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Message from the Administration…

Well, it is hard to believe that it is February.

It will be interesting to hear from the groundhog… are going to see an early spring???

There are varying opinions as to the origin of Valentine's Day. Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christiani-ty. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to expressing respect and love to others. Leg-end also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jail-er's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine". Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine. We hope you have a great Valen-tine’s Day.

Lent begins on March 1st. As we begin to prepare for the sea-

son of Lent, We are reminded of the tradition of “giving some-thing up for Lent”. We would like to extend that tradition with the idea that we could work on something to make us a better person. Sometimes, with children, the idea of sacrifice or giv-ing something up is difficult. We can take a hard look at our-selves and identify areas that we need to focus on to make us more like Jesus. As parents, Lent is a great time to discuss with your children what it means to sacrifice and how they could set goals to be a better person.

Blessings,

Rod Eckert & Sherry MacDonald

Upcoming Professional

Activity Days & Holidays

Feb 20 Family Day

March 13-17 March Break

February 2017

Rod Eckert - Principal

Sherry MacDonald - V.P.

Saint John Paul II Catholic Elementary School

75 Pebblecreek Drive, Kitchener, Ontario N2A 0E3

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

1 Welcome

2 Calendar

3 Good News!

4 School Council Corner

5 Coding & Skills Canada

6 Library & Scaredy Squirrel

7 FitBit

8 Special Event

Community Centre

Athletics

Grade 2 Science

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Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

30

Pita Orders Due

Gr 1 & 2 Wonka Art

1 Lunch Lady

Junior’s to

Gr 3-5 Wonka Art

2 3 Pizza Lunch

YWCA Girlspace - gr.7&8

Choir @ Kitchener

Rangers Game

6

Gr 1 & 2 Wonka Art

7

School Council

6:30 Library

8 Lunch Lady

YWCA Girlspace—gr. 6

Gr 3-5 Wonka Art

9 Pita Day

Mad Science

begins

10 Pizza Lunch

YWCA Girlspace - gr.7&8

Winter Fun Day!

(weather permitting)

13

Gr 1 & 2 Wonka Art

14

100 Days

Celebration

15 Lunch Lady

YWCA Girlspace—gr. 6

Gr 3-5 Wonka Art

16 Turkey Dog Day

Report Card

Distribution

St, Anne’s Kitchener

250 East Avenue,

Kitchener

Presents @ 7-8:30

“Conversation about

Anxiety”

17 Pizza Lunch

YWCA Girlspace - gr.7&8

20

Family Day

No school

21

JK Registration

9am-6pm

22 Lunch Lady YWCA Girlspace—gr. 6

Gr 3-5 Wonka Art

23

Grade 2 Parent

Meeting @ St Anthony

Daniel

24 Pizza Lunch

YWCA Girlspace - gr.7&8

27

Gr 1 & 2 Wonka Art

28

Shrove Tuesday

Pancake Day!!

1 Lunch Lady YWCA Girlspace—gr. 6

Gr 3-5 Wonka Art

2 3 Pizza Lunch

YWCA Girlspace - gr.7&8

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From the nomination...

“Rod Eckert has worked in the

WCDSB for 26 years. He has been an administrator for 15 years in which he served at 5 different schools and also worked as system principal of programming. Rod serves on var-ious committees in the WCDSB and continues to make a huge impact within our board.

He is very much involved in in-ternational learning and has vis-ited different countries and hosted international students in his current school. During his time as an administrator, Rod has and continues to positively mentor many new administra-tors, as a member of our Leader-ship Steering Committee.

Rod continues to inspire and guide up and coming leaders in teaching the PQP part one and two courses in Hamilton, Niaga-ra and currently, in Water-loo. We consider ourselves ex-tremely fortunate at Waterloo Catholic, to have Rod Eckert on

our administrative team.”

"JOURNEY OF DECISION”

THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Calling all students grade 6 & up

On Tuesday, April 11th at 7:00 p.m.

St. Anthony Daniel Parish

would like to offer a unique Stations of the Cross,

called "Journey of Decision”.

We need your help!

Students and adults (parents) are encouraged to join us.

Roles for students: speaking roles,

actors for tableaux (silent)

Roles for adults: speaking roles,

productions assistants.

Contact the parish with any questions: parish@stanthonydaniel.ca

Please join us in congratulating our own Principal Rod Eckert, as he is this year’s recipient

of the Catholic Principal of the Year Award for

Outstanding School/

Community Leadership!

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SCHOOL COUNCIL = PARENTS HELPING STUDENTS

As parents, there are many ways you can impact and enhance the school environment. A great school community takes planning and ideas from students, teachers, the church and parents working together; our next Council meeting is scheduled for February 7, 2017 at 6:30pm in the Library. Hope to see you there! We have our regular (and much enjoyed) special lunch days:

Pita Pit on February 9 and Turkey Dog Day on February 16.

As is tradition, Council will set up a snack station in the foyer for our Winter Fun Day on February 17. Pray for snow!!! Students will come in and warm up with a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy a little snack. We are seeking volunteers to help hand out hot chocolate on February 17, please contact Dawn Shuh (dshuh@millerthomson.com) if you are available. One pancake, two pancake, three pancake . . . 1,492 pancakes needed (2/student)! Challenge accepted! As Lent will begin at the end of the month, our School Council will be maintaining the tradition it has set of cooking and serving pancakes to all students on the morning on February 28, in celebration of Shrove Tuesday. We are seeking volunteers to help cook and distribute pancakes on February 28 in the morning (we are efficient enough to be done and cleaned up by 10am!!!), please contact Dawn Shuh (dshuh@millerthomson.com)

if you are available. We are also seeking griddles for our use that day – if you have one that we can use please contact Dawn Shuh.

HELP REQUIRED!!! We are seeking assistance with creating our yearbook so that our students will be able to capture memories from this school year. We hope that the final book will be meaningful to each and every family. We are now seeking parent volunteers to assist with the preparation, design and distribution of our yearbook. We are asking only for as much time as you can give us (i.e. seeking advertising, organizing team photos, page layout design). Even if you do not feel that you have technical or design skills, there are still tasks you can help us with.

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Junior and Intermediate Coding Clubs are now underway at SJPII! Students are learning to create their own interactive stories using Scratch (a block-based coding interface). We also have a group of Intermediate students learning to

code using Python.

Here are some helpful links:

For beginner coders: https://www.tynker.com/

For beginner/intermediate coders:https://scratch.mit.edu/

For expert coders:http://cscircles.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/console/

SJPII is fortunate to be able to provide opportunities for some Junior and

Intermediate students to be involved in Skills Canada training, and to participate in some

skills clubs. From these clubs, students will

be selected to compete at the Waterloo Region

Skills Competition in March. Skills categories include Coding, Lego Mechanics, Lego Robotics,

Technology and Video Editing.

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Pages from the Library….

New books are constantly being added to our library, as well as the replacement of well-loved books, so in order for our library collection to

grow and remain in an acceptable condition, we all need to take care of our library books. As important as it is to protect our books from liquids and dirt, it is

also important that we are gentle with our books. After only one or two uses some of our new books look quite worn; bent and torn covers, torn pages, dirty and stained. Parents please remind your children to take care of their library books at home, as well as, how

books are put into their desks, classroom library bins and backpacks. To protect books from water leaks in the backpack a plastic bag or large Ziploc style bag would work. If a

book requires repair, please send it to the library with a note. Do not attempt to repair library books at home. Our tape is archival quality tape, unlike the tape we all have at

home. Thank you! Mrs. Pomper

Each year the Ontario Library Association promotes the Red Maple, Silver Birch and Blue Spruce reading programs. Red Maple is offered for grade 7 & 8 students, while Silver

Birch is for students in grades 4 to 6. Blue Spruce is offered for kindergarten to grade 3.

These province-wide programs give students, who have read a minimum number of nominated titles, the opportunity to vote for the title that they liked the most. The

programs began in January and our school is participating in all three (3) programs.

The Blue Spruce books will be read by Mrs. Pomper to the primary division during their

regular library visit. For Silver Birch and Red Maple participants, the reading required

will be on the students’ own time, but the library will be open at most recesses for extra

reading time.

These reading programs support school literacy initiatives by raising the profile of reading within the school and promoting quality Canadian books. Books that are purchased for

the OLA programs remain in the library and enhance the library collection. The OLA award winners will be announced in May. If you would like to know more about these

programs, go to www.accessola.org

Scaredy Squirrel came back to the Saint John Paul II the week after the Christmas break. Scaredy listened to the

students review Tools for Life and share how to make friends. Scaredy then shared one of his stories with the students and posed for pictures with each class. Special

thanks to Mrs. Ashby for co-ordinating Scaredy's visit with

us again this year.

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Caption describing picture or graphic

FitBit Article February 2017 - Water Does Wonders!

Water is the natural choice for kids to stay hydrated and healthy. Our community is looking for ways to help children and families choose water and healthy beverag-

es more often.

Water contains no sugar, calories, caffeine, or added ingredients like preserva-

tives. It’s the natural, healthy, and cost-free beverage choice.

Drinks that contain added sugar are not a healthy choice – especially when these drinks start to replace the nutritious drinks and foods that growing children

need. These types of drinks add extra sugar and calories to kids’ diets.

Sugar-sweetened drinks are the single largest source of sugar in kids' diets and

have been shown to contribute to obesity. Too much sugar also increases the

risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and tooth decay (cavities).

What about juice and other beverages?

Children don’t need juice, offer whole fruit instead. While 100% fruit juice con-tains some nutrients, it also has a lot of naturally-occurring sugar and calo-ries. A piece of fruit or vegetable is a healthier choice as it contains important

nutrients and fibre, and will leave kids feeling more satisfied. 100% fruit juice

(no sugar added) should be an occasional treat.

After two years of age, children can include unflavoured skim, 1% or 2% milk as part of their daily fluid intake and as a source of calcium and vitamin D. If a

child cannot drink milk, fortified, unsweetened soy beverage is a good option.

Take the pledge to promote water for your family at

www.waterdoeswonders.ca! Schools, workplaces and community groups can take the pledge for organizations, and help to share the Water Does Wonders! message across our community and through social media networks.

Waterloo Region is one of 45 communities across Ontario taking part in the Healthy Kids Community Challenge (HKCC). The HKCC unites communities with a common goal of promoting children’s health through physical activity and healthy eating. The current theme is Wa-ter Does Wonders! The HKCC will be encouraging children and families to choose water to satisfy their thirst instead of sugar-sweetened bev-erages; in schools, through local media, at community events, and

across the region.

For more information on healthy beverages and the Healthy Kids Com-

munity Challenge visit: www.regionofwaterloo.ca/healthykids.

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St. Anne School Council is hosting a special event for parents:

A Conversation about Anxiety, Emotional Health & Our Kids

Guest Speaker Dr. Meg Popovic

Thursday February 16, 2017 7:00pm-8:30pm

St. Anne School Gym 250 East Avenue, Kitchener

If you will be attending, kindly RSVP by Wednesday February 15th

to stannecouncil@hotmail.com Coffee, tea & refreshments will be provided

Keep in Touch with your Centreville-Chicopee Community Centre

Throughout the year the CCCA works hard to bring our community many fun

events and excellent programming. Follow us on Facebook or stop by the web

site www.CCCAkitchener.com to see what’s happening at the Centreville-

Chicopee Community Association this season! Please check out the

newsletter that may be found on the website.

ATHLETICS: We are very fortunate that we run a number of teams that involved a lot of our students. Please stay up to date by visiting http://wcdsbathletics.ca/ and follow them on Twitter.

Our girls volleyball team is off to a good start! So far the girls have shown real

determination and hard work in every game they've played. We are proud of the girls this early on and can't wait to see how the rest of the season plays out. Go Suns!

The schedule for our future games is:

Feb. 1 SJPII at John Sweeney

Feb. 6 SJPII at Saint Kateri

Feb. 8 SJPII at St. Aloysius

Feb. 13 Canadian Martyrs at SJPII

Thank you to our coaches Mrs. Tomek, Mrs. Antolcic & Miss Freiburger.

Try one of the Grade 2 Science experiments at home!

Materials: Glass bowl of water, vinegar, baking soda & 10 raisins

Procedure:

1. Add 4 tablespoons of vinegar, 4 tablespoons of baking

soda & 10 raisins into a glass bowl.

2. Wait a moment

3. Watch the raisins as they begin to dance:)