The staff of

St. Brendan School

wish you and your

families a blessed

Merry Christmas!

The staff of

St. Brendan School

wish you and your

families a blessed

Merry Christmas!

Христос

Раждається!

Feliz Navidad!

Joyeux Noël!

December 2017 at a Glance

• Christmas Concert

• Advent Celebration

• December Dismissal Time

• School Supervision

• Cold Weather Reminder

• Homework Club—Elementary

• Bus Passes

• Band News

• Quebec Trip

• Leadership Update

• Remembrance Day

Celebration

• Junior Achievement

• Holodomor Commemoration

• St. Brendan School Council

Fundraising

• Gr. 9 Farewell Fundraising

• Messages from Religious

Education Consultant & Archbishop Richard W. Smith

• Superintendent’s Message

and more...

Administration Team Message Dear Parents, Thank you everyone for your attendance at the Celebration of Learning afternoon and evening on November 30th. It is very important after this night to sit down with your child and assist them in formulating attainable goals for the next reporting period.

Our school will be working on various social justice activities with one of our school wide initiatives focusing on support for Edmonton Catholic Social Services, “Sign of Hope” campaign. This money will be generated through various activities during Advent and in the New Year.

We will once more be having a ticket draw for the best seats in the house for our annual Elementary Christmas concert being held on December 20. These proceeds will kick off our social justice campaign. Thank you for your support, with food bank donations and ticket purchases to help not only build school community but also to assist people who have less in our city.

The staff of St. Brendan School wishes every family a joyous Christmas and a New Year filled with hope and wonder.

Sincerely, Dale Astill Lori Lundeen & Principal Larysa Matchak Assistant Principals

Advent Prayer

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ever faithful to your promises and ever close to your Church: the earth rejoices in hope of the Savior's coming and looks forward with longing to his return at the end of time. Prepare our hearts and remove the sadness that hinders us from feeling the joy and hope which his presence will bestow, for he is Lord for ever and ever. Amen.

Principal: Mr. Dale Astill Assistant Principals: Mrs. Lori Lundeen, Mrs. Larysa Matchak Administrative Assistants Mrs. Annette Abbenhuis & Mrs. Lida Radyo

Next Newsletter

January 7th.

School Council Meeting

Please join us!

January 10th 2018

6:30 p.m.

9260 - 58 Street Edmonton, AB. T6B 3W2 Phone: (780) 466-1281 Fax: (780) 466-6057

Powerschool: https://powerschool.ecsd.net website: http://www.stbrendan.ecsd.net

“

Christmas Castaways ” This year's Christmas concert for Elementary level will be held on Wednesday, December 20th. We will have a performance on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. and again at 7:00 p.m. in the school gym. We encourage parents, grandparents, family friends and relatives who are able, to please attend the after-noon performance to prevent overcrowding for our evening performance. Please complete the form below to help us plan for this concert. Do you want to have front row seats!! We will be doing a draw for the “Best seats in the House.” Winners will have 4 front row seats. We will do a total of 4 draws. Donations of a toonie per ticket will be accepted starting December 11th. This fundraising effort will be for the Sign of Hope Campaign. The draw for the “Best Seats” will be made on Tuesday, December 19th in the morning. Winners will be contacted on this day. All other seating will be on a first come basis and there is no charge for seating.

Doors will only open at 6:00 p.m. For the evening performance of December 20th, students should be at the school by 6:30 p.m. and proceed directly to their classrooms. Please enter the school by the east door entrance.

Advent Celebration

On Monday, December 4th, all students will gather in the gym to celebrate the beginning of Ad-vent. This will mark the beginning of our journey toward Christmas, and a time of preparation and waiting. Students will lead the school in prayer and song, giving thanks for the blessings of this Advent Season.

December Dismissal Times We will be switching our Thursday dismissal time to Friday during the last week of school. This will allow for an early dismissal prior to the Christmas break. Our dismissal times will be as follows: Thursday, December 21, for Elementary level at 3:05 p.m., and for the Junior High Level at 3:00 p.m. Friday, December 22, at 12:05 p.m.

Please make sure you send a lunch with your child on Thursday, December 21st.

100 Voices students will attend on Thursday, December 21st and will have no classes on Friday, December 22nd.

School Supervision

We would like to remind parents that supervision of students outside does not begin until 8:15 a.m. Students are to remain outside until this time and should be dressed for the weather. Students waiting for their ride after school need to remain indoors until the parent/guardian arrives. We ask that students be picked up after school in a timely manner. There is no outside supervision after school.

Cold Weather Reminder - Elementary Our cold weather season has arrived! Please make sure that your child has warm clothing, boots and mitts so that they can enjoy the winter weather. Please help our school to stay clean by providing your child’s with indoor shoes to change into when they arrive at the school. It is also very helpful if mittens and hats are labelled with your child’s name. Students are expected to go out for recess every day except during severe inclement weath-er. We monitor the temperature and use -20 as a benchmark to determine if students will be kept inside the school at recess and during the noon hour

Elementary Christmas Concert Best Seats in the House Draw

(Sign of Hope Campaign) $2.00 Donation per ticket

Enclosed is _____________ for _______ tickets.

Family name__________________ Child’s grade ______

Winners will be contacted Tuesday, December 19th.

Elementary Christmas Concert Attendance Survey

Dear Parents, the purpose of this survey is to ensure we have

adequate seating and space for the concert.

Family Name ____________________________

Attending 1:00 pm. _______________ # attending

Attending 7:00 pm.________________# attending

We encourage family members who are able to attend the

1:00 pm. concert to help us prevent overcrowding for the

evening.

Homework Club — Elementary Level

Homework Club is up and running! Thank you to the kids who have signed up! Homework Club will run until December 14, 2017 and begin again on January 11, 2018. Please email Mrs. McKenna or Miss Danzo if you have any questions.

Book Fair

St Brendan’s School’s Book Fair was a great success. Net sales were $3700.00 providing a commission credit for our school of $2200.00. We would like to say a special “Thank You” to all that participated to help make this important library fundraiser a success. Funds raised are used to purchase books and valuable resources for our library, classroom libraries, and home reading programs.

Bus Passes

Bus Passes are sold through the school office. Students riding Edmonton Transit or the Yellow Bus must purchase a bus pass during the first week of each month. If your child rides the yellow school bus and you have any questions about pick up or drop off times and locations please call the downtown transportation office at 441-6078.

Band News

Band - the jazz band and grade 9 band will be performing at Grandin elemen-tary and St. Gabriel school on Thursday, December 7th. Purdy chocolate orders for grade 9

band students will be available for pick up in the band room on Friday Dec. 8th.

Quebec Trip

5 months left to go before we embark on our journey to Ontario and la belle province de Quebec. This year's group of students will visit Quebec City, Montreal and Ottawa. They will visit the Grevin Wax Museum in Montreal, Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City and Parliament Hill in Ottawa only to mention a few. As well, they will take part in a variety of cultural activities. Registration will remain open until January 10, 2018. Preparations for the Quebec Trip of 2018-2019 will commence shortly. This trip will take place in February 2019 and will travel to Quebec City and Montreal during the Carnival. The trip is open to Grade 8 and Grade 9 students in the 2018-19 school year. For information, please contact Ms. Rossi at severina.rossi@ecsd.net.

Leadership Update

The Leadership Team has begun planning and organizing upcoming dances and events, all for your entertainment! With so many on the team, we have gotten many ideas and lots done since the Halloween Dance. The leadership team is working at creating posters and getting organized for the Candy Grams and Privilege Day.

The Leadership students are collecting non-perishable food for students in need in our community. We ask every student to participate and bring a few non-perishable items to help their friends in need. Please encourage your students to bring at least one item.

As tradition, Candy Grams will be on sale beginning Monday Dec 11th during lunch time. They will be on sale until Monday Dec. 18th. Each candy gram will sell for 50¢ each, or 3 for $1. The leadership team will distribute all candy grams on Dec. 21th. All proceeds from the Candy Gram sales will go towards the Catholic Chalice Organization at the end of the year.

Privilege Day will take place on Thursday, December 21st. During this special day, junior high students will be allowed to wear hats, eat snacks, drink pop, listen to music and use their phones in class among other things for a donation of $5. This had been a very popular fund raising event among students in the past years and we encourage everyone to take a part in this event again this year. All raised money will be donated to the Chalice Catholic Organization to purchase medicine and other medical supplies for those in need around the world. If you plan on taking part please pay your homeroom teacher by Wednesday, December 20th.

Elementary students stay tuned for the update from your teachers on the price and amount of rules to be broken on Privilege Day.

On December 22, we will have a Christmas movie in the large gym for all Junior high students.

Concession stand will be available for all students on both days, Privilege day and during movie. There will be chips, pop and candy available.

From all of us at the Leadership Team base camp we wish you a splendid and joyful Christmas Break, and remember it is not about the gifts, it is about sharing the love! Your leadership team teachers, Mrs. Sukhy, Ms. Richards and Mrs. Kearnan

Remembrance Day Celebration

Our staff would like to thank the students of St. Brendan for their respectful behavior during the Remembrance Day Service on November 9 th, 2017. The students displayed great appreciation for the sacrifice of others. This year we give a special thank you to various students and staff for their contribution to our service. Our concert band played the procession song Amazing Grace and our National Anthem wonderfully! Thank you for giving us the opportunity to enjoy your talent and performance of O'Canada. We would like to thank the students for their wonderful interpretive dance during Mother’s Pride song by the late George Michael. Our special thank you to our wonderful MCs Elena S. and Liam D., readers of the prayers, choir singers. All of you made this celebration memorable. Thank you to our cadets, Cadet Bogdan P. (Gr. 9), Cadet Ethan L. Gr. 9), Cadet Mylo C. (Gr. 9), Cadet Abraham K. (Gr. 8), Cadet Colby B. M., (Gr. 8), Ca-det Nicole Z. (Gr.7), Cadet Skyler T. (Gr.7) who participated, in uniform, in the procession and salute, you really did a fantastic job, and your presence was definitely appreciated.

Finally, a special thank you to Major J. Watson for being our guest and representing the soldiers in today's world. Your presence added to our experience of remembering all the heroes past and present. We appreciate your service for others in the name of Canada and for making this world a better place. Thank you to all the students and staff who participated in the St. Brendan Remembrance Day Service.

Junior Achievement On Thursday November 23rd, our Junior High students took part in various Junior Achievement Programs delivered by volunteers from ATB. These programs allow students to experience and understand business, preparing them for leadership through an array of hands on activities. These programs connect our classrooms to the community, inspire our students to dream big, set goals, and strive to achieve them. A huge thank you to Neil from Junior Achievement and the ATB volunteers who took time from their work to invest in our future, our students.

Holodomor Commemoration On Thursday, November 30th 2017, students and staff of St. Brendan Elementary/Junior High School had a special commemoration of 85th anniversary of Holodomor in Ukraine. The program started with a brief introduction on the history and the importance of remembering this horrible event by Bishop David Motiuk and followed by a liturgy/panyhyda for the victims of Holodomor. The superintendent Joan Carr also attended this special event. The commemoration displayed the history, traditions and Ukrainian culture through interpretive dance, poems, and dramatization.

The dramatization and a dance depicted a story of a Ukrainian family during Holodomor in 1932-33. A dedicated group of St. Brendan’s ULA Gr. 9 students worked hard for two months to write the script and create the scenes for the play. The main idea of the production was to show tremendous struggle for survival of 3 girls and their mother during the Ukrainian genocide. The groups of ULA 9 students also prepared and delivered presentations about Holodomor to elementary school students prior to the commemoration. We will always remember millions of people who perished 85 years ago, as a result of the deliberate policies of the Soviet Union in Ukraine.

Grade Nine Farewell Update:

Fundraising

“Drop and Go” bottle drive. We have planned this fundraiser to be a quick drop your bottles at the

depot and go!

Date: Sunday December 3, 2017

Time: 12:00-3:00pm

Depot: Capilano Bottle Depot

Location: 4957-93 Avenue (Edmonton)

If you cannot make this date, please e-mail “stbrendan2018grad@gmail.com”. Some grad commit-

tee members will be at the school, in the teacher’s parking lot (South parking lot) on Friday Dec

1st at 8 AM to collect bottles from those who cannot come on Sunday! We can make arrange-

ments to get them from you at that time!

We need all grade nine to students to please fill 2 blue bags with bottles! If all the students can do

this, we will be well on our way to our $5000 fundraising goal!!! We need everyone’s help!

Also please ask the grade nine students to reach out to their network of friends on social media

through; Snap chat, Facebook and Instagram, to help spread the word. The grade nine students

could take a picture standing by one of the bottle drive signs or make funny skits about the bottle

drive and post it! The more funds we can raise the less the grad tickets will cost!

Future Fundraising Opportunities – Please Mark Your Calendars!

We will be doing another “Drop and Go” Bottle Drive on Sun Feb 11 – 12 -3 pm – Capilano Bottle De-

pot 4957-93 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB T6B-3S1

Pizza by the slice fundraising Wed Feb 21 - $3/slice - $5/2 slices

We are considering doing a “Stawnichy” sausage fundraiser for Easter, more to come on this!

Grad Details

Friday Jun 15 – St. Basil’s Church and Cultural Centre

Ticket cost $40-45/ticket based on amount of fundraising (fundraising goal $5000)

Next Farewell Committee meeting Monday January 15/18 at 6 pm in the Teacher’s Lounge. We

hope you can join us!

Thanks for your support,

Grade Nine Grad Committee

LIVING IN THE WORD OF GOD

Creation of a Prayer Space in the Home

In his recent Pastoral Letter, Living in the Word of God, Archbishop Richard Smith offers some thoughts as to how we, as

members of this Archdiocesan family, can together listen carefully to the Word of God and, in a shared commitment, put it

into practice. ” St. Paul teaches that faith comes from what is heard. This means that the first act of the disciple is to listen

carefully to what God is saying to us in the words of Jesus. The hearing of Christ's Word demands a silent and attentive listen-

ing. This requires effort and determination. Living in a world of noise, we must be always cultivating, with the help of God's

grace, an inner stillness in which we are disposed to hear and be transformed by the Word of God.”

In the same way, Archbishop Smith invites families, too, to listen together to the Word of God. “Through a careful listening to

this Word, families encounter the Lord in their very midst and hear within the depths of their hearts his assurance of love and

call to holiness and service. One way to make this happen is to create a prayer space in the home. I recall from my days as a

parish priest the practice of one family that created a sacred space in their home by simply placing a candle in the corner of

one room. They would gather daily around the lit candle to offer their spontaneous prayers to God for his blessing upon their

day.”

We, at Edmonton Catholic Schools, invite you to heed the call of Archbishop Smith. As we approach the season of Advent, we

are reminded that Advent is a time of great spiritual preparation as we ready our souls for the coming of Christ. Advent is an

important season in which families can dedicate time each day to pray and to share the Word of God together, preparing in a

powerful way for the coming of Christ. This Advent Season, like many of the past, will be filled with distractions and priorities

which attempt to take away from our families spiritually during this crucial time. Consider creating a prayer space in your

home by placing an Advent Wreath at the center of your dining table. As a family, gather around the Advent Wreath, before or

after meals, to light the Advent candles, to offer spontaneous prayers, and to listen to the Word of God. During this Advent

season, we hope that you will use these traditional tools with your family and that God will use them to benefit your family

with grace and love.

Sandra Talarico, Religious Education Consultant

December 2017

Dear Friends,

In December, especially in Edmonton, we notice that the hours, minutes of sunlight diminish. It is during this time of darkness

that we begin a new liturgical year. The season of Advent is upon us. Advent is a time of preparation for Christmas. We pre-

pare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World (John 8:12). The prophet Isaiah foretold this event when he

wrote: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light

has shined. (Isaiah 9:2)

During this Advent season as we prepare for Christmas, I invite you to listen to Jesus, the Word of God and to be guided by

the Word. As the Psalmist writes: Your word is lamp unto my feet and light to my path. (Ps 119:105)

There are many ways to listen to the Word. In our Catholic Schools the Word of God proclaimed, studied and discussed. I

invite you, as I have invited everyone in the Archdiocese, to hear the Word of God in three ways:

To prepare a prayer space in your home or classroom where a Bible takes the place of honour;

To pray a simple prayer before and after meals. I will assist you in this by offering a biblical verse to help you to hear the

Word of God. These are available through the parish Sunday bulletin.

To discuss the Sunday homily as a family.

With Christ as our guide, may you continue to let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and

give glory to your Father in heaven (Matt.5:16) during the Advent season and throughout the liturgical year.

I pray that you have a blessed Christmas!

XRichard W. Smith

Archbishop of Edmonton

December 2017

O come, divine Messiah; the world in silence waits the day

When hope shall sing its triumph and sadness flee away.

(O Come, Divine Messiah, S.J. Pellegrin)

The season of Advent is upon us. It is a sacred time of prayer, reflection, and preparation for the coming of Jesus. There are so many ways

that families can share in the joy and anticipation of the birth of our Saviour. Archbishop Smith shares how we can bring the Word of God

more deeply into our classrooms and homes in his message to us this month. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, as we light the candles

on our Advent wreaths, we can also reflect on the hope, peace, joy, and love that is to be found in the gift of Jesus Christ. There are many

special events that are being held in our parishes and schools; evenings of Advent song, the preparation of hampers for families who would

benefit from extra support, extra opportunities to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation, to name a few.

The Catholic Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories released a supplementary letter just before Catholic Education Sunday. In it,

they gave a call to Catholics to join in and spread the great news of Catholic education. They share, “It is important that everyone be ready to

stand up for our faith and for our schools. Please be prepared to speak out in support of our Catholic schools whenever you can. We are

proud of who we are as Catholics.” You can read the entire letter at https://goo.gl/cauRBf. We will be proudly sharing the story of the rich-

ness of Catholic education in Edmonton Catholic Schools using the hashtag #ECSDFaithInspires in the upcoming months, and we encourage

you to help us spread the message that Catholic education is an outstanding and important choice for families to guide our children and

youth as they learn and grow in mind, body, and spirit.

We are embarking on a legacy project and would like to be able to capture the journeys of families who have 3 or 4 generations that are able

to share their story of Edmonton Catholic Schools. If your family is interested in participating, please email a brief overview of your genera-

tions to marketing@ecsd.net .

The response to our Celebration of Catholic Education Evenings in November was tremendous! We have included the responses to the ques-

tions which people shared with us as part of the feedback sheets.

Edmonton Catholic Schools is excited to participate in the Hour of Code, once again this year. This is the fourth year that we will be

participating, and this year’s event will be the best one yet! Hour of Code is a global movement that is supported by Code.org with the pur-

pose of reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries through a one-hour introduction to computer science and computer program-

ming. Coding is a great way to develop literacy, numeracy, creativity, and thinking skills. Last year we had over 22,000 students participate

and this year we are hoping for 25,000! Our goal is to have a <Bit of Code> In Every School.

In his Sunday Angelus to mark the beginning of Advent last year, Pope Francis shared the following message: “In this season of Advent, we

are called to expand the horizons of our hearts, to be amazed by the life which presents itself each day with newness.” I wish you all an Ad-

vent that fills you with this amazement!

Sincerely,

Joan Carr

Superintendent

Demonstration of

Learning

Teacher/Parent/ Student

Conferences

Book Fair

1 D6

2

3 4 D1

First Homework Club—3:10-4:00

Advent

Celebration

9:00 a.m.

5 D2

6 D3

Knights of Columbus Free

Throw (Gr 4 - 6)

7

Jazz Band and gr. 9 Band students at Grandin and St. Gabriel

schools

8 D4

Spanish Bilingual Mass at

St. Thomas Moore - a.m.

Gr. 3-6 Music Club at City Hall for Holiday Magic

Performance - am

10 11 D5 12 D6 13 D1

Elementary Hot Lunch &

Pajama Day

14

15 D2

16

17 18 D3 19 D4

20 D5

Elementary Christmas

Concert—1:00 p.m. and 7:00

p.m.

21 D6

Privilege Day

Full Day

Dismissal a 3:00 & 3:05 p.m.

22

Christmas Movie for JH

Half Day -

Dismissal at 12:05 p.m.

23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Christmas Vacations - December 25 - January 5

Classes Resume on Monday, January 8, 2018