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H o l y Ro s a r y C a t h o l i c E l e m e n t a r y S c h o o l
The Rays’ Report
Waterloo Catholic District School Board
Eco Schools Update
2
25th Year Celebration
2
Virtue for April
3
Pancake Breakfast
3
Yearbook Update
3
Dates to Remember
4
Healthy Living Fit Bit
4
“As disciples of Christ,
we educate and nurture
hope in all learners to
realize their full potential
to transform God’s
world.”
VIRTUE OF THE MONTH
“Hope”
WCDSB VISION
“Our Catholic schools:
heart of the community -success for each, a place for
all.”
A pr i l 2 0 1 5
F R O M T H E P R I N C I PA L ’ S D E S K . . .
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
WCDSB MISSION
Volume 9 Issue 8
Dear Parents / Guardians,
The Holy Rosary staff and I want to wish all of you a very blessed Holy Week and Happy Easter. We hope you enjoy
safe, fun and special family time together while celebrating Jesus’ resurrection. Please take the time to experience the
Paschal Mystery with your family. If you are looking for a service to attend on Good Friday, there is a great
dramatization of the Passion of Our Lord presented by students from St. David Catholic Secondary School and local
university students at St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church (on University Avenue) at 7pm this Friday, April 3, 2015.
My apologies for the errors in the first edition of the March Newsletter. Thank you to the faithful readers who alerted me
to these mistakes so that I could correct them.
With the lovely warm weather slowly creeping into our area, the bikes, scooters, roller blades and skateboards will be
returning to the schoolyard. Students are reminded that in order to maintain safety for everyone, these wheeled vehicles
are to be dismounted and walked onto school property. Our students and parents continue to do a great job of
promoting fitness and safety by walking, peddling or pushing to school rather than getting a ride in a car. Please
continue to promote and support this healthy and inexpensive habit. We ask that all parents and community members
take extra care when driving around the school and neighbourhood as these student “vehicles of summer” come out in
full force.
We are also reminding the students to dress according to the weather conditions as the temperature fluctuates greatly
throughout the day. We know that the students often take their coats off at recess. However, at this time we are
insisting that they (at a minimum) wear a long-sleeved shirt on if they take their coats off while playing outside. Their
comfort and best interest are important to us.
Parents of students who ride the bus are asked to take a quick look at the transportation website (www.stswr.ca) to
confirm and/or clarify their child’s eligibility for bus transportation. This is especially important for parents who have
children moving from grade 3 to 4 as the distance for eligibility changes at this age from 0.8km to 1.6km.
This is the time of the year when we begin to consider class arrangements, resources and staffing for next year. If your
child will not be returning to Holy Rosary School in September and you have not communicated that with us, please do
so as soon as possible. Thanks for your assistance.
One of the professional responsibilities of our staff is to prepare class lists for the upcoming school year. Your child’s
current teacher will work with the appropriate staff on the placement of your child. When developing class lists,
teachers take various areas into consideration, including social groupings, academic abilities, gender ratio and ministry
and board guidelines. If you have any educational concerns or requests regarding your child for next September,
please put these in writing (hard copy) and submit it to your child’s teacher by May 8th.
Specific teacher requests for September will not be accepted.
There are a number of IMPORTANT TESTING DATES coming up: Please avoid taking your child out of school
during these important dates:
Grade 4 CCAT testing - April 27 - May 1;
Grade 7 CAT4 testing - May 4 –8
EQAO Primary Assessment (Grade 3) - May 25 - 29;
Our School Motto
“I AM MY
CHOICES”
Visit our web site at:
http://holyrosary.wcdsb.ca/
EQAO Junior Assessment (Grade 6) - June 1 - 5
Happy Easter and God Bless,
Paul Gladding
Principal
WE Team Update
During April the WE Team will be running a spare change drive. This money goes directly to the
“Nutrition for Learning” program that supplies healthy snacks to our students twice a week.
April 16th is International Vow of Silence day. Our WE teamers will lead and encourage our
students to be silent for one hour to show our support and solidarity with children in the world
whose voices go unheard or are silenced by injustice.
Page 2
Eco Schools Update
Spring is a busy time for the Eco Schools initiative. In March, the Waste Watchers from Holy Rosary School attended a mini conference at St. John Paul
School in Kitchener where they learned a lot about composting and recycling practices. The students took part in 5 stations where they participated in
activities such as research about Earth Day, created posters and even made new crayons from old ones by melting them!
Our school also held our own Earth Hour on March 27 from 1:50 to 2:50 p.m. During that time, we used as little energy as possible by powering down
electronics and turning off the lights. Hopefully, many of our families participated in the world wide Earth Hour held March 28.
In April, we will be celebrating Earth Week (April 20-24) and Earth Day (April 22). In order to honour these events we will be doing the following:
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Hope virtue assembly will have an Earth Day theme

St. John Paul Catholic Elementary School challenged our school to a Litterless Lunch on Earth Day. Please use re-usable containers and send no
garbage to school on that day.

Holy Rosary School challenged St. John Paul School to a “Walk to School Day” on Earth Day. Mayor Jaworsky of Waterloo, will be walking with our
students on April 22 (corner of Oakvale and Thorndale @ 8:05am). Join us!

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Primary classes will be doing games and activities using equipment made from recycled objects during their regular physical education time.
Morning Prayers during Earth Week will be focused on our environmental future
Containers to collect used printer cartridges and used batteries will be placed outside the office. Please bring in empty printer cartridges and used
batteries and place them in the containers. We will be disposing of them properly.
LOL also means “Lights Out Lunch”. Our students will eat lunch with the lights out.
School Yard Clean up. Depending on the weather, each class will make their own time during the week to help make our school grounds be litter free.
Free seedlings have been made available for our school. Students will be able to take one home if they wish
Thank you for encouraging your children to walk or bike to school. It really makes a difference to reduce traffic flow and emissions around our school.
25th Year Celebration of Holy Rosary School & Year-End Barbeque
We will be having our 25th Anniversary in combination with our year-end barbeque on Thursday, June 4th, 2015. The School Council
will have meetings on April 9th and May 4th. Part of these meetings will be the planning and organizing of this big night. This event
will include some fundraising for charity and school activities; there will be a silent auction and other fun activities. If you have items
of value that you are willing to donate or know of other generous people who could donate silent auction items, we would gratefully
accept your help. Please drop items off or contact the office for more information. We are also looking to borrow old photos or other
items significant to Holy Rosary School. We will include them in our display.
100 km Club
The 100 km club is back and will be starting in Mid-April! This is a terrific opportunity for everyone to work on their
fitness and to prepare for track and field, cross country and the Mud-Puppy Run. Mr. Weiler will be sending out
information very soon and the running will start soon. This club is open to all students in grade 3 - 8. Parents are
invited to come and run alongside your kids too.
Lent/Easter Celebrations
We are always delighted to have parents and community members join us for our assemblies and celebrations. Please consider
attending the following celebrations in the gym: Our Bread Service will begin at 1:50 in our gym on Holy Thursday, April 2. Stations of
the Light will begin at 8:35 in our gym on Tuesday, April 7.
Please note: During the Bread Service on April 2, we will share bread just as Jesus did at the Last Supper. The ingredients of the
Easter bread are: wheat flour, eggs, sugar, soy flour, milk powder, vegetable powder, yeast and sea salt.
**If you have any allergy concerns for your child based on these ingredients please alert your teacher as soon as possible**
**Please let us know if you have a suggested substitute that we can offer your child during the celebration.**
Page 3
VIRTUE OF THE MONTH
“Hope”
We reflect on the risen Lord as the ultimate expression of hope
Exemplify hope to transform the world by our words and actions
Be the hands and feet of Christ
Help your neighbour, support your community
Seek forgiveness and reconciliation
Our Lady of Lourdes Grade 6/7’s Present: 15th Annual “Eat to Beat Cancer” Pancake Breakfast
SATURDAY APRIL 18, 2015 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM;
SWISS CHALET 267 WEBER ST. N., WATERLOO
TICKETS $6. AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR
RAFFLE TICKETS $3 EACH OR 5/$10 AVAILABLE AT THE BREAKFAST
**ALL PROCEEDS TO THE GRAND RIVER REGIONAL CANCER CENTRE**
Something fun to do with your family and friends!! Join Alicia Kowalski’s Grade 6/7 Class as they serve up some pancakes in support of the
Grand River Regional Cancer Centre! What a tasty way to help a great cause!
Come out, eat some pancakes...sip on a coffee or juice and help a great cause at the same time. Don’t forget to buy tickets to win some fantastic raffle prizes and enter our 50/50 draw. A tax receipt will be issued by the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre for a winner who chooses to donate their half of the 50/50. Thank you to last year’s winner who donated his 50/50 winnings to the Cancer Centre! See photos of
last year’s event at www.fb.com/kitchenerwaterlooliving
**Sponsored by Joe Paiva of Swiss Chalet & Joe Batista, Nelson DaSilva & Muhamud Khamis of Harvey’s, Raffle table/prizes courtesy
of Remax Twin City Realty Inc.*
YEARBOOK UPDATE
The yearbook sales campaign is over for the year, this does not mean that you can no longer order one; we receive this question at
least once every couple weeks. If you would still like to order one please contact Bette Castanier at the number below or Mrs.
Santarossa at the school office. The last possible day to order will be June 22nd.
If you have any yearbook questions contact Bette Castanier at 519-497-2019.
Miscellaneous
GAMERS - For eight weeks in January and February, Gr. 1 and 2 students were invited to play board games at lunch recess. We are so very grateful
to the dedicated teachers! Gracen, Patience, Gianna, Myra and Hanna.
French Speeches - This year we had 2 competitors in this contest Congratulations to Ioana J. who place 1st for the second year in a row and to
Alicia C. who was 3rd place—what a great way to show your RAYS spirit!
Knights of Columbus Free Throw - Congratulations to our great RAYS free throw competitors - especially Myra, Diego, Ethan, Shiloh, Madison,
Chloe, and Matthew who all qualified for the regional competition, Matthew and Chloe also qualified for the district competition!
Special Musical Performances - Save the date! Parents of Early Years and Primary Division students, please set aside the evening of Wednesday,
May 6 from 6:30-7:30pm. Your child will participate in a short, bright and lively Spring Concert here in our gym at Holy Rosary School. We look
forward to sharing our music with you! - Ms. McLellan, Early Years and Primary Division teachers.
Dr. Marian Small is coming to Resurrection CSS!! - please see the attached flyer for information about the opportunity to see this terrific Math
innovator - her talk will help parents to better understand the Math program in our school and how they can assist their children. This talk will take
place on April 23rd at 7pm. We would appreciate an RSVP so we can plan for the number of guests - please write a note to the teacher
in your child’s agenda by May 15th so that we can send an response to the organizers. Thank you!!
Homework Club extended to Grade 6 - we have a terrific opportunity running Monday to Thursday for our intermediate students - the homework
club is a great place to go for an hour after school to get homework done and to seek assistance with classroom work. Thanks to a new grant, this
opportunity is now extended to our grade 6 students for the months of April and May - with report cards coming home and EQAO testing coming up
this is a great way to build their knowledge and skills. Forms will come home this week with the grade 6s and it is never too late for the intermediates
to get involved.
Math League and OECTA Writing Contests - We had over 20 students enter the OECTA writing contest this year! I am proud to announce that
Samuel P., Sarah P., Smanatha P. and Maykalya M. were all local winners; their writing pieces will now be judged at the provincial level.
Congratulations also goes out to Jimmy P. who placed 3rd in the Mathematics League.
Holy R osary Cath olic
Ele men tary Scho ol
485 Thorndale Drive
Waterloo, Ontario
N2T 1W5
Phone: 519.747.9005
Fax:
519.747.3955
Dates to Remember
1
2
Virtue Assembly– 9:50 a.m.
World Autism Day
3
6
7
9
Holy Thursday Bread Service - 1:50 p.m.
Good Friday
Easter Monday
Stations of The Light - 8:35 a.m.
School Council Meeting - 6:30 p.m.
14
15
16
17
20-25
Wacky Tie Day
Grade 8’s at Child Witness Symposium - 8:40-2:10 p.m.
Peter Braid – MP visits - Grade 3’s & Grade 2/3 Classes
P.A. Day - no school for students
Earth Week
22
23
25
28
Earth Day
Dr. Marian Small - Math Presentation for parents at Resurrection CSS - 7pm
Confirmation for Grade 7 students - 4:30 p.m. - at Our Lady of Lourdes Church
Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery - Gr. 3 Classes
Healthy, Active Living Fit Bit
April 2015 FitBit – 10 Ways to Eat More Vegetables and Fruit
1.
Boost Your Breakfast: Add berries, dried fruit or sliced banana to your cereal, yogurt or oatmeal. Try peppers, mushrooms, onions or
chopped greens in a delicious omelette.
2. Double the Veggies: Add extra vegetables into your soups, stir-fries, casseroles and pasta dishes. Load up on veggie toppings for
pizzas and sandwiches.
3. Salute the Snack: Revolve snack time around vegetables and fruit. Pre-cut or peel fruit like oranges to make it more appealing and
easier to eat quickly during snack breaks.
4. Take a Smoothie Break: Whip up large batches, freeze in single portions and take on the go when needed! Try adding a handful of
greens with fruit, yogurt, milk and ice.
5. Dig the Dip: Dip apples, pears or bananas in yogurt or one to two tablespoons of peanut butter. Veggies are great paired with
hummus, salsa or low fat sour cream. Try the easy dip recipe below, you can flavour it however you like!*
6. Reinvent the Chip: Bake thinly sliced sweet potatoes, beets, torn kale or collard greens to satisfy that crunch! Toss bite-sized pieces
in a small amount of vegetables oil and your choice of spices before baking until crispy.
7. Weekly Featured Vegetable: Give everyone in the family their own week to choose a feature vegetable to cook with. Try to choose
vegetables that are in season.
8. Use Frozen Veggies (and Fruit!): Over the winter buy more affordable frozen vegetables and then steam them, puree into soups and
sauces or bake them in a casserole. Frozen fruit is great on cereal or in smoothies.
9. Delight in Dessert: Frozen grapes or bananas make a delightful dessert. Other simple ideas include fresh fruit, a baked apple, fruit
salad or fruit kabobs with yogurt for dipping!
10. Half Your Plate Twice a Day: Meet your recommended number of servings in a flash by making half of your plate vegetables at lunch
and at dinner!
Garlic & Dill Veggie Dip
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup (250 ml) light sour cream or plain yogurt (1% M.F. or fat-free), 3 Tbsp (45 ml) light mayonnaise, 1 Tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice,
1 tsp (5 ml) minced garlic, 1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped fresh dill or parsley.
*You can use any combination of fresh or dried herbs and spices to flavour this dip. Instead of dill, try it with 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of dried
herbs or spices like curry powder and paprika or Italian seasoning.
Directions:
1. Stir together all ingredients in a small bowl and chill until ready to serve. Prepare up to one day in advance for even more flavour.
Recipe adapted from 500 Best Healthy Recipes by Lynn Roblin, MSc. RD