St. Gregory Catholic School Newsletter 126 Rathburn Road, Etobicoke, Ontario, M9B 2K6 Telephone: (416) 393-5262 Fax: (416) 393-5189

Visit us: http://stgregorytoronto.com or https://www.tcdsb.org/schools/stgregory.org AND follow us on Twitter @StGregoryCS

St. Gregory Parish Superintendent: Mr. D. Yack 416-222-8282 Principal: J. Pannozzo Fr. John Bertao Trustee: Mrs. A. Andrachuk 416-512-3402 Vice Principal: A. Pires (416) 239-4831 CSPC co-chairs: P. Vokins & J. D’Aprile Secretary: C. Pulcini Clerk Typist: S. Shanahan

DECEMBER 2016 - JANUARY 2017

Dear Parents and

Guardians: The Season of Advent

began Sunday,

November 27th.

During Advent, we prepare our homes

and ourselves to welcome the

newborn King. It is a time to reflect

on Christ’s presence in our everyday

life. At St. Gregory Catholic School,

the month of December will be

devoted to creating an atmosphere of

preparation and Charity. We want our

students to understand, experience and

celebrate this special time.

Our Primary Christmas Concert will

take place on Wednesday, December

7th at 7:00 p.m., in the school gym.

Our school ADVENT MASS will be

on Thursday, December 15th at 7:00

p.m.. The kindergarten students will

also be having their individual class

performances on Wednesday,

December 21st in the morning.

Thank you to all our teachers for

preparing our students for these

performances. As we break for

Christmas, there will be no January

Newsletter – only the January

Calendar will be available.

On behalf of the entire staff, we

extend our best wishes and blessings

to your families during this Christmas

season and the New Year.

J. Pannozzo Ana Pires

Principal Vice Principal

ADVENT SEASON The lights of the candles on the Advent Wreath break through the darkness, reminding us of the Light of Christ that we anticipate during this Holy season.

First Week – Candle of HOPE - Purple

All-powerful God, increase our strength of

will for doing good that Christ may find an

eager welcome at his coming and call us to

his side in the kingdom of heaven, where he

lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit

one God, forever and ever. AMEN.

Second Week - Candle of PEACE - Purple

God of power and mercy open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that

hinder us from receiving Christ with joy so that we may share his wisdom and

become one with him when he comes in glory, for he lives and reigns with you

and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. AMEN.

Third Week - Candle of JOY - Pink

Father, all-powerful God, your eternal Word took flesh on our earth when

the Virgin Mary placed her life at the service of your plan. Lift our minds in

watchful hope to hear the voice which announces his glory and open our

minds to receive the Spirit who prepares us for his coming. We ask this

through Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Fourth Week - Candle of LOVE – Purple

Lord God, may we, your people, who look forward to the birthday of Christ

experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and

thanksgiving. We ask this through Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Many thanks to the D’Aprile Family for donating the beautiful Nativity Scene

displayed on our Prayer Table in the main foyer.

As we enter the season of Advent to prepare our hearts for the birth of

Jesus, it is rather suitable that this month’s virtue is CHARITY.

Many of us are already engaging in the mad rush to purchase gifts to

place under the tree on the 25th, but let us be mindful of the fact that

charity is not always about giving material things. Our quote for the

month is “Where charity and love are, God is there”. How can we

practice charity and generosity in our community without necessarily

giving material things? Giving thought to others with less than ourselves

is an extension of Charity. Let’s make this the challenge that we all

strive to achieve for the month of December!

The Sweet Read drive is

underway from December 5th to

15th. Once again Kindergarten and

primary grade students (1s, 2s, 3s)

will have the opportunity to

experience the true meaning of

Charity this Christmas season. As

each child offers their wrapped gift,

their happy smiles are true displays

of sincere Christian giving and caring

for others.

The Catholic Children’s Aid Society

see so many children from families

who are struggling to meet their basic

needs. One of the families wrote,

“Thanks for your kind

generosity. Our children were able to

enjoy Christmas with love and

happiness in their hearts.” Please

have your child bring a

NEW children’s book (can be for

ages 4-12) and a chocolate treat

wrapped in clear cellophane for the

Sweet Read Christmas Table. The

clear cellophane allows CCAS to

ensure the book is delivered to an

age-appropriate child.

With much thanks and appreciation to

all St. Gregory families who value the

virtue of Charity in our Catholic

Schools.

CHRISTMAS BASKETS

For many years now, in the spirit of giving, the St. Gregory School community has participated in collecting food items and gifts in support of the St. Vincent de Paul Community Christmas Hamper Project. We are pleased to be involved this worthwhile endeavour once again this year as the number of families in need have increased. Junior and Intermediate teachers and students started collecting on November 24th, this will continue until December 7th. We will be providing for many needy families in our community. It is an excellent opportunity for our students to give witness to our Catholic social teaching, and to “turn concern into action”. Thank you in advance for your continued support.

Brrr…

It is that time of

year when

students need to

be reminded to

dress properly

for the weather

(mittens, hats,

scarves, boots,

etc.). Labeling items would be

helpful, as many items make their

way to the Lost and Found and are

often not claimed. We ask that each

child have indoor footwear (e.g.

running shoes) to wear in the school

and boots to wear outside when the

weather becomes rainy or snowy.

Please listen to the weather reports

before deciding what they should

wear to school each day.

Except under inclement weather

conditions, students will be outside

during recesses. Research indicates

that time outdoors in the fresh air

allows students to refocus on their

studies.

We will monitor the weather

conditions daily and make decisions

based upon our local conditions.

Please bear in mind that children who

are too ill to go outside should stay at

home resting and should not be at

school.

In anticipation of the arrival of our first significant snowfall, we

ask that you reinforce with your

child that ‘snow stays on the ground’. Students are reminded that there is to be no snowball throwing, kicking of snow, taking hats, etc. Please take this opportunity to discuss these behaviours with your children in the interest of student safety.

TRANSPORTATION Cancellation of school bus

transportation or school closures

due to inclement weather will be

reported through the following:

News releases to all media outlets

in Toronto (note: although the

news

release is

provided to

the media

outlets,

there is no

guarantee

that all

television and radio stations will

broadcast the information in a

timely fashion).

Communications will also

endeavour to send out the

information electronically to E-

News subscribers (Note: If you

do not already subscribe to E-

News, but wish to do so, please

visit our website at www.tcdsb.org

and click on the E-News icon on

the top right hand side of the

homepage). Updates will also be

posted on the Board’s 24-hour

information line, 416-222-8282,

ext. 2873.

The information will also be

posted on the Board’s website at

www.tcdsb.org or

www.tcdsb.org/weather.htm

The Transportation Department

will post this information on its

website at

www.transportation@torontoschoo

lbus.org

Kindergarten Registration for all children born in 2013 opens on Wednesday,

January 18th, 2017 at 10 a.m. online at soar.tcdsb.org . Please refer to the enclosed attachment for specifics.

December’s CSPC meeting is on Wednesday, December 21st at 6:30 p.m.. All parents are invited to attend.

Officer Rich visited our school on Wednesday, November 30th. He met with grade 2s & 3s about 911 and with our grade 8s about Cyber Bullying. He informed students of behaviours that constitute cyber bullying and stressed the importance of being an upstanding citizen and taking responsibility for online behaviours. Please refer to your child’s agenda for TCDSB’s BYOD Policy and be vigilant about your child’s online activities at home.

M@thletics On Thursday, January 19th , 2017, St.

Gregory will once again be hosting

Family Math Night. This event is for

all students and parents at the

school. Look out for registration

details in the next few weeks.

CSPC invites all St. Gregory families to attend Family Movie Night on Thursday, December 1st at 6:30 p.m. AND Gingerbread Houses!

St. Gregory School, through the generous support of its CSPC is once again having Junior and Intermediate Book Clubs. The Junior Club for Gr. 4 & 5 students, and the Intermediate Club for Gr. 6, 7 & 8 students. Members set personal reading goals and read independently during book club and personal time. Students share their opinions and feelings about selected literature during weekly, casual “book talks” with their peers. Book Club runs WEDNESDAYS during lunch recess.

Holiday Math: Take advantage of math in the world is a great time to learn how math relates to the real world. Math is everywhere! Take advantage of the many great opportunities to practice math naturally! Below are a few ideas to get you started: •Cooking can involve weighing, measuring, ordering, estimating, adding, multiplying … •Restaurants and shopping can involve money, number identification, estimating, adding, subtracting, division … •Parties can involve matching numbers of people to plates, cutlery, area of tables, estimation, multiplication … •Trips can involve time, distance, budgeting, speed, evaluating various routes, license plate games (e.g. adding or multiplying the numbers on the plate) … •Home projects can involve estimation, measuring, multiplication •Garden clean up can involve measuring, counting, area, division. These ideas all demonstrate how much math is involved in our daily lives and will support your child in his or her basic computation and problem-solving skills in natural, fun and real ways.

This month’s Civvies Day will be Christmas Sweater Day. Students wishing to participate on Friday, December 9th, please bring in a toonie to support St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Thank you to all who donated a

toonie for November’s civvies

day. St. Gregory raised $583

for the Dovercourt Boys and

Girls Club.

Scientists in School workshops are

a wonderful extension to the grade

specific curriculum for our

students.

Once again this year, St. Gregory

CSPC will generously be covering

the cost of a workshop per class.

The Scholastic Book Fair will be taking place in the Library the week of December 5th-9th. Books are great stocking stuffers! See the calendar for visiting schedules and extended hours. We thank Mr. Regner and the many parent volunteers who help run this successful event at St. Gregory every year.

SAVE THE DATE!

April 6th, 2017 6:00pm-9:00pm

Be sure not to miss this

wonderful opportunity to

showcase your talent. Whether

you like to paint, sculpt, knit,

sew, build or have a creative

eye in photography, your donated Art &/or Craft will help make

this event successful. If you would like to donate art or crafts for

the silent auction, please contact Ms. Visconti at the school or

email Ms. Tenuta at tenutal@smh.ca

MILK PROGRAM The milk order forms for the Winter & Spring terms will be

available in the first week of December.

We would like to thank everyone for an amazing fundraiser! As you know we had our Dance-a-thon hosted by the Much Music Video Dance Party Company on Friday, November 25th in the school gym. It was a huge success! We would like to thank everyone who did an amazing job

collecting pledges. The Dance-a-thon raised $17,208.32 which will help towards supporting school initiatives & activities. The student who brought in the most money from each division was given an iPad mini. The winners were: Sebastian G. – SK, who also was the top student in the whole school – PRIMARY DIVISION Aria B. – Gr. 4 – JUNIOR DIVISION Steven P. – Gr. 8 – INTERMEDIATE DIVISION Congratulations to all the students for a job well done!! St. Gregory CSPC

Poinsettia

Fundraiser Orders for the

Poinsettia plants will be placed on

Monday, December 5th. No order

forms will be accepted once the

order is placed. The greenhouse will

be giving the school a percentage of

each poinsettia sold.

Thanks,

St. Gregory CSPC

Cooper’s Corner November proved to be an exciting month in athletics at St. Gregory. The intermediate boys

and girls seasons were in full swing. The girls’ team after successful showings in two invitational tournaments travelled to All Saints to participate in their divisional tournament. The girls played hard all day and ended up losing to All Saints in a very close final. The girls should be proud of their performance as All Saints ended making it all the

way to the city semi- finals. The boys’ team travelled to Archbishop Romero in early November for their last invitational tournament. The boys finished as champions for the fourth consecutive year at the tournament. Next was the divisional tournament at All Saints. The boys played great all day and finished on top. This gave them a birth in the West Region Tournament at Monsignor Percy Johnson. The team stepped up their game big time overcoming a big injury and beat OLS in the finals to become West Region Champions. Next up was the city championships at the Pan Am Sports Centre. The boys fought hard and lost in the semi-finals to the eventual city champions. The boys finished with four tournament championships and city semi- finalists! The volleyball season never ends as junior volleyball is up next. The boys have started try outs and the girls will soon follow. The basketball season is underway at St. Gregory. The intermediate boys have been practicing all month and the girls are set to start their try outs. The junior boys and girls indoor soccer teams will start up in December. The Co-Ed Hockey Team has started try outs and will play in their first tournament in December. The Primary Soccer House League will finish up just before Christmas. Currently the Iguanas and the Dangerous Dynamite are tied for first place in the 16 team league.

In November Growth Mindset Buttons were given to students who demonstrate a hard work ethic towards new learning. Congratulations to all recipients! In December it will be “I can learn anything!”

Mindset and Seeking Feedback

Researchers, Nussbaum and Dweck were interested in the kind of feedback people would seek out after they

struggled. Researchers gave participants a difficult test and then told the participants that they hadn’t done well on the test. Then, they gave them a choice: Did they want to look at the tests of people who had done worse than them or the tests of people who had done better? People with a growth mindset chose to learn from people who had done better than them. But people with a fixed mindset seemed more interested in making themselves feel better. They looked at the tests of people who had done worse.

Read the full article at and find more parent resources at https://www.mindsetkit.org/growth-mindset-parents.

GROWTH MINDSET

Monthly Recognition: I Work Hard

TEACHER November Ms. Rosa Julia Eve Lauren/ Rebecca

Ms. Andreacchi Ricardo Olivia Nathaniel

Ms. Salmond Jordan G. Asher C. Kristopher L.

Ms. Maxwell/Santelli Frank K. Daniel P. Quinn B.

Mrs. Botelho Sofia D. Frances L.

Mrs. Roy Ema M. Phillip G.

Mrs. Ceddia Genevieve C. Andrea J.

Ms. Mulvihill Naomi Olivia

Mrs. Barone Victoria C. Alexander R.

Ms. Alberton Philip B. Alessia D.

Mrs. Gentile Vienna F. Keane B.

Mrs. Yetman/Driscoll Riyan Olivia G.

Ms. Loughlin Lucas F. Sophia L.

Ms. Brajuka Manuele B. Nicki P. Sabrina P.

Ms. Steponaitis Owen Isabelle

Mr. Zinko Jacob C. Aidan C. Harry Z.

Ms. Hetmanczuk Blaise O. Nikolas M. Matteo P.

Ms. Micallef Liana V. Sarah H.

Mrs. Hall Sarah H. Milena B. David G.

Mrs. Quartarone Maria M. Joshua M.

Mrs. Cicirelli Victoria L. Noah L.

Mr. Pruchnicky Alex S. Eva D.

Mme Abboud Summer M. Roisin M. Abrielle G.

Mrs. Martinez Alyssa J. Vanessa P.

Mrs. Dalmau Katherine S. Carolin Tome

Mr. Severino Julia B. Daniel D.

Mme Bahsous Christian D. Mairead H.

Mr. De Medeiros Meredith M. Christian S. Steven P.

Ms. Hanna Michael M. Samantha B. James S.

Mrs. Pitoscia Gabriella O. Tyler H. Michael B.

Mrs. Pires Austen J. Mara R.