November 22, 2017
A living faith in God means acceptance of the brotherhood of mankind.
Mahatma Gandhi
News from the Office
· Can you believe that we are just over one week until December? We have really been keeping ourselves busy with extra-curricular activities and look forward to more to come, including a Christmas Concert (K-4), a Band Concert, as well as Advent Liturgies, class field trips and outings.
· Winter is here! We ask parents to please remember to bundle up their little ones and remind your older children to dress warmly. Recesses will continue to be held outdoors, unless the combination of temperature and wind chill exceeds -25°; and we want to make sure that our students are prepared for the weather. Also as the weather changes wet footwear continues to challenge our caretaking staff as they try to keep our school clean. We ask students and parents to share that same pride in our school by remembering to remove their wet footwear. Thanks!
· At the City of Saskatoon Remembrance Day service at SaskTel Centre, one of our students, Emory H. represented St. Kateri Tekakwitha by laying a cross at the Cenotaph. We are very proud and grateful. Great job, Emory!
· Just to let families know, we will not be having a book fair for this round of conferences, but are looking at having one in the future.
3-Way Conferences
As indicated in previous newsletters, our 3-way conferences will be taking place Thursday, November 23 (afternoon and evening) and Friday, November 24 (all day). Progress reports will be sent home on Wednesday, November 29. The purpose of meeting with parents and students before progress reports go out is so that we can focus on the child’s portfolio and work so far this year in the conferences and then send the report cards out later as confirmation of what was discussed in the 3-way conference. The 3-way conference is a crucial aspect of student assessment and goal setting and we truly need parents as part of this process. Parents, we appreciate your efforts to attend the conference with your child and to review your child’s goals and progress in the portfolio. We look forward to seeing all parents at the three way conferences.
1ST St. Kateri Christmas Concert
K-4 Christmas Concert "Miracle on Bethlehem Street" will take place Wednesday, December 13 at 1 pm and 7 pm. We are encouraging people to attend the afternoon performance if they are able, to lessen the attendance in the evening. Students are asked to be at the school no earlier than 6:30 pm and go to his/her classroom to prepare for the evening performance.
Band News
The Grade 6 and Grade 7/8 Bands are inviting you to attend our first band concert at St. Kateri Tekakwitha School. The concert will be held in the gym on December 14th at 2:20PM. Guests are asked not to arrive before 2:00PM. Band students will need to be dressed in black and white, and will need both their instrument and music at school for this day. We look forward to seeing you there!
Grade 7/8 News
They will also be attending the Festival of Trees at the WDM on Thursday, November 30th.
The JR/SR Boys volleyball team will be hosting a play day on November 30th, 2017. Games will start at 3:00 p.m. and end at 5:00 p.m.
Playground/sledding hill
We have developed a schedule to maximize the use of our playground and sledding hill, while keeping things from getting too congested and dangerous. The schedule will be as follows:
Hill / PlaygroundFirst recess / Gr. 2-3 / K-1
Lunch recess / K-1 / Gr. 2-8
Last recess / 4-8 / 2-3
We will open the hill to student sledding on Monday, November 26. In keeping with our school division sledding guidelines, we ask students to follow these expectations:
· Sleds must be foam, not of a hard material (no crazy carpets, hard plastic disks, GT Snow Racers).
· Areas of the hill will be marked as downhill sledding areas and uphill walking areas. They need to be followed for student safety.
· If supervisors deem the hill to be too icy or unsafe in any way, sledding will be suspended for a period of time.
Following these guidelines and the schedule will make our recesses even more enjoyable and safer for all.
A Note from the CSCC
Hi St Kateri Families
The staff of St Kateri have gone above and beyond to make our new school feel like home to all of the students and parents. As the Christmas season approaches the CSCC is asking that each student please bring $1-2 by December 15 to go towards a staff appreciate evening.
The CSCC meets monthly if you would like to attend please feel free. Meetings are at 8pm at St. Kateri.
January 15, February 12, March 19, April 16, May 14 and June 11.
Bottle Drop & Donate Fundraiser
We will be holding another bottle drop & donate fundraiser at Sarcan. Our registered drop off dates are November 24th to December 16th (inclusive). Please drop bottles off at any Sarcan that has a Drop & Go terminal. See below for further information.
What is Drop & Donate?
Simply visit your local SARCAN depot and log in to our account 3066597990 (school phone number). The answer to the security question is Saskatoon. The friendly depot staff can help you make your first donation. Once you have logged into the account, simply print off tags for the number of bags and boxes you would like to donate, put one label on each bag and box, and pass your containers off to the staff.
Thanks from the CSCC
Grade 8’s Selling Treats for Year-End Camping Trip
Mr. Neufeld’s class will be selling the following items:
Chips - $1.00
Candy bar bags - $1.00
Twizzlers - 0.25
Suckers - 0.25
News from the St. Kateri Playground Committee
Well, it looks like the snow is here to stay! We hope your children were/are able to still enjoy the playground! It really has been so wonderful to see it being enjoyed by all!
Just a reminder of a few ongoing things:
· Coupon Books are back! We will have some available for purchase during Parent Teacher conference on Thursday November 23rd from 3:30pm-8pm at the school. Books are $25 with a 50% profit! Be sure to look for Rick and Tannis and get yours! Alternatively, please reach out through our Facebook page “St. Kateri Playground Association” to make arrangements to purchase one.
· Mabels Labels Fundraiser is still active! There will be a great Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale! Be sure to order any labels through our ongoing fundraising link:
https://mabelslabels.com/c/?type=fundraiser&b=5881&cur_website=base
· There is still time to submit your “Friends and Family Fundraiser ” that went home a couple weeks ago in backpacks with your children (on the bright pink paper! J) Thank you to those who have returned those with donations. If you haven’t returned this to school, there is still time to do that! Don’t forget, if incentives are met, a bonus recess will be earned and Mr. Gauthier will dye his hair blue & green. J
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our fundraising efforts. Stay Warm!
Save the date!
The Friends of St. Kateri Tekakwitha School Community Council is pleased to present the:
1st Annual St. Kateri Tekakwitha School Car-less Drive-in featuring the LEGO Ninjago Movie
When: Friday, 26 January 2018, show time is at 7:00 pm
Where: St. Kateri Tekakwitha School Gym
Admission will be $5.00 per family. A traditional movie concession will be available. More details to follow closer to the event!
Rooted in Faith, Growing in Knowledge, Reaching out to Transform the World
As we prepare our hearts and minds for the commemoration of the birth of our Savior, St. Kateri Tekakwitha School, in keeping with our school division’s mission, has been and will be engaging in many different activities throughout Advent.
Rooted in Faith
*During Advent, morning prayer will be specific to Advent.
*Each classroom will have an Advent wreath and a large wreath will be in the Sacred Space as reminders what the season is really about.
*We will celebrate Advent liturgies both in the gym as a large faith community and in the Sacred Space in smaller groups.
Growing in Knowledge
*As part of our religious instruction, we will continue to learn about the purpose and the gifts of Advent as well as the importance of the pillars of Advent: prayer and almsgiving.
*We will challenge our students to look beyond the commercialization and monetization of Christmas, in order to be open for the reason for the season and also teaching the need to keep Christ in Christmas.
Reaching out to Transform the World
*Mr. Neufeld’s grade 7/8 class has collected, organized and sent out 20 shoeboxes filled with essential items (toys, school supplies, etc.) that will be sent to families in developing countries through the Samaritan’s Purse project.
*We have registered as a donating school through the C95 “Stuff the Bus” project for the Friendship Inn. There will be large barrels in the school for families to donate non-perishable food items. These barrels will also be set out at our Christmas Concert day/evening for families to bring non-perishable food items to donate.
We appreciate and thank our community’s support in walking the Advent journey with us.