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ST. ANSELM CATHOLIC SCHOOL 182 Bessborough Drive, Toronto, Ontario
M4G 4H5 TEL: (416) 393-5243 FAX: (416) 397-6320
www.tcdsb.org/stanselm @stanselm_cs
DECEMBER 2016
Principal Mr. R. Walo
Administrative Support Staff
Mrs. C. Bright Mrs. L. Commodari
Superintendent
Mr. J. Shanahan (416) 222-8282 ext.5371
Trustee
Angela Kennedy (416) 512-3411
CSPC Chair Mrs. A. O’Leary
Parishes
St. Anselm Catholic School 1 MacNaughton Road
(416) 485-1792
Pastor: Father Jozef
St. Edith Stein Catholic Church 16 Thorncliffe Pk. Drive
(416) 696-8427
School Hours
2016-2017 8:30 to 3:00 p.m.
AM Recess: 10:15 a.m.
Lunch Hour: 11:15 – 12:15 PM Recess: 1:40 p.m.
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE As we enter the season of Advent to prepare our hearts for the birth of Jesus, it is fitting that this month’s virtue is CHARITY. As many of us start our Christmas shopping, let us be mindful of the fact that charity is not always about giving ma-terial things. The St. Anselm quote for the month is “Where charity and love are, God is there”. At St. Anselm, there are many visible acts of Charity and kind-ness planned throughout the month of December that are benefitting those in need. The Me-To-We Team will be leading the CCAS Adopt-a-Family program once again this year. The choir has been busy preparing to sing Christmas carols to the residents at 921 Millwood on Tuesday, December 13th. The St. Anselm Par-ish community, along with the St. Vincent de Paul society, will be leading the “Angel Tree” program, where gifts are donated benefiting a number of children in nearby communities. These are just a few of the very generous acts of charity demonstrated by those in our community. We thank all of the families for their tremendous generosity during this Christmas season. During the month of December, classroom teachers will be very busy preparing students for the coming of Jesus’ birth. Students will be learning about the Na-tivity and Jesse Tree throughout the religion. The grand finale of 2016 will be our family mass and annual Christmas concert on Wednesday, December 14th at 6 p.m. at St. Anselm Parish. This year we will be preparing an Advent family mass and Christmas concert showcasing our amazing students. We look forward to sharing our Christmas spirit and cheer with you and your loved ones. We hope this performance will remind each of us about the underlying principle of our faith, inspiring us to live out the meaning of Christmas, throughout 2017. I look forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming events in December! On behalf of the staff at St. Anselm Catholic School, we would like to express a heartfelt thank you for all you do and for the amazing gift that your family is to our school. Our wish is that you may know the joy, hope, and peace of the Nativ-ity of Jesus this Christmas Season. We wish everyone a Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas, R. Walo Principal
VIRTUE OF THE MONTH:
CHARITY
A MESSAGE FROM THE CSPC CHAIR The parent council (CSPC) would like to wish all parents, students and staff at the school a very Merry Christmas! There will not be a CSPC meeting this month, so some of the key updates are included below. Wishing you all the best over the holidays and into the New Year! Family Fee-We have been able to raise almost $20,000 so far this year for the CSPC budget. Thank you so much to all families who contributed – your generosity makes a huge difference. While we haven’t reached our goal of $22,000, the funds raised will allow us to continue with so many of the great programs and improvements that CSPC supports. If you haven’t yet donated, it’s not too late! Boundary Review – On 21st, a public Boundary Review meeting was held in the gym. There was consensus to pro-ceed with the proposed permanent adjustments to the boundary. All currently enrolled students (including sib-lings) will be grandfathered, so the changes impact new families only. To get the full detail on the new boundaries, please contact Mr. Walo or myself. While we are happy to have a long-term solution in place, we will still be trying to work with the Board to come up with short-term solu-tions to address capacity issues. Bamboo Bay Arts Programs – The school has sent home information about a visual arts program that CSPC is funding at the school. When looking at our 2016/2017 budget, we agreed that it would be great to support the Arts in a more meaningful way this year. Bamboo Bay will conduct visual arts workshops for all classes, aligned with the board curriculum. Movie Night – Movie night will take place on Dec.16th. Information will be sent out closer to the date. A huge thanks to the parents who have volunteered to make this night such a success, particularly Mr. Lucero. It’s a great opportunity for parents to get a couple hours off, for kids to engage in a fun activity and for the school to make some extra money. Please contact Rodolfo Lucero if you’d like to volunteer to help. 2016 Hope for Children – This is a wonderful initiative that allows our school community to give back to families in need over the holidays. Three families have been spon-sored by the school and you should have received a list of requested items. Additionally, a registry type of list is be-ing created and will be emailed out to avoid duplication on larger items. The pick-up date is December 16th. For fur-ther info contact Mrs. Bright. COBS Breads – We have seen huge success with this fundraiser, which has brought $1,460 into the school. Thanks to Mrs. Soro for organizing. Curling night – Mark your calendars - The annual curling night has been booked for Feb. 4th! This event is held an-nually as a social evening for parents to get to know each other and have a fun night out.
ECHOage – A reminder to parents looking for a great, easy way to organize birthday parties while also raising money for the school. For more info on this, please ask Amy DeMelo or me at [email protected] Playground Revitalization update – Chris Burkett, a parent at the school who is leading this initiative, was ad-vised that our application for playground developments was put on hold during the Boundary Review. Now that the Review is finalized, we are very excited to get back on track with this. Chris is working with various community and board members to get a plan in place to rejuvenate the playground. More info to come! Questions, comments or concerns can be directed to CSPC Chair, Annie O’Leary ([email protected]). CHRISTMAS MASS AND CONCERT We would like to take this opportunity to formally invite all families to our Christmas family mass and Concert on Wednesday, December 14th at 6pm at St. Anselm Church. The even-ing will begin with a mass from 6:00-6:45 and will conclude with a concert. There will be a brief break between 6:45 and 7:00 p.m. to allow the band to setup for the concert. Once again, we will be treated by live musical accompani-ment from the Governor Generals Horse Guard Band. Please note: there will be reserved seating at the front of the church for the children. We kindly ask that you drop off your child(ren) to their seating area either before mass at 5:45 p.m. or at the break at 6:45 p.m.. This will avoid disruptions during the mass. 2016/2017 NEW STUDENT REGISTRATION Kindergarten Registration will begin for all Elementary
Schools on Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at 10:00 am EST. Parents/guardians with children born in 2013 or earlier and who will be enrolling in Kindergarten (as well as school-aged children), have the oppor-tunity to apply on-line using the “Student On-line Admission and Registration” plat-
form known as S.O.A.R. and found at the following link: http://soar.tcdsb.org. The on-line application also offers access to translations in different languages with built-in help functions and features. Those families wishing to apply in person, are kindly asked to contact the school office at 416-393-5243 for an appointment. As part of the registration process, school staff will meet with parents. These meetings may be scheduled on the electronic application or by calling the school office. During the meeting, school staff will verify the original documentation required for registration. This consists of a Baptismal Certificate, Birth Certificate and/or Passport, Immunization record, proof of residence and Application for Direction of School support.
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CURRICULUM HIGHLIGHTS Mrs. Paiano/Mrs. Lavelle’s Full Day Kindergarten Class
The season of winter is fast approaching, and the Kinders will be learning about the signs of winter and how animals go into hibernation. With Christmas almost here, the Kinders will be writing their Santa letters, and we will be mailing our letters on one of our Nature Walks. The St. Anselm Christmas concert is scheduled for December 14th, and the Kinders will be busy practicing the song “The Little Drummer Boy”. On December 14th, we will also have a professional artist from the Bamboo Bay Studio come to our class to teach a lesson in art. We will try to make time for one more trip to Leaside Library. Finally, the children will also be busy making their nativity scene, and they will be involved in many arts and crafts for the Christmas season. In Language arts, the students will be learning the sounds of R, M, D, and G. We will continue to focus on the family words _ar, _ot, and _op. The children will also be learning the following sight words it, so, an, can, and up. In literacy, we will focus on the book “The Mitten” by Jan Brett, and if time permits, the students will be working on some language and art follow up activities. In mathematics, we will continue to focus on measurement. We will also begin our unit on Spatial Sense. The children will be investigating spatial relationships using positional terms such as top, bottom, above and be-low. If time permits, we will begin our unit on Number Sense and Numeration. The children will recognize and describe visual patterns of numbers to 10, count and compare sets to 10, identify and describe sets to 10. We will also continue with our inquiry on volcanoes, and we will attempt to make a volcano with the chil-dren. On a final note, we would like to thank Mr. Anthony for coming to read to the class. We would also like to thank Ms. Serrati for coming in to supervise the class during the lunch hour. We look forward to another month of fun and learning!
Mrs. L’Abadie and Ms. Huggins’ Full Day Kindergarten class
As Christmas will be soon be upon us our students will be learning about the Advent sea-son and the coming of Jesus. This will be reflected in our preparation for our Christmas concert. We will also focus on showing more love and kindness as our gift to others. In Mathematics, we will continue our unit on Measurement. Students will measure, and
use non-standard units of the same size, and compare objects, materials and spaces in terms of their length, mass, capacity, area and temperature, through inquiry and play-based learning. In Language, students will be learning the sounds of the letters (Dd, Gg, Oo) and will be completing Christ-mas related stories, rhymes, news writing and reading. They will also be writing a letter to Santa. Additional-ly, we want to thank our reading buddies for visiting our classroom and accompanying us to our monthly Ho-ly Mass and all our parent volunteers. We wish all the families of St Anselm a wonderful and joyous Christ-mas season!!!
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Mrs. McFarquhar’s Senior Kindergarten/Grade One Class In Language, lessons will focus on nonfiction conventions. Students will explore a variety of nonfiction texts and contemplate how text features aid in comprehension. Emphasis will be placed on how structure patterns help readers understand the texts. For example, signal words such as first, second, then, finally help to identify time order or sequence. Our sounds for the month will be h, r, m and d. During the month of December, numeracy instruction will focus on data collection and organization. Students will be given the opportunity to conduct surveys on matters that are of interest to them. We will explore a variety of recording methods to be utilized while conducting research.
Miss McLoughlin’s Grade 1 Class
The students have been eagerly anticipating the Christmas season since Santa Claus came to town in No-vember. Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year of the Catholic Church. The students are learning about the symbols and stories of the Advent and Christmas seasons. They will participate in a daily Advent wreath service. The virtue for the month of December is CHARITY. The children will realize the joy of giving to others through St. Anselm School’s participation in the Adopt-a-Family Pro-gram organized by the Catholic Children’s Aid Society. The primary division is sponsoring a family in
need (single mother with two boys ages 9 and 11). Gently used household items (except used clothing), new items, gift cards and monetary donations can be dropped off in the classroom until Wednesday December 14th. In Mathematics the students will wrap up our unit on beginning addition and subtraction strategies. Our next unit of study will be Linear Measurement. In Language Arts story elements will be explored through the shared reading of several seasonal picture books. Enriching the students’ writing through descriptive word choice is an ongoing goal. The students will be performing at the Christmas concert on Wednesday December 4th at St. Anselm Church. Thank you for your continued support. I wish you a joyous Christmas season with your family and friends.
McMahon’s Grade 1/2 Class In November, Ms. McMahon’s class marked All Saints and All Souls days by looking at the holy people of God, including St. Frances of Assisi, and Blessed Mother Theresa, as well as making the case for our own friends and family as “Saints Among Us.” As we delightedly dive into December, we look forward to getting to know the story of a cer-tain Saint Nicholas – otherwise known as Santa Claus! We will be getting together with our Grade 7+8 Reading Bud-dies, who will help us pen letters to the “Big Man in Red”, properly addressing them to the North Pole, naturally. Continuing with Language and Drama, we will begin preparing our very own Nativity play. We’ll soon be asking par-ents for a little help with simple costumes from home – bath robes, farm animal accessories (think ears and headgear) – all to help us deliver a child-like telling of the birth of the Baby Jesus: The Greatest Story Ever Told. Hey, no pres-sure, class. ;) In Mathematics, we continue with strategies of adding and subtracting before moving into Linear Measurement. We anticipate various hands-on measuring using rulers, metre sticks, and non-standard units, too. (Hand-spans or number of Grade 1 footsteps, for e.g.) Naturally, we’ll also keep track of “How many sleeps” until Dec. 25th. As the new month also ushers in the holy season of Advent, we will enjoy a daily ceremony with the Advent wreath and the Jesse Tree, and the many symbols from the rich tradition of our faith. We also consider the heart in our TCDSB logo and how it connects to the Virtue of the Month – Charity. We will strive to be charitable people – giving generously to the St. Anselm Adopt-a-Family school campaign. Of course, we should all look forward to a Christmas with “all the trimmings.” Still, we will consider the less fortunate and look for the face of Jesus in everyone we meet as we know He is the reason for the season.
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Ms. Messner’s Grade 2 Class In December the virtue of the month we will be celebrating is charity. In Religion we will be learning about the Advent season and the coming of Jesus Christ and the Christmas story. We will be having a daily gathering with Mrs. Connally’s, Ms. Napao’s and Mrs. Whyte’s classes to learn about the Jesse
Tree, praying and singing songs. On the evening of Wednesday, December 14th the Grade 2 students will be preform-ing a song for the school Christmas concert. In Language Arts the students will continue to participate in shared and interactive reading and writing and our weekly word study. We will continue to be learning how to write a friendly letter (date, greeting, body, closing and signature). In Math we will continue to work on addition and subtraction strate-gies (ten frames, doubles, number lines, math cubes) and various activities. In Social Studies we will continue to learn about Canada and global communities (countries, flags, money, climate etc.). We also will be exploring different types of maps of the world. Wishing all the families of St. Anselm a wonderful and joyous Christmas season!!!
Miss Napoli’s Grade 2/3 Class This November, there were plenty of special events and excursions to go around! We participated in the Lo-blaws Nutritional Field Trip and Cooking Class program where students learned how to create healthier menu choices with the support of a Registered Dietitian. We also traveled to Crawford Lake for a wonderful out-door experience that helped enrich both our Fully Alive & Social Studies curriculum. Most recently, we had the opportunity to participate in the Huddle Up Rally for Anti-Bullying at Nathan Phillips Square where around 3000 students from around the GTA took a pledge to end bullying. This December, our class is looking forward to attending the upcoming Raptor's game with the St. Anselm community! In Math, we wrapped up units in Data Management and Addition & Subtraction. We practiced important skills such as learning to read and create our own charts, graphs and diagrams using a self checklist when answering math problems. Looking forward to December, we will begin a new unit on Length, Time & Temperature. This will include estimating and measuring length, perimeter, time and temperature, using standard and non-standard units. For this unit of study, Grade 2 and 3 students will be collaborating on a holiday-themed inquiry where we will focus on procedures and accu-racy in Measurement. In Visual Arts, we have been further developing and fine tuning our basic art skills. Students have been learning proper shading and blending techniques. We have also been learning about other Elements of Design such as value and hue, as well as warm, cool and complementary colours. Students used these skills to develop their own "Creative Colour Swatches" complete with unique colour names and visual imagery to accompany the custom hue they created. Our class will also take part in a Holiday Craft workshop where we create our own clay ornaments. Stop by our Christmas art display this month and take a look at what our talented Grade 2 and 3 students have created. Wishing everyone a joyous Christmas filled with health & happiness for the New Year!
Mrs. Connally’s Grade 3 Class December ushers in the season of Advent in Mrs. Connally’s classroom as the grade three students await Christmas with anticipation. We will begin our days with an Advent celebration that introduces the stu-dents to many of Jesus’ ancestors through a focus on the Jesse Tree. Along with our reading buddies, our class will be performing tableaux during these paraliturgies. In addition, look out for the Advent Bag
which will arrive at your house in the coming weeks! Our service initiative will be performing random acts of kindness as a way of living out gospel values and sowing seeds of peace this Advent season.
In Language, we will focus on responding to reading. We will include evidence from the text in support of our ideas as we continue to read Because of Winn Dixie. We will also write paragraphs on topics involving important relationships in our lives. In Math, we will finish Data Management and begin working on Addition and Subtraction. The students will learn more strategies for problem solving and will use them in a variety of investigations. In Science, we are study-ing plants and soil. We are observing the life cycle of a plant from seed germination to seed production. In Social Stud-ies, we are studying Aboriginal people. Both curriculums intersect as we consider the value of plant life to First Nations people and the responsibility we have today as caretakers of creation. We look forward to a fun-filled month. Mrs. Connally’s grade three class wishes all St.Anselm families a holy, happy and safe Christmas.
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Mr. Wilson’s Grade 4 Class That’s right, “Tis the Season!” We are now in our final stretch before Christmas, eventhough there is no snow yet! (It’s coming, trust me!). While we are busy with our studies, our thoughts are on the wonder and magic that is Christmas. To help us get in the mood, our class will be attending a per-formance of “The Nutcracker” at Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts on Wednesday, November 30. We are all looking forward to it! We are also busy preparing for our Christmas Concert on
Wednesday, December 14. We hope you can make it! Best Wishes!
Mrs. Angelone’s Grade 4/5 Class December will be an exciting month in which we prepare for the Christmas season. Our class will be focussing on the Jesse Tree and will be participating in many activities that centre on Advent. On Thursday December 1st in the afternoon our class will participate in an art workshop. As well on De-cember 20th our class will travel to the A.C.C to cheer on the Raptors 905 team. In Math, the students have begun learning about Measurement. Grade 4 students will estimate, measure, and record length, perimeter, and elapsed time, using a variety of strategies. Grade 5 students will relate units of length to each other, and measure time and relate time to distance. As well, in Science, Grade 4’s continue their unit on Habitats and Communities. Grade 4’s will focus on habitats, the natural communities that depend on them, and the impacts that changes to habitats can have on interrelationships among plants and animals within these communities. Grade 5’s continue their unit on the Human Body. Grade 5’s will identify major systems in the human body (e.g., musculoskeletal system, digestive system, nervous system, circulatory system) and describe their roles and interrelationships I liked to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Ms. Dalla Giustina’s Physical Education and Health Classes
We are right on target! During our Target unit, which has focused on throwing, rolling, aim and force, students have been working on self assessing the critical elements to successfully perform each skill. They have been answering questions such as, "Did I step with the opposite foot to my throwing hand?" and "Should I change my force or my distance to reach the target?”. We will continue with target activities until the end of December when we will begin working on Net and Wall games. See us in ac-tion on Twitter @HPEStAnselm
Miss Macdonald’s Special Education Class The students in the M.E. class are excited for the upcoming Christmas Season! They will participate in daily Advent ceremonies and learn about the Christmas Story to prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ. They are looking forward to a holiday art workshop with their classes and building their own gingerbread houses. They are also excited to contribute to the Christmas Mass and sing in the Christmas Concert on the evening of December 14th! We ask the class to practice the virtue of the month,Charity, by bringing in contributions to support St. Anselm’s Adopt-a-Family school campaign. In functional numeracy students will focus on coin identification and value. They will also continue to work on count-ing, addition, and subtraction skills. In Functional Literacy, students have been learning to write friendly letters. They wrote letters to thank Alice and Honey, the therapy dog, for all of their work with our class. They will be saying good-bye and wishing Alice and Honey a very happy retirement at the end of November. In December, students will be send-ing letters to Santa and writing Christmas cards. We will reinforce the virtue of Charity and continue to work on story retelling and comprehension skills through daily reading and writing activities. A trip to the Young People’s Theatre to see “Seussical” is also in the works for December! Thank you to all of the St. Anselm families for your continued support. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
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Mrs. Whyte’s Grade 5 Class November’s theme of peace brought us to The Mary Ward Centre, during Aboriginal Treaties Week. We participated in a First Nations Smudging ceremony facilitated by Dr. Bob Phillips, and Ms. McGowan and her staff. Students enjoyed both this and the Kairos blanket exercise (http://kairosblanketexercise.org/), which engaged students in a retelling of the history of Can-ada, from an indigenous perspective. After we returned, students conveyed Dr. Bob’s message of hope to the children in Attawapiskat and Nunavut, through their letters. Students studied elements of the class novel, Hana’s Suitcase, and completed their first book report. Grade Fives became Citizen Scientists in November, and helped the National Science Foundation, by
counting penguins on Ross Island, each day, and sending the data to Antarctica. http://www.penguinscience.com/. This real world math opportunity will continue until the Adelie breeding season ends, at the end of January. In Math, students collected discrete and continuous data, and recorded it in a variety of ways (e.g., stem and leaf plot tables, bar graphs, and broken line graphs), and they began adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, whole num-bers, and decimals. In Visual Arts, we focused on the elements of design, and used a variety of media to represent Group of Seven art. Students enjoyed the workshop by Bamboo Bay artists, who taught them about perspective, and proportion in paintings. Students created vibrantly coloured watercolour paintings during this workshop. We finished our study of Energy, and with the scientist’s visit this month, started our study of Matter. We also had a visit from Councillor Jon Burnside, who informed students about municipal government. Students generated, and asked, a variety of questions (from recall to higher order thinking questions) about Municipal government, and tweeted photos, ques-tions, and comments, during his visit. In December, we will show charity in a variety of ways, including performing random acts of kindness for others, and donating books to The Children’s Book Bank. Each day, we will sing Advent songs, share Bible readings, prayers, tab-leaux, and symbols, together with other students, as part of our Jesse Tree celebration. In Language, we are practicing comprehension strategies to understand different texts, and students are writing longer, more detailed informational, graphic (i.e., Pixton comics), and literary texts, using Google Apps for Education. They are presenting their Google slideshows on a topic of their choice as well. In Math, we are beginning linear and temporal measurement, and students will continue problem solving using the Four Part Problem Solving model using real world math when possible! In Sci-ence, students are demonstrating the matter experiments which they have prepared. We look forward to Skyping with Jean Pennycook at the Cape Royds Adelie Penguin Field Camp in Antarctica, and seeing (and counting) the chicks. Students have already created questions for her about Data collection, and Energy in Antarctica! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZnmVRRRqlY. Thank you Grade Five families for staying connected to our class through Class Dojo, Twitter, and Google Classroom, and Merry Christmas!
Ms. Napao’s Grade 6 Class December will be an exciting month in which we prepare for the Christmas season. In Religion, our class will be focussing on the Jesse Tree and will be participating in many activates with Mrs. Co-nally, Mrs. Whyte’s and Miss Messner’s classes that centre around Advent. Our class specifically will be creating tableaus based on the stories of Advent. In Math, the students are learning about Addition and Subtraction in Chapter 4. Some of skills the students will learn: Solve problems and use estimation strategies and add/ subtract decimal numbers to hundredths and thousandths. In Language, (Media Literacy) the students have been learning how to be “Media Smart”. We are learning how to ana-lyze the format and structure of advertisements, and developing an awareness of advertising techniques. Students will implement some of these ‘advertising tricks’ to create an advertisement that “the man in the yellow suit” (a character from Tuck Everlasting) might have used to sell the infamous spring water. In the New Year, we will learn what makes something “newsworthy”, and begin writing newspaper articles. We will begin our Social Studies unit on Canada’s Interactions with Global Communities. Some of the topics the stu-dents will learn include: 1) How Canada is connected to the rest of the world 2) International Organizations 3) Trade and Canada’s Trading Partners.
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Mr. Nespolo’s Grade 6/7 Class T’was the month before Christmas, and all through the school, everyone is expecting for the weather to be cool. Excitement is mounting, as we are all filled with joy, anticipating the coming of Jesus, Mary’s baby boy. As we approach Christmas, reflecting we’ll be, on mean-ingful ways to show the virtue of Charity you’ll see. Participating students, all singing in glo-
ry, will be performing in this year’s Christmas ‘Story’. On the fourteenth of December, we will all have a ball, as Mr, Walo will first wish us a Merry Christmas then dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!" In Mathematics, the grade 6’s will be starting Chapter 5, which focuses on Measuring Length. I wonder how far Santa has to travel to deliver the gifts to all children in the world? The grade 7's will be starting Chapter 5 in Math as well, focusing on 2-D Measurement. In Media Literacy, students will be analyzing different me-dia ads and determining purpose, audience and marketing techniques. In Reading, we will be completing our unit on main idea and moving on to extending our understanding of a variety of texts. The grade 6's will be continuing in Social Studies, as we focus on learning more about Canada's global agencies. The grade 7's will continue with History, as we dive into the society and final years of New France. Finally, on December 16th, we will be having an artists workshop as we welcome Bamboo Studios. We will be learning about radial bal-ance, similarity, continuity and alignment in art designs. Wishing you a very safe and Merry Christmas! “Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps... means a lit-tle bit more!” - Dr. Seuss
Mrs. Gundy’s Grade 7/8 Class With the holiday season upon us, Mrs. Gundy’s grade 7/8 class will be focusing on the virtue of charity. Once again the school is participating in the Hope for Children Christmas Fund through our Me-to-We initiative. This year the classes have been asked to donate to a specific family in need. Please refer to the form that was sent by email for items that have been requested. In math, the grade 7s have recently begun working on chapter 5; 2-D geometry and calculating the formulas for triangles and trapezoids. There is the possibility that we will also begin our final unit for the first term, transformational geometry. In history, they have recently concluded their research projects on the causes, consequences and aftermath of the Seven Years’ War. We will shift our attention to another important event in Canadian history- the War of 1812. We have begun our second unit in science- heat in the environment, just in time for those cooler winter months. The grade 8s have begun working on our measurement unit, studying the circumference and area of circles. There is a strong possibility that we will begin our final unit for the first term before the start of the Christmas break, which looks at transformational geometry. In science, the boys have begun working on a new unit- cells. We continue to press on with history following Confederation and the development of the West as the boys work on an essay arguing whether they believe Louis Riel was a hero or traitor. For all information on language, please see Miss Korczynski’s highlights below. It is not always work, work, and more work in Mrs. Gundy’s room. There are a number of fun activities planned for the month of December. We will be visiting the Ontario Science Centre on Monday December 19th as part of our new units on heat and cells. On December 20th we will be attending a Raptors 905 game at the ACC. On the 22nd, the 7/8 and 8 classes will be trying out their skills with a morning of curling at Leaside Curling Club. Our class will also be leading the Christmas Mass as part of our school’s Christmas concert. The final week before the Christmas break will see the students perform original Christmas plays which they have already begun writing. I also want to take this time to wish all the staff and students of St. Anselm a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. See you in 2017.
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Ms. Korczynski' s Grade 8 Class Welcome to December! Here are some highlights for what to expect in our classroom this upcoming month. In Language, we are going to wrap up our study of “The Little Prince” and start working on the first essay of the year. So many fantastic discussions have come out of our lessons that it's taken us a little longer to get through the unit, but it's been well worth it! Ms. Gundy's grade 7 class is going to finish its persuasive writing unit, followed by a short media literacy unit focused on commercials and advertisements. Please see Ms. Gundy`s highlights for an update on math. In History, we are going to continue our study
of the development of Western Canada post Confederation, with an emphasis on the Gold Rush, the devel-opment of labour unions, inventions, and women's roles in workforce, and the Laurier Era. For Science, stu-dents will be finishing their longest unit of the year, taking a final look at the functions of tissues, organs, and interdependent organ systems. In Drama, students will be performing in their own “original plays” by re-working traditional fairy-tales and presenting them from the perspective of the villains as the heroes. For Physical Education, we are going to continue our Yoga unit, by engaging in active practice in order to actually understand the benefits of meditation and breathing! In Religion, students are going to focus on the celebration of Advent, by taking a closer look at its meaning and purpose. We have a couple of trips in store for the month of December as well; students will be going to the Science Centre as part of the cell biology unit and to Marshall McLuhan for a Christmas concert. In addition, we will be going curling right before the break! Last but not least, the Me to We Team is going to wrap up our Adopt A Family Program for the Catholic Children's Aid Society. We are so unbelievably grateful to the entire school for its continued support and donations! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! :) Mrs. Wilson - Resource Room This month in Math, we continued to develop our mathematical thinking/strategies as ap-plied to the strands of Numeracy and Measurement. In Numeracy, we explored different ways of looking at numbers and devising mental computation strategies. In Measurement, we looked at the “big ideas” around this strand and worked on solving problems using logical reasoning and real-life appli-cations.
A useful math resource to keep in mind: www.mathies.ca. This site is designed for Ontario K-12 students and parents. On the site you will find an array of resources from tutorial videos, concept reinforcing mathe-matics games, learning tools (everything from patterning blocks, fraction strips to graphic calculators) and homework assistance for Grades 7 and up. There is a also a toolkit designed for parents looking to strength-en their own knowledge and understanding as to how best to support their child’s learning in mathematics.
In Art, the Grade 6 students completed their project based on Kandinsky’s abstract art. The students were able to successfully apply the elements of design to create their own original pieces of art. The students’ reflections on their artwork were outstanding - students and teachers alike drew inspiration from each other.
This year St. Anselm will once again participate in the “The Forest of Reading” program. This initiative organized by the Ontario Library Association is Canada's largest recreational reading program and is de-signed to encourage a love of reading in people of all ages. The Forest of Reading helps celebrate Canadian books, publishers, authors and illustrators. More than 250,000 readers participate annually from their school and/or public library. Specifically our school will be running the Forest’s “Silver Birch Fiction program” which will be offered to students in Grades 4-6. The culmination of the program will be a field trip to Har-bourfront in May to attend a Festival whereby the students will have an opportunity to participate in fun and engaging activities including workshops put on by the authors/illustrators themselves.
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Mrs. Blanchet’s Learning Centre In The Learning Centre we will be exploring the Virtue of Charity. We are developing our algebra, and measurement skills in grade 8 and data management and measurement skills in grade 4. In Language we will be working on writing short stories, making connections and determining important ideas while reading. On Wednesday December 7, the students who visit the learning centre, will be participating in “The Hour of Code”. Our math class that day will be dedi-cated to learning how to code using interactive tutorials. We will be joining millions of other students that week who will be learning to code. For more information, please visit: http://hour of code.org/ca. As al-ways in The Learning Centre, we will be learning how to be good friends, through coaching, problem solv-ing and social skills programs, developing our typing and writing and tech skills, and learning how to be-come better readers, one sound at a time through Lexia Reading. Over the last month, we have been work-ing on setting up our closed classroom through Google Classroom. Your child has been given a login and password, which will allow them access to our safe shared space at school and at home. Please feel free to contact me, for more information. As always feel free to follow me on Twitter @stanselmtlc. Have a blessed, safe and magical Christmas! Self Regulation - Currently in educational studies there is a body of research that is investigating the im-portance of self regulation on learning. According to Handbook of Self-Regulation, by Baumeister & Vohs, self regulation can be defined as “The ability to attain, maintain and change one’s level of arousal appropriately for a task or situation, the ability to control one’s emotions, the ability to formulate a goal, monitor goal-progress, adjust one’s behaviors, the ability to manage social interactions, to co-regulate, and to be aware of one’s academic strengths and weaknesses, and have a repertoire of strategies to tackle day-to-day challenges of academic tasks.” How does understanding this concept assists teachers and students in the succeed in the classroom? Teaching a child to monitor their own self regulation, assists them with get-ting away from compliance based learning and directs them towards building resilience which will help them to better cope with more difficult tasks. I turn they will be more intrinsically motivated to take more risks, and employ more of a growth mindset towards their learning. The better a child is able to self regu-late, the better able they will be to synthesize information from all of their senses. For more information, please visit http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/self-regulation-calm-alert-and-learning Hour of Code - The students of the Learning Centre will be joining millions of other students in the world, who will be taking part in the Hour of Code, (#hour of code) on Wednesday December 7. According the the web site www.hourofcode.com/ca, The Hour of Code is a one-hour event where students of all ages can choose from a variety of self-guided tutorials, from kindergarten up throughout the week of December 5-11. Tutorials work on any modern browser, tablet, smartphone, or even with no computer at all. Code.org’s own tutorial features Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, Frozen and Minecraft and Star Wars and new this year Moana. There are also video lectures from Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. Their goal is to get 100 million students participating in the Hour of Code to spark an interest in Computer Science. We are very excited to be offering this opportunity to our students. If you are interested, please visit the above link and try one of the tutorials at home. Christmas Choir - December is upon us and we turn our attention to the season of Advent and the Virtue of Charity. On that note the Christmas Choir is once again preparing to spread some seasonal joy. We will be performing on December 13th at 2:00 for the residents of 921 Millwood Ave, at the Advent Mass/Concert on December 14, and on Friday December 23rd, 11:30-12:00 at McDowells Valu-Mart for some Caroling on Bayview. We will also be making a special appearance during the 905 Raptors game on December 20, where we will be singing the National Anthems. Come and join us on Bayview, at mass and during our Advent celebration, as we share our gift of music as a sign of Christ's light in our lives.
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THANK YOU TO FAMILIES USING ECHOAGE Our sincere gratitude is ex-tended to all families who have used EchoAge at their child’s birthday party over the past year. During the 2016 school school, we benefited from the generosity of the following students: Charlotte D, Isabel W, Eamon P, Declan P, Daniel W, Lauren H, Charlotte E, Alexander E, Gray G, Kauan T, Natalie W, Niamh P, Aliyana A, Bernardo R, Owen H, Sean C, Shannon C, Brooklyn D, Gavin V, Alexander N, Simone D, King-ston O, Kiera P, Nathan F, Liam H, Madeline W and Maran P. INCLEMENT WEATHER CANCELLATIONS
Please note that any cancellations or clo-sures due to inclement weather will be re-ported before 7 a.m. Information can be obtained from: Twitter @TCDSB, the board’s website www.tcdsb.org or 416-222-8282 ext. 2873.
SANTA CLAUS IS VISITING ST. ANSELM!! We have just received news from the North that Santa will be visiting St. Anselm on Monday, December 19th from 12:30-2:30 p.m. Students in K-4 will have the opportunity to meet Santa and have a picture taken with him. Each child will be provided with a copy of their photo prior to the break. Thank you to CSPC for sponsoring this event. COLD WEATHER As we encounter the cooler temperatures in December, please ensure that your child comes to school with the appropriate winter clothing. Please be sure to clearly LABEL all clothing items with your child’s name. FLU SEASON
Here are some tips for this flu season: - Wash your hands frequently: Approxi-mately 80 percent of common infections like the cold and flu are spread by hands; - Get a free flu shot and get it as early as
possible: Through your family doctor, participating pharmacies or public clinics. Visit www.ontario.ca/flu<http://www.ontario.ca/flu> to search for a clinic near you. can get a nasal spray flu vaccine; - Cough and sneeze into your arm; - Avoid touching your eyes and face: Flu germs can live on surfaces for up to 8 hours; - Don’t share personal items such as drinking cups; - Do the fist bump instead of shaking hands; - Stay home when you are sick
SKATING PROGRAM In January and February, students in Grade 1-8 will be skating as part of their physical education program. Once again, we will be skating at Leaside Memorial Gardens. The skating dates are as follows: Friday, January 13th; Friday, January 27th; Friday, Febru-ary 10th; Friday, February 24th. The students will be skating in 2 shifts: Grades 1–4 and Grades 5-8. The Grades 1-4 will skate from 12:30 - 1:30 and the Grades 5-8 will skate from 1:30 - 2:30. A shuttle bus will transport the students to and from the arena. Our aim is to have every child included in this activity. We kindly ask parents to purchase skates and a CSA approved helmet for your child. If your child requires skates, please contact the office. WINTER 2016/2017 LUNCHTIME PROGRAMS As we enter into the inclement weather months, stu-dents will have opportunities to participate in a number of extra-curricular activities including: 1) Lego Engineering Program or Robotics- Introduc-es students to a variety of mechanical concepts. Stu-dents learn about gear ratios, locomotion, energy and other important devices as they construct their own mechanisms using Lego and other building materials. The program begins on December 12th and runs every Monday for 8 weeks. Cost: $140 for Lego, $150 for Robotics. Open to students in Grade 1-6; Online Reg-istration. 2) Math and Chess Club - Back by Popular demand, students from all skill levels will have the opportunity to learn skill and strategy from Chess experts from the Math and Chess Club. The program begins on De-cember 15th and runs every Thursday for 10 weeks. Cost: $95. Registration forms to be dropped off at the office. Open to students in Grade 1-6. 3) Knitting Classes - Children will have the opportuni-ty to learn how to knit their own scarf and purse for their American Girl doll or any other doll by casting on/off, knit and purl stitches and will be able to read a basic pattern. The program runs every Friday and will begin on Friday, January 13th. Cost: $116 + supplies. Open to students in Grade 3-8. Registration: email 4) Forest of Reading Club- Children will have the op-portunity to read a number of young adult fiction books written by Canadian authors. The group meets every Tuesday. The program begins in January 2017 and will be open to students in Grade 4-6. Cost: $20, students to register in person.
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St. Anselm
Angela Gauthier, Director of Education 80 Sheppard Ave. E., Toronto, ON ∙ Website: www.tcdsb.org
VIRTUE OF THE MONTH LEADERS Congratulations to the following students who demonstrated the virtue of Peacekeep-ing in November: Laeticia D, Margrette M, Angelo G, Thomas Lica, Matisse C, Mary-claire G, Emma Z, Katie S, Jasmine B, Kei-ra F, Adrian C, Olivia V, Chris L, Alex E, Ryan S, Marcus C, Zoe C, Maya C, Ryan L, Shannon C, Ma-deleine C, Ester N, Eamon P, Molly C, Ewan F, Alis-ha J, Danica P, Stephanie T, Aliyana A, Liam H, Maya O, Ava G, Nicholas S, Dhyan K, Maria C, Max D, Tomas D-V BABYSITTERS COURSE
Once again, students will have the opportunity to register for the St. John Ambulance Babysitting course to be held on Friday, January 20th
(PA Day). The course will be taught by certified in-structions. Registration information will be sent to parents in early December. SANTA CLAUS ACTIVITY DAY The St. Anselm's Prefects are hosting Santa Claus Activity Day for kids in JK to grade 5. It will be held on Saturday December 10th in the Parish hall. It will run from 9:30- 2:30. Drop off will be 9:15-9:30, and pick up will be 2:15-2:30. The cost per child is $20, including a pizza lunch. It will be a fun-filled day with tons of games and Christmas crafts. This is a great way to get into the Christmas spirit!! AND, a great way for moms, dads, and caregivers to have a day to themselves to take care of their Christmas to-do list, KID-FREE!!! OVERDUE LIBRARY BOOKS
We kindly ask parents to take some time over the next few weeks to look around your homes for St. Anselm Library books. Students are also asked to return
overdue books prior to the Christmas Holidays.
CHRISTMAS CHOIR December is upon us and we turn our at-tention to the season of Advent and the Virtue of Charity. On that note the Christ-mas Choir is once again preparing to spread some seasonal joy. The choir will
be performing on December 13th at 2 pm for the resi-dents of 921 Millwood Ave, at the Advent Family Mass on December 14th. Their final performance will be on Friday December 16th from 11:30-12:00 at Valu-Mart on Bayview. Come and join us on Bayview, at mass and during our Advent celebration. ST. ANSELM BOOK FAIR UPDATE Our sincere appreciation is extended to all families for supporting our school Book Drive. The school sold over $3,249 worth of books and raised almost $600 to go toward books for our school library. Thank you to Trish Berry, Barrig Hayward and to all of the volun-teers for their help! BOOK DRIVE UPDATE St. Anselm’s recent book drive in sup-port of The Children’s Book Bank was once again a great success. Ella Findlater (Grade 7) brought forward the idea for the book drive with a little help from her sister Keira (Grade 5) and family. The Children’s Book Bank collects and distributes gently used children’s books and distributes them free of charge to children who might not other-wise have a chance to own their own books. Many thanks to all who took part in the book drive. Our school community donated over 900 books to this wor-thy cause. Stay tuned – we’ll likely repeat this initia-tive at the next round of parent/teacher meetings. If you want to learn more about The Children’s Book Bank, you can visit their website at: http://www.childrensbookbank.com/ http://www.childrensbookbank.com/
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