St. Ambrose School Lights the Way

Act Now to Maintain Title V-A Funding
Funding for the 2007-2008 school year is set, but Title V-A will cease to exist unless Congress acts. The best thing to do is contact your federal legislative representatives, both House and Senate, and let them know how important Title V-A is to your students. In the past, these funds have been used to purchase the sound systems in most of the rooms and we are currently using Title V funds to purchase another sound system for another room. The funds have decreased considerably over the last couple of years and now the threat is that it will be completely gone. Private schools really depend on these monies for a variety of items.

November School Board Meeting
The School Board Meeting on November 20 will begin with an open session to review the ITBS scores and the House System in place for the upper grades. Plan to attend at 7:00 pm in the cafeteria.

Special Collection
On November 21 at the 8 am Mass, the St. Vincent DePaul Society will be asking the families of St. Ambrose School and Parish for donations. In lieu of canned goods, the society is asking for monetary donations to assist our families in need with utility costs and other needs. A special envelope will be given to the school families for this cause; parishioners who wish to donate can find an envelope at Mass. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Shop and Give TWB Certificates for the Holidays
The online order form has been updated at www.stambroseonthehill.com/school/. We will begin taking orders in the back of church before and after the weekend masses. The last day to make an order for Christmas will be Sunday, December 9, through church, and Friday, December 14, at school. All special orders MUST include payment. Please mark church or school on your order form so that we may have the filled order ready for you. Any orders through Sunday, November 25, will be ready at school by December 6, and at church December 8 and 9, from the TWB reps. All orders received after November 25 will be ready at church on December 22 and 23, and at school by December 21.

Advent Wreaths
The St. Ambrose Girl Scouts have made beautiful Advent wreaths that they now have on sale. Watch for an order form through school if you wish to order one for your family.

Breakfast with Santa

Sunday, December 2
St. Ambrose Cafeteria, 7:30 a.m. – 12 noon

Advance tickets are being sold by any 8th grader and in the main office. Tickets are $5.00 for adults and $4.00 for children. Ticket prices increase by $1.00, respectively, at the door.

Help Wanted in Santa's Workshop
Mrs. Calcaterra requests handmade/homemade items for the country store and items for a small silent auction. We are also in need of items for Santa's Shop, including jewelry, books, mugs, tools, etc. Children attending Breakfast with Santa purchase these items for their family members. They are sold for $1.00 and under and should be new or in VERY nice condition. These donations benefit the 8th grade class and are very much appreciated.

Collection for the Homeless
Great things are happening with the Key Player Initiative and Catholic schools! Catholic schools have really taken the lead in our community-wide effort to end homelessness. To date, a team of 19 Key Player speakers has brought the homeless message to 21 schools throughout the Archdiocese of St. Louis. What we are telling Catholic school children is true: homelessness is not hopeless. Together as a community, we can end this social ill. We are very proud that our young people have taken the lead in helping our homeless and poor neighbors! St. Ambrose School is a Key-Player for this Initiative and St. Patrick Representatives will be at St. Ambrose on December 3. St. Ambrose students donate $0.50 for dress-down days on Faculty Meeting Days and all monies collected is being given to the St. Patrick Center to support this initiative. We have collected over $350 so far. The seventh graders made collection containers for homerooms to remind students to donate to this new program that provides hope and opportunity to those who are homeless or who are at risk of becoming homeless. Sr. Carol invited donations to this worthwhile cause at the pancake breakfast she gave the students on October 16 and 17.

Model for Inclusion and Challenge Program
School personnel from St. Joseph’s in Cottleville came on Tuesday, November 6, and from St. Clement on Thursday, November 8. These visitors were interested in learning more about St. Ambrose’s inclusion and challenge program.

Be Informed Before Seeing an Upcoming Children's Movie
Please review information about an upcoming children's movie that will be released on December 7 during the Christmas season. The author of the trilogy of books on which the movie is based is an atheist and is trying to influence children against God in a sly way. The link gives more details:
http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp.

In Appreciation

• To Brian Ward and Ben and Joe Calloni for installing speakers for a new sound system in the cafeteria.
• To All the Health Screening Volunteers who did such a fantastic job that the health screenings were completed in a record day-and-a-half!
• To STUCO and PTO for the Red Ribbon Week, Trunk or Treat, and Haunted Hallway.  The Trunk or Treat was a complete sell-out and a wonderful success!

Additional Improvements
We are in the process of adding a bathroom for and expanding the Kindergarten classrooms.

Box Top Contest
Interim winners were Mrs. O'Toole's class. Winners will be announced as soon as final counts are completed.  Thanks to the Homeroom mothers for coordinating this effort.

Counseling Services
We are blessed again this semester with graduate student counselors from SLU who will be doing their practicum here working with students on social, personal, and motivational issues. Please contact Terry Kellar or Lisa Horner if you feel your child would benefit from this counseling service. We will send you a permission slip to sign and return to school. Counselors began the week of September 24th.

Band Concert
A Christmas Concert will feature the combined bands of St. Ambrose, St. Martin of Tours, St. Roch, and St. Simon the Apostle. The Concert will be held at St. Martin of Tours, on Wednesday, December 12th, at 7:00 pm. Both the Concert Band (Advanced) and a Beginning Band are performing.

Speech Meet
The first Bellarmine Speech Meet took place Saturday, November 10, at St. Ambrose. Our Speech Team includes 8th graders Sam Herbig,

Veteran's Day Observation
The students and faculty of St. Ambrose School held a service to honor our veterans on Monday morning at
8 am. All of the students and faculty gathered on the front steps of school and into Wilson Avenue around
the flag pole. Two 7th Grade students, Matthew Rancilio and Justin Seaton, reverently unfolded,
attached, and raised the flag. All in attendance said the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Rachel Seaton, a 4th Grade student who became a U.S. citizen on Thursday, November 8, and then Sr. Carol read a prayer. Everyone sang the song My Country Tis of Thee. We thank all the veterans of the past who served our country during times of war and times of peace. We also thank all those who are currently serving our country to fight for our freedoms.

Honors Mass
The quarterly Honors and Clelian Mass was held on Friday, November 9, at the 8 am Mass. All children in grades 4-8 who earned Honors status were presented an award certificate. The Clelian Award is given to deserving students in grades 1-8 who exemplify the characteristics of Mother Clelia Merloni, Foundress of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart. A full list of the recipients of both the Honor Roll and Clelian Award can be found in the bulletin area outside of the school office.

Live Theatre at St. Ambrose
On Halloween Day, the students in grades K-5 were treated to a live theatrical production focusing on renewable energy resources. The National Theatre for Children, based in Minneapolis wrote, produced and performed the 25-minute play. The performance was free to the school as Ameren UE was the sponsor.
The play was titled Boomerang Jack and the Unseen Green Machine and featured a zany cast of characters from “Down Under” which urged conservation and the use of renewable or “green” energy sources. The students enjoyed the humorous performance while they learned important messages about renewable energy and green energy decisions that will make the world a better place for all of us. Grade-appropriate workbooks were also provided to the students.

Primary Notes
This week, the Kindergarten classes watched and discussed a movie in Social Studies about William Bradford, one of the leaders of the Pilgrims. It showed how and why the Pilgrims came to America, how they struggled, and how they befriended the Indians (Squanto in particular) who taught them how to live in the new world. It ends with William Bradford declaring a harvest feast to give thanks to God and then having the first Thanksgiving.
Last week, we had a fun lesson with a computer CD called “Success on Phonics.” With the LCD projector and Mimio unit, the students were able to play 2 different interactive games. One involved matching lower and upper case letters and the other involved listening to beginning sounds of three words (while seeing the pictures) and distinguishing which word had a different beginning sound. They each had a turn at each game and loved it. The only problem is that they keep asking, “Can we do Mimio?” We also went to Mrs. Foster’s room for a joint Science lesson about the Fall leaves. She explained how/why the leaves change color and shared some leaves from her tulip tree. Next, each child had a chance to do a fall puzzle of a leaf via mimio. The Kindergarten children learned about Veteran’s Day in Social Studies. After watching a short video about the holiday, they discussed the difference between a soldier and sailor and a veteran. They also looked at several maps to see where some soldiers are fighting right now. They all agreed that soldiers and sailors are brave people who deserve our thanks. So, to thank the former soldiers, each student made a card that said “Happy Veteran’s Day” on the outside and “Thank You” on the inside. They decorated the cards with cut out stars and flags as well as with their own original patriotic artwork. A parent who works at a local VA hospital is going to deliver the cards to her patients.
To introduce a new chapter in Religion titled “I Can Pray,” we traced and decorated our hands that we use to pray and discussed that hands are used for helping, not hurting. I showed them the hand movements to the fingerplay “Here is the church, here is the steeple…” Next, we talked about how prayer is talking to God and that sometimes we use the prayers we have memorized like the Our Father, but sometimes we can just talk to Jesus about what is in our hearts. I then gave them 3 minutes of silence to tell God whatever they wanted. We talked about community helpers and how and why communities celebrate in Social Studies and then watched our watched our first “United Streaming” video. United Streaming is a service that St. Ambrose has subscribed to. It is web collection of thousands of educational videos that we can show via the laptops and LCD projectors onto the team boards. There are 992 videos in the K-2 section alone. Some are full length videos but most are short segments of 5-18 minutes. There are many topics, something for every subject. Miss Katie was here for the final time teaching a lesson or two that she has to video tape for her education literacy class.
Submitted by Mrs. Patke

The 1st graders have been actively using the classroom Teamboard to enhance their learning experiences. One of the new games we have been playing is called Word Wall. In this game, students race against the clock to form as many words as possible using a set of jumbled letters. It's a fun way to practice phonics, spelling, and vocabulary skills. Another interactive game we have used has helped us hone our entomology skills by looking for insects in different outdoor settings. Using an interactive magnifying glass, we search for insects and then read about their characteristics. Computerized insects are very cool and a lot less scary than the real things.
Submitted by Mrs. Harris

First Grade, room 202, has been working on making a book about leaves. It focuses on facts about leaves and different types of leaves. They will also be exploring the different types of leaves on trees surrounding the school. 
Submitted by Miss O'Toole

• My website is www.history.com. This website is operated by The History Channel and gives a lot of interesting facts to the user. I like to click on "This day in History" as a lead into my classes. I find that it is a good way to jump start their interest at the onset of class. Submitted by Mr. Elmore
• The Web site I would like to share with you this week is www.whatshouldireadnext.com. A really helpful tool, this Web site helps students find a book to read based on their previous reading experiences. I often find that students have trouble finding the "right" book. This site allows students to type in a book they have enjoyed reading, and it gives them a list of books that other students, who have read the book they entered, enjoyed reading. Check it out! Submitted by Mrs. Durham

• Fast Food is not acceptable for lunch; please do not deliver to school for your children.
• The Handbook is a guide, but does not address all situations. When in doubt about a policy or procedure, please ask.
• If your child has a special medical need, please inform Linda in the School Office.
• Please don't park in the soccer lot during school hours if you are visiting school or chaperoning a field trip, as the cars block the use of the lot for recess.
• Birthday treats are distributed to students in their homerooms during break time. Please follow Handbook guidelines regarding acceptable treats and also refrain from delivering special lunches to students on these days.
• Party invitations may be distributed at school only if all students in the class are invited.

• Dec 4 - Reconciliation - Grades 3 & 4 - more details to follow
• April 7 - Confirmation - Grades 5 & 6 - more details to follow
• April 14 - First Holy Communion (this is the Monday after the Holy Communion Mass on Saturday, April 12) - Grades K & 1 - more details to follow
• May 23 - 8th Grade Graduation - Grade 7 organize reception (in the cafeteria) to follow 6:30 pm graduation mass