ICS Newsletter: Thursday January 7, 2016

Upcoming Events


January

8 - Geography Bee, St. Michael Hall, 8:30 a.m.

13 - School Mass with Households, 8:30 a.m., Incarnation Catholic Church

15 - End of Quarter 2 / Semester 1

18 - No School - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

20 - School Mass (8:30 a.m.), with Warm-up to Worship in SMH at 8:00 a.m.; Quarter 2 / Semester 1 Grades posted in Sycamore

21 - Family Supper with ICS Households; ICS Family Meeting, 7:00 p.m., St. Michael Hall

23 - ICS Family Meeting, 9:00 a.m., St. Michael Hall

25 - ICS - Culver's Spirit Night
26 - Quarter 2 Time on Task Free Dress Day for qualifying students in Grades 1 - 8 

27 - School Mass (8:30 a.m.), with Warm-up to Worship in SMH at 8:00 a.m.

29 - Friday Morning Assembly, 8:30 a.m., St. Michael Hall - Kick-off to Catholic School's Week 2016

February

1 – 5 - CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 

2 - Spelling Bee, Grades 1 - 4, 8:30 a.m. in St. Michael Hall

3 - School Mass (8:30 a.m.), with Warm-up to Worship in SMH at 8:00 a.m.

4 - Spelling Bee, Grades 5 – 8, 8:30 a.m. in St. Michael Hall

5 - Irish Cup Activity, p.m. activity schedule; 

5 – 12 - ICS Spring Book Fair

10 - School Mass, Ash Wednesday (8:30 a.m.), with Warm-up to Worship in SMH at 8:00 a.m.

11 - ½ Day of School, ICS DeMATHlon; Conferences 1 – 7 p.m.

12 - ½ Day of School; Grandparents’ Day

15 - No School, President’s Day

17 - School Mass with ICS Households
22 - ICS - Chick-fil-A Spirit Night

23 - ICS Speech Contest; 8^th grade to McDonald’s

24 - School Mass

25 - 6^th Grade Focus 11 Vocations Retreat at St. Lawrence; Mid-point of Q3

26 - No School, DOSP In-service for teachers

For a comprehensive look at all of the many activities we have planned for this school year, please visit our ICS Calendar Page.

Prayers
We pray for Mia Wybel and her mother as they mourn the loss of their grandfather and father, respectively. May Jesus grant the Wybel family His comfort, peace, strength and healing during this difficult time. 

We pray for Mrs. Hall and her family as they mourn the loss of her great aunt, a religious sister from the order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. May the Lord be with Mrs. Hall and her family as they grieve the passing of her great aunt. 

We pray for Flavio da Silva, Mickaella Marcal's (Gr. 2) father who is in the hospital. May the Lord grant Mickaella's father full health and strength. 

We pray in thanksgiving for the gift of Jesus. May we, like the wise men, be wise in offering our gifts in gratitude back to our Savior. 

We pray for our ICS Family. May all families, students, teachers and community members experience abundant blessings in 2016 and always. 

We pray for the ICS Class of 2016. May God be with them during the final five months of their time at Incarnation. May the Lord be with our 8th graders and their families as they discern the next step - high school - of their educational careers. 

Have a prayer request? Send it to icsmzele@icstampa.org.

  

Hope Will Rise

-Pope Francis, Mass for his inauguration to the Pontificate, March 19, 2013

This year, we pray that because of Jesus and our faith and trust in His infinite power, glory and goodness that Hope Will Rise in our hearts, our homes and our world.  

This year, join with us as we resolve to hope. 

This year, partner with us as we commit to His blessings.

This year and always, fight for joy. 

Hope Will Rise.  

ICS Advent - Christmas Music Program
Congratulations to Ms. Maniscalco, and the ICS students and teachers for their outstanding performance during our ICS Advent - Christmas Music Program last month.  Thank you to all of the parents and families in attendance for our night of Carols and Lessons. We hope that you left filled with the Holy Spirit! 

ICS Student Council
Congratulations to our ICS Student Council for their  leadership and the fundraising efforts through the first part of the school year - Candy Kettle Raffle, Fall Punch Drinks, Candy Cane Grams, and Lightning Tickets Raffle courtesy of Culvers. Thanks to the support you have shown to our ICS Student Council and their hard work and zeal, they have secured enough money for the purchase of an automatic water fountain!

We hope to have this hydration station installed soon! An official update from our ICS Student Council will be coming next week!

ICS Family Meetings
Please note the dates above for mandatory meetings for all ICS families - Thursday January 21 and Saturday January 23. Two sessions are available so that you can coordinate your schedules and be sure to attend. Childcare for ICS students will also be available to help make it even easier for your family to attend.

At ICS, we truly desire to partner with you so as to offer your sons and daughters the best possible Catholic education. This meeting will present three practical and essential strategies for parents and families to participate in this partnership with ICS. We look forward to seeing you at either of these meetings. For more details, or questions please contact Mr. Zelenka: icsmzele@icstampa.org.


Cold Weather Gear
It seems that typical temperatures for winter in Florida have finally settled upon us. As such, students may need some extra layers, especially in the mornings, to help them stay warm. Please note the following guidelines for cold weather clothing as it pertains to our ICS Uniform Policy.

Pre-K

·       Navy blue sweatpants and navy blue crewneck pullover sweatshirts for cool weather

Boys Grades K–8

·       Navy blue ICS sweatshirt (purchased at school), other navy blue crewneck pullover sweatshirt, or navy blue ICS fleece jacket (purchased at Sunshine Uniform Company) for cold weather

·       An ICS jacket or other jacket may be worn outside of the classrooms in weather 73° or lower, but must be taken off when entering a classroom

Girls Grades K–5

·       Solid white or solid black socks, visible above the shoe, a small logo is permitted; plain white tights may be worn in cool weather

·       Tights must be plain and either cover the entire leg or extend to the sock line; capris-style leggings are not permitted 

·       Navy blue ICS sweatshirt (purchased at school), other navy blue crewneck pullover sweatshirt, or navy blue ICS fleece jacket (purchased at Sunshine Uniform Company) for cold weather

·       An ICS jacket or other jacket may be worn outside of the classrooms in weather 73° or lower, but must be taken off when entering a classroom

Girls Grades 6–8

·       Navy blue ICS sweatshirt (purchased at school), other navy blue crewneck pullover sweatshirt, or navy blue ICS fleece jacket (purchased at Sunshine Uniform Company) for cold weather

·       An ICS jacket or other jacket may be worn outside of the classrooms in weather 73° or lower, but must be taken off when entering a classroom

Boys' and Girls’ Physical Education Cold Weather Uniform

·       Plain navy blue sweatpants (purchased at local stores) during cold weather

·       Navy blue ICS sweatshirt (purchased at school), other navy blue crewneck pullover sweatshirt, or navy blue ICS fleece jacket (purchased at Sunshine Uniform Company) for cold weather

·       During PE class, or when students are outside of other classrooms, an ICS jacket or other jacket may be worn in weather 73° or lower, but must be taken off when entering a classroom.

If you have any questions about the ICS uniform and our cold weather policies, please contact Mrs. Gonzalez: gonzalezl@icstampa.org. 


ICS Irish Athletics
The Irish Athletic department has kicked off the official start of both Boys' Basketball and Girls' Flag Football.

Please contact Coach Garofolo either via email: garofolov@icstampa.org, or phone: (813)884-4502 for more information about sports for our ICS student-athletes!

You can also check out more details on the ICS Athletics Wiki: http://icsathletics.wikispaces.com/ICS+Athletics+Home

Go Irish!


PreK Request for Magazines
Miss Noto has a need for magazines for use within the PreK classroom. If you have a stack of unneeded magazines, please send them into the school via the Front Office for our youngest students to put to educational use. Thank you!


Office Request for Bags for Ice
The Front Office is in need of ziplock snack bags for ice. Students get bumps and bruises from time to time while here on campus. These bags help make giving students some ice for their injuries clean and easy. If you are willing to make a donation, please contact Mrs. Valdes: (813)884-4502 or icsmvald@icstampa.org. 


Open Invitations
As was communicated earlier this week, please note that parents, families members and friends are always welcome to join us for the celebration of the Eucharist on Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. In addition, on the Wednesdays that we meet as an entire school (see above), guests are also welcome to join us for Warm-up to Worship at 8:00 a.m. in St. Michael Hall (immediately preceding Mass). Our students work hard at developing their faith lives and it is an honor to worship with their family and friends. 

Similarly, we love to have guests at our Friday morning assemblies and other student events, including this week's Geography Bee and next month's Spelling Bees and Speech Contests. Come and witness the academic excellence achieved by our AMAZING ICS students! 

Your presence as parents and family members means the world to your child(ren) and we love the visible sign of support of ICS!

We hope to see you at one of our school events soon!


Sycamore to Rediker
Beginning with the start of the 3rd Quarter, we will be switching Student Management Systems from Sycamore to Rediker. More details will be coming over the course of the next two weeks about your login information as well as opportunities for trainings. 

While a switch of this magnitude in the middle of the year is not ideal, change at any time is difficult. Please be assured of our efforts to make this transition as seamless as possible. We hope and believe that the new software will actually enhance our ability to communicate the progress of your child(ren) as well as information about our school. 

Thank you in advance for your support and patience. We will continue to carry Sycamore through the month of February so that we can adequately archive its data and so that you can have access to first semester information on your student(s). 


ICS Dynamic Learning: Environment
We will continue to keep you posted as to our progress to outfit our ICS students with a Dynamic Learning Environment. A first shipment of bean bag chairs was received over break and the rest should be here by the end of next week! 

Furthermore, standing desks should also be in before the start of the Quarter 3! Dry erase surfacing in classrooms is also in the works!

Thank you once again to all of our generous donors who made this initiative an instant reality during our 2015 Auction! We are so excited to enhance student learning with these innovative approaches to learning!

For more details about the ICS Dynamic Learning approach, visit this link: http://incarnationcsca.blogspot.com/2015/11/ics-dynamic-learning-environment.html


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
For one final time, we wish all of our ICS families Merry Christmas (it's still the liturgical season of Christmas through this Sunday - the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord) and Happy New Year! We thank you, parents and families, for partnering with us in the education of your child(ren)! We are so honored to minister to our ICS students and you, the ICS Family! May God bless ICS in 2016 and always!

IN KEEPING WITH OUR TRADITION, WE AT INCARNATION CATHOLIC SCHOOL:

Inspire disciples of Christ,

Challenge each individual to be a life-long learner, and

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