A Message from Mrs. Perrault, Principal

Dear Families,

As we begin the month of October, we are reminded that fall is a wonderful time of year. We recognize the beauty of nature as one of the blessings God has given to all of us. This month also brings us to the end of the first quarter. You will find a link for fall conferences in this messenger. I am so pleased with the school year and all of our students and staff. If you have not connected to our social media platforms, please consider doing so. These social media feeds give you an opportunity to see what is going on in school, and to join in celebrating our students, staff, and families.

I continue to pray for all of our families, and I thank God daily for watching over all of us.

Mrs. Perrault

In this issue of Martyr Messenger:

Fall Conferences Sign-Up
Admin Updates: Picture Day, Upcoming Phone Outage & more
SSM Participates in Nebraska 4-H "Launching Nebraska-Nauts" program
Dress Down Day Benefiting Sister School: Juan Pablo II
Staff Spotlight: Kindergarten Team
Home & School Updates: MM Totals, Fall Family Frolic, BoxTops & more
Parish Updates: PAL Basketball Registration, Trunk-or-Treat & more
News From the Community
Important Upcoming Dates

Fall Conferences - Thursday, Oct. 28th

Please use the below button to schedule a conference with your student(s) teacher(s). Please be sure to sign up on the correct teacher's sign-up when reserving your slot.

You can navigate between teacher sign-ups as follows:

Mobile Device: Use the Drop-Down Selection Tool
Desktop/Laptop: Click the tabs on the top of the sign-up. Use the black arrow, located to the right of the tabs, to view additional teachers.

A Few Notes:

Preschool (3-day) & PreK (5 half-day) will be in-person conferences. Mrs. Gentile's conferences will be on Wednesday, Oct. 27th.
Early-Preschool (2-day) and TK-8th Grade Conferences: Parents can choose to meet in person or via Zoom. If parents select a Zoom conference, the meeting link will be sent to you on Wednesday, October 27th.
3rd – 8th Grade Only: In addition to your student’s homeroom teacher, you are welcome to reserve a conference slot with other teachers regarding your student's progress within the subject(s) they teach. If conference slots aren’t available, please reach out to the teacher directly to schedule a time to meet.
Resource Team: Please email your child's homeroom teacher if your student is currently receiving assistance from our Resource Team and you would like a staff member from their team included in the conference.
Specials: If you would like to meet with any of our Specials teachers, please sign up on the "Specials" tab. Please note that Mrs. Smith is only available from 8 a.m. - Noon.

Sign Up Here

COVID-19 Update

Thank you for your continued partnership to keep our school community healthy and safe.

Masks At School: Please remember your student(s) is required to bring a mask to school daily. They should also have a spare mask in their backpack/locker.

Thank you to those who generously donated masks to the office. Our stock has been replenished. Thank you!

school.stephen.org/covid

We will continue to provide updates in the Martyr Messenger and will update the website at school.stephen.org/covid with any new information as it becomes available.

Administration Updates

Student Picture Day

Picture day is next Thursday, October 14th. Attire for picture day may consist of school uniform, skirts, dresses, jeans, and pants in good condition (no holes) and shirts appropriate for school. Open-toe shoes can be worn with dressy clothes, please bring tennis shoes if your student has PE on Thursdays.
Picture Day forms were sent home last week. Pictures can also be ordered securely online at PylesPhotography.com.

Phone Outage

While we understand there is no school Monday, October 11th, we still wanted to make you aware that IT will update our phone system software Monday morning beginning at 9 a.m. During the upgrade, our phones could be offline for up to 90 minutes.

Visitors In School

As part of our Safety Plan, all visitors to the school, including parents, are required to press the buzzer in the school entryway, state their name and their reason for the visit. This allows our staff to screen who is entering our building, keeping our building secure for the safety of our students. Our office staff is very busy and sometimes there is a delay to answer the buzzer. We appreciate your patience in waiting for them to respond and request you do not enter the building (even if someone offers to open the door for you) prior to speaking with an office staff member. Thank you for your cooperation.

EFT Statements

This month you will receive your first EFT statement. The first line "Previous Balance of your EFT Account on 8/18/2021" includes your lunch charges from August and September. These charges are for milk and/or an "Extra Entree". All regular lunches are still at no charge.

To see a breakdown of your lunch charges follow these steps on Sycamore:

Log in
Go to "My Accounting"
Go to "Cafeteria"
Go to "Account"
Select Aug/Sept Tab to see monthly charges by day.

Please note, other items, such as Field Trips, Technology Fees, Sacrament Fees, etc., are also charged to your EFT. These will be included on the paper statements sent home in Friday Folders, but will not be displayed in Sycamore. If you selected to pay your Home & School dues and contributions via EFT, you will see these charges on your November statement.

Current School Volunteer Opportunities

Lunch Room: Do you love opening cheese sticks, yogurts and milk cartons? Is your kitchen table lonely and too quiet during the school year? Well then, have we got an opportunity for you! Join us to volunteer in the Lunch Room. Shifts are one-time commitments, but we have a feeling our students’ joy will have your heart begging you to return! Sign up using the button below!

Volunteer in the Lunch Room

Library: Thank you to all who signed up to help check out books for the younger classes in the Library! We still need volunteers to help shelve books. This is best suited for someone who loves organizing, especially in alphabetical and numerical order! We are now accepting volunteers to help at the Scholastic Book Fair. Sign up using the buttons below.

Volunteer in the Library

Volunteer at the Book Fair

You can view all volunteer opportunities at:

school.stephen.org/volunteer

St. Stephen Selected as Satellite Site for 'Launching Nebraska-nauts'

St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic School was selected as one of the Satellite sites for Nebraska 4-H's 'Launching Nebraska-nauts', an in-flight educational downlink that will connect students across Nebraska to astronauts aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday, October 13th.

At the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Mullen helped students submit questions to the Nebraska Extension to be considered for inclusion in this program. A total of 113 questions were submitted from students across Nebraska and only 23 students were selected to participate. One of these 23 students is a St. Stephen the Martyr student!

We are excited to announce that our 8th-grade student, Maddie Caldwell, was selected! Maddie will be honored next Wednesday and she will get to pose her question to the astronauts in the International Space Station. Congratulations, Maddie!

We will share more information regarding our school's participation in the event (including Maddie's question and the astronauts' answer!) as details are finalized.

Learn More About Launching Nebraska-Nauts

$1.00 Dress Down Day to Benefit Sister School: Juan Pablo II

The students at our Guatemalan sister school, Juan Pablo II, have been hit incredibly hard. With two devastating hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic, several of the students are without homes and struggling greatly.

Students at St. Stephen the Martyr have the opportunity to help those in need. On Tuesday, October 19th our school will have a $1.00 Dress Down Day to benefit Juan Pablo II. Students who donate $1.00 (or more - the need is so great!) will get to dispense with uniforms for a Dress Down Day.

In addition to our financial contributions, middle school students have created handmade prayer cards and children's books. The Principal of Juan Pablo II will visit St. Stephen on Wednesday, October 27th for an assembly with our middle schoolers. All money raised from the Dress Down Day plus the middle schoolers' creations will be sent home with her that day.

Thank you for your consideration as you choose to support our sister students. Please keep them in your family's prayers.

Note: Students should follow the Free Dress guidelines outlined on page 44 of the Family Handbook.

St. Stephen Staff Spotlight

Throughout the year we will shine the spotlight on the amazing team that works with your children. This week we meet our Kindergarten Team!

Which staff member...

Was a USA Swimming Coach for 5 years?
Has nine grandchildren and spent 29 years teaching in a Catholic school prior to working at SSM?
Has a sweet tooth for chocolate chip cookies?
Likes to ice skate, ride bikes and camp?
Won a hula hoop competition in second grade?
Has worn many hats during her time in education, including music teacher, 5th & 6th-grade teacher, behavior interventionist, assistant principal and principal?
Loves how much the kids want to be at school to learn and finds it extremely rewarding to know she is positively impacting a student's life?

View Answers & Staff Profiles

Home and School Updatesartyr

Martyr Marathon - The Results Are In!

Congratulations - we did it!

We reached (and surpassed!) our $60,000 goal and earned our day off school on Holy Thursday, April 14th!

Student Donations: $85,421.10

Corporate Matching: $7,737 (to date)

Corporate Sponsorships: $30,750

Grand Total: $115,958.10

Thank you to everyone who helped make this year's event a HUGE success!

Stay Tuned Tomorrow: Watch your email for a Martyr Marathon wrap-up including announcements of the spirit competition winners and grade-level class contest winners of the Kona Ice parties!

Fall Family Frolic

Join us Monday for the Fall Family Frolic! There is no school due to an in-service, so make plans with your friends to attend! Volunteers are needed to help distribute s’mores supplies! This is an easy volunteer opportunity and please know that the campfires at Skinny Bones are in a central place where people will already be congregating! Sign up using the below button.

Fall Family Frolic Volunteer Sign Up

Box Tops

Box Tops for Education clippings are due by October 27th. This is just the due date for the cut-out box tops (please be aware of expiration dates on the clippings). Most box tops can be scanned on the Box Tops for Education app from your receipt, within 14 days of purchase. Watch this video to learn how you can earn cash for our school!

Be The Light: Life Chain Event

For 33 years, Life Chains have formed across the United States and Canada—and the world—to make a public, prayerful, peaceful witness against legalized abortion. This past Sunday, St. Stephen parishioners stood united in prayer and repentance for life. Thank you to all of our students and families who attended the Life Chain event on Sunday!

Support the Coats for Kids Drive

Home & School's Parish Outreach committee is encouraging students and families to donate gently used coats of all sizes to the Knights of Columbus' Coats for Kids Drive. Now through October 17th, there will be a basket in the school commons where you can donate winter jackets.

Coats may also be donated to the boxes in the Church gathering space or in the GPC. Containers for monetary donations (checks should be made out to Knights of Columbus 10160) are also available in the gathering space and GPC.

If you are unable to donate, please offer your prayers to those in need.

More Info on Coats for Kids

Yearbooks

Don't forget to order your 2021-2022 yearbook and 8th Grade Shout out! Place your order using the below button and school code: 703032.

Order Here

Faith at Home

October 7: Our Lady of the Rosary

TODAY is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary! Mary, our mother, is rooting for us! Today, give your mother some quality time by reciting a rosary. A full rosary takes about 15 minutes, a single decade takes about 4. Where can you find a quiet place?

Here are some ideas for engaging kids in the rosary:

Download a Catholic prayer app and listen to the rosary in the car on the way to school. Captive audiences are the best audiences!
Use candy/chocolate chips or popcorn to make the shape of a cross followed by 10 items. As you say each Hail Mary, invite the child to eat one. Our Lady is not above chocolate bribery.
Create a special Our Lady of the Rosary dessert to celebrate. Arrange mini cupcakes in the shape of a rosary and say a rosary after dinner as a family. Then, dig in to celebrate!
Invite each child to choose the intention and lead each decade.

Resources to help you pray the rosary:

October is Respect Life Month

This month we’re remembering that God lovingly created each of us as His son or daughter. Every single one of us! That means even people we have to take care of - people who depend on others for survival. This includes babies before and after they’re born, elderly people, people with disabilities and people who for whatever reason cannot take care of themselves. As Catholics, we acknowledge that unique gift that each human person is no matter how much work from us they require. This month, spiritually adopt a person in need of care such as a mother/baby in danger of abortion, an elderly person who might be lonely or a person experiencing poverty. Pray that they receive the respect and dignity they deserve and they receive the love of Christ.

Parish Updates

Register Here

Looking for a way for your student family to make a difference in our community? Consider volunteering with our Hearts Open Wide ministry. Upcoming opportunities include:

Rainbow House Dinner
Trunk-or-Treat
Treat the Troops! Holiday Cheer

Learn More

Parishioners of all ages are invited to a spooktacular evening on Friday, October 22nd. Join us for a FREE night full of entertainment, from car decorating contests to trick-or-treating, to popcorn, hot chocolate, and more! This event is presented by St. Stephen the Martyr Youth Ministry.

Learn More

Hospital Ministry

If you or a loved one has been hospitalized, please let us know as we are not always contacted by the hospitals. To arrange a visit, please call the parish office at (402) 896-9675) or Deacon Denny directly at (402)-861-4538. We would love to offer the medicine of prayer.

Amazon Smile

Before you start your holiday shopping, be sure to select St. Stephen as your Amazon Smile beneficiary! Simply go to smile.amazon.com on your web browser or activate AmazonSmile within the app on your device and designate St. Stephen Church of Omaha! We will get 0.5% back from your purchases! This benefits both the SSM School and the Church!

From the Community

Mercyfest for 7th & 8th Grade Girls - Saturday, October 16th

Register Here

Upcoming Duchesne Events:

Click the below button for more info and to register for the following events:

Discover Duchesne! - Multiple Dates Available
College Counseling Information Night - Thursday, October 21
Harvest Party for 8^thGrade Girls - Saturday, October 30
Open House for 5^th-8^thGraders and Parents - Sunday, November 7
8^thGrade Entrance and Scholarship Exam - Saturday, January 8
7^th Grade Practice Exam - Saturday, January 15

Register Here

Important Upcoming Dates

October 11^th
- No School (In-Service)
- Fall Family Frolic
October 14^th – Picture Day
October 19th – $1.00 Dress Down Day For Juan Pablo II
October 22nd – Trunk-or-Treat
October 25-28th – Scholastic Book Fair
October 26th – 2-Day Early Preschool Halloween Party
October 27th – Halloween Parties & Halloween Parade
October 28th – Fall Conferences (No School)
October 29th – No School
November 1st – No School (In-service)
November 2nd – Classes Resume

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