Principal

Mrs. R. Tropea

Superintendent

D. Yack (416) 222-8282 ext.2732

Trustee

Ann Andrachuk (416) 222-8282

Parish

Our Lady of Peace 3914 Bloor Street West

(416) 239-1259

Pastor: Fr. Galea

Fr. Bandalan

Hours of Operation

8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Kindergarten (am): 8:30 – 11:05

Kindergarten (pm): 12:35 – 3:00

Lunch Hour: 11:35 – 12:35

Catch the Spirit!

ST. ELIZABETH CATHOLIC SCHOOL 5 Redcar Avenue

Toronto, Ontario

M9B 1J8

TEL: (416) 393-5278

FAX: (416) 393-5048

WWW.TCDSB.ORG/STELIZABETH

February 2014

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

February will be a very busy month at St. Elizabeth School

with a lot of great learning opportunities and activities.

Hopefully, warmer weather is on the way so that students can

enjoy their outdoor recess time. We look forward to some

class visits by Officer Rich this month. Our GRRReen Ma-

chine Team is also organizing National Sweater Day (details

inside). Some of our senior students are organizing a home-

made chicken soup and sandwich lunch on February 7th with

the help of Mrs. Tulino and Mrs. Frith (details inside). On

Valentine’s Day, Friday February 14th, we will be having a

Spirit Day in which students are encouraged to wear red,

white or pink. During the month of February, we celebrate

the Virtue of Love.

Mrs. Tropea

Family Day NO SCHOOL:

The school will be closed on Family Day, Monday, February

17th. We hope everyone gets the opportunity to do something

fun with their family!

VIRTUE OF THE MONTH: LOVE

Follow TCDSB on Twitter

Get all the latest news and information from the Board, including

notifications of weather related cancellations and closures through-

out the winter months by following @TCDSB on Twitter.

TORONTO CATHOLIC

DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD

TRUSTEES 2013-2014

Wards 1. Peter Jakovcic 416-512-3401 2. Ann Andrachuk 416-512-3402 3. Sal Piccininni 416-512-3403 4. Patrizia Bottoni 416-512-3404 5. Maria Rizzo 416-512-3405 6. Frank D’Amico 416-512-3406 7. John Del Grande 416-512-3407 8. Garry Tanuan 416-512-3408 9. Jo-Ann Davis, Chair 416-512-3409 10. Barbara Poplawski 416-512-3410 11. Angela Kennedy 416-512-3411 Nancy Crawford,

Vice-Chair 416-512-3412

William Lawrence, Student Trustee 416-512-3413 Enrique Olivo,

LATE ARRIVALS

Many thanks for your continued efforts to have

your child arrive at school on time.

WINTER WEATHER Parents are reminded to send children with

boots, snow pants, hats and mitts on snowy

days. As well, students should bring in an

extra pair of shoes and socks to be kept in the

classroom.

SCHOOL BUS

CANCELLATIONS

Parents are reminded that if transportation is

cancelled by the TCDSB due to inclement

weather, you are still required to call in your

child’s absence to the school according to our

safe arrival policies.

KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION

Kindergarten registration is ongoing.

*NEW* ON-LINE REGISTRATION

For the first time, online registration will be

available on the TCDSB website and we en-

courage everyone to access the site and begin

the registration process. The second part of

the registration process involves making an

appointment with the school so that you can

bring in all original documents needed for

registration. Your registration will not be

considered complete until you receive verifi-

cation from the SOAR website. Please note

that parents can still make appointments with

Mrs. Fifield for the registration process with-

out going online. However, completing in-

formation online does speed up the process

once you come in for your school appoint-

ment. If you have any questions, please do

not hesitate to call Mrs. Fifield at the school.

You can access the online registration system

at: soar.tcdsb.org

CSAC

Our next CSAC meeting will be held on

Tuesday, February 18th at 6:30

p.m. All are welcome to attend!

PIZZA LUNCH

Our next Pizza Lunch/Civvies Day will be

held on Friday, February 28th.

Many thanks to Mrs. Tulino and

her team of helpers for making

pizza lunch a yummy success!

RAINBOW LUNCHES

Our Rainbow Lunches continue

to be held every Thursday and

are enjoyed by the students who

participate.

REPORT CARDS

First term reports will be sent

home on Tuesday, February

11th. As mentioned in previous

correspondence, there will be no

parent/teacher interviews for this or next term

reports. However, parents are reminded to

contact their child’s teacher if they have any

questions regarding their child’s progress,

either via the agenda or by calling the school

office @ 416-393-5278.

CELEBRATION OF FAITH

We celebrated a lovely Epiphany Mass with

Father Galea on Monday, January 27th at the

school. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to

Father and all the parish team at Our Lady of

Peace Church. Many thanks to Mrs.

Menezes and her Gr. 3/4 class for all their

work and preparation for this Mass. Thanks

as well to Mrs. Tulino who organized all the

music and to all our singers!

PAGE 2 St. Elizabeth Catholic School

VALENTINE’S/CIVVIES

DAY

On Friday, February 14th, we

will be celebrating Valen-

tine’s Day. Students are wel-

come to wear red, white and

pink (or any combination of these colours!)

on this day. Our fundraising dance-a-thon

traditionally held on this date will be held in

March this year.

SKATING/CIVVIES

Our next Skating Day will be held

on Friday, February 21st. Students

have really enjoyed the skating

days and it’s great to see so

many parents join us for this fun

activity. We especially want to

thank the parents who come out

to help “do up” skates.

FEBRUARY IS AFRICAN CANADIAN

HISTORY MONTH—BLACK HISTORY

MONTH Since its inception Black History

Month has been celebrated during the month

of February. During this month many teach-

ers will be focusing on honouring and cele-

brating the achievements of black men and

women throughout history. We will be hav-

ing a special presentation entitled: “The

Spirit of Harriet Tubman” for our Gr. 6-8

students on Monday, March 3

as part of our focus on Black

History Month. This one-

woman play uses Harriet's

own words in telling the story

of her life from her earliest

experiences as a slave, through her work on

the Underground Railroad, to her continued

commitment to others in her later years.

EXTRA CURRICULAR

Junior Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer We would like to congratulate both

our junior boys' and girls' soccer

teams on a great performance at

their tournaments on January 21

and 22. Both teams demonstrated team spirit and

a positive attitude and placed third in their re-

spective tournaments. Team members for the

junior boys: Adam, Nino, Joshua, Christopher,

Ethan, Samuel, Patryk, Matthew, Nathan, Nikol,

Philip, Jose, coach Mrs. Tulino. Team members

for the junior girls: Brianna, Amelia, Jade, Kata-

rina, Amanda, Anila, Endi, Jane, Mikayla, Jessi-

ca, Nicole, Jacqueline, Vivian, coach Mrs. Tuli-

no.

A MESSAGE FROM GRRREEN MACHINE

Since the beginning of the New Year, the focus

for the GRRReen Machine has been energy con-

servation. The team has done a few walkabouts

and concluded that overall we,

at St. Elizabeth, have been doing

a great job saving energy. We

especially excel in turning out

the lights when they are not in

use. The one thing we need to focus on is mak-

ing sure that printers, scanners and other periph-

erals are shut off when not in use. Even though

our focus is now on energy, we still encourage St.

Elizabeth to continue to recycle and minimize

waste.

NATIONAL SWEATER DAY-

A GRRREEN MACHINE INITIATIVE! On February 6th, St. Elizabeth will be joining mil-

lions of Canadians in National Sweater Day. All

members of the St. Elizabeth community will be

encouraged to wear sweaters to school that day

and we will use less heat in the school. We hope

National Sweater Day will be a

fun way to learn about the im-

portance of saving energy, and

inspire you to use less heat all

winter. Please see the WWF

Canada website for more infor-

mation and ideas.

Alicia – Grade 8

PAGE 3 St. Elizabeth Catholic School

HOMEMADE CHICKEN SOUP AND

GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH FUND-

RAISER

This Friday will be our Homemade Chicken

Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day.

The Grade 8’s, along with Mrs. Tulino and

Mrs. Frith have organized this special fund-

raiser. Thanks to all those who ordered. We

are looking forward to a delicious lunch!

VIRTUE OF THE MONTH ASSEMBLIES

Our Virtue of the Month assemblies have

proven to be a great success. The Virtue of

the Month Club prepares a presentation

around each virtue while always relating

them to real-life school situations. These

presentations are the springboard for much

discussion in the class and school as a whole

especially around issues such as respect for

all and the celebration of diversity. This

month’s assembly featuring the virtue of

“LOVE” will be held on Friday, February

28th. Thank you to Mrs. Frith and Ms.

Warner for coordinating our Virtue of the

Month assemblies with our terrific student

leaders.

MARCH PA DAY/

MARCH BREAK

Please note that there is

no school on Friday,

March 7th as this is a PA Day. As well,

March Break will be from Monday, March

10-Friday, March 14. We hope everyone

enjoys this mid-winter break!

WWW.TCDSB.ORG/STELIZABETH Keep in touch with what’s happening at St.

Elizabeth! Monthly newsletters and calendars

are emailed or sent home with students. The-

se are also posted on our website so you can

be in touch with what is going on at St. Eliza-

beth with a few clicks of the mouse. That

way, you can be reminded of upcoming

events at any time or place. As well, if you

have any questions, please feel free to call

our school office at (416) 393-5278. Please

note that if changes occur with calendar

items a note will be sent home and students

will be asked to note the change in their

agendas.

PAGE 4 St. Elizabeth Catholic School

News from the

Board

2014-15 Minister's Student Advisory Council Students in grades 7 – 12 are invited to apply

Deadline is February 28th The Minister's Stu-

dent Advisory Council (MSAC) is a group of

approximately 60 students who come from public

schools all across the province. Members share

their ideas and advice with the Minister of Educa-

tion on a variety of topics about our publicly

funded education system. http://

www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/students/speakup/

msac.html

Faith in our Future Video Series

The Ontario Catholic School Trus-

tees’ Association has launched a

short-video series to help Ontarians

better understand the Catholic seg-

ment of the province’s unique public

education system. The short-video series is part

of the Catholic school system’s province-wide

social media campaign entitled “Faith in Our Fu-

ture.” The campaign is an invitation for all Ontar-

ians to explore the distinctive value and contribu-

tion of Catholic education to the life of this prov-

ince. For more than 170 years Catholic schools

have been recognized by the government as an

integral part of public education in Ontario com-

munities. All OCSTA’s videos can be viewed at:

http://www.youtube.com/ocstavideo1.

Voter Look Up – New Website

The TCDSB has partnered with the Municipal

Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) to

launch a new website in support of this year’s

Municipal and School Board elections. Potential

electors can visit voterlookup.ca and confirm and

update their information. Updating this infor-

mation will help to ensure Voters’ Lists are accu-

rate in preparation for municipal and school

board elections this Fall. If you are not assessed

as an English-Separate School supporter and wish

to redirect your support to Catholic schools,

please contact Sandra Vitale, Manager, Assess-

ment Department at sandra.vitale@tcdsb.org 416

-222-8282 ext 2666.

CURRICULUM CORNER

thinkMATH@home: Helping

Your Child Learn and Love

Mathematics

Parents, school and the lo-

cal community have the shared task

of nurturing our stu-

dents' confidence in learning mathematics and in

applying their mathematical knowledge to solve

real-life problems. The disposition of appreciat-

ing and enjoying mathematics is necessary for

our students to persevere in learning mathematics

with depth and precision and to continuously im-

prove the clarity of their mathematical communi-

cation. It is common knowledge that parent's/

guardian's attitudes toward mathematics has an

impact on children's attitudes towards mathemat-

ics. In fact, students whose parents/guardians

show an interest in and enthusiasm for mathemat-

ics around the home will be more likely to devel-

op that enthusiasm themselves and persevere to

learn and succeed in Mathematics. More info:

http://www.tcdsb.org/ProgramsServices/

SchoolProgramsK12/Numeracy/

thinkMATH@home/Pages/default.aspx

PanAm Games 2015

Check out the Board’s web-

site at http://

www.tcdsb.org/pages/

toronto-2015-pan-am-and-

parapan-am-games.aspx for information about

volunteer opportunities, employment opportuni-

ties and other ways to get involved with the up-

coming games.

New Publications Recently Added to the

Board’s Website

Director’s Annual Report 2012-2013: http://

www.tcdsb.org/Board/BoardAdministration/

DirectorofEducation/Documents/Final%

20Director's%20Annual%20Report%20WEB%

202012%20-%202013.pdf Audited Financial Statements for 2012-2013: http://www.tcdsb.org/Board/BudgetandFinance/

Documents/2013-08-31%20Toronto%

20Catholic%20District%20Sch%20Brd%

2018413%20AUD%20Cons.pdf

PAGE 5 St. Elizabeth Catholic School