December 2014/January 2015

Dear Parents/Guardians:

“During the Advent, season as a community of faith,

we prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord,

Jesus Christ. It is a time of preparation, and of sim-

ple living and prayer.

Advent is time to open our hearts and our homes for

the coming of Jesus, our Saviour. Let us open our

hearts to the Christ Child. Let us take the time with

our families to pray together, to celebrate and re-

ceive the Eucharist, and allow God’s light and love

to shine within and among us. We are a light to

each other. Like a candle, Christ’s love is trying to

burn and shine brightly through each of us. We

treat Advent, therefore, in a most positive way, indi-

cating that its mood is one of happy expectations

and so in Advent’s spirit of Joy, it is appropriate to

consider how we can make life happier for those

around us. Let us, then, together in our lives, within

our families and community, allow the Holy Spirit to

make Jesus present to us so that we can be present

to Him.

Advent Prayer

Father, we come together to begin our preparation

for the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, the Lord.

Dear God, bless those who use the wreath. May

this wreath’s light remind us of your creative pres-

ence within our lives. Let its greenery bring your

eternal faithfulness to mind. May its circle be a sign

to us of your constant love for us.

We place our lives and this prayer before you

through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Mr. M. Femia Ms. B. Muron

Principal Vice Principal

From the Principal

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Nativity of Our Lord Catholic School

35 Saffron Crescent Etobicoke, Ontario M9C 3T8

Telephone: (416) 393-5288 Fax: (416) 393-5053

Important Contact Numbers

Nativity of Our Lord School Phone: (416) 393-5288 Fax: (416) 393-5051 Nativity of Our Lord Church Fr. Michael Machacek (416) 621-2732 Mr. D. Yack (Superintendent) Ms. A. Andrachuk (Trustee) Ward 2 Public Health Dept. (416) 338-7600 Dental Health Dept. 311 Elmbrook Public Library (416) 394-5290

Toronto Catholic District School

Board Trustees 2014—2015

Wards

1 Joseph Martino 416 512-3401

2 Ann Andrachuk 416 512-3402

3 Sal Piccininni 416 512-3403

4 Patrizia Bottoni 416 512-3404

5 Maria Rizzo 416 512-3405

6 Frank D’Amico 416 512-3406

7 Michael DelGrande,

Chair 416 512-3407

8 Garry Tanuan 416 512-3408

9 Jo-Ann Davis 416 512-3409

10 Barbara Poplawski 416 512-3410

11 Angela Kennedy 416 512-3411

12 Nancy Crawford,

Vice-Chair 416 512-3412

Christopher MacDonald,

Student Trustee 416 512-3417

Hannah McGroarty

Student Trustee 416 512-3413

Reporting of cancellations or closures due to in-clement weather Cancellation of school bus transportation or school closures due to inclement weather will be reported through the following vehicles: News releases to all media outlets in Toronto (Note: although the news release is provided to the media outlets, there is no guarantee that all television and radio stations will broadcast the information in a timely fashion). Com-munications will endeavour to send an email to eve-ryone on exchange to advise them of any cancella-tions or closures. Communications will also endeavour to send out the information electronically to E-News subscribers (Note: If you do not already subscribe to E-News, but wish to do so, please visit our website at www.tcdsb.org and click on the E -News icon on the top right hand side of the homepage). Updates will also be posted on the Board’s 24-hour information line, 416-222-8282, extension 2873. The information will also be posted on the Board’s website at www.tcdsb.org or www.tcdsb.org/weather.htm. The Transportation Department will post this information on its website at http://www.schoolbus.to/c_home.asp

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November Virtue Stars

Mrs. Stergiou—ELP1 Jason Aryeetey and Natalia Bizama

Ms. Sousa —ELP2 Isabella Costa & Gabriel Vaz

Mrs. Leonetti—SK/Gr.1 Alexander Ramadan and Maddie

Valkov

Ms. Nicholas—Gr. 1 Miranda Maycenic and Jacob

Klaudel

Mrs. Santelli/Mrs. Perehinets - Gr 1/2 Alessio Pighin and Denison Collins

Donald Ms. O’Toole—Gr.2

Brianna Heim and Jordan Reys

Mrs. Cirinna—Gr.2/3 Sophia Bod, Katelyn Capunitan,

and Sylvia Ignas

Mrs. Panzeca—Gr.3/4 Ryan Ebrahem and Sienna Pedatella

Mrs. Morson—Gr.4 Noel Poruthur, Jessica Zammit, and

Sarah D'Souza

Ms. Cavaliere—Gr.4/5 Immanuel Bauman, Ben Bradley-

Vokey, and Paris Hoang

Mr. Tanguay—Gr.5 FI Danylo Kostiv and Roman

Malinovskij

Mrs. Kleine—Gr.6 FI Tiago Rodrigues, Mary Kay Comendador and Sofie Ali

Mrs. Hawley—Gr.6/7 Luca Furlano and Deshawn Kelly

Mrs. Blandi—Gr.7 FI Jessica Zielinska

Mrs. Muzzatti—Gr.7/8 Nicholas Leeder and Rachel Gamble

Ms. Carey—Gr.8 FI Fiona Hada and Marco Ordonez

Mr. Jozwik—Gr.8 Lian Domingo and Samantha Rennie

Mrs. K. Coffey—S.E. Lucas Rivera

Kindergarten Registration for September 2015 September, 2015 will begin Year 5 of the Full-Day Learning Program at Nativity. Registration for Full Day Learning begins on January 8th, 2015. Extended Registration Hours take place on Wednesday, Janu-ary 21st, 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. Parents who wish to register a child for Junior Kindergarten or who would be new to our Senior Kindergarten program, are invited to go online to www.soar.tcdsb.org to complete the pre-registration package and select an appointment to complete the registration process at the school. Booking appointments on-line can only be done after January 8th, 2015. Please call the school at 416-393-5288 if you require further information.

Please ensure you bring the following information with you to register:

Child's Baptismal Certificate in the Catholic Faith Child's Immunization Record Child’s Health Card Child's passport or immigration documents (if

born outside Canada) Proof of Residency (i.e., lease or owner-

ship, utility bills) (at least 3 proofs) Students must reside within the school Boundaries Rathburn Road to Mill Road/Mill Road to Burnhamthorpe Road Burnhamthorpe to West MallWest Mall to Faversham

Volleyball Teams Congratulations to the Intermediate Boys’ Volleyball team who played at the Divisional Volleyball Tourna-ment at St. Benedict School on November 10th. The boys showed hard work and determination throughout the competition. After an exciting semi-final game they were only 3 points away from taking it to the finals. Team members were: Joshua Yeboah, Nazar Kostiv, Efe Iyamu, Kristian Coletta, Juan Escobar, Alex Dickie, J’castin Phillips, Ivan Novo, Kim Refugia, Alexei Autencio, and Joshua Espinosa. Thank you to Mr. Ce-sario for assisting Ms. O’Toole with coaching the team. On Wednesday, November 12th, Nativity’s Intermediate Girls’ Volleyball team played in the Divisional Tourna-ment at Monsignor Percy John High School. The girls played extremely well, and just missed the finals by 2 points. They finished in 3rd place. The girls showed great sportsmanship and represented Nativity well. The members are: Taylor Delaney, Diana Lumaj, Karol-yne Palacios, Denise San Juan, Kyasia Harrison-Wright, Rhianna London-Barrett, Madison Ierullo, Teah Stupar, Emily Tavares, and Atticka Woods. Thank you to the coach, Mrs. Drozdowsky and Mr. Cesario and Miss McCullough for helping out.

CSAC Our next CSAC meeting is on Wednes-day, January 14th, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. in the library. Child care is available.

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St. Vincent de Paul Christmas Hampers We are working in partner-ship with St. Vincent de Paul Society once again this year to help needy families in our community. Our drive will run until Friday, December 5th. We are asking students from Junior Kin-dergarten to Grade 6 to bring pow-dered milk, canned meat, canned veg-etables, canned fish, canned fruit, dried fruit, soups, pasta, pasta sauce, fruit juices, crackers, cookies, cere-als, granola bars, rice, jello, pudding, fruit cocktails, tea, coffee, hot choco-late, pop, fruit cake, stuffing, cranber-ry sauce, candy, gifts for girls and boys, family gifts, etc. We are asking the grades 7 and 8 students to con-tribute a toonie to our drive to raise funds for the gifts. Thank you for your continued support.

Nativity Parish News The last final EDGE gathering for Grade 6 - 8 stu-dents, before the Christmas break, will be on Friday, December 19th from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 pm. EDGE will resume on Friday, January 16th at the same time. Also, our Christmas Mass schedule is as follows: Christmas Eve: 5:00 p.m., 8:00 pm and 11:00 p.m. Christmas Day: 9:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

T.C.D.S.B. Safe Schools Bully Symposium On November 19th, Aaron Murad (Grade 8 student) along with his father Mr. Murad, Mme. Morrison, and Mr. Femia attended the TCDSB Safe Schools Anti-Bullying Symposium. The day was filled with exciting anti-bullying activities and outstanding presentations about the importance of creating a positive, inclusive and safe school environment. We all belong to each other, to the world and to God. Let us always work to-wards being kind, helpful and considerate.

Student Safe Arrival Program Parents are asked to call the school @ (416) 393-5288, press 1 and leave a message if your child(ren) is going to be LATE or ABSENT from school. Please state the date, your child’s name, their grade and the reason for the absence/late. Advent Mass 2014 On Tuesday, December 16th at 7:00 p.m., we will be celebrating at Nativity of Our Lord Church our Advent Mass. We thank Father Michael for celebrating Mass with us. Thank you to our Liturgical Committee composed of Mrs. Blandi, Ms. Cavaliere, Mrs. Coffey, Mrs. Dorgan, Mrs. Kleine, Mme. Morrison, Mrs. Panzeca, Ms. Sousa, and Mrs. Stergiou for organizing a spir-it-filled Advent liturgy. Thank you to the Choir Directors, Mrs. Cirinna and Mrs. Myshasta and the choir for their beautiful voices. Thank you to all who are able to attend. Attendance and Punctuality Regular school attendance and punctuality are important for student progress. Children should be kept home only when they are ill. Appointments, whenever possible, should be arranged outside of school hours. Being on time for the start of class is important. The bell rings prompt-ly at 9:00 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Your child/children should be in the school yard by this time so that they can assemble with their peers and be involved in all activities from the beginning of class. All children who arrive after the class has entered the school will be marked late. If dropping off your child late, please do so at the office and office staff, or administration will es-cort your child to their classroom. Remedial Reading Program It is wonderful to see our remedial reading program up and running in the primary grades. This volunteer program is made possible by the many volunteers from Nativity’s Catholic Women’s League (CWL) as well as many members of our community. Thanks to our many helpers, as well as to Mrs. Panzeca and the primary division for coordinating the program.

Front Door Access and School Yard Safety If you are entering the school through the front doors between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., please use the buzzer located to the left of the doors. Unless arriving late or leaving early, students must always enter and exit the school through the back doors only. Supervision in the school yard begins at 8:45 a.m. and is in place until 3:45 p.m.

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Extended French Program Registration All parents of Grade 4 students interested in enrolling their child for September, 2015 in our Extended French Program, which begins in Grade 5, are invited to come to our Open House Evening on January 21st at 7:00 p.m. in the school library. Grade 8 Overnight Trip Information Night on Thursday, January 21st at 6:30 p.m. in the school library.

Student Leadership Update We truly are a CHARITABLE community! Our WE SCARE HUNGER and Halloween Candy Drive were very successful with 615 items and over 250 pounds of candy collected. A great big THANK YOU to Mr. Jozwik and his class, and Mrs. Muzzatti and her class for collecting, sorting and packaging all of the donations. Thank you also to Mr. Jozwik for transporting all of the cases and bags to Dr. Simone!

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ORONTO CATHOLIC O1.

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