April 2014 St. Agatha Catholic School “Growing Together in Faith, Knowledge and Friendship” May this Easter Season bring you and your family Peace and Blessings. Newsletter First Communion First Communion will be celebrated on Sunday, April 27 at 1:00 p.m., at St. Agatha Catholic Church. Please keep the students in your prayers. Kindergarten Registration If you missed Kindergarten Registration for September 2014, please call the school at 519-747-1801. Did you know!!! There is a bus stop at Inspiring Minds Early Learning Centre, Daycare at 1129 Henry Street, Wellesley that picks up and drops off students coming to St. Agatha. So sign up and get on the bus!!!! Paint a Bright Future with Us! The Waterloo Catholic District School Board is pleased to offer a fee based Extended Day Program for children from JK to grade 6. We…. Provide before and after-school learning for children in Grades JK to 6 with a Full/Part-time recurring schedule Are available from as early as 7:00 a.m. to as late as 6:00 p.m. Incorporate the same play-based, inquiry and exploration approach taken in the regular school day. Offer parents a convenient school location and a safe and healthy environment for young children with no wait lists Are run by knowledgeable Early Childhood Educators Allow for consistency and security for parents and children Are available for an affordable fee offering a variety of payment methods including most major credit cards Are eligible for Region of Waterloo child care subsidy To register visit www.wcdsb.ca Extended Day Programs will operate only at sites with sufficient parent demand Program location will be announced by May 15nd 2014 News From our Classrooms Miss Backewich-JK/SK March in JK/SK has been filled with preparation for Easter through our 40 day Lenten journey together. Our class has been buzzing with excitement as we await the one and only…Mr. Easter Bunny. Our class, together, brainstormed and wrote about solutions to every Kindergarten’s biggest Easter fear… a sick Easter Bunny! After coming up with ideas such as; Santa taking over the job, magically turning a regular bunny into the Easter Bunny, or having the Mail delivery person deliver eggs… we were much less anxious. We have been hopping around while singing Easter poems, reading The Easter Story and talking a lot about Jesus’ presence in our hearts during this journey together. We have welcomed spring into our classroom and we are excited for April to come for more learning and growing together in Kindergarten. Mrs. Toschkoff– Gr. 1/2 Spring has sprung!???? We hope the good weather will soon be here to stay! During the course of this coming month, we will be concentrating our language learning around making inferences, determining point of view and main ideas, and writing “meaty” answers to questions. Including a good opening and closing sentence will be a big focus this month. In Math we will be learning how to tell time, as well as working on place value and two digit addition and subtraction. Easter will be upon us soon....with that will come many lessons about the love Jesus showed us through his sacrifice. We will be discussing his journey toward his death and resurrection. Earth Week activities will be happening in the middle of the month as well! It is always an important time to remember how to take good care of our earth! Once again, I ask you to keep many of our Grade two students in your prayers as they prepare to receive their First Communion at the end of the month! Happy April everyone!! Mrs. Chevalier - Gr. 3/4 Finally we are heading into some warmer weather!! The Grade 3/4 class is working on all things measurement this month—linear, mass and capacity. We will then move on to learn about fractions. In Language Arts we are finishing up a unit on poetry and figurative language and will be looking at non-fiction text features next. As well we will continue working on making connections and asking questions about non-fiction texts. Students will be using their GAFE accounts to provide meaningful feedback on each other’s work during these activities. In Social Studies the Grade 3/4 students are beginning their research projects. Each student will be examining a society from the past—from the Ancient Greeks to the Early Settlers. The Grade 4 students will be participating in CCAT testing at the end of the month. We continue to focus on preparing ourselves for Easter during this Lenten season. Wishing you and your families a blessed and joy filled Easter!! Mrs. Voelzing - Gr. 5/6 Happy Easter everyone! At the beginning of March, students presented their speeches to the class. They varied in topic choices – some were funny, some were inspiring, some were informative, but ALL were very well done! Students have been writing prayers with a Compassion theme for Education Week. We participated in the WCDSB’s Heal the Earth Poster contest as a class. In Math, we have begun working with Probability and will be moving into Measurement and Algebra. In Science, the Grade 5’s have had fun building Eco-houses and designing renewable energy cars. They will be moving on to Structures. The Grade 6’s have been experimenting with Power Point as they studied Space. They will begin to explore the properties of Flight. Just after March Break, we were lucky enough to have a visit from two amazing Canadian authors, Eric Walters and Michael Wade. They students enjoyed both presentations immensely and had well thought out feedback about each. Mrs. Henriques Gr. 7/8 The students have completed their science projects in the Grade 7/8 classroom/workshop. They created many usable systems and prototypes such as car washes, water guns, bridges and children’s toys. They continue to work on their selfselected writing and math projects where they can allow their creativity to show. April is a busy month - our fundraising campaigns begin for our trip to Camp Brebeuf in May. Our after school Easter Sweet Tray Sale happens on April 16th. Parents are invited to a Parent Information Night on April 29th. Students are encouraged to visit our class website daily to manage their responsibilities. French - Mlle Morreira Bonjour parents, This month in French we have completed many different things and we have also started some new and exciting things. In Grade 4 we have started a new unit called “Mon Robot Respectueux”. We are talking about respectful behaviour and will build a robot out of recyclable materials and program it with good manners. In grade 5/6, students have complete their athletic jersey and biography of an athlete and presented them as the conclusion to the Olympics unit. Great job everyone. We have also started a unit called “Mon Canada”. We are talking about symbols that represent Canada. We are looking forward to creating personal flags using symbols that represent ourselves. We will also be creating a passport page to attach to our flags. In grade 7/8 we have also completed the Olympics unit. Students have presented an interview with an athlete. We have started a new Mystery unit as well. Students will be looking at elements of a mystery and then creating their own mystery to the class in the next months. I’m looking forward to seeing the creative side of everyone. Bonne journée Important Dates to Remember, Please Mark Your Calendar Tuesday, April 1 Gr. 7/8, four students to Student Leadership Program 9:30 am to 2:00 pm. (St. Michael’s Parish Hall, Waterloo Friday, April 4 Last prepaid Pizza Lunch (Snow Day Feb. 21) Tuesday, April 1, 8, 15, 29 Father Dan visits school Thursday, April 10 ARC Meeting-Open House - Holy Rosary 4-8 pm Friday, April 11, 25 Pizza Lunch - pay as you order Sunday, April 12 Palm Sunday Wednesday, April 16 Gr. 7/8, four students to Resurrection CSS for Student Voice Forum, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm Wednesday, April 16 Grade 7/8 Bake Sale 6:00 to 8:00 pm. in the gym Thursday, April 17 Stations of the Cress, We Are Silent (We Day Team) Thursday, April 17 Pizza Lunch-pay as you order Friday, April 18 Good Friday Sunday, April 20 Easter Sunday Monday, April 21 Easter Monday Tuesday, April 22 Arc Meeting St. Agatha School 6:00-8:00 pm Tuesday, April 22 School Council Meeting 6:30 pm Wednesday, April 23 Easter Week Liturgy 10 am April 22, 23, 24 Earth Week Thursday, April 24 Spirit Assembly-Crazy Hair/Hat Sunday, April 27 First Communion, 1:00 pm St. Agatha Church Monday, April 28, 29, 30 Grade 4 CCAT Testing 8:40-9:40 am Tuesday, April 29 Needles Grade 8 girls & Grade 7’s Tuesday, April 29 Grade 7/8 Camp Brebeuf Catholic Education Week May 4-May 9 More information to follow. Library News: Forest of Reading members are encouraged to keep reading the Silver Birch and Red Maple nominated titles as voting will take place in April. At least five of the ten titles need to be read in order to cast your vote. Please come to the library on Tuesdays and Thursdays during morning or afternoon recess to read your books. I have been reading the Blue Spruce nominated titles to the younger students during their library visit. In the fall the Grade 7/8 students had an opportunity to work with Mrs. Henriques and myself to apply for a Speak Up grant. Students expressed their interest in having a Literacy Week to help promote reading and writing activities in our school. Our grant was successful and we were able to bring in two amazing authors and speakers to our school. On Tuesday, March 18th Eric Walters did two presentations for our students. His talk was both humorous and inspiring. His love for animals and his work in Africa left a huge impression on all of us. On Thursday, March 20th Mike Wade, author of the And Then it Happened series spoke with our students. His humorous stories kept everyone laughing. He let us know that anyone could be a writer and showed us how small, simple words are all you need to get started. His books are now flying off the shelf of our school library. Thanks to everyone for participating in our Literacy week Student Council and Colour Houses Congratulations to Yellow House who had the most points in February. In March, we recognized the Excellent Eight students who were most fair within our school . Next month’s Spirit Day is on Thursday, April 24th. The theme is “Crazy Hat/Hair Day”. At our assembly, we will recognize students who have shown the greatest ability to “cooperate”. We Day Initiatives (We Are Silent) In April, we will raise awareness of those who do not have a voice by being silent on April 17th. We will show our support for all of those who do not have clean water, education, or proper health care. Students will have the option to collect pledges and stay silent for the entire day! Earth Week From April 22nd to April 24th, students will show how they can care for our beautiful world by participating in lights out lunches, packing lunches/snacks in reusable containers, an Eco-swap and yard clean-up. Everyone can make a difference! Boston Pizza Fundraising Night! Wednesday, May 7th 5:00 - 8:00 pm. On Wednesday, May 7th, families and friends can enjoy a night at Boston Pizza to help support the Grade 7/8 students in their quest to raise money for their Camp Brebeuf Christian Leadership excursion in May. Just bring your invitation anytime between 5 pm and 8 pm and enjoy a great meal! Easter Sweet Treats Bake Sale - Wednesday, April 16th 6:00 - 8:00 pm The intermediate students are planning fundraising activities to help eliminate the cost to participate in the Camp Brebeuf Christian Leadership program in May. On April 16th, families can drop by St. Agatha School gym to purchase Easter baking. Boxes of a variety of baked goods can be purchased for $5.00. Coffee and individual baking will be sold as well. Drop by if you can! We appreciate your support! New Orleans Pizza Nights 11th annual School Fundraising Nights May 5, 6, 7, 2014 We have an easy way to support our school and not have to make dinner. On May , 5, 6, 7 stop in or place a phone call to order pizza, submarines, chicken wings etc. from New Orleans Pizza. Half the cost will be donated to our school. You simply hand in the flyer with you order, of if calling, let them know which school you are supporting. ST. AGATHA SCHOOL Wilmot Healthy Communities Coalition “Creating healthy communities one generation at a time” 7th Annual Living Well Festival “MADE IN WILMOT” Friday, April 25, 2014. 9:30am-3 pm & 7-10 pm Saturday, April 26, 2014. 9:30 am-2:00 pm Wilmot Recreation Complex, 1291 Nafziger Road, Baden ON Featuring FREE, educational, fun activities that focus on “Working Together to Build a Healthy Community” Visit our website for more details and a schedule of events. http://www.whcc-healthywilmot.org/ call 519-588-5916 or email [email protected] Healthy, Active Living Fit Bit Chickpea Curry in a Hurry! This fibre-rich, meatless meal is delicious with brown rice or warm whole grain naan or pitas. Serves 4 1 tablespoon canola oil Take Time to Eat Together 1 large cooking onion Make meal time family time. Families that eat together tend to have better eating habits and less risk of obesity. Meal time is a great chance to check in with each other and share stories about your day. 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon curry powder What are you doing at mealtime? Reading the paper, watching the news, driving somewhere? Pinch ground cloves Take time to eat together. Turn off the TV and sit down at the table. Sitting down with family for a meal allows each person to share a few moments of their day. Eating together provides an opportunity for positive role modeling, while encouraging healthy habits. Make meal time family time, you’ll be glad you did. 2 cans (540 mL) chickpeas, rinsed and drained 2 cups water 3 tablespoons ketchup Try making this easy and delicious dish with your family. Talk about where each food item came from and how the meal was made. Chopped cilantro and lemon wedges, for serving Sports and Summer Camps 2014 For information and to register refer to: Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp & Retreat Centre Website: www.hiddenacres.ca Royal City Soccer Club 1-800-427-0536 Website: www.royalsoccer.com