ST.

JOSEPH CES
CATHOLIC SCHOOL COUNCIL

November, 2016 Newsletter

Upcoming Events
Subject to Change

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

November 24, 2016

6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Advent Wreath Night

December 1, 2016
Family Movie Night
Kindergarten to Grade 4
6:00pm showing of How the Grinch
Stole Christmas
Grades 5 to 8
8:15pm showing of Elf
(parental attendance required)

November 25, 2016

Popcorn Day
~
Participating families return Shoe Box
Sundays boxes to school, if you won't
be attending the Sunday Mass
November 27, 2016
9:30 am
Shoebox Sunday Mass
November 28, 2016
Peter Pan performance at St. Mary's
CSS (K to Gr 5)

December 2, 2016
PA Day
December 3, 2016
Locke Street BIA Tree Lighting
ceremoney (St. Joseph choir
participating)
December 6, 2016
Pizza Day

1:00pm
Advent Liturgy in school gym. Parents
Welcome!
November 29, 2016
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poinsettia Sale
Order pickup (in school gym)

December 20, 2016

Pizza Day
December 24, 2016 - January 8, 2017
Christmas Break

We STILL
Need a Nam
e!

January 9, 2017
Welcome Back!

Each classr
oom will su
bmit a
name for t
he CSC new
sletter
by Decembe
r 16, and th
e
winning clas
sroom gets
a
pizza part
y! Tell your
k
ids
to get their
thinking
caps on!

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

The only thing that is constant is change
and change can be good!
If you've been a St. Joseph's family for a while
now, you'll be familiar with some of the events
that we hold annually, such as the Advent
Wreath Night, the Movie Nights and the Fun Fair.
These are fun evenings where we can gather as
a community, and enjoy the company of other
parents and children at the school, and make
meaningful connections. We aren't getting rid of
these events, and have no plans to, but we are
doing things a little differently than we have in the
past! Change is good!
One of the biggest changes is the format of this
years Movie Night! Not only are we doing separate
showings for younger and older grades, but it is
an evening where you can leave your wallet at
home! Free admission, and each attendee gets
a pizza combo!
We want you to know that we listen to your
feedback (official and unofficial), and we do our
best to make the changes that you want to see,
where we can. Keep your eyes peeled for a
Parent Survey that the CSC will be sending home
soon. We want to make sure that our goals align
with yours.
We hope that you find this newsletter helpful, and
if you, as parents and volunteers at the school,
know of any information that might be helpful
to be publicised, please let us know! We have
twitter now too!

Erin Holmes
CSC Chair 2016/2017

CSC
C ON T A C T S

Chair
Erin Holmes
Vice Chair
Kristen HoganCathcart
Secretary
Scott Hogan
Treasurer
Juliana Boem
Councillors
Meg Burgess
Christine Merlin
Madeleine Bond
Denise Fraser

Teacher
representatives
Michelle Kiely
Kathy Ciapanna

Forest of Reading
A celebration of Canadian books, Forest of Reading is an initiative of the Ontario Library
Association (OLA) to encourage a love of reading,
A selection of books chosen by the OLA is made available to the students, who then borrow,
read, and then discuss them with a parent or senior student volunteer. Once they've read the

Principal

titles in each program, they then get to vote on the winning title! In order to get this program

Diane Ing

up and running at St. Joseph again, we need a parent volunteer or two (or three!), to share

Prinicpal Intern
Peter D'Amore

the duties, or alternate weeks. Aside from the time required for setting up the program, you'd
be needed once a week over the lunch break. Please contact us so can put you in touch with
someone who can give you more details.
Program Name

Grade Range

Book Type

Email us at:

Blue Spruce Award

JKGrade 2

Picture Books

stjoescscinfo@
gmail.com

Silver Birch Award

Grades 36

Fiction / Non-fiction / Express

Red Maple Award

Grades 78

Fiction Every Year / Non-fiction Every Other Year

Next
Meeting!!
Next meeting will take place
on December 13, at 6:45 pm, in
the teacher's staff room (the
first door on the right past
the office).
We'd love to see you there, even
if you just come to observe!
Come get the inside scoop!
We can make arrangements
for childminding in the library if
needed, so that you can attend!
Just let us know in advance!

SOCIAL MEDIA

Family Movie Night

December 1, 2016

This year's movie night will have two showings.

One at 6pm for Kindergarten to Grade 4 and one at 8:15pm for Grades 5 to 8.
This is a family event, so parents must attend with their children, as there are no
arrangements for supervision otherwise.
Showtime at 6:00 pm!
Kindergarten to Grade 4

Showtime at 8:15 pm!

Grades 5 to 8

Have you liked our

Facebook page yet?
www.facebook.com/stjosephcsc

Have you checked out our blog?

http://stjoescsc.blogspot.ca/
We are now on Twitter!
http://twitter.com/stjoescsc

These are great ways to keep up to

date on latest information and get
reminders about upcoming CSC
events, and school activities.

Attendance is FREE, and everyone gets a ticket that entitles them to a slice of cheese pizza, a
small bag of popcorn, and a drink! Make sure you come early for your showing so that you can
set up your seats, and get your munchies! Flyer will be going out soon, if it hasn't already!
2 November, 2016

Family
Advent
Wreath
Night
NEW DATE:
November 24, 2016

This year, members of the Grade 8

Student Council will perform a piece
exploringthe significance of the
wreath, the candles, and why we
undertake the tradition of lighting the
Advent Wreath each year!
Fr. Jim will be in attendance to bless our
wreaths for the coming year!

Stay in the know!

We invite you to join our
new CSC mailing list!
There are 4 groups and you can join
one, none or all of them!

Newsletters: get to see this

newsletter first, and in glorious
color!
Flyers: get notified of CSCsponsored community events
and fundraisers taking place at St.
Joseph first!

Calls for volunteers / donations:

if you think you might have an
hour here or there to pitch in, and
want to know when we need help,
this is the list for you

Meeting Reminders: There's a

lot going on for families, and our
CSC meetings might get lost
in the shuffle. If you want email
reminders of upcoming meetings,
sign up to this list.

Go here to sign up!

http://eepurl.com/clQ3GT

Ontario

Eco School
Certified

How can we show respect for Creation? The earth and all life on it are part of Gods
creation. We are called to respect this gift. We are responsible for taking care of the
world we live in and for sharing all the wonders and resources the earth gives us.
Adopted by the board in 2005, Ontario EcoSchools is an environmental education and
certification program designed to help school boards to organize, support and coordinate
their environmental initiatives. The program builds on the Ontario academic curriculum, and
engages students, staff, school administration and parents in an effort toward responsible
stewardship through the development of green teams and green practices.

Parent Outreach

Pillars focus on teamwork and leadership,

ecological
literacy,
This
year's theme
is waste minimization, energy
conservation, and school ground greening.
Mental Health and Well-being.
Being green is very much partOn
of Thursday,
our schoolJanuary
culture19th,
andCarrie
the students are aware of all
Bullard,RN,
MN,
CPMHN
(c), clinical
our initiatives and how they can contribute. Some of the
eco initiatives that students,
nurse special, at the school to discuss
teachers, and administrators undertake at St. Joes are:
the topics of anxiety in our children
and in ourselves, and how that can
Earth
Yard and alley clean up affect us as students,
andweek
as parents
Water conservation presentation
Recycling
An information flyer
willchecks
go out (monitoring
as
Eco
of classes'
Green bins
we get closer to the
date, andgreen
more bins, classroom
recycling,
Litter-less lunch
speakers on the topic of mental health
lights and computer monitors)
Gardening
and well-being are being planned for
Lessons
later in the year. Stay
tuned! on sustainability and
Sweater day
taking care of our earth.
Earth hour
Through the dedicated efforts of the students, teachers and custodial staff at St.
Joseph, we've been a certified GOLD school for the past 8 years and we continue to
work hard to be stewards of the Earth.

There are 4 levels of certification bronze, silver, gold, and platinum maybe next year
we can reach PLATINUM certification? Achieving platinum certification is no easy task,
but it can be done. Mrs. Ciappana, Mr. Gallo and Mr. D'Amore are the teachers who are
currently managing the program at St. Joes, and if there are any ecologically-minded
parents in the community who could give of their time to help achieve the goal of platinum
certification, please contact us!

All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for

the care of creation, each according to his or her
own culture, experience, involvements and talents.
Pope Francis
Laudato Si
3 St. Joseph CSC

Parents Reaching Out (PRO) Grant

The focus of this years PRO grant is mental health and well-being. Our
first topic is anxiety
Are you a parent, family member or professional supporting a child
with anxiety? Are you unsure of where to start for help or how you
can help? Are you feeling exhausted and frustrated?
Purpose
To assist caregivers with navigating the childrens mental health
system relating to anxiety.

St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School

Thursday, January 17th, 2017
6:30-8:30pm

Poinsettia Sale

Huge thanks to everyone who participated in

our annual Poinsettia Sale! Mme Barr's class
submitted the most orders this year! Extra
big shout out to Sarah Whyte and Lucy Fox for
submitting some of the biggest orders!
This year's sale raised almost $900 for the CSC!
We'll be able to use these funds for things like:
the cost of the agendas
grade 8 graduation dinner
events like the movie night and
wreath night
balls, jump ropes, and other
supplies for DPA (daily physical
activity) time
new jerseys for the sports teams

Objectives
Provide a general overview of anxiety in children and youth
Review the different healthcare professionals who can help
and their roles
3. Review the different types of treatment options available
and how/when to access the services
4. Develop awareness of the various services and supports
available in the Hamilton and School community
5. Develop awareness of the various educational and
emotional supports available for caregivers of children
with mental health
1.
2.

Speaker
Carrie Bullard (RN, MN) is a psychiatric mental health nurse who works
as a clinical nurse specialist with children and youth. She is currently
completing a PhD in nursing exploring childhood OCD. Her research
interests focus on family accommodation/burden with anxiety
disorders and child and youth metal health.

Uniform Exchange
Need some uniform items?
Have some uniform items that you no longer need?
Take what you need Donate what you don't
Contact the office for more information!
Open to everyone!

SPIRIT WEAR
Great for civvies days, for wearing to support the
students at athletic events (like cross-country,
volleyball, etc). The size ranges are from Youth XS
to Adult 2XL Prices below include HST.

Cotton tee: $6.50

Dry-wick tee: $10
Hooded sweatshirt: $26.00
Crewneck sweatshirt: $25.00
Order forms will be going home soon,
4 November, 2016

Good to Know!

now"
If there are any upco
lude in "Good To K
ming events or activit
ies that you think we should inc
sue!
please email us at st
joescscinfo@gmail.com, and we'll try to get it into the next is

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bout!

St. Joseph has been

selected as host site for
Coding for three gifted
enrichment sessions.

reat
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The school has p

urchased two res
in
statues to repla
ce the shattered
Joseph
statue and the b
roken Mary stat
ue.
Fr. Jim has been
invited to bless
the
statues on Thurs
day, December 8,
which is Joy Da
y and Feast of t
he
Immaculate Conce
ption.

5 St. Joseph CSC