St. Joseph Streetsville Catholic Elementary
NEWSLETTER
APRIL 2015
April, 2015
A Prayer for April
Holy Week
Jesus, you are triumphant
And your footsteps are determined.
Your road has been steep and rough.
This week we see the journey
That you have made toward life.
You are our leader and our guide.
We too walk on this road.
We place our feet,
Our words, our actions...on the road.
We walk behind you,
We follow you.
Amen
Principal’s Message
Its hard to believe I’ve been
here a whole year already!
This past year we’ve made
quite a few changes to our
school! Some of these include: Conference tables to
each classroom, new gym
equipment, outdoor playground equipment, moving
the literacy room, fixed roof
leaks, new conference room
and most recent changes:
new office furniture and we
will be getting a new sign for
the top of our school before
the new school year begins.
But there is still so much to
be done. One of my huge
goals at St. Joseph is beautification of our school and
grounds. All of this is not
achieved without the support
of the Board, our Superintendent, our trustee as well as all
the parents and the staff! Our
own School Advisory Council
has raised money to further
our goals and the staff has
been so supportive of implementing and making this happen for your children at St.
Joseph School. I invite all parents to be active participants
in our school. We all have a
part to play in making St. Joseph School the very best it
can be.
Holy Week is this week one of the most holy seasons in our Catholic Calendar and I invite you to
attend our Church - St.
Joseph on Durie St.,
for their many celebrations this Easter. Father
Marc, Father Russell and
Father Joseph will be so
glad to see you.
On behalf of the entire
staff, I wish you and your
family a peaceful and
blessed Easter!
Sincerely,
C. Bacci
EQAO Testing
Administration of the Grade 3 and 6 Assessment of Reading,
Writing and Mathematics, 2014-2015 will be held May 25 to
June 5, 2015. Specific dates will be forthcoming. We ask
that parents/guardians of Grade 3 and 6 students do not
book any doctor or dentist appointments during
this time to ensure that your child is present during test taking.
EQAO TESTING
TAKES PLACE
MAY 25 TO
JUNE 5, 2015
Junior Girls’ Basketball
Congratulations to the following team members of our St. Joseph Junior Basketball Team:
Julia, Daniela, Isadora, Chelsea, Lyric, Anna, Emma, Isabella, Tiana and Kristina.
They played an outstanding season - making it to the Board Finals!!!
Thanks to Mr. Abbas and Mr. Bernais for all your hard work.
A Message from the Eco Team!
On Friday, March 27 all students and staff participated in the Great Big Crunch. This event consisted of everyone
taking a bite out of an apple at the same time. Our goal was to raise awareness of the importance of eating locally
grown produce for our environment. A special thank you to Michael-Angelo’s for generously donating ALL the apples for the Great Big Crunch!
During the month of April the Eco Team will be bringing back friendly competition. Each day classes will be rewarded Eco Dollars. The classes who receive the most Eco Dollars will receive a prize at the end of the month!
On Mondays classes will be responsible for cleaning the peace garden.
On Tuesdays classes will be LOLing...participating in Lights Out Lunch.
On Wednesdays classes will be audited for who has the most reusable water bottles.
On Thursdays classes will continue participating in our Take-It-Home Thursday boomerang lunch program.
On Fridays classes will be audited for who has the most reusable water bottles. Classes will NOT be awarded Eco
Dollars if we see plastic bottles!
During Earth Week, we will be taking part in some special events and activities:
Monday April 20 – 20 Minute Makeover
Tuesday April 21 – Take Action Tuesday
Wednesday April 22 – Green and Blue Day
Thursday April 23 – Take Some Fresh Air Thursday
Friday April 24 – School Wide Eco-Movie at Cineplex Odeon
All week long we will also be having a Clothing and Battery Drive. We will be collecting any gently used clothing (no household items) and batteries. Please drop off
any items in the front foyer. Enjoy some spring cleaning!
Mmmm…..WE LOVE
CRUNCHY APPLES!!!
Mrs. Leko and Ms. Guerrizio enjoy their apples!
Calling all Milk Bags!!
Mrs. Bacci is collecting milk bags to make into mats and pillows that are
shipped to Haiti for distribution. If you use Milk Bags and don’t mind bringing them in - we will take all that
you have! Thanks!
Skating: St. Joseph went skating this winter at our next door neighbor Vic Johnson
Arena. The Primary’s went skating with
some of our Intermediate students. Everyone had a great time. Thanks to Mrs. Falcone for arranging this event for our
school!! Ant thanks to all the parents and
staff for making this a fun experience for
all!!!
Stations of the Cross Presentations
On Thursday, April 2nd, 2015 the Grade 8 students will be presenting the Stations of the Cross in the school gymnasium. There will be two presentations. The students in FDK to grade 4 will be attending the 9:15 am presentation and
the grades 5 to 8 students will be attending at 1:00 pm. Parents and guardians are invited to join us at the 1:00
pm presentation.
Team 7 won Primary
Intramurals for Indoor Soccer. Thanks
to all our Primary
Teachers for supervising and Mrs.
Seung & Ms.
Guerrizio for organizing. The winners
from left are: Rafael,
Samantha, Olivia,
Jesse, Sophia,
Adriano, Jordan, Aidan and Chris.
Congratulations!!
French Plays!
We were treated to a variety of
plays in Francais! Thanks to
our new “Aim” program which
encourages the spoken French
rather than memorizing endless vocabulary lists! This picture depicts Ms. Di Bernardo’s
class presenting, “Les animaux du bayou”. Many
thanks to our energetic Mme
Da Silva for organizing and
directing all the plays.
Calling All Volunteers in Grade 8!!
Any Gr. 8 student willing and available to volunteer at St. Joseph parish to assist with the Gr. 2 children who will be receiving their First Holy Communion, is asked to fill out the attached Volunteer Information Form and return it to St. Joseph
Parish. You will then be given a schedule of dates/times for you to review and indicate your availability.
First Holy Communions will take place during St. Joseph Parish’s regular weekend Masses beginning Saturday, April 25 th
and ending Sunday, June 7th. A general overview and rehearsal with parents and children receiving First Holy Communion will take place over six dates (April 21, 23, 25, May 12, 14 and 23). Those volunteering will also need to attend on one of
those dates for Mass and rehearsal details.
Volunteers will be required to assemble with the Gr. 2 children in the Parish Hall, lead them into the church as Mass begins, sit with them in the pews during Mass (and keep them as orderly as possible), guide them during Mass on when to
stand/kneel, guide them out to receive Communion and return to the pew, and finally to exit at the end of Mass to return to
the Hall.
Page 6
Virtue of the Month for April: Love
APRIL
~Love
This month we will celebrate the virtue of love.
God has given us many guidelines and examples of how to live our lives. He sent his Son Jesus to make sure that we
could see what life could be like.
Jesus made one lesson clear above all other lessons – the lesson to love. Love is not about us – it is about forgetting ourselves and looking out for the good of the other. That’s what Jesus did – he forgot about himself on purpose. He chose to
give up his life for the good of others – us!
Becoming a truly loving person is challenging. It takes prayer and concentration to get used to making little sacrifices for
the good of others. Making little sacrifices on purpose so that others will have a bit of food, a bit of shelter, a bit of peace,
a bit of quiet, a bit of fun, a bit of friendship.
Through prayer and concentration, we can get better at showing love to everyone we meet.
A Loving Person…
Wants the best for others
Is willing to make sacrifices for the good of others
Learns from the heroic lives of saints & holy people
Knows that we are all lovable
Prays for others
ON REFLECTION…
What would happen if I chose to give away something I own to make someone else happy?
IMPORTANT
NOTICE!!!
Letters requesting your child’s placement for the 2014/2015 school year are
due to the office Friday, April 10, 2015.
Please limit comments to specific learning style and environment rather than
requests for specific teachers.
Class Lists for September
Class Lists for September
Staff of St. Joseph School will soon meet regarding
the organization of students into classes for September, 2015. If your children will attend St. Joseph
School next year and there are any learning needs
you feel need to be addressed when making up
classes please do so in writing to Mrs. Bacci by April
10, 2015. Letters that list a specific teacher or names
of other children with which you would like your
child placed will not be considered. Information
from many sources will be pooled to help us
make the best placement for all children. All
staff work very hard on these lists to balance
classes including learning styles, teaching
styles, gender, and a cross section of abilities.
Bear in mind as well, that as a small school and
primary class restrictions (limit 20 students) that
combined classes are a fact of life and children
will have this experience from time to time.
We are so proud of our Youth Faith Ambassadors. They have
been very busy this past month. First of all, they led the Stations of the Cross at St. Joseph Parish on Friday, March 6.
Then they led our entire school on the Virtue of the Month they presented to each class in the chapel allowing for a nice
intimate setting to celebrate the Virtue of Love.
We are very grateful for the leadership our Youth Faith Ambassadors have shown in our school. Pictured at right are (from
left) Mia, Nicole, Aryan and Michael.
Chess Club
This year our Chess Club met at Lunch Hours and worked hard at perfecting their game! We
played in the Family Tournament. Our teams were: Primary: Julian, Amara, Nate, Emily K., Nelson Junior: Nathan D., Christopher G., Sarah, Matthew B., Maria Intermediate: Julia, Angela,
Anthony, Tate and Daniela. Everyone did great and represented St. Joseph well. Julian was the
top finisher for St. Joseph!!!
Parents!!! Please ensure that when sending birthday treats they ARE NUT FREE. Many products may
contain traces of nut or nut by products. We have many food allergies in our school and the safest way
to ensure everyone can enjoy the treat is to make the birthday treat a non food item such as stickers,
pencils, erasers, dollar store items. Thank you for helping to make our school a safe place.
Our Graduation Date this year is set
for Wednesday, June 24 , 2014. It
will begin at 10 a.m. at the Portuguese Center on Queen St. We hope
all our parents/guardians will be able
to attend this special event with your
children.
Please Join
Us...Wednesday, April 8 at
6:30 p.m. at our regular School
Advisory Council Meeting. ALL
parents are invited to attend.
If you are able to come out - we
would love to see you. We always are in need of volunteers
and helping hands during our
special activities and fundraising efforts.
Mon
6EASTER
Sun
5EASTER
MONDAY (no
school)
Tue
1April Fool’s
Wed
4HOLY
Sat
3GOOD
SATURDAY
Fri
FRIDAY (no
school)
11
Thu
10
Holy
9Lunch Mom’s
18
30Lunch Mom’s
Movie Night!!
College Visit
Gr. 7 Sheridan
May 1
ie JK to Gr. 8 @
10
23Lunch Mom’s 24Monkey Mov- 25
Thursday
Liturgies at 9:15 and 1:15
Lunch Mom’s
Raise the Flag for Autism
Awareness
16Lunch Mom’s 17
2
April 2015
31Pizza Day
Pita Lunch
Sibling’s Photos
15
6:30 SAC
Pita Lunch
PINK Day!!
8
1-2 Earth Hour
EQAO Tutoring
Begins
7Pizza Day
14
Pita Lunch
Rosary AposFDK Creature Quest
Show @ 1
tolate
Pizza Day
Happy Admin
21Take Action 22
29
HPV Gr. 8
Hep B. Gr. 7
Take a breath of fresh
air!
Bullying
Rally for Anti-
Wear Blue and Green Day
Pita Lunch
Assistant Day Mrs. Carabetta
20Makeover
28
Pizza Day
Tuesday
27
Monday
13
SUNDAY
12
19
26
Pizza Day
Pita Lunch
FDK Library Visit
CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK is
May 3 to May 9, 2015. Theme: “Exploring Paths of Joy”