Thunder News Flash – December 8, 2018

The word “Advent” is from the Latin word meaning “coming”.  The season of Advent is now upon us, and it is the time in the liturgical calendar when we are waiting for Jesus’ coming.  Much like Lent, Advent is also a time of preparation, although it is typically thought of as a more joyous season.  But just like during Lent, Advent is a time when prayer, penance and fasting are also appropriate.  The purple colour associated with Advent is also the colour of penance and reminds us that this is a good time to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  During these first two weeks of Advent let us remember this as we anticipate the coming of Jesus.

The Work Bee scheduled for today, December 8th, has been cancelled due to the illness of the coordinator.  Please note that this Work Bee has been rescheduled to take place on December 15th from 9:00am – 2:00pm.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

On December 11th from 1:00pm – 8:00pm we will be holding our Parent/Teacher Interviews.  The purpose of these interviews is to discuss your child’s progress to date this year and to answer any questions that may have come up after reading your child’s Progress Report that went home on December 7th.  We are once again using an online booking service, and booking your child’s interview was opened on December 1st.  If you haven’t already done so, please click here to access the website and book your interview as soon as possible, as many of the spots have already been taken.  Just a reminder that these interviews are for the Parents and Teachers only, so children should not attend, and there is no school on that day.

December is one of those months of the year when we are not in school for the fourth Thursday of the month.  So, we have decided that our December Thunderwear day will take place on Wednesday, December 12th.  Whether you call it “Thunderwear Almost Thursday” or “Wear Your Thunderwear Wednesday”, students will be allowed to replace their uniform pieces with Thunderwear that they have.  As always, this is not a full dress down day, but a day to wear Thunderwear to show our Thunder Spirit!

Just a reminder that there is only one Thunderwear Thursday a month – typically the fourth Thursday of each month.

Our Christmas Giving Tree is now up and the tags are on the tree.  We will follow a similar routine as last year:

1. Students are not allowed to take a tag from the tree unless they have permission from their parents.  If you would like to give your child permission to take a tag from the tree, please email the school by clicking here and let Mrs. Dlugan know that this is all right.  Please provide a price range for the gift that you would like to bring in, and Mrs. Dlugan will help your child pick a gift tag.
2. Parents are welcome to stop by before or after school, at your convenience, and take a tag from the tree.
3. Tags vary in price range and in the items that have been requested – families may take more than one tag if they wish.
4. A tag may say “canned corn”.  We do not specify how many cans you need to provide – whether it is one can or a case, we will gratefully accept your donation.
5. All items provided must be new – we cannot accept any used items.
6. All items must be brought to the office with the gift tag so that an ornament can then be placed on the tree.

Donated items will go to support the following charities:  St. Vincent de Paul, Catholic Charities Justice Services (Prison Ministry) and NightShift.  

We thank you for any and all donations which we will gratefully accept until December 21st.  

The recent snap of cold weather is a good reminder that your children need to come to school dressed appropriately for the weather.  While we have opened up the Uniform Policy and children are allowed to wear the shorts any time of the year, it is surprising to see how many children are still wearing them with the temperatures as low as they have been.  Please remember that we do send the children outside to get fresh air and have some much needed time to burn off some energy even when it is cold.  Children should come to school ready for the weather with a good jacket with a hood, boots, gloves, scarves, etc.  

It is hard to believe that it is that time of year again, but applications for siblings will be available at the school office beginning on Monday, December 3rd.  If you have children in the school, and have a younger child who will be entering Kindergarten in September 2019, please come to the school office to pick up an application form.  If you have children in the school, and have other children who will be entering Grades 1 – 7 in September 2019, and you are hoping that they can attend the school, please come to the school office to pick up an application form.  These applications must be filled out and returned to the school no later than December 19th as we begin to take applications for new families to the school on January 31st.  We need to know how many spaces we have available, especially in Kindergarten, as the spaces fill up each year very quickly.

We will once again we hosting a special luncheon for the seniors of the various parishes that support St. James & St. Ann’s School, as well as the grandparents of school students.  This will take place on Wednesday, December 19th – doors will open at 12:00pm, lunch will be served at 12:15pm and they will be treated to a special 1:00pm performance of our Christmas Musical. Please invite your child’s grandparents and the seniors of the parishes to attend this lunch and show, but please have them call the school at 604-852-1788 to R.S.V.P. by Monday, December 17th so that we know how many people to set up for.  Admission is by donation.

We look forward to seeing many people attend and serving the senior members of our community.  The Grade 6 class will be taking care of serving the seniors, and the Baking/Cooking Group will be providing the desserts, along with some donations from the Grade 6 class.  

The Thunder Club has a number of senior students from our school who attend after school, and they are looking for some donations of items for them to use – specifically Lincoln Logs and Popular Mechano.  If you have either of these items at home, and your children no longer play with them, please consider donating them to the Thunder Club.  Or, if you would like to purchase these items and gift them to the Thunder Club, your donations would be gratefully accepted. 

Are your children considering making some extra money by babysitting?  Help set them up for success by registering them in the Red Cross Babysitting Course which will be held at our school on Mondays from 2:45 – 4:00pm on February 4th, 11th, and 25th and March 4th.  This course is available for students who are a minimum of 10 years of age by the start of the program, and we must have a minimum of 16 students registered for the program to go ahead.  The program teaches the basics of babysitting, rights and responsibilities, getting along with participants, holding, diapering, feeding, bedtime, toys and activities, accident prevention and handling emergencies.  The cost of the program is $60/student.  If you are interested in having your child participate in this program, please pick up a Registration Form at the school office before the Christmas break.  The program will be taught by Coleen Melsted, an instructor from the Red Cross, and Mrs. Filiatrault will be the teacher sponsor for the program.  

The Grade 5 class, together with their Kindergarten buddies, have put together a beautiful Christmas book and basket of treats which will be raffled at the Christmas Musical on December 20th at the 7:00pm show.  Tickets will be on sale starting Monday, December 10th at lunch time, and will be sold for 25 cents each.  Money will go to help cover the cost of the Christmas Musical, as well as a donation will be made to Chalice.  We appreciate your support.

You may have already heard your child singing the song that their class is learning for our Christmas Musical, but just in case you haven’t been blessed with this treat yet, we will once again be showcasing the talents of all the students in the school as we present to you “The Christmas Shoe Tree”.  Join us for a creative retelling of the Christmas story which will be presented on Wednesday, December 19th at 1:00pm for the seniors and grandparents, and again at 1:00pm and 7:00pm on December 20th for our school families, friends and relatives.  Please note that on December 20th, St. James Parish will also be hosting a Christmas Concert at 7:30pm – that means the parking is going to be very difficult  We have contacted St. John Brebeuf and they will allow us to use their parking lot for the overflow, and of course there is street parking as well.  As many of the audience members at the Parish concert may be elderly, we are asking our able-bodied parents to perhaps park at SJB or on the street, as you are able to walk farther, more easily.  We thank you for making this accommodation that will allow all of us to enjoy the many celebrations taking place.