Final Exams, Lady Sabers, Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone enjoyed the extra day for Christmas Break! Final Day of Exams will take place on January 5th, 2009 when we come back. For students needing materials to study the school will be open Monday December 22nd from 7-9 AM. I will be at school during that time until 10:30, if any students have any questions or need to see me for anything.

On Saturday December 20th, the Lady Sabers took on Regina Dominican from Chicago. The JV girls started things off with a bang defeating the visitors 41-37. Taylor Alexander hit a 3 point shot as time expired to send the game into OT. The two teams were still tied after the first OT and Taylor hit the shot to put the Sabers up for good in the 2 OT. The Varsity Sabers improved to 11-1 overcoming a sluggish start to the second half, making huge free throws down the stretch!

I hope everyone and their families have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!

Almost Done

Students are almost done with finals! Only 2 more to go and then the year is half over...my how it has flown by. Remember to study, study, and study!

5th Hour Algebra Semester Grades are finished, see Mr. Schreder for grade on final and semester grade.

Be safe driving tonight and make sure to get plenty of rest and a hearty breakfast!

NO SCHOOL and Final's Topics

Enjoy the extra day off with No School today (an unplanned 3-Day weekend!). Since there is no school today and we will only have one day for full review, I am posting a list of topics for studying for all of my classes (click on the Link): Mr. Schreder's Classes Finals Topics. Come prepared to class with questions and specific topics for the final so that students are well prepared and can do their very best on the final!

Check these links for helpful study tips: Ten Tips for Finals
Study Tips (for the Overly Stressed)
Tips for Finals
Study Tips

Some of these are more geared towards College Finals, but still can apply to our Finals at STM, just think students at STM, are going through the same studying strategies as those at U of I this week as they take their finals!

Mr. Schreder's Tips:

• Organize your study Time
• Get Enough Sleep
• Eat Breakfast
• Make Flashcards
• Form Study Groups or find a Study Buddy!
• Pray to Sts. Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Alexandria, Gabriel Ponsetti, the Patron Saints of Students!
• Believe in Yourself that you will do well!
  

Good Luck to All!

Remember tomorrow is Mass Day, so students be in you oxford shirts and ties-look sharp! Only 10 days until Christ is Born!

Thank You!

I would like to take this oppurtunity to thank the Parent's Association (and all Parents of STM Students) for the wonderful and delicious lunch today and Christmas gift! Thank-You and Merry Christmas!

If anyone needs a good Christmas movie to enjoy for the season I suggest:
"It's a Wonderful Life"
"Christmas Vacation"
"Charlie Brown's Christmas"
"The Nativity Story"


Enjoy putting the Christmas Tree and lights up! And don't forget the Manger!

Last Full Week

This is the last full week of school in 2008! Next week finals begin on Wednesday, so this week is the last full week of instruction.

Algebra: Ch 6 Test Thursday
Intermediate Algebra: Ch 5 Test Thursday
Stats: Project Presentations Thursday and Friday

Finals Schedule is posted on the STM Website. Only 17 days until Christ is Born!



A little Christmas Treat...

Feast of St. Nicholas

The absence of the “hard facts” of history is not necessarily an obstacle to the popularity of saints, as the devotion to St. Nicholas shows. Both the Eastern and Western Churches honor him, and it is claimed that, after the Blessed Virgin, he is the saint most pictured by Christian artists. And yet, historically, we can pinpoint only the fact that Nicholas was the fourth-century bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor.

As with many of the saints, however, we are able to capture the relationship which Nicholas had with God through the admiration which Christians have had for him—an admiration expressed in the colorful stories which have been told and retold through the centuries.

Perhaps the best-known story about Nicholas concerns his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters of marriageable age. Rather than see them forced into prostitution, Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions, thus enabling the daughters to be married. Over the centuries, this particular legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the saint’s feast. In the English-speaking countries, St. Nicholas became, by a twist of the tongue, Santa Claus—further expanding the example of generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.

Advent: The time of waiting and preparation

Pope Benedict XVI presided at first Vespers for the First Sunday of Advent. The Pope’s homily focused on Advent as the spiritual season of hope "par excellence."

"During that time," the Holy Father said, "the entire Church is called to become hope, for herself and for the world. ... All the people of God resume their journey, attracted by this mystery: that our God is the 'God Who comes' and calls us to come out and meet Him, ... first and foremost in that universal form of hope and expectation which is prayer."

This cry for the Lord to come speedily can be heard from "all the just, of all those who wish to resist evil and the enticements of iniquitous wellbeing, of pleasures offensive to human dignity and to the condition of the poor," the Holy Father said.

In praying the Psalms, "the Church relives the grace of this compassion, of this 'coming' of the Son of God into human anguish until touching its very depths. The cry of hope of Advent expresses ... all the gravity of our condition, our extreme need for salvation."

December!

Welcome back students! It's December and with that came some nasty weather this morning. Hopefully students who made it to school are safe and sound. Yesterday was the beginning of the season of Advent-the real reason for the Christmas Season: The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ! Fr. Mark at St. Matthews had a great homily on the "waiting" aspect of Jesus' birth and coming again. I love the Christmas Season because of all the giving, sharing, and care people have for one another (too bad we can't do it year round). I especially enjoy the Christmas Music! WBGL 91.7 has all day Christmas music so there is always a good song on the radio!

And with December comes the end of the quarter and semester! Semester Exams are December 17-19 with the last day of instruction being on Tuesday Dec 16th. They are approaching quickly. Here are some important dates for all classes:
Algebra: Quiz 12/4, Test (Ch 6) 12/11
Intermediate Algebra: Quiz 12/4, Test (Ch 5) 12/11
Statistics: Quiz 12/5, Final Project 12/15




Be Safe Driving and "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!"