Our students and staff are busy working on their Advent service projects for this year, helping others or supporting a special cause. Thank you to all our families for supporting these projects as they are  all part of our Catholic School mission. We wanted to share with everyone all the AMAZING projects happening at St. Mary’s School.
 
ADVENT SERVICE PROJECTS
SCHOOL OFFICE
We are working with the Grand Haven American Legion collecting unwrapped toys for their Crusade for Toys – a local charity for children in need at Christmas time. Unwrapped toys for all ages can be dropped off at the school between 8AM-4PM. There's a donation box in the lobby through December 14th.
PRESCHOOL
We will be asking children to bring in a gently used toy that they no longer use - by December 13.  The children will take a day to clean and prepare them for a new home. The toys will be delivered to a women and children’s shelter in Muskegon called Every Woman’s Place.
KINDERGARTEN
We will be making cards for cancer patients in the Tri-Cities area. These cards will be distributed by BUCS’ PRIDE. A gift card will be included in each of the cards. If you would like to make a donation, please write out a check to St. Mary’s School. In the memo line write KINDERGARTEN-ADVENT. We will take these donations and turn them into gift cards. They are also in need of adult coloring books and colored pencils. We will be accepting donations until Friday, December 14.
1ST GRADE
We will be collecting new hats and mittens for our Hat and Mitten Tree – For distribution through St. Mary’s Food Pantry.
2ND GRADE
Second Graders will be visiting Little Red School House – a big-hearted and vibrant adult day care facility - on Tuesdays through Advent. The children will interact with the guests and participate in their activities on that day.
3RD & 4TH GRADE
Our classes will be collecting items to put into a care package for the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans.  We will collect ANY items that you would like to donate from now until Wednesday, December 19.  On that day, Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt Fonger, from the American Legion, will be visiting our classrooms to discuss our veterans and why it is important that we support them.  
5TH & 6TH GRADE
For this year’s Advent project, the 5th and 6th grade classes will be adopting a family in need for Christmas. We will be collecting all items starting Monday, December 10 and ending Friday, December 14. Please bring your item in unwrapped. On Friday, December 14, we will have a wrapping party where students will wrap and decorate all of the gifts donated. If you are able to donate wrapping paper and gift tags, please bring those in the week of December 10. Also, be sure your child knows who you are buying for so they can list their name on the gift tag. If you would like to donate more than one gift, let us know ahead of time so we can make sure the gifts are even for each child.
We encourage you to shop for the items with your child or even have your child donate some of their own money to the item. We would love for them to be involved in every step of the process.
If you have any questions let us know! We look forward to having a great Advent project and making someone’s Christmas extra special this year!
Child Names, Interests, and Sizes:
Savaeh - age 7 Girl - Would love a girl type Lego. Very creative. Size 6S to7/8
Xzavior - 6. Boy Cars, trucks, boy stuff.  size 8 shirt and pants.
Anessa -5 short chunky - size 8 pants, 7/8 shirts. Loves my little pony.
Alaurah - 3y 6 m - very smart, size 3/4t, would Like Fisher-Price Little people.
Phoebe - 2y 5m, size 3t, likes little people, hello kitty, a set of plastic dominoes, and everything her sisters have.
They all love to color, build with blocks, watch kid movies.
7TH & 8TH GRADE
We are making baby blankets for Right to Life. BABY BLANKETS FOR POSITIVE OPTIONS!!
MATERIALS: 2 PIECES OF POLAR FLEECE 5FT X 3FT (POLAR FLEECE THAT IS 60 IN WIDE!)
NEEDED BY : DECEMBER 14 DATE OF PROJECT WORK DAY
SOURCES: FIELDS FABRIC, HOBBY LOBBY, MICHAELS (FIELDS FABRIC HAS A BARGAIN CORNER MANY NICE CHOICES AT 3.65/ YARD)
IF UNABLE TO OBTAIN FABRIC PLEASE SEND IN A DONATION TO MR. CELANO OR MRS. GIROUX BY FRIDAY DECEMBER 7.
The 7th and 8th grade students also cleaned up and raked lawns in our community in November before the snow came.

School-Wide Education in Virtue Program
Our Virtue for the week of December 3rd is MODERATION - MEANING: Attention to balance in one’s life.
Last week we learned about the Virtue DOCILITY - MEANING: Willingness to be taught.
Be sure to look at the school lobby TV to see who we caught practicing the Virtue DOCILITY this past week.
Each week, Principal Mr. VanHammen also recognizes these students at our Friday morning  student led Mass.
Be sure to Like us on facebook