The Good News - March 19th, 2023
St. John XXIII Catholic School
Fourth Sunday of Lent ( Laetare Sunday)
Leadership Message
At St. John XXIII we find joy when we embrace every student as a child of God with unique and amazing skills, gifts and talents. We look for and see what every child brings to our community as they grow and develop into young leaders with ideas and hopes for our world.
Specifically, in grade four, we target building leadership capacity in each student as they belong to our Student Leadership Squad. The students work together with staff on developing those skills that help students to see themselves as faith-filled, capable, responsible and ethical leaders who can make a difference.
March 2023
Monday, Mar. 20
- Scholastic Book Fair starts!
Tuesday, Mar. 21
- Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences 3:30-6:00
- Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences 4:00-6:30
- Hot Lunch
- "Alms to Break the Rules" Day
Friday, Mar. 24
- Spring Break starts!
LOOKING AHEAD:
March 24 - April 2 - Spring Break
April 5 - Early Dismissal 2:15, Gr 3 swimming
April 6 - JPII visits Gr 4
April 19 - Open House
No School this Friday. Spring Break begins. Classes resume Monday, April 3rd!
Upcoming Conferences March 21 & 22
Parent-Student-Teacher conferences will take place on Tuesday, March 21st from 3:30-6:00 and Wednesday, March 22nd from 4:00-6:30. The first 1.5 hours of each night will be in person conferences, and the last hour will be virtual via Google Meets.
Kindergarten had additional time slots on Friday March 17th from 9:00 -3:00.
Details were emailed on Monday, March 13th. The booking program will close on Monday, March 20th at noon.
Your child's Evidence of Learning journey was shared with you this past week. We are looking forward to connecting with you and your child to celebrate their learning progress and together, setting learning goals for their future growth.
First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion:
On behalf of our OLA Parish and our Sacramental team, we would like to extend our blessings and congratulate our OLA and St. John XXIII students on their Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion. What a blessing it was to journey with these beautiful children!
We wish to extend sincere appreciation to our parents and families who walked with their children through their preparation and to those who assisted with the ministries at our celebration mass. We extend our continued gratitude to our parish priests, Father Carlos and Father Tomasz and to Deb, for all they do to support our children on their faith journeys.
Please continue to pray for our children as they continue to walk with Jesus on their faith journeys!
Lost and Found
Nature Kindergarten
Lenten Almsgiving - Break the Rules Day This Thursday
This Thursday, March 23rd, 2023, the students at St. John XXIII will be celebrating ”Alms to Break the Rules” day!
This is an optional activity where students (with the help of their parents), choose which rules they would like to break. Students are asked to bring in donations to participate. Students need to sit down with their families and figure out which rules they are ready to break. Students need to bring in the completed form with payment in a sealed plastic bag, by Wednesday March 22nd.
Please check you class Dojo for more information.
Scholastic Book Fair
Every year the Scholastic Book Fair is an exciting way to help fill our library shelves with new books - and have a little fun along the way! Once again there will be guessing games and contests, and some new characters we can't wait to meet!
To help your child find the best books for them they will visit our Book Fair during class time. Students are allowed to purchase books, but the focus of our fair is enjoying a ‘bookstore visit’ and encouraging a love of reading. Please check out the flyer that was sent home with your child last week to see which titles interest them. Scholastic has shared some "book trailers" where you can get a sneak peek into a few of the stories, and an easy-to-navigate link to peruse the great books available this year at the fair. We are pleased that the Book Fair will once again be open during the 3-Way Conferences for our Family Event. This is a great opportunity for families to shop together and enter our Family Event Draw. You could win $25 worth of books for your family and $25 worth of books for your child’s classroom! For those families unable to visit the fair in person, please check out our Virtual Book Fair link, all sales here still support St. John XXIII. We look forward to seeing you during our fair and thank you for supporting this great literary fundraiser. Mostly, thank you for believing in books and the importance reading has on your child’s future.
Book Fair Dates:
March 20th 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
March 21st & 22nd 9:00 am - 3:15 pm
Family Event Evenings:
March 21st & 22nd 3:30 - 6:00 pm
Location: St. John XXIII Catholic School Library Learning Commons
Adoration Mass
Thank you Parent School Council
Growing Brains & Sharing Smiles! It's a GREAT Day to be a St. John Kid!
Grade 2 Gymnastics
Building Leprechaun Traps
Building Catapults
St. Patrick's Day
Outdoor Fun
Lenten Almsgiving - Beacon of Hope
As the Ukrainian resettlement crisis deepens, CSS appeals to Albertans for support
Agency needs to raise at least $100,000 to meet increased demand for Services Edmonton (February 23, 2023)
Catholic Social Services (CSS) is making an urgent appeal to Albertans for help. With hundreds of Ukrainians arriving in central and northern Alberta each week, alongside an influx of refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, and Syria, the agency needs to raise at least $100,000 to help meet the increased demand for services.
In the past year, CSS has provided settlement supports to more than 2,500 Ukrainians, as well as 2,300 government assisted and privately sponsored refugees from other countries. Currently, CSS is receiving 60 calls a day (more than 300 per week) from Ukrainians who need assistance. As many as one third of these clients are recent arrivals in need of emergency accommodations. Many are arriving with few possessions and no access to funding supports.
This Lent, EICS is partnering with Catholic Social Services to help support refugees arriving in Canada. The Beacon of Hope campaign will help raise much-needed money for CSS’s Refugee Relief Fund. Help us be a green light for safety!
You can donate to our St. John XXIII community page here.
Planning for Next Year
You are not required to submit a new registration form if you are returning to St. John XXIII or moving to St. John Paul II next year.
Join us for the 2023-2024 school year. We are excited to welcome our new St. John XXIII learners!
Kindergarten and NEW student registration opened ONLINE February 1st, 2023. The registration form allows parents to choose Kindergarten scheduling preferences. Please note these will be number dependent. Please register early as class placements will take into account: class sizes, student's needs, and scheduling requests.
- To go to the EICS Kindergarten webpage - please click here. This includes a Kindergarten calculator, programming and transportation information.
- Pre Kindergarten at St. John, screening information click here
- EICS Flexible Pathways Program here
- St. John XXIII Pathways Program click here
- EICS NEW Student Registration-click here
- To request transportation, click here
In addition to attending Kindergarten at their community school, EICS offers a supplemental Nature Kindergarten program which operates Tuesday/Thursday and some Fridays. This paid program offers students the opportunity to learn through explorative play, providing an option to attend kindergarten full time.
*Please note, you only need to register your child if they are entering Kindergarten or brand new to St. John*
Community Events and Bulletins
OLA Parish News:
OLA parish is preparing a pictorial directory for our parishioners at the church. The days that family photos will be taken at the church are on Tuesday, March 28th to Saturday April 1st and Friday June 9th and Saturday June10th.
Each family will get a free 8x10 photo.
Please register for your family photo at the parish office by calling (780) 998-3288.
Saint John XXIII Catholic School
Email: stj@eics.ab.ca
Website: https://stj.eics.ab.ca/
Location: 9526 89 Street, Fort Saskatchewan, AB, Canada
Phone: 780-998-7777
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/St.JohnXXIII
Twitter: @St_JohnXXIII