2017

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APRIL NEWSLETTER April Virtue

Dear Parents and Guardians,

St. Maurice is a very active school. Not only are the children striving to achieve cur-ricular expectations for their grade level, but they are also involved in many co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. Clubs and teams such as Me to We, W5H, Student Council, volleyball, basketball, track and field, soccer, and many more are due to the dedication and commitment of staff at St. Maurice School. Thank you very much, St. Maurice staff!

Let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry." Amos 5:24

Our virtue for the month of April is Justice. During this Easter season, we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus who is the Just One. Justice is also an important part of Catholic teaching. As we are created in God's image, the need to do justice comes from the obligation to respect the dignity of every human person and to strive to help others. We are called to follow Jesus’ example to love thy neighbour and serve oth-ers. This is how we come to know God. I am reminded of the words of Mother Te-resa, “… we can all do small things with great love. “

From all of us at St. Maurice, have a very Happy Easter!

God bless you! Mr. F. Termine Principal

St. Maurice Catholic School

45 Kingsview Blvd Ave. Toronto, Ontario M9R 1T Telephone: 416-393-5379 Fax: 416-393-5085

School Information and Contact Numbers

Principal: Mr. F. Termine

Superintendent: Mr. A . Della Mora

Trustee: Mr. J. Martino Parish: Transfiguration of Our Lord 45 Ludstone Dr. Toronto, ON M9R 2J2 Telephone: 416-247-0513

CPIC (Parent Engagement--TCDSB) www.tcdsb.org/cpic

SCHOOL HOURS Morning Bell: 8:30am AM Recess: 10:12 - 10:27am Lunch: 11:15 – 12:15pm PM Recess: 2:13 - 2:28pm Dismissal: 3:30pm

EARTH WEEK—APRIL 24TH

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS’ DAY—APRIL 22ND

CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK—

April 30th to May 5th

BAGS TO SCHOOL ENDS APRIL 27TH—

BRING IN YOUR CLOTHES AND SHOES FOR A DONATION AND

SUPPORT OUR NUTRITION PROGRAM!!

SPIRIT WEAR ON SALE

JOIN THE SPIRIT AND PLACE AN ORDER

Clothing available for sizing in the office.

All orders due April 26th!!!

Happy Easter!

Good Friday April 14th (no school)

Easter Sunday April 16th

Easter Monday April 17th (no school)

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St. Maurice Chocolate Fundraiser Great Success!

Congratulations to all at St. Maurice! We sold all of our 250 boxes and we had to order more. All proceeds will go to pay for the many activi-ties and excursions at St. Maurice. We would like to congratulate the students and their families who sold the most boxes: 1st—Carlos S. 2nd—Rolando C. 3rd—Angela R.

Those who sold 5 cases or more—way to go!!!!: Marcus F., Katherine Z., Alexia V., Theo L., Jeremiah J., Dominique O., Bobby B., Tey Quoya G., Keyaira F., Mia P., Kirsten F., Angela R., Rolando C., Carlos S., and Borna A. The classes that had the greatest participa-tion: 1st Ms. DeGregorio 2nd Ms. Zeppieri 3rd Ms. Iozzo 4th Ms. Loreti 5th Ms. Carnovale 6th Ms. Nagle Mastantuono

Prizes have been awarded to winners and clas-ses. Ms. DeGregorio’s class will receive a pizza lunch. A big thank you to those who worked so hard to organize: Ms. Anic-Matic, Ms. Rios, Ms. Rebelo, Mr. Forte, Ms. Bonneville, and Ms. Marriott. A very big thank you goes to Ms. DeDominicis who organized, sold and kept all in order. Thank you Ms. D!!!!!!!

Upcoming Events at St. Maurice Good Friday April 14th(No school), Easter Sunday April

16th and Easter Monday April 17th ( No school)

Bags 2 School Fundraising March 9th to April 27th

Administrative Assistant’s Day—April 26th;

Earth Week April 24th to April 28th

First Communion at Transfiguration Church on April 30th and May 7th

Catholic Education Week April 30th to May 5th

Mental Health Awareness Week May 1st to the 5th

Procession for Our Lady of Fatima—St. Maurice, St. Mar-cellus and Transfiguration of our Lord School at Transfig-uration of our Lord Church—Friday, May 5th at 10am—all invited;

Welcome to Kindergarten—May 17th at 5:30pm

Confirmation—May 12th at Transfiguration Church

Divisional Track Meet—May 8th

CAT/4 Testing for Grades 2, 5 and 7– May 1st - June 9th

EQAO testing—May 23rd to June 5th

Divisional Soccer Tournaments—May 31st (Boys) and June 1st (Girls)

June 9th PA DAY

SK Graduation June 23rd

Grade 8 Graduation—June 22nd at 7pm

Last Day of School—June 29th

PA Day June 30th—No school

TORONTO CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD

TRUSTEES Wards

1. Joseph Martino 5. Maria Rizzo 9. Jo-Ann Davis 2. Ann Andrachuk 6. Frank D’Amico (Vice Chair) 10. Barbara Poplawski 3. Sal Piccininni 7. Michael Del Grande 11. Angela Kennedy (Chair) 4. Patrizia Bottoni 8. Garry Tanuan 12. Nancy Crawford

Karina Dubrovskaya, Student Trustee

Director: of Education Angela Gauthier Rhea Carlisle , Student Trustee

80 Sheppard Ave. E., Toronto, ON ∙ Website: www.tcdsb.org

TOYS FOR HAPPY TOWN

Another gentle reminder, please help our enthusi-astic and energetic Kindergarten Team. If you have Lego, or other toys that you no longer need., please bring to St. Maurice so we can use them for kinder-garten students. Also, if you have outdoor play mo-biles or other toys, please consider bringing them to school where they can have a new life and make our children very happy. It is garage sale season, if you see any items, please pick them up and let us know. Thank you for your help.

Parent/Student Information

St. Maurice Parent Council

Please come and join us at the next CSPC meeting. This is a great way to contribute to the education of your child and the school community of St. Maurice. The next meeting is May 2nd at 6:30pm in the staff room. If you can, please volunteer to help with the barbecue and for other events . All volunteers are welcome! You can also email the principal at StMaurice.Info@tcdsb.org and we will add you to our school distribution list.

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Pizza, Subway and Popcorn Sales Reminder Pizza Lunch sales continue twice a month on Fr idays. Thank you to Mr. Caron and his class for organizing the sales. Nutrition Program Barbecue Lunch—Friday May 26th—Please volunteer to help with the lunch. All proceeds to the Nutrition Pro-gram.

Popcorn Sales are every Wednesday. There is a limit of two bags

per student. The cost is 50¢. Thank you to Mr. Forte, Ms. Bonneville,

Parent/Student Information

Junior. Girls’ Volleyball Team On March 28, 2017 the St. Maurice girls participated in a volleyball tournament at St. Stephen’s school. The team did an AMAZING job! We were so proud of how they played during all of their games. They represented St. Maurice very well through-out the entire day. Our Jr. Girls’ Volleyball Team members are, Elaine, Victoria, Funke, Karmela, Marianna, Jennifer and Nicole. We also had the following students, Krystelle, Yamen, Khadija and Cassandra help us in preparing for our big day! Thank you! We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our special grade 8 helper Joce-lyn. She showed up to every practice with such enthusiasm. We loved how she showed such a commitment to help-ing our team.

Go Wildcats Go!! St. Maurice Junior Boys’ Volleyball

Congratulations to the Junior Boys’ Volleyball team who per-formed so well at their tournament here at St. Maurice! They played with skill, drive and sportsmanship. The boys’ made it to the playoffs, but were defeated in a third tiebreaking game. Our Wildcats are:

Julian R. Steven O. Nicholas S. Osayiuwa O. Ledio K. Divine T. Isaiah F. Haneef S. Thank you to Ms. Ryan and Ms. Foglia for their hard work to coach the team and to convene the tournament. Way to go Wildcats!

Ontario Ecoschools at ST. MAURICE!

As we prepare for Earth Week, we remind everyone to continue to bring litterless lunches and to recycle properly. Also, please continue to support our TER-RACYCLE initiative and send in tops and spray trig-gers as we try to win the Terracycle Challenge! We have many activities planned for Earth Week in-cluding a Community Clean up on April 21st. En-courage your children to turn off lights and monitors when not in use and recycle properly. EARTH WEEK BEGINS APRIL 24TH.

Great news! We have been given a grant from Rexdale Community Health Centre and the City of Toronto and all students will receive a St. Maurice Water Bottle. This is to eliminate single-use water bottles and also to encourage students to make healthy choices and drink water to hydrate! THANK YOU MS. FERNANDES AND THE REXDALE COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE!!!!!

Parent/Student Information

St. Maurice Mural We completed a wonderful mural on the second floor about living in harmony with one another and with all of creation. Each child and staff member received a leaf to decorate that reflected them-selves and their culture. We now have a beautiful scene of diversity encouraging respect for one another and for nature. Thank you to Ms. Carnovale and Ms. Bush for their hard work to prepare. A big thank you to Mr. N. Pedinelli at Monsignor Percy Johnson who prepared over 350 wooden leaves for the mural. And our great appreciation goes to Ms. S. Tar-antino, our artist, who came in and designed, su-pervised all students and led the painting and

completion. She worked tirelessly and with great patience and skill. Thank you to all!

Haiti Lenten Food Drive Thank you to all who contributed to our Haiti Lenten Food Drive. We had over 35 boxes of food, school supplies and other products that will be shipped to Haiti. Thank you to Dr. Simo-ne, and the volunteers at Canadian Food for Children for their hard work to organize the shipment. Coming in May—the Pinball Clemons Cram-a-Cruiser Food Drive!

Mathematics at Home

In general, a growth mindset is the belief that intelligence and ‘smartness’ can also be learned and that the brain grows from experience and

effort. The opposite, a fixed mindset, is the idea that you are smart, or you are not. In math, that translates into “some people are good at math,

and some are not.” Did you know that praising efforts rather than intelligence or results can impact your child’s ability to persevere in challeng-

es?! The goal is to have children thrive on challenges and see failures, not as a sign of low intelligence, but as a learning opportunity. Brain

research tells us that making mistakes actually wires more connections into the brain! When a person has a growth mindset, they accept chal-

lenges, see their efforts as worthwhile, and are open to learning from mistakes. Students with a growth mindset achieve at higher levels than

those with fixed mindsets. How can you help? Some simple ways:

Adding “yet” when they claim they are “not good at this” (Respond: “You are not good at this yet.”)

Ask questions that focus on their effort and choices and get them to reflect on satisfaction of that effort (e.g. What did you learn today?

What mistake did you make that taught you something? What did you try hard at today?)

Model this yourself as you share about your day. Have fun with math!

Monthly Update from the Board - April 2017

TCDSB Budget Consultation All parents, students, staff and Catholic school supporters are invited and encouraged to participate in the budget consultation process. Your input can be provided during a virtual town hall to be held in April, through an online survey which will be posted on the board’s website in April, or through a delegation at an upcoming board or committee meeting. Details will be available here: www.tcdsb.org

TCDSB Anonymous Alerts Toronto Catholic District School Board is pleased to introduce a new communications tool called Anonymous Alerts. The Anonymous Alerts reporting system helps to promote safe, positive and accepting School climates by empowering students to anonymously report inappropriate behaviours to school staff. The system allows for 1-way or 2-way anonymous encrypted communications between submitters (students, parents or community members) and Administrators and/or school staff. Users of the system have the option to remain anonymous or to reveal their identity when submitting a report. Reminder about PRO grants, $1000 per CSPC. https://www.tcdsb.org/programsservices/safeschools/pages/anonymousalerts.aspx

Reminder for CSPCs: PRO Grant Application Deadline is May 25th https://www.tcdsb.org/forparents/pages/pro-grant-application%20information.aspx

Lenten Projects: ShareLife Week April 2-8, 2017 Learn more about how ShareLife works wonders in our community, and how you can help through the annual fundraising cam-paign. ShareLife Civvies Day April 7, 2017—All students and staff are encouraged to donate a toonie to support ShareLife https://www.tcdsb.org/news/othernews/2017/pages/sharelife-civvies-day-2017.aspx Hope for Haiti—consider donating just one item of non-perishable food, school supplies or toiletries and make a difference in a community that has been devastated by natural disasters in recent years. Donation boxes located at the Catholic Education Centre. Many schools are also participating in the collection.

Awards, Scholarships, Bursaries, Contests A variety of trust fund awards and scholarships, as well as contests, are available to eligible Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) students, staff and trustees. Find all the details online here https://www.tcdsb.org/FORSTUDENTS/AwardsScholarshipsBursariesContests/Pages/default.aspx

Catholic Education Week April 30-May 5, 2017 “Walking Forward Together” May 1—Awards Night May 2—Student Mass and Peace Walk May 3—Parent Mass and Information Evening May 5—Parish Family Day Staff Arts Canada 150 Concert www.tcdsb.org for details

Celebrating the Parish and School Relationship A special Parish Family Day Celebration will be held at the Catholic Education Centre on Friday, May 5th, 2017 to showcase student work focusing on the many ways that our parishes and our parish priests contribute to our schools and communities. Sub-missions of videos, songs, artwork, stories and poems from students and schools will be accepted through until Friday, April 7th. Email to parish.project@tcdsb.org or find additional information online: https://www.tcdsb.org/Board/NurturingOurCatholicCommunity/YearoftheParish/Pages/Parish-Family-Day-Celebration.aspx Schools are Also Encouraged to Plan Celebrations All TCDSB schools are encouraged to consider a local Par ish Family Day Celebration as a culminating event for our Year of the Parish. These Celebrations could take place either on Friday May 5 th, or during the weekend of May 6-7, 2017.

Canada150 TCDSB is celebrating the 150th anniversary of Canada and Ontario, and our own place in the history of our nation with a variety of special events. Check out our website for all the details: https://www.tcdsb.org/affiliates/Canada150/Pages/default.aspx

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Holy Week Begins April 9th with Palm Sunday Good Friday April 14th Easter Monday April 17th

Other Events to Note: Music Festival

Elementary Festival continues until April 13th Secondary Festival runs April 18th to 28th

National Volunteer Appreciation Week April 23-29, 2017 TCDSB thanks the many volunteers who support students and school activities, and to the many students, staff and families who volunteer their time to helping out in their communities and around the world.

Administrative Assistants’ Day April 26, 2017 Also known as Administrative Professionals’ Day

Toronto Community Clean Up Days April 21-23, 2017 Earth Day April 22, 2017 Autism Awareness

April 3, 2017 TCDSB Celebrates Autism Awareness Day April 5, 2017 Autism Awareness Evening, 6:30 p.m. at the Catholic Education Centre

April Mental Health Newsletter Focuses on self-regulation https://www.tcdsb.org/ProgramsServices/SpecialEducation/mhs/newsletters/April%20MH%20newsletter%202017%20-.pdf

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