 - End of Second Quarter
Jan. 14 - 2nd Grade First Reconciliation
Jan. 15 - Teacher In-Service/ Parent-Teacher Conferences (No School)
Jan. 18 - Beginning of 3rd Quarter
Jan. 27 - DVD Orders Due
Jan. 31 - Feb. 6 - Catholic Schools Week and St Francis School Carnival activities
Mar.  3 -  First Communion Parent Meeting

Please call or email if you have questions: 715-273-4391   
Kathy Swanson - Lead Teacher kswanson@stfrancisellsworth.org

God Bless All of you this Holiday Season!