St. Joseph Streetsville Catholic Elementary
NEWSLETTER
FEB. 2015
A Prayer for February
Dear Lord, The Great Healer
I kneel before you
Since every perfect gift must come from you,
I pray, give skill to my hands,
Clear vision to my mind,
Kindness and meekness to my heart.
Give me singleness of purpose,
Strength to lift up a part of the burden
Of my suffering fellow men and women
And a true realization of the privilege that is mine.
Take from my heart
All guile and worldliness that with
The simple faith of a child
I may rely on you.
MOTHER TERESA
Children born in 2011 must be registered for FDK!!!
Register Immediately!!!
Principal’s Message
February is Black History month, a month in which
we celebrate the special contributions made by
Black Canadians in the development of our great
nation. Our “Black History Month Team” made up
of Grade 7 & 8 students has come up with many
ideas to celebrate Black History Month at St. Joseph. Every morning before announcements we
will play music to represent our diverse backgrounds. As well, every week we will focus on a
prominent figure in Black History: Harriet Tubman,
Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.
Look for special displays in the school and invitations to special classroom celebrations to commemorate our recognition of Black History Month.
There is lots going on in our school. Full day Kindergarten registration just took place - encourage
your friends and neighbours to register NOW!!
Although its been a brutal winter outside there’s
lots to warm our hearts on the inside!
Our Girl’s Club is selling Valentine’s Cookies. Students can order for themselves or as a special surprise for someone else! We have our fabulous Youth
Faith Ambassadors working on our Valentine’s Celebrations as well as Spirit Days and our Valentine’s
Day Dance for the whole school. School Council has
generously paid for a DJ for the day so all the students can participate.
Junior Basketball is well underway and Primary Intermurals take place at lunch. The Chess club meets at
lunch and we’re holding tryouts this month for our
March 11 tournament.
Wishing you a wonderful February,
C. Bacci
Principal
Virtue of the Month of February: RESPECT
People of Respect…

See God’s presence in themselves
and others

Treat others as they would
like to be treated

Welcome others with smiles
and friendly greetings

Always display good manners

Say ‘excuse me’, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’
 Avoid the temptation to swear or
gesture inappropriately
 Look for ways to encourage and
praise others

Talk kindly about others and avoid gossip
Very Special Thank-You for all your Help and Donations
this Christmas Season
A very special thank-you to all of our families and supporters for their generous contributions. Thanks for all of your donations we were able to provide food vouchers for our needy parish families and put presents under the tree for these
families. Under the direction of D. Snopek and K. Krolewski the Girls’ Club generously gathered donations to make others’ Christmas special. Thank you and great job!!
Our Ice Hockey Team is awesome!!!
It’s a co-team made up of players from Our Lady of Mercy and St. Joseph
Streetsville. They participated in the “All Saints” tournament - a two day event since our team made it to the quarter finals.
We were undefeated going into the finals. They one the last two games before the final against St. Albert of Jerusalem. We
had a cheering crowd as Our Lady of Mercy even brought their own Cheering section for the final! Your Principals, Mr. Della
Rossa and Mrs. Bacci were also on hand for the nail biting final...but St. Joseph Jets/OLOM prevailed winning a 2-1 final. We
were kept in the game many times by our fabulous goaltender Katie - who also won MVP for the tournament. Congratulations on a great effort!! Thanks to Mrs. Gaskin and Mr. Sawa for their stalwart coaching. Our proud team members are: Ben,
Hanna, Katie, Noah and Konrad.
Junior Boys and Girls
Congratulations to the following members of the Junior Girls’ Basketball team: Daniela A., Isadora, Lyric, Tiana, Julia K., Ana K.,
Kristina P., Izabella, Chelsea and Ema.
Congratulations to the following members of the Junior Boys’ Basketball team: Shane H., Anthony K., Noah, Daniel N., Jayden,
Michael O., Zack, Tobias and Dylan V. Our girls and boys have
participated in a couple of exhibition games and look forward to
playing other schools in our family. More in March’s Newsletter.
Special thanks to coaches, Mr. Bernais for the girls and Mr. Abbas
for the boys.
February is Black History Month
Every year we celebrate Black History month in February.
This is a time to celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Black Canadians who, throughout history have done so
much to make Canada the culturally diverse, compassionate and
prosperous nation we know today. It is also an opportunity for the
majority of Canadians to learn about the experiences of Black
Canadians in our society, and the vital role this community has
played throughout our shared history.
There are many celebrations taking place throughout Dufferin
-Peel this year. For a complete listing of all events see our Dufferin-Peel website http://www.dpcdsb.org
School Council Meeting
The next School Advisory Council Meeting will be held Wednesday,
February 11, at 6:30 p.m.
Everyone is welcome to attend!
Santa came to visit St. Joseph! Awesome! The Kindergartens all got a visit and many of us got our
Photos with Santa taken. Way better than lining up at the mall! Thanks to Miss Dinis for taking all
the photos. The Girl’s Club staged Santa’s Big Chair and background for our photos. And thanks to
Santa Claus for taking time out of his busy schedule at the North Pole! All the money raised went to
ShareLife! We managed to donate over $700!! Thank you!
Virtue of the Month
Assembly - Self Control
Thanks to Mrs. Leko’s class and ….we celebrated
the Virtue of the Month. We watched the amazing
Marshmallow Test and Played the “Whats the Right
Thing to Do?” Game in the gym.
Great fun!!! Thanks to all our parents who joined us
for the liturgy.
Katarina is Principal For a Day!!!
Thank you to all students who sold chocolate in our Major Fundraiser for our school. We managed to raise over $7,000.
A big thank you to our School Council for organizing this tremendous event. Malachy H. sold the most boxes of chocolate in the school and won an iPod. Mr. Murray’s Class, Ms. Lazo/DeSouza’s class and Mrs. Falcone’s class won pizza
lunches for selling the most boxes in their divisions. Katarina won Principal for a day and she loved being the Big
Cheese for the day! The students enjoyed longer recesses, classroom visits by the “new “ Principal and special consideration from the Principal. Katarina and her friends also “did” Mrs. Bacci’s hair! (See Insert)
Scientists in the
School...visited our Grade
One Classes and they had a fabulous time
learning all kinds of hands on Science.
Thanks to our Parent Council who have
generously subsidized this event at our
School!
Look out for other grades to have their
own “Scientists in the School Workshop”
Kiss ‘N Ride - Please Use Responsibly
Our Kiss ‘N Ride program needs a few reminders in order for the process to run smoothly
and keep our staff on duty safe. Please make sure you are always following the rules of
Kiss ‘N Ride.
1. Exit the vehicle only on the right hand passenger side. To exit out the left is very, very
dangerous as thru traffic passes (sometimes quickly) on the left drive thru lane.
2. DO NOT PARK OR LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE in the Kiss ‘N Ride lanes, even if only for
a few seconds.
3. DO NOT LET OFF STUDENTS at the top of the KISS N RIDE. Always drive to the bottom of the Kiss N Ride (even if you have to wait a few moments) and staff is there to make sure
your children exit the vehicle safely and we will make sure your child gets to the appropriate
yard safely.
4. If at the end of the day your child does not exit the building please do not leave your car in
the Kiss ‘N Ride lane to investigate. Park the car and we are happy to assist you in the office.
5. The front spots of the building are dedicated spots, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The 15
minute spot is for parents/guardians who need to come in the building with their children or
parents/guardians who have been called to the school because their child is sick or hurt.
6. Students should never be dropped off at the front of the school as this is a FIRE Lane only.
Family Day and March Break
Don’t forget!! Family Day is Monday, February 16 - there is no school that day. For those of
you planning special events for March Break - it takes place March 14 thru March 22 this
school year.
Our Child and Youth Worker Mr. Grave
Mr. Grave has been working with a number of our students at St. Joseph. His job is
help students deal with any difficult issues they may be facing including: feelings, bullying, difficulties at home, relationship building, self confidence, awareness of body
issues, social skills and how to get along with friends and acquaintances.
If you would like Mr. Grave to work with your child(ren) on any counseling issues or
emotional issues you simply need to call the school and sign a permission form.
Mr. Grave has been working with our students on developing a PAL’s program outside. Our Grade 5 students have been trained and now Monday, Wednesday and
Friday at lunch our Primary students have the opportunity to play new games led by
our PAL’s Leaders.
Thanks Mr. Grave for all the great work you do! (Oh - and he skis with us too on ski
days!)
Please be advised that at NO TIME DURING THE SCHOOL DAY
ARE PARENTS TO WALK IN THE HALLS OF THE SCHOOL.
YOU MUST REPORT TO THE OFFICE, SIGN IN AND RECEIVE A VISITOR’S PASS.
Our Grade 7 & 8’s enjoy 4 days
of skiing at Hockley Valley!
Some of us worked so hard to get
our check mark to get on the
chairlift! Awesome time.
Thanks to Mme. DaSilva for organizing this great
trip!
The Online Reporting Tool
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School board has developed a new way to help nurture a safe, caring and inclusive school environment. The Online Reporting Tool is intended for students in grades 3 – 8 who become aware of
bullying incidents and negative behaviours. The student can simply ‘click’ on the link found on our school’s website to fill out the report. The report will then be directly emailed to the principal and/or vice principal and will be
dealt with accordingly.
It is important to recognize that the Online Reporting Tool is an alternate reporting option. It is best practice to
speak directly with a responsible adult at home and/or in the school.
We had such fun skating at Vic Johnson’s Arena - and we go 3 more times!!!
Some of us are just learning and the older, more experienced grades are helping
us!
Thanks to Mrs. Falcone for arranging skating!
Awesome!
TumbleBooks—Check it Out ON LINE today!
Our teacher-librarian has once again purchased for our school a wonderful resource for all
students. It is called Tumblebooks.
“Tumblebooks” – Check It Out On-line!
“Tumblebooks” is a great resource for students to read at home and at school! “TumbleBooklibrary is an
online collection of TumbleBooks – animated, talking picture books which teach kids the joy of reading
in a format they'll love. TumbleBooks are created by adding animation, sound, music and narration to
existing picture books in order to produce an electronic picture book which you can read, or have read
to you.”
The “Tumblebooks” website also has a collection of puzzles, games, quizzes language learning. As well, it has a
growing selection of books in French and Spanish! Make sure you take an opportunity to check it out -the website is amazing!http://www.tumblebooks.com/library See your child(ren)’s teacher for ID and Password for the
site.
Eco News
The Eco Team has arranged an activity each week to show our love for Mother Earth.
National Sweater Day – Thursday February 5th
The thermostat will be turned down. Students are encouraged to keep
warm by wearing their favourite cozy sweater!
Valentine’s Day Eco Wreaths – Friday February 13th
All classes will create a Valentine’s Day Eco Wreath using recycled materials. If you
have any recyclable materials that your child’s class can use please let your child’s
teacher know.
Eco Chinese New Year – Friday February 20th
All classes will use recycled materials to create an image of their class animal sign from the
Chinese Zodiac. If you have any recyclable materials that your child’s class can use please let
your child’s teacher know.
Spirit Day – Friday February 27th
Staff and students are encouraged to wear their favourite Spirit Wear - for their
favourite Team or Blue and White for St. Joes.
A special request from the office….if you need to make special arrangements to pick up your child(ren) from school please try to make arrangements earlier rather than later. Children benefit if the routine for school pick-up
and drop off remains as consistent as possible. (ie - if they take the bus - they always take the bus; if parents drive and pick up - they always drive and pick up).
Last minute changes called into the office are difficult for us to manage and
sometimes messages get confused or mixed up. Please try to keep routines for
coming and going to and from school consistent for your child(ren).
1
8
15
22
Sun
2
9
Mon
Thu
Fri
6
Wed
Interviews
Tue
5
National Sweater
4
“Winter Walk to
3
Day
Interview Night
Lunch Mom’s
Report Cards Sent
Home
Pizza Day
School Day
10 - Reconciliation
Grade 6
Pita Day
13
20
27
Spirit Day Show your spirit!
Eco Chinese
New Year
Valentine Cookie Delivery
Eco-Weaths
Valentine’s Day
Dance
12Lunch Mom’s
19
11Pita Day
6:30 School Council
Pita Day
18
26Lunch Mom’s
Beginning of Chinese
New Year
Community
Officer Visits
Lunch Moms
10
Pizza Day
Rosary Apostolate
17
Community
Officer Visits
Pizza Day
Community Officer
Visits
Ash Wednesday!
1 - Ash Wednesday
Liturgy
25Pita Day
Skating Day
PA Day
February 2015
Groundhog Day!
Skiing Gr. 7&8
100 Days of School
16
Family Day
No School
Shrove Tuesday!
23Skiing Gr. 7&8 24
Pizza Day
7
Sat
Valentine’s Day
14
21
28