From the Principal PTO Officers Kylie Clarke John Miller Dianne Jelinek Megan McDonald Debbie Floyd

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1 Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016 October Red Ribbon Week 28 Fall Picture Day (dress uniforms required) School Mass 8am Middle School Dance 6 8:30pm 30 First Communion Family Interview 1:15pm Church November 1 All Saints Day School Mass 8am Saints Parade Gr. PK 3 rd 3-4 Parent/Teacher Conferences 11:30am Early Dismissal 6 First Communion Parent meeting 10:20am (PAC) 7-11 Scholastic Book Fair 10 PTO Mtg. 6:30pm Duffy Center 11 Veteran s Day School Mass 8am 18 School Mass 8am 19 Golf The Dye Club 8:30am 20 First Communion Parent meeting 10:20am (PAC) 22 Early Dismissal 11:30am Thanksgiving Break NO SCHOOL 28 Classes Resume PTO Officers Kylie Clarke John Miller Dianne Jelinek Megan McDonald Debbie Floyd From the Principal As we approach November, we are quickly reminded of the fast pace at which time seems to travel this time of year. Our first quarter is already behind us and conferences are scheduled for November 3 rd and 4 th. Please take this opportunity to learn more about your child s progress and receive some narrative feedback that cannot be captured in their report cards. On the last page of this edition of Gator Bites are some helpful tips on having a successful parent/teacher conference. Signups vary by teacher, so please check with the teacher(s) you wish to schedule a conference with. I am also available on those days should anyone need to meet with me. However, please me at pwalters@saintmichaelsc.com if you would like to schedule time to meet, or you can try to drop by during conference times to check my availability. If conference days do not work for you, please let me know and we can schedule another time. November is a time of harvest and giving thanks. We are thankful for all we do and all we have. Please see the attached flyer about the Haiti Outreach project. We need your help, in order to help Haiti and its people recover from Hurricane Matthew. Please help us make this a successful mission project. 11:30AM - ½ Day Dismissals: November 3 rd & 4 th Please remember that we will dismiss at 11:30am on November 3 rd and 4 th for Parent/Teacher Conferences. Please be prompt as teachers have tight schedules with conference times. Aftercare will be available for registered students, however, drop-in s are welcome at the cost of $ Archery Club There will be NO archery club tomorrow, Friday, October 28 th after school. Archery will resume on the next scheduled club date. We will notify you in advance should we need to cancel again. Scholastic Book Fair The book fair is coming! Our Scholastic Book Fair will take place during the week of November 7 th through 11 th, and during our parent teacher conferences next week. This will be a great opportunity for parents to purchase books ahead of time. The fair will also be open prior to the November 10 th PTO meeting. Virtus trained parent volunteers are needed, these hours will count towards your 2 nd quarter fair share hours. Please use the Sign Up Genius link below to volunteer. All Saints Day, Parade of Saints ~ Tuesday, Nov. 1 st Our school Mass and annual Parade of Saints will take place on Tuesday, November 1 st at 8am. Students in grades PreK4 3 rd will be dressed as their favorite Saint for Mass, and will process in to the church. Family and friends are invited to attend. Students will not be gathering in the Duffy Center following Mass.

2 Page 2 Golf Tournament 11/19/16 Our Inaugural Golf Tournament will be held on Saturday, November 19 th at 8:30am. This event will be held at the Dye Club in North Myrtle Beach. The cost will be $125 for each player, so hurry and get your foursome assembled! Spaces are limited to 144 golfers so make sure you sign up early!! Hole and corporate sponsorships are available. Registration trifolds are available in the school office. Do you know someone who would like to make a donation to our tournament? Sponsorship forms are also available in the school office. Lunch Duty Volunteers Needed in Nov. & Dec. We have created a Sign Up Genius link for November & December lunch duty. Please note: All adults must have completed Virtus training and a background check before volunteering for lunch duty. - November & December Fall Picture Day!! TOMORROW, October 28 th is picture day!! Our Fall Picture day is tomorrow, Friday, October 28th following the 8am Mass. Lifetouch School Portraits delivers studio quality, professional portraits taken in a setting that makes each child feel comfortable and safe. More information can be found at SchoolPortraits.Lifetouch.com. If you have not returned your Group (Class) photo order forms and would like to purchase your child s classroom photo, please be sure to complete this form and return it to the school office with your payment (be sure to add 7% sales tax) tomorrow. There are NO proofs for group photos and they must be pre-ordered. However, you will be able to view proofs for individual student photos before placing your order. If you have any questions regarding picture day don t hesitate to contact the school office or you may contact Lifetouch directly. Thank you!! Disciple of the Month ~ September & October Each month, our homeroom teachers will select a student from their class who best displays the character trait of the month. Those students are rewarded with a trip to Froyoz! September s trait was Cooperation and October s trait is Patience. These trait s are exceptionally important at the beginning of the school year, as we build healthy habits for good learning. The character trait for November will be Compassion. Congratulations to the following students, who enjoyed their Froyoz treat this week! September...Cooperation Pre K(4): Will Slay K: Tony Raynor 1 st : Alyssa Morais 2 nd : Carter Brundage 3 rd : Emma Bergeron 4 th : Michael Howard 5 th : Madyson Fenderbosch 6 th : Lucy Joseph 7 th : Nicholas Mauldin 8 th : Taylor Powell October Patience Pre K(4): Rhett Deschamps K: Eden Husain 1 st : Sophia Fenderbosch 2 nd : Noah Walton 3 rd : Riley Leiendecker 4 th : Hannah Williams 5 th : Katelynn DiNicola 6 th : Jayden Canales 7 th : Brookelyn Morlan 8 th : Christina Powell

3 Page 3 Saint Michael Catholic School Thanksgiving Celebration: This year will mark the 5 th Annual School-Wide Thanksgiving Celebration hosted by Mrs. JoAnn and Ms. Vivian our cafeteria staff. Each year, our students enjoy a Thanksgiving lunch with the faculty and staff of St. Michael s School and Parish to celebrate thankfulness for one another. This year, the luncheon will be held on Tuesday, November 15 th at 11:30 am. If you would like your child to purchase this special lunch ($3.50), please make sure you circle the date on the November lunch menu. Since sufficient time is needed to order and prepare this special meal we will be unable to accommodate late orders. For those who do not wish to purchase this meal, you are still allowed to bring in a bagged lunch. Middle School Dance The middle school will be holding their first school dance of the school year on Friday, October 28 th from 6pm 8:30pm. Costumes are required and all students must be signed in and out of the event. All students must purchase a ticket for $5 each. Gator Athletic Updates: Our Lady Gators Volleyball team ended their season this week and finished 2 nd in the regular season as well as in the Grand Strand Middle School League. Congratulations to all of the team members! The Annual teacher vs. student volleyball game will be held on Wednesday, November 2 nd at 6pm in Duffy Center. Please come and show your support for this entertaining match up! Winter Sports For those students planning to play Basketball or join the Cheerleading squad, please be sure to have your physical scheduled, and your sports form completed and turned in ASAP. Basketball is open to boys and girls in grades 4-8. Cheerleading is open to girls in grades 1-8. The sports meeting for both of these team sports will be held on Wednesday, November 2 nd at 5pm in Duffy Center. The teacher vs. student volleyball game will follow at 6pm, please Coach Mark with any questions at: mbartholomey@saintmichaelsc.com. Soccer Schedule (November) Date / Time Opponent Location Thursday, 4pm Conway Christian Calvary Christian Field Monday, TBD First Round of Tournament TBD Tuesday, TBD Second Round of Tournament TBD Thursday, TBD Finals TBD Want to submit something for the weekly publication of the Gator Bites? Nancy Esposito nesposito@saintmichaelsc.com and cc Ms. Walters at pwalters@saintmichaelsc.com All submissions are subject to approval.

4 Page 4 Red Ribbon Week: To date we have had a successful Red Ribbon Week. As an overview on Monday, all students, faculty & staff took a pledge to be drug free and received a sticker to recognize that commitment. On Tuesday, the PTO supplied the students with Smarties because Smarties Don t Do Drugs! Wednesday was Sock it to Drugs and students, faculty & staff wore crazy socks. Today is a dress down day, for students, faculty & staff who wore red and received a red ribbon bracelet. Tomorrow is our school Mass at 8am and students should wear their dress uniforms as normal. They will once again be treated to a special surprise! Catholic Athletes for Christ (CAC): CAC, held our first meeting on Thursday, October 27 th. We were excited to have several students join us. Our theme was Saying Yes to God s invitations. We are confident that Catholic Athletes for Christ will be a good fit for our school. Saint Michael Catholic School is proud to be the first chapter in the state of South Carolina. Students in grades 6-8 th are encouraged to join us. We will meet in the morning, prior to the start of school, as to not conflict with sports or clubs. Each meeting will provide a chance to faith-share, learn more about the core values of CAC, and a sports based discussion. This group is for our athletes and anyone who wants to join us to learn more about how God blesses our lives if we let him into our hearts! See for more information or the flyer in this past week s Tuesday Envelope. Questions: Contact Tara Joseph at tarajoseph1@gmail.com SMCS Middle School Youth Group For all middle school students in grades 6 8 we invite you to join us for an evening of Faith, Friendship, and Fun on Friday, November 18, 2016 from 6:30 8:00pm in Duffy Center. Pizza, soft drinks, s mores and prizes will be provided. We ask that you please detach and return your RSVP to the school or parish office if you are interested in attending. Feel free to bring a friend(s), too! For questions you may contact Grace Morlan at genrwm1@comcast.net. We look forward to seeing you there!! Faith G A T O R Help4Kids The Help for Kids van will be here next Friday, November 4 th. Donations of cakes, gently used clothing, blankets, bedding, towels, etc. are most welcome. Thank you!

5 Q: What are the origins of All Saints Day and All Souls Day? Are these linked with paganism and Halloween? Both the feast of All Saints and the feast of All Souls evolved in the life of the Church independently of paganism and Halloween. Let us first address the feast of All Saints. The exact origins of this celebration are uncertain, although, after the legalization of Christianity in A.D. 313, a common commemoration of the saints, especially the martyrs, appeared in various areas throughout the Church. For instance in the East, the city of Edessa celebrated this feast on May 13; the Syrians, on the Friday after Easter; and the city of Antioch, on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Both St. Ephrem (d. 373) and St. John Chrysostom (d. 407) attest to this feast day in their preaching. In the West, a commemoration for all the saints also was celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. The primary reason for establishing a common feast day was because of the desire to honor the great number of martyrs, especially during the persecution of Emperor Diocletion ( ), the worst and most extensive of the persecutions. Quite simply, there were not enough days of the year for a feast day for each martyr and many of them died in groups. A common feast day for all saints, therefore, seemed most appropriate. In 609, the Emperor Phocas gave the Pantheon in Rome to Pope Boniface IV, who rededicated it on May 13 under the title St. Maria ad Martyres (or St. Mary and All Martyrs). Whether the Holy Father purposefully chose May 13 because of the date of the popular celebration already established in the East or whether this was just a happy coincidence is open to debate. The designation of November 1 as the feast of All Saints occurred over time. Pope Gregory III ( ) dedicated an oratory in the original St. Peter s Basilica in honor of all the saints on November 1 (at least according to some accounts), and this date then became the official date for the celebration of the feast of All Saints in Rome. St. Bede (d. 735) recorded the celebration of All Saints Day on November 1 in England, and such a celebration also existed in Salzburg, Austria. Ado of Vienne (d. 875) recounted how Pope Gregory IV asked King Louis the Pious ( ) to proclaim November 1 as All Saints Day throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Sacramentaries of the 9th and 10th centuries also placed the feast of All Saints on the liturgical calendar on November 1. According to an early Church historian, John Beleth (d. 1165), Pope Gregory IV ( ) officially declared November 1 the feast of All Saints, transferring it from May 13. However, Sicard of Cremona (d. 1215) recorded that Pope Gregory VII ( ) finally suppressed May 13 and mandated November 1 as the date to celebrate the feast of All Saints. In all, we find the Church establishing a liturgical feast day in honor of the saints independent of any pagan influence. Faith Now for the Halloween connection: November 1 marked Samhain, the beginning of the Celtic winter. (The Celts lived as early as 2,000 years ago in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and northern France.) Samhain, for whom the feast was named, was the Celtic lord of death, and his name literally meant summer s end. Since winter is the season of cold, darkness and death, the Celts soon made the connection with human death. The eve of Samhain, October 31, was a time of Celtic pagan sacrifice, and Samhain allowed the souls of the dead to return to their earthly homes that evening. Ghosts, witches, goblins and elves came to harm the people, particularly those who had inflicted harm on them in this life. Cats, too, were considered sacred because they had once been human beings who had been changed as a punishment for their evil deeds on this earth. G A T O R

6 Page 6 Q: What are the origins of All Saints Day and All Souls Day? Are these linked with paganism and Halloween? (cont.) To protect themselves from marauding evil spirits on the eve of Samhain, the people extinguished their hearth fires, and the Druids (the priests and spiritual teachers of the Celts) built a huge new year s bonfire of sacred oak branches. The Druids offered burnt sacrifices crops, animals, even humans and told fortunes of the coming year by examining the burned remains. People sometimes wore costumes of animal heads and skins. From this new fire, the home hearths were again ignited. Particular ethnic groups developed their own lore, which was merged with the celebration. In Ireland, people held a parade in honor of Muck Olla, a god. They followed a leader dressed in a white robe with a mask from the head of an animal and begged for food. (Ireland is also the source of the jack-o-lantern fable: A man named Jack was not able to enter heaven because of his miserliness, and he could not enter hell because he played practical jokes on the devil; so he was condemned to walk the earth with his lantern until judgment day.) The Scots walked through fields and villages carrying torches and lit bonfires to ward off witches and other evil spirits. In Wales, every person placed a marked stone in the huge bonfire. If a person s stone could not be found the next morning, he would die within a year. Besides the Celtic traditions in place, the Roman conquest of Britain in A.D. 43 brought two other pagan feasts: Feralia was held in late October to honor the dead. Another autumn festival honored Pomona, the goddess of fruits and trees; probably through this festival, apples became associated with Halloween. Elements of these Roman celebrations were combined with the Celtic Samhain. With the spread of Christianity and the establishment of All Saints Day, some of these pagan customs remained in the English speaking world for All Hallows Eve (or Halloween, All Saints Eve), perhaps at first more out of superstition, and later, more out of fun without any real tie to paganism. For this reason, little ones (and some big ones) still dress in a variety of costumes and pretend for the evening to be ghosts, witches, vampires, monsters, Ninjas, pirates and so on, without any thought of paganism. Nevertheless, All Saints Day clearly arose from genuine a Christian devotion independent of paganism. Ladies of the Rosary The SMCS Ladies of the Rosary invites you to join us in a spiritual journey to enrich our faith lives by fostering a deeper understanding of, love of, and devotion to the Holy Rosary. As we contemplate the mysteries of the rosary by meditating on the scenes our Lord s life, death, and resurrection we grow stronger in faith. As we ask for the Blessed Mother s intercession for the needs of those in our parish and school community, we uplift our school community. All parents and faculty, regards of experience praying the rosary, are welcome to gather together with us every Friday immediately following the school mass outside of the cry room. For those unable to pray with us on Friday, please join us every Saturday morning immediately following the Saturday 8:00 a.m. Mass. For additional information or questions please contact: Tonya Parisi (518) or Jacklyn Brown (908) tonya.parisi10@gmail.com or jacklyn.brown.03@gmail.com