Precious Blood Catholic School

P.B.S. Express!March 2016

Virtue for March - Forgiveness

LENTEN WEEK OF CONFES-SIONS

The Churches in the Archdio-cese of Toronto will be having a week of Lenten Confessions from March 7 to March 12 to help you prepare for Easter. At Precious Blood, along with our priests, we will have guest

priests available on Wednesday, March 9 from 7:30 pm to 9 pm.

A ReflectionAsh Wednesday is the first day of Lent and we celebrate it by putting ashes on our head. Why we put ashes on our head is because God made us from dust and when we die we shall go into dust and our spirits go into Heaven. “Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust you shall return.” At P.B.S, we celebrated Ash Wednesday on Feb.10th 2016. On Ash Wednesday we have to fast and pray a lot because Jesus fasted for forty nights and forty days in the desert and he prayed. After Ash Wednesday we have to go to Church every Sunday in Lent. Ash Wednesday is important to all Catholics, and in our school we respect and honour Ash Wednesday.

Ash WednesdayFather Steven Dickson visited Precious Blood to celebrate the cer-emony of ashes with the school community in the School Gym. In his homily to the staff, students and parents, Father Steven outlined the importance of ab-serving the three as-pects of Lent, which are Fasting, Prayer and Alms Giving. He reminded the school community that these only have meaning when each person comes to celebrate Eucharist on Sundays at Church.

Lent is a time when we call to mind how much Jesus loves us. As we go through the Stations of the Cross we realize just how much Jesus suffered so that we would be saved. It is a special time when we think deeply about our lives. Our Precious Blood family is caring and loving. So in this holy sea-son of Lent we take the time to refresh our hearts and minds. We try to be more gentle and kinder. We find a way to say something to make the people around us feel special. We forgive easily and we try to never do or say anything that will hurt any person just like Jesus. ‘Let everything I do or say be something beautiful.’

Board Approves Multi-Year Recovery Plan

at the February 18, 2016 meeting of the Board, the

Board of Trustees approved option 3 which proposes budget reductions totaling $28.4 million spread out over the next three years with the objective of not increasing the accumulated defi-cit in each year, and eliminating the accumulated deficit in the 3rd and final year of the Multi-Year Recovery Plan. The Board also approved a recommendation for the Director of Education to quantify additional cost pres-sures identified in the report, and address the $3.7 million additional bussing transportation costs for a total required expen-diture reduction of $32.1 million in the annual budget planning and consultation process. Option 3 was selected by 47% of those who responded to the online survey.

The MYRP is being submitted to the Ministry of Education at the end of February. A detailed bud-get consultation plan is in devel-opment and will be presented to the board for approval in March. Please stay tuned for details on

how you can be involved in provid-ing input into the budget setting

process. www.tcdsb.org

Registration Now Open!OAPCE Toronto Hosts 77th

Annual Conference

Different Gifts, One Voice: Living our Virtues in a Virtual

WorldMay 6-7th in TorontoAll are welcome.Check out the website for all the information https://www.tcdsb.org/FORPARENTS/OAPCE-Toron-to/Events/Pages/OAPCE-Confer-ence-2016.aspx Register online here: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ec6a0r4n5fb01bdc&llr=57qgf7bab

2016 Lift Jesus Higher RallySaturday March 5th, 2016 9:00-5:30 p.m.Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building, Lower Level,255 Front Street West, Please visit: www.lift‐jesus‐higher‐rally.org for directions, hotels and other information.More information online: https://www.tcdsb.org/pages/2016-lift-jesus-higher-rally.aspx

Carnaval 2016

Overall this year we had a great Carnaval experience.

The excitement filled Winter Play Day was enjoyed by ELP,

Primary, Junior and Intermedi-ate classes. Students had fun

participating in games and activi-ties such as Hockey, Basketball, The Bonhomme Toss, Clothing Relay, Skiing, Bowling, Hoola-Hoop Relay and delicious Hot Chocolate. Precious Blood stu-

dents and staff showed a lot of school spirit when participating

in all Carnaval day events.

We also had various visits from our Mascot Bonhomme Carva-

val which included a Bonhomme Guess contest and of course we had daily games of Salut with

exciting prizes to be won. Other unforgettable events included Pancake Day, Red and White day, Crazy Tuque and Pyjama

Day. Thank you to all teachers and staff members who helped in executing the various events, it was a memorable experience.

Merci, à la prochaine!

Mme Iula-Lombardi, Mme McLean et Mme Joncas.

School Book Fair

This year’s book fair was exhilarating with all the books and school supplies. It was exciting for all

people to buy some books, especially for the younger students. The book fair was held in the school library from February 11th-15th. This year’s book fair also included pencils, erasers, bookmarks and many more. Classes went inside the book fair and saw books that could help their education. This year’s book fair was a success, many books were bought, and many chil-dren at Precious Blood have new books to read at their home.

We learned a lot as we researched

artists all through the ages. It was excit-

ing to learn about the biographies of some of the artists, when and

how they lived, and how they created and made some of the artifacts. It was exciting try-ing to copy some of

their art work. It was interesting looking at our friends’ work as

we did our gallery walk in class. We saw how every one’s work was special in a different way. Our discussions

about our work helped each one of us to feel proud of our individual work. We know that everyone can do art.

Art makes people feel special as they are

working on it. Because of art we can learn so many things. It helps us when we are doing math. We are able to

use pictures to explain and solve a problem. Sometimes we find

it easier to solve the problem because there is a picture. We know art is important for

Science too because it helps with diagrams. To understand how some machines work we look

at the diagrams to make it clear.

Mrs. Soraine’s Grade Two & Three

Grade 3 Students Learn About Structures and Stability

by Creating Bridges

The Grade 3 students in Mrs. Hayes’ class spent several

weeks learning about various struc-tures in science. They learned about natural structures such as spider webs and beaver dams as well as took a look at some man-made structures from simple build-ings to impressive monuments like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Through their study, they investigated what makes a man-made structure strong enough to withstand weather condi-tions and other forces which would impact the structure. Now it was time to put their learning to the test! Each student created a bridge which was able to hold at least 500 grams. Materials used included pop-sicle sticks, cardboard, paper towel rolls etc. Many students modeled their bridges after some famous ones such as The Golden Gate Bridge or The Brooklyn Bridge. Turned out most of the bridges could hold much more than 500 grams so they were both strong and stable. Each student presented their bridge to the class. Hope-fully you got a chance to see them during our Student Led Learning Walk because the Grade 3’s really enjoyed making them!Mrs. HayesGrade 6-7: Order of Operations

The students from Mr. Cos-grove’s class investigated the

importance of the Order of Opera-tions not only in Mathematics but in everyday life events such as driving a car, withdrowing money from an ATM and getting dressed in the morning for school. As well, the Order of Operations was applied to the design of a lantern, which was a major project for the grade 6 students.Mr. Cosgrove

Rotman School of management is a curriculum connected within the University of Toronto. It offers many types of classes, specifi-

cally integrative thinking. This class helps to identify, interpret, and solve business problems. Some of the things they teach their students are to be exact about their hypothesis they have created, examine their hypothesis, and to find solutions based on their hy-pothesis. By providing these courses, it allows students to be able to have a method and technique when approaching real-world issues.

My experience at Rotman was more than I expected. I was able to learn about their Integrative Thinking techniques and try it out myself. I felt that this conference taught me the Integrative Think-ing process and that it’s not about thinking outside the box but what’s deeper within the box. The biggest struggle that I faced during my Integrative Thinking process was looking at all sides of the story and not to jump to conclusions. I'm so used to finding my conclusion and bringing details to support it, rather than using de-tails to get to my conclusion. Rotman showed me that there is more than one right answer but the only way to find it is to start at square one. The Integrative Thinking process starts with step one: Articu-late the Models. During this step you would describe the benefits of a model or situation. Then there was step two: Examine the Models. By examining the models you would look across, within, and again over a specific model or situation. Lastly, there was step three: Explore the Possibilities. This step really focused on combining benefits of both models or situations and looking over your work. I think that bringing the Integrative Thinking Process to our school would really benefit the students and encourage them to explore different possibilities when doing their work.by Jadyn N.

Achieving Optimal Health

Mrs. Monaco’s grade 7 class accompanied by Mr.Vigliatore was trying to figure out how many steps we took in one dance class

and see if we reached the recommended amount. We googled the recommended amount of steps we should take a day, which was 10,000. Once we figured out the amount we should have reached. We needed to find if we reached 10,000 steps in our dance class. We noticed that the number of steps we took, varied by how fast we danced. So we got into groups of four and each group had a differ-ent speed to dance to. Therefore in one dance class, we contributed 3600 steps to the recommended steps per day to achieve optimal health.

By Grade 7 Students

A Brand New Style for

Presentation!

Have you ever heard of Adobe Voice? Adobe Voice is a system

that you can use to express the smallest of stories to a beautiful voice presentation using ICONS, PICTURES, TEXT and your VOICE! This presentation is organized and not as confusing as other presenta-tions, for Adobe Voice has orga-nized slides.

We worked so hard on getting this new style of presentation’s word out to our whole school— and it worked!!! We even ended up teaching our principle Ms. Rossi who was also very interested in the new system of Adobe voice.

Adobe Voice has a lot of char-acteristics that other presenta-tions usually not other presentation style has. Like how on Adobe Voice you can: change or add some back-ground colours, change the layouts of slides, change or add music to the background meaning you can also adjust how loud you would like it, add pictures from the internet, from the device you are currently using for Adobe Voice, or you can take a picture, add text in differ-ent fonts, add simple easy icons and finally, the main idea that makes this style of presentation unique, you can use your voice. Your voice is the biggest puzzle piece to the presentation. On the bright side, it’s also free!

Check our school's website:https://www.tcdsb.org/schools/preciousblood/News/2015-2016/Pages/STEM.aspx

by Meti D.

Knights of Columbus Free Throw CompetitionDuring January eight students from Junior and Intermediate competed in the annual Knights of Columbus Free Throw Competition at St. Cath-erine’s. Four students: Stephanie, Rome, Dave and Airish were successful and moved on to the next round at St. Lawrence. From there only two stu-dents: Stephanie and Rome were able to advance to the next round of competition in Oshawa.

By Stephanie G.

Gregg LeRock Concert

On Feb. 18, 2016 Mr. Bird’s and Mr. Sedef’s classes went to see Gregg LeRock live

in concert. Gregg LeRock was “fantastique!” He performed many catchy French songs. Every-one went wild for the songs: Au Canada, Terry Fox, Sac à Dos and Un, Deux, Trois. Gregg LeRock invited some of the students and the French teachers to come up on stage to help him sing. He was electrifying with his elec-

tric guitar…and DJ Dave wasn’t too bad either. After the concert was over we all screamed ENCORE! ENCORE! and Gregg came back on stage to perform one last song. All the stu-dents shared in a memorable experience had a

great time at the show. Tu Rock Gregg LeRock!

« It was a great show, we loved seeing the teachers and students dance on stage ».

« We enjoyed singing along to Gregg LeRock songs : Au Canada, Terry Fox and Sac à Dos. »

« Très bien Gregg LeRock! »

Girls’ Basketball

In February this year, the girls’ basketball team participated in the basketball tournament At St.

Gerald’s. The girls performed admirably and worked hard together as a team. During the tournament our team defeated all other teams except for the over-all winners Our Lady of Wisdom. A special thanks is accredited to Mr. Grant and Ms. Sarmiento for coaching the team.

Helping Your Child Love and Learn Mathematics

Participate in your child's learning of mathematics by:

•demonstrating a positive attitude towards mathemat-ics learning•expecting your child to do and solve mathematical activities and problems•encouraging your child to persevere when the math-ematical work becomes difficult•appreciating different ways to calculate and solve math problems •listening carefully to your child's explanation of a solution to a lesson problem•estimate and count everything and anything in differ-ent ways (forwards, backwards, by 2s, 5s, 10s, 100s)•playing board and card games•solving jigsaw puzzles, number puzzles and logic puzzles•building models with different materials (e.g., legoTM, stacking blocks, rolled newspaper tubes, popsicle sticks)•involving your child in household activities that involve math. (e.g. measuring in the kitchen, making patterns in the garden)•support homework completion by being a co-learner and providing encouragement to persevere to think mathematically

Precious Blood Boys' Basketball

The boys’ Basketball Team capped off a very successful season in 2015/16. They played in 2 invitational tournaments at Sena-

tor O'Connor and Neil McNeil high schools and numerous exhibition games vs Our Lady of Fatima Elementary School. Our Team Goals this year were to improve on our fundamental skills and increase our team chemistry. The Boys did exactly what they aimed to do and more! They took every game and learned something new, always with per-forming well at our Divisional championships as our ultimate goal.

The Divisional tournament was held at St Gerald's this year and the boys of Precious Blood were ready and willing to put on a great performance. They went 3-0 in the preliminary games and won each of them by a rather large margin. The Finals were next and the host team, St Gerald's, were waiting to test Precious Blood's perfect re-cord. Well... they did put up a fight, but they were no match for PBS' solid defense and fast paced offensive. The Boys of Precious Blood won the game and brought home the Divisional Pennant.By advancing to the Regional Tournament, the boys knew that there would be some great basketball played there. They played two games, the first against St. Tim's and the second against St Rafael's. Both games were extremely close in score and actually out played both teams. Ultimately, the score did not reflect their play and determina-tion.

With the combination of Justin's athletic play on the court, Antho-ny's 'beastly' defense, Jaiden's sweet outside jumper, Rome's near flawless ball handling and Bobby's dominance on the boards, Precious Blood Basketball proved to be a dominant force in the 2015/16 sea-son. A special thanks goes to our entire team, our 'Sixth Man', which were called upon many times in order to rally back in games or to fill in spots when needed. Justin E., Bonsa, El Carlo, Vince, Tristan, Chris-tian, Mark, Daren, Birmadu, Dylan and Marvin. Thanks for the special seasonD. Vigliatore

Catholic Schools Parent Council

The Toronto Catholic Dis-trict School Board believes

that schools must foster the spiritual, physical, intellectual, social and emotional develop-ment of all students by using the various resources of the community of which they are a part.

That schools must draw on the vast knowledge and expertise available in the community and involve its many resources, especially the family and the parish, in the schooling of children. That working to-gether collaboratively is a way a living which is deeply rooted in God's Word; That the es-tablishment of Catholic School Parent Councils is congruent with the spirit of its present policy on parent and commu-nity involvement, with its four strategic directions (Gospel Values, Collaborative Leader-ship, Decentralized Decision-Making and Transforming the Learning Experience) and with the spirit of the Building Bridges initiative; That Catho-lic School Parent Councils can be the vehicle for empowering the school community to ac-tively acknowledge its resourc-es and utilize them in support of student learning.

At Precious Blood, we encour-age parents to actively engage in their support of student learning by being members of the school's CSPC and provid-ing a voice in the education of children at the school. The next CSPC meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 7:00 pm.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Virtue

of the

Month

Forgiveness

Principals of

Catholic Social

Teaching:

Role of

Government

Catholic

Graduate

Expectations:

A Discerning

Believer

Celtic

Canadian

Heritage Month

Mass@8:30,10:00am

& 12pm@ Precious Blood Church

1

Toronto Marlies

Day (Healthy Action)

2

3 WORLD PRAYER DAY

ASSEMBLY @9AM

Pizza Day

LOCKDOWN DRILL

CSPC Mtg @6:30pm

4

ROM Trip

Ms. Sarmiento & Ms. Soraine’s Class

5

Mass @5:00pm

@Precious Blood Church

6

Mass@8:30,10:00am & 12pm@ Precious

Blood Church

7

8

The Rosary Apostolate

9

10

11

12

Mass @5:00pm

@Precious Blood Church

13

Mass@8:30,10:00am & 12pm@ Precious

Blood Church

14 15 16

17

18 19

Mass @5:00pm

@Precious Blood Church

20

Palm Sunday Mass@8:30,10:00am

& 12pm@ Precious Blood

Church

21

22

23

24

Holy Thursday Virtue

Assembly (am)

25

Good Friday 26

Holy Saturday Mass @5:00pm

@Precious Blood Church

27

EASTER Mass@8:30,10:00am

& 12pm@ Precious Blood

Church

28

Easter Monday

29 30 31

March 2016 Quote of the Month: “To Err is Human, to Forgive is Divine.” Alexander Pope

Mid Winter Break March 15th —19th

HOLY WEEK

Gr 8 Students Visit Ottawa—March 9th