St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Happy New Year and Welcome to the 2016 Half of Our School Year! St. Mary of the Angels Catholic School 1477 Dufferin St. Toronto, ON Tel: 416-393-5228 Principal M. Colleen Pontello 416-393-5228 Superintendent Dr. Jim Saraco 416-222-8282 Ext. 5371 Trustee/Vice Chair of TCDSB Frank D Amico 416-512-3406 Parish St. Mary of the Angels Father L. Garcia 416-532-4779 CSPC Chair Paul Matos Phone: 416-222-8282 x 88228 Email: csac.sma@hotmail.com Enrolment 215 School Hours 8:30 a.m. 3:30 p.m. Lunch Hour 11:15 a.m. 12:15 p.m. Next CSPC Meeting Wednesday, 6:15 p.m. All Parents Welcome We are an International Language School Portuguese We welcome all of our students, staff and families back for the second half of our school year. Thank you for your extreme generosity during our first term from food drives, to Me to We to Terry Fox and Chum City Christmas, your generous and giving ways have done much to teach your children about charity and have contributed greatly to our community. Thank you! It always amazes me when we begin after Christmas how quickly the school year flies from this point onwards. In January we get back into the swing of things with learning, assignments and hard work leading up to our February reporting period and our second set of Parent and Teacher Interviews on the 11th and 12th. On Wednesday, January 13 our Kindergarten Registration begins. February gives us our Family Day weekend, the beginning and the end of our Parent Council Chocolate Fundraiser, and the start of Lent which begins with our Ash Wednesday Liturgy on February 10. March will fly by with swimming for Grade 4 and 5 students, Confession for the school on the 9th, dedicated hours of learning, our March Break from the 14th to the 18th, and then our Holy Week and Easter Celebrations the last weekend of the month the 25th to the 28th. April will be an extremely important month for we will be working hard at our school work while having fun and experiencing new things. We will have a visit from The Little Red Theatre Company, thanks to the generosity of our Parent Council, on the 22nd. This month is also extremely important for our Grade 2 students and their teachers for we will see the end of their hard work and preparations as they make their First Communion on Saturday, April 30 at 1 p.m. at St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Church. May is equally important for it begins with the Confirmation celebration with Fr. Garcia of both our Grade 7 and 8 Students on Saturday, May 7 at 1 p.m. Later in the month we will be welcoming our new students to the school with our Welcome to Kindergarten visit from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 18. Also in the month we will have Scientist in the School visits and our Victoria Day Weekend. June will be upon us with our Carnival on the 4th, a Blue Jays Trip on the 14th, our Grade 8 Graduation activities and Mass that takes place on Monday, June 27, and the culmination of all of our hard work and studies in the form of our final reporting period with our last day of school for the year being June 29. I have highlighted many things to come, but the most important part of our school year is the safety, wellbeing and development of our students, staff and community. We know that we are very fortunate to share in the growth and development of your children. We look forward to working with you to provide the best education and opportunities to help your children feel that they belong and that they have great things to contribute to our school learning community and our world. May the joy and hope of this Christmas Season stay with you throughout the coming year. Happy New Year! M. Colleen Pontello, Principal
Grade 4 Students Showing Some Charity On December 1 to Friday December 4 the grade 4 class decided to raise money to purchase some gifts through World Vision for a family in Armenia located in Eastern Europe. The gifts we got for the family were 3 soccer balls, 1 Piglet, 1 goat, 2 hens and 1 rooster. Guess how much we raised in 1 short week? We raised just over $200. Isn t that amazing?! I am pretty sure the family in Armenia is going to be happy. What can you do to show charity? Maybe your class can support a family too. Written by: Christian Da Costa and Emily Do Rego The O Neil Centre Visit On Thursday December 17th, the grade four class walked to the O Neil Centre to spread Christmas cheer. We felt so touched and excited when we were there! We spent time talking to the residents. Also, we sang Christmas songs like Jingle bells, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and many more. We would like to thank Ms. O Connor and Mrs. Ortega for volunteering. We can t wait to go back! Written By: Dante Ferreira and Francesca Pullano
Catholic School Parent Council CSPC NEWS Did you know.. Worry Free Wednesday Lunches; CSPC will be trialing Pita and Subway lunches from January to June 2016. Pita lunches will be available on: Jan 20, Feb 17, April 13, May 18 and June 15 Subway lunches will be available on: Feb 10, March 2, April22, May 4, June 1 and June 29 Submit your orders by the dates indicated on the forms. We look forward to your feedback via email, phone or facebook. CHOCOLATE FUNDRAISER coming this February The Parent Council will be running our chocolate fundraiser from February 5 th to 19 th More details to follow shortly! All monies raised will be allocated to purchasing laptops for each classroom and running our family Carnival. Stay connected, join our Facebook Parent Group: www.facebook.com/groups/smaschool CSPC Chair: Paul Matos Phone: 416-222-8282 x 88228 Email: csac.stmaryoftheangels@tcdsb.org Just hearing laughter helps put us in a good mood! It helps create a positive emotional climate in the home or office. New Years Reminders Nut Free School We are a peanut and nut free school, please make sure that the nutritious food that you are sending in for your child for lunch or snack time does not contain any nuts. We need to keep all of our students safe. Cold Weather, Warm Clothes Please make sure that your child comes to school dressed appropriately for the weather. Whenever possible we will be out enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Students are to come with mittens, hats, boots and coats for the cold weather. That fresh air break from the classroom does a great deal to help the students stay focused and on track with their learning. Subway and Pita Pit Thanks to the efforts of our Parent Council, we will be offering the chance for students to order nutritious food throughout the school year on Wednesdays. We will be sending home order forms the first week of January for parents to sign up for Subway Sandwiches or Pitas from the Pita Pit. There is a large selection to choose from and the students may build the sandwich or pita that they want from the choices offered. We are trying to provide for Worry Free Wednesdays so that parents can go one day of the week without worrying about packing their children s lunches. The school also benefits from the food ordering opportunities.
JUNOIR ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM On December 4th, our grade 7 class participated in a junior achievement program learning about Dollar Sense. The program taught them about how to conserve money, different types of payment and when it is appropriate to use them. At the end of the day the students went home with a greater knowledge of what dollar sense truly means. By: Sebastian Quiquinta Loblaw s trip On December 11th, Ms. Machado Dias grade 7 class went on a school trip to Loblaw s. They learned about the amount of sugar inside different brands of cereals and drinks. A scavenger hunt was also given to the class to finish in groups, and was finished successfully. Now that the trip is over all the students are able to say their knowledge on healthy eating grew much stronger. By Riley Dias
Grade 8 Baking with Ms. Vitale The Grade 8 students were in great from the day before the Christmas holidays began as they measured, rolled, baked and decorated cookies. Thanks to the generosity of the students and their teacher, I got the chance to sample the delicious cookies. We need to put them to work again during the school year for the cookies were great! THANK YOU TO OUR AMAZING TEACHERS AND THE ADMINISTRATION AND CUSTODIAL TEAM AT LORETTO COLLEGE FOR OUR CHRISTMAS CONCERT. THERE WILL BE A PROPER THANK YOU WITH PICTURES FROM THE CONCERT COMING SOON. Kindergarten Registration for children born in 2012 will begin on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 @ 10:00 a.m. Please visit http://soar.tcdsb.org/ For parents who cannot come during the day we will have an Evening Registration on Please bring the following documents: Wednesday, January 27, 2016 from 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Catholic Baptismal Certificate Birth Certificate/Immigration Documents Immunization Record 2 Documents for proof of address Utility Bill/Tax Bill