St. Luke Weekly Memo
October 5-12, 2017
Orange Shirt Day
St. Luke celebrated Orange Shirt day on October 2, which is an opportunity for people all across Canada to keep the conversation about Residential Schools and their legacy alive. It grew out of the real life story of an Indigenous woman named Phyllis Webstad from Williams Lake B.C.
Since 2013, Orange Shirt Day has been an annual event which is held on September 30. This day was chosen because this was the time of the year when children were taken from their homes and families and put into residential schools.
Residential Schools existed in Canada from 1870’s until the 1990’s. These schools were run by the government. First Nations children were taken away from their homes and forced to attend the schools. These First Nations children were forced to cut their hair and were not allowed to speak their own language or practice their traditions. Boys and girls were separated, so siblings could not see each other. These experiences were and still are very painful for the people who experienced them. Many Indigenous children were treated unkindly in residential schools, some were hurt and some even died.
There are still many people alive who spent their childhoods in residential schools. These individuals still have nightmares about their experiences and have not had the chance to heal. Talking about this horrible time in Canadian history and acknowledging it will help people begin to heal. Learning about residential schools as young children will also help us to make sure that history never repeats itself.
As part of Orange Shirt day (and all year long), it is all of our jobs to make sure that EVERY child feels like they matter.
School News
Birthday Book
Elk Island Catholic has updated their nutrition administrative procedure (AP) which encourages all of us to focus on healthy eating and an active life style. This connects well with our school being an APPLE School and promoting healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health habits.
As a strategy to help us avoid 'choose least often' foods being sent in for birthday celebrations we ask you to consider donating a book if you would like to mark your child's birthday. You can choose a book, request a suggestion from Mrs. Hill (our librarian) or send $10 to cover the cost of a book provided by the school. We will put a birthday label inside the front cover of the book, your child will be the first to check out the new library book before it goes into circulation within the library. Thank you to those families who have already donated birthday books for their children!
We Day
We Day is a huge youth rally that is held in six or seven Canadian cities each year. Students and staff from 530 schools in Alberta and Saskatchewan will be attending. In order to participate, schools must apply to the program and commit to initiating one local action and one global action during the school year. These are service projects and fundraisers to help others in need. We are called, through faith, to model the compassion of Christ, to work for the common good and the dignity of all, and to stand with the poor and the vulnerable. It is our hope that the We Day experience will be transformative and inspiring for all.
St. Luke is excited to send a group of junior high students to We day again this year on November 1. To pay for the student's transportation and tickets the students will be fundraising by providing games in the gym for all students from Kindergarten to grade 6 on Tuesdays and Thursdays at lunch recess at a cost of $2 per student.
Volleyball
We are so blessed to have a grade 5 and 6 volleyball team this year! Thank you to Mrs. Colette Lastiwka and Coach Kim for volunteering their time to coach the students. They practice after school most Mondays and Tuesdays and will attend a tournament in December.
Shoe Drive
St. Luke School is happy to be part of the Strathcona County shoe drive again this year. Please donate your old shoes during Waste Reduction week from October 16-20. For each pair of shoes donated the child will receive a ticket for a draw with prizes such as board games and iTunes cards. Please find more information in the attachment below.
Growing in Faith Resource
Our school uses the Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ program for our Religious Education programming. The document attached provides families with a website full of videos, songs, prayers for families to use at home.
Church News
Parish Periodical
The document below is a monthly communication document to share some of the happenings at OLPH Parish.
Children's Choir
Grade 2-6 students are invited to be part of the OLPH Church Children's Choir conducted by Mrs. Elizabeth Driedger. Please find more information below.
Looking Ahead...
October 6 - Professional Development Day - no school for students
October 9 - Happy Thanksgiving - School is closed
October 10 - Grade 5&6 Volleyball
October 11 - Mindful Movements in the afternoon
October 12 - Hot lunch - Pizza
Email: Stl@eics.ab.ca
Website: Stl.eics.ab.ca
Location: 22139 S Cooking Lake Rd, Sherwood Park, AB, Canada
Phone: 7809225920
Facebook: facebook.com/StLukeCatholicSchool
Twitter: @stlcs_EICS