Father Daniel Zanon

Principal: N. Podobnik

Head Secretary: S. Santos

Catholic School Council Chairs: P. Magnone, P. Checchia

Superintendent of Mississauga East: D. Belchior

Trustee Mississauga Ward 7: Bruno Iannicca

St. Catherine of Siena Parish

Email: FatherDanielZanonInfo@dpcdsb.org
Website: www.dpcdsb.org/ZANON
Location: 450 Hillcrest Ave Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Phone: 905-279-3722

Please feel free to click on the Translate button on the top of the newsletter to choose your language of preference! (Arabic, Spanish, Hausa, Portuguese, Taglog, Polish, Italian, Malayalam, Hindi etc.)

The season of Advent is a time of expectation, waiting, kindness, compassion and hope. We strive to prepare our hearts and our lives as we wait in great anticipation for the coming of Jesus. The birth of Jesus signifies a new beginning that heralds new hopes, dreams that light up our lives, and give it new meaning. Here at Father Daniel Zanon, we emphasize the implications of the birth of our Saviour through our Christian actions. We continue to foster a safe, caring, inclusive, healthy environment where students can grow and learn. We ensure that Advent is a time where we emphasize charity and social justice. It is a time to prepare the way, to make God real each and every day through prayer, charity and social justice. We will again answer the call to serve when we work with St. Catherine of Siena in supporting the St. Vincent de Paul Society by providing for those in need. We will travel through the Advent season in song, dance and prayer during our Christmas Concert and we will celebrate mass together to prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of Christ. During the season of Advent, may God bless you and inspire you to prepare yourself and your children for the ongoing incarnation of the Divine in our midst. We hope that you will be blessed with the spirit and gifts of the first Christmas—peace, love and goodwill toward all. May the promise of Christmas help to show God’s boundless love and may you be blessed with good health, prosperity and happiness throughout the New Year as we strive to work with you and for you in providing excellence in Catholic Education in our community.

Together in Faith

N. Podobnik

“Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting” Henri Nouwen

Dec 2 - Advent Mass @ 9:30

Dec 4 - Father Michael Goetz to visit our Gr 8's

Dec 4 - PALS Training Day

Dec 9 - YFA Advent Liturgy @ 10:00

Dec 10/11/13 Dental Screening

Dec 10 Christmas Concert Dress Rehearsal

Dec 11 Intermediates to Visit Father Michael Goetz - Kalaeidoscope

Dec 12 - Christmas Concert Performances @ 1:30 pm and 6:00 pm

Dec 16 - 20 - Christmas Spirit Week

Dec 17 Parish Visit for Gr 1 - 3

Dec 19 YFA Advent Liturgy @ 1:45

Dec 20 Virtue Assembly @ 1:45

Dec 20 - Last day of School

Dec 23 - Jan 3 - Christmas Break

Jan 6 - First Day Back to School

Jan 7 - Parish Visit for Gr 1 - 3

Jan 13 - Beading Buds for Gr 2 and 7's

Jan 14 - St. Andre Bessette Liturgy

Jan 16 - CSC Meeting

Jan 20 - PA Day

Jan 31 - Virtue Assembly

Jan 31 - Term 2 Begins

St Catherine of Siena Parish—2340 Hurontario St. Mississauga, Ontario L5B 1N1

Phone: 905-272-1454

Email: office@stcatherine.ca

Parish Team: Rev. Jose Gabriel Forero Martinez c.s.Pastor, Rev. Feliciano Merchan Mendez c.s. Associate Pastor, Rev. Ngoc Van Nguyen c.s.Associate Pastor, Rev. Santo Cigolini c.s. Residence Deacon Judithus Emmanuel Deacon Assistant

Weekday Masses: Mon—Fri 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Saturday 8:00 a.m.

Sunday Masses

Saturday 6:00 p.m. English

Sunday 8:30 a.m. English 2:30 p.m. Tagalog (3rd Sun of month only)

10:00 a.m. Italian 4:00 p.m. English

11:30 a.m. English 6:00 p.m. Misa en espanol

1:00 p.m. English

Please contact the parish for information regarding sacraments.

Our Virtue of the Month God helps us to keep on working for a more peaceful world even when we feel discouraged. A hopeful person is …

• inspired and inspires others

• always counts on God to help them in tough situations

• trusts that things will work out in God ’s way

• one who sees the good in the world

God has given us this Advent Season to focus our minds and hearts on the good all around us. We believe that God created the world and all of us in it to be good. However, sometimes bad things happen to us that we cannot explain. During these times, we tend to get mad at God for putting us through so much pain. We may get discouraged and forget that God is always with us to help. When you feel sad and alone, remember to never lose HOPE, pray to Jesus, and things will get better.

Let us now pray for the grace and courage to be people of hope - people who can see, participate in and contribute to God ’s goodness emerging around us.

AMEN.

The theme chosen for the upcoming 2025 Catholic Education Week is: Catholic Education: Pilgrims of Hope L’éducation catholique: Pèlerins de l’espérance.

“We must fan the flame of hope that has been given to us.” (Letter on the Jubilee Year of Hope, February 11, 2022)

The five sub themes for Catholic Education week explore ways to live out Pope Francis’ call for each one of us to be Pilgrims of Hope…

• by honouring human dignity / honorent la dignité humaine (Monday)
• by caring for creation / prennent soin de la création (Tuesday)
• by responding to the poverties in our world / luttent contre les pauvretés (Wednesday)
• by serving in solidarity / servent en solidarité (Thursday)
• by living as peacemakers / vivent en artisans de paix (Friday)

Catholic Education Week Prayer

Hope is our calling, O Lord,

and the destination of our pilgrim journeys.

As we mark this Jubilee Year of hope,

keep our eyes focused on Jesus,

and on the hope he reveals to us.

All our hope is in you, O God, in the name of Jesus

our Lord and companion.

Amen

December: For Pilgrims of Hope

Pope Francis requests this month's prayers “so that this Jubilee strengthens us in faith, helps us recognize Christ risen in our lives, and transforms us into pilgrims of Christian hope.”

I believe that God is an awesome God I believe and have faith in God I believe that God is with us always I believe that we can talk to God anytime and any where, through prayer I believe in the stories of the Bible I believe in the stories of Jesus' life, death & resurrection I believe in the Church community, celebrating Mass, and the seven Sacraments I believe in forgiveness Because I am a believer, I will live my life like Jesus.

We would like to invite all families to celebrate Christmas by joining together for our Advent Mass Monday December 2nd at 9:30 Thank you to Ms. Kocet, Ms. Costa, Ms. Fenn and Ms. Cross for supporting this faith filled event.

We will be gathering for our next virtue assembly on Friday December 20th at 9:30. Students will be introduced to the virtue of Self Control and recognized for the virtue of Hope. We will also join in singing some Christmas Carols together.

Advent marks the beginning of the Church ’s liturgical year. The four weeks of Advent lead up to the celebration of Christmas. Advent’s familiar sights and sounds stir in us a readiness to receive our Saviour, while sharpening our sense of the world ’s need for redemption and of the great mystery of God becoming human for us. Advent is a Latin word meaning the coming. The season of Advent is a time to prepare to celebrate the three comings of Christ: his lowly birth in the past, his mysterious coming to the world in the present, and his promised return in Glory at the end of time. Advent is a special time of waiting. Since the latter half of the 6th century, Christians have set aside the four weeks before Christmas to remember and to celebrate that Jesus Christ is the one who comes. It is a time to celebrate light in the midst of darkness. Traditional symbols and customs help us to celebrate this special time of waiting.

The Advent Wreath is used to help us prepare for Christ ’s coming. We use evergreen branches to make the Advent wreath. These stay green all year long. This reminds us that God and His love for us never changes. The circular shape reminds us of God Himself, His eternity and endless mercy, his never ending love for us, which has no beginning or end. The light reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world. The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent or the four Gospels; unlit they represent the ages “sitting in darkness” awaiting the coming Christ; the growing circle of light represents the “approaching” light of the world. Three of the candles for the wreath are purple, as a sign of our need to repent and turn back to God in preparation for Jesus ’ coming. During Advent we try to say that we are sorry for not loving Jesus enough and we promise to try hard to do better in our Christian walk. The fourth one, lit on the third Sunday of Advent, is rose or pink to express our joy that Christmas is so close. Some Advent wreaths have a large white candle in the center, the ‘Christ Light ’, to be lit on Christmas Eve to herald the birth of Jesus. Each time we light a candle on the Advent wreath we are reminded that Jesus is the light of the world. His teachings are our guiding light. If we listen to what he wants us to do, we will be happy with him forever.

Father of our lord Jesus Christ, ever faithful to your promises and ever close to your Church: the earth rejoices in hope of the Savior ’s coming and looks forward with longing to his return at the end of time. Prepare our hearts and remove the sadness that hinders us from feeling the joy and hope which his presence will bestow, for he is Lord forever and ever. Amen.

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to the Halloween Candy Drive. All the candies, chips and chocolates went to Dr. Simone's Canadian Food For Children.

In the season of Advent, and preparing ourselves for the coming of Christ the Father Daniel Zanon Catholic Elementary school community is invited to participate in a gift card drive in support of St. Vincent de Paul and families in need in our community. Gift cards can be brought to the school until December 6th. Cookie sales will also support the purchase of gift cards.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” Matthew 25:40

Tis the Season! Save the Date! It’s Christmas time at Father Daniel Zanon School

You are invited to our live celebration of Christmas on:

Thursday December 12th, 2024

Afternoon performance @ 1:30 p.m

Evening performance @ 6:00 p.m

(in case of cancellation due to inclement weather, concert will be Monday Dec. 16th day only)

It would be greatly appreciated if each family can bring in a non-perishable food item to support our local community.

CANDY GRAMS ARE BACK!! To compliment the anticipation for all as we journey in this joyous Advent season and to spread some Christmas Cheer, we are happy to share that candy cane grams will be available for purchase from Wednesday December 4th – Thursday December 12th. The cost is $1.00 each. Purchases can be made through School Cash Online, or with cash at the school. Students who purchase will receive candy gram tags to take home to complete. Attached is a copy of what the tag will look like. All candy cane gram tags are due in the office by Monday December 16th to prepare for distribution. Candy grams will be delivered to students in their classes on December 18th and 19th. Proceeds from the sales will go directly back to supporting students – enhancements to technology, athletics, school mural, speakers, and presentations.

Here is a list of ingredients for the Candy Canes

Carnaby Street Candy Canes - Peppermint Ingredient List:

SUGAR, GLUCOSE SYRUP, NATURAL FLAVOUR, ALLURA RED, TARTAZINE, BRILLIAN BLUE FDF, GLYCERIN, CANOLA OIL, SUNFLOWER LECITHIN. (May contain egg, wheat, soy, and milk)

Carnaby Street Candy Canes - Cherry Ingredient List:

SUGAR, GLUCOSE SYRUP, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOURS, SODIUM CITRITE, ALLURA RED, SUNSET YELLOW FCF, GLYCERIN, CANOLA OIL, SUNFLOWER LECITHIN. (May contain egg, wheat, soy and milk)

A huge thank you to Ms. Borges, her helper (her mom) and Ms. Santos for helping us to enter into Advent and helping to decorate the school.

How To Encourage Growth and Learning In Your Child

Students come into a classroom with a certain perspective about themselves as learners. Research categorizes these perspectives as “Growth Mindset” and “Fixed Mindset”. A student with a fixed mindset thinks that they cannot increase their skill and knowledge in a particular area. A student with a growth mindset believes that they can learn anything if they put in the work, practice and effort to learn it. Let’s continue to strive towards encouraging a growth mindset. With hard work, commitment and practice we can all achieve.

Father Daniel Zanon continues to use the WITS program and THINK. These tools are aimed at helping students learn strategies to deal with problem situations appropriately and independently. The WITS acronym stands for: Walk Away, Ignore, Talk it Out, Seek Help

Before you speak, THINK stands for is it True?, Helpful? Important? Necessary? Kind?

Please take a moment to talk with your child(ren), and have them explain to you their understanding of when they might need to use these strategies and what they can do to help themselves in a variety of situations. We continue to remind students of their WITS, and encourage them to use them as well to THINK.

“Got a problem… Use your Wits!”

Kindergarten Registration for the 2025-2026 school year is now open

Kindergarten registration for the 2025-2026 school year at Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) schools is now open. DPCDSB offers the Kindergarten program in 125 Catholic elementary schools in Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, Bolton and Orangeville.

Parents/guardians can register online at dpcdsb.org.

Registration is open to Catholic children and children of Catholic parents. Kindergarten students must be at least four (4) years of age by December 31, 2025.

The following documents are required to complete the registration process:

• Proof of age of the child
• Original Roman Catholic baptismal certificate (for child and/or parent/guardian) or original baptismal certificate from a church in full communion with the Holy See of Rome or an Eastern Catholic Church.
• Immunization Reference #’s from the local Public Health Unit
• Proof of Canadian citizenship or permanent resident status
• Proof of home address
• Proof of English Separate School Support

Please refer to the Register for School webpage for accepted forms of documentation.

Inquiries about home school locations/boundary areas should be directed to the DPCDSB Planning Department at 905-890-0708 ext. 24440.

For more information, parents/guardians should contact their local Catholic school, visit the DPCDSB website at dpcdsb.org, or call DPCDSB’s Admissions Department at 905-890-1221.

We are very blessed to have so many opportunities for our students to participate and get invovled.

YFA's - Our Youth Faith Ambassadors under the direction of Ms. Fernandez, Ms. Mansour, Ms. MacDonald and Ms. Borges are always hard at work doing God's work. They are currently working to support our Cookie sales and gift card drive to help those in need this Advent Season.

Mental Health Champions - Our team of amazing students led a very impactful presentation - The Wrinked Heart - during Bullying Prevention and Awareness Week. We thank them and Ms. Mallia-Bomben for their great work

ECO DRAGONZ - our Eco Dragonz are a very busy, vibrant group of students who work to support all of our ECO initiatives. Their leadership and example is valued and appreciated in our efforts to be stewards of the land. Thank you to Ms. Mallia for supporting this team

Recess Club - Students are getting the opportunity to work on social skills while having fun at our recess club. Thank you for Ms. Fernandez and Ms. Mansour for providing the opportunity

Intermediate Boys and Girls Volleyball - our intermediate volleyball teams worked really hard to prepare for the ME Family of Schools POD tournament. They displayed great skills, sportsmanship and teamwork. Go DRAGONZ! Thanks to coaches Ms. Fenn and Mr. Figliola

Please note; school begins at 9:00 a.m. There will be teachers on duty beginning at 8:45 a.m. Therefore, please do not drop off your children at school before 8:45, as we will not have supervision available. This also applies during inclement weather days. As well, school ends at 3:30. Please ensure students being picked up are met promptly at 3:30. Thank you for ensuring the safety of all.

To ensure the safety of all staff and students and to ensure a successful day, please see the information below;

• Moving forward, we will not be accepting lunch time deliveries from third parties; Uber Eats, Skip the Dishes etc.
• Parent(s)/Guardian(s) and Caregiver(s), as they are known to us, will continue to be permitted to drop off lunches for their child(ren). There is a lunch table by the front door where lunch can be dropped off and labelled.
• If lunches are dropped off by parent(s)/guardian(s), please ensure they arrive prior to 12 noon. Students eat lunch from 12:03 – 12:23 and transition outdoors from 12:23 – 1:03. This helps to ensure adequate time to eat lunch
• A reminder that students require a written note signed by a parent/guardian should they wish to leave school property for lunch.
• If your child(ren) forget(s) lunch or in the case of emergency, school staff will contact you

Thank you for ensuring that your child(ren) come to school prepared with all items for a successful day. This includes snacks, lunch, a refillable water bottle and utensils as necessary. Water fountains are available as well as water filling stations.

Inclement Weather Reminders

Our winter season is here! At this time we would like to remind all students to dress appropriately for the season by wearing the proper winter attire which should include hats, gloves/mitts, winter coats and boots. When students are dressed properly for the winter conditions, they can go outside and enjoy some fresh air and activity in comfort. There will be a few times during the course of the year where a recess may be shortened or held indoors due to extreme cold temperatures. Our school board policy states that although consideration should be given for keeping students indoors during recesses when the wind chill reaches -20C, students are to be kept indoors during recesses when the wind chill reaches -25C.

In the colder weather, we receive numerous requests to allow children to remain indoors when students have a cold, the flu, etc. Please note that we cannot comply as we neither have the facilities nor the staff to supervise these students. Moreover, the health officials indicate that the fresh air is good for children, not harmful as long as they are dressed appropriately.

SNOW Safety Expectations

Now that the snow will soon be here it is important to remind students that Father Daniel Zanon has a strict rule of forbidding the throwing of snowballs and kicking of snow. Every student has been made aware of the importance of this rule in the preventing of injury to others.

S Snow stays on the ground

NO No standing, sitting, sliding down hills

W Winter wonder: building snow angels, snow people, snow forts!

Please review our Snow Safety Expectations with your children. Thank you for your support.

Students who are ill should be kept home where they are most comfortable and can get better, sooner. A child who is too ill to go out for recess is too ill to be at school. Your co-operation to keep your child(ren) home when sick is greatly appreciated.

On occasion we are faced with difficult situations in which non-custodial parents arrive at school asking to visit with their child or take their child out of school. In order to assist us in making correct decisions in order to serve and protect each child, we ask that you make the office aware of any legal custody arrangements, visitation rights and special instructions that have been agreed upon. Please note that we require legal documentation of these arrangements, not merely a not a note from a parent.

Christmas Break will be between Saturday December 21 to Sunday January 5. Children return to school for classes on Monday, January 6th, 2025. From the staff at Father Daniel Zanon, we wish you and your family a joyous and peaceful Christmas holiday.

Some of the students in our school have severe life threatening allergic reactions to nuts, peanuts, peanut butter, peanut oils and any peanut by -products. For some children the smell of nuts can bring on a severe attack. We need your cooperation! We kindly ask that you DO NOT send snacks to school that contain nuts or any nut products.

Please note that to ensure the continued safety of all students, the Dufferin -Peel Catholic District School Board with the support of the Anaphylactic Society and the Peel Health Department has recommended that students not bring peanut butter alternatives (soy butter, sunflower butter) to school. We thank you for your cooperation in supporting student safety.

We ask that parents continue to support their children in their morning routines so that they can arrive to school on time. This ensures that your child learns an essential life skill, participates in the entire school day, and that disruptions to the learning environment are minimal.

When a student receives an injury/bump to the head (however minor), we will inform parents. This is precautionary only, and we ask that you check your child when he/she gets home for any signs of a concussion or illness. We will also provide your child with a form containing information about Concussions, again this is a precautionary measure and for information purposes.

Whether it’s a medical appointment, an illness or other important event, there are times when students may need to be away from school. The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District school board is introducing a new method for parents to report their child(ren)’s absences. Using the SafeArrival system, parents will be able to report daily or future absences in one of three ways:

Web:

1. Go to the SafeArrival website at go.schoolmessenger.ca
2. Select Sign Up to create your account. (Only needed for the initial setup, after that you will click on login).
3. Select Attendance.
4. Select Report an Absence.

App:

1. Download and install the SchoolMessenger app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Please note that SafeArrival uses the SchoolMessenger app.
2. Select Sign-Up. (Only needed for the initial setup, after that you will click on login).
3. You will be prompted to enter your email (same email address your school has on file) and create a password.
4. The system will send a link to the same email address the school has on file, please click on the link you have received in your email to activate your account.

Phone:

1. Call the toll-free number 1-844-435-3440
2. Listen to and follow the instructions to report an absence.
3. If the system doesn’t recognize your caller ID, you will be asked to enter the student’s home phone number or any phone number for the guardian that is on file with the school.

You can now reset your password remotely by registering for the Password Reset Tool. You must know your old password to create a new one.

To reset your password remotely you must first register with the “Password Reset Tool”, which you can do by following one of these two steps:

Students: students.dpcdsb.org and select Password Reset

Staff: https://account.activedirectory.windowsazure.com/PasswordReset/Register.aspx ​

**Access to personal email/cell phone is required for registration.

Once you are registered, please follow the Password Reset Instruction

We would like to extend a sincere thank you to our Catholic School Council for their continued hard work and support of our school. Our Catholic School Council organized a Chocolate Fundraiser. $3844.61 was raised. Funds raised are to support enhancements to technology, numeracy and literacy, Sacraments, Graduation, guest speakers, presentations and school and classroom activities.

CSC Meetings & Meeting Minutes

All parents are welcome to attend our Catholic School Council (CSC) meetings. All meetings begin at 6:00 pm, and are held in our school library. Can’t attend a meeting? Please be sure to visit our school’s web page at www.dpcdsb.org. Using the drop-down menu located on the left of the homepage, click on “Father Daniel Zanon”. Click on “About” then “School Council” where you will find the most recently approved Meeting Minutes. In addition, you will find a list of CSC members, along with our meeting dates. Your Catholic School Council is grateful for your continued support of our initiatives.

Next Meeting

Our next Catholic School Council Meeting will take place on Thursday February 1, 2024