The Good News January 21, 2024

Today is Sunday of the Word of God. This year's motto is taken from the Gospel of St. John, "Remain in my Word" (John 8,31). This day was established as an initiative to show the importance the word of God has in our daily lives. In Catholic Education we follow Jesus and the word of God, with sacrifice and service at the core of our daily decisions and actions. We are called to bring light into this world by being the light for other and we are called to share God's love by loving others.

When you look through this newsletter you can see many of gifts that our staff, students and parents share with others on a daily basis. We are so grateful for our amazing school community.

Dear God,

Each one of us is Your work of art,

We are all your children.

Help us to see the beauty in one another.

Help us to appreciate the many gifts we can offer to one another.

Help us to be the people you call us to be.

Amen.

Monday, Jan. 22

• Assembly 12:20, Families welcome!
  
• Grade 2 TPet
  
• PSC Meeting 6:30

• Father Abraham visit (gr. 2)
• Giant Indigenous Map arrives

• Open House 6:30-8pm
  

• Hot Lunch

Friday, Jan. 26

• Regular School Day - no special events
  

Jan. 31 - PD Day, no school for students

Feb. 1 - 2024-2025 Registration Opens

Feb. 2 - Report Cards go home

Feb. 7 - World Read Aloud Day, Early Out, Winter walk day

Feb. 8/9 - Teacher’s Convention, no school

Feb. 12 - PSC Meeting, Reckie Lloyd

Feb. 13 - Shrove Tuesday, Celebrate Valentine's day

Feb. 14 - Ash Wednesday

Feb. 19 - Family Day, no school

Feb. 20 - Gr2 TPet, KTR Breadlady activity

Feb. 21 - KMW Breadlady activity

Pre-Kindergarten Registration Process

Elk Island Catholic Schools invites and welcomes families of young learners into our faith-based, inclusive Pre-Kindergarten classrooms. St. John XXIII offers a variety of Pre-Kindergarten programs to support all of our little learners. We have programs to support both Pre-K PUF Supported Learners & Independent Learners:

PUF Supported Learners

Alberta Education provides Program Unit Funding (PUF) for children between 2.8 and 4.8 years of age who have been identified as needing early learning intervention.

Independent Learners

Children who are 4 by December 31, 2024, in their year prior to Kindergarten.

A screening process will be done to determine which students qualify for funded pre-kindergarten (PUF). Students who are determined to be "independent learners" as described above will not qualify for funding and will be charged a fee to attend the pre-kindergarten program. Deposits for fees will be collected starting on April 1 for students who have not yet been confirmed as eligible for funding.

Kindergarten Registration Process

We would LOVE to journey with your child at St. John XXIII! Kindergarten is a wonderful and exciting place for your child to grow and learn. At St. John XXIII, we provide a faith-infused learning environment that focus on supporting your child's development as a confident learner going into Grade 1. We work with our families to ensure these important first steps toward a Catholic education will be a rich and rewarding experience.

Our faith-based program welcomes all children and nurtures the physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual needs of your child. Independence, initiative, decision making, creativity, the ability to learn, relationships and feelings of self-worth -- all have their beginnings in early childhood. We believe that each child is unique, and together with parents as our partners, we build upon their natural curiosity and spontaneity, encouraging and supporting them as they grow their brains, share smiles, and become all that God has called them to be.

Nature Kindergarten

Our school offers a supplemental Nature Kindergarten program which operates Tuesdays/Thursdays and some Fridays. This paid program offers students the opportunity to spend a large part of their day outside engaged in meaningful ways of learning with their body, mind and spirit while located in a natural setting, providing an option to attend kindergarten full time.

Nature Program Grade 1 and Grade 2

This supplemental program provides students with an opportunity to spend two half days outside each week. This paid program connects students to nature by fostering rich learning experiences, physical literacy and independence.

We have accumulated quite a few items in our lost and found over the last couple months. Items are all laid out on tables in or CTM room. Students will have a chance to go by and see the items this week. Please come check it out after drop off or pick up, at our PSC meeting or at our Open House on Wednesday.

Please cast your vote for our 2023-2024 Yearbook cover. Below are the top 5 finalists.

One winner will be selected to be displayed on the front cover. Four other winners will be displayed on the back cover.

Voting will close on February 2nd. Only one vote per email address is allowed. Vote here.

Please submit your child's absences in PowerSchool, and also notify your teacher with a Dojo message or a note sent with your child.

Please refer to the EICS Parent Technology Handbook for instructions on how to report you child's absence, early departure, leave & return or multiple day absence.

For any last minute Early Departures, please call the office before you arrive so we can make arrangements for your child to come to the office for pick up.

For accuracy and tracking purposes, absence coding in PowerSchool is to be submitted by parents, not teachers.

For information regarding student illness please click this link to access the Alberta Health Services information from our website

Email: stj@eics.ab.ca
Website: https://stj.eics.ab.ca/
Location: 9526 89 Street, Fort Saskatchewan, AB, Canada
Phone: 780-998-7777
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/St.JohnXXIII
Twitter: @St_JohnXXIII