Rooted.United.Sent

Our Lady of the Angels Catholic School is committed to nurturing the hearts and minds of young learners in a faith-filled environment.

This week, our OLA community celebrated Catholic Education Week, recognizing the gift of learning, growing, and living our faith together.

Highlights included:

• Sr. Serena Chappell, SP, visiting classrooms to share her faith journey and calling to religious life.

• Thanksgiving Mass at OLA Parish.

• Wearing blue on Thursday to celebrate Catholic education alongside schools across EICS.

• Saint Seekers Club enjoyed its second week, with over 30 students joining Ms. Tichkowsky in the chapel to pray and learn about different saints!

These experiences remind us that Catholic education extends beyond the classroom as we continue to live our theme: Rooted. United. Sent.

More Exciting Events at OLA!

It was a busy week with lots of exciting things happening around our school!

• SAB Mentorship Program: Our St. André Bessette mentors had their first visit with students this week!

• Halloween Safety: Our School Resource Officer visited classrooms to share important Halloween safety reminders ahead of next week's celebrations.

• Our First Hot Lunch! A huge shout-out to our wonderful School/Parent Council for organizing and coordinating hot lunches for our students. A BIG thank you to the parent volunteers who came in to help deliver meals to classrooms. We appreciate everyone who helped make our first hot lunch a success!

It's weeks like these that remind us how special our OLA community is. Whether through faith, service, or coming together to support our students, our Catholic identity is at the heart of all we do. Rooted. United. Sent.

Our Lady of Angels Admin Team

Mrs.Ciara Smith, Principal

Mrs. Barb Zabolotniuk, Assistant Principal

Monday, October 26

• Wonderful day of learning

• Group 1 - SAB Mentors

• No assembly today - move to Friday for Halloween
• Saint Seekers club at lunch

• Group 1 - SAB Mentors
• Priest visits

• Halloween assembly and parade - 8:50
• School/Parent Council Halloween Dance (see information in School Council section below)

• Oct 30 - Halloween Dance (School/Parent Council Run)
• Nov 4 & 5 - Three-Way Conferences
• Nov 5 - Kindergarten Photos (+ retakes for grades 1-4)
• Nov 9-13 - November Break
• Dec 10 - Faith & Festivities Night

Cardinal Virtue: Prudence!

Prudence has a handy superpower: thinking ahead. Before we make a choice, we can ask, “What might happen next?” Will this help? Is it safe? Could my words hurt or help? Sometimes our mouths are ready before our brains have caught up, so Prudence gives us a pause before we speak.

We can ask: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it helpful? Growing in virtue isn’t about being perfect—it’s about practicing, learning and trying again.

Talk About It Together at Home: What could you remind yourself to do before speaking or acting when you’re upset?

Here’s this week’s pick from Mrs. Buban, our wonderful librarian! Reading together builds language, connection, and joy — one story at a time.

Winnie the Witch, by Valerie Thomas; illustrated by Korky Paul.

• Because Winnie the Witch lives in a house where everything is black, she can not see her black cat - until she comes up with a brilliant, and colorful, idea.

With just one week left in our October Read-a-Thon, we're excited to share our progress and reveal the rest of our brave slime volunteers!

A huge thank you to our wonderful staff and special community guest who have stepped up to support School Council's fundraiser. We've already reached our first milestone of $250, which means our librarian, Mrs. Buban, is officially getting slimed!

Here's who we're working toward sliming next:

• $250 – Mrs. Buban – GOAL REACHED!

• $500 – Mrs. Dehod

• $750 – Mrs. Zabolotniuk

• $1,000 – Mrs. Smith

• $1,500 – Mayor Lisa Makin

And don't forget! The class that raises the most money will get to slime their classroom teacher!

Keep Reading, Keep Raising!

Students are encouraged to keep reading, tracking their minutes, and collecting donations throughout the final week. Donations can be made through PowerSchool or by sending cash to the school.

Thank you for supporting our young readers and School/Parent Council! We can't wait to see how much we can read, raise, and SLIME!

• Did you know? Our OLA students speak over 21 different languages.

• October is our Month of Gratitude! We're celebrating the diversity of our school community by learning how to say "thank you" in different languages.

• This Week's Languages:

• Hindi: धन्यवाद (Dhanyavaad)
• Ukrainian: Дякую (Dyakuyu)

• Try It at Home! Ask your child if they can remember how to say "thank you" in all six languages we've learned so far: French, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Ukrainian, and Hindi!

With Halloween just around the corner, we know many families are beginning to plan costumes! We wanted to share a few reminders as you prepare for this fun celebration.

At OLA, we will celebrate Halloween on Friday, October 30, with a school assembly and costume parade. We encourage students to dress up and look forward to seeing their creativity!

A few important reminders for Halloween:

• Costumes must be school-appropriate. Please leave weapons (plastic or otherwise), violent or excessively frightening costumes, and costumes with inappropriate language at home.
• Food and treats: In accordance with our EICS Nutrition Policy, food should only be provided for your own child. We ask that you do not send class treats or snacks to share with other students.

We look forward to a fun-filled day of creativity, community, and celebration with our students!

When are Parent-Teacher Conferences?

• Wednesday, November 04 from 3:00 - 6:00pm (in person)
• Thursday, November 05 from 4:00 - 6:00pm (in person) and 6:00-7:00pm (phone conferences)

How do I book our time with the teacher?

• Click this link to book your session - Fall Three Way Conferences.
• Follow the steps on the site to choose a timeslot that works best for your family.
• Grades 1-4 - each time slot is 10 minutes
• For phone interviews, teachers will call you using the number provided on the booking system.

Each week, we’ll highlight a small section of our OLA School Handbook to help families become more familiar with the routines, expectations, and procedures that help our school run smoothly.

We encourage families to review the full handbook throughout the year. It’s a helpful resource whenever you have questions about school procedures, expectations, or day-to-day routines.

🔗 View the full OLA School Handbook here.

Our OLA School/Parent Council is a dedicated group of parents and guardians who work together with school staff and administration to make our school an even better place for students to learn, grow, and thrive!

Through fundraising and community initiatives, School/Parent Council helps support things like recess equipment, Library/Learning Commons resources, enhanced learning opportunities, special events, and much more!

Every parent and guardian is welcome! Attending School Council meetings is a great way to connect with other families, share ideas, have a voice in our school community, and work alongside teachers and school leadership to enrich our students' school experience.

Whether you can attend regularly, volunteer occasionally, or simply want to learn more, we'd love to have you involved!

Want to get connected? Email OLA School/Parent Council at schoolcouncil.ola@gmail.com.

Join School/Parent Council for a Halloween Dance at OLA on October 30 from 6:00–8:00 p.m. for a fun-filled evening of music, costumes, and community!

This event is proudly organized and hosted by our School/Parent Council, and we encourage parents to sign up as volunteers to help make it a spooky success!

Please note: As this is a School/Parent Council event rather than a school-supervised event, all students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian who remains on-site and is responsible for supervising their child throughout the entire evening.

Link for volunteer sign-up.

November's Hot Lunch orders are live on PowerSchool:

• order close on November 13
• Hot Lunch delivery November 19

If you'd be willing to help School/Parent Council with Hot Lunch delivery, please reach out to olaschoolcouncil@gmail.com.

Check out School Council's upcoming fundraisers below.

• Booklets to order were sent home on Monday, October 19
• Orders close November 19th
• Pick up Dec 9th

https://fundraising.purdys.com/fundraising/campaign/000037365

Meetings are held in the school library from 5:30 - 6:30.

• November 18
  
• December 16
• January 20
• February 17
• March 24
• April 21
• May 19
• June 16

Our Lady of the Angels Parish

Our Lady of the Angels Parish is looking to encourage more children and youth to become involved in parish life by serving at Mass!

Altar serving is a wonderful opportunity for students to grow in their faith, take on a special role in the Church, and become more connected to our parish community.

Students in Grade 2 or older who have received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion are invited to become altar servers.

Families interested in learning more are encouraged to contact Justine Wright, wrightjustine2019@gmail.com, for more information.

We would love to see more of our OLA students taking part in this special ministry!

Community Events

Fort Saskatchewan, AB

T8L 1W7

Email: ola@eics.ab.ca
Website: https://ola.eics.ab.ca/
Location: 9622 Sherridon Drive, Fort Saskatchewan, AB, Canada
Phone: (780)998-3716

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OLASchoolFtSask

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ourladyoftheangelseics