Weekly Update to Families

Dear Academy Families,

Dr. Scharbach

Now onto some important reminders, news, and events at the academy in the upcoming days….

Please note that all report cards (Nursery-Grade 8) are digitally distributed on Wednesday, December 4th at 3 pm via the FACTS Parent Portal. This year all conferences will take place on Thursday, December 5th from 12:45 pm-2:45 pm and from 6 pm-7:30 pm. Just a reminder that Thursday, December 5th is a 12 pm half-day for students and there is no after-school available on this day.

Nursery-Grade 4, Art, STEM, Physical Education, Creative Writing and Content Learning Center (Special Education)

Please click here for Nursery-Grade 4 Appointments until Monday December 2nd.

Please visit the website listed above for your child’s class to sign up for a time for your conference. You will need to enter your name and email address. Please sign up by Monday December 2nd. We will assume that families not signed up by December 2nd are not attending parent-teacher conferences. You will not be able to confer with your child’s teacher that afternoon or evening.

Grades 5-8

Please note in Grades 5-8 your child has 4 to 5 teachers. The 5th-6th grade teachers have 129 students while some 7th and 8th-grade teachers have 111 students.

In Grades 5-8 please feel free to go to your child’s individual teacher(s) at the assigned times (Thursday, December 5th from 12:45 pm-2:45 pm and from 6pm-7:30pm.) You will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis. Historically, the afternoon session has shorter wait times. We will do our best to accommodate all those families that need to meet with their child’s teacher(s). As always all teachers are always available to answer any questions you may have via email.

One final note, please do not get caught up in the grades your child has earned, but rather try to work with the school on areas of concern. This will help your child’s progress in school which is our mutual goal.

When we return on December 2nd from Thanksgiving Recess we will be in the midst of preparing for the birth of the Christ Child. One of the presents that we give him is our gift of song for our annual Christmas Show on December 16th and 17th at 6:30pm. A ticket order form is below and was sent home on 11/14.

Please also see below the costumes for the show as well.

Kindergarten should dress in their Christmas best. (Red and Green)

1st Grade- Please wear anything brown, tan or beige. They will be portraying Rudolph the

Rednosed Reindeer. We will supply nose and antlers!

2nd Grade- Please wear anything white, silver and/or blue. They will be portraying Frosty the

Snowman/Jack Frost. Think icy, winter wonderland!

3rd Grade will be dressed as the Nativity. Please see a future email from Ms. Killian and Ms.

Hansen about specifics.

4th Grade- Please wear anything red and white with black boots/shoes. They will be portraying

Mr. & Mrs. Claus. Feel free to wear a Santa hat or get festive.

5th Grade- Please wear green and yellow. They will be portraying elves / Buddy the Elf.

6th Grade- Please wear all green with a coat on top. They will first be carolers and then take off their coats to reveal that they are The Grinch!

7th Grade- Please wear blue pants or a skirt, a red shirt and black boots/shoes. They will be

representing “Toy Soldiers/Nutcrackers.” We will provide additional costume accessories.

8th Grade has a few different roles. (Scenes, stage crew, ushers, concession stand, narrators) They will be told individually what to wear.

Many of the costumes can easily be homemade or bought cheaply from Oriental Trading.

Any questions, feel free to get in touch with your child’s teacher.

This year our Christmas Show “The Characters of Christmas” will be a show created especially for our students. Each class is going to take part in a scene of the play. With the use of the entire stage for each scene, we must split our performance days.

• The A classes along with KC and 4C will perform on Monday December 16th

• The B classes along with 6C will perform on Tuesday December 17th

• 8th Graders who have volunteered to have acting/speaking/narrator roles will be performing both nights. Any questions about 8th grade please contact Mrs. Hayes at mhayes@stfrancisschoolbh.net

• Each night that your child(ren) are performing, families are able to purchase two Adult tickets. Those ticket orders are due by Wednesday December 4th. Starting on Monday 12/9 we will sell any extra tickets (limit 2 additional per family) until we sell out.

• Please note, if a St. Francis de Sales student who is not performing would like to see the shows, discounted SFDS student tickets are available to purchase for $5.

We are thrilled to announce that Olivia Conigliaro (Grade 2) will be our Principal of the Day on Monday 11/25! Olivia has this exciting opportunity and is ready to take on the role of leading St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy for the day. From morning announcements to assisting with important decisions and even enjoying some special "principal perks," Olivia is sure to leave her mark!

Stay tuned for updates on her leadership adventure—our future is in great hands!

Congratulations to both Timmy McDonagh and Colin Mundy for being the two finalists from our school to move on to the next round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. We wish both of them the best of luck. Thanks also to Ms. Re and Ms. McManus for helping coordinate this years classroom and school bees.

A big thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Henning for coordinating this year's Wreath Sale fundraiser! Your time and effort have made this event a success, and we truly appreciate all your hard work.

Just a reminder: All wreath orders are in and can be picked up at the main entrance in the morning and at dismissal tomorrow.

Thank you for your continued support!

We are happy to announce our Annual Advent service opportunity for 4th & 5th Graders which will be held on Tuesday, December 3rd from 2:30-3:30pm in the Small Hall. Students will be making cards and ornaments for elderly parishioners in our community. Please RSVP (form below) by Monday 11/25 so we can order supplies.

St. Francis de Sales is very excited to be offering a production of SpongeBob the musical this Spring. Below are the dates for the tryouts, callbacks, practices and show dates. We understand this is a big commitment, so please ensure the dates work for your child's schedule before signing up. Here's a link to the Spongebob the Musical Sign Up form. We ask that you complete the form by December 11th. We will send out preparation materials for the audition after that date.

Audition- 2:30pm
2/13

Practices 2:30-4:30PM

March: 3/6, 3/11, 3/13, 3/18, 3/20, 3/25, and 3/27

April: 4/1, 4/3, 4/8, 4/10, and 4/29
May: 5/1, 5/6, 5/8, 5/13, 5/15, 5/20, and 5/22

Dress Rehersals 2:30-4:30PM

May: 5/27, 5/28, 5/29, 5/30

Performances
5/31/24 (3pm and 7pm) and 6/1/24 (2pm)

St. Francis de Sales is very excited to partner with Inside Broadway to offer a production of Spongebob the Musical this Spring. A very special thank you to NYC Councilwoman Joann Ariola for sponsoring this enrichment activity within our school. This enrichment activity is currently open to our current 5th-8th graders

If you have any questions, please let us know. Again, we are so excited to have our students have this amazing opportunity this spring.

The chairs of the annual Mother/Son event wanted to do a quick poll to see what event would Mothers like to do with their sons this year for the annual event. Please feel free to respond to the following choices no later then Wednesday 12/4.

Next weekend the $15,000 raffle will be drawn. For those who bought a ticket the drawing will take place at the Harbor Light on Sunday, December 1st from 4pm-6pm.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Our friends at the DSNY want to remind all that the 129th street business block gets cleaned by the street sweeper everyday Monday-Friday. Please be mindful of this when dropping your child(ren) off each morning.

We are beginning to prepare for the 2025-2026 school year. Two weeks ago we issued a Google Form of intent for any current Nursery and Pre-K student here at St. Francis who plans on attending St. Francis in 2025 as a Pre-K or Kindergarten student. Those forms are due by Monday, December 2nd. As always, we thank you for your dedication and support of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy. If you have any concerns that we may address, please do not hesitate to call or email us.

After Thanksgiving, an email will be sent home to families of current students to see if any siblings will be joining our academy next year if space allows. Please fill out all letters of intent as soon as possible, as we will begin open registration in the winter of 2025. This is especially important to do with our current enrollment numbers.

Come and see our brand new online school store. We have some great items with our school name and Franny, our Mascot.

Choose your own designs! These are great items to wear on dress-down days, weekends, Blue and Gold Day, or just around the house.

Great brands (Nike, North Face, Under Armor, Puma, and more) and great quality. All orders are shipped directly to your home.

Today marks the start of our 2024-2025 Yearbook Sale! The yearbook is a great way to remember special events throughout the year! All students will be featured in the yearbook on their class page!

If you would like to order a school yearbook, (delivery in June) please fill out the following form.

After you submit your order you will be charged on your FACTS account during the month of January.

Payment is expected within 20 days of posting.

The completed form(s) is due by Thursday, December 5th. Since we have to send in our yearly order soon after there will be no orders accepted after this date.

**Class of 2025 Families, any graduate that has $130 (cost of a full page age) worth of ads in the yearbook will receive a free yearbook, up to two free yearbooks. Please keep this in mind when placing your order.

The following reminder comes from Mrs. AnneMarie Greene the Director of Religious Education for St. Francis de Sales Parish

There will be a first proximate prep for the children preparing to receive the sacrament of First Penance and Holy Communion for the 2nd grade student and their parent on Monday, December 2, 2024, at 6:30 in church. This will be for anyone preparing to receive these sacraments at St. Francis de Sales this Spring.

With the Christmas season approaching, as we look forward to the birth of our Lord, we should remember those less fortunate than us. In the spirit of giving, we are asking that students donate a gift for other children. Please bring in an unwrapped toy or game after the Thanksgiving Holiday. All donations will go to children in need. Thank you for your generosity. All donations need to be made by Friday, December 13th.

We are so excited to announce that we will have our annual Christmas Movie Night this year in the Small Hall and Gym on Friday, December 6th. We will be having three sessions this year.

1) The first session will be only for Kindergarten students from 4pm-5:45pm in the Small Hall. Our Kindergarten students will be watching the classic Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and make a Holiday Craft after.

2) Our second session will be for our 1st-2nd graders from 4pm-5:45pm in the Gym. Our 1st-2nd grade students will be watching the 2018 Version of Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

3) Our third session will be for our 3rd-5th graders from 6:30pm-8:15pm in the Small Hall. Our 3rd-5th grade students will be watching the Christmas classic comedy Elf.

Tickets can be bought at the door for $10.

To help accommodate all children we are asking that this be a drop-off event. (Children Only)

Parents, please take a few minutes to go over these basic etiquette guidelines with your child(ren). It is our hope that by following these guidelines, everyone’s movie-going experience will be a good one.

1. We do not talk during the movie.

2. Refrain from getting up and down. People behind us are trying to watch the movie and too many trips to the bathroom, drinking fountain, etc. is distracting and unnecessary. This will also help eliminate many spills on the floor.

3. Running will not be tolerated.

4. Enjoy and have fun!

Come and support our 8th graders on Friday 12/6 at the BHYC Holiday Boutique. Our 8th graders will be selling baked goods. Great night to support the Class of 2025 and get some Christmas shopping done.

We are also happy to announce the dates of our Christmas Boutique this year. The Christmas Boutique for our students will be December 11th- December 12th. More information to follow closer to the dates.

Please save the date for Saturday December 14th as St. Francis de Sales Parish lights their Christmas Trees, Angels, and Nativity. The night kicks off with 4:30pm Mass followed by the lighting.

We hope you join us for this great tradition.

Thursday December 19th is a $1 dress down day. All students are encouraged to wear Red and or Green, or wear an ugly holiday sweater. All money raised is going to a family in need.

Every year, students, 5th through 8th grade, prepare a craft activity to create, with students in Pre K-4th grades. This year the entire school will be partaking in this activity on Thursday, December 19th in the afternoon.

St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy

Asst. Principal: Mrs. Maureen Hayes

Email: admin@stfrancisschoolbh.net
Website: https://stfrancisacademybh.org/
Location: 219 Beach 129 Street Belle Harbor, NY 11694
Phone: (718) 634-2775
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SFDSCA