REGULAR SCHOOL HOURS

8:30 Morning Entry 9:55-10:10 Morning Recess 11:30-12:30 Lunch 1:50 - 2:05 Afternoon Recess 3:00 Dismissal

Lorinda Mazza, Principal Dr. Jim Saraco Barbara Poplawski, Trustee, St. Cecilia Catholic Church Mary –Ellen Lynch, CSAC Co-Chair Leonor Goncalves, Vice-Principal Superintendent TCDSB, Ward 10 Father Joseph Tran, Pastor, Claire Suhay, CSAC Co-Chair Maria Fauceglia, Secretary 416-222-8282 ext. 2486 416-512-3410, 416 -241-7130 416-769-8163 Lesley Lindsay, CSAC Secretary Lisa Grise & Carole Mills, Clerk Typists Lyette Obonsawin, CSAC Treasurer

St. Cecilia Motto: Learning with Hearts, Hands and Minds - Growing in Harmony

Principal’s Message

The teachers and students have spent the month of October analyzing and planning based on recent assessments and collected data. Individualized education plans have been sent home, and divisional and whole school plans are being finalized. Teachers are finishing progress report comments now and look forward to meeting with you to discuss completed assignments and observations made thus far.

Officer Berridge, our school liaison officer, held a safety assembly this month, and he joined us for our Walk To School morning. While we were disappointed that the mounted unit was unable to join us (due to the Occupy Toronto gathering down-town), we had approximately 100 walkers meet us at St. Cecilia Church for the trip to the school. Teachers completed hands up surveys throughout the week. That data, along with the observations made during our upcoming walkabout, will contribute to our ongoing effort to promote safe and healthy travel to school. Officer Berridge has also started a Chess club which takes place in the library on Fridays during the lunch hour. A large number of our students have ex-pressed interest in playing.

Last month we celebrated our first bi-monthly Virtue assembly to recognize students demonstrating hospitality and gratitude. In November we’ll be concentrating on Peacemaking. We’ll be emphasizing the importance of treating others as you wish to be treated. While building a community that supports a proactive attitude towards peace, we recognize that conflict is a part of everyday life. It is how we address and manage the conflict in our lives that makes a big differ-ence. Sometimes our children, especially the younger ones, find it difficult to recognize that other students may think differently than they do. Building a community that supports peace includes building active listening skills and practicing ways to acknowledge both the rights and the feelings of others in respectful ways. Having worked at many different schools, I’d like to note that our St. Cecilia students can be proud of both the conflict resolution skills they have already developed, as well as their ongoing commitment to proactively seek ways to build a community of peacemakers. Lorinda Mazza

From the Board, Virtue of the Month: Peace, “Peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you” John 14:27 This month the TCDSB will be focussing on the virtue of PEACE. Offering each other the sign of peace during Mass is probably considered to be the ‘fun’ part for some of our younger students. Yet Catholic social teaching reminds us that we are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Lov-ing our neighbour has global dimensions in a shrinking world. The Gospel calls us to be peacemakers. Our love for all our sisters and brothers demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by violence and conflict.

CSAC Elections were held at last month’s CSAC meeting. Once again, we have a healthy number of voting members for the year. The new executive for this year is listed above. Our next meeting will November 9th. We’re looking for parents who’d like to join the 100th anniversary (2014)committee.

355 Annette Street, Toronto, Ontario M6P 1R3(416) 393-5218

NOVEMBER 2011

ST. CECILIA C.S. STUDENT COUNCIL

CONGRATULATIONS

Jacob M.—Co-President Meghan G. —Co-President

Sasha S.—VP President Maria V.—Treasurer Joanne B.—Secretary

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A group of St. Cecilia teachers have started an ART CLUB which began on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 for students in grades 3 to 5. Each month the Art club focuses on a different theme/activity, for the students to explore. We offer opportunities to try out different techniques and media forms. In October, we explored Japanese art forms, through Calligraphy and Origami. During the month of November, we will be print-making, as our focus is on Remembrance and Peacemaking. All students in grades 3-5 are WELCOME to join our team of dynamic teachers, to explore the wonderful world of ART. Mme Guitard, Mme Pasquale, Mrs. Tenzythoff, Mme Walsh and Mme Wilson

Dress for the Weather

Cool weather is upon us once again. The children spend almost 40 minutes out-side during the lunch recess. Please send them with appropriate clothing and accessories to keep them warm for that whole time. This includes boots, mitts and hats. Please label these items as well so we can return them to you if they’re found outside your child’s classroom.

On October 21st, St. Cecilia held our first bi-monthly Virtue of the Month assembly. We began with an Animoto presentation put together by Ms. Tenzythoff highlighting the ways that Hospitality and Gratitude are demon-strated at St. Cecilia. The teachers then handed out certificates to the students who best displayed these two virtues. In the foyer of the school the pictures of the recipients have been displayed on our Virtue board. Our winners included:

Isabelle Michael Reilly Chang Liam Navaratnam Carmin-Luca Raviele Nolan Sinclair Miku Modi Shannon Crawford Ethan McMehan Katelynn Huong Emily Camina-Trillo Leke Modi Mae Borg Nadia Woldegiorgis Phillip Wartalski Vincent Zarev

Christopher Cardenas-Avila Pratricia Briceno Holly Bowen Andrew Nguyen Lucas Barbosa Joanna Martins

Isabella Cicero Elinesky Sarah Vu Joseph Suhay Katia Beatson Nathaniel Grant Xavier Smith Kian Francis Reanna Ayranto Cedric Furman Allyana Coito Olivia Reid Ayanto Reanna Amy Stocking Reid Kalaw Ava Coccimiglio

Gerardo Gomez Sosa Adele Furman Sofia Ponomariv Christopher Pinnington Daniela Uribe Maria Lauren

Lauren Kim Lauren Baker Abiy Pawlos Quentin Galikowski Qin Bei Candus Chik Shannon-Marie Maire Sahara Smith Andrei Lefter Emmanuel Ellis Katalin Groe Eva Newhook

Stephanie Castillo-Palma Joanne Bui Nathan Galea Jessica Caruana Holly Bowen

The 2011 CPIC Summit and Parent Out‐Reach Conference is happening Saturday, November 5, 2011! 

This conference is an essential “must‐attend” event for engaged CSAC members and is a vital opportunity to inform Toronto ‐ CPIC on areas to focus on throughout the year. All members of CSAC are encouraged to attend or to send a delegation to represent their school.   The summit is being held at the Catholic Education Centre located at 80 Sheppard Ave. E. from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This is a FREE event. Parking, transit reimbursement* and childcare is available for children aged 4 to 10. A  continental breakfast and lunch will be served. To register visit http://www.tcdsb.org/cpic2011/   Want to learn more about T‐CPIC? Consider attending a meeting. All meetings are open to the public. Dates and loca‐tion are listed at http://www.tcdsb.org/parents/cpic.htm . If you have any questions, comments, concerns please contact your ward representative by visiting www.tcdsb.org/parents/cpicmembers.htm or your school CSAC.   Toronto – CPIC is a parent led group that works collaboratively with the TCDSB, and the Board of Trustees work to achieve the Ministry of Education’s stated goal to improve pupil achievement and to enhance the accountability of the education system to parents.  

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Toronto Idling Time Reduced The City of Toronto has lowered the legal idling time for vehicles from 3 minutes to 1 minute in a 60 minute period. Previous exemptions for transit vehicles and idling in very hot or cold conditions have also been eliminated under the revised bylaw. The fine for idling over a minute is $125. When vehicles are idling, they release pollutants, such as carbon dioxide (CO2). These pollutants contribute to climate change. The air pollution that comes from vehicles is also bad for human health. In 2007, Toronto Public Health estimated that air pollution from traffic is linked to 440 premature deaths and 1,700 hospitalizations every year in Toronto. Idling gets us nowhere.

Visitors All visitors to the school are asked to report to the office upon entering the school. Visitors are welcome to the school, however, we need to know who is in our school and the reason for the visit.

School Supervision of Children in the Mornings

Our school supervision begins at 8:00 in the front school yard. At 8:15 the back yard teacher comes on duty and takes the grades 1-8 students around to the backyard for supervision there.

LOST & FOUND Reminder to all parents to please label all clothing items with your child’s name. We have many lost items in our “Lost and Found” box that are not claimed. Periodically, we have the excess clothing picked up and given to the needy.

Helmet Safety

Recently we have noticed that some of our students have been riding their bikes without helmets. This practice is both unsafe and against the law. Healthy travel to school always includes attention to safety.

The Helmet Law in Ontario Cyclists under 18 are required by law to wear an ap-proved bicycle helmet when riding a bike on a roadway or sidewalk in Ontario. The law was passed on October 1, 1995. Some communities in Ontario have passed by-laws requiring cyclists under 18 to wear helmets wherever they ride. An approved bicycle helmet is one that has been tested for use by cyclists by one of the following testing agencies: Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Snell Memorial Foundation American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) American National Standards Institute (ANSI) British Standards Institute, Standards Association of Australia Other kinds of protective helmets, such as hockey hel-mets, are not acceptable.

The fine for not wearing a helmet in Toronto is $75.00.

SeeHear screening clinic coming to St. Cecilia

We are happy to announce that SeeHear will be running a hearing and vision screening clinic at St. Cecilia on December 1st. This is an excellent opportunity for your child to have his/her hearing and vision in a convenient and cost effective manner. Some points to remember: Your child’s hearing and vision should be screened every year. Growing children are very susceptible to middle ear problems and one of the best ways to prevent hearing loss is early detection of middle ear function issues. A visit to an audiologist in a private clinic costs up-wards of $35.00 and is not covered by O.H.I.P. If your child is referred to a hospital clinic by your family doctor, the cost is covered by O.H.I.P. Your child’s hearing is not being monitored unless they are seeing an audiologist or an E.N.T. The permission forms will come home approximately two weeks before the clinic. Please fill them out and return to the school with the $15.00 screening fee prior to the clinic date. This screening is not intended to replace a regular visit to an audiologist or optometrist.

Good grades start with good hearing and good vision!