View Monthly Newsletter - St Clair CDS Board

St. Joseph Catholic School
535 Birchbank Drive, Corunna, Ontario, N0N 1G0 - 519-862-1479 (telephone) 519-862-2330 (fax)
Principal: Mr. Brendan Deery
Vice-Principal: Mrs. Colleen Cogghe
Secretary: Mrs. Tracy Tulloch
Superintendent: Mrs. Ann Sutton
Director: Mr. Dan Parr
Board Chair: Mrs. Carol Bryden
Trustee: Mrs. Carol Bryden
http://www.st-clair.net
Date: January 6, 2014 Family Monthly Newsletter Issue Number: 14/1
Transportation
In case of inclement
weather we are in ZONE
3. Please listen to your
local radio station for
information on bus
cancellations. Information
is also available at
www.schoolbusinfo.com
Allergy Alert
We have several students
at our school with severe,
life-threatening allergies to
dairy, eggs, peanuts and
tree nuts. We also have
other student with less
threatening food allergies
that do cause a physical
reaction to these foods but
are not life-threatening at
this time.
Please keep this in mind
when sending snacks to
school with your
child(ren).
School Hours
The times for the school
day are as follows:
8:50 a.m. – School Starts
10:30-10:45 a.m. – Recess
11:35-12:30 a.m. – Lunch
2:10-2:25 p.m. – Recess
3:15 p.m. – Dismissal
Supervision does not
begin until 8:35 a.m. each
morning.
St. Patrick’s Catholic
High School
519-332-3976
Principal:
Mr. Robert Cicchelli
Vice Principals:
Mrs. Cynthia Blair
Mrs. Erin Moffat-Sharpe
Mr. Frank Torti
Student Success
Teacher:
Mrs. Colleen Rapaich
Thank You to All
On behalf of the staff at St. Joseph I would
like to thank everyone for the tremendous
support we received during the very busy
month of December. There was a variety of
events happening that demonstrated our
commitment to building a strong Catholic
community through social justice initiatives
and through fun spirit based events.
Operation Christmas Child, Operation
Christmas Tree and the White Elephant Sale
were very successful events that helped
reinforce the importance of giving of one’s
time, effort and resources to help others.
Through our participation in Operation
Christmas Child our school community
donated 103 shoe boxes full of gifts for
children in need. Our work with the
Optimist Club of Moore and other
community groups through Operation
Christmas Tree meant 125 food hampers and
sixty-seven boxes of toys were delivered to
families in need in our community. We also
raised $1027 at the school’s White Elephants
Sale. This money will be donated to
Chalice, a Catholic sponsorship
organization, to help fill a barn full of
animals for a family in a developing country.
Without the support of our entire school
community these wonderful caring events
could not have been possible.
Our Christmas concert this year was a fun
filled success. Our producer, director and
choreographer Mrs. Blum did a wonderful
job of ensuring that all of students were
given an opportunity to participate in the
show. The evening began with a number of
soloists capturing the attention of our
audience with their renditions of famous
Christmas songs. Each of our classes
performed various acts all themed around the
12 Days of Christmas. Our students
performed amazingly well in front of a
packed gym for both the afternoon and
evening performance. Thank you to our
teachers for helping in the preparation of the
evening and to our parents for all their work
at home preparing our students for the show.
We continued with our Christmas theme by
bringing our staff, students, and parent
volunteers together for a Christmas lunch on
Wednesday. The generosity of so many
community members made this time together
possible. Thank you to our school council
for donating the turkeys, to families in our
community for supplying the potatoes, corn,
buns, water and gravy, to the Knights of
Columbus and the CWL from St. Joseph and
St. Charles for preparing the meal, to the
teachers for baking the rice crispy squares, to
the parents who helped set up the gym and
serve the food and to mayor Steve Arnold
for taking time to be with us. This event was
an example of what can be done when our
Catholic community joins together to work
on behalf of our children.
Technology Report
During the first half of the school year
we have made a number of additions
to the technology that teachers can
access in the classrooms. We have
equipped every classroom with a
document camera which is used by
students and teachers to both display
the processes being used by students
to complete their work and the
product that is created as a result of
their work. We have also added
SMART projectors to the Grade 6/7
and 7/8 classrooms. These projectors
will give students the opportunity to
use SMART technology to create
more interactive classrooms. Our goal
is to eventually have this technology
in all of our classrooms. The Board
has also supplied St. Joseph’s with ten
new Chrome Books which can be
used within each classroom for
various assignments. We will be
receiving twenty Chrome Books in the
near future.
Fund Raising
Last year the St. Joseph community began
the process of raising funds for two major
goals, funds for students to be able to do
additional activities and additional
SMART technology for each classroom in
the school. This resulted in just under
$6000 being raised for SMART
technology and $200 being raised to offset
additional student activities.
This year our fund raising committee has
examined the needs of the school and
determined that we should continue to
work to equip our classrooms with
SMART technology and to raise funds for
additional classroom activities. The
committee also recognized the need to
work towards restructuring the primary
play area so that our junior kindergarten
and senior kindergarten students can play
safely in the area designated to them. To
accomplish these objectives is going to
require a significant amount of time and
money. During the first week in January I
will be sending home the plan that the
Fund Raising Committee has established
to make these initiatives possible.

Spiritual Scene
School and Class Masses
January 15 School Mass in the gym at 9:30
January 22 Grade 3/4 classroom mass
January 29 Grade 3 classroom mass
All parents and parishioners are welcome
Indoor Shoes
It is very important that all of the students have indoor
shoes preferably running shoes for the gym, to wear
throughout the school day. This is a health and safety
issue. In the event of a fire alarm, students without indoor
shoes on their feet will not have time to put on their boots
and would be forced out in the cold and snow in their
stocking feet.
School Council
First Communion Preparation
We have had excellent participation on school
council this year. We are thankful for all the input
we have received from those parents in attendance.
Our next school council meeting will take place on
January 14, 2014 in the library at St. Joes beginning
at 6:30. All parents of St. Joseph students are
welcome to attend.
2014
CELEBRATING
FIRST COMMUNION and FIRST
RECONCILIATION
At ST. JOSEPH /ST. CHARLES PARISH
Please consider your desire to participate as
teachers will be sending out the initial
application form January 13 2014. Classes
begin in February 2014 .
Please return applications to classroom
teachers before January 20 2014. If you have
any questions please contact: Mary Ann
Tippelt, Sacramental Preparation Leader at
519 862-3931
An Evening with Dr. Terry Nelson-Johnson
7:00 p.m. on Monday, January 20, 2014 at the Ursuline College theatre, Chatham.
Dr. Terry Nelson-Johnson is the animating and Creative Partner of “Soul Play,” an experiential, theological and
educational enterprise serving congregations, families, schools, and adults. Terry’s art is the written and spoken
word. His passion for narrative theology expresses the yearning of 2,000 years to connect our life stories with
The Story of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Through storytelling, poetry, and humor, Terry
challenges us to enter more deeply into the mystery of grace, the mystery of spirit, the mystery of God.
Each elementary school has been asked to invite 10 members of the school community, including school council
members, staff and parents to join Terry as he shares his experiences and his passion for the Catholic faith.
Admission to the evening is free. If you wish to attend would you contact Mr. Deery by e-mail at brendan.deery@stclair.net
or by phone at 519-862-1479.

Booster Club – Spirit Days
Fri, January 17, 2014
Fri, February 14, 2014
March 3-6, 2014 -
Thurs, April 17, 2014
Thurs, May 15, 2014
Thurs, June 5, 2014
Disney Day – dress like your favourite Disney character
Valentine’s Day – dress in pink, red and white
March Madness
Mon – Jersey Day – wear favourite jersey
Tues – Tacky Tourist Day
Wed – Royalty Day – dress in fancy clothing
Thurs – Lucky Leprechaun Day – wear green
Easter Egg Hunt – done by class with a non – food treat
“ER” Day – dress up in anything that ends in “er”
Wacky Hair Day
.
JK/SK Registration
Registration dates for the 2014-2015 school year will take place the week of February 10 th – 14 th in the school
office. If you have a child entering JK or SK for the first time, please contact the school office so that Registration
information can be sent. If you have a neighbour or friend with a child born in the year 2010 who is eligible to
attend our Catholic School, please forward this information to them. St. Joseph Catholic School will continue
offering full day learning for all of our Junior and Senior Kindergarten students. If you have any questions, please
do not hesitate to contact the school.
Bus Cancellation due Inclement Weather
Thank you to the families who continue to call in all student absences before morning bell time. It
saves many calls home to verify student safety. To help us comply with our Safe Arrival Policy
(3.2) we would ask that the parents of walkers please call as soon as the decision at home has
been made to let us know your children will not be attending on a Bus Cancellation day. If you are
going to be late we would also appreciate a call in that regard. If we do not hear from these
families a call home will be made on as timely a basis as possible. Please keep in mind that on
occasion several calls need to be made from the office and as time passes by it can be a stressful
task. We have 62 families that fall into this category. The local radio station is very efficient, once
the decision has been made, to communicate on an ongoing basis to inform families of bus
cancellation.
schoolbusinfo.com also posts bus cancellation information on their website.

The Community of St. Patrick’s Catholic High School
Invites Parents and Grade 8 Students from all
Sarnia-Lambton Catholic Elementary Schools to our Annual
OPEN HOUSE
at
St. Patrick’s Catholic High School
281 East Street North, Sarnia
Learn more about our exciting move to our newly renovated school
opening in September 2014
Thursday, January 16 th
Student Open House
10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Guest Speaker
Activities
Lunch to be Provided
Parent Open House
6:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
6:00 p.m. – Self-Guided Tours
7:00 p.m. – Information Session in
Main Gymnasium
Students in our Catholic elementary partner schools will receive additional information in their home
schools. Other interested parents and students should contact:
Lori Gray
Student Services Secretary,
St. Patrick’s Catholic High School
519-332-3976, Ext. 4010
lori.gray@sccdsb.net

Helping Your Child to Succeed at School
Each month in this space, look for tips on ways in which parents can help keep their children safe when
using online tools and social media.
For January, I will highlight some specific examples of cyber bullying.
Dan Parr
Director of Education
Source: Ontario Provincial Police
Cyber Bullying
Although there are different definitions regarding the topic of cyber bullying, it can generally be defined
as sending or posting harmful or cruel text messages or images using the internet or other digital
communication devices.
Some Specific Examples of Cyber Bullying Would Include:
Sending cruel, vicious and sometimes threatening messages;
Creating websites that have stories, cartoons, pictures and jokes ridiculing others;
Posting pictures of classmates online with intent to embarrass them;
Breaking into an email account and sending vicious or embarrassing material to others;
Engaging someone in IM (instant messaging), tricking that person into revealing sensitive personal
information and then forwarding that information to others;
Taking a picture of a person using a digital phone camera
and sending that picture to others without consent.
Trustee Corner
Happy New Year from the Board of Trustees for the St. Clair Catholic District School
Board!
As you may know, St. Clair Catholic, along with the Diocese of London and the Huron
Perth, London and Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic district school boards, have
worked to organize an evening with Terry Nelson-Johnson. The event for St. Clair
Catholic is at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, January 20 th at the Ursuline College theatre in
Chatham.
Dr. Terry Nelson-Johnson is the Animating and Creative Partner of Soul Play, an
experiential, theological and education enterprise serving congregations families and
adults. His art is the written and spoken word. Through storytelling, poetry and humour,
he connects our life stories to the story of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Ten seats have been reserved for each elementary school; and 25 seats for each secondary
school; however, more seats can be made available. Please contact your principal if you
would like to attend.
The event is free and is made available through a Ministry of Education “Parents
Reaching Out” grant.
I hope you are able to attend.
Yours in Catholic education,
Carol Bryden, Chair of the Board; John Van Heck; Vice Chair of the Board
Trustees – John Fontaine, Anita Labadie, Michelle Parks, Brenda Rumble and Linda
Ward.