April 2015 Newsletter - Our Lady of Hope

Our Lady of Hope Catholic Elementary School
80 Red Cardinal Trail
Richmond Hill, Ontario
L4E 4B8
Phone: 905-773-1383
Fax: 905-773-4799
A Catholic Community of Faith
April 2015
School Trustees:
Ann Stong
Dominic Mazzotta
Superintendent:
Mary Battista
Principal:
Katherine Pellegrini
Vice Principal:
Fabio Nardo
Safe Arrival Line:
1-855-856-7862
yorkcdsb.schoolconnects.com
School Website
olh.ycdsb.ca
Parish Information
Our Lady of the
Annunciation Parish
905-773-5223
Pastor:
Father Peter Lackmanec
Character
Virtue
Reverence
Reverence means
special respect for
God. Reverence
means love for and
trust in God.
Easter Prayer
God of Hope, resurrected Christ,
Spirit of new beginnings,
May we be blessed by the touch
of spring:
rain falling from the heavens,
washing us clean,
telling us that life is sacred.
May we be blessed by memory this Easter
time: of loved ones, of loved places telling
us your love is always here.
We make this prayer in the name of
Jesus. Amen
(Les Miller)
Holy Thursday Presentation
AN EASTER MESSAGE FROM
OUR CATHOLIC SCHOOL
TRUSTEES
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As we draw near to the end of the
Lenten season, and enter “Passion
Week”, it is a time to remember how
much God loves us by sacrificing
His own precious Son. Let us give
thanks and rejoice that the Lord has
conquered death, and granted us
eternal life.
This is the perfect opportunity to renew our faith in Jesus Christ by
spreading the Good News of hope
and joy, and by being a beacon of
light to others.
On Thursday, April 2nd, at 1:00
PM, the grade 6 students will be
presenting The Last Supper in the
gym. Parents and guardians are
May the Risen Christ fill you and
invited to come and join us.
your family with peace, happiness
On Good Friday we commemorate Christ’s and continued blessings.
crucifixion and the veneration of the cross Happy Easter!
and on Easter Monday we continue to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Please
Sincerely,
note that there will be no school on Friday,
April 3rd and Monday, April 6th.
Ann Stong & Dominic Mazzotta
Richmond Hill Trustees
At this holy time of year, may Jesus fill
your heart with all of the wonderful Easter
blessings you deserve, from the staff and
students at Our Lady of Hope School.
Fond Farewells and Joyous Welcomes
We wish a fond farewell to Mme. Albi who did an awesome job teaching French
to our Grade 1s, 4s, 5s, and 8s. We warmly welcome Mme. Tabangi to the French
position and have great confidence that she will do an equally fantastic job.
Getting Ready for September 2015
Please assist us in determining our staffing and accommodation needs for the school year
2015. If you are moving out of the area or if your child will be attending another school in
September, please let us know so that our enrollment numbers can be adjusted accordingly. Similarly if you know of anyone who is moving into the area please encourage them to
contact the school and register as soon as possible. If you missed kindergarten registration
please pick up your registration package as soon as possible. Parents of preschool age
children who are eligible to start school this year and who have special needs are encouraged to contact the school and speak to Mrs. Pellegrini as soon as possible so that we can
have the proper supports in place for your child, for September.
Class Compositions—The process for formulation of class lists for September will begin soon. As we determine class organization and teacher assignments, each student is individually discussed and placed according
to a number of criteria. Our goal is to establish balanced classes, providing effective groups which will benefit
all children. Teachers in receiving and sending grades meet to carefully consider: learning styles, academic
skills, social grouping, special education, ESL needs, behaviour needs, etc. You can surely appreciate that creating the best and most effective groupings is a task requiring careful thought and planning.
At this time, we are uncertain as to which teachers will teach a specific grade. Staffing decisions will not be
finalized until the end of June. The teachers who have worked with your children this year know them and will
make determinations based on each child’s best interests.
If you feel strongly that there are extenuating circumstances please submit your
request in writing, including the rationale for any request, to the office prior to
May 15th. Accepting parental requests for specific teachers can be restrictive in
forming ideal groupings. Requesting placement with an individual teacher is
not appropriate. Written requests will be shared with the team of teachers
generating class lists. A written request does not guarantee that your request
can be honoured. Please note that due to the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act class lists will only be available on the first morning of school.
Full Day Kindergarten - Important Reminders
Registration for kindergarten is ongoing. If you missed kindergarten registration please pick up your registration package as soon as possible. Kindergarten registrations are being accepted throughout the school day.
You can register your child at Our Lady of Hope: 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 pm and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
JK children must be 4 years old by Dec. 31, 2015 (born in 2011). SK children must be 5 years old by Dec. 31,
2015 (born in 2010)
Please bring the following documents with you:
- Roman Catholic Baptismal Certificate
- Proof of Age
- Proof of Legal Status in Canada
- Proof of Residency
- Proof of English Separate School Support (i.e., property tax)
Please register your child as soon as possible to ensure that families are included in the "Welcome to Kindergarten" evening that is being held on Tuesday, April 28th at 6:30 pm in the gym. Kindergarten Orientation
meetings will take place on Wednesday, May 20th. Each family will be notified of the time their child will
come to school with his or her parent, when they register for kindergarten.
Mathworx 2 - Math and Technology Success
We would like to thank all of the staff, students, and members of the OLH community
for participating in our ‘Math and Technology’ parent engagement evening on March
31st. The evening was a tremendous success and allowed our families to explore the link
between the 21st Century learner and the world of mathematics in a number of fun and
creative ways. We would like to thank our Catholic School Council and Parent Engagement Committee for their efforts in providing this opportunity for our community to
come together and explore the role and power of technology in mathematics. Please stay
tuned for more information regarding our third installment in the Mathworx Series entitled ‘Everyday Math’
taking place later this school year. Please remember, all families (kids included) are invited.
EQAO at OLH
This Reading, Writing and Mathematics assessment will occur for all grade three
and six students from May 26th until June 2nd. Please avoid booking appointments
and/or holidays during this time. More importantly during EQAO, please ensure students arrive on time, by 9:05 AM, have a good breakfast, and get a good night’s
sleep. As always, the results of this standardized, Ministry, and province-wide assessment go a long way in
helping us to determine strengths, areas for improvement; and help us to budget our resources accordingly.
Catholic School Council Meeting
Our next Catholic School Council Meeting is on Tuesday, April 14th at 7:00 pm. Please join us if you can!
Warm Weather Dress Code
As the temperature rises and we change to our spring and summer wardrobes, students are
reminded about appropriate school attire.
The guidelines, as in the past, are as follows:
 Shorts may be worn if they are more than halfway to the knee (one hand width above
the kneecap). Short-shorts and short skirts are not acceptable at school. Torn and tattered jeans and clothes
are also not acceptable.
 No low necklines (front and/or back). No racer back tees. Under garments should not be exposed at any
time. This is inappropriate for school wear.
 No half T-shirts; tops with cut-outs or tops with slogans containing offensive language, pictures or logos.
 Spaghetti straps and “belly tops” are not permitted at school (even when layered) nor are “muscle” shirts.
The three fingers wide guideline for shoulder width will assist students in choosing an appropriate top to
wear.
 Tops and pants/shorts/skirts worn must cover the entire midriff.
As per the provincial code of conduct and the York Catholic District School Board Code of Conduct “children
are to be neat, appropriately dressed, and prepared for school”. Let’s continue to keep Our Lady of Hope a
respectful community for learning.
Heat protection is strongly recommended (hats, sun visors, sunglasses) for outdoor play. These will be removed during instructional time. Sunscreen is advisable during the warmer days, especially during the lunch
recess period.
Oral Communications
We wish all of our junior and intermediate students
the very best as they prepare for oral communications. Our School Level Competition will be taking
place in the OLH gymnasium on Tuesday, April
14th. The winners from each classroom will present in the
gymnasium in front of their peers and a panel of judges in
accordance with the following tentative schedule:
 Junior Division - 10:45 AM
 Intermediate Division - 1:00 PM
Our top student from each division will advance to the Area
Competition also hosted in our own school gymnasium on
Wednesday, April 29th. Thank you Mrs. Grant for coordinating this opportunity. Best of luck to all speakers!
OLH canSPELL 2015
Wow! Time is really flying by and before we know it
the Spelling Bee will be on. Remember all Bee participants (junior and intermediate) should be studying hard
and preparing during April. Plenty of assistance from all
members of the family would help them and prepare them for
being on stage. It is a sudden death tournament, so preparation is vital! The Bee is on May 7th at 1 pm. Please plan to
attend to support your child. Thank you Ms. Steele and Ms.
Skeats for all your leadership.
Our Primary Bee will be taking place on May 15th. We thank
Ms. Varlese, Ms. Ewing, and Mr. Lietz for preparing our all
of our Little Bees.
Hawks Basketball
The Intermediate Girls’ Basketball team had
an amazing season that was highlighted
with several memorable plays, shots and
games. The girls fought hard in a challenging divisional tournament where wins and
losses were often determined by a basket or
two. In the end, the girls fell just short but
made their school and coaches, Mr. Paris
and Ms. Bianchi, very proud. Congratulations: Rosie, Amanda, Jenica, Christina,
Amaya, Erica F., Erika P, Julia, Juliana,
Sara, and Victoria. Go Hawks Go!!
The Intermediate Boys’ Basketball team
was a model of perseverance throughout the
month of February. They showed a tremendous desire to learn; set high goals; and put
forth a valiant effort! Members of the team:
Julian S., Luca D., Sebastian G., Anthony
R., Zachary I., Hayden H., Daniel I., Sebastian S., Michael P., Daniel L., Anselmo M,
and Daniel W. are to all be commended for
representing our school so well, while up
against such strong teams in the area tournament. Congratulations and
thanks to the coaches, Ms.
Karam and Ms. Oppedisano for
all their dedication.
Junior Basketball Developments
We are extremely excited to see the development in our junior girls’ basketball team. The girls’ tournament
will be hosted by Father Frederick McGinn on Tuesday, May 5th. Thank you to coaches Ms. Senior and Ms.
Karam for all your efforts! Go Hawks!!!
We would also like to wish the Junior Boys’ all the best as they prepare for their tournament on Monday, May
4th at Holy Name school. The boys are already showing tremendous skill potential under the leadership of
their coaches: Mme. Zammito, Ms. Steele, and Ms. DiSerio. Thank you coaches for all of your efforts and we
wish the boys the very best this season. Go Hawks Go!!!
Healthy Schools Student Club: Big Crunch
On Thursday, March 12, Kindergarten and Primary students from Our Lady of Hope joined students across the country in The Big Crunch. Each student crunched into a locally grown apple to
promote healthy eating and support local farmers. This initiative helped to celebrate the 4ForLunch program,
which teaches the importance of eating balanced meals. The apples were purchased from the Eatrite organization, with a grant from Healthy Schools. Thank you to the members of the Healthy Schools Student Club for
organizing this event.
Student Council News
Student Council would like to thank all students who made our Kernels Popcorn school fundraiser a success. With
the money earned, we were able to alleviate some of the bus costs for our trip to the Marlies hockey game. On Wednesday, March 25th, 2015, OLH students in grades 4 to 8 were able to take part in a fantastic experience to watch the Toronto Marlies play Oklahoma at Ricoh Coliseum. All students had a great time watching the Marlies beat Rochester 3
-2 in a thrilling game that went down to the wire. We were also very proud to learn that OLH had the second highest
attendance of all schools at the game! Representatives from our junior and intermediate hockey teams were invited onto
the ice to carry both the Canadian and Marlies flag during the national anthem. It was truly a proud moment and we
commend all of our students who represented us so very well. We would like to thank our parent volunteers, OLH staff,
and our head coordinator, Mrs. Romano, for making this trip possible.
For the month of April, student council would like to promote the following Spirit Days:
DATE
Thursday April 2nd
Tuesday April 7th
Friday April 17th
Friday April 24th
THEME DAY
“Dress in Black” ~ for Holy Thursday to recognize the death of Jesus
“Dress-up like a Bunny Day” ~ Wear something related to Easter (fun accessories of a Easter
bunny/chick).
“Flower Power Day” ~ Bring on the spring & warm weather (incorporate floral pattern into
our Spring wear on this day.
“I Wear My Sunglasses All Day!” ~ wear your coolest shades ALL DAY!
Please continue to support our Lenten Milk Bag Drive. As a reminder, all the milk bags we received will be used to
weave a milk bag mat and pillows that will be, eventually, donated to people in the Philippines and Haiti to sleep on.
Luke 4.18 News
Working wonders in our community…”you don’t have to look far to see the
wonders being worked by ShareLife...in the pews of your parish, in the homes
on your street, in your neighbourhood.” ShareLife agencies provide competent,
faith-informed care to those who turn to them for help, regardless of their beliefs or background. Last year,
over 354,000 services were provided to over 96,000 people in our Archdiocese allowing them to receive the
compassion, care and respect they rightly deserve. In addition, countless others were assisted through outreach programs around the world. : Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto.
We are very thankful to all members of Our Lady of Hope Catholic School Community who continue to exemplify the virtue of compassion by supporting our ShareLife Book Sale. The sale raised over $400 for
ShareLife charities. This amount, combined with our Annual Intermediate Volleyball Challenge, allowed
our community to raise over $850 for ShareLife. Thank you to Ms. Lovisa, Ms. Minchella, Ms. Ewing, Ms.
Tropea, and Ms. Sharma for a very successful book sale for such a very worthwhile cause.
OLH Has Got Talent!!
Trying out for a talent show definitely
takes a great deal of courage. We would
like to congratulate the overwhelming
number of students who did just that this past month.
The 2015 OLH Talent Show rehearsals are coming to a
close and the level of talent at OLH is truly astounding. We thank our Talent Show coordinators, Ms.
Hamilton, Ms. Senior, Ms. Klug, and our grade 7 leaders who’ve organized this opportunity for everyone.
Best wishes to all and congratulations for your efforts!
Camp Muskoka & Hot
Lunch Change
We would like to wish our Grade 6 students
the very best as they explore a number of
outdoor learning opportunities at Camp Muskoka.
Please note, due to the timing of this excursion, all
Gr. 6 students, who’ve ordered Pizza for April
15th, will receive their pizza on Tuesday, April
14th. All other students will receive their pizza on
Wednesday, April 15th as scheduled. Thank you for
making note of this on your calendars.
Library News
We are looking forward to the big Scholastic one day “Blow Out” sale in May. This
is a good time to stock up on summer reading titles. The book sale will take place
on Tuesday, May 5th, with extended hours for shopping from 8:00 am until 5:00
pm. As a reminder, please check out the OLH Library’s Instagram account at
svarlese_teacherlibrarian for updates about the sale, reading materials, library activities, featured books, authors and school initiatives.
Board Recognition of the OLH Technohawks
We would like to once again congratulate our Robotics team for their terrific success this year. On the evening of Tuesday, March 24th, the OLH Technohawks team was invited to the School Board to receive special
recognition for their efforts and achievement this past robotics season. Each team-member each received certificates of achievement and acknowledgement from the Director of Education, Senior Administration and the
Board of Trustees. Congratulations to: Jenica P., Stefan S., Alexander S., Noah V., Madelin G., Daniel I.,
Brandon Jon L., Samantha C., Kesiya M., and Domenico V.
ECO News: iWalk, Earth Hour, and Earth Day
ECO Team: iWalk for the Earth and Earth Hour
On Wednesday, March 25th, OLH students participated in iWalk for Energy. Walking to school
is a great way to help us feel energized for the day’s school activities and it is a way to save our
Earth’s resources. When we walk to school, take the bus, ride our bikes, or park and walk-a-block, we are
helping to reduce our use of fossil fuels, which are non-renewable energy resources, and to reduce the emissions that contribute to the greenhouse effect and to global warming. Each step we take goes towards reducing our carbon footprint and educating our school community about the effects of climate change. OLH also
celebrated Earth Hour on March 27th from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. We aimed to reduce our carbon footprint by
switching off lights and computer monitors. We can make a difference and be Earth Heroes! It’s in our hands
and it’s in our feet! Thank you to the members of the ECO Team for organizing these events.
The next iWalk is Wednesday, April 22nd - Earth Day
We will be celebrating Earth Day with a week of challenges aimed at promoting environmental awareness.
Mon., April 20
Tues. April 21
Wed., April 22
Thurs., April 23
Fri., April 24
Meatless Monday:
Pack a Vegetarian
Lunch
Trashless Tuesday:
Boomerang Lunch
iWalk for the Earth
Earth Day Clean Up
Wear Blue a &
Green
Thirsty Thursday:
Only use Reuseable
Water Containers
Lights Free Friday: Lights out at
lunch