Immaculate Conception School – Celina, OH

2.21.12
Dear I.C. Families,

Well, the children seemed to really enjoy the NED Show on Friday, and we do have several orders in the office this morning. We will do our best to make sure the orders are filled on a daily basis, if you send an order in. Please do NOT feel obligated to make any purchases. I am stressing that it is important to respect whatever Mom or Dad say about purchases. If you make purchases, I hope your children enjoy the challenge of working with the yoyos. I do want to stress that purchases can be made all this week or next Monday, if you want to purchase items. If your child lost the order form, and you need a new one, they can request on in the office, or you can let us know by phone call or e-mail to send one with your child. They were told 3 rules for yo-ing at school, and you might want to use similar ones at home:
1. Practice in the NED Zone only (a designated area that is safe).
2. Stay at least and arm and string length apart from others.
3. No swinging tricks. (You might designate where these can be practiced to avoid broken lights, etc.)

Our spring pizza sale is just around the corner. Attached is a letter about the spring pizza sales. Orders will be taken from March 2 – 19 and products will be made on April 20-21. Please read over the letter and mark the dates on your calendar now! It is actually so much fun if we can get every family to participate in the sale in some way. I know there are a few folks who truly cannot due to health issues or a need to work, so please mark the dates and try your best to pitch in, even if only for a while, and SO MANY THANKS to the many people who have worked tirelessly over the years to make these sales so successful! It is incredible to see this project work!!!!
Also, You may want to mark the dates of March 22 and 23 on your calendar for our 5th and 6th grade musical: School house Rock. It will be held at 1:00 and 7:00 pm each day. Ticket information will be coming out at a later date, but I am sure it will be a great show! We are so blessed to have Mrs. Morris here to direct the students and give them this great experience!
Also, some of you might want to be aware of the following information concerning a preschool screening:

A preschool screening for 3, 4, and 5 year-olds of Celina Schools District will be held on Friday, May 4, 2012, at the Cheryl Ann building. They will be screening children in a variety of developmental areas. Possible screenings include vision and hearing acuity, fine motor coordination, speech and language development, visual and auditory memory/perception, and general knowledge. Your child does not need to be attending a preschool to come through the screening. This screening is a free service provided by your local school district in cooperation with the Mercer County Educational Service Center. If you are interested in having your preschool child screened, please call Janice Diller at 419-586-6628, ext. 221 by April 27, 2012, to register.

Remember that tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. This season is set aside for penance, prayer, and sacrifice to help us grow in our love of Jesus. Ash Wednesday Masses here at I.C. will be held at 7:30 am, 8:45 am (our school Mass), and 6:30 pm. I encourage you to discuss ideas about sacrifices you might make during Lent with your children. I know they are talking about this in their religion classes here at school, and some families work together to give up something or do something extra. You might try and say a special prayer together or read a Bible story together each evening. Some families agree to keep the television off or limit video games. Some do without dessert or candy or pop. Beginning next Monday evening, February 27, the parish will be hosting a soup supper in the PAC from 4:45 – 6:15 p.m, followed by stations of the cross at 6:30 and Mass at 7:00. The soup meal will be served by a different parish group each Monday, and the free will offering will be donated to some cause in the spirit of almsgiving. I would encourage you to consider participating in this parish event, if you can. In school, today we will have a short prayer service to put away Alleluia for Lent, and we will draw a slip each day over announcements from our box of kindness one thing we can do each day during Lent to be better disciples of Jesus. This time of year can be a very holy and wonderful time for children, followed by a great and exciting celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter!!!

God bless all of you,

Mrs. Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

2.16.12
Dear I.C. Parents (especially of Grades K-6),

I wanted to explain something that will be coming home today or tomorrow with your students. Several months ago, I had an opportunity to book an assembly for our students called the NED show. I happened to see this assembly a few years ago at another school, and thought our children would enjoy it, and there is a great theme to the show. NED stands for Never give up, Encourage others, Do your best, and those are values we are constantly trying to help our children learn. It is presented with a person who does some very cool yo-yo tricks, and assemblies like this one can cost several hundred dollars or more to book. It is free to us AS LONG AS we are willing to have available for sale for 5 school days after the assembly some NED items……mostly different yo-yos. Today or tomorrow, you will receive a letter that has an order form with it. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THERE IS NO OBLIGATION FOR US TO SELL EVEN 1 ITEM, and I do not want anyone to feel they need to purchase a yo-yo if you feel your child will not have any real interest in it. I always try to stress with children that they need to respect whatever Mom and Dad say. If you wish to make a purchase, please send in the order form with the appropriate money and your child’s name on it. The orders will be sent to the office in the morning, and we will make every effort to get the materials to your child that school day. If you wish to write a check, please make it out to I.C. School. Again, please do not feel it is necessary to purchase any items that you do not really want. We have no minimum number of items to sell and are not really trying to sell yo-yos. We are just trying to reinforce the strong message with this assembly, and if your child gets excited and wants to work at learning some yo-yo tricks, that is fine. There will be a designated area on the playground that can be used for a while for yo-yoing at school, but otherwise, students will be told to keep them put away here at school. This sale of NED items will be from Tuesday, February 21 – Monday, February 27.

Pre-school families, your children will not see the NED show, but if you are particularly interested in seeing the items for some reason, you are welcome to stop in the office or call for more information.

God bless you,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

2.13.12
Dear I.C. Families and Friends,

First of all, I have several “Congratulations!” to offer:

Congratulations to the Tim and Julie Heckler Family and the Matt and Christine Schlater family who won the drawings for $200 toward 2012-2013 tuition.
Congratulations to 6th grader Shaun Olberding, who won the Celina City Spelling Bee on Monday evening! He will go on to compete in Lima in March. Good luck, Shaun! We are proud of your achievements!

Congratulations to Mariah Rable, who placed second in the county in an essay contest sponsored by the Mercer County Elks. The topic for the essay contest was “Why I Am Proud to Pledge Allegiance to Our Flag.”
Attached you will find a flyer for the next lecture in the I.C. Striving for Excellence Lecture Series. It will be about navigating the college admissions process and being prepared for college. I know for some families that is a long way off, but some of you are starting to realize how fast it comes! Garnering information ahead of time will help ease the process when it comes. Remember the lectures are free. If you wish to have lunch, proceeds help benefit the school. A free will donation is accepted. If you are interested, please call Bella’s and make a reservation!

If any parents are interested in hearing a good speaker talk about differentiated instruction, we have received and open invitation to come to Piqua Catholic’s North Street Campus on Tuesday evening, February 14 from 7:00 – 8:30 to hear Ann Anzalone talk about “setting students up for success.” I have attached a flyer, if any of you are interested.
Our enrollment period will be open for a while, but we would appreciate it if we can have all re-enrollment in by March 13th or so. Early registration numbers are very helpful for us in planning for staff and materials, and we appreciate your help, and I appreciate everyone who has already completed this process! The deadline for financial aid applications is April 15, so make sure you get those done on time! The application and registration fees will remain the same this year, along with tuition remaining the same. Grant amounts may change, depending on the need, but the best way to get the best possible grant is to be sure you get your financial aid application done in time! Please feel free to contact me if you have any problems with this process, and know that I will do my best to help you! Also, remember the toll-free number for TADS is 1-800-477-8237. The people there are very helpful, as well.
Next Wednesday, February 15, is Twin or Triplet Day, sponsored by the student council. Students can dress like one or more friends. As with all our “dress-up days,” participation is optional, but usually fun for the students. If you did not remember to send in the permission slip for Jump Rope for Heart, please do so on Monday. We appreciate any effort you are willing to make to collect funds for this worthy cause, and if you do not wish to participate, please support the cause with some prayers!

Monday, February 20 is President’s Day, and this year, that means a day of NO SCHOOL. We also have a NO SCHOOL day on March 5 due to a scheduled teacher inservice in the city schools. Make sure you have these two days on your calendars. Also, you might mark Tuesday, February 21 if you wish to participate in the parish’s Mardi Gras celebration before Ash Wednesday on Wednesday, February 22.
Have a wonderful weekend!

God bless you all,

Mrs. Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

2.7.12

Dear I.C. Families,

Each year, we sponsor one national fundraiser to help build awareness in our students of the greater needs of the world and ways they can help others. We alternate between the Math-a-thon which supports St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and Jump Rope for Heart which supports the American Heart Association. Since we did Math-a-thon last year, this year we will be doing Jump Rope for Heart. Children in grades K-6 will be invited to participate at our opening assembly today.

Participation is entirely optional, as far as donations go, and the activities will be done during gym classes so no family will need to plan in another event to attend! Today or tomorrow, your child will bring home an envelope/letter about Jump Rope for Heart. One part of this is a permission slip for participation that we are asking all children to return by this Friday, February 10. We simply want the slip returned so we know you have received the information and know they will be doing appropriate activities during their gym classes. It is not necessary to include your e-mail address on the slip, and we are not needing parent volunteers since we are doing activities within the gym period.

You can see the envelope to get pledges/donations is included. If it is ok with you for your child to seek pledges/donations, please use this envelope and form. You will see information and directions about collecting donations online — again this is purely optional. If you choose to use the online donation site, that is something you can do at home, so you will know exactly what is done. We will NOT do it at school. For some families, having an online option makes collection easier, so feel free to use it if you like. On the envelope, you will also see prizes children can qualify to earn at certain levels…..we are not planning to emphasize the prizes, as we would like children to learn to do things for others without expecting anything in return, but since the prizes are distributed by the American Heart Association, we will distribute whatever is “earned.” We just want you to know we are trying not to make a big deal of them here at school. There is a box on the envelope that states “I want to give more, so please do not send gifts” you can check if you or your child do not want the prizes.

All pledge envelopes and donations are to be turned in by Wednesday, February 29. There is no minimum donation — any gift is helpful! As always, we appreciate your prayerful support of this fundraiser, whether or not you choose to have your child participate in the collection of donations. It is an important life lesson for our children to realize that there are many needs in the world, and we can do something about them, but we cannot do everything for everyone. Whether or not your child participates in collecting donations, please use this opportunity as a springboard to help discuss heart-healthy habits and to pray for those suffering from heart disease!

If you have any questions about the Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser, you can contact Mrs. Hellwarth (judyhellwarth@celina-ic.noacsc.org) or me (pollymuhlenkamp@celina-ic.noacsc.org) or call us at school (419-586-2379).

Please return the permission slip by this Friday, Feburary 10, whether or not your child will participate.

Mark your calendars to bring back any donations collected by Wednesday, February 29!! (or sooner!)

God bless you all,

Mrs. Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

2.6.12

Dear I.C. Friends and Family,

First of all I want to take a moment to say a very special thank you to our MANY WONDERFUL volunteers who do so much to support I.C. School. So many people give of their time and energy to help support the school and its mission! I cannot express how grateful we are for each act of volunteerism, whether it is as small as bringing cookies or punch for open house or a classroom party or whether it is as big as organizing a large fundraising event or serving on a committee throughout the year. Each volunteer is sol valuable!! I will share with you the extra prayers that we prayed for our volunteers this morning, and maybe you can say these prayers as a family on occasion.

> Volunteers are:
> Valuable
> Outstanding
> Loyal
> Unique
> Nice
> Terrific
> Efficient
> Enthusiastic
> Ready
> Sensational
>
>
>
> Like Ripples in a Pond
> By Laurie Eytel
>
> We thank you for all
> the great things you do.
>
> Large and small,
> they all have meaning
> to the families you help and to us.
>
> One act
> can make all the difference.
>
> Like ripples in a pond ­
> kindness spreads outward,
> reaching and touching others
> and can change a life forever.
>
> The smiling faces we see say it all…
> Thank you…you are our stars!

And, let me add, one more time: THANK YOU!!!

And speaking of volunteers, we have been asked to seek out volunteers for an event in the community: Easter Alive! It is a community event held at the fairgrounds that depicts 6 stations in the passion of Jesus that people can come through to understand more about what the Easter celebration is really all about. Volunteers are needed to play the roles in these stations, and adults AND children are welcome to participate. It will be held on March 30 and March 31 from 7-9:00. Volunteers would need to arrive at 6:30 in order to get into costume, and you can volunteer for either one or both nights, as your schedules might allow. Pictures from last year are attached to this e-mail. If you would possibly be interested in helping or have any questions about the event, please contact Matt Heckler (mhecks@yahoo.com OR 419-586-2911) or Tom Muhlenkamp (419-586-6459) before March 20.

And, once more, speaking of volunteers, the parish BINGO is still in serious need of volunteers to fill its crews. It is only 3 hours at the most 5 or 6 nights a year, and we very much appreciate the income this provides to the parish which helps a great amount in its subsidizing of the school. Many families sign up as a team and one or the other of them does the bingo, which means they can take turns and each only go 2-3 nights a year. And, again, thanks to the many volunteers who already serve on a BINGO crew…..your contribution is very important. If you are not presently serving on a crew and can possibly help with this volunteer ministry that directly benefits the parish and the school, please e-mail me, call the school office at 419-586-2379 or call Rob Luebke at 419-586-9562 — Your help is very needed and greatly appreciated!!!

Let me remind you again that we do have summer recreation forms here in the school office for softball, baseball, and swim and dive. Your students can come to the office and pick them up, or you can e-mail or call us and let us know to send them with them. These forms need to be in the recreation office BY APRIL 1. They can be turned into school (I think I said the other day they could not…..they will come to pick them up.) We also have forms for the British soccer camp to be held August 6-10.

Yesterday, our 6th graders led our faith assembly for February and took us on an imaginary field trip to heaven to meet St. Blaise, the saint we are learning about in February. We learned that he was a bishop who was also a physician, and he healed both people and animals. According to legend, the wild animals who were sick would come to him, but would not disturb him while he was at prayer. St. Blaise was arrested for being a Christian, and while in prison, saved a young child who was choking on a fish bone, which is why he is known as the patron saint of sore throats and Catholic tradition has a special blessing of St. Blaise to protect us from ailments of the throat and all evils. After Mass today, Fr. Ken and Fr. Alt gave this blessing to each individual student, teacher, and adult at Mass. Please ask your student what he/she knows about St. Blaise and about receiving this blessing.

In a few moments, we will be gathering in the Lourdes Room to put together our prayer chains for the troops and end our Catholic Schools Week by playing BINGO together, which the children always seems to enjoy! I know they are looking forward to it. It has been a wonderful week with much joy and beautiful weather to enjoy. Let me wish you many blessings as we close this Catholic Schools Week!!

God bless,

Mrs. Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

2.2.12
Dear I.C. Families,

Happy Catholic Schools Week to all of you! It was very nice to see so many of you here for open house on Sunday afternoon. I want to extend a grand thank you to many people who helped make this year’s open house a successful event! I would like to thank all those who ministered at the 12:00 Mass — Fr. Ken for a wonderful homily that reminded us about the mission we are called to carry out and for leading us in the prayer of the Liturgy, Jason Black for lectoring, Judie Braun for serving as commentator, parents, teachers, and others who served as eucharistic ministers, the 4th – 6th grade students who volunteered to sing in the choir, and other who did things behind the scenes! I would like to thank the enrollment committee (Rosita Drexler, Kim Adams, Margaret Baskett, Diana Russell, Cara Muhlenkamp, Cathy Fullenkamp, and Bev Korte) for all of their hard work and decisions for open house and for being here on Sunday! Thanks to the many volunteers who brought in cookies, punch, cups and napkins! Thanks to Mrs. Morris for presenting storytime in our beautiful library, Troy Reineke for putting together our glee performance and the girls who performed, and Mrs. Hellwarth for working with a craft activity for the children! Also thanks to our dedicated teachers who helped with all sorts of things that day! Sunday’s festivities helped to remind all of us what a wonderful faith community our school is part of. We are especially thankful to the several new families who came to spend time with us Sunday afternoon…it is so important that we continue to find new people to join the I.C. School family!!! Please encourage anyone who asks questions about I.C. to come in and check us out……they are welcome to call and schedule an appointment for a tour any time.
If you were not able to make it on Sunday and want to pop in some time to take a look at the many beautiful pieces of student work in the hallway, please feel free to do so! There are quite a few art projects out as well as other various works! The kindergarten class’s 100 projects are always impressive, and we celebrated the 100th day of school yesterday! Today we have had two session of STOP, DROP, and READ, along with several guest readers in the classrooms. I enjoyed being a guest reader in kindergarten and Preschool 1. I am sure our other guest readers enjoyed the opportunity as well. Tomorrow, we will have a panel of speakers talk with the children about vocations. Our own Fr. Ken, Brother Nick, Sr. Nancy and seminarian will provide information about various religious vocations and what their lives entail! Thursday is red, white and blue day, and the children will write prayers for our troops. Friday, we will have the blessing of throats after Mass since it is the feast of St. Blaise, and we will do special prayers thanking God for our volunteers and have a fun session of bingo to end the week! Today our sixth graders have had the opportunity to travel to Sidney to visit Lehman Catholic High School….it is a wonderful opportunity for our students to see a Catholic high school, and realize that Catholic education continues at all levels. Our glee club will also be performing on Thursday at a meeting of the Altrurian Club here in Celina. If you got a chance to see them on Sunday, I am sure you will agree that their performance will be enjoyed very much, and they will make a good representation of our school!
I would like to remind all families that anytime your child is to go home differently than what is his/her NORMAL way to go home, please notify the school office with a written note or a phone call. If you just tell your child, we are never 100% sure if they have everything straight (it is easy for them to get things mixed up or turn a maybe into a for sure, etc.). And legally, our hands are quite tied if your child normally goes home one way and they tell us something different is supposed to happen. It just keeps everything up front and simple in our office. We appreciate your cooperation with this!!

Preparations are now beginning for our fifth and sixth grade musical, which will be under the direction of Mrs. Morris. The production will be “Schoolhouse Rock” and will be held on March 22 and 23 at 1:00 and 7:00 both days here in our Spartan Star Theater!! Mark your calendars now and plan to catch a performance!
I appreciate the families who have already completed the enrollment commitment for the 2012-13 school year, and I encourage all of you to do so soon. We would love to have firm numbers by the first part of March, and PLEASE plan to have financial aid applications completed NO LATER THAN April 15 so we can make our grant distribution and send tuition agreements early in May. Remember, there are no changes in tuition or fees this year, but the grant distribution will depend on the exact need of each family, so an individual family’s grants may or may not be the same as last year — it all depends on the total picture of our need! That is why it is so critical that everyone complete the financial aid applications by April 15. As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this process. You should have received an e-mail from TADS with directions and a link, but you can go ahead and re-enroll without that e-mail. Just simply go to tads.com and hit family login. Use your e-mail address and password to log in and re-enroll.
May God bless ALL of you,

Mrs. Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

1.25.12
Dear I.C. Parents,

Congratulations to our sixth graders Benjamin Swonger, Ben Homan, Michael Schindler, Ashley Robinson, Grace McGohan, and Mariah Rable for making an outstanding presentation on WCSM’s Spectrum. The students planned the questions and answers and were well-prepared! If you did not catch them today, you can catch them online. Go to www.wcsmradio.com , click on Spectrum Shows, and choose the Immaculate Conception students on January 24. It should be up on the website for several days. Feel free to tell others about this and encourage them to listen.

Hopefully, all of you have received or will soon receive a letter from TADS about re-enrollment for the 2012-2013 school year. We would sincerely appreciate your prompt attention to the enrollment and registration for next year. Having accurate numbers will help us a great deal in planning staffing and orders. If you intend to fill out financial aid requests, you will have until April 15 to do so. Please do it as soon as you can. The Advisory Board and Finance Committee have agreed that we should not raise tuition this year. Tuition will remain at the 2011-2012 rate. Financial aid distribution will depend on a ratio of the total need. That will not be determined until after the financial aid application deadline. Again, it is very important that those are done on time to give us as accurate a picture of the need as possible before grants are distributed. It also gives you the best chance at the best possible grant for your family. If you have questions or concerns about this process or about anything here at I.C. School, please contact me at 419-586-2379 or by e-mail. I will be happy to meet with you and discuss any concerns or questions you have.

If you have a student who will be entering preschool 1, preschool 2, or kindergarten, you may want to mark your calendars for an informational parent meeting on Sunday, February 26 at 1:15 in the school. There will actually be two simultaneous meetings….one for preschool and one for kindergarten. At this meeting, there will be an explanation of what you can expect in our programs, ways you can help to set you child up for success, and how the enrollment process and tuition (and for kindergarten, financial aid) works. This meeting is not required but highly recommended, especially if you are new to one of these programs. If you know of anyone who might be interested in our preschool or kindergarten programs, please be sure they are aware of the meeting date. It will be publicized in the bulletin, newspaper, and some of the community bulletin boards, but word of mouth is always the very best advertisement!

If you have a child who will be entering kindergarten, you may want to mark down the dates of March 27 and 28 for kindergarten screening. We will begin setting appointments at the February 26 meeting, and you may set up your appointment time then or by calling the office after February 26.

I am hoping to see many of you at Open House on Sunday from 1-3, and hopeful that many of you will join us at the noon Mass for a special celebration with our children and their families and our staff performing many of the ministries. Special thanks to the students who have volunteered to sing and spread God’s joy with their voices!! It is a great joy to make music with young people!!! Next week for Catholic Schools Week there are activities planned for each day. Two I would like to make sure parents are aware of are on Tuesday, we will have another Spartan Spirit Day and on Thursday, we will have Red, White, and Blue Day. On these two days we encourage the students to dress accordingly (Tuesday: wear Spartan wear or blue/white; Thursday: wear red, white, and blue or patriotic clothing).

God bless you all,

Mrs. Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

1.24.12
Dear I.C. Families,

The month of January is flying by quickly, and it is hard to believe we are over halfway through already! Below are some reminders and bits of information I thought you might like to know:

1. We received a check today from Terracycle (the company that recycles the Capri Sun pouches) today for $120.94! That means we have recycled 6047 Capri Sun pouches, and Michelle Huber came to collect a new batch the other day! Thank you for the efforts of saving these and sending them in. It is a great way to capitalize on something we would otherwise throw away and the money does help our fundraising efforts!! Thanks to the Hubers for all their extra efforts on this project!!
2. Some of you may have found a Labels for Education Bonus sheet in the paper the weekend of January 7-8! If you have one, it only takes 5 or 6 labels to fill it up and by sending in that bonus sheet, we will earn an extra 100 points! But I do think they need to be turned into to school by the end of February and sent in by sometime in March. I stuck mine in last week one day, so hopefully a few more are gong to come in. Unfortunately, it has to be the original paper — no copies! Keep sending in the labels, boxtops, Capri Sun pouches, ink cartridges, Tyson Project A+ labels (from frozen chicken products), and school spirit labels from certain Aunt Millie’s and Holsum breads. They all help to make a difference!
3. This Sunday is a busy day of I.C. activities. Remember the lecture at 1:30 at Bella’s. The lecture is fee, and no food purchase is necessary. However, if getting lunch is convenient for you, there is a special lunch available for $10 a person. These lectures are fun and very informative! This month Sue Homan, a pharmacist and health consultant, will be talking about hormone replacement. Information is a valuable tool, and when it comes from very reliable sources, it is even moreso! And there is the family bowling at 3:00 at Plaza Lanes. There will be a drawing for various gift cards sponsored by the PTO at the family bowling, so make sure you sign in when you get there.

I regret I will be missing both of these activities, but I hope all of you have a great time. I will be traveling across the state to see my daughter appear in a small college honors band concert. This is a rare kind of event, and we are certainly proud of her musical achievement. I do hope both I.C. events are very enjoyable!

4. The opening to Catholic Schools Week will be our celebration at Mass at noon on Sunday! Some of our 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students will be forming a special choir for the Mass, and some of our students, teachers, and parents will be participating in the ministries of the Mass. Special thanks to the students who have volunteered to be part of the choir and to the parents for supporting them. ALL of you are welcome and encouraged to celebrate this special Mass with us, if your schedules allow you to do so!
5. We will be hosting an open house on Sunday, January 29 from 1 – 3 pm. We would love to see as many of you as possible! We will have some different activities for this open house. Our Glee club (one of the lunch clubs from the second quarter, thanks to volunteer Troy Reineke) will be performing, we will have storytime sessions in the library with Mrs. Morris and art activities in the art room with Mrs. Hellwarth. In addition, there will be refreshments available and you can explore ALL of the school — come see classrooms from preschool through 6th grade plus our special rooms — music, art, science, and the theater! You can meet and talk with teachers, see the special promotional DVD that the enrollment committee put together last summer, and sign up for prizes! There will be attendance prizes given away periodically throughout the afternoon as well as some door prizes at the end! Please spread the work and let other people know that they are also welcome to come and enjoy the family atmosphere at I.C. School. As always, word of mouth by parents who are happy with the education their children are receiving is our very best advertisement. This open house is for our present families as well as new, prospective families, and any other interested folks!
6. If your student was 10 -14 by January 1, there is a free throw contest sponsored by the Knights of Columbus on Sunday, January 29 at 2:00 at Celina Middle School. Mrs. Hellwarth has told the students about it and given forms to those who expressed interest. It is open to any student of the proper age. If your student is interested and did not get a form, he/she should see Mrs. Hellwarth!

7. All students will received report cards tomorrow. Be sure to look them over carefully with your child and help them understand what they can do to improve and pat them on the back for what they are doing well!! If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your child(ren)’s teacher (s) and set up a conference. The time they spend in school is only part of what can make them successful — what they do when they are not in school helps to build their success as well. Any teacher will be happy ideas with you for ways to make them more successful!! And communication is an important building block in your child’s successful education!
May God bless all of you,

Mrs. Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

1.12.12

Dear I.C. Families and Friends,

The weather reports are telling us that winter weather may be upon us. I pray that all of you remain safe and well in this season. I will remind you that you can expect a Onecallnow in case of a delay or cancellation. When it comes to weather, we will generally follow whatever Celina City Schools does because bus transportation is so important to our families, so you can listen for that on the radio and TV as well.

Students in grades 4-6 should have brought home a letter on Monday about the 12:00 Mass on Sunday, January 29 on bright yellow paper. If you have not sent that paper back yet, please try to do so by Tuesday, January 17. It is important in helping us to plan that Mass. Thanks to the many who have already sent it back, and especially to those whose students will be a part of the choir that day. It is always heartwarming to hear young voices and to see students willing to share their gifts and talents with others! I hope many of our families will join us for the opening celebration of Catholic Schools Week, if you are able to attend the noon Mass on January 29.

Students will be bringing home a packet of papers about the SCRIP program today. I would like to highlight two very important things. First of all, the SCRIP program made $28,000.00 in profit last year! Think of all the potential in growth if every family continues to use SCRIP even after their students leave I.C., and we are constantly adding new families. And if every family can get one more family started now, we could see a huge rise in profit this year! This is the easiest possible fundraiser since it does not really cost people any money — you get the amount you pay for!! Second, we are now ordering SCRIP by 9:00 on Monday mornings rather than waiting until noon. That usually helps our order arrive a day earlier than it would otherwise. Since we are not in school next Monday, we will place the order by 9:00 on Tuesday morning. Let’s continue to build this program’s potential!!

We are in real need of Bingo workers for Sunday and Tuesday crews! If you can help, please contact Rob Luebke at 419-586-9562 as soon as possible. The requirement is only 3 hours 5-6 nights a year if there are enough volunteers to help. Ideally, at least one parent in each family would be able to volunteer (you could even take turns), and that would make a lighter load for everyone. Bingo helps to provide an important income to the parish and helps the parish subsidize the school!! Please consider volunteering for a Bingo crew and give Rob a call!! And many, many thanks to all the many volunteers who work Bingo and help support the parish and school in this way!

There is no school on Monday, January 16 due to Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Wednesday, January 18 will be Spartan Spirit Day. We encourage all the students to wear their “Spartan” wear or dress in blue and white to show their I.C. Spirit! Next Friday, January 20, report cards will go home!

Attached is a flyer describing the upcoming lecture at Bella’s on Sunday, January 22 at 1:30. Please share this information with anyone who might be interested. Many thanks to Mary Swonger and Julie Fleck and crew for heading these up and helping to promote continuing education for all of us!

Remember the family bowling on Sunday, January 22 at 3:00 and Bob Evans Night on Thursday, January 26! Also mark your calendars for open house on Sunday, January 29 from 1-3. You will, of course, have the opportunity to visit your child(ren)’s classrooms, but so much more will be going on! There will be activities and entertainment, refreshments and door prizes!! Please invite new families to come and check it out — we are celebrating our I.C. School family and are always looking to welcome new people into our family!!

God bless you,

Mrs. Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

1.6.12
Dear I.C. Families and Friends,

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone enjoyed a glorious Christmas celebration and had an opportunity to spend time with loved ones! I know that the break from school was a short one this year, but it is nice to be back in the swing again and such a joy to hear the children’s voices and see their smiling faces !!
In these colder months, please help the children to remember to bring their hats and mittens or gloves, as we try to get them outside for recess as much as possible. We keep them inside when it is very messy, raining, or extremely cold. If we get snow, they are always excited to be able to play on the snow pile! The rule is that they need to have snow pants and snow boots to play in the snow.
I would also like to remind preschool families of schedule changes if there should be a delay any day:

On a 2 hour delay, preschool 1 will meet from 10:30 – 12:00 ; preschool 2 AM will meet from 10:30 – 12:30 and preschool 2 PM will meet from 1:00 – 3:15. I will remind you of this with my one call in the morning, but we have not had many yet, and typically we get more of these in the winter. 1 hour delays have been extremely rare the past few years. If we would move to a 3 hour delay, preschool will be canceled that day!

I would also like to take a moment and give a few reminders about parking and picking up and dropping off. Our concern is especially in the afternoon. We have some families who like to give their children time to play on the playground after school. I would like to remind those parents to keep a close eye on their children while cars are pulling through. The children must stay in the playground area until all cars have moved through. This is for every child’s safety! Also, please make sure a teacher sees you, so they know for sure your children are being taken care of before we go inside. Thank you to everyone for continuing to watch out for the safety of every child.

I have some important good news to share with you. It appears that our fundraising surpassed the goal last year by over $30,000. We will have a carry-over of $36,051 to begin this year!! What a huge blessing for all of us to celebrate and know that the hard work and dedication really paid off! We hope you will continue to support our fundraising efforts by participating when you can and praying for the success of all of them, as well as the continued generosity of our many benefactors! And, speaking of fundraising, this week we received a check from the Boxtops program for $661.70! Those little boxtops you send in really do add up and make a huge difference! Please continue to watch for those and send them in. Also, consider signing up online for bonus boxtop offers that can benefit us even more!! And, while I am at it, let me remind you that we are also collecting: used ink cartridges; labels for education (I received notice that there is going to be a special bonus sheet and some coupons in the January 8th paper — be sure to watch for it!); Tyson Project A+ labels; School Spirit labels from some Aunt Millie’s and holsum bread products; Capri Sun pouches; and, of course, we collect pop tabs. These little things do not cost you extra money, but they add up to big help for us! Thanks for the extra effort!

I would like to inform you that the next lecture in the I.C. Striving for Excellence Lecture Series will be held on Sunday, January 22 at 1:30 p.m. All of the lectures are held at Bella’s Italian Grille and are available at no cost. (A free will donation is accepted.) Also, if you would like to have lunch at 1:00, a portion of that cost is donated to I.C. School. Please see the attached flyer for more information and consider posting it for others to see.

Next week is National Vocation Week. I encourage each family to take some time to pray for vocations to the religious life and that all of us live out our vocations faithfully and with great love! A flyer is attached about a special Mass and prayers in honor of this week, if anyone is interested. Below is a prayer for vocations your family might like to say together:

> *Prayer for Vocations*
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> God of Love,
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> You call us to live in your love through the grace of our baptism.
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> Bless us with the courage
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> to carry out the mission of Jesus. Grant us open and generous hearts to see the needs of others
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> and to respond with compassion.
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> May the Church be blest with women and men who are dedicated to you through marriage,
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> the single life, the diaconate, priesthood, and the consecrated life.
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> It is in Christ and through Christ
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> that we offer ourselves to you now and forever. Amen.
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I have also attached a family prayer service and some activity suggestions you might use to talk about and pray for vocations in your home this week or any time during the year it seems appropriate. I hope you find something there your family can use!

Remember the family bowling event on Sunday, January 22 at 3:00! Slips were sent home this week about it……please remember to send the bottom portion of the slip back so we will have a good idea of how many people can participate! I hope you enjoy this opportunity and spending time with other I.C. families!

Our Bob Evans night this month will be on Thursday, January 26. Watch for flyers to come home later this month and in the church bulletin.
Catholic Schools Week will begin on January 29 and go through February 3. Our students, teachers, and families will serve as the ministers at the noon Mass on Sunday, January 29, and we will have an open house that afternoon from 1- 3pm. We are encouraging our present and prospective families to come and enjoy the family atmosphere of I.C. School, as we celebrate our Catholic schools. Watch for more details to come soon about this open house, but please write it on your calendars now and plan to attend, if possible. More information will also be coming in a few weeks about the events scheduled for that week…..our students look forward to this celebration !!

Many blessings to all of you in this New Year,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

12.21.11

Dear I.C. Families,

I just wanted to give you some updates on SCRIP! First of all, our sales were officially over 3300 as of Monday. I know the kids are looking forward to the movie party tomorrow afternoon (teachers, too, I think !) We are excited to see how our numbers look by the end of this week. Thank you for choosing to use SCRIP with your Christmas shopping — whether you are giving cards as gifts or using the cards to buy gifts, it is such a boost to our fundraising budget, and the really great thing is that it does not cost you anything to use it!
I also wanted to let you know that if you discover any last minute gifts that are needed or decide you need to do some after-Christmas shopping, you will be able to purchase SCRIP cards in the school office tomorrow, and in the rectory on Friday of this week and Tuesday through Friday of next week (Dec. 27-30). We will NOT sell SCRIP after Masses during the Christmas and New Years’ weekends, and the parish office will be closed on Monday, Dec. 26 and Monday, Jan. 2 in observance of the holidays. All SCRIP sales will return to normal on Tuesday, January 3.
A special thanks to ALL the volunteers who help to make our SCRIP program a success!!!

I would also like to wish each family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope you find much peace and great joy this holiday season and have the opportunity to enjoy many blessings in the coming New Year! And may Jesus find a greater “presence” in each of your hearts as you celebrate His birth and the wondrous mystery of His incarnation.

God bless you,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

12.19.11

Dear I.C. Families,
This season is certainly full of much busy-ness and many activities.  I hope you are making some time to enjoy the waiting of the Advent season and the joys of looking forward to Christmas.  I know the children are excited about counting the days and are looking forward to many things!  Fr. Ken talked to them at Mass this morning about how we look forward to “presence” at Christmas in addition to “presents.”  We love spending time with people and enjoy their presence, and we need to look forward to and enjoy the presence of Christ as well! I hope this last week before Christmas is filled with joy, peace, hope, and excitement.  Jesus tells us all to be more like children, and when you see them in this season, I think that meaning becomes more clear to us.
Thank you for your generous support of the Enrollment Committee’s Used Toy Bazaar.  The lovely toys you donated will help many families to have a more joyous Christmas.  We really appreciate the condition of the toys that were sent in, as well as the volume!  Any toys that were not sold on Monday evening were donated to the Choose Life center for them to give to young families.  They will find good homes.  We will also donate the proceeds (about $230) of the toy bazaar to CALL ministries food pantry to help bless the lives of other folks who are in need.  So many blessings to come from the donation of used toys !

I hope all of you had an opportunity to enjoy our Christmas program on Tuesday evening.  The children certainly appeared to have a wonderful time presenting it.  There is something so heart-warming about hearing children’s voices sing and watching them make music!  These are certainly wonderful opportunities for them to grow in confidence and poise, and perhaps they will carry the joyful gift of music in their hearts for a lifetime!!  I am so very proud of the students and of our amazing music teacher/director, Mrs. Morris.  We are fortunate to have a music teacher who can make music fun and still get the children to put on such lovely performances!  She gives a great deal of herself to us, and we immensely appreciate all of her efforts!

I want to be sure to take a moment to clarify one thing.  I received a notice today by phone to make an announcement about a hoop shoot tomorrow at Marion Local, and I quickly announced it at school, but then did some further checking, realizing it was a new level in the hoop shoot our children already participated in.  I do not think any of the children will beg you to take them without further notice, but if anything is mentioned, you will know that is the real story.
We have four more days of school before Christmas vacation begins, and I am sure those days will be full of excitement and joy  for the students!  Monday, we have planned for our school families (K-6) to go Christmas caroling in the afternoon.  They will walk around town — to the court house, city hall, etc. and spread some Christmas joy, and then return to school to enjoy hot chocolate and cookies provided by our wonderful PTO!
It is looking almost positive that we will have a movie party for the students next Thursday afternoon…..I know we have passed the 2,500 mark on SCRIP cards, and with another weekend to go, we are probably going to set a record for cards sold in any 4 week period!  But every card sold will help to benefit our school and is actually adding into next year’s fundraising goal!  So please keep buying them!  There is one more week to order, so make sure your orders are in by next Monday morning at 9:00 to get any last minute cards you need before Christmas.  Don’t forget to think about groceries and extra gas you might need with holiday parties.
I would like to remind you again that we will be OFF school on Monday, January 2, and we will resume classes on Tuesday, January 3.  We WILL also be in session on Wednesday, April 4, which had been a scheduled day off.

Wishing you a blessed fourth week of Advent…….

God bless,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School
12.9.11

Dear I.C. Family and Friends,

We have so many blessings to count and appreciate at this busy time of year!  Every day, there are many miracles all around us, and more waiting to happen!  Yesterday, the folks came to pick up the gifts that had been donated for the Angel tree — our students helped to pack those up, and it is so touching to see the generous hearts and spirits who organize the program, buy the gifts, and take care of getting them where they need to be.  In addition, our collection of used toys is growing by leaps and bounds this week, and that will bless some families in unspeakable ways. Our children are surrounded by opportunities to see others’ generosity and be generous themselves. That will spread the Christmas spirit like nothing else will, and hopefully, it will be a part of everything they choose to do in life!

I have several bits of news for you…..

1.  Please be sure you remember the Christmas program on Tuesday.  There will be two performances — 1:30 and 7:00 pm., and they will be held in the PAC in the gym.  I am certain you will be proud of the children’s efforts and your hearts will be lifted with Christmas peace and joy.  Both programs are open to the public, so feel free to invite, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and neighbors!  There is just no joy like the joy in children’s voices!  Preschool families, please feel welcome to come and enjoy the program as well!!  A free-will donation will be accepted at the program, and those donations are put into the music fund to help defray the costs of purchasing program needs.

2.  Please remember that children who do not have other costumes are to wear black pants and white shirts (Mass-appropriate clothing).  They NEED to bring these clothes on Monday, December 12 to wear for the dress rehearsal (we want to be able to take pictures during this rehearsal!) and on Tuesday, December 13 for the afternoon performance.  They will be able to change into/out of the clothes so they can keep them clean.  They should bring or wear them home on Tuesday and wear them to the program on Tuesday evening. All students should be at the PAC by 6:45 on Tuesday evening for the evening program.  (Band and some of the older students may need to come a bit earlier — they will receive directions from Mrs. Morris!)

3.  I received word yesterday that Celina City Schools has decided to change the school calendar and NOT be in session on January 2.  We will gladly adopt that change as well.  So, even though you have received some communication home that classes will resume on January 2, 2012, that is now changed to January 3, 2012!  Please enjoy that extra day as you plan your holiday celebrations.  This day will be made up on Wednesday, April 4 for I.C. (Celina City Schools will be in session on Thursday, April 5).

4.  Please remember the I.C. Striving for Excellence Lecture Series continues this Sunday, December 11 at 1:30 at Bella’s Italian Grille.  I.C.’s own Ria Schroeder is doing a presentation on couponing that I am sure will open many people’s eyes up to ways they can save and stretch their money as far as possible.  Call Bella’s at 419-586-9545 to reserve a spot.  If you would like to have lunch, Bella’s offers a special lunch deal for $10 that includes a salad, drink, entree, and dessert, and a portion of the proceeds go to I.C.

5.  We are getting closer on our SCRIP goal of 3,000 cards……we are up to at least 1,800 so far!!!  I know the kids are hopeful for the movie party, so please help encourage the SCRIP sales with everyone you know!  Also, I have been asked to let you know that American Express cards are now available in amounts of $25, $100, and $250.  However, they need to be ordered online through an individual account — we are not permitted to purchase them and keep them in stock or “proxy” order them.  Remember, SCRIP cards can make wonderful gifts as well — it can be a real treat to go out to eat without the guilt of spending money, and everyone can use gas, groceries, and other necessities……

I hope all of you are trying to make time amidst the hubbub of shopping, baking, and everyday running to help your children prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas time…….there are many little things you can do, even in the car running from one place to another — singing Christmas carols, saying prayers, etc., but it is also important to take some time to learn to listen to God as well!  Please keep all those who are ill or challenged with other difficulties in your prayers this season.  We are seeing prayers being answered around us every day, and are so thankful for the bits of good news we receive as well!  It is not for us to know how God will answer our prayers, but we can trust that he will answer them in his time, and in his way.

May God bless you,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

12.2.11

Dear I.C. Families,

December has arrived, and with it a definite chill in the air!!  Brrr!  We can hear the children’s excitement and anticipation building as the first week of Advent comes to a close and makes us that much closer to the Christmas holiday!  I am so pleased to see the donations coming in for the used toy drive.  The Lourdes’ Room is surrounded with the Christmas spirit, as one corner is storing the angel tree gifts and another the used toys for the used toy bazaar.  Thanks to everyone who has added to the used toy drive.  We are still accepting donations up through December 12, but would appreciate as many as possible in by next Friday, December 9.  This is a great way for us to help members of our community insure a nice Christmas for many families!

I would like to ask prayers for Mrs. Carol Thees who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.  This, coupled with her husband’s diagnosis in early October of kidney cancer, is going to mean much treatment and rest for both of them.  I know they will sincerely appreciate your prayers.  It is very early in her treatment, so it is hard to tell yet how the medicines will affect her.  She will have surgery at some point, but the timing is yet undetermined.  I know the children are praying for her health and that she is able to stay in good spirits!

I also wanted to make sure you are all aware of the next lecture in the I.C. Striving for Excellence Lecture Series.  These lectures have been a wonderful opportunity to spend a Sunday afternoon learning something new and interesting and perhaps show our children we are never too old to learn.  If you are at all interested, please check it out — I don’t think you will regret it.  Sundays are hard days for me to attend sometimes, but I did take time for last month’s lecture, and was certainly glad I did!  It was very informative and interesting.  And, if you make it an extension of your lunch, the food is always delicious and makes the afternoon seem like a complete treat!  Please see below for details:

IC School Striving for Excellence Lecture Series- Sunday, December 11, 2011

The “IC School Striving for Excellence Lecture Series” continues to bring valuable information to our community. The Series is sponsored by IC School to help promote the excellence of our school while caring about our community and the people within it. The Series offers WITHOUT COST informative lectures to educate and illuminate. The lectures will be held once a month on a Sunday at Bella’s Italian Grille and will last approximately one hour. There will be time for questions and answers at each of the lectures. Bella’s will be offering a menu for those who wish to eat and will donate a portion of its proceeds from the meal back to IC School. Free Will Donations are greatly appreciated.

This month’s lecture on Sunday, December 11, 2011 at 1:30 pm at Bella’s Italian Grille will educate us on ways to try and cut the cost of inflated bills, especially grocery bills…”COUPONING”.  Learn from our very own Ria Schroeder about the commitment, the availability, the do’s and don’ts, the who does and who doesn’t.  We all have money (from coupons) coming in the mail.  Why not learn how to capitalize on it and stretch your dollar even further?

Be sure to mark your calendar and attend this lecture with your family and friends! The Lecture Series continues to search and is in need of individuals and /or businesses who are willing to sponsor either an individual lecture or an entire series (5 lectures). Please remember that not only is this a great way to advertise, but you are supporting our wonderful school while helping a loved one, a neighbor, and your community! If you would like to learn more about a certain topic, please let me know.  Please contact Mary Swonger at 419-230-0991 for more information and/or suggestions. Thank you for supporting the “IC School Striving for Excellence Lecture Series!” We hope to see you there!

Another day I want to be sure you can put on your calendars is Sunday, January 22 at 3:00 p.m.  The Family Night committee has made arrangements for an afternoon of bowling at Plaza Lanes in Celina at a reduced cost of $2.75 per game and no charge for bowling shoes.  This would be a great time to introduce your children to bowling or to spend time in fellowship with other I.C. families.  More information will be sent home the first week of January.

Scrip sales appear to be going well…….I think we are at about the 800 card mark on our goal of 3,000, and we have sold over $11,000 worth of cards since Monday!!  WOW!!  If those cards give us an average 5%, that is approximately $550 dollars in profit this week!  If we could average $500 profit each week, SCRIP would provide $26,000 toward our fundraising goal!!  Please try to use SCRIP as much as you can and encourage everyone else to do the same!!!  I know it takes more planning ahead, and it can be hard to do that, but if we all do as much as we can, it is really worthwhile!!!

Dates for your calendars:

Thursday, December 8 – Feast of the Immaculate Conception – School Mass at 8:45 am – other parish Masses at 6:30 pm in 12/7 and 12/8 and 7:30 am on 12/8.
Friday, December 9 – Progress Reports
Sunday, December 11 – Lecture at Bella’s on couponing
Tuesday, December 13 – Christmas Music program 1:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, December 14 – Penance Service at 1:00 for grades 3-6 open to adults as well.
Thursday, December 22 – last day before Christmas break
Monday, January 2 – Classes resume

May God bless all of you,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

11.30.11

Dear I.C. Families,

I hope you are finding many ways to enjoy this wonderful Advent season with your families.  It is such a neat time of preparations and expectation!  I told some of the students yesterday that I think I like Advent better than Christmas itself — there is just something about the feelings of anticipation and getting things ready that fills my heart with joy and peace.  I love the many Advent traditions to help us wait, whether a wreath, a Jesse tree, a paper chain.  I also wish you many blessings in your preparations — I hope the shopping and other tasks do not weigh too heavily on you or your pocketbooks !

Here are some reminders about upcoming events:

1.  Used Toy Bazaar — Remember that we are collecting gently used toys and gift wrap supplies for our used toy bazaar on December 12.  Thanks to those who have sent in donations.  This is a great opportunity for nearly all our students to bring in some of their nicer used toys to help make other children’s Christmases a little merrier!  Please make sure that toys are clean and in good condition.  Be sure games and puzzles have all pieces.  These donations can be brought to the Lourdes’ Room any day during school hours (8:00 am – 3:30pm).  If you need to bring them another time, let us know, and we will try to find a solution for you.  Thanks to the enrollment/marketing committee for organizing this event as an outreach to our community.  The bazaar will be held on Monday, December 12 from 4 – 7 pm and is open to the public.

2.  If you ordered SECOND TO NONE shirts a while back for Celina basketball, they are available for pick-up anytime on November 30 (today) or later in the week.  The first home game is this Saturday against Lima Senior, and they would like as many people to wear the shirts as possible.  The shirts will n ot be brought to the school — it is up to you to pick them up.

3.  Lange Photographics will be here tomorrow to take activity pictures and some candid pictures for our yearbook.  4th, 5th, and 6th grade volleyball and/or basketball players should remember to bring their WHOLE uniform:  jerseys, shorts, socks, shoes, etc. for pictures.

4.  Bob Evans has set up Thursday, December 8, as our community fun night.  I am attaching a copy of the flyer you can print out or send out to anyone who might be interested in helping.  Please remember to purchase Bob Evans Scrip cards if you will be able to support this event.  If you take your flyer and use SCRIP cards, we collect 25% of the food cost.  And you can certainly use the flyer to purchase carry-out food which may work better in your schedules and/or be more affordable for families.

5.  Remember to purchase SCRIP cards for your Christmas shopping needs, whether to give the cards as gifts or to use as cash to purchase your gifts.  We have set a goal of 3,000 gift cards for the students to earn a movie party before Christmas.  I am told today that we are already at about 600, but that means we need to seel about 2400 more!!  Please see this important announcement about SCRIP orders:

IMPORTANT SCRIP CHANGES FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!

From now until Christmas, all Scrip orders must be in to IC School by 9:00 a.m. on Monday mornings in order to get them filled by Thursdays.  Fed-Ex always takes a little longer during the holidays, so we want to be better prepared this year!  After Christmas, we’ll go back to the noon deadline.

6.  Also remember that you can use schoolstore.com to help with your Christmas shopping.  There are so many retailers available…..be sure to check it out!  It saves a lot of wear and tear on your cars and your feet to shop online and have the packages delivered to your door!!  If you like to shop online, please use this site!!  We already have $258 in profits in school store, and I am sure that many of our retail sales have not even hit yet!  A lot of places have good deals right now and are offering free shipping!!!

We held our November faith assembly this morning, and the 6th graders took us on imaginary trip to heaven to meet with St. Anne and St. Joachim.  They told us how they prayed and prayed for God to send them a child so they offered her to God in thanksgiving.  This special child was Mary, who later become the mother of Jesus.  Mary grew up with saintly parents and was a holy child — she worked in the temple as a girl and learned the scriptures and how to pray from her parents.  We can learn from these models of faith to never give up on God — keep praying, but trust God to answer our prayers in his way.  We also need to never be afraid to talk with God.  Mary is our mother in heaven, and St. Anne and St. Joachim are like our grandparents in heaven.  St. Anne and St. Joachim are the patron saints of mothers and fathers.

Please remember in your prayers the many people in our extended school family who are dealing with special challenges such as illness or injury.  The prayer board in our teachers’ lounge has been especially full recently!

I would also like to remind you about the I.C. Parish Christmas Bazaar which will be held this Saturday from 9-4 and the PAC.  There will be crafts and activities and many gift items available for purchase as well as food and good parish fellowship.

I will also remind you that next Thursday, December 8 is a holy day of obligation and our parish/school feast day.  All our K-6 students will attend Mass on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8 at 8:45.  Please be sure they wear appropriate clothing for Mass on Thursday — no jeans or t-shirts.  There are also Masses on Wednesday evening at 6:30 pm, Thursday morning at 7:30 am, and Thursday evening at 6:30 pm.  Our students will not attend Mass on Friday that week.

Make sure you have marked your calendars for the upcoming Christmas program on Tuesday, December 13 at 1:30 pm and 7:00 pm in the PAC.  Remember, students are expected to wear black pants and white tops (Mass appropriate clothing) for the dress rehearsal on Monday, December 12 AND for both performances on Tuesday.  On Tuesday evening, students should plan to arrive at the PAC by 6:45 pm, and all students are expected to attend and participate.  If you have any questions, please call the school and ask Mrs. Morris or e-mail her.  I have been hearing some lovely Christmas sounds coming from the “music corridor.”  I am sure it will be an enjoyable program!!

May God bless you all,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

11.18.11

Dear I.C. Families,

First of all, I wanted to be sure to notify all of you the Fr. Ken’s father (Othmar Schnipke) passed away early this morning.  He had been diagnosed with cancer earlier this fall.  Please keep Fr. Ken and his family in your prayers.

Secondly, I have been asked to let you know that C J Highmarks is hosting a benefit for the Angel Tree Program on Wednesday, November 23.  C J’s will donate 15% of ALL sales to the program that day.  If you would like to eat out and help this program at the same time, check this out.

Third, congratulations to Steven Williams and Maddie Fleck in kindergarten.  Steven won first place and Maddie Fleck won honorable mention in the Kiwanis Club’s annual reindog coloring contest!  We are proud of their hard work and careful coloring!!  Congratulations also to Bree Knapke and Allison Brown who won1st place in the Red Ribbon Week ribbon decorating contest.  They will receive special awards on Monday evening.  Also congratulations to Joe Homan, Alicia Knapke, John Robinson, and Larisa Orick who were finalists in the contest.  Also congratulations to our Hoop Shoot winners who will compete in the city-wide Hoop Shoot on Tuesday, November 29 at Celina Intermediate School.  We can send 1 boy and 1 girl in each age division:  8-9 year olds:  Kennedy Henry and Reeves Black; 10-11 year olds:  Maddy Luebke and Joe Homan; 11-12 year olds:  Mariah Rable and Ben Homan.

Our second graders did an OUTSTANDING job at Mass today of acting out the Gospel story of the ten lepers and reminding all of us how important it is to be thankful.  The students did a scavenger hunt today to find some “treasures” we can all be thankful for – family, friends, I.C. School, etc.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, dressing, jello, roll, and pumpkin cake prepared by our amazing and wonderful cafeteria.  We extend to ALL of our I.C. School family the blessings and joys of a blessed Thanksgiving.

One more reminder about “Black Friday” shopping and SCRIP.  Orders must be placed by Monday morning at 10:00 am.  Delivery on Tuesday is not guaranteed, I have been told, but cards should be available for pick-up by Wednesday afternoon *if *they are not here on Tuesday.  We are not in school on Wednesday, so they would need to be picked up at the rectory.  I will try to send an e-mail next week with specific times you can pick them up.  Please try to use SCRIP and/or schoolstore.com when you are doing your shopping!!
Please remember:  we are in school on Monday, November 28, but there will be no buses!  You will need to provide transportation to and from school for your students that day!
Other dates to remember:  Sunday, December 11 at 1:30 — lecture at Bella’s.  This month Ria Schroeder will present information on couponing –I am sure it will be a wonderful and enjoyable lecture and help us all save a few pennies, dimes, or dollars!!!
Tuesday, December 13 — Christmas program at 1:30 and 7:00 pm in the gym at the PAC.
Thursday, December 22 — last day of school before Christmas break!!!

God bless,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

Dear I.C. Families,

November is certainly flying by quickly and has been a busy month so far here at Immaculate Conception School.  I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to meet for conferences this month.  The communication between school and home is absolutely critical to your child(ren) being as successful as possible in school, and their success now builds to their success as adults.  Please know that you are always welcome to come to us with any thoughts, concerns, questions, and, of course, positive feedback.  We value each precious child and each family and want to work together with you to insure your children receive the best possible education and grow in their faith as well.

The Thanksgiving holiday is quickly approaching, and I would like to take this opportunity to wish ALL of you a blessed and joyous holiday.  I know we all have much to be thankful for, and I pray we will all take some special time to relish the wonderful gifts God has given us and truly enjoy his bounty and graciousness.  As a school, we will be having a special celebration of Thanksgiving this Friday, November 18.  We will have Mass at 8:45 as usual on Fridays and this Mass will focus on the theme of Thanksgiving and there will be a special gospel presentation that our second graders are busily preparing (special thanks to Mrs. Frazier and Mrs. Thees for the extra preparations!).  Students are asked to bring in some canned goods on Friday, and they will carry them into Mass as part of our offering to God thanking him for the many gifts he gives us and sharing those gifts with others who are less fortunate than we are.  These canned goods will be added to the donations of the parish and will be donated to a local food pantry.  Later in the morning, our students will have a special family activity, and then we will ALL share a special Thanksgiving feast in the cafeteria that our cafeteria staff lovingly prepares for us.

And Thanksgiving reminds us that it is soon time for Advent to begin.  Last year, we began a new tradition of offering a used toy bazaar for some people in our community.  We would like to continue this tradition as we found it to be a great way to reach out to families who are struggling to make ends meet.  There is a flyer attached with details on donations.  We will be accepting donations of gently used toys…please be sure that items are in good repair and all important pieces are included, and that toys are clean and ready for a child to receive.  Puzzles, books, games, and other toys will be accepted.  We are not looking for clothing items.  Items can be brought in any time through December 12.  The Used Toy Bazaar will be held on the evening of December 12.  This would be a wonderful opportunity for children to help prepare themselves for Christmas by sorting through toys and giving a few special items for children whose parents or grandparents may not be able to afford to purchase a new toy to give them.  This year, we decided to add something to make the event a little more festive, and that is the offer of free gift wrapping, so if you would like to donate and supplies for that, they will also be accepted at the same time (paper, bags, boxes, ribbon, tape, gift tags).  The volunteers who helped with this event last year found it to be very touching, and felt like it made a big difference in some people’s lives, so we are hoping this annual tradition will become a wonderful way for all families to prepare for the real celebration of Christmas and bringing the joy of Christ to the world.  Feel free to share the information about the project with others who might like to donate and especially with those who can benefit from the bazaar on December 12.  The toys will be sold for a small amount, and what is collected will be donated to help those in need.

Thanksgiving also tends to remind us of Christmas shopping, and that is upon us as well.  One way you can make some of your shopping easier is to shop online through schoolstore.com.  Many families have gone to this website and put in some e-mail addresses, but the site is so much more, and you can shop without signing up to send e-mails.  Heather Henry, our PTO president and an avid online shopper, has put together a sheet of instructions explaining how to use it, and that is attached to this e-mail as well.  If you plan to do any online shopping, please take the time to look this over and try it out…..we cannot get any better fundraiser than ones that take advantage of what you are already buying…..no extra money from your pocket, but the school profits each time you buy something through this site!!  And, it is truly that simple!!!!  And, to complement things, you can use SCRIP cards to pay for purchases made online through school store (or otherwise) — I am a big fan of not using my credit card online !  Thanks to the many of you who have tried it out!!  And PLEASE remember SCRIP cards can make great gifts, and you can use them to buy your gifts…..just takes a little forethought.  If you want to purchase SCRIP for “Black Friday”, remember to get your orders in by Monday, November 21 at 10:00 am, and we are getting the delivery overnighted to be here by Tuesday……….

We will be off Wednesday, November 23 – Friday, November 25 for Thanksgiving vacation.  We WILL BE IN SESSION on Monday, November 28!!  Parents will need to plan transportation to and from school this day, as the city schools are NOT in session. Thanks, in advance, for your extra effort and cooperation.

I would also like to take the time to remind you that Sunday, November 27 is the first Sunday of Advent, the season of preparation for Christmas.  Many of you have Advent traditions, but if not, I would like to encourage you to consider starting one this Advent.  You could create a special Advent wreath and use it for a family prayer each day or at least once a week.  You could create a Jesse tree that recalls our ancestors in faith and the time they waited for the promised Savior to come, reading a short Bible story each day.  You could create a manger for Baby Jesus by putting a piece of straw into the manger when you do a good work.  You might use an Advent calendar or make a paper chain and tear a link off each day as you say a prayer or have a special deed on each one to do to prepare for Christmas.  You can make a point of choosing a tag from the angel tree in church and purchasing a gift for someone in need or donating some nice toys to the used toy bazaar.  When my children were young, I would wrap all the Christmas books in tissue paper and keep them in a box, and each night before bedtime, we would open a new one and read it…….of course, we usually had to read 1 or 2 we had already opened as well, but they looked so forward to this tradition and still treasure the memory of it today.  It can be such a wonderful holy time of the year, and there are many things we can do to prepare our hearts to receive the love and peace that Jesus brings us at Christmas!  Below are a few websites where you can find some good activities if you need help:

http://www.loyolapress.com/liturgical-year-advent-activities.htm

http://catholicadvent.homestead.com/advent.html

There are really lots of places to look……..just try googling Advent activities or Advent traditions.

Congratulations to EVERYONE who worked and prayed so hard for the pizza sale and the dinner auction to be a great success!!  If you were at the PTO meeting on Monday evening, you know that the profit from the pizza sale was $21,738!!   The PTO has already given $10,000 of that to the fundraising efforts for I.C. School.  They have pledged to give 10% of the fundraising goal each year, and they are planning to donate $10,000 to the fundraising following each semi-annual pizza sale!  And it looks like our dinner auction has brought in profits of approximately $40,000!!!!!  The event was well-organized, and everyone who attended seemed to have an enjoyable time — it was incredible!!  As of the end of October, the fundraising was totalling $158,000 of the $200,000 goal, so we will meet and actually go beyond that goal by December 31!!! (The money beyond $200,000 will carry over and begin our fundraising efforts for 2012!!)  So many folks have worked so hard to make that happen, and whatever you have contributed to it, I personally want to thank you!!  I am so touched by the generous hearts and spirits I have the privilege to be around each day….from those who spend time and effort organizing our events to those who offer donations to support them to those who come into school to buy SCRIP cards to those who pray for our successes!  Each contribution is important and valued and appreciated!!  I hope many of you will include thanksgiving for ALL the benefactors of I.C. School in your Thanksgiving prayers this year!!!

God bless you, each and every one,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

11.8.11

Dear I.C. Parents,

It has been wonderful to see so many of you in the building for conferences and at last night’s book fair family event.  It has been exciting to see how excited the children are about the book fair and the opportunity to see and get new books of their own.  The book fair will be open through Thursday, and you can send money in with your child until Thursday if you want to purchase something or stop in during school hours yourself.  Mrs. Morris will also be here after CCD classes on Wednesday evening for a while if you would like to stop in then.  Of course, purchasing items at the book fair is optional, but I hope you will continue to make reading a regular part of your time with your children.  The gift of reading is one that will help them open many doors to opportunity — being able to read opens the world to them!!  Make time to enjoy the wonder of books with them — it is SOOO worth it!  And there are limitless amounts of books available at the library for NOTHING!!
Mrs. Hellwarth will be in the building this evening if any of you have questions about art or phys. ed. — you are welcome to stop by the art room and chat with her.  Mrs. Morris will not be here this evening, but if you have any questions for her, feel free to send a note or e-mail or call and leave a message.
I hope we will have another opportunity to see many of you at the PTO meeting on Monday, November 14 at 7:00 in the Lourdes’ Room! I think the final numbers from the pizza sale will be announced and the spring sale will be discussed.  Also, other plans for things PTO may consider purchasing this year or inthe future will be discussed.  We love new ideas and new thoughts, so PLEASE come and share with us!!!

God bless,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

11.7.11

Dear I.C. Families,

It has been a wonderful week here at I.C. School.  Our All Saints Mass on Tuesday was very nice — a wonderful opportunity for all of us to celebrate and honor the MANY good people who have lived lives as God’s holy people, whether they have become famous saints like St. Gaspar or St. Padre Pio, or whether they were simply good and holy mothers, fathers, grandparents, teachers, doctors, factory workers, farmers, priests, or whatever vocations their lives fulfilled!!  It is also a day for us to look forward to being a part of that communion of saints — God’s holy boys and girls are working to become the holy men and women of the future!  And all of us can be those holy people!!  Fr. Ken used a jack-o’lantern in his homily to explain how God helps us to become saints.  To make a jack-o’lantern, we must take out all the seeds and stringy stuff inside, then shape it into what it will be by carving it, then we set a light inside and let that light shine so the world can see.  This is much the same as God does with us — he helps to clean out our inside “yucky” stuff: our sinfulness and temptations.  Then he forms us and shapes us.  And he puts his light inside us, and that is what others see when they see our good works and our kind hearts.  Our children are surrounded by many holy people here at I.C. from the priests and teachers to their parents and grandparents to the many generous and caring parishioners who donate their time, talent, and treasure to continue to mission of educating children in the faith!!  God bless all of you!

On Wednesday, we had the wonderful opportunity to be entertained by the Lehman High School Limelighters.  They travel to the area elementary schools with a show choir, chorus, and some instrumentalists and put on a very uplifting and entertaining program.  Yesterday, we enjoyed the entertainment of Mapcap Puppet productions.  Thanks to the PTO for bringing in this special assembly for us.  This program was very engaging for the students and very well done.  Be sure to ask your children about these great programs!!

Our first annual All Saints Dinner Auction will be held tomorrow.  I am in awe of the work that has gone into this project.  Whether you will be joining us for the final product or not, I hope you will pray that it is successful both as a fundraiser and as a spirit-builder in the community.  We were up to $150,000 of our fundraising goal of $200,000 in mid-October.  With a successful dinner auction, we will easily reach that goal!!  But this event also has a great opportunity to build some good will and support from other people in the community, and those benefits will be beyond measure!  Thanks again for every single donation, large and small.  The classroom baskets are beautiful and will bring some real joy to the recipients.  Special thanks to all who have participated in the planning and done the leg work!  Very special thanks to the committee chair people:  Julie Fleck, Heather Henry, and Marcia Kaup.

And there will be another lecture in the I.C. School Striving for Excellence Lecture Series on Sunday, November 13.  Please see the attached flyer for details (Drugs 111311.pdf).  This will be a very informative and worthwhile lecture — a chance to learn about what to be aware of with drugs in our community.  Three of Celina’s police officers will be available to give you information about what you should know about an issue we all hope we can avoid dealing with personally but should be well-informed about!!  Please pass on this information to anyone you know who might want to learn more about this.  The lecture is free and open to the public.  Free will donations are accepted, and Bella’s will provide a portion of food sales if you choose to purchase brunch there.  Please call 419-586-9545 to make reservations!!  A very sincere thanks to Mary Swonger and her committee for organizing these programs and helping all of us to grow and learn!!!

Thanks to all who have signed up for and/or purchased items through the schoolstore.com. So far, our account is showing $195 for the school plus about $155 has been donated in gift certificates teachers can use to purchase books or magazine subscriptions for classrooms.  I know several people have been using the retails merchants for purchases, so I am getting anxious to watch that total grow.  I understand the retailers all turn things over to the schoolstore at various times…some monthly, some quarterly, some every six weeks.  We started this project in early October and you can continue to purchase through June!!  A new flyer will be distributed today, and you can still sign up and send e-mails to others to use this for their purchases.  Or if you have already signed up, you can let other people know about it.  It is a wonderful way to get the things you want or need and still help the school.  But, it is entirely optional, and please do not feel pressured to join or use it, but thanks to all who do.

As you begin to prepare and plan for the busy holiday season ahead, consider using schoolstore.com for purchases or stocking up on SCRIP cards to make those purchases!  And SCRIP cards make great gifts by themselves! Everyone can use gas cards or grocery cards.  Cards to a favorite restaurant are always a good option!!!  Or consider gift cards that will let them choose something they like — we have many in stock, and MANY more can be ordered!  If you want cards for “Black Friday,” be sure to try and order by Monday, November 14.  You can order online and then send the order in to school with your payment or sign up to use Presto Pay and just pay online.  I have attached the information about signing up online.  If you have not done this yet, I suggest you check it out — you will be amazed at the number of retailers involved and the ease of placing orders.  Typically, they need to be at school by 10:00 on Monday morning, and they are at school for pick-up by Thursday.  They can be sent home with students if you like.  I know school hours do not fit everyone’s work schedule !!  Quite a few of our families are very faithful in their use of SCRIP, and we have seen good profits from the program this year, so if we can get MOST or ALL of our families using the program, the profits would be awesome!!!  And this is the BEST kind of fundraiser — one that does not really cost anyone anything extra!!!  If you are not participating, please consider getting started!!

Some upcoming dates to be aware of:

November 7-11  Book Fair……Family night – Monday, November 7 from 6:30 – 8:00 in the Lourdes Room.
Thursday, November 10 — First Reconciliation at 7:00 pm
Sunday, November 13 — I.C. School Striving for Excellence Lecture Series — “Forewarned is Forearmed: Know Today’s Drugs” 1:30 at Bella’s
Monday, November 14 — PTO Meeting at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, November 17 — Bob Evans Community Fun Night
Wednesday – Friday, November 23-25 — NO SCHOOL — Thanksgiving Break
Monday, November 28 — SCHOOL IS IN SESSION — Parents will need to provide transportation to and from school (City Schools are not in session.)
Tuesday, December 13 — I.C. Christmas Program at 1:30 and 7:00 pm in the PAC

I wish all of you a very wonderful and happy weekend!!  I hope you find yourselves with much to be thankful for in this season that makes us mindful of giving thanks!  May God bless all of you each and every day!!

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

10.31.11

Dear I.C. Families,

Here are some more news and updates for you:

1.  Mrs. Thees’ husband Jack had surgery today to remove his kidney, and the report is that everything went well.  Please continue to keep the Thees family in your prayers as Jack recovers from surgery and goes through the treatments for cancer on his hip bone.  I know the children are praying, and all the prayers are sooo appreciated!

2.  Remember to come and help out with burrito, pizza, and sub production tonight or tomorrow if you signed up…..(or if you did not sign up and find yourself free to help!!).  Product pickup is Saturday from 11am – 1pm.  THANK YOU AGAIN to everyone who has or will help in any way to make this a successful sale, especially those who have been in charge of organizing everything!!!

3.  Today, order forms are being sent home with students for “Second to None” t-shirts for a basketball fundraiser.  Orders can be placed through the school office by November 11, but families must pick up their own shirts at MCSPORTS on November 30 (or shortly thereafter).  This is something, of course, that is entirely optional, and up to each individual family.

4.  It was certainly an exciting and busy day here at school today!!  We had a wonderful Mass on the feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, and learned how the Apostles and the Prophets create the pillars that hold up the house of God with Jesus as the capstone and us as the community of faith.  We sang hymns that reminded us to CHOOSE to be HOLY!!  The kindergarten class carved pumpkins and took their flying witches to flight outside.  The first grade had a little Halloween party and had fun playing “Hot Pumpkin” and wrapping a few of us up as mummies.  Yesterday, the fourth graders celebrated pioneer day and dressed up as though they were attending school in the pioneer days.  Their wonderful Ohio history projects are on display in the display case near the office…if you stop in to buy scrip or for some other purpose, be sure to take a look!!  We even had a surprise visit from some I.C. grads who became pretty famous this past year on the TV show Expedition Impossible — A.J. and Kari Gibson were in town for their grandmother’s funeral, and they stopped in to visit a few teachers they remembered and talked to the 4th,  5th, and 6th graders a short while.  They told them that they should study hard and listen to these wise teachers !  And, of course, the cafeteria has been a busy place with getting burrito shells ready for tonight!!!

5.  Many thanks to the folks at the bread store who are looking out for us and collecting the school spirit labels on bread…….two very full bread bags came in this week….it will be interesting  to see how many labels there are……thanks to Stephanie Harris who has agreed to cut them out and organize them so we can send them in.  If you see the school spirit label on the bread you buy, be sure to clip it, save it and turn it in to us!!  You can check this website for details: http://www.schoolspiritprograms.com/Home.html

6.  We seem to be going through playground balls this year, so if you find it worthwhile filling in the 50 bonus point collection sheets I sent out last week, a few of those will be a great help in replacing our balls.  For a printout of the flyer or to see a list of products with Labels for Education or to sign up for e-points (extra points when you buy things with Labels for Education at certain stores, like Kroger, check out this website:  http://www.labelsforeducation.com/

7.  Thanks so much for the extra time you take to cut out labels and boxtops!!!  They are all small things by themselves, but it is a big help to us when we put everyone’s small things together!!!  We just received a $66.00 check from the company who picks up our used ink cartridges…..not a lot, but something for what would otherwise be trash!!!  You can also sign up online at the boxtops website and there are offers there for coupons, bonus boxtops, and even a marketplace that gives us bonus boxtops when you shop online……Many of the merchants are different than the ones at school store.  Definitely worth checking out:  http://www.boxtops4education.com

8.  Just a reminder that we also are collecting Capri Sun (or similar) drink pouches.  Please try to have as much liquid out as possible, and throw the straws away.  We are also collecting Tyson Project A+ labels from certain Tyson chicken products.

9.  Remember that Tuesday is a holy day of obligation for Catholics — it is All Saints Day….please check the bulletin for Mass times, but the students in grades K-6 will attend Mass at 8:45 on Tuesday……of course, anyone is welcome to join us.  Please remember to have the students dress appropriately since that is not their normal Mass day.  We will NOT have Mass on Friday next week.  Also a reminder that the first quarter has ended, so students are no longer permitted to wear shorts to school.  They will again be permitted during the fourth quarter.

May God bless all of you,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

10.18.11

Dear I.C. Parents, Staff, and Friends,

October has been a very busy month with many activities and much energy invested in our school days!  The students in 2nd, 4th, and 6th grades have completed their Iowa Tests and we will wait to see the results sometime in November.  Many thanks to those who have been supporting our Bob Evans nights — they have agreed to schedule another one in November!!  It will be November 17.  It must be making a difference to them and to us!

I know the dinner auction is certainly getting closer and committee members are very busy and hard at work!  Ticket sales are going well, although we have room for more, so if you know anyone who might be interested in that event, please encourage them to consider it!  There are LOTS of items to bid on, and they continue to come in every day!  The class baskets are shaping up beautifully, and I cannot thank  you enough for your contributions, large or small!!!  We are certainly putting hopes in this event to be a major fundraiser, so if you cannot or choose not to attend or help in that way, PLEASE keep it in your prayers, and thank God for those people who are working to prepare it and carry it out, as well as those who will attend !

Next Friday, October 28 will be the end of the first quarter!  It is also the beginning of our pizza, sub, and burrito production.  The last list I saw had 38 folks signed up to help on Friday and 48 on Saturday.  We really need to get to about 60 each day, so even if you can only help for part of the time, your help would be appreciated!!  The more hands, the more fun and the faster it all goes.  If you have not yet sent in your volunteer sheet, please do so as soon as you can.  You are also welcome to e-mail me or call the school office and let us know we can count on you to help!!  And, yes, I believe we can still use extra boxes, especially of the size that paper comes in and if you happen to have any of the UPS boxes that were purchased to use for the pizzas.

Thanks to those families who signed up for schoolstore.com.  Whether you signed up or not, you can still do your online shopping through  schoolstore.com.  As of this time, we already have over $100 in school profits, and that is only from people who have bought at the family bookstore!  I am told each of the merchants sends in the percentages at different times, but I am checking on it every now and then, because I know several people have ordered through other merchants.   Please remember to consider this if you are planning to purchase any gifts or other products online anyway!!   This lasts through June!!

SCRIP has become a solid fundraiser for us, but we would like to see more families using it regularly, and that will help us immensely.  It is very easy to order online or send orders into school.  They can be sent home with students or picked up during regular school hours.  Or you can stop in anytime the school is open and purchase from the cards we keep in stock.  Online, more and more of the cards are available as “SCRIP NOW!”  If you use Presto Pay, you can order the SCRIP and print it out right away…….a wonderful opportunity for those who can’t make it into school during school hours or decide to go somewhere at the last minute.  Most of you have a fairly good idea of how much you spend at the grocery store each week or month and how much you spend on gas…..you can order enough for a whole month at once or each week.  For places that I go regularly, I like to keep a certain amount on hand and replace it once I use it since I don’t know for sure when I might stop in at Kmart or Walmart or even McDonalds.  If you need more information about SCRIP, just ask!! It is the easiest and best fundraiser we can do because it does not actually cost you anything extra — spending $10 on a Bob Evans card gets you $10 at Bob Evans!!  And, don’t forget, you can use SCRIP cards to pay for online purchases, too, and if you make them through schoolstore.com, we can “double dip!!”

Next week is Red Ribbon week, which is a national event that encourages kids to stay drug free.  Our fourth graders participated in a ribbon decorating contest, and 4 of our students were declared school winners and will receive $50 savings bonds for their efforts.  Congratulations to Allison Brown, Larisa Orick, Alicia Knapke, and Bree Knapke!  That event was sponsored by the Gateway Outreach Center and other local groups.  On Monday, Gina Kittle from the Gateway Outreach Center will come to explain more about the week to our 5th and 6th graders who will also do a balloon launch in honor of the week.

Last week, we had our October faith assembly, which focused on St. Gaspar del Bufalo, whose feast we celebrate this Friday, October 21.  The sixth graders did an excellent job of taking us on an imaginary field trip to heaven to meet St. Gaspar and hear about his life and work!  Be sure to ask your student(s) about St. Gaspar!!

As many of you may be aware by now, Mrs. Thees’ husband, Jack has been recently diagnosed with cancer of the kidney, which has also spread to his right hip.  Prayers are very much appreciated!    We are hopeful that the doctors will be able to help Jack win his battle with cancer! We have restructured our faculty a bit to take the best care of our students while Mrs. Thees is out helping her husband!Mrs. Frazier is with the second grade all day long, and Mrs. Reineke and Mrs. Korte have been gracious enough to teach the reading classes Mrs. Frazier was teaching.  Our teachers are absolutely the best!!  They are generous and caring and always put the students first!

Next Wednesday, October 26, we will have a Living Rosary in the Lourdes’ Room at 2:00.  Parents are welcome to join us for this special prayer service!  We will be praying the sorrowful mysteries which are the events in the life of Jesus that are sad.  They include:  the agony in the garden, scourging at the pillar, crowing with thorns, carrying the cross, and the crucifixion.  Many of us, even as adults, have trouble understanding these events, which is why they are called mysteries!  Maybe I could encourage you to consider saying a rosary together as a family!  Praying together is important for families to do!

Also, next Thursday, look for slips to come home with conference times.  The majority of our conferences will be scheduled for November 7 and 8, although some teachers with bigger classes might spread them out a bit more.  If there is a problem with your conference time(s), please let us know right away so we can make any needed adjustments!  Report cards will come home on Friday, November 4!

May God bless ALL of you,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

10.10.11

Dear I.C. families and friends,

First of all, I want to congratulate Kellie Pearson and her crew for doing another outstanding job with the School Spirit 5K on Saturday. I know quite a few of our families who would have liked to participate or help were involved with other activities this weekend like a big soccer tournament volleyball games, among other things. But, of course, we cannot all do everything! The day was absolutely gorgeous and everything was very well organized and put together! It was still a very profitable day, and I encourage all of you to take a look at pictures:

‎5k photos are up at www.grandlakeindependent.com <http://www.grandlakeindependent.com/>, click event photos, 5k race photo galleries, 2011 5k race galleries, then School Spirit 5K – IC Schools

I was especially impressed with the “Spartan crew” of Brenda, John, and Nathan Robinson and Lauren McDonough who showed their Spartan pride and spirit with wonderful costumes!! Several of our students, parents, and former students were in the top places. (See the attachment for these awards!) I am so proud of all our students and families who participated. LOTS of volunteers were needed to make the day run smoothly, and many thanks go to all those who helped with traffic and refreshments, and whatever needed to be done! The spirit of community and enjoying life were definitely in the air!!

There are still a few t-shirts left for $10 each if anyone is interested in them. They have 3 medium and 2 extra-large. If you are interested, let us know, and we will get word to Kellie Pearson or you are free to contact her yourself. Also, a jacket was left behind Saturday, and Kellie Pearson has it at her home. If you are missing a jacket, please contact us or her so we can return it.

Our service club packed up all the donated clothing and new socks and underwear for the people of Campton, Kentucky, this afternoon. The service club is one of our four newly formed lunch clubs, and they are a great crew, always willing to give their time and effort to help make the school a better place. Thank you to everyone who helped in this drive by sending in items!! I am sure your donations will be greatly appreciated by those who benefit from them!!

I would like to remind you of 3 events taking place this week:

1. Tuesday evening at 6:00-7:30 at Lehman High School, the diocese will be publicly releasing information they have gathered through their visioning meetings thus far. All are welcome to attend. Some folks are meeting at the PAC parking lot at 5:00, if you wish to car pool with them. There will also be a report and video online soon, and I will be sure to send information on that when everything is up.

2. Bob Evans Community Night is Thursday –actually ALL day. Bring the flyer that was sent home or e-mailed home last week or in the church bulletin this Sunday, and Bob Evans will donate 15% of the cost of your meal to I.C. School. Remember to purchase SCRIP cards for an extra 10% to I.C. School. This is good for eat in or carry out, so spread the word!!! It’s a great excuse to give Mom the night off from cooking, if it works for your family!

3. Sunday will be the next lecture in our I.C. School Striving for Excellence Lecture Series at 1:30 p.m. at Bella’s Italian Grille. The lecture is free and brunch is available for a cost of $10 for your convenience, a portion of which will go to support I.C. School. This lecture is about recycling and conservation and is given by Bonnie Wurst. She is a great speaker the whole family will be able to enjoy!! Call Bella’s to make reservations: 419-586-9545.

*I would also like to make sure to stress that I.C. School _/IS IN SESSION/_ this Friday, October 14. However, Celina City Schools has an inservice day that day, so the buses will NOT run. _/Parents need to plan transportation to and from school for their students that day!/_*

We will have our October faith assembly on Thursday, and our saint of the month this month is St. Gaspar del Bufalo. Be sure to ask your children about him on Thursday. His feast day is next Friday, October 21. Each of the saints is a great example of living out our faith, and we can learn so much from them because they have faced the same challenges we face!!

If you have not yet sent your volunteer form for the pizza, sub, and burrito production days, please do so as soon as possible. Everyone’s help is needed — whatever you can do! There is not a nicer group of people to work with than the I.C. production crew:)! We hope EVERY family can help us for at least a while!! It looks to be another excellent sale…..I will certainly keep you posted. We are still collecting boxes as well.

Remember tickets for the dinner auction are available in the school office. Everyone can help by spreading the word and letting others know about the event. Thanks to all families who have donated items for the class baskets and those who will. Committee members are very hard at work, and it looks like it will be a WONDERFUL event….please pray for a successful, enjoyable event!

God bless you all,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

10.5.11

Dear I.C. Parents, Staff, and Friends,

I wanted to let you know that I.C. students (K-6) will be bringing home a flyer today about a new fundraising opportunity called Schoolstore.com.  Preschool will be bringing them home sometime this week.  This afternoon, I will be showing students a short video about the program that talks about prizes they can earn, etc.  However, the main thrust of the program that I am trying to make available is the online shopping, for those who are planning to shop online anyway.

First of all, let me be absolutely clear.  Any participation in this program is COMPLETELY optional.  What the flyer will ask you to do is to go online to schoolstore.net and send at least 3 e-mail invitations to people about the program.  You may send as many or few as you like.  This will register your child for the “prize thermometer” and if some of the people you send invitations to choose to purchase items from the family book store, that will give points to your child on this thermometer, and they can win prizes.  I do not want you to think we are trying to sell magazines, but if folks want to buy them or renew them here, that is great — we do get a percent, and the kids can get prizes.  However, what is very exciting to me is that you can shop online with over 200 different retail merchants including places like Wal-mart, Sears, Target, Barnes and Noble, etc., and our school will earn a percentage of what you spend.  You have access to the same goods that you would access online at the store sites, but doing it through the schoolstore.com <www.schoolstore.com> website will give our school a small percent of what you are spending anyway.  The coolest part is that you can use SCRIP cards to pay for your purchases.  Or that people who live further away can help support our school, etc.  Please check it out before you decide not to participate.

I wanted to be sure it worked easily, so I placed two orders over the weekend — one at Wal-Mart.com and one at Barnes and Noble for items I wanted to purchase anyway, and I had scrip for both places, and it seemed to work beautifully.  I have my Wal-mart items being shipped to the store since that option is available.  My point is that it was no different than when I ordered from those places before, except that I.C. should receive 4% of my Wal-mart purchases and 6% of my Barnes and Noble purchases.
If you want to order online, but do not wish to register your child and send e-mails through their system, you can do that.  Just go online to www.schoolstore.com and name our school (I found it helpful to put Immaculate Conception and then go ahead and put Celina, Ohio as well, because there were a LOT of Immaculate Conception Schools that came up).  It will open to the “family book store” and you can choose to peruse that for magazines, books, and other gifts.  It will also make an offer to purchase gifts certificates for teachers or the school to purchase items.  Again, it is not necessary to purchase these items at all.  There is a drop down list of merchants participating.  Choose any merchant, and start your shopping.  Pay for orders as you normally would online (SCRIP cards are a GREAT option!!).  That’s all there is to it!!!  Seriously!!  <www.schoolstore.com>

If you are not comfortable with online shopping, that is perfectly OK as well.  It is just another way for us to capture some income from what people are already doing!!
Thanks, as always, for your prayerful support of our many activities.  It will be exciting to see how this goes.  The trick will be to remember to use it when you want to order something !
God bless,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

9.27.11

Dear I.C. Parents and Staff,

First of all, many thanks for all the parents who attended the PTO meeting last night.  The next meeting will be held on November 14 — mark your calendars now.  We know there are many, many things that fill up time in our busy lives, but very few are as important as our children and their education.  We truly value your input into the PTO fundraisers and making decisions about how those funds are spent.  We appreciate our PTO so very much and especially thank our officers and other who take a very active role in the processes and events that support our school!!

I want to thank ALL the parents and parishioners who are working on committees for various events that support the school!  Your efforts may not always seem to be appreciated, but they definitely are!!  And our community just would not be the same without your efforts!!!  To Mary Swonger and crew for getting the I.C. Striving for Excellence Lecture series off the ground and running, congratulations!  That was no small undertaking, and is such a great way for our school community to reach out to the larger community and say “We care.”  If you have not checked those out yet, another should be coming in October.  The lectures are free of cost but are held at Bella’s Italian Grille where you may choose to eat beforehand if you like.  You are welcome to attend the lecture without eating, but if you eat brunch, I.C. will receive a portion of that cost.  Thanks to Cara Muhlenkamp, Tara Homan, and Cathy Fullenkamp for their awesome organization and leadership at the Carnival held on September 18.  Final numbers are not in yet, but it looks like profits will be around the $9000 mark!!  Thanks, too, to all those who volunteered to work in a stand or who helped to entertain!  Thanks to Mrs. Hrycko and Mrs. Stahl for their work in organizing McTeachers’ Night.  I am sure we will see many of our families there tonight — the children are certainly buzzing with excitement about it today at school.  And, I am sure all of you can appreciate how generous and caring our teachers are to give of their time for this event!!  Thank you to Kellie Pearson and her crew for all their work on on the 5K, coming up on October 8.  If you missed the pre-registration deadline or decide to participate later, you can still sign up the morning of the race.  The race starts at 9:30…..come early if you need to register!!

I would like to remind you again about the clothing drive for the people in Campton, Kentucky, and again thank the Kevin and Lori Williams family for transporting the goods we collect to Campton.  We are collecting gently used clothing for children and adults.  Please bring the clothing in clean plastic bags to the Lourdes’ Room between 8:00 and 3:45 any school day.  They had made a special request this year for new socks and underwear for children of any age to their Christmas store.  If you wish to contribute those items, please be sure they are in a separate bag.  We will continue to collect the clothing through Friday, October 7.

Bob Evans has offered us another Community Fun Night in October, so we are going to try Thursday, October 13.  If you can join us or pick up carry-out that day, it will help us out.  If you have friends or family or like to go to Bob Evans or just out to eat and support a good cause at the same time, please spread the word.  I will attach the flyer you need to this e-mail so you can send it out, especially if folks do not belong to I.C. Parish!!

Thank you for the donations that students are bringing in for class baskets for the dinner auction coming up on November 5.  We have seen an unbelievable amount of donations for this event, and the committee is doing an awesome job!!  Many thanks to Julie Fleck, chairperson, and her crew.  Tickets are now available for this event in the school office.  The deadline for purchasing All Saints Tables has been extended to October 7 at the lower price.  Please help us spread the word about this exciting event that has the potential to be a tremendous fundraiser for I.C. School.  If you are unable to participate in any event, please support us with prayers and a positive attitude that helps to spread the news!!!  And Thank YOU for all of that!!

Many of you may be aware of the visioning process the archdiocese has undertaken.  Last year, several sessions were held to collect information about our schools and the challenges we face as well as the many positive things that are happening.  The goal is to reach a common vision for the schools throughout the archdiocese.  The study portion is now completed and they are ready to move on to the next step.  Below is an announcement about some meetings where this information will be presented:

Vision for Catholic Schools: For the past several months, an effort has been underway to establish a common vision for the future of Catholic school education in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. During the 2010-2011 school year, large amounts of data were collected on the current state of our Catholic schools. This data has been compiled in an initial Assessment Report that will be released to the public in early October. All are invited to attend a presentation in October regarding the vision. At each presentation, Dr. Jim Rigg, Superintendent of Catholic schools, will provide a summary of the key data regarding Catholic identity, academic excellence, demographics, finances, and other areas from this Assessment Report. The presentations will take place on the following dates:

Oct. 4: Chaminade-Julienne High School (6:00-7:30 PM)

Oct. 6: Roger Bacon High School (6:00-7:30 PM)

Oct. 11: Lehman High School (6:00-7:30 PM)

All are welcome to attend. Please visit www.catholiccincinnati.org/education/lighting_the_way for more details.

I am looking forward to seeing some results soon and learning more about them at our next archdiocesan principals’ meeting, but it will be very exciting to see how the plan develops from the data!!!

This afternoon, our students will gather in their family groups for the first time, and the sixth graders will lead them in some discussion and activities about saints, since that is the focus of our faith theme this year.  It has been a joy to learn some things about St. Padre Pio this month.  Our sixth graders did an excellent job putting together our faith assembly, and Fr. Ken followed up with an awesome homily last Friday, on St. Padre Pio’s feast day.  Make sure to ask your child about St. Padre Pio!!  I especially like this quote:

“Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.” –Padre Pio–Next month, our special saint will be St. Gaspar del Buffalo, the founder of the order of the Precious Blood.  His feast day is October 21. Each saint has a special and unique story that can teach us about ways to live a Christian life.  We can learn a great deal by studying their lives and listening to their messages, as God speaks through them to us.  We can also ask them to help pray for us and others who need something.

Thursday, we will have another step in our accreditation process.  This step is called our “internal validation.”  Our regional director from the Catholic Schools Office will be visiting our school to go through the documentation we have gathered to demonstrate we are meeting the standards we are required to meet and take a look at the goals we have written to work on for our school improvement plan.  Then we will have to have a few more meetings to work on developing that plan and getting things in order for the “external validation” which will probably take place sometime in January or February.  At that time, a committee of at least 5 people come in to review all our records and evaluate our plan and make any recommendations for changes before we send it all on to the state.  Please keep us in your prayers as we work through some of the
details of this process.

October 3 and 4 are inservice days for the teachers, and there is no school for the students.  On October 14, Celina City Schools has a teacher inservice day.  We WILL be in school on October 14, but there will be no bus transportation that day, so please plan to make arrangements for your child(ren) that day.  This will also be the case on Monday, November 28.  I apologize for the inconvenience.

God bless you ALL,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

9.19.11

Dear I.C. Parents and Staff,

What an amazing day at the carnival on Sunday!  We certainly had lots of people, and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves!  Cara Muhlenkamp, Tara Homan, and Cathy Fullenkamp certainly do an outstanding job as chairpeople on this event!  Everything was so well organized and thought out!  We have not heard the numbers yet, but we certainly can safely assume it was a successful event!!  Thank you to the MANY MANY volunteers who helped out or donated items for prizes — I am just in awe of the generous spirits here at I.C.!  Students who won prizes but were not still at the carnival to claim them will receive those this afternoon.  Even with all the prizes we had, there were many cards left in the hopper at the end — another sign that a lot of fun was had by all!!

I hope everyone is still working at selling pizzas, subs, burritos and cookie dough!  Remember to collect the money as you sell this year — checks payable to I.C. PTO.  Orders are due NEXT Monday, September 26!!  They can be turned in early if you are done selling.  When you turn in the orders, please put both the cookie dough order and the pizza order in the Otis Spunkmeyer envelope along with your payment, preferably in check form, and send it to school with your child.  If it is necessary that you send cash, it is best if you bring it in in person to the office to insure the proper amount of cash makes it in!  Thank you so much for your attention to this sale!!  Make sure you plan to help make products on Friday, October 28 or Saturday, October 29 –  we will need lots of hands.  Also remember to bring back to school any of the special UPS boxes that were purchased to be used for pizzas and save /bring to school any boxes that are about the size of the boxes that copy paper comes in……and THANK you for that, too!!

I would like to remind everyone about the I.C. Striving for Excellence Lecture Series — the next lecture will be held THIS SUNDAY, September 25 at 1:30 at Bella’s Italian Grille.  Brunch will be served at 1:00 if you would like it, and a portion of the brunch sales do come back to I.C. School.  Please make reservations by calling 419-586-9545!!  Thanks SOOO much to Dr. Mary Swonger and crew for organizing this community-minded event to help ALL people have the opportunity to learn about great topics.  This month’s topic is diabetic education and features Peg Bruggeman and Karen Homan, two diabetic educators!
Pre-registration forms for the School Spirit 5K are due to Kellie Pearson by this Saturday!!  This was another wonderful event last year — quite a few of our families participated either running or walking!  What a great way to build healthy practices and have a great time all together.  If you cannot or do not wish to participate but would like to order a t-shirt, the cost is $10, and they may be ordered on the registration forms, too.  Those orders would also be due THIS SATURDAY!!  If you need forms, they are available on our website (www.icschool-celina.org) or can be found on Facebook.  You can also request forms at the school office.  Please pray for good weather, too!!!
Dinner Auction tickets are now available in the school office as well.  Please continue to spread the word about this exciting fundraising event to folks who are not part of our I.C. School family.  You have probably received information about a classroom basket, and we sincerely appreciate whatever you feel you can donate towards the basket.  If you cannot donate, we will understand that, too, and ask for your sincere prayers that this event is very successful!!  Thanks so much to the committee members who are working on this event and giving so much of their time, talent, and treasure for the good of I.C. School!!
It gives me a great deal of pride and joy to see the MANY different ways people serve this faith community!   Our children are truly blessed to be surrounded by so many generous and good people.  Some of them give money to benefit others, some of them give their time, and others give talents.  Many give of all three!  I pray daily that our precious “God’s holy boys and girls” will learn from these examples and become holy men and women like those they see in action in support of the school and the parish, and that they strive to leave the world a better place because they shared with others!!

And, of course, I should remind all of you that McTeachers’ Night is next Tuesday — September 27 from 4:30 -7:30!   Be sure you plan ahead and get some McDonalds scrip!  We will look forward to seeing you there!!!

God bless ALL of you,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

9.14.11

Dear I.C. Families and Friends,

Once again, we will host a clothing drive and the Kevin and Lori Williams family has offered to take our donations to Campton, Kentucky.  Children and Adult clothing can be donated, and it should be gently used.  Please do not donate clothing that is stained or torn.  Clothing can be brought to school between September 9 and October 7, and it is best if it is brought in garbage bags.  They have also made a special request this year for new socks and underwear for their Christmas store.  These can be for any age children up to age 18.  If you choose to donate to this cause, please send these items in separate bags so they will not have to sort them out.  I am attaching a flyer with the details you may want to print out or share with others.
Thank you in advance for your generous spirits.  Whether you donate to this drive or not, please pray for the people of Campton, Kentucky and those who generously serve them with their time and effort, along with all the poor in the world.  This is a great opportunity to teach children about sharing their things with others, and at the same time, cleaning out our own closets, etc.

God bless,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

9.9.11

Dearest I.C. Parents and Friends,

School is well underway now, and students all seems to be adjusting well.  I hope they are sharing many happy experiences of their school days with you, and that you are treasuring their days of growing up which pass far too quickly!!  I see so many happy faces coming to school each day (including the teachers ! and it makes I.C. School such a wonderful place to work and learn!

We are apparently in the midst of “fundraising season” around here, and I am not quite sure how so many different projects seemed to have gotten into the fire at the same time.  PLEASE know that everyone realizes EVERY family has limits on time and budget.  Please be willing to support each project with a positive attitude and strong prayers, but participate as you can otherwise.  It is important to teach our children about living within our means and making choices with our money and time.  I do not want ANY family to feel pressured into participating in things that you cannot afford or just cannot fit in.  We sincerely appreciate the wonderful way many of our families support many of our projects that support our efforts to provide a wonderful education here, and fundraising simply MUST be a part of our culture.  I am so proud of the many ways we have been able to create fundraising projects that simply become the family entertainment for a given evening or provide common sense things you would be spending anyway, such as SCRIP and a school store project we will introduce in October for those of you who like to do your shopping online.

Today, your children are bringing home information about our PTO Fall Pizza, sub and burrito sale.  There are several things about this sale I want to make sure and draw to your attention:Other reminders (please know we do not expect ALL of you to DO everything, but please help us out when you can and spread the word about things!!!):

1)  In addition to pizzas, subs, and burritos, we are now also offering Otis Spunkmeyer frozen cookie dough (and other various items).  We are NO LONGER offering the cases of frozen pizza that we used to include on the orders.

2)  There are TWO separate order forms — one for pizzas, subs, and burritos, and one for the Otis Spunkmeyer items.

3)  The burritos are now being packaged TWO to a bag.  An order of 1 burrito actually is an order for 1 bag of burritos or 2 burritos.  So, if one of your customers ordered 20 burritos, they would now order 10 and get 20.

4)  A BIG change this year is that money is due at the time of placing the order. This will allow the PTO to process checks before people pick up products, and if a check is not good, the product will not be able to be picked up.  (Unfortunately, this has been a small problem recently)  Also, this should be able to make our pick-up time go more smoothly!!  Thank you so much for your cooperation with this change — we hope that it does not cause any inconvenience to our customers, but many people like to pay when they order so they don’t get caught off-guard when the product arrives.

5)  If you happen to have in your possession any of the special UPS boxes that were purchased for pizzas, those can be returned to school anytime.  Also, please start saving any boxes that are the size paper comes in or bankers’ boxes, etc.

6)  Order forms are due at school by September 26…..that should allow 3 weekends to sell items, and we hope that is a convenience to all of you.  Do please turn order forms in on time to make the next step as easy as possible for our pizza sale committee!!!

7) Please mark your calendars for October 28 and/or 29 to come and help make pizzas, subs, and burritos.  You will enjoy the time you spend with others in the I.C. community, and many hands make the work much easier.  We would really like it if every family can have at least one adult here to work that weekend, but thanks to the MANY families who will send two and maybe even bring older students or others to help!!!!

Bob Evans Night ….next Tuesday  (need to get some SCRIP??)
Carnival……..next Sunday 1-5
I.C. Striving for Excellence Lecture Series — Sept. 25 at Bella’s at 1:30…….reservations 419-586-9545
McTeachers’ Night — Tuesday, September 27
School Spirit 5K — Saturday, October 8
Dinner Auction — Saturday, November 5 (You should be hearing from your child’s teacher soon about the possibility of donating items for a class basket…..please donate items you can afford, if you can!).

Thanks to the MANY chair people and committee workers who are so hard at work on all these events.  Please pray for them as they give of their time and talent to create events that help support our school!!  Thanks for ALL of your prayers and whatever participation you are able and willing to offer!!  Each one of you is a precious member of our I.C. School family, and we appreciate you!!!

God bless you all,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

9.6.11
The second in our I.C. Striving for Excellence Lecture series will be held on Sunday, September 25 at 1:30 at Bella’s Italian Grille in Celina. This month will feature Peg Bruggeman, a nurse and certified diabetic educator and Sue Homan, a registered dietitian and certified diabetic educator. They will be discussing the many facets of living with this disease and using your diet to help control your blood sugar. Brunch is available at Bella’s beginning at 1:00 p.m., but reservations are needed. Please make your reservations by calling Bella’s at 419-586-9545. The cost of the brunch is $10.00, and it is optional, but a portion of the proceeds will benefit I.C. School. There is no cost for the lecture, but free will donations are accepted.

For more information, please click on this link to hear an interview with Dr. Mary Swonger and Sue Homan with Kevin Sandler at WCSM:

http://www.wcsmradio.com/uploads/audio/SV.mp3

Again, please pass along this information to anyone you know who might be interested. It is just so important to get the word out and let people know about this opportunity to learn about so many things!!!!

Many thanks to Dr. Mary Swonger and her committee and to the fine folks at Bella’s Italian Grille for all their hard work and assistance in this project!

God bless,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

9.6.11
Our second annual School Spirit 5K will be held on Saturday, October 8!
Many thanks to Kellie Pearson (mom of Gavin, K and Bria, PS1) and crew
for all the work they are doing to prepare for it!!! The flyer and
registration form is attached to this e-mail. You may also see one come
home with your children! We encourage everyone to spread the word and
consider participating if you are able! The race will begin at 9:30 at
the Mercer County Fairgrounds and registration begins that morning at 8:30!

If you do not wish to participate or cannot participate, and would wish
to buy a t-shirt, you are welcome to do so. The cost for t-shirts alone
is $10.00.

Please share this information with ANYONE who might be interested!!!
You can also fin a flyer at our school website and on facebook!

God bless,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

IC SCHOOL SCRIP PROGRAM
IC School is planning for the future and we need your help! An important part of our plan for keeping the school in existence for future generations is raising funds to fill the gap between what the parents can pay in tuition and what the parish can provide in subsidy. With the rising cost of education and fewer students to share the cost, funding is a very real problem. However, the Planning Committee is working on a number of programs to raise the necessary funds, and one of them is already underway – the scrip program! And the good news is, the scrip program will generate funds with NO COST TO YOU!!
What is Scrip?
Scrip is a term that means “substitute money”. When you purchase scrip, you’re purchasing negotiable gift certificates that are used just like cash. The scrip is issued by the national and local retailers where families already shop. These merchants want to support non-profit organizations and in return ask you to support them by shopping with scrip at their stores. You can use scrip to purchase food, clothing, and other everyday essentials. With each gift card used, you earn revenue for IC.
The reason for the effectiveness of scrip is simple: families produce revenue by making purchases they would make anyway! Groceries, clothing, toys, gifts, even gasoline can be purchased with scrip. An organization of 150 families easily spends between one and two million dollars per year on food, clothing, and other essentials. If these families use scrip for these purchases, they can raise as much as $40,000 to $80,000 per year for their organization—without spending an additional penny!
To learn how you can order scrip and help keep IC going strong, just turn this paper over and follow the directions.
If you would like to know more about the scrip program before ordering, or if you do not have a computer or email, there will be IC School representatives in the PAC between the nine and twelve o’clock masses every Sunday.
For any other questions or information please contact Marie McKirnan at 419-586-3344 or the I.C. School office at 419-586-2379.
May God bless you!
IC School Members and Staff

ENROLLMENT AND ORDERS
OPTION #1
1. To get started, go to www.shopwithscrip.com.
2. Click on the green box on the left “Family Sign Up,” where it says Create Account.
3. Fill out family registration form. *Note: you must have an e-mail address to order online.
4. Click I Accept at the bottom of the page.
5. Enter I.C. School’s enrollment code 929EDD2421654 in the blue box. Click Join.
6. You are now enrolled!
7. Click Shop, choose your categories or brands, and follow the prompts and order!

OPTION #2
INSTRUCTIONS TO COMPLETE SCRIP ORDER FORM
1. Please fill out your name, address, phone number and check number if applicable.
2. Mark the quantity of gift cards you would like to purchase and multiply by the amount to get your total.
3. There are additional retailers on the back of the form. Fill out and transfer subtotal to front. Add front subtotal and back sub totals to get your total SCRIP purchase on the last line.
4. There are some blank lines on the back of the form to fill in any participating stores that are not already printed on this order form.
5. Write a check, or you may use cash, for the total SCRIP purchase, and bring the money and order form to I.C. School Office by noon on Monday to receive your gift cards on Friday of that week.
6. There are two options for the ordering and pick-up of SCRIP.
Option 1 You may drop off the order form and money at the I.C. School Office b noon on Monday and pick up your gift cards on Friday of that week by 3:30 p.m. in the School Office.
Option 2 If the school times are not convenient for you, you may drop off and pick up the SCRIP cards at the PAC after all weekend masses.

PAYMENTS
*Payments for your order must be made before we place your order.

There are two ways to pay:
1. You can have your checking account debited automatically by signing up for PRESTO PAY. It takes a couple of days to get enrolled initially, then after that, your account is immediately debited and your order immediately processed.
2. The second method of payment is by cash or ca check made payable to I.C. School. The money can be dropped off at the school during regular school hours. Your payment is needed by Monday morning in order to get your cards that Friday. Or you may pay for your order after all weekend masses.

SCRIP PICK-UP
All orders paid for by Monday morning will be available for pick-up at I.C. School on that Friday during school hours.
OR your SCRIP cards may be picked up at the PAC after all weekend masses.

9.2.11
Dear I.C. Parents,

Our school year seems to be well underway and students are definitely
adapting to their new routines and new teachers well! As I walk through
the hallways, I see classes working quietly or having good discussions
with enthusiasm. The children have many smiles and lots of hugs to
share! It is so wonderful to hear their voices and squeals on the
playground as well.

I sincerely thank you for being so attentive to getting the beginning of
the school year forms turned in. We have only a very few stragglers yet
and hope those will be taken care of quite soon. Those forms help us so
much in the office and it is so nice to know that we have current
information if and when we should need it. Please remember that if you
EVER change an address, phone number, or e-mail address, to notify us
right away.

I would like to remind you about the change in buses this year. We have
asked them to drop off the children on Wayne Street so the children can
directly enter the school building at the main entrance. _*Please avoid
using Wayne Street at all if you are dropping your students off!*_ If
you are dropping off your children, please use Walnut Street and drive
through between the church and school, letting your children get out
near the playground. They can proceed to enter the door at the west end
of the playground, and I strongly suggest you take the drive back out to
Anthony Street to help avoid any of the buses that may be approaching on
Sugar Street and keep Sugar Street free for parking for families with
children in preschool who must bring their children into school. If you
need to park and come into school with your children, please use the
parking areas designated at the east end of the school, along Wayne
Street or along Anthony Street. Some of the bus drivers have expressed
some concern over the “busy-ness” on Sugar Street and Wayne Street, so
if we can avoid those areas between 8:15 and 8:30, it is most
appreciated. Band students who arrive by 8:00 need to come to the Wayne
Street door since it is the only one open at that time. I know it is
easy to be in a hurry at 8:20 in the morning, but your extra effort is
appreciated for our children’s safety!!

Many thanks, also to families who have been purchasing SCRIP cards to
help support our school fundraising efforts. If you have not gotten
involved in this program, please ask for more information. You can
purchase cards in the school office or after weekend Masses in the back
of church. You can also place orders (on a paper form or online) on
Monday mornings and pick up the order later in the week. There are SOOO
many business we can get SCRIP cards for, we could not possibly keep all
of them in stock, so if you get the chance, take a look online! I have
attached information sheets to this e-mail so you can learn more if you
have not tried it out. We all need to buy gas for our vehicles and
groceries. You pay $25 for a gas card and use it to get $25 worth of
gas, and yet I.C. makes a small percentage from your purchase just
because you are willing to use the card instead of your own cash or
credit card. These are great for gifts, too!!!

Remember to mark these upcoming events on your calendar:

No School on Monday, September 5
Bob Evans Community Night on Tuesday, September 13 (remember to use SCRIP, too!)
School Pictures on Wednesday, September 14
I.C. Family Fun Carnival — Sunday September 18 from 1-5 p.m. Remember
raffle tickets are available in the school office for both raffles for this event!!
I.C. Striving for Excellence Lecture Series will hold the second lecture
on Sunday, September 25….more info. coming soon!!
McTeachers’ Night will be on Tuesday, Sept. 27 from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m.
No School on MOnday and Tuesday, October 3 and 4 — these are teacher
inservice days to attend the OCEA convention.
School Spirit 5K will be held on Saturday, October 8 at 9:00 am.
We WILL be in session on Friday, October 14 (Celina City Schools will
not), so parents will need to provide transportation to and from school
this day.

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday weekend with your families.
I know many of you have a last camping trip or some other vacation
weekend planned, so I pray for safe travel and good weather for an
enjoyable time. I am looking forward to a college football game
tomorrow (although I am sure it will be quite warm!!) and watching my
daughter begin her last season in the marching band, having my oldest
son come home for the weekend, and watching my youngest son move off to
college for another year this weekend! Life is filled with so many
blessings and joys — just take the time to enjoy them and appreciate
them as they come!!!

God bless you all,
Mrs. Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

8.24.11
Dear I.C. Parents,

First of all, just let me remind you to please return these forms to
school just as soon as you possibly can:
1) emergency medical form
2) Contact information form for preferred phone contacts for onecallnow
and e-mail communication.
(If it is not convenient for you to check e-mail, you may request that
we print these updates out and send them home with your child.)
3) Family income survey
4) Free and reduced lunch application if you wish to apply for that program.

We apologize for any confusion, but we discovered _*AFTER*_ the letters
were copied, that the fluoride papers were not available at this time. I
believe the funding is still up in the air…we will send those if and
when we have them. Someone called to let me know of a discrepancy in
dates — school pictures are on Wednesday, Sept. 14.

Also, please let me remind ALL parents that anytime your child is going
home a way that is different from their normal route, we need a note
sent in or need you to call in and let us know. We are always very
concerned that our children are safe and in the hands of those they are
supposed to be in, and that is the reason we need this documentation. It
is also acceptable if you stop in the office to let us know. We cannot
release children to other people without your permission, so if a
neighbor is to pick them up, we need to know that!

We got off to a pretty smooth start today, and thank all of our parents
and students for their cooperation!

I have the following announcement concerning our upcoming carnival,
which will be held on Sunday, September 18 from 1-5 p.m.:

The 2nd Annual I.C. School Carnival is scheduled for September 18th.

As part of the carnival this year, we have 2 raffles.
Our 1st raffle consists of 1st prize: 2 tickets to the October 1st OSU vs. Michigan State Football Game and
2nd prize: $500 gas card.
Tickets are $10 each or 2 tickets for $15.

Our 2nd raffle consists of
1st prize: 1 Celina Wine Store pizza per month for 1 year
2nd prize: Bella’s Italian Grille Gift Basket
and 3rd prize: Mother Mary Stained Glass Fixture.

Tickets for this raffle are $1 each or 6 for $5.

Tickets for both raffles are currently on sale in the school office.
All of our K-6 students will be receiving an order form today for items
from the Spirit Booth at the carnival. I am attaching it here as well,
Spirit_booth_order_form(1)
especially for the sake of preschool parents since they do not start
classes until next week, and the carnival committee would like orders by
next Monday.

I sincerely hope ALL of your children had a wonderful first day of
school or are anxiously anticipating their first day of preschool.
Please know that we are so happy to have all your families in our school
family. Please always feel welcome to call or stop in or e-mail with any
questions, concerns, suggestions, or compliments !

God bless you all,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

8.17.11
Dear I.C. Parents,

Welcome back to the 2011-2012 school year!! Hopefully, you are all well
aware that school will begin next Wednesday, August 24 at 8:30 am! And
Back to School Night is this Sunday, August 21 at 6:00 -7:30. There will
be various grade level meetings for parents, along with a general parent
meeting in the Lourdes’ Room at 6:00. The entire school will be open,
and we encourage you to look around at all the classrooms, including the
art room, the music room, and the library. Mrs. Brown will be available
in the cafeteria if you have any questions about lunches or have any
issues to discuss with her. Students may bring in some or all of their
supplies into their classrooms. There will be food and games on the
playground. The teachers have been hard at work preparing the classrooms
and getting materials ready, and our amazing custodians have worked very
hard to get the building clean and shiny!!

I want to stress to you that we are changing our *beginning school time
to 8:30*. There will not be any playground supervision before school.
Students are to enter school when they arrive and go go the Lourdes Room
until 8:20 when they are released to the classrooms. We do not recommend
students arrive earlier than 8:15 unless there is a specific reason,
such as band or a parent meeting with a teacher. If a 5th or 6th grade
student is in band, and has younger siblings, they may come when you
drop off the band student, if that makes things easier for you. The
siblings should go to the Lourdes Room. Once the 8:30 bell rings,
students who arrive later than that time will be counted tardy. Buses
will be dropping students off on Wayne Street, so please avoid Wayne
Street if you are dropping your children off yourself. We want to be
sure it is not congested. There will be a sheet of specific pick-up and
drop-off directions in the parent packet you pick up Sunday evening (or
we will send it home the first day of school with your oldest child).
Please read it over and become familiar with it. If everyone follows the
directions, drop-off and pick-up times should go a little more smoothly.
Children who arrive by car will be able to enter door #7 from the
playground area between 8:15 and 8:30 ONLY! *Dismissal will remain at 3:15.*

Lunch prices this year are $2.40. We participate in the free and reduced
lunch program, and information will be in each parent packet. If you
wish to apply, please do so as soon as possible. It actually is helpful
to our cafeteria program if those who qualify apply, and we keep all
information confidential. Please look over this information carefully to
see if you qualify. There is also included an income survey, which is a
very important factor in the determination of the government funds we
receive, so please fill it out and return it as soon as you can.

We will once again post our handbook on the website instead of printing
copies for everyone. This saves quite a bit of paper and time and it is
always readily accessible to families. We will provide printed copies
upon request, however. Simply let us know that you need one! It has not
been posted just yet, as we are in the last phases of preparing it
today. It should be posted by Sunday, but if not, as soon as possible.
Our website is: www.icschool-celina.org. *Please take the time to read
it! *Also, available there is the general school calendar where we post
any important events. I work very hard to try and keep this current, so
if you are wondering about a certain date, you can check there. Also,
please note that when you click on the event

Preschool families will receive a printed copy of the preschool
handbook, and kindergarten families should already have a copy of the
kindergarten handbook that was given out at kindergarten screening. If
you need a new copy, please let the office know.

The school supply list included headphones or ear buds for each child in
grades 1-6 for use with computers. We also stated we would have some at
school you can purchase directly. We have ordered some, and are hoping
they will arrive before Sunday. If you wish to purchase them here, they
are $3.00 for a set. You can pay for them on Sunday evening in the
office or send money in with your child during the first week of school.
These will be kept at school so any time a class goes to the computer
lab, they will be here.

Whenever you send money to school, please *put it an envelope with your
child’s first and last name and what the money is for. *It is also good
if you put the amount on the envelope. This will help us be sure that
money is put into the correct account and credited accurately!

We are welcoming several new (or returning) students and their families
to the Immaculate Conception School family this year. In the sixth
grade, we have new (or returning after 1 or more years) students Grace
McGohan and Kale Menchhofer. Fifth grade will welcome Nolan Liggett and
Steven Moorman. Fourth grade welcomes Larissa Orick. Third grade has new
students Rose McGohan, Reagan Liggett, and Matthew Moorman. Our first
grade class welcomes Steven Williams. We extend a warm welcome to ALL
our kindergarten and preschool students, many of whom are new to I.C.
School. Please make ALL these students feel welcomed and help their
families to find ways to get involved in this marvelous community. I
know they will appreciate your kind and generous spirits.

Feel free to also bring in any of the many “collection” items you may
have been saving over the summer. The items we do collect we include:
labels for education, box tops, Capri Sun pouches, ink cartridges, and
now Tyson Project A+ labels. Our collection center is located outside
the teachers’ lounge and ink cartridge collection is in the office.
Students can bring these in any day they come to school as well. It is
very helpful if they are sorted into different baggies. Thanks to our
chairpersons for these: Ann Giesige (Boxtops), Lori Williams (Labels for
Education), Michele Huber (Capri Sun pouches), and Stephanie Harris
(Tyson Project A+ labels). We also collect pop tabs, but those do not
provide funds or materials for I.C…..they are donated to help support
Ronald McDonald houses. If you have not been collecting, it’s not too
late to start. If you check those programs websites, they often have
bonus offers or coupons to help in the purchase prices of the products
you may be buying anyway!

Below is an announcement from the Catholic Schools office about an
opportunity to honor the heroes of Catholic education…..
>
> *Do you know a Hero of **Catholic** **School** Education? If so, we
> invite you to share this Hero’s story! The Catholic Schools **Office**
> is sponsoring an effort to recognize the hard working men and women
> who support our Catholic schools. If you are aware of a current or
> former teacher, principal, pastor, staff member, coach, volunteer, or
> other individual who has changed the life of a child, we encourage you
> to offer this person your gratitude. You can participate in this
> effort by accessing the Catholic Schools **Office** Facebook page. You
> can recognize any “Hero”, even people from your own childhood or from
> other dioceses. You can even thank an entire school! To offer thanks,
> visit the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Catholic Schools Facebook Page
> (via www.facebook.com ) and access the
> application “Heroes of Catholic Education”
> . You
> will need a Facebook identity to participate. Thank you for
> participating!*
>
Below is a suggested blessing for children on the first day of school.
This would be a nice way for your child(ren) to start the year (and
maybe each day).

/The first day of school is always an important day for children.
Consider blessing your child
(ren) before they leave for school. Perhaps plan a special breakfast and
use one of the prayers below:

Placing a hand on their heads and tracing a small cross, say:
** May God bless you and keep you.
May the Lord’s face shine upon you.
May God give you peace.
OR
** May God give the angels watch over you to keep you from harm.
I bless you in the name of the God who creates,
the God who redeems, and the God who makes us all holy. AMEN.
(Adapted from Family Prayer for Family Times, Kathleen O’Connell Chesto)

/I found a very nice website the other day from Loyola Press called
Sunday connections. You can find all the readings for upcoming Sundays
along with ideas for helping children to understand them better and
prepare for Mass. It has suggestions for various grade levels and also
for families. It is even a good website for adults to prepare to better
hear the word of God each Sunday. Please take the time to check it out:
> http://www.loyolapress.com/sunday-connection.htm?sId=192638
God bless you all,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School

8.5.11
Dear I.C. School Community,

I have two events to make you aware of. The announcements are below:

On Thursday, August 18th, CJ’s Highmarks in Celina will donate 20% of that days sales to C.A.L.L. Food Pantry’s “Back Pack Program”. Last year this program served over 300 Mercer County students K- 4th grades with over 42,000 meals on weekends during the school year. Every county school system was served except for Ft. Recovery schools which had their own program in place to serve their own students. We need to raise $20,500 to have enough funds to provide these meals for the entire 2011-2012 school year. 100% of the money donated to this program goes to purchasing food for the program.

“Mark your calendars for the Initial Lecture in the New IC School Striving for Excellence Lecture Series. The Series is sponsored by IC School to help promote the excellence of our school while caring about our community and the people within it. The Series will offer FREE informative lectures to educate and illuminate. Lectures will be held at Bella’s Italian Grille and will last approximately one hour each. Bella’s will be offering a brunch buffet at the 1:30 pm lecture and will donate a portion of proceeds to IC School. Our scheduled lectures will be offered on one Sunday per month. The first lecture will center on Vascular (Circulation) Conditions-Arterial and Venous, and will be given by Dr. Ronald Magee, MD, vascular specialist from Lima, OH. This fascinating lecture will cover how undetected vascular problems can affect many aspects of our lives, as well as how to identify and treat them! This lecture is sponsored by Medical Solutions who offer arterial and venous pumps. The representative will be at the lecture to answer any questions. The sponsorship of the lecture also helps support IC School. Please be sure to attend on Sunday, August 21, 2011 at 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm. Please call Bella’s today at 419-586-9545 to make your reservations.

Thank you for supporting the IC School Striving for Excellence Lecture Series!”

God bless you all,

Polly Muhlenkamp, Principal
Immaculate Conception School