NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER 2017€¦ · Money donations for the poppies are to be handed to homeroom...
Transcript of NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER 2017€¦ · Money donations for the poppies are to be handed to homeroom...
CENTRAL PUBLIC SCHOOL 97 Dublin St., N, N1H 4N2
Phone: 519-821-7990 Fax: 519- 821-8270
NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER 2017
Principal: R. MurrayCako Office Coordinator: K. Epps
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
Welcome to the month of November! Please take
note of the many calendar events including School
Council social events and the holiday fundraiser.
During the week of November 20st – 23
rd we will be
recognizing Bullying Prevention. The week will be
filled with team building activities to continue to
build the positive and caring environment we know
Central to be.
We want all students to feel safe at school. For
students, staff and parents to know that we do have
a process for determining if bullying is happening
and steps to take to ensure it stops. If you know of
anyone experiencing this type of interaction please
report it to an adult in the school or access the
“Online Bullying” reporting tool found on the board
and school websites.
Don’t forget… to set clocks back one
hour on Sunday, November 5th
,
when Daylight Savings time ends.
R. MurrayCako
Principal
MARK YOUR CALENDAR November 1 – Creative
Playground Closed
November 5 – Clocks fall
back 1 hour
November 7 – Wreath
Orders Due
November 11 – Remembrance Day – our tribute
will be held on November 10th at 11:15
November 14 – Picture Retake Day
November 15 – Progress Reports Home
November 20- 23 – Bullying Prevention Week
November 24 – P.A. Day – no school
November 30 – School Council Meeting 6:30
December 25 to January 5 – Winter Holiday
REMEMBRANCE DAY
Remembrance Day assembly will
be on Friday, November 10th
, 2017
beginning at 11:15 am in the gym.
Poppies will be handed out prior to
the assembly. Money donations for the poppies are
to be handed to homeroom teachers.
SCHOOL COUNCIL NEWS
We are excited to invite all Central families to our
annual Family Games Night on Wednesday
November 22nd from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Come meet
other parents and play some new or old game
favourites - this is always a fun event for parents
and kids!
Our annual holiday wreath fundraiser will be taking
place again this year. All funds raised will be going
to the greening committee to maintain our outdoor
play spaces - look for order forms to be sent home
soon, order forms due November 7th
, wreaths will
be available for pick-up the week of November
27th.
Central School Council is always looking for
volunteers or parent involvement to ensure the
success of fundraising activities and events that
benefit our school. We are currently looking for
volunteers for our silent auction that will be held on
Friday, March 2, 2018. If you can lend a hand, or
are interested in donating an auction item, please
contact Chelsee Devries at:
Our next school council meeting will be held on
Thursday, November 30 at 6:30 p.m. in the
library - childcare will be provided.
PROGRESS REPORTS
Progress reports focus on learning skills or work
habits, as well as, strengths and next steps to assist
in improving student learning in subject areas. It
will provide students and parents with early and
specific feedback on the progress made during the
first two months of the school year. There will be an
opportunity for parent/teacher conferences. This is
your chance to find out early in the school year how
your child is progressing. Progress Reports will be
sent home November 15th
.
FROM THE LIBRARY
We have had such a wonderful
start to the year! Our library is a
busy spot where students can
often be seen doing a wide
variety of things: snuggled up on the couch
enjoying a book, huddled together collaborating on
a project, reading and researching in the computer
lab, investigating something intriguing at the
Wonder Table or making something unique in our
Maker Space.
We would love to see all of our students checking
books out on a regular basis. Kindergarten and
grades 1-4 students have a book exchange every
week and grade 5 and 6 students can come to the
library every morning to exchange their books.
Please support your child by helping them to
remember to return their books to the library!
MILK BAG COLLECTION
We need your help to collect
plastic milk bags!
Some of you may know about
the milk bag project that is
taking place in communities
across Canada. The sturdy
outer bags are collected and cleaned before being
woven or crocheted into plastic
sleeping mats. The mats are then
provided to people in need, both
here in Canada and around the
world. For more information please
visit the site
http://milkbagsunlimited.ca If your family
purchases milk in three-litre bags, we are hoping
that you will be willing to send the sturdy outer bag
into the school for this project. The bags must be
clean and dry. It takes a few hundred bags to make
one mat, so the more bags the better! We will be
collecting the entire school year.
CREATIVE PLAYGROUND CLOSED
The Creative Playground will be closed as of
Wednesday, November 1st.
Thank you for your support!
SKATES We are looking for skate
donations to support the
junior skate program. If you
have used skates size 3-6
please pass onto Ms.
McNabb. Thank you for
your support!
SHOES AT SCHOOL
With the wet, snowy and cold weather approaching
it is important that all students have not only
outdoor footwear, but also indoor shoes. This is a
safety issue as proper footwear reduces the risk of
slips and falls and stepping on items which may
cause injury. Indoor shoes are also important so
that students are protected in the event of a fire drill
or event resulting in a school evacuation.
DROP OFF AND PICKUP REMINDERS Please assist us in ensuring student safety at drop
off and pickup times. We would appreciate your
help by ensuring that both you and your child are
crossing at the cross walk or at the corners that are
supported by our School Safety Patrollers. Please
also remember that the school parking lot is not a
drop off or pickup zone.
Thank you for your support in keeping our families
safe.
School Newsletter Insert from Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health November 2017
WDG Public Health is pleased to provide elementary and secondary schools with up-to-date information on health topics for their monthly newsletters and announcements to parents. Please find below two inserts you can include in your school newsletter and/or announcements if you wish. Images can be included or excluded as they meet your needs. If you have any questions please contact us at 1-800-265-7293 ext. 4111 or email [email protected]
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Information from Public Health Public Health is inviting community members from Guelph, Orangeville, Elora, Salem and Fergus who are 14 or older to share their opinions on our local neighbourhoods. Fill out Public Health’s Neighbourhood Design Survey and you could win $250 in groceries! Survey closes Nov 30. www.wdgpublichealth.ca/nds
For more information visit www.wdgpublichealth.ca
Insert 2:
Information from Public Health Think about the last movie your kids watched… You likely checked the rating to make sure it was age-
appropriate. Movie ratings consider violence, coarse language, and sexual and disturbing content, but they leave
out something that is very important to kids’ health – smoking.
Research has shown that the more kids see smoking in movies, the more likely they are to start smoking.
Smoking in films give children and youth the impression that smoking is okay and that they should do it too.
What can parents do?
Talk to your kids about the realities of smoking.
Talk to other parents about the issue of smoking in movies.
Check www.smokefreemovies.ca/now-playing/ or https://tutd.ucsf.edu/. These websites review movies to tell you which ones have smoking in them.
Sign the e-petition to support an 18A rating for all movies with smoking in them: www.smokefreemovies.ca/petition/
Monthly environmental activities to help celebrate our planet
November 24th is BUY NOTHING Day! Don’t buy, give. “No one has ever become poor by giving”, Anne Frank
Celebrate Buy Nothing Day on November 24th!
Buy Nothing Day is an awareness day highlighting society’s habit of buying too many things. It is a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption and is held on ‘Black Friday’, which is one of the busiest shopping days in the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org
“We are also consuming and trashing clothing at a far higher rate than our planet can handle.
Today's trends are tomorrow's trash. The only solution is to reduce our levels of consumption.” Dr Kirsten
Brodde of Greenpeace Germany- https://www.telegraph.co.uk
Repair, reduce, re-use, recycle – 4 R’s are best!
It's time for a new kind of materialism, based on an economy of better, not more... that makes things which last and can be repaired many times before being recycled, from furniture to tools, cars, fridges, clothes and food. ‘Repair, reduce, re-use, recycle’ could be the new model. https://www.theguardian.com
Some great ideas for your family on Buy Nothing Day!
•Instead of shopping, enjoy a day in the great outdoors by walking trails or going to the park.
•Recycle school supplies such as binders, workbooks, pens and pencils instead of buying new.
•Donate clothes, books, toys and games your family does not need any more.
•Think of things you can make or do for people as gifts without spending any money.
Either way, there’s no doubt that going without buying anything for an entire day is quite a challenge in the
modern world, and will serve to make you think about what your life is really about! https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/buy-nothing-day
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Feedback Welcome on Draft Policies
The Upper Grand District School Board is welcoming public input on draft policies. Currently under review is
Policy 310 - Display of Flags. You are invited to review the draft documents and submit online feedback at
www.ugdsb.ca/board/policy. The deadline for public input is November 30, 2017 at 4 p.m. EST. Persons
without internet access may call 519-822-4420 (or toll-free 1-800-321-4025) ext. 723 to request a printed copy
of the draft documents.
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Talking About Mental Health November 2017 – Talking to Your Child/Youth about Tragic Events
When a tragic event occurs, children and youth will hear about these events through media, peers or other sources.
These are difficult topics to talk about and your response will shape your child/youth’s core beliefs.
Tips for talking to children/youth about tragedies
You know your child/youth best, and you’ll have a good idea of how much information your child/youth is ready to hear.
Consider these tips as a guideline:
Don't allow young children to watch the news. Watching news footage can be very disturbing to young children so it’s
important to keep it off when they’re around.
Keep your message simple. Say something like, “That person decided to hurt other people." For young children, this may
be all the information they need. Older children are likely to ask more questions. Stick to the simple facts. It’s OK to say
you don’t know all the answers.
Focus on the steps that are being taken to keep people safe. Talk about how police officers, government officials, and
other first responders are helping. Spend more time talking about the good work people are doing, rather than the horrific
event. This can help reduce your child/youth's anxiety about safety.
Empower your kids to become helpers. Discuss how they can take positive action in the wake of a tragic event.
Volunteering in the community and donating allowance money can go a long way toward helping children/youth see that
they can always take steps to make the world a little better. Children/youth who feel like they have a little bit of control
are less likely to feel helpless in the wake of a tragic event.
Send a healthy message to your child
No matter how many conversations you hold or how much you decide to share, keep the message the same, bad
things happen but there are good people out there helping and we’re strong enough to get through it.
Sharing with your child/youth messages that fosters resilience and teaches your children/youth they’re able to
cope with whatever bad things come their way in life and there are caring adults in their lives to talk to and who
will support them.
(This information is taken from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-mentally-
strong-people-dont-do/201710/how-talk-kids-about-the-las-vegas-shooting) Have a mentally healthy day!
Dr. Lynn Woodford is the Mental Health Lead for Upper Grand District School Board
Follow me on twitter: @drlynnwoodford