A huge highlight for kids (perhaps not for us big people who had to drive in it) was the arrival of our first snow fall! Wow the kids were excited! There were so many huge snowballs and snowmen all over the field. I giggled watching kids committed to rolling snowballs all the way up the big hill to the roof (and it got harder to push on the way up as it grew with each roll!). They needed to elicit the help of Constable Lavalee to help get it all the way up! Once up there, Constable Lavalee asked, "Now what?".....As the kids let it roll all the way down the hill!! Too fun! What a sight to see rosy cheeks, big smiles and snowball trails!

It was BURRITO day in the Grade 7&8 Foods class this week! Burritos were packed full of cooked and chopped goodness, including onions and cilantro! When talking with many of the kids, they laughed at how much they cried with the onions! I was honoured to have a special burrito delivery as a taste tester. Mmmm! Delicious!

We had our GIFT (Growing In Faith Together) assembly in the library this past Thursday and I could not contain my excitement! I was delighted to be part of the audience to sit back and enjoy this moment of Faith as Mrs. Marple, our music specialist, leads this month's GIFT Assemblies. Excitedly we celebrated our second of Seven Sacred Teachings. This month is Honesty and I am touched by how many times students have used this reminder for themselves and with others to be authentic and trustworthy!

We want our recess equipment to last for as long as it can, and we don't want equipment to be misplaced. STL kids have received lots of reminders to return the equipment they take our at recess. These two fantastic servant leaders took it upon themselves to collect all of the equipment left outside and bring it back into the school! Way to go, girls! Thank you!

With continued gratitude for our fantastic community,

Pamela Gravelle

Principal

Here's your joke to launch the week: Appropriate for our snowy Tuesday this week!

From one of our Grade 7 students...

Why was the snowman digging through the carrots?

Because he was picking his nose!

Monday, November 11

• Lest We Forget - St. Luke Catholic School shares our prayers & gratitude to all those who served and are serving to bring peace.

Enjoy your time together. We pray for joy and safe returns.

Sunday, November 17

• Hot lunch order deadline

Monday, November 18

• Welcome Back from November Break!
• Insight Testing - All Week for grades 4, 7 & 8
• Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week

Tuesday November 19

• GIFT Assembly @ 8:15am - Families Welcome!!
• Nature Infused Pre-Kinder & Kinder in class
• Grade 4-8 Boys Intramurals @ lunch recess
• Girls volleyball practice - 2:45 - 4:00

Wednesday, November 20

• Mrs. McCann @ STL
• Grade 7/8 Girls Group 12:15PM
• Grade 3-8 Games Club @ 11:50
• Student Support Team Meeting in support of all learners
• Girls volleyball playoffs @ Holy Redeemer - 4PM - 5PM. GO MUSTANGS!!

Thursday November 21

• Nature Infused Pre-Kinder & Kinder in Class
• Choir Practice @ 11:50
• Mrs. McCann @ STL
• Grade 4 Girls Group 12:15PM
• Hot Lunch for those who ordered
• Teachers working together to Collaborative Respond to learning needs

Friday, November 22

• Nature Infused Pre-Kinder & Kinder in Class
• RED for Ed!! Please show your support for publicly funded Education and wear RED!
• Clay for Kids - Glass Fusion (Grades K-8)

St. John Paul II reminds about truth and honesty. Below are pictures of St. John Paul II, when he was Pope John Paull II. He visited Edmonton and he walked in Elk Island National Park while in prayer.

What great affirmation that our St. Luke Catholic School community enjoys coming together to connect and celebrate together by the fantastic turn out at our Halloween Howler! The positive energy and joy of being together was palpable! We look forward to all of the opportunities our community can come together, connect and celebrate. As such, we are excited to share some fantastic details about our updated St. Luke Catholic School Advent Concert, a time when we celebrate the birth of Christ and the season of love, joy, hope and peace!

Our St. Luke Catholic School Advent Concert will be held in the evening at OLPH Catholic Parish on Thursday, December 19 at 7:30pm following mass at 6:15pm. Thank you for noting this updated date in your calendar.

Advent as well as Christmas are important times in our Catholic Liturgical calendars and celebrating at OLPH Parish keeps Christ at the forefront and the reason for the season. In addition, to help alleviate concerns about visibility for attendees, hosting the concert at OLPH Parish ensures everyone has a clear view. OLPH Parish Church also alleviates issues related to fire regulations and infrastructure, allowing families to invite more guests.

The St. Luke Parent Association will continue the annual raffle baskets in the church foyer, which will be available to both school families and parishioners.

Additionally, they will also hold an inclusive draw for front-row VIP seats, made possible thanks to the generous donation from one of our parents Jason Sopka with World Financial Group - Team Faith Leadership Group!

Update: There will be a daytime dress rehearsal at OLPH Parish on Tuesday, December 17th at 10:30am that is open for families to view a daytime performance.

For the St. Luke Advent Concert, children are asked to wear their “Sunday Best.”

Never been to the OLPH Parish? Great news! We will be headed there for a school wide Advent mass on December 6 at 1:00pm. You are invited to join us and experience the beauty of our Catholic Church first hand as we launch our Advent season! You are also invited to join mass at 6:15pm on December 19 and our St. Luke Advent Concert will begin afterwards.

If you have any questions, you are invited to connect with our St. Luke School Council Executive or St. Luke’s Principal Mme Gravelle.

During EICS Fall break, OLPH Parish will offer a combined “Family Baptism Preparation Class” for parents and children, ages 7 – 10, who wish to be baptized this year – then continue on to celebrate First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion

Our parish is starting up Youth Ministry teams for youth in grade 6 and older who would like to volunteer at church! Roles include Greeting & Hospitality, Proclaiming (Reading at Mass) and Ushers ministry. We also have our Altar Servers Ministry for children who have received their First Communion (grade 2 and older.)

Any teachers or parents interested in getting more involved in Parish Life? We are looking for adult mentors also. Email PastoralPriorities@olph.ca to learn more or get involved.)

We are also excited to announce Face to Face Ministries will be back at OLPH parish for our 3rd Annual ELEVATE Youth Conference on January 25, 2025! This incredible event is for youth in grades 6-8. Registration will be officially opening November 1 and we will be counting on our schools to help spread the word. Stay tuned...

Face to Face Ministries is coming to St. Luke Catholic Schools for a full day retreat for kids on January 14!!

Our Kindergarten class had a Dino Day this week! They learned about the 5 senses through some of the world's oldest known creatures! They even got to excavate their very own little DINO!!

In the middle of November Insight tests will be administered to Grade 4, 7 & 8 students and it is a group-administered test of cognitive abilities. The assessment is designed to measure cognitive abilities including reasoning, comprehension, memory, and visual/auditory processing. Students do not need to study for the Insight and the results do not impact their school grades. The results provide information about students’ cognitive strengths and areas of weakness to best support and program for all learners. For more information, please visit the link below.

If you have any questions, please contact St. Luke Catholic School's Inclusive Learning Facilitator Mrs. Kroeker.

Happy Fall Break everyone!

It's getting colder, and there is nothing better than curling up with a blanket, some hot chocolate, and a good book!! Have great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs.Scoggins

As outlined in the introduction of Polar Bear Recess, outdoor play is vital for children's wellness and growth.

Students will be outside to -25 degrees Celcius or -25 Windchill. Thank you for ensuring your children are coming to school with their outdoor gear to be healthy and safe! If you need help with having warm clothes, please contact us at the office. We are happy to help.

Thank you for ensuring that all children have both indoor and outdoor shoes.

As we move into the colder weather, children need more insulation to keep their toes warm when outside, and less when they are inside. Plus, taking off outdoor shoes helps to keep the school clean and the floors dry for safety.

After the November break we will begin to enforce the expectation for all students to have indoor and outdoor shoes. Thank you for you help with this.

Brought to us by a student in Grade 5!

What is a building that doesn't weigh much?

A lighthouse!

Our Games club is gaining popularity! This week's feature game was Family Charades!

We are looking for more games, so if you have any to spare, we could really use with any games that are highly engaging and each round is fairly quick to play as we only have 20 minutes.

Thank you in advance for your game donations!

St. Luke Catholic School is on a mission to spread joy! Through the Great Candy Exchange, students bring in extra Halloween Candy so they can be brought to and handed out at Edmonton's Hope Mission! Way to go St. Luke Students! Way to be extra generous and spread joy!

St. Luke staff, students and many community members gathered at the South Cooking Lake Cemetery for a No Stone Left Alone Remembrance Service. We are so incredibly proud of how reverent, prayerful and respectful students were as they place poppies on graves and held space for those who served as well as community members who have passed.

A very special thank you to the moms, dads and grandparents who joined us to honour our community veterans.

Please see the below information regarding some great changes to our school messaging system that will prevent important information or attendance notifications from going to parent/guardian spam folders.

Currently, when parents sign up for emails (or reset their PowerSchool password) the email address the message comes from is powerschool@eics.ab.ca

New rules introduced this year by Google, Yahoo, and a number of other email providers have resulted in a significant number of these emails being flagged as spam and not delivered to parents or guardians in regards to important or ongoing school information

Starting on November 11, 2024, parents receiving these emails will now see the "from" address become "no-reply@rackspace.powerschool.com". This makes it clear to the email server that this email (which comes from powerschool.com) is in fact advertising itself appropriately as coming from powerschool and should reduce how many emails get blocked.

If you have any questions regarding this upgrade please reach out to Mrs. Bilyk in the office!!

GROWING SMILES

Our much loved Christmas greenery sale is back! Along with being a lovely addition to your holiday surroundings, these beautiful arrangements make wonderful gifts for teachers and coaches with the added benefit of supporting student enrichment within our St. Luke community.

Orders are now open and will close on November 20 at 9:00pm.

Click the link below to be directed to our Growing Smiles website:

https://stlukecatholicschool.growingsmilesfundraising.com

Please note we are only able to accept orders/payment via our dedicated Growing Smiles website.

If you have any questions, please email stlukecitc@gmail.com

On November 7 an invitation to participate in our annual raffle basket item collection was sent home with each student. Each classroom has been given a theme for items to collect. Raffle tickets will be available to purchase during our Christmas in the Country event. With our community's spirit of generosity, last year's raffle was a resounding success raising more than $2000.00 for student activities!

All meeting begin at 6:00PM

-- November 25 --

January 13

February 10

March 10

April 7

May 12

June 9

If your child is sick or there is not enough notice to cancel, you can let the team know via hotlunchstluke@gmail.com or via FB messenger if you'd like to have the hot lunch sent home with a sibling, or given to another student at school.

If you have any questions or require support setting up your account or ordering, please do not hesitate to contact Shelby Mistecki at hotlunchstluke@gmail.com.

FACEBOOK -Join Us!

If you haven’t already, please join our School Council and Parent Association Facebook page! We are excited to offer this official space to share news and updates about events, fundraising, and more!

Questions or Want to Volunteer?

If you are interested in getting involved in events or have questions for St. Luke's School Council, please email stlukeparentassociation@gmail.com

Christmas in the Country is only a few weeks away! We are very excited to once again be hosting this annual community event.

Come out and join us on Saturday, December 7th from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

The day includes more than 40 tables to peruse for those hard to buy for friends and family members, a craft corner to keep the kiddos busy while you shop and a concession featuring coffee, hot chocolate, hot dogs and other snacking items.

As always, entry is free. There will be a box available for Food Bank donations and the tree will be ready to receive mittens for our annual mitten tree. Donations will be dropped off to those in need.

Community events don't happen without help from our parents and students and we are in need of several volunteers for the day. Please click the Survey Genius link below to lend your time in support of our students.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D45A5A723A7F5C61-53039709-christmas

November

• 25 - School Council Meeting

December (Everyone is invited!)

• 6 - PreK to Grade 8 Advent Mass 1:00pm @ OLPH Church
• 17 - 10:30am Advent Concert Dress Rehearsal @ OLPH
• 19 - 6:15pm Mass & 7:30pm Advent Concert @ OLPH

Masses at OLPH will be livestreamed. Please join using this link. https://www.facebook.com/olphsherwoodpark/videos/

Visit OLPH Website for more information about the parish and in regards to sacramental preparation.

Visit www.facebook.com/olphsherwoodpark

St. Francis of Assisi Parish is administered by Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Sherwood Park. Please contact the parish for confession times and more information.

Clergy: Reverend Jim Corrigan, Pastor

Mass Time: Sunday 11:00

Email Address: StFrancisAssisi.Tofield(at)caedm.ca

5523 - 50 Street Tofield, AB T0B 4J0

See map: Google Maps

Phone: 780-467-5470

Mme Pamela Gravelle

Principal

Email: stl@eics.ab.ca
Website: stl.eics.ab.ca
Location: 22139 South Cooking Lake Road, Sherwood Park, AB, Canada
Phone: 780-922-5920
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stlukeeics
Twitter: @stlcs_EICS