The Archdiocese of Hartford has passed along these links that we thought might be helpful for establishing a prayer routine in your home during this time:
Praying with your Children – Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Praying with your Children – Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
As noted in an earlier communication, Saint James School is refunding money from the Munson’s Fundraiser. Refund checks are being written this week and we anticipate you should be seeing those in your mailbox by the end of next week. Please keep an eye out.
We have also made the difficult decision not to reschedule the 2020 Soiree. Although this is such an important fundraiser for our school, we felt there were too many uncertainties surrounding the next several months to plan a new date. Next week we will be mailing out refunds for tickets that were purchased and returning sponsorship checks. Please know how grateful we are for your support of this important event and hope we can count on your support again in 2021.
If you sent in cash for the class baskets, many items have already been purchased. Please know that items that cannot be returned will be used for next year’s event (or perhaps a special raffle in the Fall) and your generous support will not fall by the wayside. If you personally purchased an item for a basket that you would like back, we will do our best to handle those situations on a case by case basis. You can email Mrs. Sager at lsager@saintjamesschool.net and she will keep track of that information for us.
In addition, we are refunding the money that families paid for spring soccer and the Father/Son event, the Basketball Banquet, and STEM Club. You can anticipate a refund in your mailbox by the end of next week for these as well. If you would like to “donate” these monies to the school instead of receiving a reimbursement, please let Mrs. Sager know know and the school will issue you a tax receipt for your contribution.
In this morning’s video, Mrs. Zorger mentioned that she has been enjoying 3-Minute Retreat from Loyola Press to take a short break from the stresses of each day and refocus on God’s message. The website can be found HERE. There is also an app that can downloaded to your phone, iPad, or other device by searching 3-Minute Retreat in the App store.
If you didn’t get a chance to watch the video from Mrs. Zorger this morning, you can see it here: https://youtu.be/wXJN6ZJlHGo
To our Saint James School Families,
I hope this week is getting easier with our online learning and finds you all doing okay despite our current situation.
During our library time at school a lot of our students love the authors Dav Pilkey with his Dogman books and I miss hearing and seeing the students smiling and laughing while enjoying them. I also can’t keep on the shelf Lauren Tarshis and her I Survived series.
During this time of Distance Learning, Dav Pilkey will be sharing some activities relating to his Dogman books and Lauren Tarshis is Reading her I Survived series on YouTube. I have included these links below. I hope this brings some smiles to your children’s faces and continues the joy of reading while we are at home. Keeping all of you in my family’s prayers and looking forward to seeing all of our students as soon as we can!
Mrs. Carpenter
Saint James School Librarian
Hello students and families of Saint James School,
I hope everyone is doing well. I am writing to give you some ideas of activities you can do during our time away from school/gym. I encourage you to stay active and eat healthy.
As a family unit, now is the perfect time to take full advantage of being home together; by interacting, playing games, or even making up your own games (indoors, as well as out). Weather permitting, you can go outside to play, ride bikes, take a hike, do yard work, or take your dog for a walk.
I took my dog for a walk the other day and saw a family of five playing wiffleball in their front yard. Looked like fun! It put a smile on my face. A game of catch with a football/baseball is another activity to do with a family member.
When the weather isn’t cooperating, you can play board games, do a puzzle, listen to music and dance along, or help with projects around the house. Yoga is another form of exercise that will enrich your body, mind and soul.
I hope that faith and family will help us get through these trying times while we are away from our school, friends, and teachers. Remember to keep moving! “We are all in this together”!
Be well,
Mr. Green
To keep our school’s service to the community going during this difficult time, we would like ask that you have your child/ren make a homemade Easter Card (or two) that we can pass along to the residents at a local nursing home or assisted living facility. Saint James School will have a collection box on our front step all this week (from 9am – 2pm) so you and your child/ren can come by and drop off any cards they have made. (Please remember to have students only use their first name if they chose to sign it.)
The cards will be handled appropriately to ensure they are safe to distribute and then passed along to a couple of area facilities for their residents to enjoy. Thank you for your consideration of participating in this activity with us!
Effective immediately, the Archbishop has extended the cancellation of the public celebration of daily and weekend Masses through April 30, 2020. This includes the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter.
Parishioners may drive through the driveway in front of either church. Palms will be handed to you. You will not have to get out of your car. You may pick up your palms as follows:
Assumption Church: Distribution will take place between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Saint James Church: Distribution will take place between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
St. James Church will continue to be open for individual prayer from 9 a.m to 4 p.m.
All other parish activities – with the exception of Confession and Adoration – have been suspended until further notice. Parishioners are encouraged to keep Holy the Lord’s Day by watching televised Mass on ORTV and by praying at home.
The television Mass is broadcast seven days a week at 10:00 AM on WCCT-TV (W820) and WCTX-TV (MyTV9). It can also be seen Saturday and Sunday at 5:00 AM on WCCT-TV. The Mass can also be found streaming live at these times on http://www.ortv.org/streaming/streaming.htm.
This new reality of Distance Learning has been adjustment for our pets as well. Some may be loving having their humans home all day, others maybe not so much. In either case, we would love to see a picture of your child/ren working on their classwork with your family pet(s)! If you don’t have a pet but your child has a favorite stuffed animal, feel free to send that. Please send pictures to aguenther@saintjamesschool.net by noon tomorrow (Wednesday) and we will post them for all to enjoy.
If your family had set up recurring payments on EZSchoolPay (for the school’s hot lunch program), please follow these steps to turn that option off:
Login to your EZSchoolPay Account;
Click the “Billing” icon at the bottom right corner of the screen;
Scroll down to Recurring Payments and select “Edit Recurring Payment.”
Toggle “Enabled” to “Off” then choose SAVE. This will prevent future automatic payments from occurring.