McKay Public School

320 Fielden Ave

Port Colborne, On L3K4T7

Tel: 905-834-4753 Fax: 905-834-1140

News from The Lions Den

February 2016

Dear Parents or Guardian,

Well February is a short month, but it sure has been a busy one here at McKay!

EQAO mid-year practice took place at the beginning of the month for both our Grade 3 and

Grade 6 students, we had the Fire Department come and give Fire Prevention Training to

our entire student body, the MS Read-a-thon took place Jan. 26 - Feb. 12, and it was our

anti-bullying day (Pink Shirt Day) on Feb. 24.

Mrs. Hemauer & Mme. Tremblay took their classes to the Niagara Children’s Museum on a

full day field trip. We had a Junior and Intermediate team compete at the Lego Robotics

Competition at Brock University, as well as our Boys & Girls DSBN Area 2 Basketball

Tournament.

Please don’t forget to register today for our new Cash Online. There will be a weekly draw

for families that have signed up and at the end of March there will be a Grand Prize to one

lucky family of an iPad. Hurry up, don’t miss out!

With March Break only two weeks away we would like to wish you a safe and happy holi-

day with your families.

Once again, we thank you for your continued support.

Mrs. Grenier & Mrs. Hurd

School-Cash Online We know you have many different priorities competing for your attention each day. To

respect those demands, we’d like to help you save both time and effort.

Beginning February 29th, you’ll be able to approve permission forms and pay for

school items, such as fieldtrips and school spirit wear, online.

It takes just five minutes to register for this service. You will be able access the ser-

vice by visiting our school website and clicking on “School Cash Online.” There, you’ll

find more information about the system, links to registration and support. You can use

School Cash Online with confidence; it is a safe and secure portal.

Using School Cash Online, you may never have to search for spare change again!

That is, unless you’re looking for coffee money.

We will be awarding prizes on a weekly basis. As families register, their name will go

into a ballot box for a weekly draw, and at the end of March, there will be a Grand

Prize winner selected from the registered families for an iPad.

There will also be a pizza party for the class that has the most families

registered!

Thanks for your support.

Visitors to the School

With the new security measures put in place, parents are asked to ring the buzzer to the right of the door to notify the office of your arrival. All visitors are asked to check in at the office when you enter the school. Parents should be entering the school through the front doors (off Fielden Ave.) and signing in and out at the office. If you are picking up your child due to illness or for

any other reason during the school day it is necessary for the office staff to be notified. It is for the safety of all students that we encourage entering the

school to sign in at the office. At the end of the day, if parents wish to pick up their child, we ask that you wait outside the front doors. We thank you your

cooperation in looking out for the safety of all our children.

Street Crossing The City of Port Colborne hires Crossing Guards to ensure the safety of your chil-dren while crossing some of our busy streets coming to and from school. Please

remind your children to cross with our crossing guard. We also encourage parents who pick up their children from school to use the crossing guard, especially if the

busses are in the Bus Loading Zone. Students are reminded to walk their bikes and

refrain from cell phone or headset use when crossing. Thank you for your

cooperation in this matter.

New Sign-In Process

Please ensure that your child checks in at the office before reporting to class, when arriving late, to ensure they are not marked absent by the teacher. This

will avoid an unnecessary and upsetting phone call home.

Breakfast Club at McKay

We are very fortunate to have funding provided for our daily breakfast pro-

gram through Breakfast for Learning, a branch of President’s Choice Chil-

dren’s Charity along with community donations from Nappa’s Auto, United

Church Women’s Group, The Clinic on Elm chiropractor office

and memorial donations made by McKay families. With this

funding foods are purchased daily- milk, fruits, veggies, eggs,

ham, yogurt, bagels, cream cheese, sunflower seeds, dried

raisins and cranberries, orange and apple juices, pancake and

muffin mixes, breads, cheeses, crackers. As you can see, our breakfast is quite

a deluxe meal! Mrs. Mac would like to THANK the adult volunteers that come

in to offer their time to help prepare, serve and clean up: Mrs. Pauline

Rochon, Mrs. Liz Bowman, Mrs. Linda Skotniski, Mr. Jeff Donohue, and Mrs.

Kerry Royer. Mrs. Mac would especially like to THANK the MANY student vol-

unteers that step in to help her each morning without whom she would not

be able to serve so many of our McKay family. Thank you to all!

Mrs. Mac

McKay’s Milk Program

Students are encouraged to drink milk. Statistics show that many school-aged children do not get the rec-

ommended amount and this is an excellent way to help.

Milk (chocolate and white) is sold at the School Store for 75 cents on a daily basis.

We are providing other “Heart Healthy Snacks” at the store including rice cakes, popcorn, cheese and crackers.

Go Girls Club meets each Thursday 12:50-1:45 in the Learning Commons.

Student Safety First - Leaving School at Lunch Hour

Parents and guardians are once again asked to finalize any necessary arrangements with their children before they leave for school each day or have it written in their organizers. Given our enrolment, the volume of requests asking us to deliver telephone messages,

lunches, homework, water bottles ect. to students is often overwhelming. We ask that parents have their children ready for their day at school.

Also, please be aware that morning student supervision does not start until 8:35am. We want to ensure student safety so it is important to make ar-

rangements for your child to be looked after in the morning before school hours. McKay does have before and after school daycare available. If you would like further information, please call Amanda at 905 380 5306. Your

understanding and cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Over March Break we will be having some work done

on the lockers. If you could please send a bag for your

child’s belongings, it would be greatly appreciated. We

need to have all lockers completely empty and locks

removed. If locks are not removed, they will be cut off!

Intermediate Cell Phone Policy

Cell phones, iPods and other devices are permitted at school but may

only be used with teacher permission. You should not receive a text

from your child during the day unless they have teacher permission to do so. They are not allowed to be used during break times in the class

or on the yard because during these times it is too difficult to monitor

their use. If your child goes out for lunch they may

use them of course but they must be put away when they return. Chatting and games are not necessary

here; but, using it to: listen to music while working,

go online to find information, do math calculations/

conversions or take advantage of a dictionary app are all excellent ways to incorporate them into the class-

room. We feel this is the best way to manage their usage to ensure

they are being used productively. Cell phones can be an effective

tool in the classroom and that is how their use will be approached dur-ing this school year.

We have four pairs of prescription glasses in the lost and

found in the office. If anyone is missing their glasses, please

come and check.

Thank You

Mark your Calendar!

The elementary school year calendar has been tweaked slightly. As

a result, your children will get to enjoy a PA Day on Friday, April 15,

2016. We’ll also send out a quick reminder closer to the date, but

wanted to give you a heads up so you can begin planning.

If your children currently access before and/or after school care,

your provider will contact you with information about availability

closer to the date.

Monday March 14, 2016 – Friday March 18, 2016 – March Break Friday March 25 , 2016 Good Friday Monday March 28, 2016 Easter Monday Friday April 15, 2016 PA DAY Monday May 23, 2016 – Victoria Day Friday June 10, 2016 PA DAY Wednesday June 29, 2016 Last Day of School for Students Thursday June 30, 2016 PA DAY

Bus Students:

The morning buses for all students will be running as usual.

The afternoon buses will arrive at home 3 hours earlier than usually. This means that buses will pick up

the students at approximately 12:15 p.m. You can expect your child(ren) to arrive home about 3 hours early. Students waiting for their buses may eat their lunch as normal and they will be

supervised until the buses arrive.

All students that walk to school will be released at 12:00 p.m., the beginning of period 4.

Early Release Days –

The Board has allocated the afternoon for professional development of teachers.

PA Days

And

Holidays

DSBN LEGO Challenge

Over 300 students from across the District School Board of Niagara eagerly put their skills to the test at the DSBN Robotics Challenge on February 18th held at Brock University.

McKay sent two teams of students to complete in the cross Canada themed competition that required students to build and program a robot to perform in 4 events: lobster fishing in the Atlantic, collecting sap from maple trees in Quebec, diamond collection in the Arctic, and feeding livestock in the Prairies. Junior team members included Chase Kish, Nico D’Amelio, Nicholas O’Connor, and Jeffrey Panunte. Our intermediate team included Caitlyn Mackinnon, Jess Minor, Erika Brown and Rebecca Spurrell. Both teams displayed cooperation and perseverance, and we are very proud of their hard work!

The junior boys’ basketball season will be starting after the

March Break. Mrs. Augustine and Mrs. Hamilton are look-

ing forward to a great season with team members Nolan

Lubeck, Jeffrey Panunte, Kyle Ross, Jacob Leblanc, Sawyer

Prokopetz, Andrew Leblanc, Ben Stansfield, Cole Pelletier,

Ian Leggett, Connor Pelletier, Jonathan Graves, and Matteo

Panunte.

The intermediate boys basketball team finished there season as consolation champions at the area tournament. The boys lost their first game by a mere couple baskets to W.E brown, their second game against winger went into overtime leading to a win by 6 points and the boys were able to take home the consolation championship against Oakwood!

GREAT SEASON thats for sure!

Mme. Stayzer

Breakfast Club at McKay

We are very fortunate to have funding provided for our dai-

ly breakfast program through Breakfast for Learning, a

branch of President’s Choice Children’s Charity along with

community donations from Nappa’s Auto, United Church

Women’s Group, The Clinic on Elm chiropractor office and memorial dona-

tions made by McKay families. With this funding foods are purchased daily-

milk, fruits, veggies, eggs, ham, yogurt, bagels, cream cheese, sunflower seeds,

dried raisins and cranberries, orange and apple juices, pancake and muffin mix-

es, breads, cheeses, crackers. As you can see, our breakfast is quite a deluxe

meal! Mrs. Mac would like to THANK the adult volunteers that come in to offer

their time to help prepare, serve and clean up: Mrs. Pauline Rochon, Mrs. Liz

Bowman, Mrs. Linda Skotniski, Mr. Jeff Donohue, and Mrs. Kerry Royer. Mrs.

Mac would especially like to THANK the MANY student volunteers that step in

to help her each morning without whom she would not be able to serve so

many of our McKay family. Thank you to all!

Mrs. Mac

The Grade 5 and 6 French Immersion classes will be

participating in the “Stop Motion Animation” here at McKay.

The Niagara Children’s Museum will administered the program

in M. Chaffart’s classroom on March 22nd, and Mme. Neville’s

classroom on March 23rd.

STUDENT RECOGNITION ASSEMBLIES

2015 - 2016

“Integrity” AWARD WINNERS

Class #1 #2 #3

Mrs. McMahon – FDK1 Audrey Mater Isaiah Vanderlaan Talon Biggs

Samuel Wood

Mrs. Edwards – FDK2 Hannah Stewart Gracie Tonnies Rosie Tonnies

Mrs. Thomson - FDK3 Makenzie Belic Athena Peekhaus

Mrs. Buck – Gr 1 Shauna Morin Delyla Beauchamps Lucas Cavers

Mrs. Bidoski - Gr 1/2 Ryle Airhardt John Morvan Daxen Simons

Mrs. Hemauer – Gr 2/3 Sadie Olecka Zoe Airhardt Joshua Parks

Mr. Faragalli - Gr. 4 Samantha Fidler Wyatt Jones Amari Turner

Mrs. Hamilton - Gr. 4/5 Mackenzie Andrews Keeland Horrocks Cole Pelletier

Mr. Mitchell - Gr. 6/7 Mackenzie Bettle-Gaudet Fayth Fidler Connor McLeod

Mr. Pelletier - Gr. 7/8 Ayesha Chaudary Eryka Moar Carlee Bryan

Mme. Kalbfleisch - Gr. 1-1FI Elijah DiPasquale-Raby Blair Morin

Mme. Stayzer – Gr. 1-2FI Lyla Rodrigue Justin MacDonald

Mme. Tremblay – Gr. 2FI Jacob Dafoe Aaliyah Tiwari

Mme. Suk - Gr. 2/3FI Catharine Boiter Jade Morvan Brody Bover

Mme. Clarke/Hill – Gr. 4FI Mason Smith Neah Smith Isabelle Tonnies

Mr. Chaffart - Gr. 5FI MacLaren Kerkdyk Laura Schmidt Abigail Welch

Mme Neville - Gr. 6FI Cyara Graham Hannah MacPhee Nicolas O’Connor

Mme. Christie – Gr 6/7FI Leah Middleton Megan Bartley Brenna Bohun

Mme Vanderlaan - Gr. 7/8FI Rebecca Spurrell Lydia Charlebois Ericka Brown

Mme. Walinga Gr.8FI Cody Goforth Owen Melnyk Phoenix Norris