February 16, 2012 Dear Families, Lent begins next week, on Ash Wednesday. Please take your child to Mass if you are able. This is a holy season in our church year. It is a time for prayer, fasting (making sacrifices in our lives), and almsgiving (giving to those in need). It is a time for us to seriously think about parts of our life that we want to change and make better for God. It is also a time for us to give thanks for the great sacrifice that Jesus made – his very life – because of his great love for us. Here at school, we will have some special practices during Lent. First, we will pray the Stations of the Cross as a school during Community Gathering each day. Second, our mission collections will be for Catholic Relief Services through Operation Rice Bowl. Third, students in Grades 3-8 will receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (and students in Grade 2 will receive their First Reconciliation). Finally, each day we will pause before lunch to pray the Examen, which is a prayer called “The Examen.” It is a five-part prayer that combines giving thanks, being sorry, and asking God for strength to do better the rest of the day. You could say this prayer at home, too. It is a great way to end the day. Here are the steps: 1. Think about what happened today that made you most grateful/thankful. 2. What happened today for which you do not feel grateful? 3. How did you show love today? Who did you share with? Who did you help? 4. When today did you not show kindness or love? Was there a time when you did not share? Was there a time when you said or did something that hurt someone else? 5. Ask God to help you be more loving tomorrow. This prayer came from St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuit priests. Please read on:

FTO Chocolate Sales: Many thanks to all of you who have sold at least one box of chocolate for our school, and to those of you who have sold even more! This is a great fundraiser because we receive 50% profit from the sale of each box. If you have not sold your chocolate and don’t think you will be able to sell it all next week (during vacation), please bring it back in so that we can give it to someone else who thinks they can sell it. All chocolate must be sold and all money returned by Monday, February 27.

School Vacation: Please note that the school is closed next week, along with all of the other schools in the area, for February Vacation. We will return on Monday, February 27.

March 6 Primary Elections: Just to give you a heads-up so you can make arrangements for child care, there will be no school for students on Tuesday, March 6. The city will use our school as a polling location for the primaries. Teachers will still meet for professional development. We do not have school on election days because there are so many people in and out of the building who have not been screened with CORI. For the children’s safety, we close school.

Fire Prevention: Many thanks to Omar from the Chelsea Fire Department, who visited our students on Monday and taught them about fire safety and prevention.

Re-registration: Just a reminder that you are encouraged to send in your re-registration as soon as possible. Registration is now open to new families. We had several new families visit in recent weeks, and some have already sent in their applications! Send in your re-registration early to save your child’s seat for next year and save $50 off book/gym/computer fees! In order to re-register, you must be up-to-date on your tuition payments for this year.

Financial Aid: I would like to invite and encourage all of you to apply for financial aid for next year. Thanks to the generosity of many benefactors, we are able to offer a substantial amount of aid to all families that qualify. We have paper applications available in the office, and you can also apply online at: www.factstuitionaid.com. Even if you don’t have your 2011 taxes done yet, you can still fill out the rest of the application and then mail or fax the necessary documents when you have them. Please contact Ms. Keeton or Mrs. Wright if you have any questions.

Know someone who is interested in St. Rose?: Megan Adzima, who works with the Catholic School Admissions Collaborative, is trying to spread the good news about ours and other local Catholic schools. Feel free to refer interested families to her (she speaks Spanish!) or directly to the office.

Winter Weather:. If it snows and you think there is a possibility that we won’t have school, tune in to Channel 4 (WBZ), Channel 7, Channel 5 (WCVB) or Fox 25 and look for St. Rose Elementary. I will call in as soon as I make a decision. All decisions are made based on the likelihood that teachers and students can get to school safely.

Lunches: Please see attached letter to order the school lunch for your child for the week of February 27- March 2. You need to send this form back in each week, even if you receive free lunch, or if you are choosing not to get lunch this week for our records. Thank you.

School Mass: Please mark your calendar! Our next school Mass will be on Monday, March 12. We would love for you to join us!

Ways to Help: Need to know more about something? Instead of using Google, try using www.goodsearch.com. You can put in St. Rose School (Chelsea, MA) as the charity you want to benefit each time you use this search engine. Also, don’t forget to save your box tops!

St. Rose online: Check us out on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Rose- School/174719982596857. If you would like to receive the newsletter and other information via email, please go to www.strosechelsea.com/contact/emailsignup.html and enter your information.

BrainPOP: Don’t forget to use it at home! www.brainpop.com . Our username is: strosechelsea and our password is: 580broadway.

Blessings,

Caitlin Keeton, Principal

580 Broadway.Chelsea.MA.02150. 617.884.2626 (phone) 617.889.2345 (fax) www.strosechelsea.com