BLOCK PARTY COUNTDOWN!

Hopefully you’ve saved the date and booked your sitter for Saturday, March 28 from 6-10pm! The Block Party is going to be the party of the year! The event will take place in the upper school courtyards under twinkling lights with tasty food & drinks, live music, unique shopping and the perfect time to get to know other parents – and faculty/staff! Tickets are WAY discounted this year – only $40 per person in advance – and go on sale soon!
Check your mail – a sponsorship and donation packet is headed your way! Please consider sponsoring the event and/or donating items for the auction. It takes a village to throw a Block Party! ; )

CONGRATULATIONS, MATHLETES!!!

St. Michael’s students blew past the Math-a-Thon goal and raised $19,800! Special thanks to all the parents, families, friends and neighbors that supported our students as they, in turn, supported the school. Tomorrow (May 6), the entire school will be treated with Free Dress and an eegee’s treat. The real treat happened at Monday Chapel when Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Hawes and Ms. Hart competed in a Fortnite Dance-Off in front of the entire school! Ms. Hart was crowned the winner according to the decibel meter reading. Such fun! Thank you to our dancers for giving it your all.
Top Mathletes (Lower School)
1st place – Kenzie Byers
2nd place – Grayson Dorland
3rd place – Ralph Silberschlag
Top Mathletes (Upper School)
1st place – Jake Schoff
2nd place (tie) – Silvana Loewenstein
2nd place (tie) – Shay Vinayak
Winning Classrooms:
Ms. O’Shell (2A)
Ms. Garcia (5A)

In Our Community

Sixth graders Sarah Camp (catcher) and Kallista Favre (centerfield), playing with the Tucson Rebels Fastpitch softball team in the 4th annual “Can’t Beat the Freeze” softball tournament, finished as champions in the 12u division, beating some of the best softball teams in Tucson. Way to go!

Mardi Gras Pancake Lunch

From the Mardi Gras Pancake Chairs:  Treber Rebert, Trevor James, and me.
We would like to thank all those volunteers who have helped, year after year, to make our pancake lunch a success.  We kept the pancakes coming and delivered more than 1000 pancakes and hundreds of sausages to our hungry student diners!
We hope that everyone enjoyed Fat Tuesday, and the festive lunch that was served.
A special thank you to the JoVert Steel Drum Band from Tucson High School, as well as our Head Chef with more than 20 straight years of pancake-flipping for our students, Andy Bruno.
Thank you to our volunteers:
Erika Pina-Loucks
Alisa and Rich Reed
Hyewon Shin
Julia Rebert
Alison Sullivan (in spirit)
Haley Ochoa
Jen Thorn
Megan Brown
Michelle Gastrock
Thank you again,
Jason

Notes from the Head

Dear St. Michael’s Parents and Families—

On behalf of our Board and teachers and staff, I wish all of you a wonderful, safe, and restful Rodeo Week!

Please note that I will send a standalone, separate email tomorrow to all parents and families with a summary of our faculty-recruiting efforts for the coming 2020-2021 academic year.

For now, as I look ahead to this upcoming week of rest, with the hope that we will all find some time for reading, I offer two suggestions—one to help your superstars strengthen their independent-reading skills and enjoy reading while they’re away, the other a recommended book for those of us who are raising adolescent girls.

First, for your sons’ and daughters’ own explorations in reading outside of school, which I highly encourage, I have discovered the wonder and appeal of online books for my three children at home.  There are a number of suitable (it seems) apps online that support reading.  I do not necessarily promote any particular app, but one such app that I have used and enjoyed, “Audible,” offers (for a modest cost) digital books that are read aloud for the listener and can be enjoyed by readers of all ages, with or without the use of headphones; all that is required is a standard speaker on a mobile phone, a desktop, laptop, or any similar mobile device.  Paired with the hard copy of the same book, it is an effective way—though certainly not the only way—for young readers to follow along as they read, pausing and re-reading when they need to.  I enjoy, above all, reading aloud to my kids, my youngest in second grade especially, as he is often the only willing participant!  When too much to do and obligations elsewhere prevent me from sitting and reading aloud with them, however, the online option for audible books has proven to be a winning and effective alternative.

My second recommendation—again, especially for those of us in the throes of raising adolescent daughters—I have been reading with great interest Dr. Lisa D’Amour’s bestselling book, Untangled, a research- and anecdotal-based testament to the complex journey of adolescent girls and their parents through the distinct stages of separation, independence, and adulthood.  Here is a short excerpt about the book from the author’s website (https://www.drlisadamour.com/untangled/): “Untangled helps mothers and fathers (parents) understand, connect, and grow with their daughters.  When parents know what makes their daughter tick, they can embrace and enjoy the challenge of raising a healthy, happy young woman.”

Happy reading, wherever you end up!

Brendan Sullivan
Head of School
bsullivan@stmichael.net

 

Math-A-Thon Update

Drum roll, please….FREE DRESS FOR EVERYONE!!!
Math-A-Thon mathletes, you have done an amazing job! As of today, our total donations are $15,451! This entitles the ENTIRE school to FREE DRESS DAY! That is just shy of Free Dress PLUS Eegee’s Party – only $549 to go!
And since we are so close to meeting the big goal of $18,000, we are EXTENDING THE DEADLINE for Math-a-Thon donations to tomorrow – Friday, February 14! One final push to score a school-wide Eegee’s party with Free Dress – plus live entertainment by Mr. Sullivan, Ms. Hart, Mr. Hawes and Ms. Gould as they compete in a Fortnite Dance-Off at Monday Chapel!
So, if you haven’t yet donated to Math-a-Thon or if you just thought of someone else who may want to sponsor you…act NOW! Online donations can be made at www.stmichael.net/mathathon.
Thank you all for your incredible generosity!

Science Fair Winners

Here are the results of our 2020 Science Fair. Congratulations to these scientists!

Eighth Grade:
1st- Scarlett Street Not a Drop to Drink

2nd- Riley Egan, Lily Hays Bizarre Bread Mold

3rd- Audrey Juneman Gettin’ Speedy

Honorable Mentions- Ethan Ackerman Hurting My Voice So You Don’t; Olivia Gastrock Fantastic Flame; Lily Huether Got Bacteria?; Chris Wilds Which material makes the best soundboard?

Sixth Grade:
1st- Adalyn Chue, Bella Pendolino Can Eggshells Save Lives?

2nd- Owen Brosanders Hummingbird Food Fight

3rd- Oliver Lewis Do “Trees For You” Make You Cool? 

Honorable Mentions- Claire Zeiller Hot or Cold?; Kallista Favre, Samia Posada It’s Everywhere!; Chase Puntenney, Tommy Walsh How Much Sugar?; Deven, Dilan Ramakumar The Gaming Grievance

Fourth Grade:
1st- Zoe Brosanders Which Cat Will You Adopt?

2nd- Cecilia Kramer Do Cats Have Unique Paw Prints? 

3rd- Max Puntenney Tooth Decay

Honorable Mention- Miles Griffiths Who Will Pick Up the Can?; Aleks Wolert Swimming Out of the Fog; Austin Walsh Don’t Cry About It

 

Pancake Lunch

We will be celebrating Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday with a free pancake lunch on February 25th.  The Tucson High Steel Drum band will be playing during lunch to add to the carnival atmosphere!

Lunch will be sausage and pancakes, and there will be a gluten-free pancake option available.