ICS Newsletter 12.19.13

ICS Newsletter 12.19.13

UPCOMING EVENTS

12/19 - Philippines Relief Day; Family Supper / Irish Cup Activity; Chick-fil-A Spirit Night and Christmas Concert, 5:30 - 8:00 p.m., concert begins at 6:00 p.m.

12/20 - 1/2 Day of School, Skating Party and Polar Express Experience; NO AFTERCARE AVAILABLE

12/20 and 12/21 - ICS Live Nativity at Horsepower for Kids

12/23/13 - 1/3/14 - Christmas Break, NO SCHOOL

1/6/14 - Classes resume

1/10/14 - Geography Bee, a.m. activity schedule

1/11/14 - First Reconciliation, ICC

1/14/14 - Food and Fellowship at Tokyo Restaurant (Hillsborough Ave.)

1/15/14 - Family Meetings and School Mass, a.m. activity schedule (students will sit as Households at Mass); Food and Fellowship at Tokyo Restaurant (Hillsborough Ave.)

1/20/14 - No School, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

1/22/14 - School Mass, a.m. activity schedule

1/24/14 - End of Quarter 2 / Semester 1

1/26/14 - 2/1/14 - Catholic Schools Week 2014

1/28/14 - Spelling Bee, a.m. activity schedule

1/29/14 - School Mass, a.m. activity schedule

1/30/14 - Family Supper / Irish Cup Activity

2/1/14 - 1/2 Day of School; Grandparents Day

2/6/14 - No School, Diocese of St. Petersburg In-Service for all teachers (*please note that this is a Thursday)

PRAYER INTENTIONS

Please pray for Coach Garofolo and his family as they mourn the loss of his paternal grandmother. May God come and offer the Garofolo family comfort and peace during this difficult time.

We pray for the people of the Philippines as they recover from the aftereffects of Typhoon Haiyan. May God grant them relief and support.

We pray for the victims of all forms of violence, but in particular those who have been injured or lost their lives in school violence. May the God of peace be with all of those suffering from the aftereffects of these crimes.  

We continue to pray for Miss Connie Sikkema from Messiah Migrant Ministries as she battles hydrocephalus and prepares for surgery on January 7. May God offer Miss Connie health, courage and peace to fight this serious condition. 

Have a prayer intention? Send it to icsmzele@icstampa.org. Prayer requests will run for two weeks unless specified otherwise.

CHICK-FIL-A SPIRIT NIGHT AND CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Tonight from 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. Chick-fil-A on W. Waters Ave. will host ICS for our monthly spirit night. Remember that our school receives 10% of all profits (just submit your receipt) during this time.

In addition, ICS will perform a Christmas Concert at this location at 6:00 p.m. 

Students can earn a point for their priory by attending. Just be sure to see Mr. Woodward and have him check off your name!

We hope to see you there as we spread a bit of Christmas cheer!

POLAR EXPRESS EXPERIENCE

This Friday December 20 ICS will sponsor its first ever Polar Express Experience for students in grades PreK - 2. 

ALL ABROAD!

This is counted as a day of school; attendance will be taken but absences will not count against any kind of reward associated with attendance. 

Drop-off and pick-up for the Polar Express Experience is at ICS. 

Drop-off begins at 8:15 and will take place in the Church (Hillsborough Ave.) parking lot.

Pick-up will begin at 11:15 in the Pavilion lot (off of Webb Road). 

Believe!

SKATING PARTY

Grades 3 - 8 will participate in our annual Skating Party on Friday December 20. This event is held at Skate World (7512 Paula Dr., Tampa, FL 33615) from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Drop-off and pick-up will be at Skate World. 

Drop-off begins at 8:45. 

Pick-up lasts until 11:15. 

This is counted as a day of school; attendance will be taken but absences will not count against any kind of reward associated with attendance. Also, students must have a signed permission slip and paid fee in order to attend. Finally, remember that students should be dropped off and picked up directly to and from Skate World. 

FAMILY SUPPER / IRISH CUP ACTIVITY

Today Thursday, December 19, we will have our final Household gathering prior to Christmas. Please pray for the success of today's family get-togethers.  

The Irish Cup Activity will have a distinctly Christmas message and theme. Households will:

-Read a version of "Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry and watch a clip of "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" that is associated with this story.

-Learn about the significance of the Jesse Tree and participate in building a school-wide version of this Advent tradition.

-Complete a Christmas ornament representing a student's Household and housemates that students will take home with them. This commemorative item will be given to all students just for being a part of ICS!

Be sure to ask your student about his/her experience with today's event!

HOUSEHOLDS, PRIORIES AND THE IRISH CUP

After almost one semester of events, the quest for the Irish Cup remains close:

1st Place - E Priory, 132 points

2nd Place - O Priory, 131 points

3rd Place - H Priory, 122 points

4th Place - M Priory, 119 points

The totals above include participation in the 12/7 Santa's Breakfast event, but do not involve points awarded for attendance at last weekend's Live Nativity. 

Priory points will be awarded to students in attendance at tonight's Chick-fil-A event. Just be sure to find Mr. Woodward so that your priory benefits!

Students' attendance at tomorrow and/or Saturday's Live Nativity will also earn a priory point. Just turn in the green flyer at the ticket booth. 

Stay tuned for more details about our Households, Priories and the Irish Cup in the second semester! 

NEW CLUBS

ICS continues to grow its after school offerings this year by hosting the following new clubs:

-Coders Club (computer programming, grades 7 - 8)
-Lego Robotics Club (computer programming, grades 2 - 5), starting next semester
-Art Club (TBD), details coming in 2014
-Billards Club
-Bowling Club 
-Crossfit (outdoor Stations of the Cross with physical fitness)

FOOD AND FELLOWSHIP

Remember that our next event Food and Fellowship event is tonight at Chick-fil-A. This event will also involve a Christmas concert. Come out to catch the spirit, wonder, awe and excitement of Advent and prepare for the joy of Christmas, 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. The concert will begin at 6:00!

Mark your calendars for our first FAF events of 2014 - January 14 and 15 at Tokyo Restaurant (7911 W. Hillsborough Ave.)


HOME

This week's quote (see image on right) on our theme was submitted by Mrs. Peach (Caitlin, Grade 7). 

Have an AMAZING quote that pertains to this year's theme (home, family)? Send it to icsmzele@icstampa.org.

CELEBRATING SUCCESSES

Do you know of a current ICS student or an ICS alumnus who has found success in the areas of academics, athletics, leadership, service or ministry that should be featured in our Newsletter? 

If so, please help us to recognize the sons and daughters of Incarnation Catholic School by sending notification to Mr. Zelenka: icsmzele@icstampa.org. GO IRISH!

INCARNATION PARISH HOME AND SCHOOL ASSOCIATION

Please visit SignUpGenius to sign up to volunteer for any of the many upcoming HSA events.

ADVENT INITIATIVES

Thank you to all of the families who have embraced our Advent journey to Spend Less / Give More, Love All and Worship Fully! May God bless our efforts and offer something truly surprising to us this Christmas!

LIVE NATIVITY

A note from Mrs. Carrier and Mrs. Bujak about our upcoming Live Nativity events:

"ICS families, please consider donating baked goods (homemade or store bought) for the Live Nativity Fundraiser. Drop them off to school on Friday December 20. Be sure to include your name and your child(ren)'s grade(s) so that you can receive commitment hours for your efforts. 

If students bring the green flyer to the performance and drop it off in the ICS bin that will be located at the entrance booth, they will receive a point for their priory.

Thank you so much for your help and support with this initiative." 

ICS HOUR OF CODE

Last week, Incarnation Catholic School accepted the challenge of having every student in the school participate in the Hour of Code: http://csedweek.org/  

Using the media and technology class time for grades PreK through Grade 4, and Information and Communication Technology time with Spanish class time for Grades 5 - 8, students spent more than an hour learning to code. The Hour of Code became a 2 - 3 week unit with students working on their projects during several class periods.

PreK through Grade 2 started the Hour of Code with a challenging game of Simon Says. This introduced the concepts that the computer can only complete tasks with clearly stated and correctly sequenced steps.

After playing Simon Says, elementary students began to write code to create a stack of cups. The code above says, "Pick up cup, move hand 1, move hand 1, move hand 1, put down cup, move hand back 1, move hand back 1, move hand back 1.

With practice in pairs, and then individually, students wrote code to stack cups.

Students in grades 3 - 5 applied their cup-stacking coding skills to creating code to solve problems on the computer using Angry Birds. http://learn.code.org/hoc/1 

Grade 5 students also participated in a class on Tynker.http://www.tynker.com/  They will continue to work in Tynker developing their coding skills for another month.

Grade 6 students continued to code using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology programming language Scratch, since it a part of their regular grade 6 curriculum, but they stopped their other Scratch assignments to complete the Hour of Code challenge. Students in grades 6, 7, and 8 completed the Scratch Hour of Code challenge to create an animated seasonal holiday card. The ICS version had an extra challenge however, since they were required to only use Spanish in their cards. http://scratch.mit.edu/ 

Sample Scratch Projects:

Grade 8 student: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/15541905/ 

Grade 6 student: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/15362051/ 

Grade 7 student: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/15303815/ 

Grade 6 student game: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/15360038/ 

ICS has also started an after-school Coders Club for 7th and 8th grade students. They started Java Script tutorials on Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/hour-of-code/hour-of-code-tutorial/v/welcome-hour-of-code 

Some have also worked on HTML5 using Code Academy. http://www.codecademy.com/ 

Middle school students will continue to apply their coding skills throughout the year coding projects for their English and Spanish classes. 

Many thanks to Mrs. Carrier, Mrs. Doyle and Mrs. Casanas for their coordinated efforts in making this program a reality! 

GEOGRAPHY BEE

These are the homeroom winners that will compete in the National Geographic Bee on Friday January 10, 2014 (8:30 a.m., St. Michael Hall):

4th- Nadia Falcone and Sophia Torres
5A- Logan Maher
5B- Malio Mayo
6A- Jorge Arroyo
6B- Maria Paula Owens
7A- Adam Reciniello
7B- Gustavo Chaviel
8A- George Morgan
8B- Jacob Croskey

Congratulations to these students! Good luck on the 10th!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

On behalf of Fr. Michael Suszynski and the ICS faculty and staff, we wish you and your families a blessed Christmas! May the hope, joy, peace and love of the mystery of the Incarnation surprise and amaze you this Christmas and always!

God is with us! Emmanuel!

See you in 2014...

In keeping with our tradition, we at Incarnation Catholic School:

Inspire life-long learning,

Challenge each individual to be a disciple of Christ, and

Strive to live our Catholic faith through service to each other and the community.

-----------------------------------------------------

5111 Webb Rd. * Tampa, FL 33615 * Tel: 813.884.4502 * Fax: 813.885.3734 * www.icstampa.org

ICS Newsletter 12.12.13

ICS Newsletter 12.12.13

UPCOMING EVENTS

12/12 - Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe; Sacred Steps Running Club; ICS Science Fair, 6:00 - 7:00 p.m., ICS Media Center

12/13 - Free Dress day for any student who finished ahead of a teacher during the Family Fun Run 

12/13 and 12/14 - ICS Live Nativity at Horsepower for Kids

12/16 - Creative Writing Club, 3:15 - 4:00 p.m.

12/17 - Choir Practice for Chick-fil-A Christmas Concert, 3:15 - 4:00 p.m.

12/18 - Celebration of the Eucharist, 8:30 a.m., ICC

12/19 - Philippines Relief Day (*see below for more details); Family Supper / Irish Cup Activity; Chick-fil-A Spirit Night and Christmas Concert, 5:30 - 8:00 p.m., concert begins at 6:00 p.m.

12/20 - 1/2 Day of School, Skating Party and Polar Express Experience; NO AFTERCARE AVAILABLE

12/20 and 12/21 - ICS Live Nativity at Horsepower for Kids

12/23/13 - 1/3/14 - Christmas Break, NO SCHOOL

1/6/14 - Classes resume

1/14 - Food and Fellowship at Tokyo Restaurant (Hillsborough Ave.)

1/15 - Food and Fellowship at Tokyo Restaurant (Hillsborough Ave.)

PRAYER INTENTIONS

We continue to pray for the Allegra family (Rachel, Grade 7) as they mourn the passing of Rachel's grandfather, "Papa Joe", into eternal life. May God come offer comfort, peace and strength to the Allegra family during this difficult time.

We also continue to pray for the family of 4th grader Matthew Tran as they grieve the loss of Matthew's grandmother. We pray that the Tran family be aided by God's loving embrace at this time. 

We pray for the people of the Philippines as they recover from the aftereffects of Typhoon Haiyan. May God grant the people of the Philippines relief and support. 

We hold Miss Connie Sikkema from Messiah Migrant Ministries in our thoughts and prayers as she battles hydrocephalus and prepares for surgery on January 7. May God offer Miss Connie health, courage and peace to fight this serious condition. 

Have a prayer intention? Send it to icsmzele@icstampa.org. Prayer requests will run for two weeks unless specified otherwise.

FIRST FRIDAY MORNING ASSEMBLY HONOREES

This past Friday we honored the following students in various ways at our monthly Morning Assembly. Congratulations to these students and their families!


-St. Sebastian Student-Athlete of the Month Awards (November): 

Allison Kramer, Grade 6
Erik Rosario, Grade 5


-Incarnation Inspiration Awards: 

Jackson Coulman, Grade 4
Kara Artz, Grade 4
Devon Ostrander, Grade 4
Julia Artz, Grade 2
Jelissa Lima, Grade 8
George Morgan, Grade 8
Ricky Rojas, Grade 8
Jack Wood, Grade 8
Alex Vazquez-Kersey, Grade 8
Nicole Rodriguez, Grade 8
Cristina Suarez-Solar, Grade 8
Kaitlin Altamirano, Grade 8
Tommy Pham, Grade 8
Jorge Rivera-Galindo, Grade 8
Emily Edbrooke, Grade 8
Lexi Velte, Grade 8
Vivian Dinh, Grade 8

Great job, Irish! Keep up the AMAZING work!

SKATING PARTY / POLAR EXPRESS EXPERIENCE

Details about our Skating Party at Skate World will be sent home today. This event is on Friday 12/20 and will be held at Skate World (7512 Paula Dr., Tampa, FL 33615) from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Grades 3 - 8 are permitted to attend. Drop-off and pick-up will be at Skate World. This is counted as a day of school; attendance will be taken but absences will not count against any kind of reward associated with attendance. Also, students must have a signed permission slip and paid fee in order to attend. Finally, students should be dropped off and picked up directly to and from Skate World. Drop-off begins at 8:45 a.m. Pick-up will last until 11:15 a.m.

On the same day (12/20), Grades PreK - 2 are invited to take part in our Inaugural Polar Express Experience! Please sign up by tomorrow Friday December 13 if you would like your child to take a ride to the North Polar upon the ICS Polar Express! ALL ABROAD!, This is counted as a day of school; attendance will be taken but absences will not count against any kind of reward associated with attendance. Drop-off and pick-up for the Polar Express Experience will take place at ICS. Drop-off begins at 8:15; pick-up will last until 11:30 a.m. 


FAMILY SUPPER / IRISH CUP ACTIVITY

ICS Household Banners are on display in the Main Office Hallway.

Next Thursday, December 19, we will have our final Household gathering prior to Christmas. Order forms for lunch will be sent home in today's packet. So that we can adequately prepare for this event, please return the order forms to the Main Office if you are ordering lunch by Monday December 16. 

The Irish Cup Activity will have a distinctly Christmas message and theme. Households will:

-Read a version of "Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry and watch a clip of "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" that is associated with this story.

-Learn about the significance of the Jesse Tree and participate in building a school-wide version of this Advent tradition.

-Complete a Christmas ornament representing a student's Household and housemates that students will take home with them. This commemorative item will be given to all students just for being a part of ICS!

After almost one semester of events, the quest for the Irish Cup remains close:

1st Place - E Priory, 132 points

2nd Place - O Priory, 131 points

3rd Place - H Priory, 122 points

4th Place - M Priory, 119 points

Please continue to pray for the success of our Household initiative. 


SANTA'S BREAKFAST

Thank you to the over 100 families and over 300 people who attended last week's Santa's Breakfast. The event was a huge success! Thank you to Mrs. Rosario and Mrs. Capitano for their efforts in co-chairing the morning's activities. We also thank the many workers who helped make the event possible!

FOOD AND FELLOWSHIP

Thank you to the many families who joined us at McDonald's last evening!

Remember that our next event on the 19th of December (a Thursday evening) at Chick-fil-A will also involve a Christmas concert. Come out to catch the spirit, wonder, awe and excitement of Advent and prepare for the joy of Christmas, 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. The concert will begin at 6:00!

Finally, mark your calendars for our first FAF events of 2014 - January 14 and 15 at Tokyo Restaurant (7911 W. Hillsborough Ave.)


HOME

This week's quote is by Bl. Pope John Paul II and was submitted by Mrs. Peach (Caitlin, Grade 7). 

Have an AMAZING quote that pertains to this year's theme (home, family)? Send it to icsmzele@icstampa.org.

CELEBRATING SUCCESSES

Do you know of a current ICS student or an ICS alumnus who has found success in the areas of academics, athletics, leadership, service or ministry that should be featured in our Newsletter? If so, please help us to recognize the sons and daughters of Incarnation Catholic School by sending notification to Mr. Zelenka: icsmzele@icstampa.org. GO IRISH!

INCARNATION PARISH HOME AND SCHOOL ASSOCIATION

Please visit SignUpGenius to sign up to volunteer for any of the many upcoming HSA events.

ADVENT INITIATIVES

As a way to help prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus this year on the Feast of the Incarnation (Christmas), the student body is engaging in an Advent Adventure, focusing on 4 ideas: Spending Less, Giving More, Loving All and Worshipping Fully. 
-SPEND LESS / GIVE MORE
-LOVE ALL

Image of Philippines Flag from Creative Commons.

-WORSHIP FULLY

Please participate in our three efforts this Advent:

As a way to once again partner with Messiah Migrant Ministries, ICS is holding a clothing and toy drive. Please bring in any new or gently used clothing item or toy. As a way to make room for all that we will receive on the Feast of the Incarnation, cleaning out those toys no longer played with (or maybe hardly played with at all) and those clothes that no longer fit is a great way to prepare for Christmas. Buying new items, especially in place of gift for ourselves, is also a great way to help those in need!

Donations will be accepted up until Monday December 16. Items should be brought to either HR's or St. Michael Hall at the beginning of the day.

Despite the lack of coverage in the news media, the people of the Philippines are still in dire need of help and assistance. As a way to fly to the assistance of the Philippines, ICS will have a $1.00 Dress Day on Thursday December 19 to benefit relief efforts in that country. Students will be permitted to wear sneakers, jeans / PE shorts / uniform bottoms, with a red / white / blue or yellow shirt (the colors of the flag of the Philippines).

Our last Celebration of the Eucharist before Christmas as a school community will be next Wednesday December 18. We hope you can join us. We encourage you to attend Church on the Feast of the Incarnation and to worship while there with full, conscious and active participation. Emmanuel! The Lord has come!

LIVE NATIVITY

A note from Mrs. Carrier and Mrs. Bujak about our upcoming Live Nativity events:

"ICS families, please consider donating baked goods (homemade or store bought) for the Live Nativity Fundraiser. Drop them off to school on Friday December 13 and/or Friday December 20. Be sure to include your name and your child(ren)'s grade(s) so that you can receive commitment hours for your efforts. 

In the home folders today you will see a green flyer for this fundraiser. Students are asked to write their name, and priory on the back of the flyer. If students bring this flyer to the performance and drop it off in the ICS bin that will be located at the entrance booth, they will receive a point for their priory.

Thank you so much for your help and support with this initiative." 

ICS HOUR OF CODE

ICS is participating in the Hour of Code this week, a computer-programming initiative aimed at getting people everywhere to discover the code behind computers. For more details on this event read below for a message from the event's founder, Hadi Partovi; watch the video; or visit this website: code.org.

"Five months ago, I came up with a simple idea: to get ten million students to try one hour of computer science -- the Hour of Code. Code.org was still just a few people, and they thought I was crazy.

If you told me our movement would grow so powerful that it’d get a Google Doodle, that every Apple retail store in America would host an Hour of Code workshop and that the President himself would call on every student to learn to program (matched by officials on the other side of the aisle), I would’ve thought you were crazy too.

But today, the Hour of Code is here. All of this is becoming a reality. This week, 5 million students -- in 34,000 classrooms, across 167 countries -- will be first to experience the Hour of Code. I’m humbled to think we’re reaching students worldwide to encourage them to just try computer science, because I know one hour can be enough to change a student’s life, as it did mine.

The only way our tiny team was able to pull this campaign off was through unprecedented support – not just from CEOs, celebrities, and world leaders, but from teachers, parents, and students, in the thousands and millions, to spread a simple idea: that computer science should be accessible to every 21st century student.

Although I’ve barely slept, organizing the Hour of Code over the last 5 months has been the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done, and I feel lucky to be able to thank you all for your support.

Hadi Partovi
Code.org

P.S. The week has just started, but already 1.6 mm students have done the Hour of Code, and written 47 mm lines of code. Help us reach 10 million students, and 1 billion lines of code. Give it to the people. Spread it across the country."

Ask your student to explain what they've done or are doing for their hour of coding at ICS. Try programming something yourself - especially if you're unfamiliar with what it entails. Mr. Zelenka completed these 40 lines of code - his first time ever programming: http://www.khanacademy.org/cs/spin-off-of-project-greeting-card/4574716975120384.  Have fun!

HAPPY FEAST OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

May Mary Mother of Jesus come and be with your families this Advent, Christmas and always! Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Image from Creative Commons.

In keeping with our tradition, we at Incarnation Catholic School:

Inspire life-long learning,

Challenge each individual to be a disciple of Christ, and

Strive to live our Catholic faith through service to each other and the community.

-----------------------------------------------------

5111 Webb Rd. * Tampa, FL 33615 * Tel: 813.884.4502 * Fax: 813.885.3734 * www.icstampa.org