May Newsletter 2017
St. Martin's Catholic School
Principal's Message
Mary, woman of charity, you were always responsive to God's overshadowing of you. God's Spirit chose you so that the Word made flesh might live among us. Pray for us Mary, that each of us may trust as you did; that God will also choose us to help hearts receive more fully the Word made flesh; and that He may live and love among us. Mary, woman of charity, you went forth to help, and love flowed through you and gently touched the life of Elizabeth, and the child not yet born. Pray for us, that we too may reach out to the old, the young, the helpless and the strong, so that through us they may experience God's ever- faithful love. Pray for us Mary that we may open our hearts each day to God's empowering Spirit, ever living and loving with us. Amen
This month we will also be engaging in adoration of the Holy Eucharist. Adoration is adoring or honouring the Eucharistic Presence of Christ. In a deeper sense, it involves "the contemplation of the Mystery of Christ truly present before us." We are still working on the final details, but will be scheduled for one of the days during the week of May 23 - 26.
As a Catholic school, we are always looking for ways for our students can grow and develop in their faith and we believe that adoration is one component to that growth. We will be inviting parents to join us as well, so please keep an eye on the Coles' Notes.
Student Teachers
The profession of teaching, much like other other professions contains as part of the degree requirements time in a school in the role of teacher. We have been very lucky this past month to have three student teachers from the University of Alberta. Mrs. Sawatzky, Forbes, and Sorochan have been with us for just over a month and we are so blessed that they were able to join us.
The student teaching experience is not just for the student teachers, it is of benefit for the whole school. It allows our mentor teachers (the teacher's on our staff most responsible for the student teacher) and our entire staff to see the learning that is happening at the university level. Things have changed since we were last there.
There is also a zest that comes with student teachers. Sure, there is some deer in the headlights moments, but more than that, there is a passion burning inside them that comes out and is so very visible.
We will miss our current group of student teachers and wish them well as they enter their final year of their education program and their final student teaching experience. We will say see you soon to them and not good bye as we have a saying here at St. Martin's, "Once a Saint, Always a Saint"
Revising and Improving Student Options
The core of the programming that we offer is based around the fact that we want students and their parents to have choice in the optional programming that is offered. As we designed new programming this was consistently at the forefront.
Grade 1 - 6 Junior University
Next year, all of our students will participate in Junior University (JU). Our grade 1 students will start a little bit later in the school year. Over the course of the year, students will choose from a variety of 8 week courses. They will participate in 4 of these 8 week courses. The decision to move to 8 week courses was to allow for more depth of the material. It also allows our teachers from different grades to develop relationships with students from various grades.
Courses will be cross grade ranging from 1 - 3, 4 - 6, or even 1 - 6 depending on the course that is being offered.
While we don't know all of the courses that will be offered next year, we are excited to be providing 3 culture courses (French, Ukrainian, and Indigenous) to our students.
Grade 1 - 4 Music
We heard very clearly in the surveys that were completed that music was a subject that parents wanted their children taking. We will be offering it to all students in grades 1 - 4 a minimum of two periods per week. There will also be music offered in JU for students that are looking for a little bit more.
Grade 5 and 6 Options
In order to continue to give our grade 5 and 6 students options we will be offering two sets of options. One set of options will focus on the Fine Arts and the other set of options will focus on Career and Technology Foundations (CTF). CTF courses can range from cooking to sewing to leadership to agriculture. The courses offered will be chosen based on student interest and teacher skill / passion.
More information regarding course selection will occur in June and JU course information will be shared with students in the fall. In order to ensure that we are maintaining Elk Island Catholic Schools commitment to ensuring that students and parents have a "no fee"option, there will be courses that are no cost and some courses that have a fee based on the materials necessary and field trips that may be part of the course.
Chat with the Superintendent
This is a regular meeting of the St. Mary's Parent Council, so if you are interested in only hearing Mr. Hauptman speak, we have been advised he will do so closer to 6:30 pm.
Hot Lunch
Please forward any comments or questions to stmn@eics.ab.ca and we will forward them to the St. Martin's Foundation.
We would like to thank Mrs. Ashley Browning for taking over the hot lunch program for the remainder of the school year.
School Trustee Election
The ACSTA, together with the Alberta Bishops, will be holding Catholic Trustee information sessions for prospective candidates in each Alberta diocese this May and June. Information sessions will be about 2 hours in length and will include a presentation by ACSTA elected officials, administration and the local bishop.
If you are thinking about becoming a Catholic School Trustee, the information sessions are a great way to learn more about the role of trustee, the uniqueness of the Catholic trustee and the relationship with the local Bishop, as well as answer any questions you may have and point to resources available.
Dates for the events are as follows:
May 11 - Edmonton - St. Brendan School - 7 PM – With Archbishop Smith
May 25 - Fort McMurray - St. Paul’s Parish - 7 PM – With Bishop Paul
June 7 - Grande Prairie - St. Joseph School -7 PM – With Archbishop Petitpas
June 8 - Calgary - Location TBD - 7PM – With Bishop McGrattan
We want to emphasise that the information sessions in no way support a particular candidate or affiliation, and are not being held to provide a means of debate among candidates. This is not a forum for candidates to speak, this is for the education of potential trustees and to explain the process.
Attached is an information poster for the trustee information sessions. Please feel free to share the poster!
Should you have any questions please contact the ACSTA office at 780-484-6209 or email at admin@acsta.ab.ca
Click here for the poster.
Monthly Calendar
About Us
Email: stmn@eics.ab.ca
Website: http://stmn.eics.ab.ca
Location: 4314 54A Avenue, Vegreville, AB, Canada
Phone: (780) 632-2266
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stmartinscatholicschool/
Twitter: @StMartinsEICS