There are many things to be thankful for here at Holy Trinity School, the joy and challenge of working with 250 unique young men and women, the gift of meeting and getting to know so many dedicated, loving parents and the peace of working together to bring God’s kingdom alive here on earth. On Thanksgiving Day I know that you will be thanking God for your family and friends and the blessings in your life as will all those who work here at Holy Trinity.

Giving Thanks

Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences

Please plan on attending our preschool 4 through 8^th grade parent/student/ teacher conferences scheduled for Friday, Nov. 6 and Sunday, Nov. 8. The students will have a 1:30 dismissal on Friday, Nov. 6 and conferences will begin at 2:00. On Sunday, November 8 conferences will begin at 11:00 and run until 2:30 p.m. We are off of school on Monday, November 9 because of the conferences. Day Care will be available on the 9^th only if enough students sign up on the sheet posted on the Day Care

Three groups of loving, generous people that we also want to thank during November are the parishioners of All Souls, Holy Trinity and Our Lady of the Presentation. All three parishes off-set the cost of education here at Holy Trinity Catholic School and allow us to continue to educate the youth in this area. It is the contributions from the parishioners at each parish that allow them to do this. So we have set aside three days in Nov. to thank them with a special Mass and breakfast;

Nov. 11 for Our Lady of the Presentation, Nov. 18 for All Souls and Nov. 19 for Holy Trinity.

Any school parent who would like to show their thanks is invited to bake muffins, a coffee cake or some type of bread to serve at the breakfasts. From everyone at school,

Happy Thanksgiving!

door. Conferences are set by parents signing up on the sheets posted on the bulletin board across from the principal’s office. These sheets will go up Mon. morning, Nov. 2. Conference sign-ups are first come, first served so if you have several children it would be best to sign up early on Monday morning as spots get taken up quickly.

We ask that parents of departmental students sign up with the homeroom teacher only unless a teacher has requested that

you see him/her. If you have a concern or really feel the need to meet with another teacher, please contact that teacher directly and he/she will set up a time convenient for both of you. Specialty teachers such as 8^th Math, Music and Art will be available on Friday only, but there will be a contact sheet up and they will call and set up an appointment at your convenience.

We are looking forward to the opportunity to meet with everyone on conference weekend!

Nov. 11, Veteran’s Day, is a day to honor those who serve and protect our country. This year the Student Council is sponsoring a flag ceremony on Nov. 10 after the All School Mass to honor all veterans. Anyone who would like to attend is invited. We are celebrating on Nov. 10 rather than Nov. 11 because we already have a “Thank-you” breakfast planned for the community of Our Lady of the Presentation

Honoring those in the military

Rev. Paul Niemann and Rev. Robert Burkemper are very excited about the upcoming Confirmation for our eighth grade students. Rev. Charles Burgoon will be confirming our students this year. Confirmation will be held at All Souls Church starting at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 12.

A cake and punch reception will be held after the Mass in the lower level of All Souls church.

Confirmation for 8^th Grade Students

on the 11^th.

In addition to our flag ceremony, we would like to honor all those family members and friends who are actively serving in the military at this time. If you have a family member or friend who is in the military please send us a picture along with some biographical data such as the name of the service person, the branch of service in which he/she works, the area where

Stationed, etc. We will be posting all of this in a special section of our Parent Bulletin Board across from the principal’s office. Please send in the information as soon as possible; we would like to begin the board on Monday, November 2.

Keep all veterans in your prayers!

This is a real celebration for Holy Trinity Catholic School and for Holy Trinity and All Souls parishes. The fact that so many of our young men and women are electing to become confirmed as adult Christians enriches the entire Catholic Church. We are so proud of them and of the eighth grade students from Our Lady of the Presentation who took this big step last year.

In appreciation of all the

hard work that our eighth grade students have done in preparing for Confirmation, all of our eighth grade students will have a day off of school on the day following Confirmation, Friday, November 13.

It is our tradition here at Holy Trinity School to have a special prayer service celebrate All Saints Day. This year the service will be at 8:00 on Fri., October 30. The first grade students will talk about their favorite saint. All first grade parents are invited to attend, followed by a little refreshment.

We will celebrate All Souls Day and pray for those who have died on Mon., Nov. 2 at our 8:00 a.m. Mass.

Also, during the month of November, all students and parents are invited to send names of any deceased you wanted listed in our Book of Remembrance. The school community will be praying for all those listed in the Book of Remembrance at every Mass during the entire month of November.

All Saints Day and Remembrance for the Deceased

With this newsletter we are sending home an updated FastDirect parent activation letter with your personal code. I apologize for the fact that the parent activation codes were not sent last week. Activation codes and instructions are coming home to parents in grades K-8 in your Wednesday envelope on October 28. Please activate as soon as possible! Report Cards will be available on-line this Friday, October 30.

If you can not activate the FastDirect site and want a paper copy of the report card please return the request for a paper copy we will print it out.

FastDirect and School Reach

We are so excited to have the Book Fair back at Holy Trinity School. This is a great opportunity for parents, grandparents or friends to purchase books for Christmas. The Book Fair will be open in the Music Room on Monday, Nov. 2 through Friday, Nov. 6 and will also be open during all conference hours.

Early in the week students will be given the opportunity to look through the Book Fair and will make a wish list. If parents wish to purchase books for a child they may just send a check with the wish list indicating

Home & School Book Fair

Because of the time involved in activating this new system, paper copies will go home on Monday,

November 2. In all subsequent quarters the paper copies of the report cards will go home to those parents who request them on the same day as they are available on FastDirect.

Teachers have just been trained in the on-line grade keeper; they were using their normal grade book during the first quarter. They will begin using the on-line grade book next week but we will close the system for two weeks while they get familiar with posting grades. The system

will then reopen for the remainder of the school year.

School reach will also be set up within the next few weeks as soon as the FastDirect data base is complete.

Look for more information about School Reach to come home next week.

To access FastDirect now, click on the icon below.

which of the books you want to purchase or they may come up and purchase a surprise book.

Teachers will also make up a wish list that will be posted at the Book Fair. This wish list can be used to purchase something for the classroom or for a Christmas present for the teacher.

This year we will also sponsor a giving program with the Book Fair. Any money donated will be matched by Scholastic for both our school and another charitable institution. If we reach our $300.00 goal all the teachers will dress wacky

one day!

Also new this year, we are inviting Grandparents to come for tea and cookies and to shop with their grandchildren for a book. See the Home & School note going out about the Book Fair and these programs!

Thanks to our Home & School Officers who will be staffing the Book Fair for the week; we all love to see students get excited about reading!

“Meet and Greets”

The Enrollment Management Team has set three informal “Get Togethers” so that parents from the school community can meet with the School Board, the teachers and the staff in a very informal way. In order to allow as many people as possible who wish to attend to do so we have set the three “Meet and Greets” on three different days and at three different times. I hope that as many parents as possible can come to one or more.

The dates for the meet and greets are:

Friday, December 4 (donuts and coffee): 7:30 -8:15

Thursday, January 14 (Wine and cheese): 5:30 -6:15

Tuesday, February 9 (Tea and cookies): 2:15 -3:00

Please join us at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10 for our November Home & School Meeting. Every child in the classroom that has the highest percentage of parents attending will earn free raffle tickets for the December Mission Raffle, and a free dress day! In addition, parents who stay through the entire meeting

This November we have set up a retreat evening experience for all Catholic seventh grade students and their parents as they begin preparation for Confirmation.

The retreat is set for Wednesday, October 28 at 7:00 p.m. in the school chapel.

The retreat will be run by Paul Masek of the REAP Team and members sharing faith about their experiences and insights of the Holy Spirit. After the

Home & School Meeting

7^th Grade Confirmation Retreat

will earn a free dress coupon for each of their children for Wed., Nov. 11 or Thurs., Nov. 12.

Come for some good food, a presentation on our Safe Touch Program and our Human Sexuality Program at Holy Trinity School, some updates about coming Home & School

activities and an interesting evening with friends. Free babysitting will be provided.

Used uniforms

will also be for sale.

retreat portion is ended there will be a very short meeting for All Souls, Our Lady of the Presentation and Holy Trinity to go over some expectations for Confirmation preparation.

As you know, we have a combined PSR (Parish School of Religion) and full time Confirmation program between All Souls and Holy Trinity Parishes and we are working on ways to make a smooth transition with the Confirmation

Program of Our Lady of the Presentation.

Please keep all of these students in your prayers as they begin this journey of faith.

Please join us for our Thanksgiving Mass at 8:05 on Tuesday, November 24. This Mass will be led by the eighth grade students who will be collecting canned goods for the poor. We are hoping that every child in grades Kindergarten through eight can bring two or more canned good products to the Mass.

During December, the eighth grade will bring the collected

Thanksgiving Mass and Holidays

canned goods to the Immaculate Conception/Saint Henry shelter in the city of Saint Louis. The children will have a chance to speak to workers at the center who will share the plight of their clients. The eighth grade children will help box food for their Christmas giving program.

We will have a full day of school on November 24 with Day Care until 5:30. Our

Thanksgiving holidays begin on Wednesday, November 25. School will be closed, with no Day Care available. School resumes on Monday, November 30.

Cookbooks for Sale

Don’t forget to order your Cookbooks! This great fundraiser is sponsored by Linda Edison and our sixth grade students to earn money for Outdoor Education. The books are ten dollars a piece and will make great Christmas gifts for anyone who likes to cook.

Canned Goods for the Poor

We will be collecting canned goods for the poor at every All School Mass throughout the month of November.

The Three “Rights”

Top Twenty parents have attitudes and look at things in a way that helps all those around them experience life in a positive way. “The Three Rights” is a technique that the Top Twenty Parents book uses to help people see the world differently.

When people are not getting what they want to be getting out of a situation they can feel: ”When I think I’m right, I’m right”. In this view there is no other way to see a problem and people begin to blame others because, if they are right, then others must be wrong. This is a bottom eighty way to think because it does not allow the

negative situation to change.

A Top Twenty way to think might be “When I think I’m right I am aware that I might be wrong but just haven’t discovered what I’m wrong about yet.” This view doesn’t blame anyone else and allows for curiosity about the negative situation and the possibility about learning more and possibly changing a point of view.

The third way for a Top Twenty parent to think is “When I think I’m right I am right, but there’s always something more that I am not seeing.” In this point of view Top Twenty parents realize that they never see anything exactly the way that

it really is. They are curious to get more information to find the missing pieces to a puzzle. Top Twenty parents can think that they are right, but before making decisions or judgments they actively look for more information.

If you are interested in borrowing a copy of Top Twenty Parents let us know.

“If you are interested in borrowing a copy of Top Twenty Parents let us know.”

We have a lot planned for December! Please mark your calendar early so you don’t miss any of the fun. The Mission Christmas Raffle is set for the week of December 12-18. Our first Parent/Teacher/School Board Meet and Greet is set for Friday morning, December 4. We will be collecting for our Christmas Giving Program through December 11 and we will wrap our gifts on December 11. Also on December 11 we will carol our way to the Heritage House and then come back for hot chocolate and cookies. We invite all our parents to join us if they can. Santa’s breakfast is scheduled for Saturday, December 12 here at school.

December Updates

Every year we purchase a number of daily newspapers to use in our science program DASH and FAST (our Science Program) uses the weather information on a daily basis. The students make graphs and charts from this information and make predictions about the weather. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch gives us a good price for the daily papers but they are not free. Several times a year, however, we are also given quantities of free papers for the students to use with special topics. If you happen to see the papers on the bench or out front I wanted you to know that they are there for an educational purpose and are used in the classrooms.

Newspapers in Education

Many of our 7^th and 8^th grade students are looking forward to Luke 18, scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 6, 7^th and 8^th. This is a great experience for the young men and women, who spend the night in host home and explore their feelings about God through a variety of fun activities and interesting talks. Please keep all those who are going in your prayers.

Luke 18 Retreat for our 7^th & 8^th grade students

Butter Braid orders are Due

The orders for those delicious Butter Braids are due, along with payment, on Monday, November 2. The Butter Braids make a delicious and easy breakfast or snack treat during the holidays!