Inside this issue…

• School News

• November Recognitions

• Christmas Concert

• Bring and Buy Sale

• Dismissal Times

• Transportation

• Reading Corner

• School Council News

• Capital Health News

• St. John Bosco Parish News

• Superintendent's Message &

Christmas Blessings!

Next Newsletter

December 22nd , 2017

Principal: Mrs. Antonella Molella , Assistant Principal: Ms. Christine Letwin Administrative Assistant: Mrs. Renée Bourlai Web Site: www.stmariagoretti..ecsd.net

Message From the Administration Team In the rhythm of a school year, December is a beautiful time to appreciate the wonder of life and to give thanks for our many blessings. As a Catholic school, we are a life-giving place and the gifts that our students, staff and families share give meaning to our lives. It was wonderful to demonstrate your child's learning at the November, 23rd Celebra-tion of Learning. We sincerely thank our families for their partnership and look forward to continued student growth this school year. December 3rd marks the beginning of the new liturgical year as well as the beginning of Advent. We hope that this season of Advent offers our families, students and staff, ways to prepare for Christmas with peace and joy so that we are truly ready to cele-brate the birth of Christ.

LOVING LORD

Loving and compassionate God,

Your quiet presence is unveiled

in the soft December light.

Throughout this Advent Season,

help us slow down our lives,

and tend to our souls.

Give us courage and wisdom

to become more authentically human.

May this blessed time be filled

with the warmth of family and friends,

and may we extend this blessing

to all those who are lonely.

We ask this through Jesus Christ

Our Lord, in the love

of the Holy Spirit, one God,

forever and ever.

Amen

We invite you to share in our preparation for Christmas. We celebrate the lighting of the first candle of Advent during our Advent Celebration and reconciliation on Monday, December 4th Each Monday in December we will celebrate the lighting of the Advent candles during our morning broadcast. Our Christmas concert theme, “Sing with us, the Christmas Story!” will also help us to celebrate Jesus’ birth. We are having two con-certs this year on Wednesday Dec. 13th at St. John Bosco Church. We are asking that you bring a Food Bank donation as admission. We are collecting these items for the St. John Bosco Parish Food Bank. We wish you a wonderful journey to Bethlehem in these next weeks; a journey filled with Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

Mrs. A. Molella Ms. C. Letwin

Principal Assistant Principal

December 2017 Newsletter #4

4214 -127 Ave.

Edmonton, AB T5A 3K6

Ph. 475 - 0158 FAX 478 - 8635

www.stmariagoretti.ecsd

Please refrain from chewing gum, bringing

beverages into the church or wearing caps

of any kind while in the church.

Advent Celebration

During the Advent season, we invite you to come and share with us in our preparation for Christmas. We will be lighting the candles on our Advent wreath each Monday morning, during our mourning broadcast. We begin on Monday, December 4th at 8:30 a.m. with our St. Maria Goretti Advent Cele-bration and reconciliation. Father Raja blessed our Advent wreaths and Gr. 3-6 students were giv-en the opportunity to participate in the sacrament of reconciliation. We look forward to the Advent season and we wait in great anticipation for the coming of the Christ Child.

Dear Parents,

On December 15th we will have our 9th Annu-

al Bring and Buy Sale. We ask all parents and

students to help participate in the Bring and Buy

Sale, by bringing in quality and slightly used toys,

books, ornaments and Christmas items. All the

money raised will go to the Burundi , for our stu-

dent Elysee. Students look forward to this event

every year.

Please continue to bring in your items to con-

tribute to our sale by December 14th.

Sincerely, St. Maria Goretti Students & Staff

Please note that doors to the church open at

5:40 p.m. for the first concert and

6:55 p.m. for the second Concert.

For those who are able, please bring a donation

for the food bank as admission to the concert.

Christmas Concert

Please mark your calendars for

Wednesday, December 13th

6:00 — 6:45 (Doors open @ 5:40pm) Grades Kinder , 2A/B, 2/3A,4A/B & 6A

and Glee perform

7:15 — 8:00 (Doors open @ 6:55pm)

Grades 1A/B/C, 3A/B, 4/5A, 5A and Handbell Choir and Glee perform

at St. John Bosco Church (13503-40ST NW) for our St. Maria Goretti School

Christmas Concert.

In response to the large crowds that have at-tended the St. Maria Goretti Christmas concert in the past, we have decided to have two concerts on Wednesday, December 13th. We invite every-one to share in an evening of music and song to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Thanks to Mrs. R. for all her efforts in making our Christmas concert so very special for our families. We will once again have a raffle for the “Best Seats in the House” in support of the Ed-monton Catholic School Foundation. These raffle tickets will be on sale Nov. 14th to Dec. 7th.

S.M.G. Glee Club Sings for the

Christmas Season

St. Maria Goretti Glee Club, a choir of grade 4, 5,

and 6 students under the direction of Mrs. Rozh-

destvensky and Miss Roz, performed on Dec. 1st at

Festival of Trees at the Shaw Conference Centre.

They will also be performing at City Hall on Dec. 7th.

These special concerts are our school’s gift from the

heart to the community this Christmas Season.

Thank you goes out to Mrs. Rozhdestvensky and

Miss Roz!

Ski Lessons Grades 5 and 6

The Grade 5 and 6 students are

going skiing / snowboarding at

SunRidge on Friday, January 19th

and again, on Friday, February 2nd.

Buses will be leaving St. Maria Goretti

at 9:00 a.m. and will return to the

school by 3:00 p.m. A fieldtrip form

will be sent home soon!

Please be reminded that the regular yellow buses

do not transport skis or snowboard equipment. Par-

ents are therefore asked to drop off their child’s equip-

ment at the school prior to departure.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Haro

@ 780-475-0158.

From the Reading Corner One of the most important gifts a parent can give to their child is the gift of time. Setting aside time daily to share in their children’s learning experiences and to read with them is extremely important in helping children to be successful.

Here are some suggestions in making reading important in your home. When reading with your child remember to:

• Prepare before reading.

• Discuss what is known about the topic to be read, before reading .

• Ask questions.

Also remember to:

• Make predictions about story content.

• Interact and reinforce while reading.

• Encourage questions, comments, and predictions.

• Compliment good interaction.

• Give your child the opportunity to discuss what they have read.

• Congratulate success in reading!

Give the time to read… Happy Reading and Listening!

Christmas Holiday 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:

Full Day—Thursday, December 21st,

Dismissal at 3:00 PM

Half Day - Friday, December 22nd,

Dismissal at 11:49 PM

For the Love of Reading ..

November Winners!

Pizza Lunch with the Principal

• Nathan S.

• Alisha N.S.

• Caden R.

• Brayden F.

• Natasha S.

• Mason P.

• Jordyn W.

• Lilly C.

• Domenico Z.

• Kiara C.

• Joshua G.

• Katy M.

• Dzenelle A.

• Emma S.

• Kaden B.S.

School Council

Wishes you a Blessed Christmas and a

Very Happy New Year!

Edmonton Catholic School Foundation Raffle

Tickets are on sale for the following raffle items:

--Prize #1 - 2 sets of “Best Seats in the House”

(4 tickets) for the SMG Christmas Concert

on Dec. 13th @ 6:00 (2 draws of 4)

Prize #2 - 2 sets of “Best Seats in the House”

(4 tickets) for the SMG Christmas Concert on Dec. 13th @ 7:15 (2 draws of 4)

Prize #3- 2 Edmonton Oilers Tickets January

2nd,2018 Game VS LA Kings

–Lower Bowl

Prize #4 - $50.00 Toys R Us Gift Card.

Prize #5 – 2 Oil Kings tickets to game of choice

Prize #6– IPad Mini 16 GB

Prize #7– a Large Stuffed Animal.

$1.00 ea. Be sure to buy your tickets for a chance to

win one of these raffle prizes!

St. Maria Goretti students and staff thank the

Parent Council for all their hard work and dedi-

cation in fundraising and supporting our school

in many different ways. It is through your efforts

that we are able to participate in many wonder-

ful activities and enhancement experiences.

School Council News

November saw the wrap-up of the Mundare Sausage fundraiser. Thank you to the many par-ents that participated in our fundraising activi-ties! A special thanks to Mrs. Cadwell and the school council for the many hours that went into making this such a success The students also enjoyed a wonderful hot lunch this month on Western Day. Thank you to the many volunteers who helped to make this fun lunch possible, and especially, to Leah Cassidy for leading the team. The School Council looks forward to cooking a Pancake & Sausage lunch, on Dec 21,we are ask-ing for a $1.00 donation per student. More infor-mation will follow. Remember to wear your PJ’s that day!

As we approach the end of this calendar year, we would like to thank everyone for your patience and understanding with our mod-ernization project at St. Maria Goretti School. All classes have now moved to their new class-room. The next phase will begin with a new front entrance and demolition of the old portables. January will be the start of many more wonderful experiences for all students, and we look forward to continuing to work with the St. Ma-ria Goretti School family members, towards an enjoyable and enriched school experience.

As Edmonton Catholic Schools continues to expand its role of providing a 21st century learning environment, it is critical that our teachers and students are familiar with the responsibilities of being digitally connected citi-zens. Students and parents must become aware of the bene-fits and risks that are associated with digital interactions and that ultimately students must be able to make re-sponsible choices and decisions as they navigate and interact within the digital world. Digital Safety Session: Cole presentations:

Student Sessions (Gr. 3, 4, 5 & 6)

Wed., Nov. 16

Upcoming Parent Session

Monday, Feb. 6

For information on our District Digital Citizenship poli-cy and the regulations log on to www.ecsd.ne

Choose Safety over Convenience!

The safety and security of our students is our first priority. We need your cooperation to ensure that students arrive and depart safely. We encour-age all parents to honor the Bus Zones, Drop Off Zones, and avoid the parking lot when dropping off their children. The safety of all our students is de-pendent upon everyone’s willingness to follow these procedures. We would ask that you respect the parking areas. Please do not block the sidewalk access in the staff parking lot. Please do not dou-ble park on the road, as well as no parking on our school field as well.

We appreciate your support in providing a safe environment for all children.

Transportation News

Our transportation system has an excellent record for service, however, given the extremes of Edmonton weather, a route can take 50% longer in adverse weath-er conditions. Parents are advised that if a bus does not arrive within twenty minutes of its scheduled time, they are to as-sume the bus is not coming. Parents must en-sure that their child knows to return home or to a pre-selected location and the parents must make alternate arrangements to get their child to school. Parents should also ensure that chil-dren are supervised at the bus stop.

Children should be suitably clothed to with-stand weather extremes. Children should have a place to go in the event the bus does not arrive. Children should have alternate arrangement for getting to school should the bus not arrive.

Now that winter has arrived, we ask for

everyone’s cooperation in keeping our

hallways dry and safe. Please remove wet

footwear at the door to assist our custodi-

ans in maintaining the hallways. Snow

and moisture off of footwear creates a slip

hazard for our students and staff. There-

fore please take a moment to remove your

wet footwear at the door. We thank you for

your attention to this matter.

Bake Sale

As a social justice project that followed We Day, our Gr. 6 class organized a Bake Sale on November 23rd for our Grade 6 Camp Day!

Thank you to the parents that brought baking and thank you to the students that sold the bak-ing during the Celebration of Learning.

Through your generous support we were able to raise $285.30

From

Grade Six Students

ECSD Foundation: Special Thank you to Our Helpers:

December is a time for giving and

receiving. What gifts can we give that

touch the heart?

In this season of ‘busy’ find the time to con-

nect with kids/youth who need it the most.

Their world could easily be in turmoil, with

family life full of anxieties (parents can’t find

money for food/presents; holiday stress

means less patience for kids). Checking in

and saying ‘hi, how are you doing?’ can go a

long way.

The gift of service: consider serving a meal in

the inner city, or donating a food hamper to a

family in need, or giving a donation to the next

homeless person you meet on the street.

“When we give cheerfully and accept grateful-

ly, everyone is blessed.” (Maya Angelou)

The gift of friendship and family time: make

time for those who mean the most to

you…every moment is precious!

Merry Christmas!

Volleyball Team

Congratulations go out to our girls and boys Volleyball Teams on a successful season. The students par-ticipated in a tournament at St. Elizabeth Seton School on Saturday, November 25th. Both teams exhibited good sportsmanship and played their best. We are proud of the way they represented St. Maria Goretti School! Go Stingers! A special thank you to our coaches, Mrs. Desautels, Mrs. Turlione & Miss Rol-heiser.

St. Nicholas Tournament

Mamama M.

Abule L.

Aluiet A.

Maddox H.

Keagan L.T.

Jamal L.O.

Steven M.

Zack S.

Melinda S.

Hermela M.

Akual D.

Maria K.

Ciara S.

Saul P.R.

Merlin I.

Deng A.

Kaden B.S.

Deng L.

Franz A.

Jade S.

St. Elizabeth Seton Tournament

Glee Club Shines at Festival of Trees!

On Friday, December 1st, the Glee Club, which is composed of 43 members sang at

the Shaw Conference Centre. Their performance was fantastic and they received many

positive reviews from the people who were there. Thank you to all our students for rep-

resenting S.M.G. in a great way! Thank you to our music directors, Mrs. Rozhdestven-

sky and Miss Roz.

• Lual L.

• Cecilia A.

• Eleanor H.

• Mercedes M.

• Lex F.

• Abule L.

• Brooklynn G.

• Maddyx P.

• Marcus C.S.

• Izabella C.

• Brooke L.

• Nibol D.

• Achai A.

• Dzenelle A.

• John Kobe G.

• Ciara B.

• Maria Nina V.

• Chelsea I.

• Zack S.

• Shelby M.

• Hermela M.

• Gabriella M.

• Brooklyn R.

• Melinda S.

• Emma L.

• Althea W.

• Brooklyn R.

• Shandy D.

• Keanna B.S.

• Natalie A.

• Sean H.

• Kadden B.S.

• Kaylee W.

• Ava P.

• Lauren M.

• Ciara S.

• Maria K.

• Petro O.

• Franz A.

• Lilliana B.

• Nathaniel R.

• Julianna G.

• Kose L.

Coming of Advent Celebration

and Reconciliation

Veteran’s Week 2017

Many classes were busy writing letters to veterans, soldiers and peace-keepers during Veteran’s Week this year. The grade ⅘ class continues to work on the “BOOT PROJECT” led by Mrs. Desautels. This project re-searches local heros of our military personnel and country by following through their footsteps where their boots have traveled. Posters have been drawn and sent into the Legion's national poster contest all in the name of “Remembrance”.

On November 13th, St. Maria Goretti held their Remembrance Day cere-mony in the gym. In attendance were four cadet members from the 2015 19th Alberta Dragoons Army Cadet Corp affiliates of the South Alberta Light Horse and Norwood Legion. They were Master Warrant Kenneth Currell, Warrant Nicole Currell, Sargent Matthew Schweitz, Master Cor-poral Jonathan Currell, and Corporal Victoria Currell. The cadets stood guard of the cenotaph which read “They shall not grow old” an excerpt of the infamous reply during many ceremonies held around veteran’s week. They also stood participated as colour guard for the Alberta Flag and Canadian Flag.

Accompanying the cadets was Navy Cadet Petty Officer First Class Romeril from Grade 6 and seven members of the Girl Guides of Canada and one member of Scouts Canada. Although we held the ceremony Monday after Remembrance Day, there were many parents that came to help the students remember those that fought for our freedom and rights. The ceremony was led by Mrs. Kuhn and Mrs. Desautels. These two or-ganizers would like to send out their heartfelt thanks to the organizations in support of the Act of Remembrance within schools each year. With support of these organizations, students and staff experience the pre-cious gift we have when it comes to why “WE WILL REMEMBER THEM, WE SHALL NOT FORGET”.

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 listening. This requires effort and determination. Liv-

ing in a world of noise, we must be always cultivating, with the help of God's grace, an in-

ner 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 togeth-

er, 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 fami-

ly with grace and love.

Sandra Talarico, Religious Education Consultant