St. Andrew School 4331 41 Avenue SW Calgary AB T3E 1G2 (403) 500-2031 http://schools.cssd.ab.ca/standrew

C a l g a r y R o m a n C a t h o l i c S e p a r a t e S c h o o l D i s t r i c t A p r i l 2 0 1 9

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Dear Parents and Students,

Thank you to our many volunteers who make St. Andrew School a vibrant and happy place to learn, work and play. I have received telephone calls from people in our community as well as from new families registering at our school who have shared with me how impressed they are with our school. They often comment on the welcoming and warm atmosphere as well as how well we care for our school!

We are very excited about the construction of our new playground on May 9, 10 and 11. Please watch for further information on how you can help. Many thanks and congratulations are extended to all of our students, families, and staff who come together to ensure that St. Andrew School is and will remain a positive and enriching environment. Well Done! On behalf of the staff at St. Andrew School we wish you and your family an enjoyable Blessed Easter holiday on April 19 – April 24.

Happy Easter!

Maureen Collins Principal

HOLY THURSDAY LITURGY Our Holy Thursday Liturgy will take place on Thursday, April 18th at 10:30 a.m. in the gym. As always, we welcome parents and friends to celebrate with us. Our Grade 4/5 Drynan Class will be leading this liturgy.

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live forever. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” John 11: 25-26

CHAMPION PROGRAM In May, students will meet with their champion families to explore the topic of Forgiveness. When we forgive, we are giving another chance to someone who has done something that hurt us. Here are some discussion topics you can do together at home:

1. Why do we practice Forgiveness? 2. How would you practice Forgiveness? 3. What would Forgiveness look like if your

friend broke something or yours, your family forgot to pick you up after school or if you did something and now you feel bad.

4. You are practicing Forgiveness when… o you remember that everyone

makes mistakes o you share your feelings without

taking revenge o you take responsibility for your

own actions

PARENT SATISFACTION SURVEY

We invite all of our parents and guardians to fill out the form online at:

https://tinyurl.com/satisfactionsurvey2019.

This is a District Parent Satisfaction survey with questions from the District plus two questions from the school. It is a quick survey and we encourage all families to respond.

Once you click on the link please choose Southwest Schools and then follow the directions in choosing St. Andrew and responding to the questions. We appreciate your feedback.

The survey will remain active until April 26th, 2019.

PLAYGROUND UPDATE We are counting down the days until our playground will be built. Please stop by the school to see our count down calendar and detailed picture of our new playground.

SAVE THE DATE

We will need lots of volunteers on May 9, 10 and 11th.

FUN LUNCH If you haven’t already done so, be sure to sign-up for our Fun Lunches and Snack Program. Visit www.healthyhunger.ca for a listing of lunch and snack days for the entire school year.

LENTEN PRAYER BOX

It is hard to believe that the Lenten season is almost over. To better prepare our hearts for the Resurrection of Jesus and the Season of New Beginnings, we will have our Prayer Box out in the front foyer. This box is for anyone in our community who would like to write a little prayer for themselves or a loved one. These prayers will be kept confidential and will be burned after Easter.

KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION 2019-2020

Will your child be 5 years old on or before March 1, 2020?

If so, she/he is eligible to begin Kindergarten this fall. Your child may be registered at any time before August, but early registration is strongly encouraged.

Here is how to register:

When you come to the school, bring

-Your child’s birth certificate

-If you are registering as a Catholic, a copy of either the child’s or one parent’s baptismal certificate if available.

ENTREPRENURIAL ADVENTURE UPDATE

Entrepreneurial Adventure “Light the Way Cards”

During the month of March, students finalized their product –special occasion cards. They designed samples of Birthday cards, Easter cards and Graduation cards. Division two students worked cooperatively to ensure the success of their business. A variety of cards created by the students was assessed by a commission and ten winning cards were chosen to represent Light the Way Cards.

Grade Six students created an order form which was sent home with every student at St. Andrew School. They offer packages of 10 cards for $10 per package. Through their enterprise, division two students had the opportunity to learn the value of a positive and cooperative attitude and gained an understanding of finances. We need our school community support to enable these young entrepreneurs to become supportive, effective and conscientious future planners and leaders. The money they will raise will be donated to Calgary Humane Society. Please buy their beautiful cards and help them help others.

SCHOOL SUPPORT WORKER

As the MindUp program wraps up, students have been learning about the benefits of kindness. Like mindfulness itself, kindness is a natural human quality that requires intentional action to realize its potential. And like mindfulness, research shows that kindness is good for our physical and our emotional well-being. Students learned that acts of kindness contribute to the release of dopamine (the feel-good hormone) in our brains and those around us and that the more we practice kindness, the better we get at it.

To put our learning into practice, each class is working on a kindness initiative for the school or greater community. Ask your child what project their class is working on this month.

If you are interested in participating in a family kindness challenge, check out this website:

https://thegreatkindnesschallenge.com/familyedition/

UNDERSTANDING SCHOOL DESIGNATION

We strongly encourage parents and guardians to review schools’ designated attendance areas, especially before considering a move to a new community. All CCSD schools have attendance areas which identify the schools in each community where students are eligible to register. Students are expected to attend the designated school for their community unless they decide to register at a program of choice school such as French Immersion or Fine Arts. For a list of programs, please click here. For these schools there are mandatory transportation costs based on residence of the family attending. To view the Calgary Catholic elementary, junior high and senior high school designated attendance areas for each community, please click here.

NEWS FROM THE LEARNING COMMONS

We have acquired four class novel sets for our students.

The novel sets are as follows;

The Castle in the Attic

The Chocolate Touch

Fog Magic

The Dragons Egg.

Other exciting news is that you can access “The Key" resources via the Calgary Public Library. "The Key" is an Alberta curriculum resource recommended by our school district to help students to prepare for the Gr. 6 Provincial Achievement Exams at home. Other grade levels are available too.

To access this and other e-resources, go to calgarylibrary.ca, click on E-Library at the top of the page, and then Kids from that drop down menu.

On the Kids page, you can just scroll down to SOLARO and it will prompt you to log in with your library card number and PIN.

GYM STRIP Students in grades 4, 5 and 6 are asked to please bring a t-shirt for gym class. T-Shirts will be sent home regularly, so they can be washed and returned to school.

FIRE AND LOCKDOWN DRILLS/PROCEDURES

St. Andrew is a school focused on the safety of our students. Because of this, evacuation drills such as fire or lockdown drills are commonplace to make sure that everyone is prepared for any emergency. We pride ourselves on maintaining a high level of preparedness and will be continuing this practice over the coming months. This includes having monthly drills in which students practice and review these emergency procedures. During a fire drill, students are asked to evacuate the building in a safe and quick manner until the “all clear” is given. Alternatively, during a lockdown, teachers are asked to ensure that their doors are locked, their students and all adults are in an area away from doors and windows and that all are very quiet as they sit on the floor and stay in their classrooms until the “all clear” is given. A lockdown can be called in the event of an unwanted intruder, whether it is human or animal, a student who is causing serious disruptions around the school, or in the case of a situation in the community that warrants the students not leaving the building.

By continuing to practice these drills, we can further ensure the safety of your child.

STUDENTS WITH ILLNESS This is certainly the season of colds, flu, etc. Frequently, students come to the office not feeling well. We call parents in these cases to pick up the students and take them home. In the event that we cannot reach a parent/guardian, we try to make the student as comfortable as possible until someone is able to pick him/her up. Please keep your child at home if he/she is sick.

If you have changed your work or cell numbers, please update the office to ensure we have a contact number in case of emergencies.

LIBRARY BOOK SALE APRIL 11-12

We are Spring Cleaning our Learning Commons and we have some very nice gently used books for sale at a cost of 0.25 cents each.

Students will have a chance to look at the books available for purchase. Participation is optional.

St. Andrew School Council Update

Council is happy to report than the Fundraising Committee’s many activities and tireless volunteers have created a healthy bank balance – which means that our students and staff will benefit for the remainder of this school year. Thank you to the committee and to the many parents who supported their fundraising activities!

Please watch your child/children’s agenda for news about the Bunny Hop, coming in April, and the annual plant sale in May. We’ll also have more information for you next month about volunteering to help build our new playground!

We are keeping with tradition and having the perfect Spring Fundraiser with Growing Smiles Flowers.

You can order and pay online for your Growing Smiles order, the link is below, the instructions are on the website: https://standrew.growingsmilesfundraising.com/

The deadline for all orders is Friday May 3, 2019. The pick-up date for this fundraiser will be Wednesday May 15th, in the school gymnasium 1-5pm.

Please share this information with your colleagues, neighbors and friends and family to help us fund important school programs next year.

Paper copies will also be sent home after the spring break. Please see attached order form.

St. Andrew April 2019 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 1 Day 4

Classes Resume

2 Day 5

3 Day 6

4 Day 1

5 Day 2 Howies Pizza Lunch African Drums (Djembe) arrival

6

7 8 Day 3

9 Day 4 School Council Meeting 9:00am

10 Day 5 Fluoride Application K-2

11 Day 6 Library Book Sale 0.25 cents each

12 Day 1 Library Book Sale 0.25 cents each

13

14 15 Day 2

16 Day 3 17 Day 4 Bunny Hop 9:30am

18 Day 5 Holy Thursday Liturgy at 10:30am All Welcome

19 Good Friday – NO SCHOOL

20

21 Easter Sunday

22 Easter Monday – NO SCHOOL

23 Professional Development Day – NO SCHOOL

24 Day 6 Classes Begin

25 Day 1 26 Day 2 Backward Day

27

28 29 Day 3 30 Day 4 Art Walk at Central Office

St. Andrew May 2019 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 Day 5 2 Day 6 3 Day 1 Deadline to order Flower Fundraiser African Drums (Djembe) will be returned

4

5 6 Day 2 Champion Activity

7 Day 3 8 Day 4 9 Day 5 Grade 6 ELA Part A PAT Playground Build

10 Day 6 Marion Liturgy 10:30am Playground Build

11 Playground Build

12 13 Day 1 14 Day 2 School Council Meeting 9:00am

15 Day 3 Flower Fundraiser Pickup 1-5pm

16 Day 4 Spring Group School Photo Kindergarten Orientation 6-7pm

17 Professional Development Day – NO SCHOOL

18

19 20 Victoria Day – NO SCHOOL

21 Day 5 22 Day 6 23 Day 1 24 Day 2 Parent Appreciation Tea 1:30pm

25

26 27 Day 3 Gr. 5 Religion Assessment

28 Day 4 29 Day 5 30 Day 6 31 Day 1 Summertime Fun Spirit Day