Community Helpers Presentations this week

See the following schedule for this week...

Monday - Pro d (No School)
Tuesday - Fort Langley National Historic Site
Wednesday - Firefighter
Thursday - Emergency Room Nurse
Friday - Public Health Nurse 'Hand washing Demo' (rescheduled from last Friday)

Reminders
* Letter of the week: Pp            Theme: Chinese New Year If there are any families that celebrate Chinese New Year and would like to share their experiences/ traditions with the class, please email Mrs. Olaybal with the information. 

* Every Tuesday is Show and Tell for all students with the theme "Look what I did, look what I made"
*Please send your child with a water bottle that can be kept in the classroom
*Gym days: Monday, Wednesday, Fridays

For gym, we are now changing at our tables and students are learning to how fix an item of clothing that is inside out and how to fold their uniform nicely. This will reduce the number of mix ups and missing uniform pieces.

Please check at home for the following missing items:

1. Declan's white school shirt (labelled)
2. Riley's red gym shorts (labelled)

If your child is missing blue pants, I have three pairs in the classroom (not labelled). 

New Table Groups

Table 1 'Pittsburgh Penguins:' Ronan, John Michael, William, Kate, Kayla
Table 2 'Golden Ninjas:'  Gabriel, Jack, Sahil, Veronica, Julia
Table 3 'Mrs. Olaybal:' Austin, Declan, Matthew, Luke, Makayla
Table 4 'Silver Ninjas:' Avery, Evan, Nicolette, Riley, Kristian

Sight Word Home Program
Information was sent home on Friday about this and please remember it is optional and it is completed at your own pace. If you have any further questions, please ask (you may not be the only one with that question).

Speech Arts
Information will be sent home this week about speech arts
 

Letter of the Week: Oo

After Mass on Friday, the entire school sang a lovely song for Mrs. Saharchuk to the tune of You are my Sunshine -we will miss you!

On Friday afternoon, the students enjoyed watching the basketball tournament and cheering on the players in the shooting competition.

In Math, students are working on putting the numbers from 1- 10 in the correct order. I practice with the students with a set of flashcards and ask them to put them in order from smallest to biggest. Also, students should be able to identify the correct quantity for a number. For example, if I say give me 6 erasers they should be able to count out 6 and give them to me. And in reverse, they should be able to count the numbers of items in my hand and say 6!

In Language Arts, students are continuing to learn the letter names and sounds. They are beginning to sound out small three letter words and I have been emphasizing that everyone is learning how to read. Please encourage them to 'Turtle Talk' which means to sound out each letter of the word very slowly at first (for example, h-a-t) and then repeat the sounds until they hear the word. 

I will be sending an optional SIGHT word home program this week for those families who are interested in looking forward to goals for Term 3. By the end of Term 2, students should be able to remember all letter names and most of the sounds we have learned.

 Upcoming this week

-meeting Mrs. Lemire, new Kindergarten teacher 
-Scholastic Book orders are due Monday, Jan 13th

-Hot lunch on Wednesday by Mavalicious KidsEat
-Teeth check on Friday morning

-Hand washing demonstration by Mrs. Baptista, public health nurse, on Friday afternoon 
-Pro d day on Monday, Jan 20th

No Hot Lunch tomorrow

Reminder that the next hot lunch is on Jan 15th, not tomorrow.

Happy Epiphany!

This past Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany and yesterday our students learned about the story of the three wise men coming to visit baby Jesus.

Water bottles
Please remember to send your child's water bottle that can be left in the classroom.

Gym 
Reminder that gym days are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Most students bring their gym strip home on Fridays to be washed over the weekend and then returned on Monday.

Show and Tell
Show and Tell begins today with the theme for January "Look what I did, Look what I made!" 

Socials Unit: Community Roles and Responsibilities
A note (orange paper) came home yesterday requesting if any parents are able to come in and share their job with us. If you are able, please fill in the form and return as soon as possible.

Hot Lunch
Just a reminder that we are starting our new Hot Lunch program that takes place every two weeks.  The first Hot Lunch will be on January 15th but orders need to be placed online 10 days prior. Check out http://www.mavaliciouskidseat.com/

Holy Childhood Boxes
Please send boxes in no later than Friday, January 10th.  If you have misplaced the box, please send the money in a ziploc bag so your child can add it to our collection. 

Scholastic Book Order: Your child brought home an order form yesterday and we ask that you send in any orders by Monday, Jan 13th.  Thank you!

Dental Screening Friday, January 17th


Food Bank Mass this Friday

Request from Mr. Klaponski 
Are you able to help out at the CCS basketball tournament concession this Friday from 9-4 pm? Earn family service hours! Consider providing us with 2-3 hours during the day. If you are please email Mr. K.

Star of the Week
We will be celebrating Makayla this week as our first star of 2014! 

Snow Day

Happy snow day everyone! This week was filled with so much excitement and joy, beginning with the success of our Christmas concert - please congratulate your child on their very first performance! They all worked very hard to learn the words and actions- they sang beautifully and I am so proud of them!

For pajama day, many of them enjoyed hot chocolate and everyone enjoyed their bag of popcorn during the movie in the afternoon. Thank you to Mrs. Saharchuk for hosting all of the primary classes (KS, KO, 1, 2, 3) in her classroom for the viewing of Polar Express. By the way, Mrs. Saharchuk will be starting her maternity leave after the first week in January and we will be welcoming Mrs. Melissa Lemire into our CCS community.

 

Yesterday afternoon, our students participated in our Advent retreat which began outside in Mary's rose garden with a decade of the rosary. Afterwards, they rotated from classroom to classroom reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas and how they can prepare their hearts for Jesus' birth.

 

Candygrams were handed out at the end of the day and their Christmas crafts were sent home this week (edible Christmas tree, baby Jesus in manger, toy soldier from the Nutcracker) - unfortunately, their gift to you, parents, was going to be sent home today so you'll have to wait until January! Thank you to Gabriel for giving out Christmas pencils to every student and to Riley for sharing his Christmas treats with us.

I would like to wish each and every family a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year - it  has been a pleasure to teach your child and I can't wait until we begin again in January 2014! 

Third Week of Advent

Christmas Concert
For Monday and Tuesday, students will wear their school uniforms to school. There will be a dress rehearsal on Monday afternoon so please make sure to send your child's clearly labelled white/light-coloured angel clothes in a plastic bag (leave in their backpack.) They will change after lunch.

For the evening performance on Tuesday, students are asked to return to the Bushey Room (in the Parish Centre) by 6:30pm wearing their white/light-coloured clothes. After the concert, parents can pick up their child from the same room. 

Admission to the concert is a non-perishable food donation for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which assists families in need. Also, there will be beverages and baked goods for sale to support our Outdoor Education and Learning Assistance programs. 

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Final Uniform Clearance
Before our afternoon and evening Christmas Concerts this year we will be holding our final clearance sale of Unimax uniform pieces. Arrangements have already been made to send all unsold pieces to missions overseas. This will be your last chance to get uniform pieces at amazing discounts!

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Changes to the Hot Lunch Program
Please note that a new Hot Lunch program will begin in January.  Please read the information (if you haven't already done so) regarding the changes in ordering and with the provider. Parents will need to sign up, set up a profile, order and pay on line.  One of the biggest changes is that Hot lunch (starting in January) will be every 2 weeks and not every week.  

http://www.mavaliciouskidseat.com/ 

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Holy Childhood Boxes
Our annual Holy Childhood Advent Boxes went out a little late this year. These boxes are meant to be a way for students to contribute to helping children by making little sacrifices of their own. Due to the late start, we will collect those boxes in the first week back to school after Christmas break.

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Pajama Day/Movie Afternoon
On Wednesday, students are encouraged to wear their pajamas to school and enjoy a movie, in the gym, with the whole school.

There will be a popcorn and hot chocolate sale at first recess. Please send your child's money for popcorn and/or hot chocolate in a labelled ziplock bag in their blue homework folder. 

Note: There will be no hot lunch on that day. 

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Advent Retreat
On Thursday, our students will be participating in an Advent retreat among the primary grades. Similar to the stations for 50's day, they will placed in groups and change classrooms every 10 minutes. They will participate in making a craft, watch a video, listen to a story, prayer and Bible reflection. It will be a great reminder for the students to keep Jesus in their hearts during the Christmas season. 

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Last Day of School
Our last of day of classes before Christmas break is Friday, December 20th. Please join us for Mass at 9:00 am. We will be having a noon dismissal on this day.

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No Letter of the Week & No Star of the Week
We will resume with the letter Nn and Star of the Week on the week of January 6th

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CCS Shopping Card Challenge
The Knights of Columbus are selling gift cards. Rather than going to two places, you can now pick up your child and get a gift card at the same time
(If doing so, please tell Miss Easterbrook and she can get the gift card for you). You can also stop by after every Sunday Mass and buy some then. It is a great opportunity to buy a gift card for someone for a birthday, special occasion or even Christmas.  The proceeds from this will go to the Church's building fund. Our challenge is to try to sell the most gift cards so our class can win a pizza party. 

http://ccsunited.ca/announcements/ShoppingCardChallenge.pdf

                   

Second week of Advent

Saint Nicholas
On Friday, we celebrated the Feast of St. Nicholas and we talked about the connection between Santa Claus and St. Nicholas.  We also put one shoe in our hallway after recess-an annual CCS tradition-to did not see Saint Nicholas when he put a special treat in our shoes. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of children so was a wonderful day to celebrate him and the joy of children.
 

Library
Last week was the last week for students to take out books before the Christmas holidays. All library books are due tomorrow.

Christmas Concert
There will be two shows, 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm, on Tuesday, December 17th. Our students will be on the risers on the right side of the stage so I would find seating on the far right side when you walk into the gym. Our class will be angels so please wear white or light-coloured clothing on that day. Admission to the concert is by food bank donation.

Letter of the Week: Mm
Please help your child collect any words or pictures that start with Mm-keep them in a ziplock and put in their blue folder.

Show and Tell 
Reminder that Tuesday, Dec 10th is our next show and tell day. December them is a family fun (special family trips, activities, games, traditions, etc). Your child may bring in a picture or a brochure from a special trip or a favourite game. 

Vision and Hearing Check
Fraser Health came in on Thursday to do their annual vision and hearing check of our Kindergarten students. Unfortunately, the vision machine stopped working so the nurses will return on Tuesday to finish the rest of the vision checks. If there are any concerns about your child's vision and/or hearing, they will contact you directly. 

Candygrams
Each year, our Christian Servers will sell candycanes for $0.50 and then the students can send them to anyone they want to in the school. Students often buy candygrams for classmates, buddies or sibling and they are sold every day at lunch until Dec 18th. Candygrams are delivered to students on the last day of school. If you would like your child to buy candygrams, write the names of the students who they would like to a candygram to and attach it with their money and I will help them fill our their candygram note. All money raised helps to go support our school's sponsor child in South America.

Parent Fundraising Group (PFG) Meeting
There is a meeting tomorrow at 7:00 pm in the Cenacle room at the Parish Centre. 

Parent hours
If you are looking for things to be sent home for parent hours, please send me a note. I am looking for a few parents to make play dough (various colours) during the Christmas holidays. 

Items Needed for crafts
-empty baby food jars and lids  
-metal juice lids (from frozen juice mixes)