The Good News January 26, 2025

Today, we celebrate the Sunday of the Word of God, a reminder of the central role Scripture plays in our lives. This year’s motto, “I hope in Your Word” (Psalms), invites us to deepen our trust in God’s promises and guidance.

In Catholic education, we are blessed with the opportunity to follow Jesus’ teachings daily, with sacrifice and service shaping the decisions we make and the actions we take. Our faith roots us in God’s love, and through this love, we are called to reflect His light by loving others.

As we journey through this week, let’s embrace the beauty of God’s Word, finding strength in it as we work together to nurture our school community. May we see the goodness in one another and celebrate the gifts each person brings to our shared mission.

Dear God,
Each one of us is Your work of art,
We are all Your children.
Help us to see the beauty in one another.
Help us to appreciate the many gifts we can offer to one another.
Help us to be the people You call us to be.
Amen.

• Regular day

• Arctic Winter Games
• Hot Lunch

• PD day, no school for students
• Report Cards go live at

• Kindergarten in school field trip (Makery)
• Gr 1-4 Library

• Assembly (1:20)
• Kindergarten in school field trip (Makery)

Feb. 4 - Celebrating World Read Aloud Day (Dress as your favourite book character)

Feb. 5 - Gr 3 Harbour Pool, Early Dismissal

Feb. 6 & 7 - Teacher Convention, no school

Feb. 11 - Reckie Lloyd dancing, KTR Hands on Science

Feb. 12 - Gr 4 Winspear, KMW Hands on Science

Feb. 13 - Hot Lunch

Feb. 17 - Family Day, No School

Feb. 26 - Hot Lunch

Feb. 28 - Gr 2 TPet, Gr 3 TPet

Our grade 4 Servant Leadership Team will be leading us in our sixth annual, St. John XXIII Arctic Winter Games on Tuesday, January 28th. Our St. John XXIII Arctic Winter games help us to learn more about important Northern cultures and traditions and develop physical literacy skills. It is always a great day! Here is a link to the official Arctic Winter Games website.

Pre-Kindergarten Registration Process

Elk Island Catholic Schools invites and welcomes families of young learners into our faith-based, inclusive Pre-Kindergarten classrooms. St. John XXIII offers a variety of Pre-Kindergarten programs to support all of our little learners. We have programs to support both Pre-K PUF Supported Learners & Independent Learners:

PUF Supported Learners

Alberta Education provides Program Unit Funding (PUF) for children between 2.8 and 4.8 years of age who have been identified as needing early learning intervention.

Independent Learners

Children who are 4 by December 31, 2025, in their year prior to Kindergarten.

A screening process will be done to determine which students qualify for funded pre-kindergarten (PUF). Students who are determined to be "independent learners" as described above will not qualify for funding and will be charged a fee to attend the pre-kindergarten program. Deposits for fees will be collected starting on April 1 for students who have not yet been confirmed as eligible for funding.

Kindergarten Registration Process

We would LOVE to journey with your child at St. John XXIII! Kindergarten is a wonderful and exciting place for your child to grow and learn. At St. John XXIII, we provide a faith-infused learning environment that focuses on supporting your child's development as a confident learner going into Grade 1. We work with our families to ensure these important first steps toward a Catholic education will be a rich and rewarding experience.

Our faith-based program welcomes all children and nurtures the physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual needs of your child. Independence, initiative, decision making, creativity, the ability to learn, relationships and feelings of self-worth -- all have their beginnings in early childhood. We believe that each child is unique, and together with parents as our partners, we build upon their natural curiosity and spontaneity, encouraging and supporting them as they grow their brains, share smiles, and become all that God has called them to be.

Nature Kindergarten

Our school offers a supplemental Nature Kindergarten program which operates Mondays/Thursdays and some Wednesdays. This supplemental program allows for your child to attend kindergarten 5 days a week. This paid program also offers students the opportunity to spend a large part of their day outside engaged in meaningful ways of learning with their body, mind and spirit while located in a natural setting, providing an option to attend kindergarten full time.

Nature Program Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, and Grade 4

This supplemental program provides students with an opportunity to spend two half days outside each week. This paid program connects students to nature by fostering rich learning experiences, physical literacy and independence.

Thank you to our amazing School Council for bringing Fitset Ninja to our school on Thursday! The kids had an absolute blast, and it was wonderful to see so many smiles and so much energy. We truly appreciate your support in creating these memorable experiences for our students!

We’ll be using MunchaLunch for ordering hot lunch! It’s a simple, convenient way to choose and pay for your child’s lunch online. You can easily pay with a credit card (Visa/Mastercard), debit-credit card, Google Pay, Apple Pay, or a pre-paid credit card.

How to Register:

1) Go to: https://munchalunch.com/schools/stjohnXXIII

2) Click the “Register Here” button (as shown below). The system will guide you through the registration process.

3) After adding your children, click the green “Order Lunch!” button to order.

4) Next time, just click the “Login Here” button to access your account.

Ordering Information:

Online ordering for February Hot Lunch is live:

• Thursday, February 13th - Subway

• Wednesday, February 26th - KFC

Important Reminders:

• Orders will be accepted up to 7 days before the hot lunch date.

• If your child is ill or absent on a hot lunch date, you’re welcome to pick up their lunch order by 11:30 AM. If you’re unable to do so, please consider it a donation for a child in need.

• Please note that we are unable to issue refunds. We appreciate your support of our hot lunch program, as the prices include costs associated with running the program and help raise funds that benefit the student experience at our school. Thank you for your understanding!

If you need assistance with ordering, please contact our hot lunch coordinator Brandy at Hotlunchstjohnxxiii@gmail.com

We're excited to offer our remaining Big Box of Cards sets! Each box contains 35 handcrafted cards for just $36.32. Choose between the All Occasion box or the Birthday box set—perfect for any celebration!

Hurry, as these sets are available on a first come, first serve basis and quantities are limited. You can order as many boxes as you'd like from our available stock, so be sure to stock up for all your upcoming events! Payment is quick and easy through MunchaLunch, and must be made at the time of order. Don’t miss out on this fantastic deal!

Mark your calendars! Our next School Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 10th, at 6:30 PM. We encourage all parents and guardians to attend. We look forward to seeing you there!

Our Lost and Found area is filling up. Next time you are in the school dropping off or picking up your child, please take a look at all the items.

Email: stj@eics.ab.ca
Website: https://stj.eics.ab.ca/
Location: 9526 89 Street, Fort Saskatchewan, AB, Canada
Phone: 780-998-7777
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/St.JohnXXIII
Twitter: @St_JohnXXIII