ST. CORNELIUS CATHOLIC SCHOOL
16066 Innis Lake Road, Caledon East, ON Tel. (905) 584-2245 Fax (905) 584-0924
Principal: G. Graci Vice Principal: A. Cavaliere Superintendent: L. Storey Pastor: Fr. B. Glynn
YEAR OF MERCY
Pope Francis has declared that this is a Holy Jubilee
Year of Mercy. At St. Cornelius we have been
focusing on the Year of Mercy during school wide
activities and class discussions. We challenged our
students to be examples of mercy and to come up
with their own Corporal and Spiritual Works of
Mercy. The following are some of the initiatives:
A LENTEN PRAYER
O Jesus, you place on my forehead
the sign of your saving Cross:
“Turn from sin and be faithful
to the gospel.”
How can I turn from sin
unless I turn to you?
You speak, you raise your hand,
you touch my mind and call my name,
“Turn to the Lord your God again.”
These days of your favour
leave a blessing as you pass
on me and all your people.
Turn to us, Lord God,
and we shall turn to you.
AMEN.
Valentine Cookies for ShareLife
Our Youth Faith Ambassadors sold vanilla cookies for
Valentine’s Day. Students volunteered their time to
sell cookies during their lunch period. Proceeds are
being donated to ShareLife. We would like to thank
Ms. D’Alessandro, Ms. Scarcello and the Youth Faith
Ambassadors for your Catholic leadership in our
school.
Supporting Syrian Refugees
Mrs. Brunatti would like to recognize the members of
the Knitting Club for their demonstration of mercy.
This year, all money raised from the sale of knitted
scarves will be donated to the Syrian refugees arriving
in Canada. Thank you to: Maggie, Brooke, Tereza,
Riley and Isabelle for being inspiring and living
examples of mercy.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain
mercy.” Matthew 5: 3-10
Sincerely,
MARCH 2016: INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Save the date for EQAO
Minimizing Classroom Interruptions
The Great Gulp
Math At Home
Page 2
Page 3
Page 3
Page 5
St. Cornelius has had a successful month on
Twitter! We have 86 followers who are learning about
our Lenten Activities, Science, and Special Education.
For the latest updates, initiatives and information,
follow us @StCorneDPCDSB.
Together in Faith and Excellence
1
SAVE THE DATE: EQAO TESTING FOR OUR
GR. 3 & 6 STUDENTS
Our Grade 3 and 6
students will be
participating in our EQAO
testing from May 25th to
June 8th, 2016. Please
avoid scheduling appointments and vacations during
these dates.
LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO MINIMIZE
CLASSROOM INTERRUPTIONS
In order to respect the classroom learning environment,
we try to minimize interruptions during class time. If
you are picking up your children early, please write a
note in your child’s agenda to their teacher and your
child can wait in the office. Of course, there are times
when last minute situations may arise, however, we
appreciate your cooperation. If you are dropping off
something, we have a table with labels set up in the
office to ensure your child receives it. Thank you for
your ongoing support.
2015-16 School Year Calendar
Additional Professional
Activity Day:
Monday, April 11, 2016
In the Dufferin-Peel Catholic
District
School
Board,
the
designated additional Professional
Activity Day has been scheduled for Monday, April 11,
2016. Therefore, there will be no classes for either
elementary or secondary students on Monday, April 11,
2016. Thank you for your attention to this addition to the
2015-16 School Year Calendar.
MARCH BREAK
A reminder that March Break
is from Monday, March 14th to
Friday, March 18th. There will
be no school for students on
these days. We hope everyone
enjoys a safe and restful
March Break.
RECESS REMINDERS
We continue to reinforce the need for students to play
games and activities safely. At St. Cornelius School, we
have a hands-off policy. This means that activities such
as contact sports, tackling, play-fighting, tripping,
pushing, piling on and any rough play are not permitted.
Students are consistently reminded of these rules by
staff, supervisors and administration. We recommend
that parents have conversations with their children
about the types of games they play at school. We need
your help to reinforce with them the dangers and
consequences of rough play and the importance of
notifying staff on duty during recess time. The health and
safety of our students is always our priority at St.
Cornelius.
Also with the extremely cold temperatures we have been
experiencing, please remember to send children with
proper outdoor apparel. An extra set of gloves/mittens
is often helpful.
REPORTING STUDENT ABSENCES WHEN
BUSES ARE CANCELLED
If your child usually walks to school and buses are
cancelled, please call the school to report his/her
absence. *Please note that when buses are cancelled,
hot lunches will not be delivered to school.
SAVE
THE
DATE:
ORIENTATION DAY
YOUNG
RIDER
WELCOMING ALL KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN TO
YOUNG RIDER ORIENTATION DAY
The intent of the day is to introduce children to school
buses in an informal setting prior to the first day of
school.
Date: Saturday, August 27, 2016
Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 noon
Location: to be determined
Together in Faith and Excellence
2
Help support this initiative by sending your child to
school with a reusable water bottle or cup so that they
can make a toast to tap water. As a participating school,
we will be entered into a draw for a water refill station
for the school or reusable water bottles for each student.
The St. Cornelius Eco Team encourages all students and
staff to bring a reusable water bottle to school as part of
our efforts to help the environment through our
commitment to be a “BOTTLED WATER FREE ZONE”.
In February, St. Cornelius students participated in a
Battery Blitz initiated by Earth Rangers. Our school
collected used batteries that will be recycled by
Call2Recycle, which helps to keep batteries out of
landfills and our environment clean. Thank you to
students, parents and teachers for supporting this drive!
This month the Eco Team is focusing on Energy
Conservation and Waste Minimization. They are
encouraging classrooms to turn off their lights and
electronics when not in use. They have also given
students presentations of the proper recycling
procedures. Keep up the great work!
A toast to tap water!
The Dufferin Peel District School Board and the Region of
Peel have invited all students and staff to celebrate Peel
tap water during Canada Water Week by taking part in a
school wide synchronized drink of tap water.
There are many reasons to give up drinking bottled
water, but here are a few our Eco Team wants you to
consider:
 Disposable water bottles take approximately 1,
000 years to decompose in a landfill and over
80% of all bottles are NOT recycled (650 million
water bottles are making their way to Ontario
landfills each year).
 It requires 3 litres of water and 1 litre of oil to
produce one bottle of water.
 Peel tap water is a safe, clean, convenient choice
that is good for your health and the
environment.
To learn more about Peel tap water visit
www.peeltapwater.ca.
THE MONEY TREE PRESENTATION
On Monday February 8th, all K - 3 classes had the
opportunity to see the Roseneath Theatre’s The Money
Tree in our gym. The message shared with our primary
students aligns with our Catholic Board Learning Plan in
educating our students about financial literacy. The play
was about a girl named Shasta, whose father loses his
job. She becomes devastated to learn that her upcoming
birthday party must be significantly downsized. As the
story progresses, Shasta and Simon meet a mysterious
Traveler who gives them a seed that will make a tree
grow leaves of money. Through a truly magical journey,
the two ultimately learn that being a loyal friend is worth
more than a big party or having all the latest toys. In the
end, our friends, family and imaginations are truly our
greatest assets. #RoseneathMoneyTree
Our school’s Great Gulp event will take place on
Wednesday, March 23nd 2016.
Together in Faith and Excellence
3
DANCE TEAM
JUNIOR BASKETBALL TEAMS NEWS
The Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ basketball teams
proudly represented our school at the recent Family of
Schools “mini” tournaments at St. Andrew School on
February 19! Coaches – Mrs. Foley, Mrs. Clark, and Mrs.
Kehoe congratulate all team members for their hard
work, determination, and tremendous school spirit and
sportsmanship! The boys’ team had an early start to the
day and came out on top with a win over St. Andrew
School. They fell short by only a few baskets against St.
Peter and St. Benedict respectively to place third overall
in the tournament. Team members include: Sebastian
M., Joshua S., Steven L., Francesco F., Julian C., Julian A.,
Gabriel F., Justin G., Luca C., and Jacob D. The girls’ team
tied their first game against St. Peter, won their second
against St. Andrew, then came up short against St.
Benedict, also placing third overall after round-robin
play. Team members include: Riley L., Tereza V., Sophia
Z., Avery G., Emma B., Isabella M., Natalie B., and Larissa
A.
100th DAY OF
SCHOOL
The grade 1 and 1/2
class celebrated the
100th day of school on
Feb. 16th. Students
participated in various
activities centered
around the number 100.
They counted, estimated
and measured 100
steps, wrote about 100,
drew pictures of 100,
did 100 exercises and
listened to stories about 100. The highlight of the day
was the “museum walk” where they had the
opportunity to visit the other classes and view other
students creations made with 100 items.
The St. Cornelius Dance Team is practicing for their
upcoming Dance Showcase at the Rose Theatre in
Brampton on Tuesday, April 19th. They will be performing
alongside other teams from across the board. Thank you
to the dance team for their hard work and dedication as
we prepare for this performance.
NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY
I would like to extend a tremendous
thank you to all families for your support
of our recent Scholastic Book Fair. It was
a busy and exciting time for myself and
the students and a very successful
fundraiser for literacy at St. Cornelius. I love seeing the
children’s anticipation as they discover what is offered at
the fair, make their wish lists and then I like to watch
their excitement as they go home with a favourite
item! Thanks to your generosity we will be able to
purchase many many new items for our library and
literacy room.
I would also like to take a moment to thank in particular
those parents who purchased books for their child's
classroom. In addition to supporting our library and
literacy room, our great St. Cornelius community
purchased 58 books this year to be donated to
classrooms! Whoo Hoo!! Well done!
NEWS FROM OUR CATHOLIC SCHOOL
COUNCIL
Thank you to all families that participated in our Pancake
Supper. We would like to extend our appreciation to our
volunteers who helped make the evening run so
smoothly.
On April 4th, we will kick-off our school chocolate
fundraiser. Each family will receive one box of chocolates
to sell. Thank you to all for your ongoing and continuous
support of our annual fundraising programs. These
fundraisers help us to do incredible things in the school
to benefit the children and overall school community.
Without you and your support, these enhancements to
our children’s school would not be possible.
Everyone is welcome to attend our meetings to learn
more about school initiatives and where our fundraising
dollars are used to support the school goals. Our next
School Council meeting is on Monday, April 4th at 6:30
p.m. All are welcome to attend.
Together in Faith and Excellence
4
Good to Know!
MATH AT HOME:
INSPIRING YOUR CHILD TO LEARN AND LOVE MATH
Did you know?
 Research shows
that early math
literacy
helps
children
to
succeed in school
and improves their
future
career
prospects
 70 percent of Canada’s top jobs require
science, technology, engineering, and math
(STEM) education. This includes careers we
may not expect, such as culinary arts,
animation, and fitness
 When children are positively engaged and
successful, they are more likely to stick with
an activity and keep searching for a solution
to a problem.
 Early success in problem solving will build your
child’s confidence.
Make Math Part of Everyday Life!
“What are some math activities I can do to support
my child’s math learning at home?”
Math games: On no-homework days, quiet
evenings, and during vacations, play math games.
Math puzzles and games can show that math is fun.
They also require trial-and-error thinking, enhance
numeracy and logical thinking, and promote
discussions. Many mathematicians say a love of
puzzles and games inspired their math abilities.
Check out Mathies, a website designed for Ontario
K -12 students and parents:
mathies.ca
What Makes a Healthy Snack?
Think of a healthy snack as a “mini meal” that includes
two of the four food groups. We often don’t eat enough
veggies and fruit. Children can boost their intake with
these simple and nutritious snack ideas:
 Fresh cut fruit with yogurt dip
 Veggies and hummus or cheese
 Whole fruit and a carton of milk
A good snack can be planned ahead. Remember to keep
it smaller than a meal!
 Timing- Aim to have a snack within 90 minutes
your next meal
 Portions- Read labels and pay attention to portion
sizes or even better, grab a piece of fruit or cut
up some veggies ahead of time.
Confused about Portion Sizes?
Check
out
EatRight
Ontario’s Handy Guide to
Serving Sizes. Using your
fist, palm and thumb, you
can estimate serving sizes
of a variety of foods.
Bake It Up!
Featured Recipe: Applesauce Bars by Emily
Richards
(Recipe from the Ministry of Education Publication
Serve It Up!)
1 ½ cups of whole wheat flour
½ cup of wheat bran
¼ cup ground flax
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves (optional)
Pinch salt
2 cups of unsweetened applesauce
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 Eggs
1/3 cup of canola oil
1. Grease a 3 L (3 quart) baking pan, line it with
parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, bran,
flax, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg,
cloves (if using), and salt.
3. In another bowl, whisk together applesauce,
brown sugar, eggs, and oil. Pour over flour
mixture and stir until moistened.
4. Scrape batter into prepared pan and spread
evenly. Bake in preheated oven 350o F oven
for about 35 minutes or until cake tester
inserted in centre comes out clean. Let cool
completely and cut into bars.
Together in Faith and Excellence
5
SAFE SCHOOLS FOCUS FOR MARCH
Bullying Can Be Stopped
This month we look at safe strategies students can use
when faced with a bullying situation. Students learn how
to deal with bullying using the ‘3 Rs’ – Recognize bullying
behaviour; Refuse to be bullied; Report bullying
behaviour. There is no set formula that works for dealing
with every bullying situation. Students need to learn a
variety of strategies and the skill to determine when and
how to apply them safely. Key strategies that will be
addressed include: avoiding, playing with others, staying
calm, ignoring, walking away, saying ‘stop’, being
assertive and telling an adult.
VIRTUE CORNER
Our Virtue for the Month of March is Kindness. God
wants us to give generously to others around us and be
kind to everyone we meet. A kind person gives their time
to help others, stands by their friends in time of need,
shares with their friends, is polite, and cares about other
people’s feelings. Being kind is more than just pretending
to be nice. It is about helping and playing with others
because we want to and not because we feel we have to.
God helps us to be kind to our family and friends because
by being kind, we are able to see God in everyone we
meet
Tips for Parents:
- review strategies with your child
- help your child practice speaking assertively (role play)
- take time with your child to make a plan for how you
want them to deal with situations
THINKING ABOUT POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR
With regular practice, polite words and actions will come
naturally to your child. Here are ways to help parents in
working towards encouraging positive behaviour in their
children in any situation:

Point out examples. Your youngster can learn by
watching what others do (“It was polite of that
man to hold the door for us”). If you get thankyou note in the mail, read it to your child so he
can see what thank-you notes are for and how
they’re written.

Be consistent. A youngster who uses good table
manners at home, for instance, is more likely to
use them in restaurants and in other people’s
homes. If you expect your child to ask before
being excused or to try foods he’s offered when
he is a dinner guest, have him use those Manners
at your table.

Give quiet reminders of how to act. Before your
youngster leaves a friend’s house, say, “Let’s
help clean up before we go.” When he receives a
gift of something he already owns, you might
quickly say, “What a great toy!”
Together in Faith and Excellence
6
Apr. 27:
7:00 p.m.- Confirmation Mass for Ms.
Cancelliere’s Class at St. John the Evangelist
Parish
Apr. 28: Pizza Day
IMPORTANT DATES
PLEASE PLACE DATES ON
FAMILY CALENDAR
March
Mar. 5:
5:00 p.m.- Enrollment Mass for Ms. Marks’
class at St. John the Evangelist Parish
Mar. 7:
Pizza and Sub orders are due- cheques
payable to St. Cornelius are preferred
(Last order for the year)
Mar. 9:
Hockey Tournament at Alder St. Arena in
Orangeville (Part 1)
Mar. 10: Hockey Tournament at Alder St. Arena in
Orangeville (Part 2 if we qualify)
11:
Share Life Staff/Student Hockey Game at the
Caledon Arena. Please Join Us!
March 14- 18th- March Break
21:
HPV/ Meningococcal Vaccinations for Gr. 7
and 8 students
Mar. 23: The Great Gulp
Mar. 24: Sub Day
Mar. 25: Good Friday
Mar. 27: Easter Sunday
Mar. 28: Easter Monday- No School
Mar. 31: 9:45 a.m. ~ Easter Mass in the gym
All are welcome.
Mar. 31: Pizza Day
APRIL
Apr. 1:
Apr. 4:
Apr. 6-8
Apr. 6:
Apr. 7:
Apr. 11:
Apr. 14:
Apr. 19:
Apr. 20:
Apr. 21
Apr. 26:
Hockey Tournament
Chocolate Fundraiser Kickoff Assembly
Gr. 7 & 8 Trip to Ottawa
Furtado’s class to Silvercreek Outdoor
Education Centre
Chocolates Distributed (1 per family)
Sub Day
PA. Day- No School for students
Gr. 8 HPV & Gr. 7 Hepatitis B Vaccinations
Pizza Day
7:00 p.m.- Confirmation Mass for Ms.
Zingaro’s Class at St. John the Evangelist
Parish
7:00 p.m- Confirmation Mass for Mr.
DeRango’s Class at St. John the Evangelist
Parish
Sub Day
7:00 p.m.- Confirmation Mass for Ms.
Scarcello’s Class at St. John the Evangelist
Parish
Together in Faith and Excellence
7