Thunder News Flash – June 15, 2019

Every day at 12:00pm a student leads the school in a special prayer followed by our Grace Before Meals.  Even though June can often be a challenging month in schools, June’s prayer reminds us that learning and prayer are connected.

God of Light and Truth – Thank You for giving me a mind that can know and a heart that can love.  Help me to keep learning every day of my life, for all knowledge leads to You.  Let me be aware of Your presence in all things and at all times.  Encourage me when work is difficult and when I am tempted to give up; encourage me when my brain seems slow and the way forward is difficult.  Grant me the grace to put my mind to use exploring the world You have created, confident that in You there is a wisdom that is real.  Amen.

Please note these important dates in June:

• Tuesday, June 18th – Superhero Dress Down Day
• Thursday, June 20th – Thunderwear Thursday
• Thursday, June 20th – Grade 7 Farewell
• Monday, June 24th – Step Up Day
• Tuesday, June 25th – Grab & Go Gratitude
• Wednesday, June 26th – Celebration of Excellence
• Wednesday, June 26th – Rag & Bag Day
• Thursday, June 27th – Last day of school – dismissal at 11:30am

Why not start your day off right on Thursday mornings by joining the Parent Prayer Group in praying the rosary for our school community at 8:30am.  Please note that they meet each week in the school Library.  Small children and babies are welcome.

Are you short a few Parent Participation hours?  We are looking for 1-2 parents to help clean the French Room on Tuesday, June 25th (tables, chairs, shelves, windows, etc….).  This job should take 2-4 hours, depending on the number of people available.

Please contact Erika if you are able to help by clicking here. 

On June 12th one of our Grade 5 students had the opportunity to be the Principal for a Day.  As his final act during this day, Mr. B. decided that Tuesday, June 18th would be a dress down day, and the theme is “Superheroes”.   Since this is the last dress down day of the year, we will relax the rules a little bit and say that if students choose to dress as a superhero even something as simple as a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with a bat on it will count as a Batman costume!  This is not just a “wear what you want day” though, and the students should be able to tell us which Superhero they are representing that day.  As always, the students may not wear masks, carry weapons of any kind and what they wear must be appropriate.  This means no short shorts, no spaghetti straps, no t-shirts with inappropriate sayings and no ripped jeans. Please keep in mind that it may be quite warm next week so full costumes with capes may not be a good idea.  Let’s have fun and make this a great day!

This is a reminder to record your Parent Participation and/or Fundraiser hours on the School’s Parent Participation Portal, which can be found at the end of this newsletter, as soon as possible.  If you have not completed all 20 required Parent Participation hours and/or your Fundraiser commitment, your last Parent Participation and/or Fundraiser cheque ($150 each) will be cashed at the end of June.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your hours, recording your hours or completing your hours, please let Erika know ASAP by clicking here.

We would like to take this opportunity to say good-bye to a few staff members who are leaving St. James & St. Ann’s School at the end of June.  We wish blessings, happiness and success in their future to Mr. Yang, Mrs. Foster and Miss Draayers.  We will definitely miss them.

We would also like to welcome the following staff members who are joining St. James & St. Ann’s School in September.  New to our staff will be Mr. Mendonca teaching Grade 5, Mrs. Cobo in the Learning Resources Department and two Educational Assistants, Miss Gibson and Mr. Sorley.  

Below are the teaching assignments for the 2019-2020 school year:

• Mrs. Di Palma – Kindergarten
• Mrs. Gaudet (Monday – Wednesday) and Mrs. Wakely (Thursday/Friday) – Grade 1
• Mrs. Hunger – Grade 2
• Mrs. Doyle – Grade 3
• Mrs. Filiatrault – Grade 4
• Mr. Mendonca – Grade 5
• Mrs. Lavrikova – Grade 6
• Mrs. Dos Santos – Grade 7/Vice-Principal
• Mrs. Stobbe – French/Grade 7 (Thursday afternoons)
• Mrs. Wakely – PE (Tuesday/Wednesday)
• Miss Lewis – Learning Resources Coordinator
• Mrs. Cobo – Learning Resources Teacher (Monday – Wednesday)
• Mrs. White – Library/STEAM Lab (Monday – Thursday)

We are looking forward to a wonderful 2019/2020 school year.

Our Grand Total for our 2019 Walkathon is… $17,576.45.

Thank you to all those who supported our biggest fundraising event of the school year!  While we are short of our $25K goal, we are still able to buy a 3D Printer and some sports and Science equipment for our school, including a new water fountain that can fill water bottles easily!

Unfortunately, with only 65% of families participating, we fell quite short of our $25,000 goal.  We will still happily accept any cash or cheque donations you may have.  If you have feedback on how to improve our Walkathon, or can let us know why your family chose not to participate this year, we would greatly appreciate it.  You can email me directly by clicking here.  All names will be kept confidential.

Prizes were handed out on Wednesday.  If your child did not receive a prize and should have, please email me to confirm, as there were some on-line donations which we had difficulty assigning to the correct student.

Don’t forget to enter our Grand Prize Draw by NOON on Tuesday, June 18 for an Amazing Mexico 7 Nights Accommodation Package.  An email was sent out to all participating families with details on how to enter the draw.

Thank you for supporting St. James & St. Ann’s School!