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Newsletter March 2015
80 McLaughlin Ave.
Milton, ON
L9T 8N2
Principal: Mrs. Vicki Hogan
Secretary: Mrs. Diane Reggi
Phone# 289 851 9353
WEB http://schools.hcdsb.org/bene
--Safe Arrival—Please remember to call the school if your child will be absent. Press 1 and leave a message
indicating name, teacher and reason for absence.
Principal’s Message
It appears spring will be a little later in arriving this year. With the snow banks
and icy conditions in our parking lots, extra caution, patience and vigilance is needed.
We are in the season of lent, a time of fasting, prayer and personal reflection on
how we can improve our relationship with God and those around us. In this way we
prepare to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and renew our faith in
the promise of eternal life. We again thank our community for their outstanding
support of our Lenten charity. So far we have raised almost $700.00 for Big Brothers and
Big Sisters.
We have some exciting news! Our School of Rock has recorded and released an
original song that is now available on iTunes. Please take a moment to download the
song at a cost of $0.99. All proceeds for the sale of the song will be given in support of
children’s mental health initiatives. Please see details in the body of the newsletter.
Please join us for our Lenten Mass on March 10th at 1:30pm here at the school. We
wish you a restful March Break.
Vicki Hogan,
Principal
We would like to extend our appreciation for the support our School Council has
given us. Next meeting will be on: April 20, 2015 @ 6:30
Everyone is welcome to attend.
Newsletter March 2015
We had a wonderful Math Night last week. Our gym was packed with over 250
parents and students. We participated in several learning opportunities and left with
some great math ideas. Thank you to all families who participated.
Your Child and Mathematics:
*Estimation: An Important Mathematical Skill*
Benefits: When to round up or round down, how to keep track of a running total ---soon these
estimation strategies will become second nature to your child!
Tip: Friendly numbers are numbers that are easy to work with mentally, and children
can use them to estimate an answer. What friendly numbers are helping your child to
track the total when rounding to the nearest dime? Quarter? Dollar?
Some Ideas: When you are shopping, have your child keep a running total of how much
you are spending by using prices that he or she rounds up or rounds down. For a
challenge, set a limit on the amount of money you will spend.
• Give your child an imaginary budget to spend at his or her favourite store (flyers or
online catalogues may be helpful). Without writing down the amounts, have your child
choose items to purchase. He or she will have to use estimation to stay within the
budget. Then, have your child add up the actual costs. Did she or he stay within the
budget? For a challenge, help your child estimate any taxes.
Lent
As we enter into the remaining weeks of Lent we continue to prepare ourselves to be
open to God's graces. We continue to try to choose Lent, to act Lent, in very concrete
ways. We are examining our patterns and realigning our priorities. Our hearts are being
renewed, as we experience God's reconciling love and beg for the gift of healing.
Lent offers us a time for fasting, prayer and almsgiving.
Shrove Tuesday
We would like to take this opportunity to offer a most heartfelt thank you to the
wonderful parent volunteers who came out on Pancake Tuesday to offer their time, effort
and energy in preparing, flipping, and cleaning after making many pancakes and a Mardi
Gras craft. The students all enjoyed this special treat. It will become a tradition at our
school.
As always it is the generosity of spirit and the willingness to help that is the essence of St.
Benedict families - thank you to all our students, staff and volunteers for helping make
this event a success.
Newsletter March 2015
*Award of Excellence*
This year, we are very proud to announce as this year’s recipient of the Award of
Excellence. Czanaiah has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills here at St.
Benedict. She is involved with many clubs and programs and has developed an
outstanding rapport with both staff and students. She is a dedicated student and a
model of Catholic Leadership. Congratulations Czanaiah will be honoured by the
School Board at a later date.
*Speeches*
This past month Junior and Intermediate students at St. Benedict worked diligently on
their speech presentations. The Orators Club was introduced as an option for students
to enrich their understanding of oral presentation expectations, and therefore enhancing
their oral presentation skills. The winning speakers will be chosen from the Orator’s
Club to represent St. Benedict at the Regional competition. Congratulations to all these
talented speakers.
*Public Speaking*
St. Benedict School will be hosting the Milton Regional Public Speaking Finals on
Wednesday, March 25, 2015.
*School of Rock- we need your support and assistance for mental health issues*
The St. Benedict School of Rock Group brings students together to celebrate their love of
music. Thirty-two students from grades 5-8 vote on their favourite pop songs and
practice singing them each week. Mrs. Deery and Mr. Sinclair provide the live music on
piano and guitar. Ms. Switenky works with the students as the vocal coach for each
song. The group is currently able to perform 10 of their favourite pop songs.
The St. Benedict School of Rock Group have already performed at a number of school
functions and have just started a new fundraising initiative for mental health. In mid-
Newsletter March 2015
February, the group wrote and recorded an original song called "All Your Love." This
song was recorded, produced and mastered by professionals and all members of the
group were thrilled with the final product. The song was entered in a board-wide antibullying and mental health contest on behalf of the St. Benedict School Community.
"All Your Love" is available for purchase on i-Tunes. All proceeds will be donated to
Bell Let's Talk and the Reach Out Centre for Kids in Milton, Ontario. The group has
also reached out to local media outlets (newspapers, television, radio) in hopes of
having their song promoted on larger platforms in the near future.
The whole concept of the song is that people don't needor want to feel negative
emotions, but sometimes can't help it. The one thing that they do need is love from
others, regardless of their differences. The song encourages people to not only accept,
but offer ongoing love and support for them. The song takes more of a team approach
to battling mental illness and aims to help erase the negative stigma associated with it.
Download the song at:
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/all-your-love/id972683956?i=972683960
If you are interested in possibly helping the group promote their song and fundraising
initiative, please contact Mr. Sinclair or Mrs. Deery at St. Benedict School (289-851-9353).
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
*Spirit Day*
Thank you to everyone who participated in our red and white spirit day last month. We
raised over $300.00 for Big Brothers and Big Sisters (BBBS). Spirit day this month will be
held on Friday, March 13th. We will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and ask everyone
to wear green and white. We will be collecting a canned good to donate to the local food
bank. Thank you for showing your spirit St. Benedict!
*BBBS Bowl-a-thon*
A HUGE heartfelt thank you from BBBS Halton...through your generosity, the students
of St. Benedict donated a whopping $692.80 towards the school's first annual
participation in the board's annual bowl-a-thon...your kindness will definitely make a
big difference in helping Halton's children get a head start on their emotional, academic
and social success
Newsletter March 2015
Earth Hour
Hundreds of millions of people, including businesses and governments around the
world, unite each year to support the largest environmental event in history – Earth
Hour.
More than 7,001 cities and towns in 152 countries and territories are now inspired to
switch off their lights for one hour as a massive and powerful call for action on climate
change and health of the environment.
On Saturday, March 28, 2015, between 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM (local time), millions of
voices will come together once again. Will you be one of them?
Let the Games Begin….
Our teams have been chosen and the date has been set. To promote an enthusiasm for reading, every
year Milton Public Library invites the schools in Milton to compete in a reading competition called the
Battle of the Books. Students test their knowledge of popular literature against other students in a
friendly competition. At St. Benedict we have already started to prepare by meeting at recess to discuss
the selected authors and by reading of course!! Congratulations to everyone who tried out – best of
luck to our team!
Our Junior Team:
Grade 3
Adam G.
Matthew C.
Christopher S.
Grade 4
Faith I.
Amaya H.
Dara E.
Grade 5
Baily S.
Irmtraud B.
Cristina G.
*Scholastic Book Fair*
Thank you St. Benedict School Community for a very successful Scholastic Book Fair.
Because of your generosity, we have raised approximately $2000 to put towards new
books for our Learning Commons. A special thank you to our parent volunteers and the
many student helpers for helping throughout the week. We could not have done it
without you! Winners of the family and classroom draw were Maria B. and Mrs. Daniels.
Newsletter March 2015
*Weather Watch*
Please note that for news about HCDSB school closures and/or bus cancellations due to
inclement weather you can tune in to the following radio stations commencing at 6:30
a.m.
CFRB TORONTO 1010 AM
CHFI TORONTO 98.1 FM
CJOY GUELPH 1460 AM
CHWO OAKVILLE 1250 AM
CHML HAMILTON 900 AM
CKOC HAMILTON 1150 AM
CKMW BRAMPTON 790 AM
CJBC (French) TORONTO 890 AM
CING BURLINGTON 108 FM
CKDS HAMILTON 95.3 FM
CKLH HAMILTON 102.9 FM
March 3
March 10
March 13
March 16-21
March 17
March 25
March 28
“All your Love” available for purchase on itunes.
Lenten Mass @ 1:30 pm
Spirit Day (wear green/white and bring a donation of a canned good)
March Break
St. Patrick’s Day
Regional Public Speaking Finals @ St. Benedict
Earth Hour 8:30-9:30 p.m.
The 100th Day of School!
By Tarina (grade 1)
On Friday we had the 100th day of school. First I got 100 things. I got 100 yellow and white
cards. The numbers are yellow and the paper is white. Then we lined up our 100 things in the
hall. Sebastian’s 100 straws were the longest. They were all different colours. Luca D’s kernels
were the shortest. They were so small. We cleaned up all of our 100 things. We put them in our
cubby. Next we did the crowns. They were so beautiful. I put on one blue beautiful jewel. I
had 10-10 frames on it. After, we went to the Land of Numbers. We learned that the Land of
Newsletter March 2015
Numbers was everywhere. When we came back we did our 100 book. The front of the book
had 100 on it. It had questions like “what would you like 100 of?” I love 100 day because I got
to learn that the Land of Numbers is everywhere.
Lent at St. Benedict School
By: Irmtraud gr. 5 and Valuscha gr. 7
Lent is a time of fasting, almsgiving, repentance and reverence. We choose to make sacrifices
to show our respect for our Lord who sacrificed His life for the purpose of saving us. At St.
Benedict School, we also express our respect for Jesus. On Tuesday February 10 th, the school
offered all of the students and staff pancakes in honor of Shrove Tuesday, a day when we
empty our fridges of fatty and sugary foods. This day is also known as Pancake Tuesday and
Mardi Gras, which means fat Tuesday in French. The next day, Ash Wednesday, our school had
a liturgy. Each student received an ash in the shape of a cross on their forehead. Father Jim
shared important things to remember. He said “If your sacrifice doesn't end up changing you as
a new and improved human being, then sacrificing will have no outcome on you. It's important
to try and make our world just a little better place to live.” We will remember these important
thoughts as we go through this Lenten season.
New Newspaper Outlet
By: Ellie and Alex (grade 7)
Mrs. Dolan and Mme. Johnston have been graciously spending their time during lunch with
those of us who are taking part in the St. Benedict Newspaper Team. We are creating the student voice
section in the newsletter where we give our perspective on the events occurring at our school. We meet
during recesses and consist of students from grade 5 to 7. We thoroughly enjoy this role in our school
community as it gives us a helpful experience to increase and develop our love for writing and reporting.
Brainstorming, writing, editing, and publishing are all a part of the responsibility-building process.
As a twenty-first century school, St. Benedict’s newspaper team has begun to implement a new
and refreshing online blog to post all of their coverage of ongoing events in our school community. This
blog is currently under construction and will be open to parents, staff, and students in the coming few
months. We are excited to take this opportunity to outlet our work privately and safely online for our
school community. More information is to come regarding this new, zestful, aspect of our newspaper
team.
Fun at the Book Fair
By: Gracie H. and Stella D. grade 5
Newsletter March 2015
This year St. Benedict hosted a book fair. It was great to see the kids scrambling to get the
perfect book for their reading level and interests. Some kids wanted to share their opinions:
Olivia from Mrs. Dolan’s class says: "I got a Snow Babies and a Monster High Book. The Monster
High was creepy". Ava, Paige and Sebastian (Mrs. Dolan), and Sophia ( Mrs. Mastrangelo and
Ms. Mifsud's class ) all said: " I thought it was awesome!" Anthony from Mrs. Mastrangelo and
Ms. Mifsud's class says "I thought it was very good. I loved the books!
Many kids came for the book fair and that wasn’t the only success. Did you know that all the
money goes to the books that Mrs. Murray buys, so now we can have more books for the
library. In conclusion the book fair was a big success.
Gratitude
By: Paris and Leila (grade 7)
What is gratitude? Ask yourself this. Gratitude turns what we have into enough. It means
the quality of being thankful. As we enter lent we should have the virtue of Gratitude to be
thankful and show appreciation for what God has done for us.
“If you want to find happiness, find Gratitude”- Steve Maraboli.
Gratitude is God’s will for you because it develops your faith and brings you closer to God
because we know that he is in control of us. He loves us, and we know He can bring good
out of us.
Colossians 2:7 says, “Sync your roots in him and build on him. Be strengthened by your
faith that you were taught situations, and your faith will grow even stronger because of it.”
Here are some ways to show Gratitude in someone’s life:
 Say thank you. Saying thank you is such a small thing, but it can be a huge impact
on yours and someone else's life. You need to say it with sincerity or the words can
lose meaning and they turn into words.
 Give a free hug, or as Olaf says, “I like warm hugs!” But make sure you do it at
appropriate times.
 Do someone a free favour.
 Do something nice for someone without them expecting it. Think what a person
wants or needs and try do something to help them.
 Give someone a list of things of all that they’ve done that you're grateful for. Make a
list of 10-15 things you love about someone or things that they have done that you
appreciate.
“Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same” The Fray.
You should always be grateful for what we have and show gratitude to others just as God
would have wanted you to.
St. Benedict Speeches
By: Cristina G. and Ciara V
On February 25 the grade 5 extended French students went to Our Lady of Fatima for the
French speaking competition. Two kids from our French immersion classes competed against
Newsletter March 2015
each other at OLF. These two people were Valerie V. and Cristina G. Valerie won and will be
representing our school at the St. Peter’s competition.
The Orators club was holding a competition to pick the representative of our school. Some
speech topics were Nelson Mandela, Vatican City, Languages, Stress, and Seventies Music. Mrs.
Park and Mrs. Messom were the judges. We are going to find out who is going to represent our
school on March 5th. Stay tuned and we’ll let everyone know next month!