November 20, 2019

November 20 Christmas Shopping Pricing Night – 6:00 PM – Church Hall

November 21 Mass – 10:00 AM – 3M preparing

November 21 Parent Teacher Conferences – 4:00-8:00 PM

November 25 After Care in 1st Grade

November 25 Auction Committee Meeting – 7:00 PM – Margarita’s

November 26 Thanksgiving Prayer Service – 10:00 AM – 4D preparing

November 26 Crazy Sock Day

November 26 Cafeteria Day

November 27 – December 1 NO SCHOOL – Thanksgiving Break!

December 1 Hot Lunch ordering opens at Boonli.com

December 2 Mass – 9:15 AM – 3F preparing

December 3 Staff Meeting – 7:30 AM – 5M

December 3 Christmas Shopping Set-up – 6:00 PM – Church Hall

December 4 Drama Club Info Night – 6:00 PM – 1M

December 4-6 Christmas Shopping for Kids

December 9 Advent Penitential Service for students – 9:15 AM

December 9 STEM Meeting – 6:30 PM – School Library

December 10 PreK to Grade 2 Christmas Concert – 10:00 AM (Doors open at 9:30) – Church

December 15 Hot Lunch ordering closes at midnight

December 13 Christmas Tree Lighting – 6:00 PM – Front of school

December 16 Christmas Cookies for Parishes Due at 9:00 AM

December 17 Grades 3 to 6 Christmas Concert – 10:00 AM (Doors open at 9:30) – Church

December 18 Christmas Mass – 10:00 AM – 6W preparing

December 18 Paper Wednesday News

December 20 Christmas Free Dress

December 20 Cafeteria Day

December 23 – January 5 Christmas Break

   

NEW! Thank You – So many thank you’s to everyone who brought in items for St. Vincent dePaul’s Thanksgiving Baskets! The kitchen is FULL of wonderful food that will bring a smile to the needy of the parish and Nashua. The St. Vincent dePaul Society was so excited to see it all! We are so blessed to have a school community with such big hearts!

Current Family Registration for 2020-2021 School Year – Several weeks ago, Parents of children currently in grades Pre-K 3 to grade 1 were sent an email with a link to an abbreviated registration form for next year. The registration should take you less than a minute to complete online, simplifying the registration process and saving you valuable time!  

The registration link was sent to whomever is listed on the student online record as the “primary” contact. If you did not receive the email (a few technical glitches always happen!), or would like the email to go to someone else, please contact Marta at [email protected]. 

This 60 Second online registration must be completed and submitted by November 30, along with a $175 registration fee to be paid online at the time of registration. Please know that because we are at capacity in several grades and are also enrolling new students at this time, current students whose registrations are returned after November 30 will not be guaranteed a seat for next year.

Students currently in grades 2-5 will register in January unless a family wishes to register early. If you’d like to register your child in those grades now (and get it out of the way!), please send Jackie an email at [email protected]!

New Student Registrations for 2020-2021 OPEN!  Registrations are also now OPEN for new students in 2020-2021, from PreK 3 through grade 6. If you have a younger child who will be joining us next year, please visit the front page of the school website at www.StChrisSchoolNH and click the Apply Now button to get started! Please also pass the word to any new families who would like to join our school community in 2020-2021!

NEW! Drama Club Meeting – Students in grades 3-6 are invited to “Be Our Guest” in this year’s Drama production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr. on April 24 at 7:00 PM at Nashua Catholic! Students may be either actors or as members of the Stage Crew. An informational meeting for parents will be held Wednesday, December 4 at 6:00 PM in 1M.

THIS WEEK! Upcoming Mass – Our next school mass will take place Thursday, November 21 at 10:00 AM. 3M will be preparing the mass.

NEW! NEXT WEEK! After Care in 1st Grade Due to the parish Thanksgiving Basket program in the Church Hall, After Care will be held in 1st grade on Monday, November 25. Please go to the Before Care door on the Brookline St. side of the school to ring the bell and pick up your child.

UPDATED! Ski Club News -- Ski Club Registration extended to THIS FRIDAY 11/22!  Also, last call for bus riders - please email Tara if you have registered and need your child to ride the bus to/from Crotched Mountain.  Ski Club is open to skiers in Grades 3-6, runs for 5 weeks and will start-up on Friday, January 10th.  Please contact Tara Canaway at [email protected] if you are interested in joining and did not attend the info meeting last month.

To register, purchase your passes on the Crotched Mountain website.  Our club registration deadline is November 15th. An awesome benefit this year:  kids get season passes valid at all 7 Peak resorts with their ski club pass!!!

    • Go to https://www.crotchedmtn.com/voyager-program/
    • Scroll down, click the “BUY NOW” button.
    • At the VIP Login page, use the following user name and password to access St. Chris Ski Club:  User Name:  CMSTCHRSC  Password:  scscmember(case sensitive)
    • Click ‘See Available Items’, then ‘Friday Youth Cards’ for the 5-week program pass.  Youth Season passes are also available.  (Lessons will be listed as an optional add-on after you select the pass.)  Follow directions for checkout.
    • Important! If your child will need to ride the bus to Crotched please email [email protected]to reserve a seat.
    • If you have questions about which passes/options to purchase, please contact Tara.  If you have questions or issues with the website, please contact Amy Daniels at Crotched Mountain – 603.588.3668 ext 232.  Thanks!    

Recycling Effort – St. Chris would like to continue to help our environment by recycling our plastic waste! In order to do so, we need a volunteer who is can take the recyclables to the Nashua landfill 2-3 times per month. Please reach out to Mrs. Clarke at [email protected] if you can help! Thank you!

Annual Fund – The second of our three annual fundraisers, the Annual Fund, is underway! Each family should recently have received an Annual Fund letter asking for your support of this effort. All gifts to the Annual Fund stay here at St. Chris and go directly to benefit our students through advanced academics, updated technology and facilities, and exciting extracurricular activities. In addition, because the cost of educating our students exceeds our tuition, EVERY St. Christopher School student receives discounted tuition supported by our fundraising efforts.

Our goal for the Annual Fund is 100% participation from current families, faculty and staff, and School Board members, with $35,000 being our financial goal. So far, we have raised $14,000 towards that goal…thank you to all those who have donated so far! If you have not had the chance to donate yet, we ask you to support our mission to provide an excellent Catholic elementary education to all students by donating to the Annual Fund at the level your family is most comfortable. All donations, no matter the size, are MOST appreciated. To donate online, please click HERE.

Traveling Marian Statue – We have been blessed with a beautiful small statue of our Mother, Mary. This statue is meant to be a "traveling" icon, to be taken to different homes for family devotionals.  Please consider welcoming Mary into your home over the next few months as she is the source of many blessings! In addition to the statue, Mary comes with devotional prayers and rosaries for your family. To sign up, please click HERE.

Winter School Delays and Cancellations – Well, sad to say but winter is coming! It’s time for our annual Delays and Closings announcement! In the case of inclement weather, school cancellations or delays will be posted on the website, on our Facebook page, on radio station WZID 95.7 FM and also on TV channel 9 (WMUR). Parents will also receive text messages on their cell phones, voice messages on home phones, and emails through our Notify system. 

Please note that our Notify system is not foolproof….power and internet outages may interfere with delivery of the text messages, robocalls, and voice messages. We will post the information on the school website and Facebook, as well as contacting WMUR, as soon as we are able. Please also know that we do not post school delays or closings until we receive confirmation from the appropriate administrator in the Nashua public schools, which may delay notification in some cases. Thank you for your understanding!

St. Christopher School follows the Nashua Public School System for all cancellations and delayed openings. Therefore, delayed openings are 2 hours. When there is a delayed opening, there is no school for the AM Pre-K. Before Care will take place starting at 9:00 AM and morning enrichment activities will begin 2 hours later than normally scheduled. Please note that there will be NO Band or Fiddle Squad on delayed openings. Doors are open for regular drop-off at 10:30 AM and school starts at 10:50 AM for all grades Full Day PreKindergarten through 6. 

THIS WEEK! Parent Teacher Conferences – Just a reminder that Parent Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Thursday, November 21 from 4:00-8:00 PM.

Thanksgiving Break – Don’t forget, our Thanksgiving vacation will run from Wednesday, November 26 through Sunday, December 1. 

NEW! Time for Kids Cyber Issue It’s a crazy digital world out there! Students in 6th grade received a wonderful outline on how to be cybersafe as part of their Time for Kids subscription last week….and we thought it was valuable information for ALL of our parents and students! Please take a moment to check it out HERE.

Follow Us! – Are you on Instagram or Facebook? So are we! Help us spread the word about our fabulous school by liking us and commenting on our posts. Your interaction with our posts increases our exposure to others on those platforms and helps us reach new friends and potential families. Check us out at https://www.facebook.com/St.ChrisSchoolNH on Facebook and https://www.instagram.com/stchrisschoolnh/  on Instagram!

NEW Hot Lunch Ordering Don’t forget! Ordering for January’s Hot Lunch will open while we are on Thanksgiving Break!  Ordering will open on Sunday, December 1 and run through midnight on the 15th. Please be sure to order as soon as possible, just in case of technical difficulty! As usual, we cannot accept orders past midnight on the 15th. 

NEXT WEEK! Crazy Sock Day and Thanksgiving Prayer Service – November 26 will be a busy day around school! Students can wear their craziest socks with their uniforms on the 26thplus we will have our Thanksgiving Prayer Service (prepared by 4D) at 10:00 AM. Please note: Although it’s during the winter uniform schedule, boys MAY wear shorts on November 26 IF they are wearing crazy socks!

NEW! Parish Appreciation Christmas Cookies – ‘Tis the season of giving! Please help us share our Christmas joy with the pastors and parish staffs of our Deanery! Bake your favorite Christmas goodies and deliver them to the front desk on Monday, December 16 at 9:00 AM. We will use everyone's delicious treats to create giving plates of cookies and candies for delivery to each of the 11 parishes in our Deanery in appreciation of their support of Catholic schools. Please sign up using the SignUp Genius HERE and thank you for your contribution to this wonderful project!

Mark Your Christmas Calendar – We are quickly coming up on the busy holiday months, so we thought everyone might appreciate a heads-up on our upcoming Christmas events:

Christmas Shopping for Kids – This event is ALWAYS one of the students’ favorite events of the year! It will take place on December 4 through 6 in the Church Hall. Each class will visit the “store” and shop for gifts for family and friends! Each item is $6 or under and will be wrapped before the kids leave the event. Many, many volunteer elves will be needed! More information is included in this week’s paper News!

TONIGHT! HO-HO-HO! Christmas Shopping Pricing Night -- Calling all elves! On Wednesday, November 20 at 6:00 PM, we need helpers to sort and price our Christmas Shopping goodies in the Church Hall! We have boxes and boxes and boxes of great items for the shopping event, but we need to organize ourselves so that set-up the night before the event is speedy and efficient! Please send a quick email to Marta at [email protected] if you are able to help out!

Christmas Tree Lighting – Join us for our 6th Annual Christmas Tree Lighting on December 13! This year’s festivities will include hot chocolate, treats, caroling, and the lighting of the fabulous St. Chris Christmas tree in the front of the school. (Please note, due to scheduling conflicts, we will not be holding the pre-lighting event in the church hall.) Coordinated by the Parent Group, this wonderful event is a meaningful way to celebrate the holidays with your St. Chris family! An invitation is included in this week’s paper News!

Christmas Concerts –Here’s another festive way to get into the holiday spirit! Our students are busy preparing two wonderful daytime Christmas concerts. The schedule is:

    • Christmas Concert for grades PreK-2 – December 10 at 10:00 AM in the Church
    • Christmas Concert for grades 3-6 – December 17 at 10:00 AM in the Church

Christmas Free Dress – Students will get into the holiday mood by wearing their favorite red, green and white on December 20! Santa hats, jingle bells, flashing necklaces, and other Christmas accessories are welcome and encouraged!

Christmas Mass – Celebrate the real reason for the season – the birth of baby Jesus! December 18 at 10:00 AM in the Church. 6W will be preparing.

Auction Request – It’s never too early to start thinking ahead to our exciting Auction! This year’s event, “In the Winners Circle with St. Chris,” will have a Kentucky Derby theme and will take place on March 21, 2020. (Be sure to book that babysitter now!) We love to have our families and local and national businesses participate in the Auction through item donations, program advertisements, and sponsorships. Donate an item, get together with another family or two to put together a basket, chat with your boss, ask your barber, talk with your dry cleaner, reach out to your dog groomer….all are invited to participate! If you need more printed flyers, please shoot Marta an email at [email protected]! 

Auction Website is Live! This year’s Auction website is now live! The website can be used to purchase tickets, make donations, purchase sponsorships and advertising, and more! Check it out at https://stchrisschoolnh.ejoinme.org/Auction2020.

NEW! Sponsors: Thank you so much to Franklyn Liberatore DMD, our first Auction sponsor of the year!

NEW! Auction Committee Meeting The Auction Committee will be meeting on Monday, November 25 at 7:00 PM at Margarita’s. Please join us!

NEW! STEM Meeting – Our super duper STEM Committee will be meeting on Monday, December 9 at 6:30 PM in the library. We are looking for parents in STEM professions who have ideas on how to share STEM knowledge and experiences with our students. Please join us…we would appreciate your insight!

AmazonSmile for Christmas – Who is thinking ahead to Christmas shopping already? If you are like most parents, at least one of the gifts you purchase this holiday season will arrive in an Amazon box….so don’t forget to use the school’s AmazonSmile program! AmazonSmile doesn’t cost you a penny extra, but St. Chris receives money from each purchase. The shopping interface is identical to the regular Amazon (with the exception of the AmazonSmile logo!) and the selection is exactly the same also. To start supporting St. Chris through AmazonSmile, visit https://tinyurl.com/StChristopherAmazon.

And SCRIP for Christmas, too! – Did you know that you can purchase gift cards to most popular retailers and restaurants quickly and easily online through the Shop with Scrip Program…AND benefit St. Chris at the same time? Visit https://shop.shopwithscrip.com/Login/Enroll, create an account using our school code 751C7D6L13155, order gift cards from a long list of retailers and restaurants and the gift cards will be shipped directly to the school. You’ll usually receive your gift cards in under a week, and the school receives anywhere from 1.25% to 14% of your gift card purchase! Christmas is a perfect time to give the program a try, with gift card options like Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks, Target, and Barnes and Noble!  

Nashua Catholic Jr High Applications – Nashua Catholic has moved to an online application process! Parents of 6th grade students should visit the Nashua Catholic Jr. High School website at www.ncrjhs.org to start the application process for the 2020-2021 school year.

NEW! Gate City Nutcracker - A number of our current students, two alumni, and one parent (!) will be performing in this year's rendition of Gate City Ballet's Nutcracker on Sunday, December 14 at 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM. The performance will be held at Stockbridge Theater at Pinkerton Academy. For more information, see the promotional poster HERE!

Hot Lunch Schedules – Thank you to everyone who stepped up to volunteer for the Hot Lunch program! Your help is MUCH appreciated. Volunteers for the next week are below:

Thursday, November 21

Diana Morel

Tara Stolz

 

Friday, November 22

Stacy Cardinale

Liza Tirado Calzada

Karla Hall

 

Monday, November 25

Marilyn Hogan

Lisa O’Connor

Carol Cyran

Diane London

 

Tuesday, November 26

Karla Chamoun

Staci Felder

Annette Cameron

 

Monday, December 2

Melissa Francoeur

Tara Canaway

Katie Osborn

 

Tuesday, December 3

Emily Uong

Julie Maher

 

Wednesday, December 4

Andrea and Jeff Rugg

Sara Thomas

Erin Sarette