ICS Newsletter: Thursday February 11, 2016

Upcoming Events


February

11 - ½ Day of School, ICS DeMATHlon; Conferences 1 – 7 p.m.; ICS Spring Book Fair, Media Center, 9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

12 - ½ Day of School; Grandparents’ Day; ICS Spring Book Fair, Media Center, 9:00 - 11:30 a.m.; formal school uniform for all students
13 - Incarnation Catholic Church 2nd Annual Valentine's Gala, 6:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. 
15 - No School, President's Day 
17 - School Mass with ICS Households 
22 - ICS - Chick-fil-A Spirit Night 
23 - ICS Speech Contest; 8th grade to McDonald's; Lifetouch Spring Picture Day 
24 - School Mass 
25 - 6th Grade Focus 11 Vocations Retreat at St. Lawrence; Mid-point of Q3 
26 - No School, Diocese of St. Petersburg In-service for all teachers

March

2 - School Mass

3 - Family Supper with ICS Households

4 - First Friday Morning Assembly, Irish Incarnation Day (Any ICS shirt, Jeans or PE shorts, sneakers)

7 – 18 - IOWA Assessment, Grades 2 – 8

9 - School Mass

16 - School Mass

17 - St. Patrick’s Day (Any Green shirt, Jeans or PE shorts, sneakers); Classroom level celebrations 

during lunch / recess; Carnival Sweepstakes Raffle begins

18 - Irish Cup Activity, p.m. activity schedule
21 - ICS - Culver's Spirit Night

23 - School Mass; National Junior Honor Society inductions after Mass         

24 - ½ Day of School, Holy Thursday; End of Quarter 3 

25 – 31 - No School, Easter Break

April 
1 - No School, Easter Break
4 - School resumes 
14 - Carnival, 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. 
15 - 1/2 day of school; Carnival 6:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. 
16 - 17 Carnival (Saturday 2:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.; Sunday 1:00 - 8:00 p.m.)

18 - No School, Carnival Clean-up

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 8th Grader Maria Paula Owens, who received the Sacrament of Confirmation from Bishop Lynch last Wednesday at Corpus Christi. May God bless Maria Paula as well as all of the 8th graders, especially those from Incarnation who are preparing for their respective Confirmation in May!

We continue to pray for the grandmother of 4th Grader Dominick Maggio, Connie Chavis, who had surgery last week. May the Lord grant her a swift and full recovery.

We also continue to pray for Flavio da Silva, Mickaella Marcal's (Gr. 2) father. May Mr. da Silva continue on the path to full recovery. 

We pray for all Christians during this holy season of Lent. May this intentional time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving lead our ICS Family closer to the Risen Christ!

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

  

Hope Will Rise

Today's Hope Will Rise quote comes from Matthew Kelly, the founder of Dynamic Catholic (for more on this organization and connecting into its mission to reenergize Catholics, see below). Let us be people with hope to bring. 

Let your light shine. Let His Light shine. 

Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine...and let hope rise. 

ICS Academics

We look forward to welcoming our ICS families this evening for our second Family-Teacher Conference session of the school year. These opportunities to dialogue about the progress of your child(ren) is essential to their academic and behavior success. Your support has a huge impact on the learning of your child(ren). Remember that you are their primary educators! In this way, the tone that you set at home regarding work ethic and improvement is so important! In fact, developing a "Growth Mindset" in kids is one of the most essential components to their success (click on "Growth Mindset" for a video with more information about it!).

See below for some tips on setting the right tone regarding school and creating a unified front between your home and our school:

If for some reason you missed out on today's conferences, please do not hesitate to contact us right away! We are happy to arrange an alternate time; we value your partnership and support!

ICS Faith

Ready for your Best Lent Ever? Check out this video from Dynamic Catholic and consider signing up for your Best Lent Ever: New Beginnings. 

Lent means "to come back to" and we "come back to" Jesus through our time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving throughout the 40 days of Lent. Our teachers and students are on a journey to find their "5 stones" and together we will focus on the following:

1. Eucharist
2. Reconciliation
3. Prayer (especially the Rosary)
4. Reading Scripture
5. Works of Mercy

Please know of our prayers for you and your families during this holy season. May your respective Lenten journeys as a family bring you closer to the Resurrected Jesus!


ICS Digital Media
Don't let your device usage run your life! More importantly, don't let it run the life of your child(ren) either! See these tips shared during our recent ICS Family Meetings regarding ways that you can manage the amount of time and the types of content being used digitally in your home. 

ICS Irish Athletics

See below for the schedules of our current Irish athletic teams. Go Irish! 

Congratulations to the Girls' Flag Football team for their last second victory last week over Christ the King! In a rain-soaked contest, the Irish kept the ball on the ground and scored on an impressive run by 7th grader, Keyarra Henderson! Go IRISH!

*Varsity Boys Basketball schedule:

-Tuesday February 11 vs. Christ the King (A), 4:00 p.m. at Christ the King

-Saturday February 13 vs. St. Stephen, 11:20 a.m. at Jesuit

-Thursday February 18 at St. Lawrence (A), 4:00 p.m.
-Saturday February 20 vs. St. Joseph, 9:00 a.m. at Jesuit

-Monday February 22 at Mother Teresa of Calcutta (A), 4:00 p.m.
-Saturday February 27 vs. Villa Madonna, 10:10 at Tampa Catholic

*JV Boys Basketball schedule:
-Thursday February 11 at Christ the King (A), (game after the Varsity contest)

-Thursday February 18 at St. Lawrence (A), (game after the Varsity contest)

-Monday February 22 at Mother Teresa of Calcutta (A) (game after the Varsity contest)

*Girls Flag Football schedule:

-Thursday February 11 vs. St. Lawrence (H), 4:00 p.m.

-Tuesday February 16 at St. Stephen (A), 4:00 p.m. 

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!

David's Little Champions

The ICS Irish Athletic Department is proud to announce a new program: David's Little Champions (inspired by the story of David and Goliath).

This program will be open to our PreK-3 through Grade 3 students. During this fun and exciting event our young athletes will have the opportunity to learn some basic skills in sports. Each child will participate in a non-competitive, fun filled atmosphere.

Our first David's Little Champions sport will be Soccer on Friday March 4 from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. 

Student-athletes are encourage to bring a soccer ball with their name on it (please note that this is not required). There is no fee for this and upcoming David's Little Champions events. Please see the form in the Thursday packet for details and sign-ups. Please contact Coach Garofolo either via email: garofolov@icstampa.org, or phone: (813)884-4502 for more information about this exciting ICS opportunity!

ICS Alumni are AMAZING!
The most recent edition of the Jesuit High School magazine, Perspectives, is filled with features on ICS graduates! For the edition, visit this link: http://www.magazinevolume.com/18081JH/#/1/

ICS graduates are on the following pages:
-Carter Campbell (ICS '15) page 6
-Jacob Shoop (ICS '12) page 10
-Gantt Meredith (ICS '12) pages 10, 13
-George Morgan (ICS '14) page 10
-Vito Holmes (ICS '12) pages 12, 13
-Daniel Kim (ICS '14) page 12
-James Kim (ICS '14) page 12
-Spencer Whipple (ICS '12) page 12
-Matthew Silva (ICS '12) page 13
-Nick Ortega (ICS '12) page 18

Also, Tampa Catholic senior Bryson Boylan (ICS '12) participated for the Crusaders in the FHSAA State Championship game last night. Bryson scored a goal in the second half to tie the game, but TC came up short, 3-2. Great job, Bryson!

Great job, gentlemen! Your ICS Family is so proud of you! GO IRISH!

Rediker Updates

If you have any questions or issues with Rediker, please contact the Front Office (813) 884-4502 or Mr. Woodward: woodwardb@icstampa.org immediately!

Bookmark this link so that you can easily get to the Rediker page: https://www.plusportals.com/IncarnationCatholic

Also, don't forget about the Rediker app. It's free and called Parent Plus! When you open the app you will be prompted to enter our school name which is “Incarnation Catholic": https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parentplus/id648334615?mt=8

Finally, follow this link for a list of training videos that can help you to navigate the system: http://www.redikersupport.com/documentation/parentplus.htm 

Please contact us with any questions! Thank you for your patience and support. Remember that we will be discontinuing Sycamore at the end of this month. Please be sure to archive anything you want to access before the beginning of March!

Grandparents' Day 2016

ICS Grandparents' Day 2016 is tomorrow Friday February 12. Registration for this event is closed (it was due on Tuesday February 9). 

Seating for breakfast will be organized based on RSVPs and when they were received. Failure to return the RSVP sheet on time may result in your Grandparent(s) and students having to utilize auxiliary seating for this event. Similarly, meals will not be available for purchase at the door. If you missed the registration, grandparents are still welcome to join us. However, just remember and convey to them that they may end up not getting breakfast (we had to submit a number and payment to the caterer in advance of today). Similarly, we may not have enough space for them in St. Michael Hall. 

Also, should you desire for Grandparents to take your child(ren) home prior to the conclusion of the event you need to grant your permission on the RSVP form. Students will not be released early without this advance notice. Thank you in advance for helping us maintain this safety aspect of the morning. 

*Please note that because of the large number of people on campus on Friday, parents and other family members are not permitted.d

*All students should wear formal school uniform for tomorrow's Grandparents' Day. 

Finally, please be sure to have Grandparents adhere to the following times (Grandparents will not be seated prior to 7:45 and food will not be available prior to 8:00 a.m.):

7:45 - 8:00 a.m. = Seating open
8:00 - 9:15 a.m. = Breakfast in St. Michael Hall (RSVP only $5 per person, including students) 
9:15 - 10:00 a.m. = Stations of the Cross in the Church
10:00 - 11:30 a.m. = School tours, Book Fair
11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. = Students report to HR
12:00 p.m. = Dismissal

If you have any questions about Grandparents' Day, please contact the Front Office: (813) 884-4502. We look forward to welcoming Grandparents to ICS tomorrow! 

ICS Student Council Carnation Sale

The annual ICS Student Council Carnation Sale is tomorrow Friday February 12 - Grandparents' Day. Cost is $1.00 per flower. This would be a great way for students to honor their Grandparents and support their ICS Student Council at the same time!

Amazon Smile - Reminder

If you haven't already signed up for Amazon Smile, to help support ICS, please consider doing so. As was announced last week, ICS can earn money through your Amazon purchases. All you have to do to have Amazon make a donation to their favorite charity - ICS - is go to http://smile.amazon.com and make their charity selection.  Enter "Incarnation Catholic School, Tampa" under search and now any future purchases you make will send 0.5% of the total to ICS. Just remember to go to http://smile.amazon.com.  Prime membership is recognized on both sites.

2nd Annual Valentine's Gala

This Saturday February 13 is the Church's largest fundraiser, the 2nd Annual Valentine's Gala. Please pray for the success of this event and please consider attending. All proceeds will go toward a new roof for the Tunnel and Middle School buildings! 

ICS Spring Book Fair

Don't forget that our ICS Spring Book Fair with Scholastic runs through today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday). As you visit campus for Family - Teacher conferences, please consider stopping by to ignite a flame for reading in your child by purchasing a new book. Similarly, please encourage grandparents to spoil our students at the Book Fair on Friday. 

Reading is the gateway to knowledge! Thank you for promoting a love of reading with the gift of books!

Faith Formation Updates

First Communion Workshop Dates

-March 5, and April 9 

-9:30-11:30 a.m. in St. Michael Hall

-both child and parent should attend 

*First Communion is Sunday, May 1, 2016

Confirmation Dates

Workshop

-February 17, 7:00-8:30 p.m. in St Michael Hall 

-both teen and parent attend

Penance Service

March 9, 7:00-8:30 p.m. in the Church 

-both teen and parent attend

Rehearsal

-Tues. May 24  at 6:00 p.m.

*Confirmation is Wed., May 25, 2016 at 7:00 p.m., Candidates and Sponsors must be here by 6:30 p.m.

Incarnation Carnival - April 14 - 17
Mark your calendars! Save the dates! The Incarnation Carnival is coming...

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.