What’s up Windham? - · PDF file“what do you think will happen next ... Junior...

MAY 2014

Trustee: Diane Giangrande

Superintendent: Clayton La Touche

Principal: Véronique O’Malley

Vice Principal: Athena Loopstra

Office Administrative Assistant: Kelly Giesen

School Administrative Support : Sandy Fiorido

Lead Caretaker: John Malcolm

School Council Chair: Liz Novatsidis

What’s up Windham? 32 Red Cardinal Trail

Richmond Hill, Ontario

L4E 3Y4

P: 905 773 5443 F: 905 773 3451

EMAIL: [email protected]

Website: windhamridge.ps.yrdsb.ca

8:25— Supervision starts in school

yard

8:35—Entry bell

8:40—Attendance is taken

10:40— Recess (students are

outside)

11:00—11:10 Snack time

12:30— 12:50 Lunch recess

(Students eat lunch)

12:50—1:30 Lunch recess (students

are outside)

1:30– Attendance is taken

3:00—Last call for students to be

called out of class for dismissal

3:10—Dismissal bell rings

3:22—Buses depart and no teacher

PLEASE NOTE

CHANGES TO

LUNCH

SCHEDULE

At Windham Ridge, teachers are currently working on how to help

students develop and use critical thinking skills. This can be

supported by parents at home, not only in academics, but in

real-life contexts that will transfer over to their school work.

Parents wanting to encourage critical thinking skills can support

from home, not just with homework, but with the type of

questions and activities they present to their children.

The following is an excerpt from Portrait of a 21st Century

Learner: Critical Thinking, a publication of the Rocky View

school board in Alberta.

——————

Dear Families,

Ask questions that lack a single correct answer: For example, while read a bed time story, ask

“what do you think will happen next?” and “why do you think that?” Beyond reading, parents can

promote critical thinking in all areas by asking “why?” and encouraging their children to support

their answers with reasonable evidence.

Categorize and classify: This requires children to identify and sort according to a set of rules that

they must first understand and then apply. Classification is simple, whether it be sorting

groceries for the fridge or laundry to be put away. When classifying be sure to ask

questions about similarities and differences between groups.

Tackle questions together: Working through questions together helps children to begin to

understand how others think and that there are multiple ways of approaching any specific

problems. In exploring various solutions, children should be encouraged to respectfully agree or

disagree with the idea of others, and to justify their opinions.

Make decisions: Encourage children to consider the pros and cons of a decision. Then evaluate

their decision by asking “how do you feel about your decision? What would you do differently next

time? Why?”

Model critical thinking: Parents should demonstrate critical thinking by pondering aloud the

efficient way to do household chores, question the validity of a newspaper story, or offer their

solution to a community issue. Describing how one thinks and solves problems is the best way for

parents to instill similar thinking patterns in their children.

Respect Honesty Fairness Perseverance Courage

Responsibility Empathy Initiative Integrity Optimism

SCIENCE FAIR

On April 5th, 2014, eight grade 7 and 8 students participated in the York Region Science Fair. Four projects were entered

into the competition. The projects included: a study on the power of suggestion, a study

on calorimetry, a study on sensory preferences and a study on the germination of black bean seeds. Students have been

working on their projects since January. Reese Macklin and Samantha Maasland won

a bronze medal at the fair for their work on the best conditions for the germination of black bean seeds. Congratulations to them

and to all the students who participated.

Mme Cowan

REPORT CARDS

On June 24th, report cards will be

distributed to students. If you are

planning on an early summer vacation and

your child will not be at school on this date,

please send a self-addressed and self-

stamped envelope in advance to your

child’s teacher. As well, if families require 2

reports cards sent to 2 different addresses

due to custody agreements, please send in

a self-addressed and self-stamped envelop

of the secondary address. If the teacher

does not receive an envelope in before

June 23rd, report cards will be available for

pick up at the school office on Monday

August 25th.

YOU’RE THE CHEF

A huge thank you to the following parent

volunteers who have helped run such as successful “You’re the Chef” program for

our intermediate students. (Zara Khwaja, Angie Agozzino, Mari Dunstan, Corrie McBain, Ann Hammerbeck, Vicki Hamilton,

Laura Romanese, Vivian Aitas, Christine Damianidis, Anne Mason and Julie

Romanovich. This was a big commitment for volunteers who were trained in the program, shopped for the food, and came

into the school to run the program and

teach the children.

Thank You!

Each student has been a part of a lunch program

during which they learned kitchen and cooking skills,

prepared meals and enjoyed eating what they created. In the office, we

were always fortunate to have a taste of the culinary creations. We always

appreciated the delicious snacks and are very impressed with what the students

learned. Bon appétit!

COMMUNITY CHARACTER AWARD

A few months ago,

our office staff had nominated the

caretaking team at Windham Ridge for a York Community

Character Award. On Wednesday April

30th, our caretaking staff had the opportunity to attend

the Annual York Region Character

Community Awards event at the Richmond Hill for the Performing Arts. We believe John, Pete, Tracey and Allen deserve to be

recognized for their hard work and dedication for keeping our school safe and

clean. They are always optimistic, caring, respectful and we are very proud to have them as active members of our school

community.



ROBOTICS

On April 16, our Junior and Intermediate

teams attended the Lego Mindstorm

Robotics competition at Nobleton P.S.

There were more than twenty teams from

several York Region schools.

We are very proud of our teams. One of

our Junior teams took a third place on one

of two existing challenges. Two other

Junior teams received "Best Robot

Conception" award. Congratulations to our

team members.

Thank you to our volunteers:

Corry McBain, Minh Duong, Sheneeza

Kanji , Margaret Kim, Joanne Conte

Casola, Janna Tcaciova and Mari Dunstan

who dedicated their time to make this

possible.

Jemma Lam

Braeden Marchant Ethan McGillis

Dana Nepton Armon Nowzaree Nicholas Perera

Adrian Rassaf Mark Rosen

Tanya Sheberstov Brianna Steiner Valery Volkova

Zac Yungblut

Daniel Almeida

Tiana Anastopoulas

Keziah Blundell

Claire Casola

Anika Chaudhary

Albert Da Silva

Eileen Danaee

Dylan Duong

Sanjay Hardeo

Salim Kanji

Jordyn Kim



THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING HANDWRITING

Submitted by Joanne Conte Casola who is a

parent at Windham Ridge and a school based

Occupational Therapist in private practice.

Despite advancements in technology, handwriting is still the most common and

necessary means of communication and evaluation of a child’s knowledge in school, in particular the primary and elementary

school grades. A misperception by some is, “As long as I can read it, I don’t care

how it’s written”, so handwriting has eroded from the curriculum and is not practised as a priority at home. It is

assumed that children will automatically acquire the skill of handwriting. However,

this is not the case for all children. When left to their own resources, children improvise and develop inefficient pencil

grasps and writing skills. Self-taught writers may do fine initially (in the primary

grades) and their writing may look neat; however, when writing demands increase

beyond grade 3, their writing may not be functional and that is usually when is the frustration and tears begin. This is because

an inefficient pencil grasp or improvising/ “drawing letters”, as opposed to a

consistent and efficient approach to letter formation, takes a lot of attention, effort and time. This may result in fatigue when

writing and work may take too long to complete. Writing may also be illegible,

disorganized and appear immature, which can be embarrassing for the child. Then add the expectation of proper spelling,

spacing, capitals, indentation, punctuation, grammar, and the task becomes

overwhelming!

To set our children up for success, they first need to be guided in developing

correct and consistent habits of letter formation from the beginning (JK/SK/

gr.1). This means being taught to print

letters in the same way, from the top to

the bottom, each time. They need to be provided with plenty of opportunity to

practise repetitively at home so that handwriting becomes an automatic & efficient tool for written communication.

Fun ways to encourage consistent letter formation and develop printing skills at

home (in addition to paper/pencil tasks) is to use your finger to write on shaving cream smeared on the shower wall or

writing in sand, or on a plate of jello powder. Parents can also encourage

children to do traditional paper/pencil activities like mazes, dot to dots, word searches and other fine motor activities

(i.e. lego, beading and rainbow loom!) to develop visual motor skills and an efficient

pencil grasp. For good postural development, when doing desk work at

home, ensure that your child is seated at a child sized desk with feet supported on the

floor (alternatively, use a foot stool).

In the elementary grades, it is also very important that children have the opportunity to practise writing

sentences daily. This can be maintained at home by encouraging children to write

in a journal, maintain a “to do” list, add to the grocery list, etc. Writing in script (cursive hand writing) is also an important

skill to learn as it is developmentally easier to use and is more efficient than printing.

That would also give children the skill to be able to read the cursive writing of their grandparents and other’s, including

historical letters and texts!

Printing builds the foundation of Literacy. Learning to print is a precursor for reading,

spelling, sentence formation and grammar. The physical act of writing boosts learning

because movement aids memory and engages multiple areas of the brain. Furthermore, MRIs show that neural

activity in the brain when writing improves



idea composition, expression and fine

motor development.

Writing is a complex task and is the foundation skill that helps to establish and

hone so many other important functional skills that are required for learning such as

fine motor skills, eye hand coordination, visual perceptual skills, visual tracking,

bilateral coordination, and literacy.

PARENT SYMPOSIUM

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to attend the first YRDSB Parent Symposium and would like to share

my reflections about my experience. This event titled “Parent Voice Matters!”

gathered administrators, educators and parents from all schools in the YRDSB to discuss a variety of topics related to

improving our children’s education and

experience at school.

The event highlighted the significance of parent engagement and

involvement in the school community to create a positive climate for learning. In addition to other benefits, research has

shown that parent involvement has positive effects on a child’s academic achievement

and social development.

A variety of workshops emphasized

the importance of partnership and teamwork between parents and educators and reinforced the old cliché that “It takes

a village to raise a child”.

I encourage parents to get involved

in our school community by offering skills, talents, knowledge, expertise, and sharing

your passions, interests and time (i.e., by

Submitted by Joanne Conte Casola who is a

parent at Windham Ridge and attended the

Parent Symposium.

coaching extracurricular sports, school

clubs or volunteering for classroom

activities and school events). You do not

have to commit a lot of time to make a

significant difference to our children’s

educational experience.

Our children reap the benefits of a

strong, willing community of parents and educators that get involved and work

together toward improving the academics, learning opportunities, spirit and climate of our school. Parents are also encouraged

and welcome to come to Parent Advisory Council meetings to share ideas,

suggestions or to voice concerns. Alternatively, contact school administration

or teachers to let them know what positive

contributions you can offer to enrich our

children’s education at school.

Your parent voice really does matter

and we have a great team of administrators and teachers at Windham Ridge who are willing to work in

partnership to create a strong, positive school community and learning experience

for our children!!

LIBRARY NEWS

Thank you so much for your generous

support of our English Scholastic Book Fair held in April. From our profits, we will be

able to purchase many books for our library and for our school. Once our new books have been processed, we will invite

students to come and borrow them. We

appreciate your support! Happy reading!!

Mme Rouse



BAND

Band has finished for this year, and what a

year we have had! Many musicians have been uncovered with promising futures as

performers, from grades 6-8. Many thanks to our grade 8s, who have been with Band for years, and given of themselves freely

and tirelessly to make this one of the best groups ever. I wish you the best of success

in your future endeavours.

D. Cipollone

HOURS OF INSTRUCTION FOR FRENCH IMMERSION

YRDSB offers a French Immersion program

that is highly sought after. As we continue to implement recommendations from our recent French as a Second Language (FSL)

review, we are making a slight adjustment, based on our research, that will provide

better consistency within our schools while also better meeting student needs. Research shows the importance of

time spent learning in French at the begin-ning of a program. In Grades 1 to 3,

YRDSB students receive 100 per cent of their instruction in French. Beginning in Grade 4, English instruction is introduced

for a number of subjects. Starting in the 2014-15 school year, weekly instructional

time in Grades 4-8 will be shared equally between French and English language of instruction. Students will accumulate at

least 5,000 hours of French language in-struction by the end of Grade 8, which far

exceeds the 3,800 hours mandated by the Ontario Ministry of Education. YRDSB re-

mains deeply committed to providing high quality and sustainable French as a Second

Language (FSL) instruction.

TOGETHER WE’RE BETTER CONFERENCE

The “Together We're Better Conference” on antiracism and ethno cultural equity took

place on April 24, 2014 at Bill Crothers S.S. Seven students from grade 7 and 8 (Yunna

Kim, Althea Sumabat, Gabrielle Silvestri, Monica Tzonev, Zak Bardai, Arabella Marasigan and Jeffrey Ong) were the

Windham Ridge ambassadors. They had the opportunity to listen to key note

speakers and attend different workshops. They came back to our school promoting a safe and welcoming climate and will share

their learned activities around equity and inclusivity.

Our teachers Dan Cipollone and Dany-Laure Durand presented workshops to

many grade 7 and 8 students from across the region at the Conference. Their

presentation was called "Change from the Grassroots up; Stopping the isms," and

dealt with the negative effects of stereotyping, bias, and discrimination. Everybody is affected by discrimination,

which results in a closed, guarded and untrusting society. We can become better

by judging people on their characters and not on face-value. Our students who attended the workshop will pursue

initiatives to create a better school

atmosphere for our staff and students.

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