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March 2017 Virtue for the month - Forgiveness

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St. Jude Catholic School News

“For God so loved the world , He gave it His only Son…”John 3:16

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday on March 1

Dear Parents/Guardians; As we continue to journey during this season of Lent we are reminded of Jesus’s unconditional love and mercy for us. This is the time when we truly analyze the significance of Faith in our lives. During Lent our school lunches will be Cheese pizza and pasta. A small sacrifice to abstain from meat for our lunches. Safety – Concerned parents and we have observed the need to be cautious as parent/adults drop and pick your child in the school parking lot and the Dollar tree plaza. Our students are dropped off and cross cars. Please take the time, slow down and watch for our children, all are responsible for the safety of our students. We celebrated ‘Believe in Angels’ week and collected $868 for our dress down fundraiser. This fundraiser was in support of The Angel Foundation for Learning who supports our students across the Board. Thank you for your generosity. We say ‘Thank You’ to our amazing Educational Assistants as we celebrate support staff appreciation day on March 6th, for all they do each day for our students. As caring adults your work is truly appreciated. Our students are truly blessed to have you. We had a very successful ‘Celebration of Life and Athletic Awards’ event that applauded the academic and co-curricular successes of our students. We are truly blessed to strive and succeed. Most parents came to discuss your child’s report card on curriculum night, once again a testimony of partnership between home and school. Together we inch forward towards our SLIP goals – Number Sense #math Students received their first official report card and now they will embark on a final term filled with many exciting challenges. Provincial testing for Grade 3 & 6 students and CCAT 4 for Grades 2, 5 & 7 are in May/June. As usual we continue to push our students to ‘Strive for Excellence’ in all that they do. Your continued partnership will

ensure our students settle for nothing short of this. Have a safe and restful March break! Sincerely, C. D’Souza T. Pucci Principal Vice Principal Stay connected: We will continue to post our monthly newsletters on our school portal at http://stjude.tcdsb.org/ - News 2016-2017; Newsletter Follow us on Twitter @stjudeprincipal Mark your Calendar

March 1 - Ash Wednesday - Rosary Apostolate – pray the rosary 3 - World Day of Prayer – ‘Am I being unfair to you’ 6 - Educational Support Staff Appreciation Day 6 - 10 Teen Ranch Grade 7’s 7 - Pray for Vocations 7 - 10 Quebec Trip Grade 8’s 11 - Autism Awareness Day 12: Clocks spring forward by an hour 12 – World Down Syndrome Day 13 - 17: March Break 22 – World Water Day 23 - CSAC Meeting @ 6:30pm in the Library 24 – Earth Hour 29 – Vision & Hearing Clinic at school for students – Forms being sent home 31: School Mass @9:30am

St. Jude

Elementary

School

3251 Weston Road, Toronto, Ontario,

M9M 2T9 Tel # 416 393 5279

Fax # 416 393 5122

Principal: Mrs. C. D’Souza

Vice Principal: Mrs. T. Pucci Superintendent: Mr. A. Della Mora

Tel # 416 222 8282 X 2732 Trustee: Mr. S. Piccininni Tel # 416 393 8282 X 2660

Parish: St. Jude Church

Pastor: Fr. Josue Vargas Lara 3265 Weston Road, Toronto,

Ontario, M9M 2T9 Telephone: 416-742-9072

Fax: 416-742-9327l stjudes_weston@rogers.com

School Hours of Operation: 8:27 a.m. Assembly/Line Up

10:12-10:27a.m. Morning Recess

11:15 a.m. Lunch Recess

11:55 a.m. Lunch

12:15 p.m. Assembly/Line Up

1:40-1:55 p.m. Recess

3:30 p. m. Dismissal

_______________________________

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Virtue of the Month: Forgiveness Academic Excellence: Mathematics The virtue for this month is FORGIVENES. As we journey through the season of Lent let’s go an inch deeper to forgive and reconcile. Jesus modeled this for us in his life and death. We are reminded that forgiveness is a gift to ourselves as we let go of the burden of resentment when we forgive another person and it’s a gift to our children when we teach and model it to them. This month at St. Jude we will be exploring the virtue of forgiveness by attending Mass as a school community, going to confession, by regular announcements by students, discussions in our classrooms, practising forgiveness by our words and actions. Each day one act of forgiveness to inch closer to Jesus. We will be celebrating World Day of Prayer in our school on Friday, March 3rd and the theme is ‘Am I being unfair to you’.

March Message from Your Trustee As we begin Lent, I am reminded about how fortunate we are as a Catholic community. 40 days of fasting, which begin with Ash Wednesday on March 1st, remind us of the sacrifices made by our Lord as we prepare ourselves for His resurrection on Easter Sunday. Contact your local Parish for Confession and Mass schedules. Over the last several months the TCDSB has been engaged in developing and refining a comprehensive long term plan designed to position the Board, and the students it serves, for long term success. Known as the Long Term Accommodation and Program Plan, or LTAPP, the process seeks to identify and implement the programming students and parents are looking for and accommodate growing communities by identifying where new and expanded facilities are needed. For more information on the LTAPP please visit

https://www.tcdsb.org/Board/PlanningandFacilities/LTAPP/. As we move closer to the end of the year the Board of Trustees are preparing to debate and decide on the budget for the 2017/2018 school year. As you may be aware, the Board has had to make some tough choices over the last several years to move towards a balanced budget. As we begin these discussions again I look forward to your input. You can find more information on the budget online at https://www.tcdsb.org/Board/BudgetandFinance. Finally, make sure to eat your fill of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday! Also, a quick reminder that March Break runs from March 13 th to 17th. Take some time to rest and recuperate as we drive towards the end of the school year. Sincerely, Sal Piccininni Trustee – Ward 3

Parent input being requested: The TCDSB is considering implementing an online application that would permit

parents to make payments electronically through two methods. Method 1: Parents can securely transfer funds from their bank account directly to an online ‘myWallet’ account. When they wish to make a payment to the school, they simply add an item to their shopping cart and pay for the item from their ‘myWallet’ account. Method 2: Parents can use a credit card such as VISA or MasterCard Using this electronic payment application, for large payments such as overnight trips, parents would also be able to pay through installments. In order to offer this application, the TCDSB would have to charge a 1% administrative fee to help offset the cost of the application. To do this schools would set their charges 1% higher. For example, an item that costs $9.90 would cost $10.00. At the time of the purchase, $9.90 would remain in the school account to pay for the item and $0.10 would go directly to the TCDSB central account to help offset the cost of the online application. In order to gauge interest in such an online application, we are engaging in a consultation process, in the form of a short survey. The survey is open now and will close on Tuesday 7 March at 12 noon. To participate in the survey, please click on this link: www.surveymonkey.com/r/Onlinepaymentconsultation

Celebrating our Successes: GO HAWKS GO! Junior W5H: Well done to our Jr. W5H team for finishing second in the first round. Our team showed grit and

determination and competed in the true Jude spirit. Thanks to our coaches Mr. Russo, Ms. Davila, Mrs. DeGasperis and Alphonso Davila for your commitment.

Le Carnaval: St. Jude celebrated our annual CARNAVAL the week of February 21st to the 24th. Bonhomme (Mr.

Morcos) was there spreading good cheer. One student in each division won a movie pass for guessing who was inside the Bonhomme costume. The participation was fantastic! Merci Mme Marino, Does and Lombardi (Contd. Page 3)

Girls' & Boys’ Basketball teams: Congratulations to our Girls and Boys teams who participated in the Divisional

tournaments and did their very best. They played as a team and strived for success with each game. Thank you Coach DeCaria, Conforzi, Morcos and Stirpe.

Online component of our March 2017 (pages 1-6) newsletter also includes: http://stjude.tcdsb.org/ Celebrating our Successes: Le Carnaval, Celebration of Life, Athletic Awards, Into Kids Health, Fun Friends for Life, Focus on Numeracy, March is Nutrition month, Safe Learning Environment, Parenting Corner, Names of Students of the month for the Virtue of Love and Academic Excellence—French, and TCDSB Monthly Update

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Le Carnaval: St. Jude celebrated our annual CARNAVAL the week of February 21st to the 24th. Bonhomme (Mr. Morcos) was there spreading good cheer. One student in each division won a movie pass for guessing who was inside the Bonhomme costume. The participation was fantastic! As usual, wacky day was a favourite amongst students. Congratulations to the winning classes: Grade 1- Ms. Ophelders Grade 2- Mrs.Marozzo Grade 3- Mrs. Piotti Junior Division- Mrs. Rauti Intermediate Division- Ms. Ieraci Our Bingo game was won by Mrs. DiIorio's grade 4 class. They will enjoy a pizza lunch donated by Panino Cappucino. Our parent council generously supported the Carnaval by donating three movie passes as well as the hot chocolate and maple cookies. Parent volunteers and Mrs. Paternostro helped with distribution during lunch. Merci a tous! Joyeux Carnaval! Les Madames

Celebration of Life We had a great day on Feb 24th celebrating life, our successes and The Arts. This concert began 6 years ago to remember a student who passed away. As we celebrated our 7th annual Celebration of Life it has evolved into embracing our success of Term 1, and celebrating The Arts. We had superb performances from our Choir, Instrumental Band, our High schools were invited – St. Basil Instrumental Band had a splendid performance and Bishop Morocco/Thomas Merton Dancers were in the house. Our high school students are role models for our students who follow their passion in The Arts. We also have delightful performances from ‘Yonge Guns Quartet’ an experience of Babershop music which truly excited our students. Ruben Esguerra was in the house with drumming a mix of South American and African drumming. A fun filled morning with a lot of music in the air. Thank you to our music department Ms. Davila and Mr. Braschel for keeping The Arts alive at Jude. Athletic Awards We celebrate in style. The Athletic Awards ceremony in the afternoon on Feb 24th is always looked forward to by our student athletes and coaches. All our teams were celebrated and recognized. House league success were applauded because it is from these grassroots we form our teams. Coach De Caria and Athletic Rep Coach Conforzi did a great job organizing this event. The Highlight of this day is a visit by our school mascot ‘Harry the Hawk’. We love Harry! Into Kids Health We continue promoting Healthy living in mind, body and soul. We strive to promote 10-5-2-1-0 as a reminder for our students to live a healthy lifestyle. This year Winter Walk Day was initiated on Feb 1 in conjunction with Canada Walks to promote walking and love for the outdoors. Students are encouraged to eat healthy and be active every day. Focus on Numeracy Our focus this year is to work on our math skills with our students. The teaching of math problem solving and mental math. Our teachers have adopted the Three Part Math lesson that allows students to bring forth their prior knowledge of a math concept. From there the teacher will prepare a problem that will allow two or three students to come up with at least two solutions to the problem. Because the students only have an hour to go through the process, they must work collaboratively with their partner to solve the problem. After the problem has been tackled, the teacher will review several student solutions to provide feedback. Here the teacher can note student thinking, how do the student know their math, what the students understood and what will need more clarification. The goal is to allow the students to summarize how they arrived at the solution. During the practice session, individual students have an opportunity to tackle their own problem now that they have gone through the process. The goal is to be able to solve a similar problem independently. For more practice at home with math go to: www.khanacademy.org; http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/elearning/homework.html Five math modules and family math nights planned are to support parents/guardians as we work towards our school goal.

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It’s Hearing and Vision Screening time!!! School Screening Association will be visiting our school this year on March 29, 2017 to conduct their clinic. Your child’s hearing and Vision should be screened every year

Growing children are very susceptible to middle ear problems and one of the best ways to prevent hearing loss is early detection of middle ear function issues.

Two ways to have your child’s hearing tested: 1. You can talk to your child’s doctor and ask for a referral to a Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist (Otolaryngologist) – this service

is covered by OHIP. 2. You can make an appointment with an Audiologist – referral by your family physician is not required. However, if the

Audiologist is not in a hospital clinic, the visit may not be covered by OHIP and a fee upwards of $50 maybe charged.

Your child’s hearing is not being monitored unless they are being seen by an Audiologist or and E.N.T.

Free vision screening is included wit the Hearing Clinic. Eye examinations are covered by OHIP. A fee of $15.00 is collected to help offset the cost of bringing this clinic to our school.

A permission form will be sent home with your child approximately 2 weeks before the clinic date. Please fill out the form, include $15.00 fee and return to the school prior to the clinic date.

Good Grades start with Good Hearing and Vision

Fun Math Games you can play with your child at home... Duelling Digits

Throughout the game ask you child the following: Where are you placing the high number cards? Why? Which numbers would you place in the tens place? Why? Where would you place a 0? Why? Where would you place a 5? Why?

Race to the Top Throughout the game ask your child the following:

What is the sum of the numbers you are adding? Which two numbers do you need to roll to give you the highest sum? What is the sum of the double facts? 2+2, 3+3, 4+4, etc.

Math Websites www.prodigygames.com www.mathisfun.com www.mathk8.nelson.com www.mathabc.com March is Nutrition Month A balanced diet is a part of every students’ successful experience. We encourage all children to eat a nutritious breakfast, snack and lunch from the four food groups. Studies have shown that nutritious food can supply your child with the nutrients necessary for improving the learning process. Foods such as, vegetables, fish, nuts, lean meats and fresh fruits are particularly good for boosting learning. Vitamins and mineral supplements have also been found to improve memory function. ST. JUDE’S SNACK PROGRAM RUNS every day. We always need helping hands for our snack program. If you are available to help out please contact the office 416 393 5279. Safe Learning Environment: Parents in the School Teaching your child in a safe and happy environment is our goal. With this in mind, there is a Visitor and Parent Volunteer Identification Program in place at St. Jude Catholic School. All non-staff must report to the main office for identification and to sign in. No one is permitted to visit classrooms, school yards or to loiter in the halls. We attempt to keep classroom disruptions to a minimum so that students can get on with their duty of learning. Please note that all students are dismissed from their regular doors and should meet their parents at these doors. As always, your continued co-operation is much appreciated and allows us to provide the safest and best learning environment for our children.

Parenting Corner: Building Resilience in Your Child Adversity is a natural part of life. At some point, we all face difficulties, such as family problems, serious illness, a personal crisis, or a painful loss. Being resilient is important to dealing with adversities like these. While most parents hope that their children never face extreme adversity, successfully facing tough situations can actually foster growth

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and give children the skills to be more resilient in the future. Most people have a natural tendency to adapt and bounce back from adversity. However, parents can help their children learn to face challenges successfully, whether it is the stresses of everyday life, such as academic difficulties or problems with friends, or severe adversity, such as losing a home and being displaced from normal routines for months. Following are five ways to promote resiliency in your children and help protect them from long-term ill affects of difficult experiences. 1. Think positive!! Modeling positive attitudes and positive emotions is very important. Children need to hear parents thinking out loud positively and being determined to persist until a goal is achieved. Using a “can do” problem -solving approach to problems teaches children a sense of power and promise. 2. Express love and gratitude! Emotions such as love and gratitude increase resiliency. Praise should always occur much more often than criticism. Children and adolescents who are cared for, loved, and supported learn to express positive emotions to others. Positive emotions buffer kids against depression and other negative reactions to adversity. 3. Express yourself! Resilient people appropriately express all emotions, even negative ones. Parents who help kids become more aware of emotions, label emotions appropriately, and help children deal with upsetting events are giving them useful life skills. 4. Get fit! Good physical health prepares the body and mind to be more resilient. Healthy eating habits, regular exercise and adequate sleep protect kids against the stress of tough situations. Regular exercise also decreases negative emotions such as anxiety, anger, and depression. 5. Foster competency! Making sure that children and adolescents achieve academically is great protection against adversity. Children who achieve academic success and who develop individual talents, such as playing sports, drawing, making things, playing musical instruments or playing games are much more likely to feel competent and be able to deal with stress positively. Social competency is also important. Having friends and staying connected to friends and loved ones can increase resiliency. Social competency can even be created by helping others. Protecting our children against all of life’s unexpected painful events is not possible. Giving them a sense of competency and the skills to face adverse circumstances can be a valuable legacy of all parents. Resiliency can be built by understanding these important foundations. The more we practice these approaches; the better able our children will be to weather whatever life brings.

Adapted from: “Resiliency: Strategies for Parents and Educators,” Virginia Smith Harvey, Helping Children at Home and School II: Handouts for Families and Educators, NASP, 2004

Students of the Month – February Virtue of the month – Love Academic Excellence – French

GR Love French

KG Julian Campbell n/a

Remi Bruce n/a

Elvin Bonilla n/a

Lydia Wilkinson n/a

Mathew Tigse n/a

1 Sophia Perez-Bonilla Jonathan Barsoumain

1/2 Zoey Molina Giselle Medina Jofre

Elsie Appau Victoria Marrero

Emma Herzuk Aidan Ignacio

2 Natalya Berrondo Santiago Puerta

Trinity Osayande Aydan Soares

Julia Garcia Pearl Muwanga

2/3 Samuela Gyabour Madeline Bui

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3 London Grant Savannah Sanders

Justin Pipim BB Onwuzulu

Noah Oseki Giana McLennan

3/4 Samantha Perez Oghosasere Amadasu

4 Danat Oseki Joygold Goodluck

Elijah Obakoya Anika Ang

4/5 Eleora Obakoya Jessica Luong

5 Guido Geraldino-Rodriguez Michela Martin

Kyanna Alarcon Alice Shraefeh

6 Mhyah Godoy Mauricio Calderon

Guesppina (Gia) Caringi Sofia Dela Roca

Melissa Dini Santana Taylor McLennan

7 Boris Agbangla Nicole Medinilla

7/8 Shakira Khan Jessica Jeyathas

8 Deonte Sadler Elisa Acerbi

Jania Carty Theresa Ibonye

From the Board

March 2017

TCDSB Expands French Immersion Sites The Toronto Catholic District School Board is pleased to announce the expansion of French Immersion sites, making it possible

for more children and their families to take advantage of French Immersion programming. Parents and guardians can re-register

their child for French Immersion using the SOAR-French Immersion application until March 10, 2017. Apply for French

Immersion here: http://fisoar.tcdsb.org

Focus on Youth Summer Employment Program The “Focus On Youth” program is a partnership between the Ontario Government, school boards, and local

community agencies, providing summer programs for students in recognized high needs urban neighbourhoods,

as well as employment opportunities and leadership training for youth. Focus on Youth supports the use of

TCDSB school space and the employment of TCDSB students by non-profit community organizations

participating in the program, and school space was offered to 85 community groups in 58 schools.

Employment Applications Are Now Being Accepted For: Custodial /Maintenance, Clerical Positions and Camp

counsellors for July 4 – August 11, 2017. Deadline for applications is March 9, 2017. https://www.tcdsb.org/FORSTUDENTS/FocusOnYouth/pages/employmentapplication.aspx

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Anonymous Alerts Starting in March, students in TCDSB secondary schools will be able to anonymously message their school principal about a range

of issues including bullying and other safety concerns. www.anonymousalerts.com/tcdsb

Let’s Get Ready to Celebrate Canada 150 Everyone in the Toronto Catholic District School Board community is invited to join in Canada’s 150 th birthday celebration

throughout 2017. The 150th anniversaries of our nation and our province, coincide with our ongoing focus on our Pastoral Plan:

“Together With One Voice: family, parish and school” which honours the three partners who have created the solid foundation on

which Catholic education has been built. Catholic schools have been a rich and vibrant part of Canada’s and Ontario’s heritage

since before confederation. JOIN US as we recognize our Boards unique place in Canadian history during this sesquicentennial

year.

A website has been created for the many exciting events and initiatives that are already underway around the board:

https://www.tcdsb.org/Canada150

Parish Family Day Happening May 5, 2017 As we continue to celebrate our Year of the Parish we want to know what makes your pastor and/or your parish unique.

Students are invited to create a short video, an original song, or piece of original artwork, write a short story or poem, or express

themselves in any way artistically to highlight the relationship that the students have with the local parish and/or the priest/pastor

at their church.

Remember that this does not have to be an additional assignment. Why not use the pastor/parish theme for a regular classroom

lesson--whether that be a writing exercise, a poetry writing session or visual art project.

“Promote Your Parish” and let’s celebrate the many ways that our parishes and our parish priests contribute to our schools and

communities. Submit the completed projects via email to parish.project@tcdsb.org by no later than April 7, 2017.

2017 ShareLife Parish Campaign During this, our Year of the Parish, we encourage all students, staff and their families to consider supporting the many local

Catholic charities that are funded through ShareLife. These Catholic agencies help families, single parents, the elderly, individuals

with special needs, immigrants and refugees, the homeless and the needy, as well as the education of clergy within our own City of

Toronto. Learn more about these organizations here: http://www.sharelife.org/Public/ShareLife-List-of-Agencies.

During Lent, and throughout the coming months, we invite you to consider partnering with your parish and support the work of

ShareLife as it continues to “work wonders” in our own community and around the world. .

A Mission of Hope for Haiti--Lenten Project with Missionaries of the Poor This year, in co-operation with the Missionaries of the Poor, we are inviting our schools to participate in a special Lenten Drive, A

Mission of Hope for Haiti. Our goal is to fill a 40-foot-long container with food, toiletries and school items that we may take for

granted—e.g. food items, like rice and beans, toiletries, like toothpaste and toothbrushes, or school items, like pencils and pens.

These items would be picked up from your school by volunteers from the Missionaries of the Poor, and through Canadian Food

for Children, these items will be shipped to the Missionaries of the Poor to Haiti. The hope is that all schools will consider

participating to some extent. If every student and staff provides just one item, it would be a tremendous help to the people of Haiti.

Details are online here: https://www.tcdsb.org/board/nurturingourcatholiccommunity/pages/hope-for-haiti-lenten-project.aspx

March Mental Health Newsletter https://www.tcdsb.org/ProgramsServices/SpecialEducation/mhs/newsletters/March%20MH%20Newsletter%202017.pdf

Event Reminders: March is Celtic Canadian Heritage Month

https://www.tcdsb.org/FORCOMMUNITY/HeritageCelebration/CelticCanadianHeritage/Pages/default.aspx

March 1, 2017—Ash Wednesday; Lent Begins https://www.tcdsb.org/board/nurturingourcatholiccommunity/pages/lent-and-

easter-resources.aspx

March 3, 2017—World Day of Prayer https://www.tcdsb.org/board/nurturingourcatholiccommunity/news/2016-

2017/pages/world-day-of-prayer.aspx

March 4, 2017—Lift Jesus Higher Rally https://www.tcdsb.org/pages/liftjesushigher-rally.aspx

March 6, 2017--Education Support Staff Appreciation Day https://www.tcdsb.org/pages/education-support-staff-appreciation-

day.aspx

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March 7, 2017—Pray for Vocations https://www.tcdsb.org/pages/prayers-for-vocations-a-spiritual-bouquet.aspx

March 8, 2017—International Women’s Day https://www.tcdsb.org/Pages/International-Womens-Day.aspx

March 12, 2017—Clocks go forward 1 hour

March 13-17, 2017—March Break

March 20, 2017—Voices that Challenge Student Leadership Conference

https://www.tcdsb.org/forstudents/catholicstudentleadership/news/pages/voices-that-challenge.aspx

March 21, 2017--International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination https://www.tcdsb.org/pages/international-day-for-

elimiination-of-racial-discrimination.aspx

March 21, 2017--World Down Syndrome Day https://www.tcdsb.org/pages/world-down-syndrome-day.aspx

March 22, 2017—World Water Day https://www.tcdsb.org/Board/environment/water

March 24, 2017—Earth Hour https://www.tcdsb.org/board/environment/earthhour/pages/default.aspx

April 1, 2017—Special Education Conference https://www.tcdsb.org/pages/special-education-conference---2017.aspx

Follow @TCDSB on Twitter or subscribe to Enews https://web1.tcdsb.org/InterestSubscription/subscription.aspx to get all the latest news and information throughout the year.