Crusader Chronicle

This week is National Vocations Awareness Week. During this coming week, we especially focus on praying for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, that more men and women in our world will open their hearts to discern if God is calling them, in a particular way, to live their call to holiness by serving the Church as priests, nuns, religious brothers, or permanent deacons.

We pray this week for new vocations to the priesthood and religious life, but we also pray that God continues to sustain the vocations of all the bishops, priests, deacons, nuns, religious brothers, seminarians, and religious novices in our lives. We pray for those who taught us, for those who baptized and confirmed us, for those who work in our parishes or dioceses, for those in our families, and for those who have given us good examples of how to live our own vocations as husbands, wives, and parents. As we pray, let us remember the example given to us by those who live the life of religious vocations, as they live the words of today's Gospel - "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength."

Father in heaven,

may the faith you have given us

in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,

and the flame of charity enkindled

in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,

reawaken in us the blessed hope

for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us

into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.

May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos

in the sure expectation

of a new heaven and a new earth,

when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,

your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee

reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,

a yearning for the treasures of heaven.

May that same grace spread

the joy and peace of our Redeemer

throughout the earth.

To you our God, eternally blessed,

be glory and praise for ever.

Amen.

Through this Tuesday, November 5, our 6th Graders are accepting donations of leftover Halloween candy. On Monday or Tuesday of this week, please send your leftover candy with your child; students can bring candy to the 6th Grade homeroom. All candy will donated to an organization that brings candy to veterans.

Thank you to Ms. Hensler and the 6th Grade class for organizing this service project, and thank you to all the families that already donated 40 pounds of candy!

Thank you to all our faculty and staff, to all our students, and to all of our parents and grandparents for a wonderful Halloween parade this year! Our PreK through Grade 3 students dressed in costume and paraded through our parking lot to the rectory. Thank you to Fr. Brownholtz and the rectory staff for giving treats to our younger students.

Thank you to all the families that donated food for our Halloween homeroom parties, and a special thank you to our room parents and other volunteer parents who joined us on the afternoon of Halloween, organizing games and serving food for all of our students!

Thank you to Mrs. Crozier and all of our faculty and staff who helped when we hosted the St. Ignatius Parish Sunday Social this morning after all the Sunday Masses. It was wonderful seeing so many of our school families and so many parishioners enjoying some treats and some good conversation after Mass. Thank you also so Mrs. Madden, who helped to set up the Social in the morning.

Parent-Teacher Conferences are coming soon! Parent Teacher Conferences will be held from 4 to 8 pm on Thursday, November 7, and from 8 am to noon on Friday, November 8. Teachers have sent their links to the parents of their students, but we are also including them here.

Please note:

Ms. Murray will be available only on Thursday, November 7.

Mr. Escandon will be available only on Friday, November 8.

Miss Weight will be available only on Friday, November 8.

Mrs. McBride will be available only on Friday, November 8, from 9:10 am to noon.

Please look for your child's teacher's name below, click on the link, and choose a time slot that is convenient for you. If you need to make a separate conference appointment, please contact your child's teacher directly.

Mrs. Azara, PreK-3

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094CA8A62AA1FAC70-52588914-mrsaprek3/141840114#/

Ms. Tabeek, PreK-4 A

Ms.T's conference sign up

Mrs. McBeth, PreK-4 B

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080448A4AE2AA4FF2-nov

Ms. Dionne, Kindergarten

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084AADAD22AAFDC34-52762678-parent

Mrs. Edwards, Grade 1

First Grade Conference Sign Up

Mrs. Ficarro, Grade 2

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F48AAAC2DABFBC43-52712952-2ndgrade

Mrs. Montemarano, Classroom 3A

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A49ABAB2DA7FFC43-52472892-fall#/

Miss Lynch, Classroom 3B

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A48AEA829ABFDC52-52712091-parent

Ms. Schmidt, Grade 4

Mr. Spadea, Grade 5 Homeroom, ELA Grades 6 and 7, Religion Grades 5 and 8

Mrs. McBride, ELA Grade 5

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F48AAA92FABFAC25-52693571-fall

Ms. Hensler, Grade 6 Homeroom, Science Grades 5 through 8, Religion Grade 6

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F48AAAF22A4FEC43-45405335-interim

Mr. Weinert, Grade 7 Homeroom, ELA Grade 8, Religion Grade 7, Social Studies Grades 5, 6, and 7

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084AA4A92EA5F4C34-52718052-parent

Mrs. Michel, Grade 8 Homeroom, Math Grades 5 through 8

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F48AAAC2FABF8C70-52642304-conference

Mrs. Casey, Math Honors

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4BA4A629A0F5CE9-52620881-2024

Ms. Murray, Art

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094CA9AD2DAAFEC61-52547533-parentteacher

Mr. Escandon, Music

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0845AAA928A1F4C16-52728779-teacher

Mrs. Gray, Spanish

Conferences for Spanish Class

Miss Weight, Physical Education

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A48AFAF28A1F5C16-52725071-parentteacher

Mr. Seibel, Grade 8 Social Studies, STEM

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4AADAE23A1FBC52-52775547-parent

November 12 will be our next Open House. This is for prospective families who would like to become part of our St. Ignatius Elementary School Family for the 2025-2026 school year. Tell your friends and tell your neighbors to come and see our school, talk to our teachers, and take a tour on Tuesday, November 12!

SchoolStore

Thank you to all the families who have already participated in our SchoolStore fundraiser! Many of our teachers have received generous gift certificates from their students. If your family has not registered, there is still time, prizes are still available. The SchoolStore form is below or you may use this link.

https://www.schoolstore.net/cgi/SetSchool?secheck=1&SchoolID=0000120009

Thank you to the Lower Makefield Fire Department for conducting a surprise fire drill on Tuesday, October 8. The Fire Department was impressed with our students and their response time to the drill. All of our students were out of the building and lined up in one and a half minutes!

Thank you to the Lower Makefield Department for returning to St. Ignatius on Tuesday, October 15, for a special visit to our PreK through Grade 2 classes! Our students were taught about fire safety and had an opportunity to walk through the fire truck.

Thank you also to the Lower Makefield Police Department for their visit to our students in PreK through Grade 2 this past week. Our students had the opportunity to meet their police dog and to learn more about safety in the community. The Lower Makefield police officers make frequent visits to our campus, sometimes to monitor traffic but more often to walk through our school building so that they are familiar with the layout of the school and so that our students feel very comfortable with police officers, especially in knowing they are here to help us.

Please pray for all of our police officers, firefighters, and first responders, in gratitude for their service and sacrifice. Please ask our Lord to keep them safe.

Monday, November 4 - Make-up Pictures

Monday, November 4 - Winter Uniform Begins

Tuesday, November 5 - Grade 1 attends 9:00 Mass

Wednesday, November 6 - Earth Dome at St. Ignatius

Thursday, November 7 - Half Day of School - Dismissal begins at 12:10 pm

Thursday, November 7 - Grade 2 Saint Procession at 9:00 am Mass

Thursday, November 7 - Grade 2 Saint Presentations in Church Basement after 9:00 am Mass

Thursday, November 7 - Parent Teacher Conferences from 4 to 8 pm

Friday, November 8 - No School

Friday, November 8 - Parent Teacher Conferences from 8 am to 12 pm

Friday, November 8 - Faculty Retreat from 12 pm to 3 pm

Tuesday, November 12 - Kindergarten attends 9:00 Mass

Tuesday, November 12 - Open House for Prospective Families from 6 pm to 8 pm

Thursday, November 14 - Grade 8 attends 9:00 Mass

Tuesday, November 19 - Grade 7 attends 9:00 Mass

Thursday, November 21 - Grade 6 attends 9:00 Mass

Saturday, November 23 - Crusader Cares Service Project

Wednesday, November 27, through Friday, November 29 - Thanksgiving Break

Thank you all our St. Ignatius School Homework Book Sponsors!

We appreciate your support and thank you for providing homework books for some of our students.

Ry Max Construction, LLC (Demolition Specialist)

Rymax@RymaxConstruction.net

Ken and Melissa Komar

ARO Construction Inc. (Finish Carpentry)

aroconstruction@live.com

Adriano and Priscilla Oliveira

DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies

Located in Yardley, PA and Robbinsville, NJ

Matt and Genna Longo

CG Orthodontics Specialists

Located in Yardley and Richboro

FitzGerald-Sommer Funeral Home

Located in Yardley, PA

The Recycle Club would like to thank all the families who turned in items.

Your support of our Club generated gift cards to be used throughout the school.

The gift cards have been used for Reading Olympic Books, the Faculty Wish List and Beef & Beer Raffles. Your support is greatly appreciated!

*****A Reminder Regarding Phishing Scams******

We will never request funds via email or text message from Fr. Brownholtz, Fr. Kennedy, Mr. Meade or any of our administrative staff, especially from a third party source. If someone tries to trick you into purchasing any gift cards through an email or text message, it is ALWAYS a scam. Important rule of thumb, when in doubt… ask someone before responding!

St. Ignatius School provides before and after school care through our CARES program for all students in PreK-3 through Grade 8.

Please read the attached letter from our CARES Director, Mrs. Brenda Goring. New Families needing CARES, please complete the online registration.

Our current seminarians, Matt and Jonathan, have now met all or our students. Matt and Jonathan are visiting classrooms and even teaching lessons on their Thursday visits. We look forward to our time with Matt and Jonathan this year!

St. Ignatius of Antioch Elementary School has once again been honored by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as a School of Distinguished Instruction. Schools of Distinguished Instruction are determined by their Terra Nova test scores. This year St. Ignatius was one of only three schools that scored 100% in the "Potential" category, meaning that 100% of the grade levels that took the test scored higher than expected, based on the InView scores. Thank you to our teachers, our parents, and our students for this achievement!

Please click the link below for the latest 2024-2025 St. Ignatius of Antioch Elementary School Calendar. Our initial calendar was shared with all of our families in May, and the calendar has been updated since then. The attached calendar will continue to be updated as the year progresses and is subject to change.

As we look forward to starting school again soon, we want to remind all families that if you have moved, if you have a new phone number or email address, or if you have any other changes in important contact information, we need to know. Please notify the office of any changes in family or parent email addresses, mailing addresses, or phone numbers. Thank you!

Share your summer adventures with your St. Ignatius Community. Email pictures and places to Mrs. Crozier at hcrozier@sischool.org for others to enjoy on our school Instagram!

Follow us @sischoolofyardley

Thank you to Mrs. Crozier for her great work in keeping our Instagram account up to date!

Congratulations to our October 500 Club Winners .....

The 500 Club winning numbers for October are below!

Congratulations to the following winners:

$50 (Ticket #80) Olga Hogan

$100 (Ticket (#41) Olivia Egner

$250 (Ticket #333) Mr. and Mrs. Mike Hrabowski

$500 (Ticket #180) Knights of Columbus

There are still 64 tickets left for purchase and only 8 chances left to win - one of those may be your lucky number! See below for information on how to buy a ticket and join the 500 Club.

Thank you again to all the faculty, parishioners, friends, relatives and school families who have purchased tickets. We have sold 436 tickets so far; only 64 tickets left for the 2024 drawings! There are only two monthly drawings left!

Our next drawing will be in early November, so make sure you have your ticket!

There are still 8 chances to win during 2024!!

TICKETS CAN BE PURCHASED BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK:

https://tinyurl.com/SIS500club

l.com/SIS500club

Look What's Coming Up!

(Additional Details Below)

• Picture Retake Day is TOMORROW Monday, November 4th.
  
• Winter Uniforms TOMORROW Monday, November 4th, is the first day of winter uniforms.
• Candy Collection for the Troops! Now through Tuesday, November 5th, Ms. Hensler and the 6th grade are collecting extra/leftover Halloween candy!
• Earth Dome! Coming to St. Ignatius THIS WEEK, November 6th.
• Parent Teacher Conferences November 7th (half day of school and evening conferences) and November 8th (no school and morning conferences).
• Crusaders Care Our Fall Community Service Event! Saturday, November 23rd. If you still have donations that were not given during the Trunk-or-Treat, these can be sent to school.
• Thanksgiving Break School will be closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday from Wednesday 11/27 through Friday 11/29.
• Ladies Handbag Bingo! Save the Date for Ladies Designer Handbag Bingo on Friday, January 31st!

Active Registrations

• No Active Registrations at this time

Volunteer Opportunities (Up-to-date Clearances Required) and Donations

• Ladies Handbag Bingo Donation Request! We are now accepting donations and gift cards for raffle baskets. Please contact Mrs. Crozier to arrange all donations.
• Lunch Duty for November and December: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0E49A8A723A7F94-52523443-lunchrecess
  
• Volunteers still needed for the following dates. Thank you!!
  • Wednesday, November 6th (1 volunteer)
  • Monday, November 11th (1 volunteer)
  • Wednesday, November 13th (1 volunteer)
  • Tuesday, November 19th (1 volunteer)

Upcoming Event Details:

Picture Retake Day is THIS Monday, November 4th. Fall Picture Day is with school uniforms. Please make sure to inform your child's teacher if you would like your child to be re-photographed.

Winter Uniforms Students will be transitioning to winter uniforms TOMORROW. For boys this means a transition from shorts to long pants and short or long sleeve golf shirts. For girls this means a transition from skort/ shorts to jumper/kilt/ or long pants and short sleeves or long sleeves.For gym all students will be transitioning from shorts to sweat pants. Only the three styles of gray quarter zips may be worn during the school day.

Please note as the weather gets colder:

Candy Collection for the Troops! As a Fall service project, Ms. Hensler and the 6th grade are collecting extra/leftover Halloween candy to send to our troops overseas and to support those in need locally. They've already collected almost 40 pounds of candy; let's help them collect even more! All candy donations will be collected through this Tuesday (11/5) and can be left in the collection bin outside room 208.

Parent Teacher Conferences are this week. Please note that students will have a half day on Thursday, November 7th, and no school on Friday, November 8th. Conferences will be conducted in the evening on Thursday, November 7th and from 8-12 on Friday, November 8th. Signup genius links have been released. Please see the Crusader Chronicle for these links and for additional information.

Crusaders Care Our Fall SIS Day of service on Saturday, November 23rd!

Thanksgiving Break The school will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday from Wednesday 11/27 through Friday 11/29. The school will reopen on Monday, December 2nd.

Ladies Handbag Bingo! Save the Date for Ladies Designer Handbag Bingo on Friday, January 31st! Details to come! Now collecting donations and gift cards for raffle baskets!

Important Information

OptionC If you are having any issues with logging into or using OptionC, please contact Mr. Seibel (nseibel@sischool.org).

SchoolStore

Thank you to all the families who have already participated in our SchoolStore fundraiser! Many of our teachers have received generous gift certificates from their students. If your family has not registered, there is still time, prizes are still available. Here is the SchoolStore link you may use to register:

https://www.schoolstore.net/cgi/SetSchool?secheck=1&SchoolID=0000120009

Volunteer Clearances: Please visit http://www.stignatius.church/safe.html for information on submitting clearances or contact Jayne Marcinkowski

(Safe Environment Coordinator) Email: hr@stignatius.church Tel: 215-493-3377 x212

SCRIP Program Save money on SIS tuition using the shop with scrip program! 75% of the rebates you earn go back to you as a credit on next year’s tuition bill. The other 25% funds the scrip program expenses. Go to www.shopwithscrip.com to sign up for an account. St. Ignatius’ enrollment code is C26FCDC63135. The best payment method is presto pay which enables you to receive your ecards and reloadable gift cards immediately. Download the Raise Right app on your phone to purchase ecards while you are away or even shopping in the store! All physical card orders must be placed by 5 pm the previous Sunday. If you have any questions, please contact Nicole Kloc (nicolekloc@gmail.com), Coordinator.

Visit us online for upcoming events, information, school calendar, and registration forms/ links please visit the HSA school website (https://www.sischool.org/home-school and https://www.sischool.org/hs-forms-and-links)

THANK YOU!!! Thank you to all parents who volunteered to come in to cover lunch and recess duty for the month of October! The donation of your time is truly appreciated!! Thanks to your continued support, we were fully covere

Please read the flyer below and consider volunteering for the St. Ignatius Children's Liturgy of the Word. Children's Liturgy of the Word is coordinated by Mrs. Mary Alice LaMorte, who has been Assistant Director, and now the Director, of the St. Ignatius of Antioch Passion Play, which is performed by our very own St. Ignatius of Antioch Middle School students. Please help Mrs. LaMorte with this worthy and rewarding ministry.

Annmarie Flanagan is retiring from PREP at the end of June. After that she will continue with RCIA (now called OCIA). If you or someone you know (maybe your spouse) would be interested in becoming Catholic or just thinking about it, please tell him/her to call Annmarie on her cell --- 215-370-5701. The person does not have to be definite about it.

St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish has a parish-wide subscription to FORMED, a Catholic website with diverse Catholic movies, audio books, podcasts, shows, and more. You have free access to the content. Simply go to formed.org/signup, type in St. Ignatius of Antioch, look for the Yardley address on Reading Ave., click NEXT, type your name and preferred email address, and you will have access to the vast amount of content on FORMED.

This Year of Parish Revival is about falling deeper in love with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus and following him more closely. Mirroring this internal journey with an external one is a beautiful way to connect body and soul in the pursuit of Christ.

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is not one event or a road trip—it is an exciting opportunity for American Catholics everywhere to physically embody our nation’s journey of Eucharistic Revival. Whether you are on the shores of Hawaii or in the mountains of Alaska, needing to stay close to home or deployed overseas, you are invited to be a part of this journey.

Visit: https://www.eucharisticpilgrimage.org/plan-your-own-pilgrimage

Congratulations to three of our 7th Graders, who competed on Saturday, October 26, at the annual Nazareth Academy/Holy Ghost Math Competition! Thank you to Hayden, Annie, and Beatrice for competing, and thank you to Mrs. Casey for continuing to coach our students and prepare them every year for this competition.

At the General Assembly Meeting on Tuesday, March 19, Greg Lucidi, the St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish Business Manager, led a presentation and discussion of the budget for the coming 2024-2025 school year. The attached document was distributed as a hard copy at the General Assembly Meeting, so we wanted to share it with those parents who could not attend the meeting.

The 2024-2025 St. Ignatius of Antioch Faculty and Staff list is below.

PreK-3: Mrs. Azara

PreK-4: Ms. Tabeek

PreK-4: Mrs. McBeth

PreK aides: Mrs. Garcia, Mrs. Stasse, Ms. Herbine, Mrs. Morrison, Mrs. Beck

Kindergarten: Ms. Dionne

Kindergarten Aides: Mrs. Morrison, Mrs. Garcia, Mrs. Beck

Grade 1: Mrs. Edwards

Grade 2: Mrs. Ficarro

Grade 3A: Mrs. Montemarano

Grade 3B: Miss Lynch

Grade 4: Ms. Schmidt

Middle School: Mrs. Michel, Mr. Weinert, Ms. Hensler, Mr. Spadea, Mrs. Casey

(See below for specific Middle School teaching assignments)

Art: Ms. Murray

Music: Mr. Escandon

STEM: Mr. Seibel

PE: Miss Weight

Spanish: Mrs. Gray

Learning Support: Mrs. Hastings

Librarian: Mrs. Casey

Director of Advancement - Mrs. Crozier

Administrative Assistants - Mrs. Perini, Mrs. Chapuis

Health Room Nurse - Mrs. Kriger, RN (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday); Mrs. Barnette-Eckenrode, RN, CSN (Wednesday); Mrs. Petrillo, RN (Friday)

CARES - Mrs. Goring

Assistant Principal - Mrs. Michel

Principal - Mr. Meade

Mr. Spadea - Grade 5 Homeroom, Grades 6 and 7 ELA, Grades 5 and 8 Religion

Ms. Hensler - Grade 6 Homeroom, Grades 5 through 8 Science, Grade 6 Religion

Mr. Weinert - Grade 7 Homeroom, Grade 8 ELA, Grades 5, 6, and 7 Social Studies, Grade 7 Religion

Mrs. Michel - Grade 8 Homeroom, Grades 5 through 8 Math

Mrs. Casey - Grades 4 through 8 Math Honors, Library

Mrs. McBride - Grade 5 ELA

Mr. Seibel - Grade 8 Social Studies, STEM

Mrs. Gray - Spanish

Ms. Murray - Art

Mr. Escandon - Music

Miss Weight - PE

Here are a few reminders about the procedures we follow as students arrive at school each day:

• Kindergarten through Grade 8 students who arrive at school between 8:00 am and 8:15 am will go to the Gym and wait until they are sent to their homerooms.
• All Kindergarten through Grade 8 students should arrive at school by 8:30 am.
• PreK-4 students must be walked to the PreK building between 8:15 and 8:30 am.
• PreK-3 students must be walked to the PreK building between 8:30 am and 8:45 am.

Please read these procedures for car drop off and car pick up.

Kindergarten through Grade 8 car drop off:

• Please stay in the drop off line and do not drive around the car in front of you.
• Please wait until the car in front of you pulls forward before you pull forward.
• We ask that parents do not get out of the car; if your child needs help, one of the staff members on duty will help your child to exit the car.

Kindergarten through Grade 8 car pick up:

• Please park in one of the parking lanes between the church and the playground.
• Please wait near the lines of cars until your child exits the school building and comes to you.
• When all your children have come to you, please take them to your car and wait.
• Please wait until the school staff member gives the signal for your line of cars to pull out and drive out of the parking lot before starting to drive away.

For Pre-K drop off and pick up:

• Please use the long parking lanes between Reading Ave. and the big field behind the Pre-K building.
• Please leave the lanes with cones at the end of the lane empty for parents to drive out once they have walked their Pre-K students to the Pre-K building.
• Please take extra care as you are driving, parking, and leaving after Pre-K drop off and pick up.

Please follow these procedures for PreK drop-off and pick-up:

Upon arrival, please pull into the “Pre-K parking lot” which is directly across from the golf course and to the far left of our campus. The entrance to our parking area looks directly straight back to the yellow door of our Pre-K building. Please pull all the way forward in the designated parking lanes, leaving exit lanes empty and available. Exit lanes are marked with cones to indicate that cars are not allowed to park there. Park your car and walk your child to the Preschool yellow front entrance (“map area”).

For safety purposes, our parking area is a ONE WAY zone. All cars should exit via the

driveway to the farthest end of our campus. No car should ever back-up to exit. There is NO PARKING along the grass leading up to our building nor in the main parking area

in front of the big school. Please pass this information along to anyone who may do

drop-off or pick-up for you.

Parking Lot:

For the safety of ALL, it is imperative to abide by the arrival and dismissal procedures

stated above. All cars must enter, pull all the way forward down the designated parking lanes of the

preschool lot, and exit via the farthest driveway. We appreciate your support with this.

Please see the map below as a visual representation of the guidelines above.

Please see the attached letter below for more information on pre-school, including parking guidelines, drop-off times, and other important information.