A St. Nicholas Story or The Fiercest Little Animal in the Forest

Transcription

1 A St. Nicholas Story or The Fiercest Little Animal in the Forest by Terri Reinhart, illustrated by Patrick Reinhart The pine marten was the fiercest little animal in the forest. When other animals came near him, he growled and snarled and snapped at them. Then the animals ran away. When people walked through the forest, he hid in the bushes growling and snarling and snapping at them as they traveled by his bush. Then the people would walk a little faster to get away from the fierce little animal. One day the pine marten heard people coming. There were lots of people marching straight through his forest! The pine marten hid in a bush by the path. As the people passed him he began to growl and snarl and snap his teeth. The people all rushed past the pine marten, except one man. He stopped and looked down at the fierce little animal. Suddenly, the pine marten did not feel so fierce. He tried to run away, but was caught in the brambles of the bush. The man bent down and gently picked up the pine marten and put him in his pocket. "I am St. Nicholas and you, my little friend, are coming with me." The fierce little animal started to scrabble and scratch, but it was no use. He stayed in St. Nicholas' pocket all the way across the forest. He stayed in St. Nicholas' pocket when everyone boarded a ship and they sailed all the way across the sea. When they finally arrived on the other shore, St. Nicholas' helpers carried bags filled with flour, apples, nuts and honey cakes. They traveled to a town where the people were very poor and very hungry. St. Nicholas and his helpers left food on each and every doorstep. Then St. Nicholas took the pine marten out of his pocket and looked him squarely in the eye. "No more growling, no more snarling and no more snapping. I have work for you to do," he said. St. Nicholas sent the pine marten into each house with a coin. Inside each house, he dropped each coin into a stocking that hung by the fire. He worked all night long. When morning came and he was finished with his work, he was very tired. He was happy to go back inside St. Nicholas' pocket. The little pine marten was so sleepy that he did not know when they boarded their ship and sailed across the sea for home. He did not even wake up when they arrived at his forest. When they arrived at the pine marten's home, St. Nicholas lifted him out of his pocket and put him down on the ground. "Your work is done now, my little friend. You can go free." But the little pine marten wanted to stay with St. Nicholas. From that time on, the pine marten lived in the woods close to St. Nicholas' house and whenever St. Nicholas needed his help, he was always right there. The End. Life Is an Advent Season CONNECTIONS, "Life is a constant Advent season: we are continually waiting to become, to discover, to complete, to fulfill. Hope, struggle, fear, expectation and fulfillment are all part of our Advent experience. The world is not as just, not as loving, not as whole as we know it can and should be. But the coming of Christ and his presence among us as one of us give us reason to live in hope: that light will shatter the darkness, that we can be liberated from our fears and prejudices, that we are never alone or abandoned. May this Advent season be a time for bringing hope, transformation and fulfillment into the Advent of our lives."

2 + Dear Parents, December 4, 2017 As I was looking for some inspirational stories, I found one reflection that might help us set a focus for Advent. The other is a story about St. Nicholas. I must admit that I was not familiar with this story. I thought you might like it. Both the reflection and the story speak about transformation and that we are never alone on our journey to doing and being all God asks us to be. Let us be open to be reflections. These might help to set us on the right course as we begin Advent. We can help each other this Advent as we seek Jesus: we can be Jesus for our families, our neighbors, our co-workers, and all those we meet each day. I know that it is hard in the midst of all that families have to do. It is possible, however, for the first reflection tells us that we are never alone! Jesus is Emmanuel God with us! Happy Advent! Have a great week! God bless you! Sister Catherine Irene, IHM Looking Ahead: December 6 St. Nicholas Day; Dress Down Day as a prize from the Monster Mash December 7 Picture Retake Day December 8 Feast of the Immaculate Conception: HOLYDAY OF OBLIGATION NO SCHOOL Ice Skating Party please see flyer on the Principal s page December 9 Breakfast with Santa in the Cafeteria: details are included December 10 Please join Liam Corrigan for a cello concert & light reception, after NOON mass - Chapel December 11 Report Cards December 12 Open House from 9:00. to 10:00 a.m. December 14 School Confessions at 10:00 a.m. BAND CONCERTS 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the GYM December 15 Kindergarten Christmas Pageant at 10:00 in the GYM Middle School Mixer in the Cafeteria at 7:00 p.m. December 17 Open House from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Christmas Choral Concert in the Church at 7:00 p.m. December 21 Christmas Pageant at 1:30 p.m.; FULL DAY of SCHOOL; NO CARES December 22 Christmas vacation begins: NO SCHOOL December 25 January 2 Christmas Vacation January 3 Classes resume January 5 School Liturgy at 10:15 a.m. January 6 Math Counts competition for Chester County Catholic Schools at St. Joseph Cafeteria Do you have family or neighbors who have children who are ready to start school? Please tell them about our National Blue Ribbon School and invite them to an Open House! The following are our Open House days: Tuesday, December 12, 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Sunday, December 17, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, January 11, from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Sunday, January 28, following the NOON Mass Thank you to Marianne Ceribelli and her team of elves for all you did for the Secret Santa Shop! I know that the children look forward to this day. We also thank Grades 7and 8 for assisting their buddies in Grades K and 1. It is really fun to watch the buddies help the little ones shop! Thank you also to our many volunteers who helped with lunch on that day!

3 The Immaculate Conception is the Feast Day of the IHM Sisters. We will renew our vows at the 9:00 Mass. We hope many of you can join us at this mass! Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Friday, December 8, a Holy Day of Obligation Masses will take place at 7 PM (Thursday Vigil), 7 AM, 9 AM, 12:05 PM, 7 PM The Blessing of the Outdoor Nativity will take place following the Friday 7 PM Mass. Breakfast with Santa Saturday, December 9, at Saint Joseph Cafeteria Two Seatings at 8:30 AM and 10 AM $5/person Children under the age of 2 are FREE (Tickets will only be sold at the door) Breakfast includes pancakes, sausage, French toast sticks, fruit juices, coffee, tea, milk and more! Christmas crafts will be provided! Sponsored by the Saint Joseph Parish Youth Group TECHNOLOGY NEWS St. Joseph School will participate in the Hour of Code this week, from Pre-K 4 to Grade 8! What is the Hour of Code? From the website, under Frequently Asked Questions we can read the answer: The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code, to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts. Check out the tutorials and activities. This grassroots campaign is supported by over 400 partners and 200,000 educators worldwide. We had such a good experience last year with the Hour of Code that we are going to do it again I do ask that you send all of your children in with headphones or ear buds to help with the coding activities that they will do this week.

4 St. Nicholas Dress-Down Day: As a prize for the wonderful support of the Monster Mash, all students (and faculty and staff) can celebrate with a Dress-Down Day. We will have our Dress-Down Day this Wednesday, December 6. Students should wear appropriate clothing, representative of a Catholic school. Clothes should not be tight, have holes in the jeans, etc. Shirts must not have any inappropriate pictures or sayings. Students who have PE on Wednesday must wear clothes for PE class, including appropriate sneakers. If any student does not dress appropriately, he/she will call home for a change of clothes. Thank you for your support of the rules for this day. Safe Environment Lessons: This week, our teachers will present their first of two Safe Environment Lessons. It will be held on either Tuesday, December 5 or Wednesday, December 6. Please read the letter on the Principal s Page about the lessons. IF you do not want your child(ren) to take part in the lesson, please sign and return the form. If we do not receive a form, then your child will stay in the classroom with his/her class. All safe environment lessons are posted on the Office of Catholic Education website. I have included the link here in case you want to review the lesson first. Thank you! Recess Help: Thank you for your help on Friday for recess! I greatly appreciated it!!! For those who volunteered to come in on Monday (from the that I sent out on Friday), please know that we will look forward to you help on Monday. It is supposed to be a beautiful day and, in anticipation of the short week, the students might be excited Thank you in advance for your help! Ambassadors of Kindness for November At the end of our First Friday Mass, we announced the Ambassadors of Kindness for the Month of November. Each student was presented with a certificate as well. Thank you for showing kindness to your classmates, to your teachers, and to all who help out at our school.

5 FINACIAL AID APPLICATIONS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED!!!! FACTS Grant & Aid Assessment will be conducting the financial need analysis for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia/BLOCS & St. Joseph School for the upcoming school year. Families applying for financial aid will need to complete an application and submit the necessary supporting documentation to FACTS Grant & Aid Assessment by December 31, Applicants can apply online by clicking the FACTS link at Once you complete an online application, you will need to send copies of your 2017 Federal tax forms, including all supporting tax schedules, to FACTS to complete the application process. Please complete your 2017 Income Tax as soon as possible. It is recommended that all applicants upload supporting documentation in PDF format, online. Documentation can also be faxed to or mailed to the address below. Please be sure to include the applicant ID on all faxed or mailed correspondence. FACTS Grant & Aid Assessment P.O. Box Lincoln, NE Questions or concerns about the application process can be directed to a FACTS Customer Care Representative at Financial aid is given to those who meet the EITC/OSTC requirements of the state of Pennsylvania. The EITC income guidelines are as follows. Any changes to these guidelines for will be posted here. Families with : o 1 dependent: Household income of $93,178 o 2 dependents: Household income of $108,708 o 3 dependents: Household income of $124,238 o 4 dependents: Household income of $139,768 o 5 dependents: Household income of $155,298* *Add $15,530 for each additional dependent