St. Kateri Tekakwitha April Newsletter
April 2, 2015
“Lord, thank you for healing the wounds of the world.
Thank you for the new life of the resurrection.”
With the promise of spring we look towards the obvious signs of new life
evident in the beauty of God’s creations, impressive, majestic and yet
simply staged; similar to the birth of the Christ Child and His humble
entry into Jerusalem. Yet, His birth, and resurrection are wondrous.
His impact on healing relationships is great, His love for us, everlasting.
We look ahead to Easter as we have prepared for the greatest event in
the liturgical calendar, “The Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ”.
Lent, a period where we look deep into ourselves and reflect on making
changes that will bring us closer to God. Throughout this week, we
have recounted the life of Jesus. We remember His suffering and that
of His mother Mary. We pray for His life and wait for His resurrection
when we can all rejoice and sing Alleluia.
“Father, on this glorious day, I give you praise and honor for raising
your Son Jesus from the dead. As he lives, so I shall live. Thank you for
the gift of eternal life. I pray in the name of the Risen One”.
Amen
Principal: J. DiMaria
Trustee: M. Mogado
905 –472-0371
Easter Mass Celebration
On Wednesday, February 18th, we came together and celebrated the beginning of
Lent at our Ash Wednesday Mass. We have already arrived at Holy Week. On Holy
Thursday, Jesus will have celebrated the last supper with his Apostles. “You gave
your all for us, dear Jesus; help me give my all to you.”
On April 1st, we celebrated the Stations of the Cross and on April 5th, we will Celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, Easter Sunday. We welcome you to join us on April
7th, celebrating our Easter Mass at 9:30 in the gym. We will also be celebrating the
feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. The feast of St. Kateri is actually on April 17th, and
on that day the students will be celebrating making their own dream catchers.
Superintendent:
N. DiNardo
 221-5051 ext. 13123

Head Secretary: G. Bailey
Second Secretary:
D. Ficarella
The Sacrament of First Holy Communion
The grade 2 students from St. Kateri Tekakwitha will be receiving the Sacrament of First Holy Communion on
April 11th at 1:30 pm at St. Patrick’s Parish. We congratulate them and
their families as this is a vey special time in their lives.
Students will be receiving for the first time Jesus’ Body and as a community
we support them in their journey of faith. The grade 2 Communion Liturgy
for the parents of the grade 2 students will take place on April 13th, invitations were sent out on March 30th. It is a wonderful time for your children
and we hope you will be able to attend.
We thank the CSC Faith Committee for their time in organizing this special celebration.
Catholic Education Week: Exploring Paths of Joy
Catholic Education Week will take place between May 3-May 8th. This
year’s theme celebrates, Exploring Paths of Joy. There are five sub themes
for each day of Catholic Education Week: Walking Together and Sharing our
Stories; Opening the Scriptures; Welcoming others to the Table; Recognizing
Jesus in the Breaking of the Bread and Proclaiming the Good News. Students
will be taking part in a variety of activities and celebrations. You are most
welcome to join us for our Catholic Education Week Liturgy on May 4, at
10:45 am in the school gym.
Supporting Relationships: Positive Parenting Works
Positive parenting is proven as the best approach to parenting. It requires that you be supportive,
warm, and encouraging while also being firm, consistent, and fair. -Jean Clinton
The best gift you can give your children is your time. Show that you enjoy devoting time to them.
Show your children that their time and energy can make a difference too, and recognize the value
they offer. Encourage them to take part in helping seniors or tending a community garden.
Create opportunities for your children to be successful: help them find out what they are good at doing; help build their confidence in their skills and abilities; be active together. Choose something
you both like and can do; be sure to comment on a job well done or an act of kindness; and
acknowledge when they meet a difficult challenge with perseverance.
The better children feel about themselves, the better they will relate to others
Catholic School Council News
Play Day: Fun in the Sun
St. Kateri Tekakwitha is so happy to announce its’ Second Annual Play Day. On June 10th, students from JK-8
will all be involved in fun filled activities planned for this very special event. The Intermediate students will
take on a leadership role, either as team leaders or game leaders. Parent volunteers are welcome and encouraged to come out and support the event. We thank the Building Communities Spirit Chair, Mrs. Sax and the
committee members who are already working to ensure that all aspects of the day run smoothly.
Once again, we will offer a Hot Dog lunch for students that will be free of charge. Parents are invited to join
their children for lunch. A package will be sent home to inform parents the time at which their children will be
eating.
Information will be sent home at a later date to keep you posted. In the meantime, save the date and volunteer if you can. We appreciate any time you have to offer.
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the CSC Play Day Committee Chair, Arlene Sax at
[email protected]
ar-
CSC Hot Lunch Committee News
Congratulations to the Hot Lunch Committee who has done an outstanding job in providing our students with a variety of hot lunch options. We are back to a 5 day week of lunches.
Folco just added a new Panini Sandwich lunch. Please look at the schedule provided by the Hot Lunch
Committee.
Forms went home right after March Break with a return date of March 26th.
We thank the many parent volunteers as well as Mrs. Bailey who support the program.
Folco’s
Mon.
Tues.
Wed.
Folco’s
Thurs. Fri.
Eco News and Earth Day
Exciting eco-news:
The eco-club is working towards planting some large, mature trees in our school yard so that we
have shaded areas to play in, learn in, and enjoy outside! The school has applied for funding to
plant the trees, but we also need to fundraise, as this is a costly endeavour. We will be having a
couple of “Toonies for Trees” days where we are asking students to bring in $2 each, which will go
directly to purchasing and planting trees for our school. If you are interested in helping with or
supporting this cause, please contact Mrs. Stewart at the school.
Our first “Toonies for Trees” day will be on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22. Students are
asked to wear green and to bring in $2 for the trees; this will be their admission to watch an
environmental movie in the gym, while the lights will be out in the rest of the school. Thank you
so much for supporting this wonderful cause. We know students and the greater community will
enjoy the trees in the yard for years to come!
Eco-update:
The eco-club has been busy monitoring our waste bins and promoting our 'Bags to Beds' program by
posting signs and encouraging students to bring in milk bags. Thank you for all of the bags that you
have sent in; please continue to send them to school!
All students had a great time at the Rock the Bike environmental presentation at the beginning of
March. Students from the eco-club rode the bikes which powered the entire presentation! There
was no electricity used to power the lights, speakers, microphones or music...it was all powered
by people riding the bikes! We learned about ways to help the environment, the importance of
using waste bins properly, how to reduce, reuse, and recycle more, and how to use less electricity
at home and school.
Congratulations to our Girls and Boys
Basketball Teams
Congratulations to the girls and boys intermediate basketball teams who have played a great season! You displayed
great attitudes throughout the season and your effort given was very commendable. Well done. Your coaches, Mr.
K, Ms. Smith, Mrs. Collia and Mr. Farro (Mike) are very
proud of you!
.
Oral Communication
Our Junior and Intermediate students took part in the School
level Oral Communication Competition on March 31st.
We thank Mrs. McCarthy who organized the event at the school
and all of our teachers who have worked diligently with all of
our students as they have prepared their speeches for presentation among their peers.
We wish all of our students much success and congratulate
them all for their hard work and courage.
Our First Place winners from each of the Junior and Intermediate Divisions at the school level competition will go on to represent St. Kateri at the Area 2 Finals on Tuesday, April 14th at
All Saints Catholic School.
4th Annual B-Strong Walk
April 26th, 2015, Markham Museum (Markham Rd. & 16th Ave)
12 noon - 3:00 pm
2015 marks the 10th Anniversary of B- Strong and was started by Lindsay Bolger when she was diagnosed with a brain
tumour in April of 2005. To date with the support of the community,
B-Strong has raised $855K for brain tumour research. We are hoping this year to reach the
1 million dollar goal so your help is even more important.
Lindsay started the initiative of B-strong to help others that were also afflicted with cancer and she remained positive
throughout her illness. Lindsay’s family carries on the tradition of B-strong and would like to count on you again to
support the walk.. The Kateri community has supported B- Strong and the walk for the past 4 years. Lindsay’s aunt
works at Kateri (Marilyn Gibson) and also Lindsay’s high school/university close friend, Ms. Glover.
The intent of the walk is to bring families together to enjoy the outdoors and also raise money for brain tumour research, all proceeds go to Princess Margaret Hospital.
We hope to see you there!!!
For more information on the walk and registration you can check out the B-Strong website at www.bstrong.ca
Thank you Marilyn Gibson & Christina Glover
Welcome to Kindergarten
It is that time of year already where we welcome to school our upcoming Junior Kindergarten students
with their parents.
The Welcome to Kindergarten Program provides parents with an opportunity to learn about skill building activities important for their children. They will have hands on opportunities to experience a variety of play based activities that can be reinforced at home throughout the summer.
We do hope that parents will join us on April 30th at 9:30 am at St. Kateri Tekakwitha school for this
very important first step in their child’s educational experience.
The planning for the 2015-2016 School Year Begins
Spring has finally arrived and we welcome the warm weather, and bright sunshine. And while we have barely had the opportunity to
enjoy the spring weather, we have already started the planning and preparation for the new school year. As part of that process
we look at the organization of our school, including the class organization. In efforts to assist us in the school organization for 20152016, we ask that you kindly inform the school if you are moving out of the area or planning not to return to St. Kateri
Tekakwitha by sending written confirmation and contacting the school office and informing Mrs. Bailey or Mrs. Ficarella at 905–
471-4477.
As we begin the process of class organization for the next school year, please appreciate the fact that in creating class lists there is a
careful process whereby teaching teams, support staff and administration take into consideration various factors.
In creating the best possible groupings of students much time, thought, consideration and careful planning is involved. Our goal is to
establish well balanced classrooms. We wish to group students together so that they enhance one another’s learning experience.
Should there be a split class created, please note that we do consider those students who have never been in a split class before as
well as, individual special needs and learning styles.
Careful consideration is given to the following when forming class lists:

Student learning styles

Gender balance (male/female)

Balanced academic abilities within each class

Social , emotional and physical needs of students

Student experience in combined class

Behavioural needs

Special Education/ESL needs

General dynamics within the class

Balance of maturity levels
Should you wish to share additional considerations in addition to those stated above, please write a letter to the attention of Mrs.
DiMaria by May 15th. Please note that specific teacher requests will not be considered and should therefore not be included in
the letter. In addition, we ask that you not include any other students’ names in your requests as well.
Please remember that the final decision for student placement and school organization remains the responsibility of the school principal.
We thank you for your cooperation and support.
Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon
At St. Kateri, we are so fortunate to have many parent volunteers who support a variety of CSC and School
initiated activities. Their time, commitment and enthusiasm is second to none. Volunteers truly love what
they do, they give without ever asking for anything in return. Their selfless acts of kindness are an inspiration to us all. In appreciation the staff of St. Katei Tekakwitha will be organizing a
Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon on May 29th at 12:00 noon, in the school gym.
Throughout the year, we have been compiling a list of names among all those who
have volunteered at the various school related events/activities ie BBQ, Shrove Tuesday etc.
An invitation will be sent home at a later time, please save the date, we wouldn’t
want you to miss out.
EQAO –TIMSS for Grades 4 & 8
On April 16th, students will be taking part in the grades 4 & 8 EQAO, Trends in International Mathematics
and Science Study assessment. More than 60 countries are participating in the TIMSS 2015. Canada is
among the countries participating in this project. In Canada, a sample of schools have been selected.
Within each sampled school, at least one Grade 4 and Grade 8 class will be selected to participate. Students will participate in an achievement testing session and will complete a Student Questionnaire.
Grade 4 students will also receive a Home Questionnaire to be taken home and completed by their parents or guardians. Please note that the study isn’t in any way an effort to evaluate the performance of
individual students, teachers or schools. No data will be published that will enable individual students or
schools to be identified. The data will support to monitor educational systems and provide policy relevant
information without revealing the identity of the respondents.
Share Life
Our school will be holding raffles at the end of April to raise money for ShareLife. We will be joining
schools across the Archdiocese of Toronto to make a tangible difference in the lives of the less fortunate in our local communities by participating in the SharLife school campaign.
More news about this event to follow.
April At a Glance
April 2-The Stations of the Cross
April 3-Good Friday
April 5-Easter Sunday
April 6-Easter Monday
April 7-Mass Celebrating Easter & St.Kateri Tekakwitha
April 11-St. Kateri First Holy Communion at !:00 pm
April 13-First Holy Communion Reception Celebration
April 16-EQAO for Grades 4 & 8
April 17-Spirit Day-Yellow and Blue/St. Kateri Day
April 22-Earth Day
April 29 –Welcome to Kindergarten