APRIL NEWS 2014 CONGRATULATIONS! Our seventh and eighth grade students participated in an Americanism essay competition sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary. Three of the students had winning essays, and the first place essay has been sent on to the Third District Americanism Chairman for further competition. The winners are: 1st prize–Evelyn Padilla, grade 7; 2nd prize–Radovan Tomovic, grade 7; 3rd prize–Alexander Omelanczuk, grade 8. Annunciata is proud of you! FAMILY LIFE During the month of April children from K through 8 will be using the Family Life series. It is part of the prescribed Archdiocese religion curriculum, and it also includes child safety. FIRST RECONCILIATION Please pray for our second graders as they approach their First Reconciliation this month on April 29th. They have diligently been preparing for this sacrament, as well as, for their First Holy Communion in May. REPORT CARDS Report cards for the third quarter for grades PK4 through 8 were distributed on Friday, April 4, 2014. FOOD DRIVE Our current Food Drive to help those in need through our St. Vincent DePaul Society will continue until April 11, 2014. Remember Friday, April 11th is the last chance you have to be out of uniform when you bring food items for the Food Drive. Most importantly, you will be helping those in need in our community! LENTEN HOLY CHILDHOOD COLLECTION At the beginning of Lent, each child was provided with a box in which you can add spare change throughout Lent. The boxes are to be returned to your child’s homeroom on April 11th. EASTER/SPRING VACATION We will be out of school from Thursday, April 17th through the week of April 21st. Classes will resume on April 28th. Blessings for a Happy and Holy Easter!

SUPER BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! March 9, 2014 SUPER FANTASTIC SUPER AWESOME SUPER EXCITING SUPER WONDERFUL Many thanks to the Bingo Team and all who helped with Super Bingo! All of your hard work provided a fun day for everyone. The sold out event was TERRIFIC. All proceeds from Bingo go directly to the school; and the unbelievable PROFIT was $9,000 WOW! A huge THANK YOU to the 6th and 8th grade boys’ basketball teams and coaches for helping to set-up on Friday night! It was a tremendous help to the Bingo team. Thanks also to one and all that helped—without you, Super Bingo would not have been such a success. Such great success is attributed to the combined efforts of room parents that coordinated the baskets; basket makers that put the baskets together; parents that donated basket items; parents that donated entire baskets or large items for raffles; parent volunteers that set up for the event; parent volunteers that helped at the event; parents that brought groups of friends and family and co-workers to play; and the Bingo crew that coordinated the entire event. All proceeds go directly to the school budget, and the Annunciata School administration, faculty, staff and children are greatly appreciative for all the hard work everyone put into this SUPER SPECIAL EVENT. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

March 2014 TERRA NOVA TESTING Testing for grades K-7 will be administered from March 3rd through March 14th. The preparation you can help with is to be sure that the children have plenty of rest (at least 8 hours of sleep), eat three balanced meals daily and arrive at school on time. This routine sets the tone for the day so the children can start off relaxed and ready to participate. Encourage your children to listen carefully to the teacher as the directions are given and to do the best they can. If your child misses part of the test due to illness, we will do our best to have him/her make it up. Please understand that if several sections are missed, it may be impossible to make up; and therefore, the test may not be sent in for scoring. The students should come prepared each day with two or three sharpened number 2 pencils. CONGRATULATIONS Through the Southside Catholic Conference, two Annunciata Eighth grade students have received the Christian Leadership Award. The two students are: Megan Verzoni and Alexander Omelanczuk. We are proud of you for representing Annunciata in such a positive way! CONFIRMATION We ask for prayers for our eighth graders. They have been preparing for the sacrament of Confirmation that will take place March 25th. Since the beginning of this school year, they have been doing service hours, as well as, keeping up with their studies. On March 18th they will enjoy the experience of the Confirmation Retreat. HELP ME UNDERSTAND/ESPECIALLY WITH ALL THE SNOW WE’VE HAD Throughout this year I have been trying to encourage you to use the morning drop off plan on the parking lot. I just cannot seem to understand why you would have your children climb through the snow and walk in areas that were not shoveled when they could walk on salted and shoveled paths that were purposely cleaned for the ease of walking to the building? It’s also a mystery, why you would park the cars on the very busy 112th Street to drop off children or jay-walk. Many cars just don’t stop on 112th. It’s mind-boggling!!! Please USE the safest plan to drop off children in the morning. Use the Avenue H driveway to enter and the Avenue G driveway to exit (one way West to East). If the children exit the cars on the passenger side they NEVER WILL BE IN FRONT OF A VEHICLE. The children will not be counted late when there is a long line of cars. If you do park the car to walk your children to the building, PLEASE CROSS AT THE CORNERS (WE HAVE A CROSSING GUARD). BE SAFE NOT SORRY!!! GIVECENTRAL.ORG Recently more families are using the GiveCentral.org website. We are happy to see that it is an added accommodation. When using GiveCentral.org for payments, please print the confirmation page with the transaction number and send it to the school office as soon as you make a payment. Sometimes it takes more than 3 days to post online, and the delayed posting may make your payment late. If we have your confirmation, it will avoid mix-ups. Also, let the office know if your intention is for multiple payments. Payments for Family and School cannot be made on GiveCentral.org.

DUE TO THE CONTINUED SEVERE WEATHER FORECAST, ANNUNCIATA SCHOOL WILL BE CLOSED ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2014. SCHOOL WILL RE-OPEN ON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2014. SEE YOU THEN!

We begin our Christmas vacation on December 20, 2013. The school will be closed from 11:30 a.m. on Friday, December 20, 2013 and will re-open on Monday, January 6, 2014. MAY YOU ENJOY MANY BLESSINGS AND JOYOUS TIMES THROUGH THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON! AND MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING YOU GOOD HEALTH AND MUCH HAPPINESS!

DECEMBER NEWS 2013 PANCAKE BREAKFAST Many thanks to the entire Family and School Committee, their families and all those (including volunteer high school students) who cooked, served and helped to make this year’s Pancake Breakfast on November 24th a success. The food was really delicious (many compliments), the decorations and atmosphere were terrific and the company was pleasant. Our thanks also to the 300 guests who came to enjoy the event! Everyone’s hard work brought a profit of $910.00 to the school. THANK YOU! FOOD DRIVE Thank you students of Annunciata School, again, for participating in the annual Thanksgiving Food Drive sponsored by the Annunciata Student Council. Thanks to your overwhelming generosity, 870 food items were collected and donated to the St. Vincent DePaul food pantry. Thank you for helping make a difference in the lives of our community residents. COLLECTION FOR TORNADO VICTIMS IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS Your compassion was evident again when you contributed to the collection for those many families in Illinois who lost their homes and everything due to the devastating tornado that demolished several areas in our state. The donation from our students collected through the Out of Uniform event sponsored by the Student Council is $335.00 We are proud of the generosity and caring that our student body and parents show for those in need. Compliments and thanks to the Student Council for coordinating the food drive and for the Out of Uniform Event. WELL DONE! ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PROGRAM—TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17TH—7:00 P.M. Parents/guardians, grandparents, family and friends are all invited to join us for an evening of musical delight. Our children and teachers are working very hard to present our Christmas Program. The school children, Pre-K—8, should wear “Sunday Best” clothing—red and/or green or Holiday dress. If a grade needs to wear something special, the teachers will inform the families. On December 17th the children should be in Church by 6:45 p.m. They are to leave their coats with their families. The children will be sitting with their classes until the end of the program. INCLEMENT WEATHER We are in the season of unpredictable weather conditions. Please listen to the weather reports on radio and TV. We will also use the School Reach phone system. That is why we need accurate phone numbers; please notify the school if you change your phone number. Children should dress appropriately for the weather.

NOVEMBER NEWS 2013 CONGRATULATIONS! This year our Fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Barbara Stahl, has been selected to be honored by the East Side Chamber of Commerce at their Annual Awards and Leadership Night that was held at the end of October. For twenty-eight years, Mrs. Stahl has worked at several Archdiocese of Chicago Schools including Annunciata, Sacred Heart in Chicago and St. George in Tinley Park. Thank you for guiding so many children in the formative years of their education. PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES-NOVEMBER 1ST On Parent/Teacher Conference Day we will have school in the morning. Dismissal will be at 11:30 for all students. Conferences will begin at 2:30 p.m. and continue to 7:30 p.m. They are scheduled for 10 minutes each (A bell will ring every 10 minutes as a reminder). As a courtesy to all the parents and teachers, please help us keep to the schedule. If you need a longer conference please make an additional conference at another time. There will be a request form available for you if you need to see other teachers. There will be a dinner break for the faculty/staff from 4-4:30 p.m. No one will be able to wait in the school. Therefore, do not come early for appointments beginning at 4:30 p.m. Thank you for your understanding. ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST, THERE WILL BE EXTENDED DAY BEFORE SCHOOL, BUT THERE WILL NOT BE EXTENDED DAY AFTER SCHOOL. SUPER BINGO Many, many thanks to the Bingo Team and all who helped with Super Bingo! All of your hard work provided a fun day for everyone AND VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. All proceeds from Bingo go directly to the school helping to keep the cost of tuition down. A profit of $5,500 was realized. Thanks also to all of those who came to play Bingo—without you, super Bingo would not have been such a success. We look forward to the next Super Bingo in the Spring. PANCAKE BREAKFAST/CHRISTMAS BAZAAR & CRAFT FAIR – NOV. 24TH Join us for a delicious pancake breakfast and great Christmas ideas. Tickets will be sold ahead of time through the school. If you buy your tickets through school, your child(ren) will earn an out of uniform pass (date to be announced later). ILLNESSES Recently, I have had some questions that prompted me to give families some reminders. In as much as possible, when I am made aware of contagious diseases, I try to inform the families as soon as possible. If your child has a fever, the child may not return to school until he/she has no fever for 24 hours. If your child needs an antibiotic for an illness, he/she may not return to school for 24 hours after the first dosage is taken. For contagious diseases or if your child is out of school for 5 days a doctor’s release to return to school is needed.