News from St. Sylvester...News from St. Sylvester Principal Mr. R. Fernandes Secretary Mrs. M. Jamjekian CSPC Chair Ms. Dias Pastor Fr. Steven February 2020 Parents, January was an

From the Principal

Volume 6, Issue 6

News from St. Sylvester

Principal

Mr. R. Fernandes

Secretary

Mrs. M. Jamjekian

CSPC Chair

Ms. Dias

Pastor

Fr. Steven

February 2020

Parents,

January was an interesting weather experience as always. From

bone chilling cold, to sunny days, massive snow falls and some

torrential rain. Interesting to say the least! At St. Sylvester of course,

things are always interesting with the many experiences and opportuni-

ties our students receive.

The month of January saw our students skating, taking part in an

energetic literacy day (and family literacy night), experiential learning

trips, getting our hearts pumping in the gym with DPA, being involved

with basketball, inquiring into our learning, being engaged in our daily

math, writing and reading, and most importantly centring it all in our

Faith.

Our staff continues to commit themselves to engage our students in the

curriculum by finding ways to make learning experiential. This is

some-thing we encourage you to try at home as well. Very simply, move

learning away from worksheets and straight book learning (yes there’s

place for both of those at times as well) and engage your children in

what you find interesting about the ideas they’re learning.

The month of February draws us into the virtue of love which is quite

likely one of the simplest virtues to understand, but one of the most

difficult to follow. The Bible tells us that love is always patient and kind;

never jealous, and that it has no end. Jesus as always provides the

ultimate example for us in the way he showed love to all he met. It’s not

just those closest to us, but rather each and every person we meet. As

we tell our students, we should never allow ourselves to react to other

people. It’s far more important to act, and act in a way that we know is

consistent with our core beliefs.

And so we move into a month of February that will see our CSPC or-

ganized chocolate sale begin, report cards sent home on Feb 10, parent

teacher interviews on Feb 11 and Feb 13, Family day on Feb 17, and

continued great learning through faith, academics and extracurricular

activities. Have an excellent month of February!

Sincerely Mr. Fernandes

416–393-5373

School Information

School Enrolment

182 students

School Hours

8:30—3:00

Lunch Hour

11:15—12:15

School Parish

St .Aidan Catholic

Church

(416-494-2704)

Home, School, and Church

Page 2 News from St. Sylvester

It starts with communication

Parent teacher interviews will be taking place in the

month of February. We encourage all parents to make

an attempt to see your child’s teacher. It’s a great way

of staying in touch with what is happening with your

child’s education.

Our weekly parent email continues to be a great source

of information. I understand that is you’re reading this,

that you’re probably reading the email as well. Please

encourage others to be on the parent email as well.

Church News

The Sacrament of First Reconciliation took place at

St. Sylvester on Jan 13 at 10:30 am.

The Sacrament of First Holy Communion will be on

May 3 at 3 pm

The Sacrament of Confirmation will be on June 7 at

3:30 pm

Our School Mass took place on Jan 29th at St.

Sylvester celebrated by Father Michael Lehman.

Love - For God so loved the world, He

gave it His only Son. John 3:16 February is the month of Love and we encourage every-

one to try and follow the points below. Those who do it

best will become our virtues stars for February

1. Let your actions be guided by the idea that God says

we should love one another as He has loved us.

2. Jesus said we should love our enemy.

3. The Bible says that Love is always patient and kind.

4. Live your life in a way that makes others know you are

a follower of Christ

Faith and Character Development

January Virtue Stars (Courage)

Ms. Furtado/ Ms. Demarco Kimi Sanchez

Mrs. Anievas Zendaya Alexander

Mrs. Povo Aiden Thomas

Ms. Ironside Felipe Franco

Mrs. Severino Katelynn Joe

Ms. Harrietha Jacob Quiros

Ms. Stoner Nicole Li

Mr. Meli Christian Mondaca

Congratulations to all these students for demonstrating our

Virtue of the month. They have been awarded a certificate

for remembering that God welcomes us all and that we

should try to welcome others as well.

Parent Involvement Catholic Parent Involvement Committee (CPIC): www.tcdsb.org/cpic

Parents who take an active, supportive role in their child’s education and school are showing a strong positive exam-

ple to their children. There are several ways to be involved in your child’s education.

Our next CSPC (Parent council) meeting will be on Feb 25 at 5:30 pm. Please remember that you can visit our

website for updated CSPC news and minutes.

Our Parent Council are now starting to get ready for their chocolate sale fundraiser. Thanks to all those who have

and are continuing to work for our students.

Page 3

Kindergarten Registration for September 2020 The Toronto Catholic District School Board invites families with children born in 2016 to register for Kindergarten

Registration options:

Online: Parents will be able to complete their application online at: https://soar.tcdsb.org/Login.aspx. A follow up with visit to the

school to present the required documents will be scheduled following the online application.

In Person: Parents can register at their local school with the required documents.

Information: 416-222-8282 ext. 5320 or 5314, www.tcdsb.org/kindergartenregistration

DPA in Action

We can give you all sorts of superlatives telling you how

well our DPA program is going but instead just one picture.

Our school is active and engaged and we are happy to be

working out together!

Happening at a School Near You

Eco Challenge

If you were at our Family literacy

night, you know we have started a

war on water bottles. It’s a simple

war really. We want to eradicate

(good word!) all water bottles.

Water is free and it comes from the

tap. Why spend your money on something that it not only

unnecessary but destroying our earth. Really? Can you

give us a reason? We’d be happy to listen to you.

Literacy Day/Night

Our 6th annual literacy games day took place during

the day on Thursday, January 16. Students rotated

through different rooms playing literacy based games

in the morning. The afternoon was whole school

silent reading for 15 minutes (a great activity to do at

home) followed by read aloud over the PA (another

great activity to do at home minus the PA!). All of this

took place in pyjamas.

In the evening, we gave out over 80 patties as we

welcomed parents and students in for our ECO

presentation by our Eco team (info on the side) and a

presentation from Alexis Rudnick of Friendly Fables

with the goal being to engage everyone in the literacy

process. Bottom line goals and take aways.

1. Literacy games (taboo, heads up, apples to

apples) are meant to be family fun times.

2. Reading is a great activity to encourage in your

children at any time.

3. The Writing process works best when we write

about things that matter to us.

4. Food brings out the crowds!

5. The Environment is ours to care for and it’s

really simple to do.

6. Hanging out in pyjamas is SOOOO relaxing!

Thanks to all for contributing to a fun and energetic

day.

And a few other important things

A picture says a thousand words? We rarely can be found sleeping at St. Sylvester, but hey it was pyjama day!

Cold and Flu Season

As you are likely aware, cold and flu season

has arrived, and schools experience a high

absentee rate this time of year with cold

and flu symptoms.

The health and well-being of everyone at St.

Sylvester is always our top priority. Staff

have been reviewing tips with students

such as frequent handwashing, covering

mouth and nose when sneezing or

coughing, and not sharing food, drinks or

other personal items.

We encourage families to keep their chil-

dren at home if they are unwell and to in-

form the school if your child will be absent

due to illness through the normal channels.

When in doubt, consult with your family

doctor.

How you can help your child succeed at school

Our school learning plan this year aims to help our

students improve in their problem solving (math and

every day problems) as well as in their skills of critical

thinking which emphasizes a move from simple facts

to fact analysis.

Last month we talked about the first two parts of

What and So What. The first part (the fact) is the

WHAT? The second part (analysis) is the SO WHAT?

We gave the example of learning about how much

sleep you need and why that’s important. It’s great to

know the fact (what) and to know why that fact is im-

portant (so what). The NOW WHAT encourages

students to apply what they learn. The sleep example

would suggest that students apply what they learn

and develop a plan to get enough hours of sleep. In

the end, application is what will ensure that lessons

are not just memorized but understood and we

encourage you to help your children with this key

step.

Children will succeed best when they know the school

and their parents are working together for their best

holistic education possible.