Yearly Archives: 2024

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  The entire staff at St. Aloysius wants to welcome all of you back from the March Break.  We hope you had time to rest, relax and recharge as we head into the last leg of the school year.  There is a lot going on at St. Aloysius and we want you to stay informed.  Please read below to make sure you are aware of what is happening at our school!

Wear Green for St. Patrick’s Day!  We will be a day late, but please wear your GREEN on Monday, March 18th to show your St. Patrick’s Day Spirit!  It will be great to see so many in green!  Stay tuned to our X account and Newswire for pictures of the day.

This week is Neurodiversity Awareness Week. This is about creating a more inclusive and supportive environment for our neurodiverse children and challenging stereotypes, myths, and misconceptions about autism, learning differences and neurodiversity.

The Lenten Season is still upon us!  We are continuing our focus on the Paschal Mystery in our daily Lenten Reflections.  Each morning, following our land acknowledgment and our national anthem, we engage in a school-wide Christian Easter Reflection as expressed in the story of Benjamin’s Box: The Story of the Resurrection Eggs.  This allows us to quiet our minds and focus on what God has to say to us.

The ECLIPSE is coming!  We have moved our PD Day from Friday, April 19th to Monday, April 8th, 2024.  There will be no school for students on Monday, April 8th, 2024.  This is because of the timing of the total Eclipse.  It is expected to peak during “travel time” for the students when they can not be adequately supervised and when their safety cannot be guaranteed.  This is between 2:30 – 4:00pm.  As such, we have moved our PD Day so that we can get your help in ensuring the safety of all.  We will be learning all about the eclipse and what it means.  We look forward to the learning opportunities that this creates even though we will not be together on the actual date.

The condition of our yard is not great.  As always, at about this time of the year, our yard becomes very muddy, and many parts are unusable.  As a staff, we will work diligently to identify and mark off unsafe play spaces but we also need to make sure that students are using common sense and staying out of the worst areas.  It is also a good idea to bring a change of clothing to leave at school in case of an emergency.  Outdoor shoes are a must as well!  Please make sure your children are making good clothing choices when they come to school so that we can focus on the learning that needs to happen and not worry about interrupting parents to bring extra clothing.

Goal Setting and Our Common Message:

As we get back from March Break, we will be encouraging our students to set goals for themselves.  Personal goals, academic goals, social goals, and spiritual goals.  It is important that we work to articulate our goals – we are much more likely to achieve them!  We will do this as we start to roll out the message that will carry us through June:  Finish Strong!  We have all worked so hard this year and have already achieved so much!  It is important that we continue working hard right through to June.  We want everyone to Finish Strong so that in the end, we can be proud of what we have accomplished.  Please encourage your children to set goals, write them down, and create a plan to reach them.  We look forward to working with you in helping your children, our students, to achieve these goals!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to the main office.  Thank you for your continued cooperation and support.

Sincerely,

Mr. McKinnon and Mrs. Fundak Bonsma

The staff and students of St. Aloysius would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of our Lunch Hour Supervisors. You are outside in the rain and the cold, you cover our classes for us, you support in classrooms when we are short, but MOST importantly, you build relationships with our entire school community!  Our schools would not be the same without you and we are so thankful for you! You are truly superheroes and today we want to say THANK YOU!

WEAR PINK TOMORROW!

Anti-Bullying Day is an annual event, held in Canada and other parts of the world, where people wear a pink-coloured shirt to stand against bullying. The initiative was started in Canada, where it is held on the last Wednesday of February each year. This year Pink Shirt Day is scheduled for February 28th.

https://pinkshirtdaycanada.ca/

Good Morning St. Aloysius Families,

Term 1 Report Cards are set to go home today! As mentioned, every few days leading up to that date we will be sharing snippets of information that we hope families find useful in understanding what is on the report card and how teachers evaluate student performance. A common understanding between teachers and parents will hopefully help us work together to improve student performance and ultimately help each child achieve academic success.

Today we want to share information about the levels of achievement. The achievement chart identifies four levels of achievement, defined as follows:
Level 1 represents achievement that falls much below the provincial standard. The student demonstrates the specified knowledge and skills with limited effectiveness. Students must work at significantly improving learning in specific areas, as necessary, if they are to be successful in the next grade/course Level 2 represents achievement that approaches the provincial standard. The student demonstrates the specified knowledge and skills with some effectiveness. Students performing at this level need to work on identified learning gaps to ensure future success.
Level 3 represents the provincial standard for achievement. The student demonstrates the specified knowledge and skills with considerable effectiveness. Parents of students achieving at level 3 can be confident that their children will be prepared for work in subsequent grades/courses.
Level 4 identifies achievement that surpasses the provincial standard. The student demonstrates the specified knowledge and skills with a high degree of effectiveness. However, achievement at level 4 does not mean that the student has achieved expectations beyond those specified for the grade/course.

As a parent you will often see levels come home on student work that is shared with families. On report cards, these levels are converted to traditional grades (Grade 1-6 would be A,B,C,D and Grade 7-8 would be percentages 60%, 70%, etc)

Good Evening St. Aloysius Families,

Term 1 Report Cards are set to go home on the 15th of February. As mentioned, every few days leading up to that date we will be sharing snippets of information that we hope families find useful in understanding what is on the report card and how teachers evaluate student performance. A common understanding between teachers and parents will hopefully help us work together to improve student performance and ultimately help each child achieve academic success.

Today we want to share information about how teachers evaluate student learning. Evidence of student achievement for evaluation is collected over time from three different sources – observations, conversations, and student products. Using multiple sources of evidence increases the reliability and validity of the evaluation of student learning. Teachers will take various considerations into account before making a decision about the grade to be entered on the report card. The teacher will consider all evidence collected through observations, conversations, and student. The teacher will consider the evidence for all the tests/exams and assignments for evaluation that the student has completed or submitted, the number of tests/exams or assignments for evaluation that were not completed or submitted, and the evidence of achievement that is available for each overall expectation for a subject in a particular grade or course. In addition, the teacher will consider that some evidence carries greater weight than other evidence; for example, some performance tasks are richer and reveal more about students’ skills and knowledge than others. Teachers will weigh all evidence of student achievement in light of these considerations and will use their professional judgement to determine the student’s report card grade. The report card grade represents a student’s achievement of overall curriculum expectations, as demonstrated to that point in time.

Good Evening St. Aloysius Families,

Just a reminder regarding events this week:

February 13th      Shrove Tuesday- Pancake Snack in the AM
St. Valentine’s Day Celebrations-PM
RED, WHITE and PINK DAY!
February 14^th      Ash Wednesday- The Season of Lent Begins
February 15^th        Term 1 Report Cards Go Home
February 19^th       Family Day- No School

Kindergarten Registration for 2024-2025

St. Aloysius is currently accepting Kindergarten applications for the 2024-2025 School Year! Parents can access the Online Pre-Registration form by clicking on the Register for School link on the WCDSB Homepage and then select Kindergarten Registration.
https://www.wcdsb.ca/our-schools/register-for-school/entering-kindergarten/

The Main Office will be open to accept new Kindergarten Registrations on:
February 13^th       10am to 12 pm and 1pm to 3pm

February 15^th        4pm to 7 pm
Please contact Mrs. Kozak in the Main Office if you have any questions.

Shrove Tuesday

The season of Lent is fast approaching. On Shrove Tuesday (February 21^st) we will be providing a pancake snack in the morning. Teachers will be leading the students in an activity/lesson about the significance of Shrove Tuesday.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is one of the most popular and important holy days in the liturgical calendar. Ash Wednesday opens Lent, a season of fasting and prayer. Ash Wednesday takes place 46 days before Easter Sunday. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the head. The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us. We will have an Ash Wednesday liturgy as a school community and administer ashes. The ashes are made from blessed palm branches, taken from the previous year’s palm Sunday Mass.

Saint Valentine’s Day 

We are celebrating St. Valentine’s Day on February 13^th.
We are doing this because Valentine’s Day falls on Ash Wednesday this year. To respect the importance of this holy day, it was necessary to move our Valentine’s Day activities a day earlier.

For Valentine’s Day this year, cards or treats (individually packaged) can be sent in from home to be distributed to classmates. We ask that if you are planning to do so, please ensure you provide enough for the entire class. In the Primary classes I would ask that the cards are addressed, “To My Friend”. Students can access the required number in their class through their Google Classroom/D2L class sites. All Valentines will be collected individually in paper bags and will be sent home to families. No treats will be consumed at school. In accordance with our Healthy Active Living policy, we encourage everyone to consider tokens of friendship like pencils or erasers instead of food treats. Teachers will still provide students with St. Valentine’s Day activities in class to maintain the spirit of the occasion.

Thank you again to all our Parent(s) and Guardian(s) for your continued support. I would encourage all Parent(s) and Guardian(s) to reach out to the Classroom Teacher if you have any questions or concerns.

Term 1 Report Cards- Go Home February 15^th

Teachers and Students will be collaborating this month to provide every student with the opportunity to “show what they know and what they can do” as they continue to work towards meeting their grade level curriculum expectations. Over the next couple of weeks, Mrs. Fundak and Mr. McKinnon will be sharing infographics and other resources to support families in understanding what academic assessment and evaluation looks like in the classroom and how it is communicated on the Report Card.

Good Evening St. Aloysius Families,

Term 1 Report Cards are set to go home on the 15th of February. As mentioned, every few days leading up to that date we will be sharing snippets of information that we hope families find useful in understanding what is on the report card and how teachers evaluate student performance. A common understanding between teachers and parents will hopefully help us work together to improve student performance and ultimately help each child achieve academic success.

Today we want to share information about the 4 categories of knowledges and skills that are present in all curriculum documents. The achievement chart identifies four categories of knowledge and skills that are common to all subject areas and disciplines. The categories help teachers to focus not only on students’ acquisition of knowledge but also on their development of the skills of thinking, communication, and application. In all subjects and courses, students should be given numerous and varied opportunities to demonstrate the full extent of their achievement of the curriculum expectations (content standards) across all four categories of knowledge and skills. Teachers will ensure that student learning is assessed and evaluated in a balanced manner with respect to the four categories.

Good Morning St. Aloysius Families,

Term 1 Report Cards are set to go home on the 15th of February. As mentioned, every few days leading up to that date we will be sharing snippets of information that we hope families find useful in understanding what is on the report card and how teachers evaluate student performance. A common understanding between teachers and parents will hopefully help us work together to improve student performance and ultimately help each child achieve academic success.

Today we want to share information about learning skills. Learning skills are assessed and commented on by teachers. They are included on the first page of the report card. The development of learning skills and work habits needed to succeed in school and in life begins early in a child’s schooling. As students move through the grades, they develop and then consolidate their learning skills and work habits in preparation for postsecondary education and the world of work. In many subjects and disciplines in Grades 1 to 12, the development of the learning skills and work habits is further strengthened through the achievement of the curriculum expectations. These expectations are designed to help students develop a positive sense of self, use coping and management skills, monitor their own progress, develop, and maintain healthy relationships, and use critical and creative thinking processes as they set goals, make decisions, and solve problems. These skills will help students succeed in school and throughout their lives. There is broad agreement, both nationally and internationally, that skills of this type, are critically important to student success. The Learning Skills evaluations are just as important as any grade received by a student on a report card.