ST. BENEDICT CATHOLIC
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
18015 - 93 Avenue
Tel: (780) 487-2733 Fax: (780) 481-3159
http://www.stbenedict.ecsd.net
February 2016
Kindness Begins With Me
Welcome to the month of February. As this year moves along, our administration team is continually impressed with the work of our students. We are proud of our student’s efforts to make St. Benedict an environment of good choices, whether it be nutritional, social, emotional or spiritual.
Our student’s prayers that are heard over morning announcements show that the children of St. Benedict
Catholic School are thankful, reflective and honest as they truly pray for a better school, home, community
and world. They are awesome at telling their school community ways in which they are trying to be the
Person God Made Them To Be.
February is a very busy month event wise, so look over the newsletter and calendar for important dates and
information. In February we celebrate Valentine’s Day, Family Day and 100’s day: the hundredth day of
school. We are blessed to have Family Day, February 15th, in our province of Alberta. Take the time to be
together and do some special activities as a family.
Since February is known for Random Acts of Kindness, our leadership team of students will be asking students to recognize other students for their kind acts and we would ask parents to pass on to the office any
kind acts that your children are doing at home. This is a great opportunity to link home and community in a
positive, worthwhile endeavor.
Our teachers continue to focus on formative assessment ( refers to a wide variety of methods that teachers
use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress
during a lesson, unit, or course). Our teachers continue to help students understand concepts by presenting
clear learning targets in student friendly language and then follow up with tasks that are relevant and meaningful. Students are looking at strong and weak samples of work and using a rubric (see insert in the newsletter) to see how they can reach a target or expectation for proficient or excellent work.
Touch base with your child’s teacher to see ways in which they are using formative assessments to provide
feedback and growth in their learning.
Kindergarten-Grade 6 Registration:
We are now accepting Kindergarten to Grade 6 registrations for next year. Kindergarten students must be
5 years old before March, 2017. Let friends and neighbors know of the wonderful school we have here at
St. Benedict Catholic School. Please contact the office for further information.
KINDERGARTEN and HOCKEY ACADEMY OPEN HOUSE: Feb. 17 @ 6:30 (Kinder) and 7:15
pm (Hockey Academy).
Mr. DeForge
Mr. King
ST. BENEDICT CATHOLIC
SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
18015 - 93 Avenue
Tel: (780) 487-2733 Fax: (780) 481-3159
http://www.stbenedict.ecsd.net
FEBRUARY 2016 DATES TO REMEMBER
February 2
Faith Development Day– NO SCHOOL
February 3
The Grey Cup comes to St. Benedict– Presentation on being active and healthy
February 8
Pancake lunch for all students
February 9
Grade 5+6 skiing at SnowValley
February10
Ash Wednesday celebration @ 2:15pm– Welcome, Fr. Dean our District Chaplain
February 16 Running Room Indoor Games (11am-1:30pm)
February 15 Family Day– NO SCHOOL
February 17 Open House for New Kindergarten (6:30 pm) and New Hockey Academy Registrations(7:15pm)
February 22 Parent Council Meeting at 7pm
February 26, 27– Teacher’s Convention-NO SCHOOL
SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL 2016-2017
Our SAC meeting will take place on Monday, February 22, 2016 at 7:00 pm. It is very important that at least
one of the room representatives from each grade be there. We will touch on budget and staffing.
Thank you to council for supporting our students with a free pancake lunch on Monday, Feb. 8.
K-2 Skating Dates and Times
Dates: February 10, 17, 24, March 2, March 9
Times:
9:15-10:00 Grade 1
10:00-10:45-K
10:45-11:30-grade 2
Annunciation Parish News
Mass Times
Saturday 5pm,
Sunday: 9am, 11am and 7pm
Get served
News Article written by Grade 6A
St. Benedict Journal
Have you ever experienced the thrill of participating in a volleyball tournament? On Thursday, January 14, 2016, St. Mark Junior High
School hosted an elementary volleyball tournament. There were seven
schools participating in this exciting event.
The grade six volleyball players from St. Benedict School practiced three times a week since November to prepare for the tournament.
“All that practicing helped develop my serving skills,” stated Daniella, a grade six volleyball player.
The purpose of the tournament was to introduce the sport of volleyball to 11 and 12 year olds. Another major focus was to have fun while completing against other schools. “The event was so much fun! Our team improved a lot,” exclaimed Nicholas.
RUNNING ROOM INDOOR GAMES
Our Grade 4, 5 and 6 students were invited to try out for this indoor track relay event throughout the month of January. Two teams of 8 boys and two teams of 8 girls will be selected for the relays based on two time trials. There
will also be spots for alternates on each of the 4 teams. Unlike cross country there is a limit to the number of students for this competition.
The Running Room Games time slot for our teams is Tuesday, February, 16th from 11am –1:30pm. A fieldtrip
form will be coming soon.
Running Room Indoor Games
Date: Tuesday Feb. 16 (11am-1:30pm)
Who: Grades 4-6 students
Teams: 2 Boy’s and 2 Girl’s team of 8 with alternates
Event: 8 member relay, each running 200m
Place: University of Alberta Butterdome
Alberta Education’s Framework For Student Learning
As Alberta Education moves towards a curriculum that
envisions students developing competencies (see side diagram) for success in school and beyond, we continue as a
school to focus on ways in which we can help our students
at St. Benedict Catholic school achieve success in all these
areas.
Our students continue to demonstrate leadership and collaboration skills through classroom work and our student
leadership club, hockey academy an
In addition our students, with the support of our parent
community, have shown social and environmental responsibilities. They have raised money for the Jump Rope for
Heart Foundation and our kindergarten and Grade 6 students have visited senior homes to spend time with the
elders of our community.
Finally our students have used a variety of technology platforms to support their learning. As a staff we are
committed to ensuring our students can express multiple ways to demonstrate what they have learnt beyond
paper/pencil activities. This includes using tools such as iMovie, Glogster, Kids Blog, Dream Box and much
more. They are developing digital and technological fluency to support and enhance their learning.
Staff Faith Development Day
This is to inform you that on Tuesday, February 2, 2016, all staff members will be involved in a districtwide Faith Development Day at the Shaw Conference Centre. There will be no instruction of students at
school on that day.
This year, our theme is: Life of Grace, Journey of Love. We are pleased to welcome Mike Patin and Jesse
Manibusan as our keynote speakers. We also welcome Archbishop Richard Smith who will celebrate the
Eucharistic Liturgy with us.
Catholic education is an awesome vocation and responsibility. By being involved in the education mission
of the church, Catholic schools provide a hopeful response to the great mysteries of life in an increasingly
complex world. Faith Development Day provides us, as a community of faith, with the opportunity to become more deeply aware of the faith foundation of our lives and to find inspiration to enter into our life’s
work with deeper conviction.
I am confident you will agree that such a day is so important to realizing our mission: “to provide a Catholic
education that inspires students to learn and that prepares them to live fully to serve God in one another.” (ECS Mission Statement).
Superintendent’s and Bishop/Priest Messages
As you know, the monthly school newsletters contain our Superintendent, Joan Carr’s message as well as messages from either Bishop Motiuk or Archbishop Smith. These messages will now be posted on our St. Benedict
Catholic School website www.ecsd.net.
Assessment for Parents
Providing Specific and Effective Feedback to Students
Dorothy DeZouche in 1945 stated, “If I can’t
give a child a better reason for studying than
a grade on a report card, I ought to lock my
desk and go home and stay there.”
Assessment experts like Richard Stiggins
(2005) emphasize that we succeed as teachers
when we help our students want to learn from
within and not for the sake of a grade.
Levels of achievement (grades) on their own provide little valuable feedback regarding student strengths and areas that need work.
When students seek higher grades, they should not try to improve a number (e.g. 75% to 85%), rather, they should identify specific areas to focus on (e.g. stating main idea and supporting details or
writing with more detail and description).
Students who make the connection and transition from relying on grades to relying on specific and
frequent feedback are the most effective learners, because they:
 set personal goals
 use proven strategies
 self-assess their work
 communicate what they have done well and need to do better
 feel they have stake and part in the learning
 follow criteria and use examples of quality student work to judge their own progress
GRADES = a body of evidence (formative assessments) + performance standards (summative assessments) + guidelines (criteria, guidelines and exemplars)
- O’Connor (2005)
Suggestions for parents/guardians to support their child in this area:
Look through your child’s portfolio for assignments showing various forms of feedback and look for
criteria provided by teachers for student assignments and projects. Does your child understand what
he or she has to do to successfully complete the task?