Heart Beat Weekly Online Newsletter

Principal's Corner

Greetings Sacred Heart Families!

St. Francis once suggested that from time to time, we visualize our world upside down. In that way, those things that seem most secure and solid (like a school and church!) will appear all the more precarious. It's a good thing to do. Of course, on Friday and Saturday everything will appear upside down without any visualization necessary-it's Hallowe'en again! Although the apostrophe in the word is now thoroughly dumped, I always leave it in. It's a reminder to me that the day is really the "evening" ('en) before a holy (hallow) day-All Saints Day. Have a lot of fun with your kids this week!
CHILDREN ON YARD AFTER SCHOOL: Please help us keep our students safe after school. For our liability and safety reasons, only children who are signed into Extended Care are allowed to play on the playground and on the play structure. All other children, even if their parents are present, may not play, but must wait with their parents.

AFTER SCHOOL PICK UP: Please do not use the area in front of the gym to pick up your child. We do not have supervision over in that area, and besides that, most of those parking spaces are reserved. Use the pick up line along the breezeway. The line moves fast. If you need to park, use the designated spots in front of the school.

HALLOWE'EN: Friday is the annual Hallowe'en Carnival. All students may come to school in their costumes on Friday, the 30th. STRICT GUIDELINES: No blood, or weapons. Be sure your child's costume is tasteful and appropriate. If you are not sure, check the dress code in the Handbook. (Remember, no open toed shoes or sandals.) If you are not sure, please ask us ahead of time.

PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES NEXT WEEK: Thank you for returning the conference forms set out last week. The day and time confirmation will be in today's envelope. If you did not return the form, we've emailed it out again for your convenience. Or please come into the school office and pick up a form. The conferences are important and mandatory. Please remember, Friday, Nov. 6th is a school holiday.

CASTLES: Come in and check out the castles lining the hallway down by the 7th grade classroom. They are part of Mrs. Schelegle's Feudalism Project and are the result of careful planning on the part of "wealthy families in 11th century England."

PROJECTORS: Thanks to Mr. Randy Jewell for installing computer projectors in the First Grade and the Primary Science rooms. It is a lot of work and we appreciate his time (and the time of all our volunteers!) greatly. The teachers are thrilled! Next on the docket is the Math room.

OPEN HOUSE: We are hosting an Open House for our Pre-K and Kinder programs on November 14 at 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Please let your friends know, and more importantly, bring them! Thanks to Mrs. Ball, Mrs. Arena, and Mrs. Stribling for helping so much with all the publicity materials.

God bless you all this scary week,
--Tom Pulchny

SHS Halloween Carnival
Don't forget to send in your donations!

Halloween Carnival is this Friday!

The Halloween Carnival is this Friday October 30, 2009. Don't forget to download your forms and turn them into the school office via the Tuesday envelope. Raffle Game Card Forms were sent to you on Monday October 26. Remember, Pizza will not be served on Friday October 30, so please download the Halloween Lunch form. Halloween Lunch will be catered by our good friends at Rio Adobe, so don't forget to turn in your forms with check made out to Sacred Heart School or cash payment.

Raffle Game Cards

Halloween Lunch Form

Halloween Carnival Information

Bake Walk

Halloween Raffle

Halloween Carnival Volunteer Form

Recent Media Coverage

Sacred Heart and Mr. Pulchny made our local newspaper last week. If you didn't catch the article in last week's Saratoga News, be sure to check out the link available at the Mercury News:

Interview With Mr. Pulchny

Also, it is time to start advertising for our upcoming open house. Please include the following:

Invite all the families that you know with pre-school and kindergarten age children!

Sacred Heart will be hosting a Pre-K and Kinder Open House on Saturday, November 14th, from 10:00am to Noon. And because you are our absolute best advertisement, please invite all of the families that you know with pre-school and kindergarten age children to come visit and check us out. Apparently, we are a well-kept secret! Help us get the word out.

Scrip News
by Susan Boehlein

Thank you for supporting our scrip program. Last school year we earned $29,000 from this program which will help support our educational enrichment programs such as foreign language and art. To earn this $29,000 our parents spent $1.1 million through Escrip and we earned $13,000 from this program; $257,000 in gift cards were purchased for a total profit to our school of $16,000.

To date, our Escrip purchases are $178,000 (July, August) for a profit of $1,600. Our gift card sales have totaled $33,051 (July through September) for a profit of $1,700. We are on our way but need your support. Do you know that if each of our 157 families purchased $100 of Safeway, Lunardis, Genes or Lucky scrip per week for the remainder of the school year, we would earn $19,500 in profit for our Scrip program? Since we all purchase groceries for our family, please keep in mind our gift cards as an easy way to support our school without incurring any additional cost for your family.

Newly available gift cards: Visa gift cards in $25, $50 and $100 denominations.

Coming soon: Whole Foods Gift Cards

for eating......shopping.......or filling your tank
Order Scrip Gift Cards!

8th Grade Poinsetta and Wreath Sale

Get a head start on your Holiday decorating and shopping! Beautiful Poinsettias and an assortment of lush evergreen wreaths are available to order now for delivery the first week of December.

Order forms will be sent out in this week's Tuesday envelope or you can click on the links below to dowload the forms. Please return your order form to the school office via the Tuesday envelope. Help support the 8th grade and enjoy these beautiful holiday items!!

Evergreen Direct Delivery

Poinsettias Order Form

Wreath Order Form

Teacher Appreciation Day Heart

"Our Teachers Have Heart"

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

We will be thanking our faculty for all they do for our students by providing them a "hearty" breakfast that will sustain them through the day of P/T conferences and appreciating them via heartfelt notes from the students.

Room parents will be soliciting food donations from each class and transforming the faculty lounge for the day.

All non-perishable foods can be brought in Monday afternoon marked "Teacher Appreciation" and placed in kitchen.
Hot foods should be brought in between
7:00am and 7:25am Tuesday to the faculty lounge.

Parents- make sure your student brings in their heart messages on Tuesday morning.

Thank you!

Room parent committee 09/10
Jeanette Budenholzer, Chair; Lori Davis, Co-Chair

Open House at St.Francis

We would like to invite all parents and students to attend our annual Open House on Sunday, November 1st from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Tours leave from Raskob Gym every 15 minutes, and last about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Registration is not required and you are welcome to join us when it is most convenient. Saint Francis High School is located at 1885 Miramonte Avenue, Mountain View, CA.

Daylight Savings Time

Daylight Savings Time begins on November 1, 2009! So don't forget to fall backwards 1 hour on Saturday night, October 31st!

Date Change for Grandparents and Special Person's Day
by Lynn Ball

We know that some Grandparents may already be booking their airfare for Sacred Heart's Grandparent and Special Person's Day, so we wanted to inform you early about the date change. Grandparents Day will be Thursday, February 4th, this school year. Our grandparents and special guests will join the students for their weekly 8:00am mass on Thursday, February 4th. Breakfast, celebrations, and school tours will follow mass. Although the timetable for the morning is still being worked out, expect the festivities to conclude late morning for our guests. February 4th will be a full day of school for our students.

POSTAGEPALOOZA
by Ms. Tomaino

Dear Parents:

"POSTAGEPALOOZA!!!!!!!

Coming again soon!

More details to follow..."

Always, Miss Teeeeeee

Impromptu Catering
Don't forget to place your order soon!

DSJ Logo

Parents and faculty,
Ordering for the new menu opened Tuesday 10/20 at 6 a.m. and will close Saturday 11/07 at 6 p.m.

To place an order:
Log onto our website www.impromptucatering.com and click the Sacred Heart link.
First time users the school code is: 120impshcsca
If we can help or assist in any way please contact us at impromptulg@aol.com or 605-1777

Dinner to go will be available beginning November 30. You'll be able to order an entree and salad for 4 to 6 people with pick up each Wednesday, more information to follow.

Sports News

WAY TO GO MUSTANGS!!!!!!!! Congratulations to our 7th and 8th grade girls volleyball teams---they both made it to the championship match. Both teams played hard showing their go for it and team spirit and they both finished up with a 2nd place trophy for themselves and Sacred Heart. I am extremely proud of them and honored to be their coach. Congratulations go out to the 6th VB team and the 5/6FB team on their great play and victories last week.

This Week:
10/26     7/8FB hosts Andrew at 3:45
10/27      7VB takes on Holy Spirit 2 at 3:45, 8-1VB plays Andrew 1 at 4:45 & 8-2VB plays Andrew 2 at 5:45
10/28      5/6FB goes to SFC 2 at 3:45, 7/8FB plays Holy Spirit here at 3:45 and 6VB goes to Andrew 1 at 3:45
10/29       5/6FB plays their last game at Canyon Heights at 3:45, 5VB is home against Lucy at 3:45, 8-1VB takes on Holy Spirit 1 at 4:45 & 8-2 plays Holy Spirit 2 at 5:45
10/30      7/8FB goes to SFC after the Carnival for a game at 4:00

Next Week:
11/2     7/8FB plays their last game at Andrew at 3:45 (will come back
to the loft for their party), 7VB also goes to Andrew 2 at 5:30
11/3     8-2VB goes to Andrew 1 at 3:45 & 8-1VB goes to Andrew 2 at 4:45
11/4     7VB plays Clare at 3:45 & 6VB plays SFC 2 at 4:45
11/5     8-1VB is at Holy Spirit 2 at 3:45 & 8-2VB is at Holy Spirit 1
at 4:45
11/6     EVERYONE ENJOY THE DAY OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Basketball Sign-ups------will be the week of November 2nd--all fees must be in by November 5th by 3pm ! Your money is you're sign-up and with that I will assume you are committing to our Mustang teams. The fee is $60 per child. If you have multiple kids signing up you can write 1 check if you like, but please put the child's name on the check. I am still looking for coaches, male or female. Please call me at 408-867-9241 ext 142.

Sport's Committee meeting will be November 11th in the sport's loft at 7pm--Mustang Classic jobs etc will be set!

Alumni News: Fun for me to have Shannon Fleming (06 Mustang & Mitty VB senior) come help me coach at last weekends Bengal Tourney!

Have an awesome week, Sandy

Faith Formation

The word Gospel is derived from the Greek word "evangelion," which translates as good message or good news. The Old English term was god-spel meaning good tidings. Some of the origin of the word refers to the good tidings of the redemption of Jesus Christ. Gospel is more often translated as the "good news!" These next several weeks, during the morning assemblies with the students, I will be discussing the gospels. Today we talked about the "synoptic gospels" and what that means. Synchronized swimming and synchronized diving mean doing things at the same time. Optic refers to light or seeing. Synoptic means "seeing through the same eyes." There are three gospels that fall into this mode: Matthew, Mark and Luke. There are numerous verses between these gospels that are verbatim. Matthew and Luke have so many verses the same that biblical scholars have deciphered they must have used another source when writing their gospels. So, when Matthew and Luke went to write their gospels they both had the gospel of Mark in front of them and another source - which is called the "Q" source or the German word "quelle" which translates to source. These gospels also have unique characteristics. Matthew's Jesus is seen as a king and Matthew writes a great deal about the kingdom of God. Luke is writing to the poor. Luke's Jesus is born in a stable and is visited by shepherds. Luke also has Jesus lying in a manger - an animal trough.

What is Luke communicating by this passage? Matthew's Jesus is visited by kings or wise men - traditionally we say there were three because of the three gifts made for a king: gold, frankincense and myrrh (an expensive oil for burial). Matthew has the star because he is heightening the significance of Jesus. Matthew will use what is called apocalyptic overtures in his writing to always alert the reader that a significant event is happening. Matthew will use earthquakes and angels to capture the reader's attention. In Luke, Jesus goes about healing everyone. Luke was known to be a doctor, so everyone needs to be healed. Mark, on the other hand, is in a hurry. Everything is done quickly and will use the term immediately over and over again. Mark is in a hurry because of the coming persecution - his gospel is the shortest, it is only 16 chapters. Mark has the identity of Jesus hidden until He dies upon the Cross. At Jesus' death one comes to know who Jesus is - Jesus seen at his death the centurion says, "Truly, truly this is the Son of God." This is called the messianic secret within Mark's gospel.

There are some critical questions these three synoptic gospels present. Why does Matthew speak so much about the coming kingdom of God? Why does Luke appeal to the poor and have Eucharistic overtones throughout the gospel? Why does Mark have this messianic secret where the full revelation of Jesus is not revealed until Jesus' death on the Cross? The answers to these questions and more will be answered next week. But let us think about the coming kingdom, Jesus as being poor, and Jesus being revealed in his death. These gospels are the "synoptic gospels" but as you can see they are very unique.

Patrick DeLorenzo
Pastoral Associate for Faith Formation

Saint of the Week: Saints Simon and Jude

Wednesday October 28

Jude is so named by Luke and Acts. Matthew and Mark call him Thaddeus. He is not mentioned elsewhere in the Gospels, except, of course, where all the apostles are mentioned. Scholars hold that he is not the author of the Letter of Jude. Actually, Jude had the same name as Judas Iscariot. Evidently because of the disgrace of that name, it was shortened to "Jude" in English.

Simon is mentioned on all four lists of the apostles. On two of them he is called "the Zealot." The Zealots were a Jewish sect that represented an extreme of Jewish nationalism. For them, the messianic promise of the Old Testament meant that the Jews were to be a free and independent nation. God alone was their king, and any payment of taxes to the Romans-the very domination of the Romans-was a blasphemy against God. No doubt some of the Zealots were the spiritual heirs of the Maccabees, carrying on their ideals of religion and independence. But many were the counterparts of modern terrorists. They raided and killed, attacking both foreigners and "collaborating" Jews. They were chiefly responsible for the rebellion against Rome which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

Heart Beat Weekly Deadline for Submissions

The procedure for placing articles, information, flyers or announcements in our weekly Tuesday bulletin is as follows: All "blurbs" are due by email to the school office by Friday of each week at noon. Please send your emails to c.parra@sacredheartsaratoga.org

Any items received on a Monday will be placed in the next week's bulletin. Please be prompt with sending in your bulletin items.

Non-Discrimination Information

Sacred Heart School does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and/or ethnic origin, age, sex or disability in administration of educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school administered programs.