Growing Together @ STL

This past Sunday I had the honour to witness faith leadership in action by celebrating mass with this young lady. Mass was the culmination and celebration of her confirming with Christ that she wants to be part of the winning team! Along with many students from other schools, she made the choice to prepare for and celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation. Thank you for being an inspiration and faith leader!

"Mme Gravelle, can I please borrow a shovel?"

"Sure, what for?"

"I want to shovel the back area so that the kids who are playing volleyball have a space to play!"

What an incredible gesture of thoughtfulness and kindness! And this wasn't just a one-time-thing! With all this snow, he shoveled several times! Way to go!

Every day this Advent season we come together for our Jesse Tree celebrations. Classes sit with their buddy classes, and make excellent connections. It's great to see the older mentors model charity, kindness and grace with the younger students, encouraging the little ones to lead and represent their peers!

Students enjoy looking for Bobby-Jo each day to see where he is on his journey to Jesus. The kids are excited to see him and give small hints to eat other as to where he is, without giving away where Bobby-Jo is. The Pre-Kindergarten students are on a mission each day to find our St. Luke Shepherd! He has has been found in some creative hiding places! I wonder where he will be on Monday!

This week we welcomed Mrs. Busayo Disu who spoke to our school about her experiences moving from Africa to Canada. She also shared information about their food, languages, clothing, greetings and customs. We learned a lot about how to welcome people from different cultures, as well as celebrating our similarities and differences! Diversity is beautiful!

A special thank you to our two Tech Helpers who helped change slides for the presentation! Thank you for offering your help!

Have an amazing weekend! We are excited to light our third advent Candle on Sunday!

With so much gratitude,

Mme Gravelle

Here's a joke to bring a smile to your face!

What does a duck do at Christmas time?

It duck-erates!

Sunday, December 15

• Hot lunch order deadline
• Third Week of Advent! We light the pink candle of Joy!

Monday, December 16

• Daily Advent Celebration! 12:45pm *new time* Everyday! Everyone is welcome!
• Christmas Carol Day!

Tuesday December 17

• Nature Infused Pre-Kinder & Kinder in class
• Hot Lunch for those who ordered
• Daily Advent service 12:45pm *new time* - Everyone is welcome!
• Recess time change for Advent Concert rehearsal 9:10AM - 9:30AM
• Advent Concert Rehearsal @ OLPH 10AM - 11:15AM - Parents Welcome!!...Stay tuned for information coming to your email inbox later today with important Advent details for Thursday's Concert.
• Mrs. McCann @ STL in AM
• Grade 4-8 Boys Intramurals @ lunch recess
• Grade 5/6 Girls Group
• Priest Visit (Ft. Mario) Grade 2/3 @ 1:30PM Grade 7/8 @ 2:00PM

Wednesday, December 18

• Mrs. McCann @ STL

• Daily Advent service 12:45pm *new time* - All families are welcome!

• Grade 7/8 Girls Group 12:15PM
• Grade 3-8 Games Club @ 11:50
• Student Support Team Meeting in support of all learners

• Nature Infused Pre-Kinder & Kinder in Class
• TWOSE Field Trip for Kindergarten, Grade 2/3 and 5/6
• Choir Practice @ 11:50
• Note: No hot lunch today
• Mrs. McCann @ STL
• Grade 4 Girls Group 12:15PM
• GIFT & Advent assembly at 8:15am - All families welcome!!
• ADVENT CONCERT @ OLPH PARISH 6:15 - 8:30 - Students Wear their Sunday Best!

Mass will begin at 6:15 and the concert will begin at 7:30, we look forward to seeing our wonderful families there!!

Friday, December 20

• Please wear RED for publicly funded education - RED FOR ED!!!
• Daily advent service at 12:45pm - Welcome all families!
• PJ Day for the whole school!!

Winter Break - December 20 - January 5

Have an amazing Winter Break and we look forward to seeing everyone in the NEW YEAR!!

Merry Christmas!! 🎅🎄🎁⛄

Why yes they are!

For the last two weeks of December, staff have pledged to support Lurana House by breaking the rules a little. They are allowed to wear jeans for a price...sweat pants or PJ pants....for a different price!! If they are wearing these pieces of clothing, this is their testament they have donated to Catholic Social Services Lurana House!

Bravo team for your charity and spreading love this Advent season!

Daytime Concert and Dress Rehearsal

@ Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish

Tuesday, December 17 @ 10:00am

All families Welcome

Evening Mass & Concert

@ Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish

Thursday, December 19

6:15pm - Advent Mass

7:00pm - Refreshments, Fellowship & School Council Raffle Baskets in foyer

7:30pm - Advent Concert

Refreshments will be served in the foyer. Thank you to our amazing School Council for preparing these treats for us to enjoy! Thank you for consuming all food and drinks in the foyer. Thank you for not bringing food or drinks into the Sanctuary (past the big glass doors).

As St. Luke Catholic School family, we look forward to celebrating Advent, and preparing for Christ's birth in the House of God.

Stay tuned for more information after Tuesday's Advent Concert practice.

This week all grade 1-8 students enjoyed learning about Africa, it's diversity in food, languages, clothing, climate and geography. It was very interesting to compare it to Canada and our own diversity. The focus for this presentation was to celebrate our uniqueness as well as our differences. We discussed how God's masterpieces are all different and beautiful!

It's a hard day when you're asked to evaluate sugar cookies! Well done in foods class friends. The cookies were delicious! You followed the recipe really well!

To celebrate Grinch Day in the 2&3 class, they followed video instructions on how to draw a Grinch. Then using watercolour paints, they added more flair to each Grinch highlighting each one's unique personality! Great painting and learning!

We were excited to welcome Constable Noon, St. Luke Catholic School's new RCMP School Resource Officer. She has visited us a few times, and on this particular day, she was speaking with the Grade 7&8s about bullying. She spoke about what it is, what it isn't and the consequences at their age for bullying in person, online as well as other chargeable offences.

We are grateful to our local RCMP who offer Grade 6 students the opportunity to work through a 10 lesson curriculum aimed at educating students about alternatives to drug and alcohol use.

D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)

Games Club is a great place for grades 3-8 students to connect, laugh and play! Thank you to parents who have donated games. They were used already! We are always looking for quick and easy games to play in 20 minutes! If you've got them, we will put them to great use!

The students are loving the games club and this week's featured game was PING PONG. The kids loved getting Mrs. McCann involved!

We've been blessed with mild weather, but the cold weather is fast approaching!

Thank you for all your help to ensure your child is coming to school ready to be outside because we are out for fresh air free play to -25 degrees Celsius.

Please mark your calendars! On January 14, we are calling parents to help supervise during outdoor recess and indoor lunch eating time to provide staff with time to break bread together during the St. Luke Catholic School student full day Faith and Wellness Retreat with Face to Face Ministries!

We are inviting parents to supervise students during recess and lunch. We have a little something to offer as a thanks for your help. Please stay tuned in January for sign up details, and thank you in advance for your help!

Please SAVE THE DATE!

Starting this weekend, St. Luke Catholic School would like to support the Tofield & Riley Food Banks, and we are calling on our families for donations. To make our donations truly meaningful, we have contacted the Food Bank for a list of items they are in need of. Each class is called to bring one item on the list. If you'd like to donate other items, you are more than welcome! Please see the list below for the items each class is called to bring for donations.

Thank you in advance for your donations of love for those less fortunate.

Thank you for donating items on or before December 18th.

Prekindergarten ----------- Juice & Crackers

Kindergarten ----------------- Canned Fruit & Soups

Grades 1&2-------------------- Cake Mixes & Cereal

Grades 2&3 ------------------- Rice & Hand Cream

Grade 4 ------------------------- Deodorant and Shampoo

Grades 5&6 ------------------- Canned fruit and meat

Grade 7&8 --------------------- Pasta and pasta sauce

Staff ------------------------------ Peanut Butter and Jam

Thank you so much for giving and spreading some love to those in need.

This session will run from December 5th to February 27th on Thursdays, with the exception of Tuesday December 17th to accommodate a field trip that week.

Ordering will remain open for the duration of the session, but only orders paid by the Sunday of each week will be included in that week's order.

We have also included an optional section to donate to St. Luke Families in Need. At the discretion of our School Leadership, these funds can be directed towards school fees, field trip costs, sportswear, etc.

Bravo to our Christmas in the Country organizers, St. Catholic School Council, volunteers and vendors! Wow, what a hugely amazing event! Approximately 1000 people visited our beautiful school, Christmas shopped and watched the fireworks! We even had a special appearance from the St. Luke Catholic School Choir!

What a great event! Looking forward to next year!

All meeting begin at 6:00PM

January 13

February 10

March 10

April 7

May 12

June 9

FACEBOOK -Join Us!

If you haven’t already, please join our School Council and Parent Association Facebook page! We are excited to offer this official space to share news and updates about events, fundraising, and more!

Questions or Want to Volunteer?

If you are interested in getting involved in events or have questions for St. Luke's School Council, please email stlukeparentassociation@gmail.com

Check out the Glenrose Community Connections Newsletter for:

• Sensory Friendly Santa locations
• AHS’ downloadable Rehabilitation Partnership Guide
• Glow Without Limits information
• New Glenrose groups for your youth
• Recovery Alberta’s Caregiver Education calendar
• 2 study survey links through which you can provide feedback on Living with Life-Limiting Illness and another on Quality Indicators Transition to Adult Healthcare

December (Everyone is invited!)

• 17 - 10:00am Advent Concert Dress Rehearsal @ OLPH Church
• 17 - Hot lunch (for those who order) instead of Thursday
• 19 - Kinders, Grade 2&3 and 5&6 @ Telus World of Science all day
• 19 - 6:15pm Mass & 7:30pm Advent Concert @ OLPH Church
• 20 - PJ Day for the whole school!

January - Happy New Year!

• 6 - Welcome Back & Epiphany
• 13 - First School Council Meeting of the year!
• 14 - Face to Face Ministries Faith & Wellness Retreat

Masses at OLPH will be livestreamed. Please join using this link. https://www.facebook.com/olphsherwoodpark/videos/

Visit OLPH Website for more information about the parish and in regards to sacramental preparation.

Visit www.facebook.com/olphsherwoodpark

St. Francis of Assisi Parish is administered by Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Sherwood Park. Please contact the parish for confession times and more information.

Clergy: Reverend Jim Corrigan, Pastor

Mass Time: Sunday 11:00

Email Address: StFrancisAssisi.Tofield(at)caedm.ca

5523 - 50 Street Tofield, AB T0B 4J0

See map: Google Maps

Principal

Email: stl@eics.ab.ca
Website: stl.eics.ab.ca
Location: 22139 South Cooking Lake Road, Sherwood Park, AB, Canada
Phone: 780-922-5920
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stlukeeics
Twitter: @stlcs_EICS