January 2015 - St. Maria Goretti

January 2015
Newsletter #5
January 2014
At A Glance
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School Activities

Bring and Buy Sale Update

Registrations 2015-2016

Reading Corner

Parent Council News

Glee Club
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Faith Development Day
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St. John Bosco Parish News
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Health Talk
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Superintendent’s Message
Administration Team Message:
We would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. As we begin 2015 we
reflect back with thanks on all the good things that have occurred over the
past year and we look forward to an exciting winter and spring term full of
hope and promise. We are graced with many wonderful things at St. Maria
Goretti School - our students, parents, staff, excellent learning opportunities
and memorable celebrations. We are excited about the many new opportunities and challenges that we will encounter together in the coming New
Year.
This past month was one of celebration! Our school participated in weekly
Advent celebrations, in preparation for Christmas. Our heartwarming, Christmas Concert was also very well attended. Thank you to Mrs. Rozhdestvensky,
our students, and our entire staff who worked together to prepare for this
wonderful evening. It was truly a very beautiful way to prepare during the
holy Advent season!
As we begin 2015, the staff of St. Maria Goretti School extends sincere
appreciation to our parent community for your support of our mission and
educational goals and your positive involvement in your children’s learning.
We wish to acknowledge the volunteer efforts of the many parents who assist
on School Council, help with the Hot Lunch program, classroom activities,
fieldtrips, fundraising events, etc. Without these helping hands, our schoo l
would not have the enriched programming and learning environment,
which our students enjoy. God bless you for your generous gift of time and
talent!
The staff of St. Maria Goretti staff wishes everyone a Happy New Year, a
year filled with many blessings and joys. We pray:
A New Year’s Blessing
Father, guide us with your light as we journey
through this New Year together.
Help us to recognize Jesus as He works with us and through us.
Parent Council Meeting
Monday, January 12th, 2015
6:30 p.m.
Next Newsletter
January 30th , 2015
May we continue to follow the light you have given us through Christmas.
Encourage us to always say yes to your call and to be followers of Jesus.
Amen
Happy New Year to our School Community!
Mrs. Lori McDonough
Mrs. Michelle Lafrance
Principal
Assistant Principal
St. Maria Goretti Celebrated the
Advent Season in Music and Song
On December 11th, St. Maria Goretti students
starred in the Advent/Christmas Concert,
“Christmas Around the World.” Thanks to our dedicated and talented music teacher, Mrs. Rozhdestvensky, her daughter, Anastasia, and the St. Maria Goretti staff for the amazing concert. We also
thank our parents for attending, and making the Advent season come alive. Our admission
for the concert was food items for the
St. John Bosco Parish Food Bank. We
thank you for your generosity, as we
truly had a very, special, and meaningful Advent season!
Farewell
At this time we say goodbye to two of our staff
members:
Mrs. Ziccarelli, the Grade 4/5 teacher
Mrs. Desautels, the Grade 6 Teaching Assistant
We thank them for their service to the S.M.G. School
Community and wish them God’s blessings in their
future endeavors. We look forward to their return.
New Staff Memebers
We are pleased to welcome our new staff members:
Miss Aversa, the grade 4/5 teacher
Mrs. Scott, teaching assistant in the grade 5/6 classroom.
Ms. Michetti, teaching assistant in the KB classroom
We are excited to have them with us at this time.
Cancellations of Classes
Tuesday, February 3rd - No School for Students
- Staff Faith Development Day
Monday, February 16th—No School for Students &
Staff
– Family Day
New Registrations
2015-16 School Year
We are now accepting Kindergarten registrations
for the 2015 - 2016 school year. Children must be
5 years of age on or before March 1st, 2016 to
register. Word of mouth is without a doubt the most
effective way to promote our school. We ask that
you spread the good news about our wonderful
school to your friends and neighbours. We are
presently working on promoting our Kindergarten
program, and our school, to ensure that our
enrolment increases. A strong Kindergarten program
ensures a bright future for our school. It’s time to
let everyone know how great a school St. Maria
Goretti really is!
Open House and Parent Information Evening will
be held on Thursday, March 5th, 2015 at 6:30 p.m.
From the Reading Corner
Parent Council News
Happy New Year! Enjoy a wonderful Christmas
break, and we hope that everyone has a fantastic
time sharing the beauty of Christmas with family and
friends. During this second half of the school year,
we, as a Parent Council, continue to be committed
to bringing the best for the students and families of
St. Maria Goretti School. We sold over $13 000 in
our Stawnichy Sausage fundraiser and raised over
$3 000.
Thanks! Our next Council meeting will be held on
Monday, January 12, 2015 at 6:30 p.m.
Everyone is welcome!
Advent Celebrations
St. Gabriel Staff and students celebrated the weeks of Advent with a celebration. The First Celebration was done
in the school gym and the Second and
Third were done over the SMG Broadcast
system.
Thank you to the students who led
these celebrations!
An important goal for parents should be
to instill a love of books and reading in
their children, so get comfortable snuggle
up and read, read, read! Daily reading is
very important.
Here are some suggestions to help children
to love books and to read:
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Develop and maintain a “library” of
favorite books.
Develop and maintain an attachment to “special’ favorite books.
Don’t let books sit. Circulate them
around to other families – have
book swap times.
Surprise your child with a new
book.
Visit bookstores when you are in
the mall shopping.
Get excited about books. Let your
child see you read.
Make regular trips to the library.
It’s free!
Keep Reading…
And Chill out with a Good Book!
-Mrs. McDonough
Read-At-Home Winners
KA –Travis S.
KB - Jordyn R.
KC - Anderson M.
1A - Maddox H.
1B - Blake B.
1C - Avery G.
2/3A - Petro O.
3A - James H.
4A - Desirae S.
4/5A - Hunter T.
5/6A - Darius C.
6A - Alexandra S.
GLEE CLUB
Our Glee Club’s performed during the holiday season at Edmonton City Hall’s Holiday Magic program.
They also performed at an Oil Kings Game and at the
Edmonton International Airport. We are very proud of
our students and of the way they represented St. Maria
Goretti School.
Many thanks to Mrs. Rozhdestvensky and her
daughter, Miss Anastasia, for all the work they
did in preparing the students.
Safety Over Convenience
New Parking Signs
The safety and security of our students is our first
priority. In this regard, you will notice that the bus
stop in front of the school will be removed. Instead
there will be a no-parking zone which will allow parents to drop off students and then continue on their
way. In this zone parents are asked not to leave
their vehicle .
A staff member will be at the drop-off zone to
meet your child and direct them to the proper area
for supervision or to let them into the school when
the weather is inclement. We ask that all parents
honour the drop off area. The safety of all our students is dependent on everyone’s willingness to
follow these procedures.
We need everyone to respect the parking areas.
Parents, please do not park in the reserved numbered stalls. Our staff arrive at different times and
often they are unable to park in their staff parking
spaces. We appreciate your support in providing a
safe environment for all children.
Visitors to the School
Please remember to always check in with the
office after entering the school.. Thanks for being
respectful of the learning environment that we
work so hard to maintain for the success of all.
St. John Bosco Parish News
For parish information and bulletins,
please visit:
www.boscoparsh.ca
Happy New Year!
Thanks to Fr. Romano and St. John Bosco Parish
for accommodating us for our Christmas Concert!
Skiing Grades 5 & 6
On December 5th, our Grade 5 and 6 classes went skiing to Snow Valley. Students will be skiing again on February 2nd. Thanks to our Parent Council for sponsoring this
wonderful opportunity for our students!
Elysee our
sponsor
child in
Burundai
6th Annual
Bring and Buy Sale
Thanks!
On December 17th, our Grade 6 students organized a very successful Christmas “Bring and
Buy” Sale. All of the proceeds from the sale
go to support Elysee, our sponsor student in
Burundi, Africa. We raised approximately
$1496.30. Amazing! A huge thank you to the
Grade 6 students, Mrs. Mullane, Mr. Haro, Mrs.
Desautels, and all the students, staff, and
families who donated and purchased items at
the sale.
Faith Development Day
Tuesday February 3rd
This is to inform you that on Tuesday,
February 3, 2015, all staff members
will be involved in a district-wide Faith
Development Day at the Shaw Conference Centre. There will be no instruction of students at school on that day.
Joan Carr, our Superintendent, calls
Faith Development Day, “an outstanding opportunity for the staff of Edmonton Catholic Schools to come together
to articulate and celebrate our faith.”
This year, our theme is: Life of Grace:
Journey of Shalom. We are pleased to
welcome Fr. Raymond Carey as our
guest speaker. We also welcome Bishop Gregory Bittman 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.
We are 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)
S.M.G. Floor Hockey Teams
Girls
Sierra G., Isabella J., Alix R., Emily S., Kate
K., Aylen R., Jamie V.,
Ellie C., Mikayla B., Brandi L., Alison K., Madison M., Mykayla M.
Boys
Claison S., Zewdu M., Alex C.,
Aiden A., Austin R., Tyson P.,
Matthew H., Xander W., Christian R., Alonzo
B., Kyle S., Antonio D.
Monday, January 5, 2015 is the second practice. Practices every Monday and Wednesday
until the Tournament on January 24th.
Thanks to our coaches:
Mr. Nagy, Mrs. Wasylciw,
SMG Indoor Soccer Team
St. Maria Goretti indoor soccer team will be participating in the St. Nicholas Elementary Soccer
Tournament on Thursday, January 15, 2015. In
preparation for the St. Nicholas’ tournament,
practices will be held on the following dates:
Tuesday, January 6 from 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Friday, January 9 from 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Tuesday, January 13 from 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Thank you to all the students who tried out. Congratulations to the following players!
Alonso
Antonio
Emma
Emily
Heyna
Robert
Katy
Mekhi
Michael S
Yuilet
Zewdu
Thank you to our coaches, Mr. Haro
and Miss Sdao!