Madonna Catholic School News

Dear Madonna Families,

As we approach the Thanksgiving weekend, our school is filled with gratitude for the gift of your children and our wonderful families.

This Sunday’s Gospel (October 11) is the Parable of the Wedding Banquet. Jesus reminds us that God invites everyone to gather at His table and share in His joyful feast. As we sit around our own tables to give thanks, we are reminded to accept God's invitation with open hearts.

This ties perfectly into our division theme:

• Rooted in Christ's love: We joyfully accept God's invitation to learn and grow in His love.

• United as Christ's people: Like guests at a feast, we gather together to support one another as one school family.

• Sent forth to spread Christ's message: Filled with gratitude for our blessings, we leave the table to share God's kindness and generosity with the world.

Thank you for everything you do to make our school a welcoming place. Wishing you a blessed, restful, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Fiona Wimmer, Assistant Principal

Cathy Hinger, Principal

October 12 - THANKSGIVING - No School

October 14 - Parent Council Meeting 6:00pm

October 15 - Cultural Potluck Dinner * sign up below*

October 16 - Hot Lunch - Panini's Italian

October 19 - Bus Evacuation practice drills at Madonna

October 18-23 - Catholic Education Week

October 27-28 - School Photo Retakes

October 28 - Grade 4 bible presentation

October 30 - Madonna Halloween Dance sponsored by Parent Council

Parents and grandparents: if you are interested in volunteerin at our school or for school events/fieldtrips, please make sure you complete our Volunteer requirement. We have attached the Volunteer Forms for your convenience.

Cogito Parents: we are clearing out our old uniforms at $40/each! If you are interested, please email mcs@eics.ab.ca with the size and style you're interested. We will add the fee to your Parent PowerSchool account and once paid, you can come pick it up! Sizes are limited.

Our grade one students created this beautiful bulletin board outside of our front office for us all to enjoy. October is dedicated as the Month of the Holy Rosary in the Catholic Church.We have a short video below expressing to students why the rosary is so powerful in our lives. St. Teresa had a profound, lifelong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and was rarely seen without her rosary. She models for our students exactly what it means to love and seek guidance from our school's namesake.

As we celebrate the Thanksgiving this weekend, Mother Teresa stands as the ultimate example of gratitude in action. She teaches our school community that the most authentic way to give thanks for our own blessings is to go out and serve those who are in need of kindness, food, or friendship.

Mrs Wuinow worked with 1B to create these beautiful Thanksgiving prayer placemats in time for the weekend!

Scripture: Romans 15:13:“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Saint: St. Pier Giorgio Frassati

12 Amazing Facts about St. Pier Giorgio Frassati

16 Interesting Facts about St. Pier Giorgio Frassati

The Meaning Behind the Logo

Colours: The blue is inspired by Our Lady, who has been a consistent part of Catholic Education Week. The colours in the book are inspired by the GrACE logo and represent the important connection between home, school, and parish.

Symbols: The Chi-Rho at the centre represents Jesus Christ, the heart and centre of Catholic education. The book represents both education and the Word of God, while the rays show the light of Christ shining outward.

It was wonderful to see Mr. Millar and Sox back at Madonna this year to help us launch our Grade One Reading Programs. Throughout the year the grade one students will commit to becoming regular readers at school and home so that in the spring they can go see Mr. Millar's farm and read to the horses. This has been a Madonna Catholic School tradition for at least 15 years! We love Mr. Millar and Sox!

This month, Madonna School will be learning about bones! Did you know that we can make our bones stronger through the foods we eat AND the activities we do? If you and your family are interested, here is a bingo card full of activities and foods that you can enjoy this month to support healthy bones.

Shout out to Allie in 4HW for stepping forward and using her "teacher voice" to read to the grade one class this week. We appreciate the various roles our grade 4 students take on to demonstrate great habits - including a passion for reading. Thank you Allie :)

🎃A few Parent Council updates and upcoming dates to keep on your radar!

Halloween Dance – October 30 Save the date!

More details will be coming soon, but we’re planning to have dinner available for preorder to make the evening a little easier for families.

Meal options will include:

• Cheese Pizza
• Pepperoni Pizza
• Ham & Pineapple Pizza
• Garden Pizza
• Chicken Bites
• Juice Boxes

The preorder window will be open October 13 -19. Please make sure to get your orders in during this window, as we won’t be able to accommodate late orders.

A couple of quick notes about food orders:

• All orders are final and no refunds will be available.
• Food must be picked up during the dance. Any food not picked up, as well as any leftovers at the end of the evening, will be donated.

We’ll also have ice cream, treats and bottled water available for cash purchase at the dance.

We will definitely need some parent volunteers to help us out that evening! A volunteer sign-up with different roles and time slots will be shared closer to the date.

Our Bake Sale is back on November 4 & 5!

We’ll be looking for help in two ways:

• Baked goods – families can sign up to send in baking for the sale
• Volunteers – we’ll have 30-minute volunteer shifts available during the actual sale

Sign-up sheets for both will be shared closer to the dates.

If you haven’t joined yet, please feel free to join our Parent Council WhatsApp group. We use it for meeting reminders, upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, quick updates and just to stay connected throughout the year.

Join here: https://chat.whatsapp.com/JB2V5hfggfxLEptGCIiMIB?mode=gi_t

Thanks everyone for your continued support and for always helping us make these events happen!

Madonna Catholic School Parent Council

OLPH (Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish)

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