march, 2018 · 2018-03-06 · we are now celebrating the 2018 lenten season! we began our journey...
TRANSCRIPT
MARCH, 2018
Administration Team Message
Dear Parents and Guardians:
We are now celebrating the 2018 Lenten Season! We began our journey on
Wednesday, February 14th with our Ash Wednesday Celebration and will continue
our Lenten journey with various activities throughout the month of March including
Stations of the Cross and Prayer Feast. We look forward to engaging our
community in these activities!
Thursday, March 15th
is our Demonstration of Learning, we will come
together as a Catholic School Community to celebrate our students’ successes and
set goals with students for the final term of this school year. We will also be hosting
an Audrey’s Book Fair during our Demonstration of Learning. We will close the
month of March with Spring Break and return to school on Tuesday, April 3rd
to
finish off the last term of the school year.
Thank you to our parent community for your continued support with activities
in and outside of the school.
Lenten Prayer
Almighty and Everlasting God, You have given the human race
Jesus Christ our Savior as a model of humility. He fulfilled Your Will by becoming Man
And giving His life on the Cross. Help us to bear witness to You
By following His example of suffering And make us worthy to share in His Resurrection.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son. Amen.
The staff would like to wish all of our St. Mary families a restful Spring Break!
February 26 - March 6 Grade 3 students writing CCAT’s
March 1-2 Teachers’ Convention - NO CLASSES
March 6 Grade 6 to Grade 7 Transition Passports due back at St. Mary
March 7 Gr 6A to Aviation Museum
March 9 Gr 6B to Aviation Museum
March 9 Report Cards go home - Report Cards available for viewing in Powerschool @ 4 pm
March 11 Daylight Saving Time begins - turn your clock forward one hour
March 12 Gr 6C to Aviation Museum
March 15 Demonstration of Learning @ 1:30 - 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Audrey’s Book Fair during Demonstration of Learning
March 17 Running Room Indoor Games Finals - permission forms sent home with participants
March 19 Grade Six Celebration Meeting 6:30 p.m.
March 19 School Council Meeting at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome!
March 20 Gr 45A to Fort Precinct Museum in Fort Saskatchewan
March 21 Lenten Prayer Feast - permission forms will come home with your child
March 22 THURSDAY - FULL DAY OF SCHOOL - DISMISSAL AT 3:12 P.M.
March 23 FRIDAY - EARLY DISMISSAL @ 12:09 P.M. FOR SPRING BREAK
March 26 - March 30 - SPRING BREAK - NO CLASSES
March 30 Good Friday
April 1 Easter Sunday
April 2 Easter Monday - NO CLASSES
April 3 Classes Resume
April 6 Quest Theatre “We Are A Treaty People”
April 9 Grade 2A to walk to Riverbend Library in a.m.
April 16 School Council Meeting 7 pm
April 24 Gr 5 to TWOS
April 27 Hot Lunch - Opa!
Daylight Savings
Time Begins March 11
Remember to set your
clocks forward one hour.
GRADE 6 to GRADE 7 TRANSITION PASSPORTS
The Grade 6 to Grade 7 Transition Passports were sent home with Grade 6 students in early February. All
Passports must be returned to St. Mary by Tuesday, March 6th. The Junior High Schools will not
accept passports directly, they must be returned to the elementary school for forwarding to the Junior High
School of your choice.
DISMISSAL TIME REMINDER
St. Mary School is blessed with large open and inviting spaces which are used by our students as learning
spaces throughout the day. For the safety of all our students, the front doors will remain locked
for after school pick up until 3:12 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and
Friday and 12:09 p.m. on Thursdays. We would ask parents to be considerate of these safety
protocols. If you require entry into the school prior to dismissal times please come to the office to sign in.
Thank you for respecting our efforts in creating a safe and ideal learning environment for all.
To assist us in the management of our bus account reconciliation, all bus pass payments are
due by the first day of each month. All payments must be made on line through the
Powerschool Parent portal. Please consider prepaying for the year or for more than one
month at a time. This would reduce the amount of staff time required collecting payments for this
service and would be greatly appreciated.
BUS PASS REMINDER
ATTENDANCE REMINDERS
Please reinforce to your child/ren to come to the office if they are late (arriving after the bell has rung) so that we can sign their agendas and account for their attendance. If they are marked absent by their teacher the Swift K12 electronic system is activated and you receive phone calls that your child is absent.
• Parents are asked to phone the school in the event your child will be absent. We listen each morning to our messages and enter absences into Powerschool. By notifying the school early unnecessary electronic call outs to parents can be avoided.
• If we do not receive a phone call and there is an absence, the electronic system proceeds with calling all available parent telephone numbers to verify the child’s absence.
We appreciate your cooperation and support of our efforts.
Indoor Running Room Games 2018
All members of the Running Room Games have been practicing and training hard for the 40th annual Running Room Indoor Games. On February 21st, all relay teams competed in the 200m relay race. Out of over 300 boys relay teams, the Boys team placed 2nd in their heat, and 43rd overall with a time of 4:27.70. They sure made St. Mary proud! The Girls team placed 1st in
their heat and placed 8th overall with a time of 4:30.8. WOW!
For official team photos from the race, please visit www.InfiniteEye.ca!
Our individual competitors have competed on February 27th. All our runners advanced to the finals! Keep them in your prayers as they race for #1!
A huge shout out to ALL competitors that have competed for your commitment and hard work!!
Let’s cheer on the St. Mary Runners as they travel to the finals on Saturday, March 17th at the University of Alberta’s Butterdome!
JANUARY/FEBRUARY ACTIVITIES
To end the month of January, from January 22nd through 24th, St. Mary students took part in a dance
residency put on by Street Beat dance group. High energy dance moves were enjoyed by everyone.
Just in time for the Olympics, students had the opportunity to learn the skills and techniques of curling, with
the Rocks and Rings residency from February 7 through 9th. Many “hurry hard” and “sweep” shouts were
heard as students sent rocks down the ice (gym floor).
This year, the Lenten Season began on February 14th, Valentines’ Day. Valentine activities were held on
February 13th, along with parent volunteers providing a Shrove Tuesday pancake breakfast to all students. A
special thank you to our school council and parent volunteers for delicious pancakes.
To begin the Lenten Season, on February 14th, a reflective and thoughtful Ash Wednesday celebration was
held. Father Saga and Sara Dmitri from St. Thomas More parish joined the morning service. The students
were prayerful and respectful as they received ashes on their forehead. A reminder that from ashes we came
and to ashes we will return. Our Lenten journey has begun.
Table Top Hockey: The 6 weeks of play has ended for this season. 23 teams participated in the series this
year. The enthusiasm and excitement that radiated in the atrium each recess was outstanding. All teams are
to be congratulated for their good sportsmanship and fair play as they participated each week.
The St. Mary Volleyball season was concluded with a friendly Teachers vs Student volleyball game. There
was much cheering for both sides and ended in a tie!!!
St. Mary School celebrated the 2018 Winter Olympics on Friday, February 23rd, with their very own ‘Olympic Day’. We began the day with an opening ceremonies in the gym, where our guest speaker Jane Lagace, a past Principal and current Administrator with ECSD, shared her experience as an Olympic Women’s Hockey player, winning gold in Lake Placid in 1988. The students represented 26 different countries and participated in 13 different events. Our parents cheered our students on and kindly supplied a Hot Chocolate/Water station and rest area. The students ended their 10 days of Olympic learning, based on making numerous cross-curricular connections to self, text, sport and the world with a FUN day of indoor and outdoor activities. A FUN and memorable day was enjoyed by all!
Our Lenten Journey
at St. Mary School
‘Inspire and Ignite
Through Christ!’
The season of Lent is upon us! This
year at St. Mary School, we have set
a goal for ourselves to establish
strong continuity throughout the
forty days of Lent in terms of
creating unique opportunities for
the students, staff and extended
community of families to focus in on
our Lenten task; that is; to focus in
on the fact that God loves us; and
indeed to prepare ourselves for the
new life that the Easter Triduum
offers to us!
We are really privileged in a Catholic
education setting to be able to work
together as a community during this
prayerful season of Lent to eliminate
distractions from our lives, to
perhaps break from mundane
routine and to respond to the
challenge to really set our minds to
God. In our school community, our
Catholic faith permeates everything
we do: hearts to love,
hands to serve,
inspires us to reflect upon our
actions in class, in our studies and at
recess. Our core values of dignity,
respect, personal growth and
fairness, are tangible realities that
ignite the spirit within us often
involving our families and extended
community members. Lent though,
is a time when we can open wide
the doors to our faith and celebrate
that faith overtly within the context
of community; discovering God in
our midst and recognizing God in
one another.
The Ash Wednesday
Celebration hosted by our
grade five community of learners
catapulted us into the season of
Lent. We welcomed our parish
guests: Father Saga and Sara to
celebrate with us. We were
reminded that the three actions of
Lent include: prayer, fasting & almsgiving.
Prayer: The community
partakes in both community &
personal prayer throughout the day.
This Lenten season we will create
the Stations of the Cross in
the gymnasium from Tuesday March
20th– Thursday March 22nd. Teachers
will journey VIA DOLOROSSA
(the sorrowful way) with the
students. Families are welcome to
visit the way of the cross after
school dismissal with their children
until 3:45pm.
Monday morning Gospel
Gossip punctuates our Lenten
journey creating text - to - self
connections with the Sunday
readings & Gospel to our life at
school.
Fasting: We will host our 6th
annual Lenten Prayer Feast. On Wednesday, March 21, students
will be invited to gather together to
pray and share in a special
community lunch and reflect on the
gifts God has bestowed on us.
When we participate in an activity of
fasting, we gain a greater
appreciation of the food that
nourishes us, we are more aware of
where our food comes from and we
are more mindful of those that are
hungry. To demonstrate our
commitment and sensitivity toward
poor families and the
disadvantaged, we will be asking all
participants to eat only bread,
cheese and water. The ‘Prayer
Feast’ will be a time of reflection
and giving and all parents are
welcome.
For this social justice
initiative we are teaming up with
Development and Peace (the official
social justice organization of the
Catholic Church) who will once again
be the beneficiaries of our
donations.
A permission slip will come home with your child.
Almsgiving: We are
pleased to continue our community
connection with St. Elizabeth School
supporting their breakfast & food
programs. As an almsgiving gesture
we are hoping to help fill their
pantry with each student bringing:
It is our sincere hope that the
continuity and plans for this Lenten
season at St. Mary School will serve
to further Inspire and Ignite
the spirit within you! We hope too
that your family might consider
including these plans as part of your
greater Lenten practices and that
you might find time to join us at
school for any of our Lenten
activities. More details will be
forthcoming.
God’s blessings as you continue your
faith journey throughout Lent and
into the great celebration of the
Easter Triduum.
Sincerely,
Lenten Celebrations Committee
Grade 2 & 3: package of pasta
Grade 4: box of granola bars
Grade 5: jar of peanut butter
Grade 6: jar of strawberry jam
DEMONSTRATION OF LEARNING GRADE TWO TO FIVE
Thursday, March 15th
1:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. and
5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m.
Once again we are celebrating student success!
Our students are busy gathering the evidence that supports their learning.
Our students look forward to sharing with their parents what they have learned, their personal achievements, successes and areas they plan to focus on for the last report card in June. This
process places the student at the center of the conference, enabling him/her to demonstrate, with confidence, all that they have been learning. It is a celebration of the child and the child as a
learner.
We look forward to this special day!!
Congratulations boys and girls on a job well done.
We are proud of you!
Parents, you are invited to select a time that is convenient for you and your child. Your child’s teacher will send additional information home. Enjoy your child’s celebration of success!
REPORT CARDS available for viewing on POWERSCHOOL
FRIDAY, MARCH 9th @ 4:00 P.M.
Audrey’s Book Fair will at the Demo of Learning. Be sure to stop by to view the many exciting titles.
The Greater Edmonton 2018 Teachers’ Convention
Thursday, March 1st & Friday, March 2nd
NO SCHOOL
These two days have been set-aside for the Greater Edmonton Teachers’ Convention (GETCA). During this
time, leading educators throughout the province and beyond, gather to share their knowledge, current
research and strategies for effective teaching and learning. The purpose is to continually develop our
professional skills so we can provide the best possible educational programs and learning experiences for our
students.
TEACHERS’ CONVENTION
REPORT CARDS
Term 2 report cards go home on Friday, March 9th.
The report cards will be live for viewing in Powerschool at 4:00 p.m.
CANADIAN COGNITIVE ABILITIES TEST (CCAT)
February 26 to March 6 for GRADE 3 Students
The Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test (CCAT) is a reliable assessment tool that tests learning potential and
enables teachers to determine general levels of students’ cognitive abilities in three areas; verbal,
quantitative and nonverbal. These tests will be administered to our grade three students from February 26th
to March 6th, 2018. Although students do not study for these tests, we do encourage them to do their best.
Test results are provided on an appointment basis to those parents interested in attaining their child’s CCAT
results. If you would like an appointment, please call the school office.
SPRING BREAK REMINDER
Thursday, March 22nd - Full Day of Classes - DISMISSAL AT 3:12 P.M.
March 23rd - EARLY DISMISSAL @ 12:09 P.M. for Spring Break
SPRING BREAK begins on Monday, MARCH 26th
EASTER MONDAY, April 2nd - NO SCHOOL
CLASSES RESUME on Tuesday, APRIL 3rd
NEW REGISTRATIONS
We are presently accepting new registrations of students for all grades for the
2018/2019 school year. Enrolment letters of intent have been sent home for our own
existing students to confirm our student numbers for the next school year. This
information will help us plan our staffing for the 2018/2019 school year. If you have
not replied, please let the school know your enrollment intentions.
A Message from Father Dowle
Among the many desires of mankind is the pursuit of power. It may be political, economic,
psychological, or familial. A review of current global or local issues indicate just how many
evolve around the application of power: who has it, how much, and why. Power holds a great
force of influence. In most instances it is pursued so as to effect control such that one’s
personal intentions, needs, and wants are enacted. Essentially one wants to ensure one’s
needs and wants are met and served. Indeed, we know by experience that to be served feels
good, but this is only so if it is done out of an authentic love which then can be reciprocated
with acknowledgement and appreciation. For to be served on demand or out of mere
selfishness is the antithesis of the interpretation of service Jesus both lived and extolled. As we
are given to understand in every Gospel in general and Holy Thursday in particular, it is not the
societal interpretation of power to which the Christian is to aspire. Rather, it is the humble
service which can and likely involves a sacrifice, a task we are asked to fulfill for its own sake
and the common good. Our District community has many such examples from which to draw:
the new mother who sacrifices sleep to be with a sick child, the dedicated teacher who gives
up the lunch hour to be with a struggling student, or the newly retired principal who volunteers
their skills to help a senior in need. The way that Jesus serves is consistently defined by what
he says and so by what he does. Consequently, if we desire to know what it means to be the
real image and likeness of God, what it means to know ultimate power, what we ought to do is
look to Jesus. And if we want to know how to be closer to God, we in turn emulate the way of
Jesus: not to be served, but to serve. Holy Thursday and the Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be
our example and source of inspiration: all are encouraged to attend this most special night at
their local Parish. The Gospel reinforces for us that it is service to others which will show the
way to what is true leadership and authentic power within the Kingdom. And the final
destination of the Kingdom is all that should really matter. May we remember this during the
latter of Lent and Easter soon to be: God, power, others, and me.
Most sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Dean Dowle
ECSD Chaplain
March 2018
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father.
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
~John 13:1~
This passage comes from the Gospel reading for Holy Thursday. The Gospel of John is also known as the Gospel of Love because
it is written to clearly tell us of the great love that God has for us. That love is embodied in the person of Jesus. Knowing of the
immense suffering that Jesus is about to endure as his death approaches, it is humbling to even try to imagine the magnitude of
His love for us.
Our Catholic community was deeply saddened by the loss of our dear friend and shepherd, Archbishop Emeritus Joseph MacNeil.
One of our schools proudly bears his name and his motto “Let us grow together in Christ”. Archbishop MacNeil was a significant
part of the fabric of so many of our lives, especially through the sacrament of Confirmation. We invite you to visit www.ecsd.net
and click on the ‘Remembering Archbishop Joseph MacNeil’ banner to share a favorite story or picture of him.
ECSD has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mount Royal University to collaborate and offer students two courses to
explore their passions and interests in Aviation. The two dual credit Aviation courses, which are required courses within the
Mount Royal University Bissett School of Business Aviation Diploma, will be offered at St. Joseph High School to interested grade
11 & 12 students from ECSD who meet the pre-requisites of English 30 – 1, Math 30 – 1, and medical clearance. By offering the
courses after school hours, it will enable students from across ECSD to enroll in the courses. Students will be able to develop
their knowledge to achieve Transport Canada requirements respecting navigation and aviation operations, along with Basic
Meteorology to interpret weather information for pilots as supplied by Atmospheric Environment Services. In partnership with
WestJet, students will be able to experience flight simulation and in-flight experiences with trained pilots. WestJet will support
this opportunity through personnel, simulator experiences, and site visitations at YEG.
Edmonton Catholic Schools is excited to plan for our new K-6 school in The Orchards at Ellerslie. The culture and ethos of a
Catholic school evolves from its name. We want to choose a name that is meaningful to our Catholic community, and that
conveys the school’s identity to the broader community. We are currently taking suggestions from the public and would love to
hear your voice. Visit www.ecsd.net and click on the Name our New School Banner to learn more about the guidelines and
criteria. We will be accepting entries until March 31.
There are so many opportunities for our students to showcase their learning. An excellent example of this is the annual Jean
Forest Leadership Academy Luncheon to celebrate International Women’s Day. This year's Women's Day theme is
. . . 2
Living in the Word of God - Mercy at the Heart of It All
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup; for all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves (1 Corinthians 11: 27-29). In previous articles on Living in the Word of God, we discovered that the Christian response to God's love
revealed in Christ is threefold: worship, witness and service; the three ways in which we put into practice the
Word of God. Our lives come from the mercy of God. The Lord calls us precisely in our weakness, and mercifully
bestows upon us all the gifts we need for the fulfillment of our Christian calling. True worship, especially
through the celebration of the Eucharist, requires that we examine our way of living, to seek forgiveness and
reconciliation, to profess what we believe, and to serve others with joyful hearts. Pope Francis calls us to
embrace fully the meaning of our Baptism and to live consciously as disciples of Jesus Christ. This means hearing
the Word of God and practicing it. Every day we encounter a myriad of voices; some positive, some negative,
endeavouring to influence and shape our way of thinking and living. Yet, for us there is only one voice that we
know is fully worthy of our trust, and that voice is Jesus. To be disciples, to live in accord with our Baptismal
identity and dignity, is to allow only his words to guide and direct our lives.
Sandra Talarico, Religious Education Consultant
Press for Progress! and the girls of JFLA are embracing this challenge by building on their leadership and engaging in community
service as students in the Academy. The guest speaker at this year’s luncheon will be mental health advocate and professional
photographer Blake Loates. She will be speaking about the need to Press for Progress in the fight to end the stigma of mental
illness. Visit www.ecsd.net and look under “What’s New in the District” to learn more about the luncheon and how to purchase
tickets.
The month of March also provides us with the opportunity to focus student learning more intentionally on the importance of
numbers in our daily lives during our annual Numeracy Week event. Our students will spend time gaining an appreciation of the
fact the numeracy is not just significant in math class!
The year moves by so swiftly. Our year-round schools will begin their Spring Break on March 19, and our regular calendar
schools will begin their break on March 26. All classes will resume on Tuesday, April 3. This is a wonderful time for students and
staff to rest and recharge in preparation for the busy-ness of the last few months of school.
I leave you with another passage from the Gospel of John as we continue our Lenten journey:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life.” ~ John 3:16
Have a wonderful month!
Sincerely, Joan Carr Superintendent
SPRING BREAK - Classes Resume Monday, April 3, 2018
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