DEC
Principal’s Message
2015
98 Wanita Road
Mississauga ON,
L5G 1B8
Phone 905.891.7619
Fax 905.278.6539
Loving God, we seek You in both the
light and the darkness,
Trustees
Mario Pascucci,
Bruno Iannicca,
Sharon Hobin,
Esther O'Toole,
Luz del Rosario,
Anna Abbruscato,
Anna Da Silva,
Thomas Thomas,
Darryl D’Souza,
Frank Di Cosola,
Shawn Xaviour
the silence and the sounds, the fullness
and the emptiness of this
Advent season.
Fill our hearts with hope for Your
coming; love for those who are most in
need, and faith in Your promises.
May this time of preparation help us
Superintendent
celebrate the birth of Your son with
T. Lariviere
deep gratitude and abundant joy.
We ask this in the name of Jesus,
Principal
the Light of the World.
A. Litster
School Council
Co-Chairs
D. Rookwood
J. Richards
May God Bless You,
B. Diogo
Principal
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS
Please be reminded that the school is closed for
Christmas holidays December 21st, 2015 –
January 1st, 2016.
The first day of classes in the New Year is
January 4th, 2016.
Brian Diogo
Amen
Secretary
On behalf of the staff of St. James Catholic
Global Learning Centre, I extend our best wishes during this Christmas season to all our families. We hope that you will be blessed with the
spirit and gifts of that first Christmas; peace,
love and goodwill toward all. May the promise
of Christmas help to show God’s boundless
love for both you and your family. May you be
blessed with good health, prosperity and happiness throughout the New Year as we strive to
work with and for you in providing excellence
in Catholic education in our community.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Living Our Faith
2
PYP
2/3
MYP
4
School Council
5
Jayhawk News
6/7/8
Take Note & Upcoming Dates
9
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2
Living Our Faith
Virtue Corner
DECEMBER ~ HOPE
This month we will celebrate the virtue of HOPE.
A person with hope…
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PYP
As a Catholic school, rooted in faith, we celebrate the Virtues every month and recognize
students who have demonstrated these virtues in
their classroom or around the school. This
month we are celebrating the Virtue of Hope. We encourage our students to remember that God helps us to work
for a more peaceful world even when we feel discouraged.
Expects the best to happen for everyone
Hold on to their dreams
Always count on God to help them in tough
situations
Trust that things will work out in God’s way
Look for something good to come out of
problems
Are looking forward to life’s blessings
Set and stick to their own goals
We believe that God comes to us as a real human who
can show us the way of life.
We understand that both the world and its people are
from God and so are essentially good. Furthermore, God
has given us this Advent season year after year in order
to focus our minds and our hearts on the good all around
us.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing, so that you may abound in hope by
the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 15:13)
The Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations
Year after year, we are reminded that God chose to send
His Son to us because we are worth it. God knows how
great we can be when we all come together.
ADVENT MASS
As Advent begins Sunday November 29th, 2015 we
will be celebrating our Advent Mass on Tuesday
December 8th, 2015 with Fr. Neil McMillan at 9:30
a.m. in the gym. Parents and families are invited to
join us in this special celebration
as we give thanks to God for our
many blessings.
DECEMBER
2015
NEWSLE TTER
Vision of the Learner:
The graduate is expected to be: A Discerning Believer
formed in the Catholic Faith Community who celebrates
the signs and sacred mysteries of God’s presence through
word, sacrament, prayer, forgiveness, reflection and moral living. A discerning believer actively reflects on God’s
Word as communicated through the scriptures; develops
attitudes and values founded on Catholic social teaching
and acts to promote social responsibility, human solidarity and the common good.
PAGE
PYP
The IB Attribute for this month is risk-taker/courageous. Risk
-takers and courageous students are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs. “I am willing to make mistakes. I am confident and have the courage to try new things.”
The IB Attitude for this month is enthusiasm. Students will be
encouraged to strive to understand the enjoyment of learning
and willingness to demonstrate their best effort.
FDK Unit of Inquiry
This month the students in our full day kindergarten program
continue to use the transdisciplinary theme of W here W e Are
in Place and Time to inquire into the exploration of our orientation in place and time; of our personal histories; the discoveries; explorations and migrations of humankind.
3
PYP
Both FDK classes have been engaged in a variety of collaborative learning activities surrounding this unit of inquiry.
They have packed suitcases with various items needed to
travel to desired locations, they have identified places they
have or would like to travel to on the world map, and they
have sent letters to places they would like to visit.
Packing my suitcase
Student letter writing
The students in Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Johnson’s class created a post office after the following provocation was posed:
What travels besides people? Students responded, mail! The
teachers recognized the students’ interest in writing and desire to create their own classroom post office. After using the
internet to inquire into Canada Post and their offices, the
students co-constructed the classroom post office using their
creativity and collaborative skills.
During this unit the students have been focusing on understanding the central idea that journeys create change and can lead to
new opportunities. The lines of inquir y that wer e used to
focus the students’ learning and deepen their understanding of
this central idea included:
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Class post office
Types of journeys people make
Choices and decisions involved in making a journey
Changes experienced because of a journey
To begin the unit, students worked together to identify different
ways to travel and shared their personal stories of places they
have journeyed to. The students were encouraged to think beyond just the typical meaning of journey and to think about
various kinds of journeys.
Student-made stamps
The students in Ms. Navarro and Ms. Carreon’s class created
their own personal passports. They learned about the purpose
of passports as a means of entry into a new country and they
each received stamps for the various places they investigated
virtually as a class.
The students will be encouraged to continue to inquire about
their own personal journeys and reflect upon how they journey, where they journey and why.
DECEMBER
2015
NEWSLE TTER
PAGE
4
MYP
MYP
Middle Years Programme:
Students have the option to choose their form of action. There are four options for the work:
December Feature: Year 3 Community
Projects
1. Direct Service:
Promoting a child’s international and globalmindedness is a task that requires attention, time
and thoughtful planning. Opportunities must be
created to develop this skill, and often, those opportunities begin with gaining understanding and perspective of issues at the local level. This is one purpose behind the mandatory Year 3 Community Project.
Interaction involves people, the environment or animals
e.g., tutoring, creating a garden, teaching dogs
behaviours before adoption
2. Indirect Service:
Students do not see the recipients, but know their
actions will benefit the community
e.g., redesigning an organizations website, writing a picture book to teach a language, raising fish to restore a dam
3. Advocacy:
Students speak on behalf of a cause or concern to
promote action
e.g., create PSA’s on hunger in the community,
perform a series of plays to replace bullying
with respect
4. Research:
As an exit project from St. James Catholic Global
Learning Centre all Year 3 (Grade 8) students are
required to complete a 15 hour service and action
project. This does not mean 15 volunteer hours.
Rather, it requires students to possibly complete
volunteer hours, complete research, reflect on their
experiences and share them also.
Students have an opportunity to work in collaboration with others, to a maximum or three, or to work
independently on this task. The work is spread out
over many months and overseen by a project supervisor (teacher). Learnings are consolidated in a
process journal and presentations of findings will
be shared through an oral presentation format at the
projects conclusion.
DECEMBER
2015
NEWSLE TTER
Students collect information, analyze data and report
on a topic of importance to influence practice
e.g., determine the most effective way to reduce
litter in public spaces
Very quickly, students have noticed that there is
overlap within the categories. These will be explored with their supervisor to assist with the depth
of their learning.
At this time, Year 3 students have selected their project goal and completed their formal proposals.
More information to come.
PAGE
5
School Council
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
Please join us for the Catholic School Council meetings.
The meetings are always lively, informative, and very
productive! Meetings start at 6:30 p.m. and childcare
is provided.
Tuesday Jan 12
Tuesday Feb 9
Tuesday April 12
Tuesday May 10
UNIFORM COMMITTEE WORKING GROUP:
Thank you to those who have volunteered to be a part of
further investigating a uniform program. We will be in
contact with the volunteers shortly on what the next steps
are. Should you still wish to volunteer please email us.
CALLING ALL STRING PLAYERS:
FUNDRAISING:
A heartfelt thank you to all families who have chosen to
make a voluntary donation to the CSC. Cheques are still
being welcomed! Please remember that in order for you
to receive a tax receipt we ask that any remaining donations be made by December 11, 2015. We hope that you
will continue to ask questions, come to meetings and
participate in the discussions surrounding how the CSC
uses your donations to support the various initiatives at
our school.
ST. JAMES PARENTS ON FACEBOOK:
Some of the parents of St. James are excited to launch
a Facebook Group! The group will help keep parents in
the loop with general information about what is happening within our school and parent community. It will also
be a place where all members can talk to each other simultaneously in one place! This group only speaks for the
parents and not the school or school council. We will
foster an environment that is positive and supportive in
nature. To subscribe, please search Facebook under: St. James CGLC Parent Group and click on "join".
MUSIC ENRICHMENT WORKING GROUP:
Through the parent survey this fall, many of you expressed a desire to see more music-based activities at St.
James. In order to explore creative ways to bring more
music (and other arts) into our children’s school experience, your CSC has decided to put together a working
group of parents. We will meet in the New Year to
brainstorm and follow up on some of the great ideas that
have already been brought forward. If you are interested
in joining this group, please email us at
st.jamescglccouncil@gmail.com
DECEMBER
School Council
2015
NEWSLE TTER
After the Christmas break, our school will be visited by a
group of strings students from Appleby College in Oakville. They will be performing for us, and as a special
outreach project, any St. James students who play orchestral stringed instruments (violin, viola, cello or doublebass) are invited to join them for a song! As long as you
have access to an instrument and are currently studying
or have been playing within the past two years, there is
no audition and players of all levels are welcome. We
will meet over several lunch hours to prepare for this exciting opportunity! Please contact the school council if
you have questions or would like to sign up.
‘WINTERLAND OF GINGERBREAD’:
This festive event is fast approaching, and is a great way
to share the true meaning of Christmas with our community and our families. Students will partake in decorating
a Gingerbread Man that comes complete with all decorations. St. James has also arranged for Santa Claus to join
us so that all students may take a photo with Santa. All
of the gingerbread men are provided by Catholic School
Council.
RECENT ITEMS FUNDED THROUGH CSC:
RAZ kids licenses
Survey Monkey subscription
Council Meeting costs
Gingerbread cookies
JOIN IN:
Stay in touch with Council news… join our e-mail list!
Send an e-mail to stjamesCGLCcouncil@gmail.com with
‘subscribe’ in the subject heading. Thank you to those
who have already signed up.
For meeting minutes and other council information, visit
us at www.dpcdsb.org/JAMEE/Parents/
We welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions.
Please e-mail us at stjamesCGLCcouncil@gmail.com.
PAGE
Jayhawk News
St. James Catholic Global Learning Centre
Registration
Kindergarten to Grade 8: 2016-17 School Year
Jayhawk News
The following documents will be needed when
registering for all grades:
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proof of age (Birth Certificate)
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original Roman Catholic baptismal certificate
(for child and/or parent/guardian) or baptismal
certificate from an Eastern Church in full communion with the Holy See of Rome. If the
child has not been baptized, and the parent/
guardian is a baptized Roman Catholic or is
baptized from an Eastern Church in full communion with the Holy See of Rome, the parent/
guardian must bring their own baptismal certificate.
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updated immunization records
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proof of Canadian citizenship (Birth Certificate
or Passport) or Landed Immigrant status
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proof of home address (two of the following:
property tax bill, current utility bill, real estate
document or Government of Canada issued
forms) **A driver’s license is not an accepted
document
Please note the following registration dates for Kindergarten to Grade 8 at St. James Catholic Global
Learning Centre for the 2016-17 school year.
Registration for St. James will take place on February 1, 2016 from 7:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m. and on February 2, 3, 4 and 5 from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. (To
be considered for any lottery, registrations must
be received with full documentation by 3:00 p.m.
on Friday, February 5, 2016).
(February 2, from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., has been
designated as a snow day for St. James registration.)
Potential registrations for Kindergarten for the St.
James Catholic Global Learning Centre are advised
to register at the home school during the Boardwide registration dates.
Kindergarten registration for all other elementary
schools in Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School
Board for the 2016-17 school year will be held on
January 25 from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. and January
27, 28, 29 from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
January 26, from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., has been
designated as a snow day.
Information regarding the lottery process for all
registrations at St. James Catholic Global Learning Centre will be made available prior to the
February 1-5, 2016 registration dates through St.
James Catholic Global Learning Centre.
DECEMBER
2015
NEWSLE TTER
6
Only complete registrations will be accepted. All documentation must be received at the time of registration.
PAGE
Jayhawk News
7
Jayhawk News
2016 Registration For Extended French
Going On Vacation
Any student who is eligible to attend a Dufferin Peel
Catholic school and who is presently a Grade 4 student is eligible to enroll in the Extended French program for Grade 5 in September, 2016. Transportation is provided for eligible students in the program
if they attend the centre designated for their region.
(Both transportation and Extended French Centre
locations are subject to board annual review and
therefore subject to change.) More detailed information will be available at parents/guardians meetings to be held at all Extended French locations.
We ask that you please take a moment and send a
note to the office informing us of the dates
your son/daughter will be away. This will help to
cut down on the phone calls needed to track down
the missing student(s). We thank you for your
help in this matter.
Winterland of Gingerbread
Tuesday January 12, 2016 7:00 p.m.
San Lorenzo Ruiz 100 Barondale Drive, Mississauga
St. Rose of Lima 4590 The Gallops, Mississauga
Wednesday January 13, 2016 7:00 p.m.
We look forward to seeing all the families that are
taking part in our gingerbread decorating event on
Wednesday December 9th, 2015 at 1:30 p.m.. It
will be an enjoyable family event shared by all.
St. Anne 124 Vodden Street, Brampton
St. Christopher 1195 Clarkson Rd North, Mississauga
Thursday January 14, 2016 7:00 p.m.
Holy Family 61 Allan Drive, Bolton
St. Andrew 50 Meadow Drive, Orangeville
St. Jean Brébeuf 63 Glenforest Road, Brampton
St. Monica 60 Sterritt Drive, Brampton
St. Philip School 345 Fairview Rd West, Mississauga
St. Therese of the Child Jesus 6930 Forest Pk Dr,
Mississauga
St. Thomas More 3270 Tomken Road, Mississauga
Christmas Giving Tree
St. James School is holding a Christmas Giving
Tree Drive. We will be collecting mittens, gloves,
hats and scarves to support those in need this
Christmas season. We encourage all families to
donate generously. Donations can also be brought
on the day of the Christmas Concert.
Be sure to visit our school website. All newsletters and
other pertinent information are always updated.
http://dpcdsb.org/jamee
St. James is now on Twitter! For the latest news and
information, follow us @StJamesDPCDSB
DECEMBER
2015
NEWSLE TTER
PAGE
Jayhawk News
8
Jayhawk News
Changing Weather
CHRISTMAS CONCERT
We are proud to announce that all the students of St.
James School (JK to Grade 8) will be putting on a
spectacular performance on Thursday December,
17th at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Parents, grandparents and additional guests are welcome to attend the dress rehearsal performance at
1:30 p.m.
We also ask that for admission to the concert that
you bring an item to support our Christmas Giving
Tree Drive. We are collecting mittens, gloves, hats
and scarves for those in need this Christmas season.
Please bring your donations to the front hall of the
school.
Students are asked to ensure that they have a pair
of indoor shoes at school. We ask that children
change their footwear when they come inside in an
effort to keep our classroom floors clean.
Children are expected to participate in recess activities and are reminded to dress for the weather.
Children may also wish to have a change of clothing at school in the event that they get wet while
playing outdoors.
Winter Wear
Please ensure that the snowpants and gloves/
mittens that your child is wearing are water resistant as many students are coming back into class
with wet clothing. In some cases the items do not
have an opportunity to dry before the student goes
back out for recess. Leaving an extra pair of
gloves/mittens is advisable at this time of year.
Cold Weather Temperatures
We, the staff of St. James wish you
and your family a very joyous Christmas and may your New Year be filled
with God’s Blessing.
DECEMBER
2015
NEWSLE TTER
The main risks of exposure to extremely cold
weather for relatively short periods (recess or
lunch periods) is that of frostbite. Someone who is
protected by clothing or is physically active may
be able to withstand exposure to colder temperatures. Therefore, it is recommended that consideration be given to reducing the amount of time outdoors for children (grade 8 and under) when the
temperature is -20 degrees Celsius or colder.
When the temperature or equivalent wind chill temperature is - 25
degrees Celsius or lower children
will be kept indoors.
PAGE
9
Take Note
Take Note
Parents In The Yard
Visitors
For your child’s safety we request that he/she not be on
school property until supervision begins at 8:45 a.m.
Please do not drop your child off at the school prior to
8:45 a.m.
We would also like to remind you that parents should
drop off/pick up their children outside the school gates.
Parents are not permitted to be in the school yard at any
time. Although you may be known to your own child
you are a stranger to the other students in the yard.
Anyone entering the school must come to the office
right away. The school is a very busy place and we
have many visitors/parents dropping in for a variety
of reasons. To ensure we maintain the integrity of
the classroom program by avoiding interruptions, and
for the safety of our students, all visitors must come
to the office. We ask that you also convey this
information to older brothers and sisters of our
students. This way we know that anyone in the halls
or in the school yard an authorized visitor. All
students leaving the school early will be released
through the front office as they must sign out. If
Kiss and Ride
The safety of our students and parents is of great
concern to us here at the school.
Please drive SLOWLY through the Kiss and Ride lane
as well as the drive through lane.
Please do not block the Kiss and Ride zone and areas
that would hinder the movement of cars.
Cars cannot be left in the lanes at any time.
Student Absences/Lates
Please use our 24 hour answering service to inform the
school of late or absent students. We must hear
from a PARENT or GUARDIAN if a
student will be absent, arriving late or
leaving early. Phone 905-891-7619
If a pattern of unexcused lateness or absents
becomes apparent, parents will be contacted by
the school.
UPCOMING DATES
Dec 2 - Gr. 7 & 8 Immunization Clinic
Dec 3 - Gr. 5 Science Workshop
Dec 8 - Advent Mass 9:30 a.m. in gym
Dec 9 - Gingerbread Decorating 1:30 p.m.
Dec 10 - Gr. 1 Science Workshop
DECEMBER
2015
NEWSLE TTER
your child arrives late we ask you to
NOT accompany them to class.
Snack and Treats for Students
We are asking that all parents please refrain from
bringing in eatable snacks and treats to the
classrooms. Several students in our school suffer
from a severe food allergy to all nuts, peanuts and all
nut products. There is also a Ministry PPM where
the purpose of this memorandum is to set out
nutrition standards for food and beverages in publicly
funded elementary schools in Ontario. For more
information about the new PPM please visit, http://
www.edu.gov.on.ca/extra/eng/ppm/150.html. If
you would still like to do something special for the
classroom, a small non-eatable gift for each student
or perhaps a classroom gift, i.e. board game for
inclement recess, may be a great alternative. Again,
we thank you for your co-operation.
Dec 11 - Gr. 1 & 3 Bradley Museum Trip
Dec 11 - Gr. 4 & 5 Silvercreek Trip
Dec 11 - FDK Wildhagens Trip
Dec 17 - Christmas Concert 1:30 p.m. & 7:00 p.m.