I have a far greater appreciation for

what those dinners did for me now

and when I look at this list of skills, I

reflect that so many of them were

nurtured at home.

We will be investigating how to

develop these skills in all of our

students and working to implement

learning experiences that require a

high level of communication back

from our students. A student that

can engage on this level of commu-

nication will have greater success in

school and beyond!!

Help us have your children put

down their phones and talk about

their world!!!

Heather

Kaup

Principal

At my house growing up, Sunday

dinners were a time we would

spend hours talking as a family,

We learned the art of conversa-

tion—both patience as well as

participation. We were taught how

to develop our ideas and use our

views to support or refute state-

ments, news worthy items etc.

There is a new resource from the

Alberta Regional Consortium which

takes the key competencies and

helps develop them into strategies

that can be used in the classroom.

As we look at how we can move

even more of our students into

excellence, one area that we are

excited about exploring as a staff is

critical thinking. I found this list

particularly useful as a way to devel-

op the key competency of communi-

cation.

-Clarify the purpose or intention os

a message in relation to audience,

context or culture

-Consider perspectives, emotions,

experiences when seeking shared

understandings

-Decoding and interpreting ideas or

information shared through verbal

or non-verbal formats

-Expressing ideas or concepts using

appropriate language, conventions

or protocols

-Demonstrating respect and respon-

sibility when communicating with

others

Taken from: http://

arpdcresources.ca/consortia/learning

-through-competencies/

In this time of thanksgiving, we

thank God for all that He has

blessed us with. It is the time of

year when we are able to reflect

on the immense amount of bless-

ings that He has filled our homes

and hearts with. We have a full

team of supports who work with

families to help them to bridge

times of trouble. From our psy-

chologist to our Family Liaison

Worker to our Learning Coach

and our Chaplain, we are able to

minister to families in need.

This month alone, we were able

to provide food hampers to a

family as well as emergency gro-

cery cards to help bridge the gap.

If you are looking for ways to

support our families, please know

that we welcome grocery gift

cards which can be used in times

of urgency.

We also

are looking

for a donation of a washer and

dryer for a family who are in

desperate need. Please contact

Heather.Kaup@ecsd.net if you

are able to help!

Communication and Critical Thinking

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

SAC Welcome 2

Psychologist 2

Chaplain Chat-

ter

3

Constable’s

Corner

3

Bus Pass Info 4

EPS Presenta-

tion

4

Gratitude and Giving

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7 V O L U M E T W O

Dates To

Remember

Awards Night Oct 4

7pm in the gym

Thanksgiving Litur-

gy Oct 5 @ 10am

Fentanyl Presenta-

tion Oct 10 @ Flex

Senior Night Volley-

ball Oct. 11

Grade 9 CCAT Oct

13, 16, 17

MMM Day Oct 20

Halloween Who

Dunit

Oct 31 in TA

P A G E 2

School Psychologist

Welcome

from SAC! Welcome Back Students

and Families of MMM!

I hope your summers

have been tremendous

and provided a break

and relaxation from the

usual routines. School is

upon us now and with

that the MMM School

Advisory Council will

start up for another

term.

The MMM School Advi-

sory Council (SAC) is a

collaboration of stu-

dents, parents and

school staff aimed at en-

hancing the High School

experience for all MMM

stakeholders and maxim-

izing student achieve-

ment. Our activities in-

clude: council meetings,

MMM fundraising, infor-

mation sessions and con-

necting with our commu-

nity. Please consider

participating in the

MMM SAC by: attending

meetings, bringing for-

ward ideas, fundrais-

ing, or volunteering for

one of the open coun-

cil positions of Casino

Chair or Vice-Chair.

Your voice is im-

portant! The first

MMM SAC of the

2017/2018 school year

is scheduled for:

MMM School Advisory

Council Meeting

October 2, 2017, 7:00-

8:30 pm

MMM Staff Room

We hope to see you

there!

Best wishes for a great

school year ahead,

Monica Sawchyn,

MMM SAC Chair

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the resident Regis-

tered Provisional Psychologist at Mother Margaret Mary High School. My primary role is

to work directly with students, groups of students and their families and to offer sup-

port within the school context. Most of my supports and services require parent/

guardian consent and as such, I will be reaching out to families throughout the year.

Referrals for service come primarily through

students and families themselves. Sometimes, teachers

and/or members of the school-based multi-disciplinary

team may have concerns about student wellbeing. In

such instances , I will connect with the family directly to

discuss options for support.

Psychological services within the school context

often differ from those outside of school, If you would

like to know more, or you are thinking my services may

be helpful to your child, I encourage you to give me a

call, send me an email or stop by the school for a visit.

Cory Donald

Chaplain Chatter

P A G E 3 V O L U M E T W O

Hello to all and best wishes to stay warm during this rainy fall weather. Here at the school we have been blessed with a vibrant and energetic startup to the new school year and I really enjoy the conversations that I've had with our student body.

As we approach Thanksgiv-ing, I'd like to take this op-portunity to send home a little information about a

Social Justice project that we will be undertaking here at the school. Its called "Fill the Bus" and is a Food Bank drive in which we will be ask-ing all students to bring in a few non-perishable items to fill our transporter bus. The Friday before Thanksgiving, our senior sports teams will be travelling to drop the food off at the Food Bank.

Let us please help those in

need with a small gesture of Thanks-giving.

Thank you and God Bless,

Kurt Otto

In 2016 there was a total of 307 pedestrian fatalities and injury collisions. Of that number 31.6% of those collisions were

caused from pedestrians doing one of the following:

A) Crossing without the right of way

B) Not crossing in a crosswalk

C) Jaywalking

D) Entering or exiting vehicles in the middle of the road

E) Walking on the roadway

F) Running onto the road way

At some point during the first semester, members of the Major Collisions Unit have been invited to MMM for a flex to talk

about the dangers of Jaywalking and other topics related to these collision.

Constable Brandon would like to remind everyone that under the City of Edmonton Bylaw 5590, jaywalking is defined as

seen below:

59 (1) A pedestrian shall not cross, or attempt to cross, from one side of a roadway to an-

other at any point other than within a crosswalk.

(2) a pedestrian shall not cross, or attempt to cross, a roadway within a crosswalk when

a traffic control device prohibits such crossing.

Constable Brandon has been out warning students not to cross at the crosswalk since the

beginning of the year, and going forward there may be a need to issue a violation ticket.

The penalty for Jaywalking is $250

Constable’s Corner

P A G E 4

Bus Pass Information

Caption

describing

picture or

graphic.

MMM Bus Pass Information 2017-18

Please be advised that monthly bus pass sales are cut off promptly on the dates stated below. We regret

that we are unable to extend the dates as we must comply with the schedule set out to us by Edmonton

Transit Services. Bus passes are sold at the Bookstore and can be purchased with cash, cheque, credit or

debit card. You may also choose to pre-purchase on your parent PowerSchool account, and have your child

pick up their pass from the bookstore before the posted cut off date. Students are permitted one bus pass

only at the student rate of $52.00, If lost, the purchase price of a replacement pass is $73.00.

Bus Pass Sales Schedule 2017-18

Bookstore Hours

*Open daily during the lunch break

Month Bus Pass Sales Commence Bus Pass sales Close

September 2017 August 28 September 8

October September 28 October 6

November October 30 November 7

December November 29 December 6

January 2018 December 21 January 11

February January 30 February 7

March February 27 March 9

April March 22 April 9

May April 27 May 7

June May 30 June 8

Day Hours of operation a.m. Hours of Operation p.m.

Monday 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Wednesday 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Thursday 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. 12:15 p.m. – 12:45 p.m.

Friday 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

School Fees

P A G E 5 V O L U M E T W O

Registration Payments:

If you missed our registration days in August and

have not yet paid your registration fees, we would

ask that you please do so by October 30th. The

most convenient method of payment is online with

debit card, Visa or Mastercard using your parent

login at powerschool.ecsd.net. You may also make

your payment at the bookstore during regular

bookstore hours. If you have any questions regard-

ing your student fees, please contact Sharon Fitzsi-

monds in the business office by phone: 780 988

2279 or

email: Sharon.fitzsimonds@ecsd.net

Services and will encourage better

decision making, increased aware-

ness and provide information on

responsible bystander actions.

This presentation will be used to

create a webcast that will be acces-

sible to parents. If you would like

to attend and be part of our parent

section, please contact

Heather.Kaup@ecsd.net

On October 10, Edmonton Catho-

lic Schools is teaming up with Ed-

monton Police Service and our

students will be lucky enough to

watch their live presentation on

Fentanyl. The members will be

presenting to the school and com-

munity groups across the city on

the dangers of Fentanyl and drugs.

This presentation was created in

partnership with Alberta Health

Fentanyl Presentation by EPS

“To catch

the

reader's

attention,

place an

interesting

sentence

or quote

from the

story

here.”

Caption de-

scribing pic-

ture or

Caption

describing

picture or

graphic.

M

o

t

h

e

r

M

a

r

g

“To catch the reader's attention, place an

interesting sentence or quote from the story

here.”

Caption describing

picture or graphic.

Cap

tion

de-

scri

bin

g

pic-

tur

e or

gra

8 V O L U M E T W O

“F’s,” Report Cards, Faith and Pearls

When I was going to school, when it came time for report cards at the end of the year, I confess that I never ever got an “F.” But I wished I had. Let me explain.

Not that long ago, I was asked to share a few words to a graduating Grade 12 class. I started by telling these young women and men that I was privileged to have had a “sneak peek” at their report cards. And they all got “F’s.” Needless to say, they were shocked. I had some quick explaining to do before one of them passed out.

Look, I get it that report cards are meant to give students and parents an idea of how the students are doing in their stud-ies – what they’re doing well and where more work is required – in reading, writing and math, and the sort.

Yet, in a Catholic School, a report card is meant to tell us even more. Yes, we all want our students to do well in their academic achievements; and I might add that in Catholic Schools they do very well! The “even more” part of report cards are the “F’s.”

Faith. Family. Friends.

The big picture of what a Catholic School does is to help prepare our children for success in life by grounding them in their faith. Faith in a God who created us, who cares for us, and who loves us. And to help our children, in turn, share their faith with family and friends.

Another way of putting this is by asking ourselves “What do we value most in life?” Faith. Family. Friends.

Let’s look at how Catholic Schools accomplish the “even more” by revisiting the “Parable of the Pearl Buyer” in Mat-thew’s Gospel. Jesus is asking his disciples and followers what the Kingdom of God is like? He uses a number of examples to convince us that the Kingdom, that is, eternal life with God in heaven, is something so beautiful and so precious that we would want to do everything to acquire it.

So the “Parable of the Pearl Buyer” tells us that when someone “finds one that is unusually fine, he goes and sells every-thing he has, and buys that pearl” (Mt 13: 46).

Pearls are especially beautiful and precious. And rare to come by.

Do you know how pearls are formed?

Well, if I understand well, an oyster feeds by filtering out food that it captures when particles are drawn into its mantle cavity. However, sometimes a piece of sand gets stuck in the flesh of an oyster and the oyster is unable to rid itself of this “irritant.” So instead the oyster secretes a milky solution which layer by layer covers the piece of sand. Eventually a pearl is formed. What was once an irritant has become smooth and round, a precious gem.

Pearls are produced by life, a life which has overcome death.

Jesus is the Pearl of Great Faith. He willingly endured his passion and death upon the cross. In doing so, he took upon himself the “irritants” of our sins, overcame death, and granted us salvation and eternal life.

We too experience irritants in life. (Just ask my priests; many might say that their bishop is one of their biggest irri-tants!). Struggles. Health issues. Family problems. Arguments with friends. Difficulties in accepting myself the way I am.

Yet, God gives us the grace to overcome whatever irritants life sends our way so that, layer by layer, the irritants be-come smooth and acceptable. Pearls in the making!

Friends, that’s why I love Catholic Schools. They journey with our children each day, forming them in the precious gift of faith, preparing them for true success for life.

Faith. Friends. Family.

God bless!

Bishop David