PRINCIPAL’S

ADDRESS

Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School 1190 Westview Terrace Oakville, Ontario L6M 3N2

(905) 825-6382 Fax (905)825-6385

December 2015 Principal: Mrs. M. Braida Secretary: Ms. J. Myers Vice Principal: Mr. N. Laratta Office Assistance: Mrs. S. Gubert Superintendent: Mr. C. Cipriano St. Matthew Parish:(905) 825-0219

Pastor: Fr. Mark Gatto

DECEMBER

THE MONTH OF PREPARATION December is the month of preparation for the coming of

our Saviour at Christmas time. The Season of Advent brings with it the challenge of preparing and waiting for

the celebration of Christ’s birthday.

At Mother Teresa School, we are embracing the joy and challenge of waiting by preparing our students through

weekly Advent prayer services. During these times we reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and remind our

students that the most precious gifts they can give to their families are not objects, but love, patience,

obedience and being the best they can be.

Our Advent prayer service will take place on

December 15th 2015 @ 10:00 am in the gym. Parents are most welcome to attend.

EARLY DISMISSAL This is to confirm that on Friday, December 18th 2015

students will be dismissed at 1:20pm, ninety (90) minutes prior to the regular dismissal time. Buses will run on this

schedule. Please ensure proper pick up arrangements are made for this day. Thank you

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS Reminder there will be no school on Monday, December

21st 2015, inclusively until Friday, January 1st 2016 for Christmas holidays. School will resume Monday January

4th 2016. Wishing all our students and family a blessed, safe and happy Christmas Break.

CHRISTMAS CONCERTS We will be hosting a daytime Christmas concert for par-

ents and guests on Thursday December 17th. Upon ad-mission, please bring a non-perishable food item for a

chance to win VIP seating. The concert will be divided into morning and afternoon performances, which will

begin promptly at 8:45am and 12:45pm with doors open-ing at 8:30am and 12:30pm. The concert schedule is as

follows:

AM --- Grades 7, 6, 3, 2, JK/SK and The Band PM --- Grades 8, 5, 4, 1 and The Band

During this season of Advent, staff and students at Mother Teresa School are preparing for the celebration of the coming of our Lord Jesus. It is during this time that we continue to administer to those less fortunate through our Christmas Food Drive and our Gift of Hope program. Through your overwhelming generosity, our students are learning the im-portance of giving back to the community. It is our hope that each one of us will be touched by the love and simplicity of God through this season of Advent as we pray, celebrate and prepare for Christmas. On behalf of the staff at Mother Teresa School, we extend our very best wishes for a very Merry Christmas to all of our fami-lies. In this holy season, may you and your family find the gentle peace of the Lord. May God continue to bless your family with health and happiness. Your partners in Catholic education, M. Braida

ANNUAL GIFT OF HOPE

Our Christmas Star of Hope “Outreach” Christmas Gift Drive Program, is now underway. We will be collecting gifts and other items in the classrooms beginning December 7th —December 11th 2015. Students will visit the tree to select a star. Gifts can be placed in boxes or gift bags that will be placed in the classrooms. We will be collecting new, unwrapped toys and gifts as well as gift cards, please be mindful the greatest needs are for older children and adults. Any contribution you are able to make would be greatly appreciated. As in previous years we will support the following groups: St. James School, St. James Church and Mother Teresa School Community. Special thank you to our Mother Teresa Student Government and Grade 8 students for organizing and volunteering in this great initiative.

EMERGENCY SCHOOL CLOSURE & BUSS

CANCELATIONS DUE TO INCLEMENT

WEATHER

An unfortunate reality is that winter is right around the

corner. With it comes the potential for bus cancellations

and emergency school closure. When emergency condi-

tions exist, such as inclement weather, school plant shut-

down due to heating failure, etc., the health and safety of

our children is our prime consideration. Notification of

school closure during winter storms, etc. will be on the

Halton Catholic District School Board website and by tele-

vision / radio commencing at 6:30 a.m. on the following

media outlets:

CHCH TV, GLOBAL, CITY TV

CHFI (98.1 FM), CHKX (94.7 FM)

Y108 (l07.9 FM), Vinyl (95.3 FM)

Virgin Radio (99.9), K-Lite FM (102.9 FM)

CBC Radio 2 (99.1 FM), Magic 106 (106.1 FM)

Boom (97.3 FM), Classical(96.3FM)

CFRB Newstalk 1010 (1010 AM), CHML (900 AM)

CJOY Greatest Hits (1460 AM), 680NEWS (680 AM)

CKOC Oldies 1150 (1150 AM), CHAM (820 AM)

SPECIAL THANK YOU

Mother Teresa Catholic School Parent Council Corner

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the

families who participated in our Family Night at Chapters in November. A great big thank you goes to Mr. Mount

for leading our school band, they brought lots of

Christmas cheer through their songs. This event also offered us an opportunity to raise funds for our school

library. We were able to raise $903.60. New books will be arriving soon!

JK AND SK REGISTRATION

Early registration for Junior Kindergarten and New Senior

Kindergarten children will take place end of January. Please review Januarys newsletter for exact dates in

January. Children must be 4 years of age by December 31st, 2015 for Junior Kindergarten and 5 years of

age by December 31st, 2015 for Senior Kindergarten.

Registration Hours 9:00am-12:00pm

1:00pm-5:00pm

Requirements are as follows; The Roman or Eastern Rite Catholic Baptismal

Certificate of child is required however if the child

is not baptized Roman or Eastern Rite Catholic, one or both parent(s) must be baptized and a baptismal

certificate must be provided at time of registration.

Proof of age is required; Birth Certificate/passport

Before registration is finalized, a child will have

completed the prescribed program of immunization for diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles,

mumps and rubella. Please bring a copy of your

child’s Immunization record at time of registration. If child has different place of birth then a Canada;

Country of Birth Certificate and all supporting

documents supporting status within Canada.

SAFE ARRIVAL PROGRAM We remind all parents to call the school if your child will

be absent using the 24 hr. answering service. Please note we are working together with the Ministry of Health

for the purpose of monitoring influenza this

season. It is important to state the reason for your child’s absence. Please notify us if your child is experienc-

ing any of the following symptoms; Fever accom-panied with any of these symptoms: cough, ma-

laise/general unwell feeling, sore throat, runny nose or joint pain. Your child’s name will be kept confi-

dential. If children are absent without an explanation, we

are obligated to call parents and find out the where-about of our students – a very time-consuming exercise for our

busy office personnel. Thank you for your continued use of this system.

SCHOOL OBJECTIVIES As a school community we will strive to meet our school objec-tives for this school year 2015-2016. Our Objectives are: Promot-ing and Enhancing Our Catholicity, Increasing Student Achieve-ment, Establishing Effective Home/School Communication and Community Building. The following has been accomplished this month:

a. Catholicity .

Staff and students gathered as a school community to

celebrate a prayer service of peace and remembrance

We begin each day with Gospel readings, a reflection on

the Gospel and our School Prayer.

We complete each day with our End of the Day Prayer.

Our grade two classes received the Sacrament of 1st Rec-

onciliation

System Faith day for all staff took place

b. Improving Student Achievement:

Teachers across our divisions have participated in weekly

in-services assisting them in literacy and numeracy initia-tives

Students continue to use our agendas on a daily basis to

assist them in staying organized and better prepare for tests and assignment deadlines

Our school improvement plan was completed with the

school improvement and planning team.

Intervention for reading success is in the process of im-

plemenation

Reading buddies are in place.

Both staff and students demonstrated their intolerance of

bullying by wearing pink during Anti-Bullying Week.

c. Home/School Communication

The November Newsletter was sent home to all families.

Updates of many of our school activities have been post-ed on our awesome school website … please be sure to check it out.

Classroom teachers have continued communication with

parents through letters home and phone calls.

Our Mother Teresa expectations (show respect, play

safe, be kind, and be an attentive listener) are shared with our students daily. These agreements are an expectation at our school of all who enter.

Our Catholic School Council held its monthly meeting.

All interested parents are welcome to attend future meetings – we value your input.

Parent—Teacher Interviews were held to review stu-

dent progress reports.

d. Community Building

Our school boy’s and girl’s volleyball teams played

very well. Thanks to our coaches for all their time and energy in organizing the volleyball games.

Milk program

CHRISTMAS FOOD DRIVE

Each Christmas season families have been very gener-

ous in their support for our food drives. Here in Oak-ville, we are very fortunate to be blessed with an abun-

dance of healthy food compared with some in our com-

munity who are not so fortunate. We ask our students to kindly bring in non-perishable food items to contrib-

ute to our Christmas food drive. Donations will be for-warded to local charities and families within our com-

munity, whom are always grateful for our ongoing gen-

erosity. The food drive runs from:

December 7th - December 11th, 2015.

COLD WEATHER

December brings with it the advent of cold weather.

Students must be prepared for the upcoming weather

changes by coming to school with suitable coats, boots,

hats, gloves, etc. It is important that parents realize

that we go outside three times a day for recesses and in

order to enjoy this time, kids must be protected from

the elements with proper winter attire. We appreciate

your assistance with this matter. Students are encour-

aged to have an extra pair of shoes that they may

change into from their boots.

MAY YOUR HEARTS AND HOMES

BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT AND JOY

OF CHRISTMAS

DOES YOUR CHILD HAVE

AN UNUSUAL EYE APPEARANCE? One eye that looks turned in or out? Bumps, styes, redness, swelling or crusting of eyelids?

Drooping eyelid? Haziness or whitish appearance inside the pupil? Frequently watery eyes?

DOES YOUR CHILD BEHAVE IN A WAY

THAT COULD SUGGEST A VISION PROBLEM? Does not watch or follow an object? Touches things to help recognize them? Does not make eye contact? Closes or covers one eye? Squints or frowns when looking far or near? Rubs or touches the eyes a lot? Blinks more than usual? Reacts strongly to light? Turns or tilts head when viewing objects? Holds objects very close to face? Dislikes near tasks? Loses interest quickly or becomes irritable with visual activities?

Has poor depth perception or trouble seeing 3D? Trips, falls or bumps into things often?

Is unco-ordinated for play activities and sports?

DOES YOUR CHILD HAVE ANY DIFFICULTIES

WITH LEARNING? Has poor posture when reading/writing? Has poor handwriting? Moves head, loses place, skips lines when reading? Uses more effort than normal to complete school work? Works hard but is not achieving the expected level at school?

IS YOUR CHILD AT RISK FOR VISION PROB-

LEMS? Does a family member have a turned or lazy or blind eye? Does a family member have glasses with high power? Has any family member had early childhood cataracts or glaucoma? Were there complications with the pregnancy or delivery? Was your child premature at birth? Does your child have a hearing loss? Does your child have a health condition that can affect eyes, such as:

The Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) pays for the cost of

an annual eye examination for children aged 0-19 years. To

find an optometrist, you can call the Ontario Association of Op-

tometrists at (800) 540-3837 or visit www.eyecareoao.com for a

list of doctors in your area.

Cerebral palsy Juvenile arthritis Down syndrome

Autism Attention deficit disorder (ADHD) Developmental delay

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2

3

4

Joy Day

5

6 7

Food Drive

8

9

Star of Hope unwrapped

gifts Due Under Tree

10

Loyola Band 1:00PM

11

12

13 14

15

Advent Mass in School

10:00 AM

16

17

Christmas Concert

18

Early Dismissal 1:20 PM

19

20

21

Christmas Vacation

22

23 24

25

26

27

28

29 30 31

DECEMBER 2015

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS December 21st 2015—January 1st 2016

SCHOOL RESUMES - January 4th 2016