SPRING AT LIBERMANN

April showers bring May flow-ers….I trust and hope that every-one is enjoying this early Spring weather and all it has to offer. Spring is always a busy time of year in any school community and the Libermann staff and students are definitely setting quite the pace!

This spring we are pleased to have started our Breakfast Club. This will run Tuesday and Fridays in the Family Studies Room from 7:45 to 8:15. Our ECO Team have been working very hard to ensure that our school meets with as many ECO school criteria as possible. As a school community we are encouraging everyone to recycle, reduce and reuse. We are turning off lights and power when-ever possible and are trying to encourage litterless lunches. As a staff we have moved to banning plastic water bottles and Styro-foam cups and have replaced these with “real” coffee mugs. We have also switched to purchasing recy-

cled paper only. These small changes have made a huge difference in our community. We feel great about helping our environment one step at a time

Our 30 Hour Famine, Spirit Week, 20 Minute Toronto Makeover, Volunteer Am-bassador Workshop, ISA Evening, Camp Olympia weekend were huge successes and helped in bringing every-one together. We were very fortunate to host Barbara Coloroso. She ended our very successful ESP Week and the We Are Assembly were other ways to “speak” to students. On the sports front, Track & Field, Volleyball, Baseball and Soccer are well underway and we are all supporting our teams.

You can see, that we have not stopped for a moment. Our teaching community continues

to work on the best instruc-tional leadership for your sons and daughters. We persevere in our mission to meet all the learning needs of our students and to make data driven deci-sions about programming and assessment. Our Teaching Learning Critical Pathway strategy has been extended from the English Department to include Religion as well. We have also launched our new School Website www.libermann.tcdsb.org .Please take a moment, to navi-gate through this. There is also a Principal’s Podcast and Twitter. Please follow me on Twitter and receive news as it happens!

We are so very proud to date and look forward to continued success. I thank you for your support and look forward to continued dialogue with you throughout the remainder of the year. God Bless F. Cifelli

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring. B. Williams

Principal’s Message

CPIC will be holding elections in each of the TCDSB’s Wards in May 2010. CPIC is made up of elected parent representa-tives, working with trustees and TCDSB staff. Parent rep-resentatives and alternate rep-resentatives are elected by their peers from each of the Board’s

12 Trustee Wards. Meetings are held up to 6 times a year—a great way to meet new peo-ple, parents like you that are an important link between home and school; discuss and iden-tify issues related to parent and community involvement; and contribute directly to board

planning consultations and parent leadership initiatives. If you are interested in joining, contact your local school prin-cipal and CSAC for more in-formation. Keep up to date by visiting; www.tcdsb.org/parents/cpic.htm.

CPIC—Catholic Parent Involvement Committee

TCDSB April 2010

Volume 1, Issue 1

Chaplaincy, Science 2

Student Services, Reach for the Top

3

International Night, Graduation, French

4

30 Hour Famine, Camp Olympia

5

Barbara Coloroso, Athletics

6

Stop The Stigma, Enrich-ment/Gifted, ESP

7

Congregated Gifted 7 & 8, Green Team

8

Inside this issue:

• Administration Team

•

• Principal

• F. Cifelli

•

• Vice—Principals

• Student Responsibilities

• R. Peterson—A - L

• J. Stesco — M - Z

The Chaplaincy team relies on the support of so many people in our community. Thank you to all of the staff members who have assisted and supported our various programs and ini-tiatives this year.

What does developing and working with our Catholic faith and values in our school com-munity look like? It seems like there is something happening every day at Libermann. Every student in every grade has their own unique opportunity to

spend a day on retreat. There are many student conferences including We Day in Septem-ber, the Faith and Pedagogy Conference in November, the Voices That Challenge Student Leadership Conference in Feb-ruary and the Camp Olympia Student Leadership Confer-ence in May. In the chapel there are daily morning prayers during Advent and Lent. Each Tuesday there is a Meditation workshop and each Wednesday there is a Listen to His Word program. Each Thursday

morning we have Mass in our chapel and on the last Friday of every month we have a staff Mass. This year there have been workshops about leader-ship, study skills, and handling money. These activities can encourage and develop the confidence in our maturing students to have an encourag-ing and optimistic outlook on life. If you wish to know more about our Chaplaincy pro-grams I invite you to contact me—fraser.gartside@tcdsb.org.

BRONZE MEDALSAndrew Law: Shedding Some Light on Bean Plants Angela Leung: The Heart of the Daphnia Magna Lynda Shen: The Effect of Wavelength of Light on the Growth Of Plants Adam Hardy and David Moore: Air Pollution GOLD MEDALSJennifer Reginold: Screening for Cancer Genes Danielle Moore and Jasmine Kwok: Developing and Degrading Starch-Based Plastics Moriah Gillette and Ellie Kubisz: Beans Under the Influence

CHAPLAINCY

Medal Winners

numerous compliments about the quality of our volunteers.

With respect to the “Science” part of the fair, Francis Liber-mann excelled here too! Out of nine projects entered, our students won seven medals and two spots to the nationals! Please wish Danielle, Jasmine, Moriah and Ellie a heart-felt congratulations and good luck when you see them as they

have been chosen to be mem-bers of “Team Toronto”. Alongside with twenty-two other students from the TCDSB, TDSB and independ-ent schools, our Libermann students will continue to do us proud at the Canada Wide Sci-ence Fair in May!

SCIENCE SUCCESSES During the weekend of April 10th, Francis Libermann sent a small contingent of students to the Toronto-Wide Science Fair held at the University of To-ronto Scarborough Campus as both volunteers and partici-pants. The success of the fair with its 500+ contestants was the result of hard work and dedication of our Libermann kids! Mr. Lahteenmaa, one of the co-coordinators, received

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in

getting up every time we do.

Confucius

Page 2 SPRING AT LIBERMANN Volume 1, I ssue 1

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

Immanuel Kant

INSIDE STUDENT SERVICES

REACH FOR THE TOP

EXIT PLAN SUMMER SCHOOL

It is hard to believe that we are on the downside of another school year. Students have now received their third report card of the year. Many of our graduates have applied for college and/or university pro-grams and anxiously await of-fers of admission. All other grade level students have sub-mitted their course selections for next school year.

We have well over 200 incom-ing grade nine students starting

at Libermann in the fall. We will offer our unique summer school for our grade 9s only again this summer, as it was a great success in 2009 for pre-paring our students for the school year. Our Student Suc-cess team has visited our ele-mentary feeder schools and “exchanged” information with the grade eight teachers, in the hope of placing students in the courses that might ensure their greatest successes.

Senior graduating students who did not apply for college pro-grams in January or February can still apply through the on-tariocolleges.ca website. The site provides information on all programs that still have spaces available for September and January starts. Any students who still wish to explore On-tario colleges can meet with their counselor for assistance.

Summer school courses will be offered in the month of July for any students needing to upgrade a course mark. Exist-ing courses require a minimum mark of 35% for upgrading purposes and 45% for all courses at the 4U and 4M lev-els required for university ad-missions. Upgrading courses are 3 hours per day for 4

weeks. Students can also choose to study new credits in the summer. There are many to choose from and they re-quire 6 hrs per day, also for 4 weeks. Registration will be through the month of June for new credit courses. Registra-tion for upgrading courses can be done when a student has determined the need to im-prove/raise marks to a passing grade.

Any graduating students, or any students leaving Liber-mann in June, should have an exit plan. For those who have not applied to post secondary institutions, who are planning on entering the workforce or who are unsure of their future are strongly encouraged to speak with their counsellor to develop a plan.

This year, Libermann’s team placed second after regular season competition with a re-cord of 10 wins and 2 losses. This was our school’s best ranking ever, proving that Libermann’s academic pro-gram is topnotch!

After a brief hiatus, Francis Libermann’s REACH FOR THE TOP team is back!! Reach for the Top is part of Schoolreach, a team of stu-dents who answer trivia-based questions on topics ranging from sports to pop culture and everything in between.

There will be a “mass registration” on Thursday, June 24/10 between 9 and 11 a.m., at the same time students receive their final marks from their subject teachers.

Page 3 SPRING AT LIBERMANN Volume 1, I ssue 1

PARENTS:

At any time, please do not hesitate to contact Student Services Depart-ment and ask to speak with your child’s coun-sellor for any issues.

Thank you

“Who Wants to be a Million-aire?” was the question of the night and the theme of this year’s International Night. With a sold out crowd and over one hundred participants involved in creating pavilions, modeling and performing, Fal-con Pride was stronger than ever! The evening started out with a tour of fifteen pavilions set up in the gymnasium where students introduced guests to music, dancing and cuisine from around the world. The next stop on the tour was a visit to the cafetorium where guests were serenaded with

music, fashion and dance that highlighted the arts and culture from every continent. Guests were in high spirits and en-couraging of each perform-ance. Our hosts Carlos and Chris entertained the audience even though Ms. Cifelli thwarted Carlos’ million dollar prize!

International Night is an im-portant school wide event which showcases the talent and cultural diversity of our stu-dents. This night would not have been made possible with-out the support of our staff

members, student body and the school community. Special thanks to all those involved in making this night a success: staff, those involved and those who attended, students, ad-ministration, custodial staff and guests. The support for this great community event at Libermann was outstanding. The million dollar ques-tion ...what will be the theme of next year’s International Night?

International Night Committee

Ms. D’Souza, Mr. Luck, Ms Sacchetti, Mr. Papadimitriou

BOARD WIDE FRENCH CONTEST

Alvin Yau—First Place

Catagorie 2 Extended

John Dias—Second Place

Categorie 4 FSL Plus

Congratulations to Alvin Yau who will be participating at the

CARNIVAL 2010

Congratulations!!!! to Mr. Morneau’s Grade 11 French class who won Carnaval this year. The competition was fierce and everyone had a great time. The weather cooperated and gave us some snow.

Provincial level on May 8th at Glendon College.

International Night

FRENCH DEPARTMENT

GRADUATION 2010/Grade 12 & Grade 8

DATE: Monday, June 28, 2010 2:00 p.m. (Please note new time) PLACE: Grand Baccus Banquet & Convention Centre

LOCATION: 2155 McNicoll Ave. Scarborough

GUESTS: 4 Invitations are available for each graduate

GRAD LITURGY: June 25, 2010 10:30 a.m. Prince of Peace Church

GRAD LUNCHEON: June 25, 2010 12:30 p.m. Star Walk Buffet (648 Silver Star Blvd.)

REHEARSAL: June 28, 2010 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Grand Baccus

Page 4 SPRING AT LIBERMANN Volume 1, I ssue 1

30 HOUR FAMINE

IMPORTANT DATES

CAMP OLYMPIA

30 Hour Famine at Francis Libermann was a great success. A group of eighteen dedicated students from grades 10—12 joined together on the evening of April 16, 2010 for global awareness of child hunger and poverty. The students occu-pied their time with student-led games, activities and an inspira-tional speech from a represen-tative of the Share Life Foun-dation. An evening liturgy was dedicated to the discussion and reflection on the physical, so-

cial and emotional difficulties experienced by children all over the world. The fast was broken over a meal shared together at 11:00 am. We would like to thank all the staff members who came out to support this great event; Ms. DeFreitas, Ms. Panelea, Mr. DiMillo, Mrs. Peacock, and especially Mr. Gartside for the beautiful liturgy and Giacomo for all his help throughout the night. A special thank you to Ms. Cifelli, Mr. Stesco, Mr.

Peterson and Ms. Kelly for their on-going support throughout this entire process. We raised a significant amount of money towards the Share Life Foundation and World Vision.

30 Hour Famine Committee

Ms. Sacchetti, Ms. D’Souza, Mr. Luck

couraged to believe they can/should/will make the world a better place through leader-ship. The real impact is felt over time as the students grow to be confident, optimistic, and engaged student leaders with a purpose.

Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them.

Robert Jarvik

From April 30—May 2, we took 28 students to the annual Camp Olympia leadership con-ference. 13 schools and 350+ TCDSB students participated at this month’s Mary Ward CHS organized conference. There were many friendly com-petitions, events, activities and motivational speakers. The students are inspired and en-

June 28 Grade 12 & Grade 8

GRADUATION CEREMONY 2:00 pm First Week of July REPORT CARD MAILED OUT

May 25 SPRING CONCERT

June 3 YEAR END MASS-PRINCE OF PEACE

June GRADUATION PROM

June 4 & 7 EQAO MATH MINISTRY TEST

June 8 ATHLETIC BANQUET

June 11—22 EXAMS

June 24 SUMMER SCHOOL SIGN UP

June 25 Grade 12 & Grade 8 GRADUATION MASS & LUNCHEON

“To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the story here.”

Page 5 SPRING AT LIBERMANN Volume 1, I ssue 1

On Friday April 30th , Francis Libermann Staff and Students had a unique opportunity to listen to the internationally renowned author and educator Barbara Coloroso. She en-riched the Libermann commu-nity by speaking about her landmark book “The Bully, Bullied and the Bystander”. Ms. Coloroso, a consultant on positive school climate and non-violent conflict resolution captivated her audience while interacting with students. She stressed the difference be-

tween bullying and conflict, teasing and taunting. “Bullying is not about anger or conflict, it’s about contempt-a strong feeling of dislike towards some-one considered worthless or inferior.” Teasing is meant for both parties to laugh together, while taunting is intended to harm the other party. The Bul-lied is usually reticent to com-plain because of fear of retalia-tion or feelings of shame or helplessness. She warned about signs of bullying, urging teach-ers and parents to take action.

Speaking about bystanders, she noted that these students typi-cally stand by or look away while witnessing a bullying act.” She urged students to cultivate a spirit of compassion and en-couraged them to speak out against injustice and take re-sponsibility for each other. After the assembly, Francis Libermann students presented their 11 point Anti-Bullying pledge and placed their signa-tures on a huge poster prepared for the occasion. Students had the chance to approach Barbara

BOYS SOFTBALL

D. Mastrullo C. Smith

GIRLS SOCCER

J. Correia M. Papadimitriou

SR. BOYS SOCCER

L. Karasz

JR. BOYS VOLLEYBALL

M. Ainsworth C. Luck

JR. BOYS BASKETBALL

L. D’Souza S. Penelea

GRADE 7 & 8 X-COUNTRY/TRACK

T. Galka

Athletic Directors

N. Cirone T. Galka

BARBARA COLOROSO AT LIBERMANN

WINTER/SPRING SPORTS

HOCKEY P. Champion

R. Facciol

JR/SR GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

S. Ainsworth J. Simpson

K. Archibald O. Milner

BADMINTON

N. DeFreitas D. DiMillo

J. Thachen-Cary

INDOOR/OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD

K. Archibald N. Cirone

L. Kipp

ATHLETICS Outstanding participation and great enthusiasm for Liber-mann Athletics. Under the guidance of our dedicated staff our student athletes continue to show great improvement and learn the value of commit-ment and hard work.

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR COACHES.

Page 6 SPRING AT LIBERMANN Volume 1, I ssue 1

Coloroso, ask her questions and take advice. The positive reac-tion of our students to Ms. Coloroso’s address was best summed up in a comment by one student who said “ Miss, it was too short”.

Stop the Stigma Week

EMPOWERING STUDENT PARTNERSHIP

GIFTED/ENRICHMENT—GR. 9—12

The week of May 4th—7th, deemed “Stop the Stigma Week”, was created and sup-ported by the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario (MDAO). What is Stop the Stigma Week? It is a week designed to eliminate the stigma about mood disorders and psychoses by : raising awareness, providing education and examples of outlets for expression. A group of stu-dents volunteered, with the support and guidance of Ms.

Peacock and Mrs. Nealon, took on the challenge of run-ning the events surrounding the promotion of mental health issues and mood disor-ders. Some of the events held were: meditation, a “chill out zone” where students could sit quietly in the chapel, an assem-bly was held where guest speakers from the MDAO shared their personal experi-ences with mood disorders, and finally a dress-down day was held. The monies col-

lected from this day will go to the MDAO to support their good work.

our Grade 9s assisted in the running of our Grade Eight Transition Event in March. The Gifted Department is looking forward to an array of events scheduled for the months ahead.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Journey of Discovery Work-shop Presenters—Apr 27 & 28 Advanced Placement Exams May 3—10 Queens’s University Mini-Enrichment Week May 4-7

Carpe Diem: Seize the Day Catholic Student Leadership Conference May 28—29

As always, our Secondary Gifted students continue to be active leaders in the commu-nity. In the fall, our students participated in Catholic Stu-dents United Nations As-sembly (CSUNA). The Grade 10’s volunteered to help with our feeder school Grade 8 students during the Take Our Kids to High School Day in November and a number of

Libermann has had various events during the school year to ensure safety and commu-nity including assemblies, ral-lies, bake sales, presentations and unity walks. We hope to continue our quest to create a safe school environment.

Ms. Peacock, Ms. DeFreitas and Ms. Zabaneh

ESP is an after school program that empowers students to take ownership of their school as a community and encourage a safe and caring environment. ESP works alongside our SRO PC Mark Earl and other schools to carry out commu-nity events and to promote positive community supports.

If God wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.

Johann von Goethe

Page 7 SPRING AT LIBERMANN Volume 1, I ssue 1

Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you?

Fanny Brice

This was the inaugural year for LGT. LGT is run by a group of dedicated students and teachers who are pas-sionate about the well being of the environment and are motivated to make a change. This year’s goals were to develop the ecological literacy of students, hold events that engaged students to become environmentally re-sponsible citizens, and to become a Certified Ontario Eco-School. So far, LGT has run events like Earth Hour and Litterless Lunch Day; as well, the team organized a fantastic assembly on the environmental impacts of plas-tic water bottles. LGT even designed and sold Liber-mann’s very own stainless steel water bottle! This group of enthusiastic students and teachers are excited to con-tinue the strides made this year with new ideas and events for next year and years to come.

Francis Libermann C.H.S. 4640 Finch Ave. E. Scarborough, On M1S 4G2

We are on the web- libermann.tcdsb.org

Science Fair Team, who will soon be attending finals! We would also like to thank Mr. Galka for helping the 7/8s participate in April’s Cross-Country events. Our students are eagerly looking forward to attending the upcoming Gifted Elementary Conference enti-tled, “Journey of Discovery”, which will be held on Wednes-day April 28th, 2010 at U of T, OISE. Students will partici-pate in their selected work-shops, which have been de-signed to broaden their hori-zons, as well as increase their knowledge within various disci-plines and subject areas. We

This year has been a challeng-ing but exciting one for our students in the 7/8 Congre-gated Gifted Program. Under the guidance of Ms. Szala, Ms. Frate, and our secondary stu-dents, the 7/8s have recently successfully participated in Libermann’s History Fair and Mock Trials. In addition, we anxiously await another visit from Ms. Szala, in order to help us prepare for our upcom-ing debates! The members of the congregated program would like to thank Mr. Laht-eenmaa for his support and efforts in the Science Fair and congratulate our winning 7/8

would like to wish Mrs. Kalashnikova and Ms. Frate good luck, as they will be con-ducting their own workshops at the Conference! They will also be venturing down to the Loraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People to enjoy a per-formance of Hannah’s Suit Case. Our soon-to-be gradu-ates are anxiously awaiting their upcoming trip to Camp Olympia where they will be engaged in a wide variety of outdoor activities and coopera-tive games. The Gifted Depart-ment is eagerly looking for-ward to celebrating the gradua-tion and achievements of their grade 8 students.

Congregated Gifted—Grade 7 & 8

Phone: 416-393-5524 Fax: 416-393-5891

TCDSB

Libermann’s Green Team

PARENTS,

s

CHOICES

It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more

than our abilities.

J. k. Rowling