On behalf of the staff of St. Teresa School, we would like to welcome you! We hope you had a wonderful summer and are ready to return to school. We are confident that the 2018-2019 School year will be another successful year of growing and learning together. We would like to welcome new families to St Teresa School and welcome back our returning families. St. Teresa is a very busy school; the monthly newsletter is one way to keep informed and so we ask that you look for it posted on our website. The newsletter will keep you informed of events, special activities and learning projects at St. Teresa. Our monthly calendar will give you a summary of planned events and priorities set for each month of the school year. Our teachers will also send home a class newsletter that will keep you informed about what is happening in your child s classroom. We hope it will be helpful in keeping you informed. We believe that communication between home and school is central to the success of our children. All students at St. Teresa are required to have and use an agenda book that they will take to and from school daily. We ask that you share in your child s daily school life by signing their agenda book each night. The introductory pages of the agenda book outline the policies, procedures and routines in place at St. Teresa. We ask that you review these pages with your children and sign in the designated spot to indicate that you have read and discussed the information. Kindergarten children will receive a copy of the initial pages of information included in the elementary agenda book. We hope that together we can continue to build a strong Christ-centered learning community for our children. We look forward to working with you in the upcoming months and hope that you will share in all the excitement and blessings that the new school year brings. Cordially, Sra. Julieta Zelada Sra. Vivian Coulombe Principal Assistant Principal
POWERSCHOOL Please ensure that you have access to your parent PowerSchool site. Information such as Report Cards, Attendance, School Fees, and Bussing are all available for parents. All payments of fees, bussing, milk cards, and fieldtrips are to be made through the parent PowerSchool site. PICKING UP YOUR CHILD? Parents, please remember that if you are picking up your child during school hours you MUST enter through the front door, check in with the office staff and the office staff will call your child down to the office. If your child normally takes the bus home and you decide to pick them up, pleased ensure that you let the bus driver or their bus supervisor know that the student will not be taking the bus, this is so we may mark them off our list and so that the bus does not wait for a student that has already gone home. SCHOOL TIMES The hours of operation for St. Teresa School in the 2018-2019 year: Grade 1-6(Excluding Thursday) First Bell: 8:20am Instruction: 8:24am-10:15am Recess: 10:15am-10:30am Instruction: 10:30am-12:00pm Lunch: 12:00pm-12:25pm Lunch Recess: 12:25pm-12:40pm Instruction: 12:40pm-1:45pm Recess: 1:45pm-2:00pm Instruction: 2:00pm-3:00pm Kindergarten-AM Classes 8:20am-11:22am Kindergarten-PM Spanish 11:57am-3:00pm No Kindergarten on Thursdays Thursday: Dismissal is at 12:00pm
GUESTS IN THE SCHOOL MONTHLY BUS PASSES Please note that payment for monthly bus passes is due the 1st of each month. For your convenience, payments can now be made on-line. If you would wish to pay for the rest of year, please let the office know. Please make sure your payments are made before the due date. REGULAR YELLOW BUS PASS.$32.00 FAMILY PLAN YELLOW BUS PASS $28.00 Parents please remember :It is illegal to jaywalk and you can be ticketed. The current fine can be up to $250.00. Please take the few seconds it takes to walk to the crosswalk. It is worth your safety, and that of your child. ILLNESS AND RECESS Normally,chilldren who are too ill to go outside for recess are too ill to be at school. This is particularly true in cases of severe colds,infections and headaches. With
severe colds,children are unable to function well at school. In addition, they provide a source of infection for other children and would recuperate faster if kept at home. MILK CLUB Once again white milk can be purchased every day at lunch. The milk can be purchased individually for $0.75 or a MILK CARD can be purchased for $15.00. If you would like your child to have a MILK Card, please go to your parent PowerSchool site. There is a picture of a milk carton at the bottom of the page. https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/nutrition/healthyeating/m/he/category_meatsandalternatives.h tm Thank you for supporting a healthy choice for your child s lunch. INLINE SKATING Alien Inline Skating has returned for another year. Our gym will be turned into a roller rink for two weeks starting September 28th and rolling on through October 12 th. The cost of participating in this event was included in your child s school fees. READ IN WEEK The READ IN Week initiative began when UNESCO declared 1990 The Year of Literacy. Representatives from Edmonton Catholic Schools, Edmonton Public Schools and Norquest (then) AVC, decided to join together to raise awareness for the importance of literacy. It was determined that the significance of literacy must begin with young children Kindergarten Grade 12 and carry on to adults in the form of life-
long learning. Various partners have been involved in READ IN Week, from schools including the Francophone district to post-secondary institutions, the City of Edmonton and various media outlets. The focus of this initiative has been to instill the love of reading in all Edmontonians. THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION OCTOBER 4th We are looking forward to having our first celebration of the school year. On Tuesday, October 4th at 10:45am we will be having our mass in the gym. Please feel free to join in in our celebration. Please remember that October 8 th is an holiday so there is NO SCHOOL. WE DAY Rogers Place, Edmonton WE Day Alberta is coming soon! On October 12, 2018, at Rogers Place an unparalleled event will bring together worldrenowned speakers, A-list performers, and tens of thousands of youth to celebrate a year of action that transformed communities and changed lives. Eighteen deserving students of St. Teresa School along with Senora Campanaro and Senora Zelada will be attending this amazing event. CANADIAN COGNITIVE ABILITIES TESTS(CCATS) During the two weeks of October 15th-28 th students in Grade 6 will be writing the Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test(CCATS). This measures students overall ability levels. Although it s not possible to study for this test, students can be prepared for this test, but being well-rested and ensuring that they have a good breakfast in the morning.
ST TERESA OIL KINGS NIGHT Join the students of St. Teresa School Choir as they perform the National Anthem on the ice at Rogers Place, Sunday, October 21st th at 4:00pm. A portion of each ticket sold goes directly back to the school. More information to follow. PICTURE DAY OCTOBER 23 rd Please remember that picture Day is Tuesday, October 23rd. FAMILY DANCE On Friday, October 26th at 6:30pm our St. Theresa s School Advisory Council will be hosting the annual Family Dance Night, a change this year is that it is a Halloween Dance. Each grade has been assigned a theme and they are asking families for a small donation related to the theme. Donations will be used to create baskets that will be raffled off. Kindergarten Theme: Family Board Games Grade Four Theme: Sports Grade One Theme: Arts & Crafts Grade Five Theme: Family Night In Grade Two Theme: Mom s Things Grade Six Theme: Dad s Things Grade Three & 3/4 Theme: Treats & Eats S.A.C. (School Advisory Council) MEETING On Monday, October 29th at 6:30pm we will be having a School Advisory (S.A.C.) Meeting. All parents are free to attend. Come and hear what is happening at your child s school. HALLOWEEN Be prepared for our annual Halloween Parade of Costumes held in the gym on Wednesday, October 31 st beginning at 1:00pm. Feel free to come and watch your child parade around the gym with their class. We ask parents to be conscious of nut allergies when sending in classroom treats for the children. Also, please remember that Halloween costumes must be appropriate and do not contain any weapons or blood.
GRADE SIX GO TO BIRCH BAY
October 2018 Praise to the Lord all of you, God s servants. Blessed be the name of our God now and ever. From the rising up of the sun, May the Lord be praised, Praise to the name of the Lord! (Praise to the Lord, Klusmeier) The lyrics of this beautiful song, which we often sing at church, offer us a lens to explore what it means to walk humbly with our God. If we act justly and love tenderly, then our life s journey, with Him always at our side, becomes an act of praise. This is the heart of what happens when we walk together in God s love. Edmonton Catholic Schools is growing! As I write this newsletter, our enrolment is at 43,200 students, an increase from last year, with a final count being done on September 28. It is truly a cause for celebration that an ever-increasing number of families are entrusting us with the awesome and sacred responsibility of nurturing their children and helping them to grow to their fullest potential as members of the Body of Christ. We were delighted by the announcement from Alberta Education that the scheduled modernization for our Ben Calf Robe K-9 School will now be a replacement school instead. Plans for this new facility will increase the capacity to 700 students and will include a cultural learning space. Archbishop Smith and Bishop Motiuk joined us for a joyous celebration on September 19 for the site blessing and ceremonial ground breaking at our newest addition to ECSD, Divine Mercy Catholic Elementary School in the Orchards. A beautiful, innovative learning space for that community will open in September of 2020. We are very fortunate to have the leadership of two District Chaplains in our District. Father Julian Bilyj, who also serves as the pastor of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Parish, has served our students and staff as a teacher and Chaplain since 2014. Father Glenn McDonald is a new addition to our team this year. Father Glenn is a priest of the Congregation of St. Basil. He was raised in Airdrie, Alberta; trained as a mechanical engineer at the University of Alberta, and was ordained at St. Basil's Church, Toronto in 2008. For the past five years, he has been serving as Chaplain at St. Joseph's College at the University of Alberta. In addition to his work at ECSD, Father Glenn will be assisting at St. Alphonsus Church / St. Clare Church. The Archdiocese has just appointed Father Andrew Leung, CSB as the Archbishop s Delegate for Catholic Education. We look forward to him joining us to celebrate and form our faith!... 2
Edmonton Catholic Schools has partnered with Alberta Health Services to create a series of videos that will provide parents with information about a variety of mental health topics and strategies to use at home to support their children. These videos are supported through the Regional Collaborative Service Delivery. Each month a new video will be posted on www.ecsd.net on the Mental Health page. The first video, Breaking the Cycle of Anxiety, is now available. Last spring, we announced that we would be implementing a dual credit Aviation Program in partnership with WestJet and Mount Royal University. The program has now officially launched, and we have 16 students from across the District who are taking advantage of this excellent learning opportunity. There are many ways for you to keep informed about the many wonderful things that are going on in our District. Visit www.ecsd.net, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter. I wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving, enjoying time with your loved ones and celebrating the goodness of God in your lives! Loving God, Who created and sustains the universe, who loved us all into being, and who gives us every good thing, We thank you for the blessings that you bring into our lives. We thank you for the gift of life itself, and for the fresh start of each new day, We thank you for our friends, our families, and our neighbors whose human love is an image of your divine care. Help us to recognize all the good things, and magnify our desire to share what we have with others, so that they too may be grateful to you. Amen. (adapted from A Thanksgiving Prayer, www.americanmagazine.org) Sincerely, Joan Carr Superintendent
October 2018 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 World Teachers Day 5 6 ------------------------- Read In Week ----------------------------- 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Thanksgiving Day NO SCHOOL We Day Thanksgiving 14 15 16 Fire Safety 17 18 19 20 Celebration @ 2pm Presentation- Grade 3s St. Teresa Choir Sings @ Oil Kings Game Family Dance Night Picture Day 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 S.A.C. Halloween 28 29 30 31 Meeting @6:30pm
Coming Up In November November 3rd- Young Readers Conference @MFO November 4th-10th-Catholic Education Week November 5th-11th-Veterans Week November 11th- Remembrance Day November 12th- NO SCHOOL due to Remembrance Day November 13th-Remembrance Day Celebration @9am November 21st-Picture Retake Day November 23rd- Report Cards Go Live @ 4:00pm November 26th-Grade 6 Immunization(for those who did not receive it last year) November 27th-30th-Book Fair November 29th- Demonstration of Learning(1:00pm-4:00pm,5:00pm-8:00pm)
ST. THOMAS MORE PARISH First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion: St. Thomas More Parish 1st Reconciliation and 1st Holy Communion are offered to children in grade 2. What an exciting year for these children to celebrate TWO sacraments. See the green sacrament brochure in your Catholic school office or parish brochure stand for the details. St. Thomas More parish has a Drop-in Registration to begin the process for your child to receive these two sacraments. Drop-in Registration will occur from 9:00-11:00 a.m. on the 1st Saturday of each month (Oct. thru Feb.). To prepare for the drop-in registration please read the green brochure thoroughly and select the dates of the various sacrament meetings that you will attend with your child. You will be writing the dates you have chosen onto the registration form at the Drop-in Registration. Call Kathleen at the parish office for more information. 780-434-6313 X 237 Regular Weekend Mass Times at St. Thomas More: Saturday 5:00 pm-sunday 8:30 am, 10:00 am, 12:00 pm, 6:00 pm.
Where is God in my Life? A Reflection by Fr. Glenn McDonald, CSB Where is God in my life? This is a question I get asked a lot as a priest. Theology can point towards an answer, but only an experience from someone s everyday life will satisfy as a response. I am embarrassed to admit that even as a seminarian and later as a priest, I was having a lot of trouble seeing God in my own life. How could I then point out the presence of God in someone else s life? Thankfully, God began to teach me how to recognize His presence in my own life, which enabled me to help other people see His presence in their lives, too. He used a special relationship to do this. I am very fortunate to have my grandmother living in Edmonton. Her name is Lulu. And yes, she is as adorable as her name. During the four years I spent studying at the University of Alberta, which was only a short bus ride away from my grandmother s house, I rarely visited her. I was always too busy. I had every excuse not to go: I had homework to do; the bus would take too long; I had plans with my friends; I would go next week. When I completed my degree and was departing from Edmonton, I had to say goodbye to my grandmother. Despite the fact that I had visited her only once a semester, she was very sad to see me go. In that moment, my degree suddenly seemed empty. I could see how precious my grandmother s presence was in my life. I had been so blind, but it was too late. It was time for me to leave the city. Fortunately, I was given a second chance many years later, when my religious community appointed me to Edmonton. I resolved to visit my grandmother each Friday. And I did! Our visits followed the same pattern. I would bring her flowers. She would make me a sandwich and a cup of tea. We would talk about her week, how the family was doing, and if she had heard from relatives in Saskatchewan. I would share about my work. After an hour, I would depart. Each visit was ordinary, but I always felt fulfilled when I left like I had participated in something of great value. In 1 John, we read, Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. Over time, I realized that my weekly visits with my grandma were an experience of love. An experience of genuine love is an experience of God. I became aware that these visits were one of the ways that God was present and active in my life. What are the situations in your life in which you experience sincere love? Who are the people in your life who love you the most, with self-sacrificial, giving love? It is in these situations, and interacting with these people, that God s presence and action in your life becomes real. Today, when a student asks me, Where is God? I respond with, Let me give you an example from my own life. Her name is Lulu. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. - 1 John 4:8
Gaudete et Exultate of the Holy Father Francis: A Call to Holiness in Today s World Chapter One - The Saints Who Encourage and Accompany Us In March 2018, Pope Francis released an Apostolic Exhortation on the Call to Holiness in Today s World. In that Exhortation, Pope Francis commends "parents who raise their children with immense love, men and women who work hard to support their families, the sick, the elderly religious who never lose their smile" (7), as people who are living out their holiness. The Pope guides us in the direction of the Saints, who like us, were not perfect, but who never stopped trying to live out their call to holiness. When reflecting on these Saints lives we need to focus on the big picture of what they accomplished rather than on their fragile, and at times imperfect, existence. Here are a few highlights from the Exhortation that led way to some Aha moments: "Let us be spurred on by the signs of holiness that the Lord shows us through the humblest members who share a living witness by means of faith and charity (8). "We should not grow discouraged before examples of holiness that appear unattainable (11). For us, God s lay faithful, this means that we are to follow our own path and use the unique and special gifts He has given each of us. Pope Francis stresses that we are not meant to copy others' acts of holiness, but to create our own. These acts can be subtle or grand, but both have value, and both are essential in today s world. "A Christian cannot think of his or her mission on earth without seeing it as a path of holiness"(19). The saints lived their lives by following their various paths, and sometimes not everything they did was authentic or perfect; it is their lives in totality that need to be contemplated. Our lives too, need to be seen as a mission that we allow to be transformed by listening to God. Our lives may not always be perfect, but their totality will demonstrate our call to holiness. "Our lives do not have a mission; our lives are a mission (27). Friends, in our lives we are often called to many tasks; being a parent, grandparent, brother, sister, friend, daughter, son, boss, etc. As such, we tend to live our lives in a hurried and busy manner! Pope Francis asks us to slow down and remember that rushing through our lives is not living our lives as a mission, but that it is living our lives to the fullest that is our mission! It is how we carry out our day to day tasks, how we do our jobs, and how we raise our children or how we care for our aging parents, just to name a few. Sometimes it might feel as if we are living our lives as a mission impossible, but with faith and dedication to Christ, our lives can become a mission possible Go and make disciples baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (MT 28:19). God Bless, Susanna Kaup Secondary Religious Education Consultant Edmonton Catholic Schools