I cannot believe Monday is June 1st! We have lots to accomplish over the next month!
We'd like to draw your attention to a new link for Free the Children. Under the direction of Mrs. Adair, Mrs. Zappi, Ms. Shklar, Ms. Walker, Mrs. Olson and Ms. Moser, a group of interested students will be working with our student body to continue fundraising for this very important cause. We began this initiative last year, and we are looking forward to the work we will continue next year!
This month we asked the students what the character traits Integrity and Perseverance means to them. We will be acknowledging these on the announcements and on my blog. Here is what Tristan in grade 6 said Perseverance is...."it is doing something you don't want to do. You have to push yourself past your limits. You have to put forth a large amount of effort. Most importantly, you have to be yourself while you do it!". Well put Tristan! Claire in grade 6 says that integrity is...when a person is honest, and sincere...a person will always tell the truth, no matter what the consequences, and says everything with a good, straightforward attitude." Very insightful Claire!
June
1st-Grade 6-8 Instrumental Concert Night
2nd-Dental Screening;Book Fair-2 For 1 (until the 4th)
3rd-Free the Children Assembly
4th-Grade 4-8 York University Conference Finals; Grade 1 Classes to the Zoo!
5th-Grade 6 Cosmic Connections; Grade 2 Classes to Harbourfront
8th-12th-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
8th-Parent Council
10th-Grade 4-8 City Track Finals-U of T
16th-Kindergarten Play day
17th-Grade 4 White Elephant Sale
19th-Grade 6-8 Final Dance!
22nd-Report Cards Go Home!
24th-Grade 8 Graduation
25th-Last Day for Students; Year End Assembly: Lunch on the Lawn
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Volunteer Tea
Thank you to Mrs. Seitz and Mrs. Dacyshyn for organizing the Volunteer Tea on Wednesday and to all staff who provided treats. It is important to us that we recognize all the parents and family members who have volunteered their time in and out of the classrooms. LKS wouldn't look or feel the same as it does now without your involvement and we appreciate your efforts.
Thank you to all the students, especially Danielle, who either organized or participated in the LKS Idol. Twelve acts were shown and all provided great entertainment. These events help to reinforce the commitment and practise needed by the performers and it also provides an opportunity to practice being a good audience.
Good luck to all the students participating in the Track and Field meet on Monday. Currently, we have 2 buses heading to York-that translates into a lot of little athletes! Good luck in your events and remember to have fun and show good sportsmanship.
Teachers are very busy in the classroom as we wind down the year. Over the last few weeks the students have been completing year end assessments including our Spring CTBS and DRA (primary) and CASI (junior/intermediate)reading assessments. All this data is important for us to see our students' academic growth and areas that we may need to continue to work on next year. Next week, our grade 3 and 6 students will write the EQAO assessments. Results will be available early Fall. In early June we will also post our School Improvement Plan Summary. The teachers are in the processes of evaluating their goals and achievements.
In closing, the warm weather is upon us and it is time again to remind the students of appropriate clothing in these tropical conditions. We encourage the students, especially our older middle school students, to be dressed appropriately. That usually means no bra and/or underwear showing (for both girls and the boys) and nothing to0 short (i.e. skirts should be just above the knee-the girls need to apply the bending over rule when choosing a skirt- if you had to bend over to pick something up, could someone see something he/she shouldn't be seeing- and finally no stomachs please! We've had questions about spaghetti straps and the answer is always-no bra should be seen. We thank you in support of this at home. Common sense will prevail! P.S. -no tube tops!
As of yet, no 2009/2010 school calendar has been published (from the Board)-let's hope for next week.
Dates
25th-West Track and Field Meet @York University-Grade 2-8
26th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO
29th-Pizza Day
June
1st-Grade 6-8 Instrumental Concert Night
2nd-Dental Screening
3rd-Free the Children Assembly
4th-Grade 4-8 York University Conference Finals; Grade 1 Classes to the Zoo!
5th-Grade 6 Cosmic Connections; Grade 2 Classes to Harbourfront
8th-12th-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
8th-Parent Council
10th-Grade 4-8 City Track Finals-U of T
22nd-Report Cards Go Home!
24th-Grade 8 Graduation
25th-Last Day for Students; Year End Assembly: Lunch on the Lawn
Thank you to all the students, especially Danielle, who either organized or participated in the LKS Idol. Twelve acts were shown and all provided great entertainment. These events help to reinforce the commitment and practise needed by the performers and it also provides an opportunity to practice being a good audience.
Good luck to all the students participating in the Track and Field meet on Monday. Currently, we have 2 buses heading to York-that translates into a lot of little athletes! Good luck in your events and remember to have fun and show good sportsmanship.
Teachers are very busy in the classroom as we wind down the year. Over the last few weeks the students have been completing year end assessments including our Spring CTBS and DRA (primary) and CASI (junior/intermediate)reading assessments. All this data is important for us to see our students' academic growth and areas that we may need to continue to work on next year. Next week, our grade 3 and 6 students will write the EQAO assessments. Results will be available early Fall. In early June we will also post our School Improvement Plan Summary. The teachers are in the processes of evaluating their goals and achievements.
In closing, the warm weather is upon us and it is time again to remind the students of appropriate clothing in these tropical conditions. We encourage the students, especially our older middle school students, to be dressed appropriately. That usually means no bra and/or underwear showing (for both girls and the boys) and nothing to0 short (i.e. skirts should be just above the knee-the girls need to apply the bending over rule when choosing a skirt- if you had to bend over to pick something up, could someone see something he/she shouldn't be seeing- and finally no stomachs please! We've had questions about spaghetti straps and the answer is always-no bra should be seen. We thank you in support of this at home. Common sense will prevail! P.S. -no tube tops!
As of yet, no 2009/2010 school calendar has been published (from the Board)-let's hope for next week.
Dates
25th-West Track and Field Meet @York University-Grade 2-8
26th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO
29th-Pizza Day
June
1st-Grade 6-8 Instrumental Concert Night
2nd-Dental Screening
3rd-Free the Children Assembly
4th-Grade 4-8 York University Conference Finals; Grade 1 Classes to the Zoo!
5th-Grade 6 Cosmic Connections; Grade 2 Classes to Harbourfront
8th-12th-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
8th-Parent Council
10th-Grade 4-8 City Track Finals-U of T
22nd-Report Cards Go Home!
24th-Grade 8 Graduation
25th-Last Day for Students; Year End Assembly: Lunch on the Lawn
Friday, May 15, 2009
Happy Long Weekend!
We hope everyone has a great weekend resting up and having fun with your friends and family. We had a very busy week...again!
Many of our sports teams had their tournaments this week, including the senior boys soccer and ultimate frisbee teams. Cricket players, be sure to look for your postponed tournament on the sports website. Thank you to all the players who tried out for a team. It takes a lot of courage and hard practice and you are commended for your commitment. Thank you to the coaches. I know you were pulled in many directions this week, spending 12 hour days, and your efforts too should be commended. Finally a big thanks to all the parents who drove back and forth. I know that many of you were driving many days this week!
Thank you to all the safety reps for helping out with our "tug of wars" at recess. They thought they would celebrate the Character Trait of "cooperation" with a friendly class tug of war! It was really fun! Remember that May's character trait is Integrity. This concept is a bit hard for the little ones to understand, but can easily be introduced with a small conversation of "right and wrong". The safety reps will be meeting next week to plan an event to cover the last two character traits of the year.
Report Cards will go home on June 22nd. Even though we are very busy at the end of the year, students are encouraged to stay focused on achieving your third term goals. We know many of you are hard at work finishing up projects and studying for final tests. We have asked all teachers to communicate with parents if any students will be transferring into the next grade (please see 2nd term report card parent letter for Promotion, Transfer and Retention processes).
A final thank you to all the students who got dropped off at Kiss and Ride today. The parents told me you were so nice today and greeted them with warm "good mornings"! Thank you for being so respectful.
Dates
18th-Victory Day!
20th-Volunteer Tea @ 3:30-Library
21st-LKS has Talent-p.m.; Junior Boys Soccer
22nd-Sharing Assemblies
25th-West Track and Field Meet @York University-Grade 2-8
26th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO
29th-Pizza Day
June
1st-Grade 6-8 Instrumental Concert Night
2nd-Dental Screening
3rd-Free the Children Assembly
4th-Grade 4-8 York University Conference Finals; Grade 1 Classes to the Zoo!
5th-Grade 6 Cosmic Connections; Grade 2 Classes to Harbourfront
8th-12th-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
8th-Parent Council
10th-Grade 4-8 City Track Finals-U of T
22nd-Report Card Go Home!
24th-Grade 8 Graduation
25th-Last Day for Students; Year End Assembly
Many of our sports teams had their tournaments this week, including the senior boys soccer and ultimate frisbee teams. Cricket players, be sure to look for your postponed tournament on the sports website. Thank you to all the players who tried out for a team. It takes a lot of courage and hard practice and you are commended for your commitment. Thank you to the coaches. I know you were pulled in many directions this week, spending 12 hour days, and your efforts too should be commended. Finally a big thanks to all the parents who drove back and forth. I know that many of you were driving many days this week!
Thank you to all the safety reps for helping out with our "tug of wars" at recess. They thought they would celebrate the Character Trait of "cooperation" with a friendly class tug of war! It was really fun! Remember that May's character trait is Integrity. This concept is a bit hard for the little ones to understand, but can easily be introduced with a small conversation of "right and wrong". The safety reps will be meeting next week to plan an event to cover the last two character traits of the year.
Report Cards will go home on June 22nd. Even though we are very busy at the end of the year, students are encouraged to stay focused on achieving your third term goals. We know many of you are hard at work finishing up projects and studying for final tests. We have asked all teachers to communicate with parents if any students will be transferring into the next grade (please see 2nd term report card parent letter for Promotion, Transfer and Retention processes).
A final thank you to all the students who got dropped off at Kiss and Ride today. The parents told me you were so nice today and greeted them with warm "good mornings"! Thank you for being so respectful.
Dates
18th-Victory Day!
20th-Volunteer Tea @ 3:30-Library
21st-LKS has Talent-p.m.; Junior Boys Soccer
22nd-Sharing Assemblies
25th-West Track and Field Meet @York University-Grade 2-8
26th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO
29th-Pizza Day
June
1st-Grade 6-8 Instrumental Concert Night
2nd-Dental Screening
3rd-Free the Children Assembly
4th-Grade 4-8 York University Conference Finals; Grade 1 Classes to the Zoo!
5th-Grade 6 Cosmic Connections; Grade 2 Classes to Harbourfront
8th-12th-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
8th-Parent Council
10th-Grade 4-8 City Track Finals-U of T
22nd-Report Card Go Home!
24th-Grade 8 Graduation
25th-Last Day for Students; Year End Assembly
Thursday, May 7, 2009
A Successful Springfest!
Thank you to all the parents who helped organize Springfest! What a great day for the community...and the weather proved to be on our side! A special congratulations to Kati in grade 4 who will be spending the day with me and Mr. Mclean for winning 'Principal for the Day'!
Just a reminder that Parent Council will be meeting on Monday @ 7:30 p.m. in the library. Fundraising ideas will be on the agenda for those of you interested in this area.
Bruce Davis is also holding a Ward Meeting at Islington P.S. @ 6:30 p.m. The TDSB Budget Process will be the topic.
Congratulations to Julia, Avery, Kyle and Scott in grade 8 for competing at the Waterloo Canada Skills Provincial Final where they demonstrated tremendous teamwork. Also, to Ian, David, Laura, Julia, Khrystyna and Jennifer for placing second at the Canadian Fluid Power Challenge with a remarkable score of 93%. Thank you to Dr. debraga for always being supportive of these really special challenges.
Just a reminder that schools starts back on September 8th, 2009. The students will not be here in August, only staff. The Ministry hasn't approved our school year calendar yet indicating holidays, PA days, etc. When we get that (hopefully soon), we will post for you.
Dates
11th-Parent Council @ 7:30; Ward Meeting @ 6:30-Islington
12th-Grade 6 Frisbee Tourney
11th-14th-Grade 4-8 Track and Field Try Outs -ECI-follow Mr. Bracht's schedule
13th-Red Maple Trip to Harbourfront-Mrs. McGee and select Grade 7 & 8 students
14th-Grade 4/5 Students attend World Energy Festival; Sr Boys' Soccer Tourney; Sean Cassidy-Author visit for Kindies; Grade 6 Frisbee Tourney; Grade 1-3 Track and Field Meet @ 9:00-11:00
15th-Forest of Reading Lunch-Grade 3-8 in the Library; Lockdown Practise @ 9:00; Junior Girls Soccer Tourney
18th-Victory Day!
20th-Volunteer Tea @ 3:30-Library
21st-LKS has Talent-p.m.; Junior Boys Soccer
22nd-Sharing Assemblies
25th-West Track and Field Meet @York University-Grade 2-8
26th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO
29th-Pizza Day
June
1st-Grade 6-8 Instrumental Concert Night
2nd-Dental Screening
3rd-Free the Children Assembly
4th-Grade 4-8 York University Conference Finals; Grade 1 Classes to the Zoo!
5th-Grade 6 Cosmic Connections; Grade 2 Classes to Harbourfront
8th-12th-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
8th-Parent Council
10th-Grade 4-8 City Track Finals-U of T
24th-Grade 8 Graduation
25th-Last Day for Students
Just a reminder that Parent Council will be meeting on Monday @ 7:30 p.m. in the library. Fundraising ideas will be on the agenda for those of you interested in this area.
Bruce Davis is also holding a Ward Meeting at Islington P.S. @ 6:30 p.m. The TDSB Budget Process will be the topic.
Congratulations to Julia, Avery, Kyle and Scott in grade 8 for competing at the Waterloo Canada Skills Provincial Final where they demonstrated tremendous teamwork. Also, to Ian, David, Laura, Julia, Khrystyna and Jennifer for placing second at the Canadian Fluid Power Challenge with a remarkable score of 93%. Thank you to Dr. debraga for always being supportive of these really special challenges.
Just a reminder that schools starts back on September 8th, 2009. The students will not be here in August, only staff. The Ministry hasn't approved our school year calendar yet indicating holidays, PA days, etc. When we get that (hopefully soon), we will post for you.
Dates
11th-Parent Council @ 7:30; Ward Meeting @ 6:30-Islington
12th-Grade 6 Frisbee Tourney
11th-14th-Grade 4-8 Track and Field Try Outs -ECI-follow Mr. Bracht's schedule
13th-Red Maple Trip to Harbourfront-Mrs. McGee and select Grade 7 & 8 students
14th-Grade 4/5 Students attend World Energy Festival; Sr Boys' Soccer Tourney; Sean Cassidy-Author visit for Kindies; Grade 6 Frisbee Tourney; Grade 1-3 Track and Field Meet @ 9:00-11:00
15th-Forest of Reading Lunch-Grade 3-8 in the Library; Lockdown Practise @ 9:00; Junior Girls Soccer Tourney
18th-Victory Day!
20th-Volunteer Tea @ 3:30-Library
21st-LKS has Talent-p.m.; Junior Boys Soccer
22nd-Sharing Assemblies
25th-West Track and Field Meet @York University-Grade 2-8
26th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO
29th-Pizza Day
June
1st-Grade 6-8 Instrumental Concert Night
2nd-Dental Screening
3rd-Free the Children Assembly
4th-Grade 4-8 York University Conference Finals; Grade 1 Classes to the Zoo!
5th-Grade 6 Cosmic Connections; Grade 2 Classes to Harbourfront
8th-12th-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
8th-Parent Council
10th-Grade 4-8 City Track Finals-U of T
24th-Grade 8 Graduation
25th-Last Day for Students
Friday, May 1, 2009
Springfest
As I write this, we still have a few of our moms setting up the last items for tomorrow's big event. Thank you to everyone who helped organize Springfest. It seems like it is going to be amazing!
Thank you so much for all the wonderful accolades regarding Wizard of Oz. All the staff and students appreciate your support and appreciation. The students should be so proud of themselves.
Over the last week, I've attended a couple of conferences that were truly inspiring. The first was around a new way of creating grade 9 classes. Many American schools are starting to rearrange their grade 9 students into "homerooms" with less rotary and a strong team of teachers supporting them throughout the first year. These new models are being looked at seriously as a result of the decreasing and quite frankly, startling, decline in graduation rates. The unfortunate thing is that we are seeing similar data across TDSB. The conference also gave us some new "transition" strategies to look at with our feeder high schools.
The second conference was called "Boys Adrift" which focused on the growing issue of unmotivated and underachieving boys. Again, the high school and university graduation data of boys are following a disturbing pattern. According to Stats Canada, 68% of the university graduates in 1971 were boys, compared to 40% in 2006. The rest of the conference focused on the factors the speaker, Leonard Sax, says are the contributing factors; namely changes in education, video games, medications, endocrine disruptors and "revenge of the forsaken gods" or the collapse of our social constructions of masculinity. For obvious reasons, these issues are very real to many of you and us as educators. If you want to read more on the topic, we did buy a copy of Sax's book, Boys Adrift. If you want to borrow it, please come and see me.
Finally, if you have any pictures for this year's LINK yearbook, the deadline for submissions is May 8th. Send them to 'kb_laco@sympatico.ca'
Just a few dates to remember:
May
2nd-Springfest
4th-Ms. Malobabic's class to Sprockets
5th-Grade 5 Greek Olympics
7th-Intermediates (some) and Dr. D go to Power Fluid Challenge
8th-Pizza Lunch; Frisbee Tourney;
11th-14th-Grade 4-8 Track and Field Try Outs -ECI-follow Mr. Bracht's schedule
13th-Red Maple Trip to Harbourfront-Mrs. McGee and select Grade 7 & 8 students
14th-Grade 4/5 Students attend World Energy Festival; Sr Boys' Soccer Tourney; Sean Cassidy-Author visit for Kindies
15th-Forest of Reading Lunch-Grade 3-8 in the Library; Lockdown Practise @ 9:0018th-Victory Day!
22nd-Sharing Assemblies
25th-West Track and Field Meet @York University-Grade 2-8
26th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO
29th-Pizza Day
June
2nd-Dental Screening
3rd-Free the Children Assembly
4th-Grade 4-8 York University Conference Finals; Grade 1 Classes to the Zoo!
5th-Grade 6 Cosmic Connections; Grade 2 Classes to Harbourfront
8th-12th-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
8th-Parent Council
10th-Grade 4-8 City Track Finals-U of T
23rd-Grade 8 Graduation
25th-Last Day for Students
Thank you so much for all the wonderful accolades regarding Wizard of Oz. All the staff and students appreciate your support and appreciation. The students should be so proud of themselves.
Over the last week, I've attended a couple of conferences that were truly inspiring. The first was around a new way of creating grade 9 classes. Many American schools are starting to rearrange their grade 9 students into "homerooms" with less rotary and a strong team of teachers supporting them throughout the first year. These new models are being looked at seriously as a result of the decreasing and quite frankly, startling, decline in graduation rates. The unfortunate thing is that we are seeing similar data across TDSB. The conference also gave us some new "transition" strategies to look at with our feeder high schools.
The second conference was called "Boys Adrift" which focused on the growing issue of unmotivated and underachieving boys. Again, the high school and university graduation data of boys are following a disturbing pattern. According to Stats Canada, 68% of the university graduates in 1971 were boys, compared to 40% in 2006. The rest of the conference focused on the factors the speaker, Leonard Sax, says are the contributing factors; namely changes in education, video games, medications, endocrine disruptors and "revenge of the forsaken gods" or the collapse of our social constructions of masculinity. For obvious reasons, these issues are very real to many of you and us as educators. If you want to read more on the topic, we did buy a copy of Sax's book, Boys Adrift. If you want to borrow it, please come and see me.
Finally, if you have any pictures for this year's LINK yearbook, the deadline for submissions is May 8th. Send them to 'kb_laco@sympatico.ca'
Just a few dates to remember:
May
2nd-Springfest
4th-Ms. Malobabic's class to Sprockets
5th-Grade 5 Greek Olympics
7th-Intermediates (some) and Dr. D go to Power Fluid Challenge
8th-Pizza Lunch; Frisbee Tourney;
11th-14th-Grade 4-8 Track and Field Try Outs -ECI-follow Mr. Bracht's schedule
13th-Red Maple Trip to Harbourfront-Mrs. McGee and select Grade 7 & 8 students
14th-Grade 4/5 Students attend World Energy Festival; Sr Boys' Soccer Tourney; Sean Cassidy-Author visit for Kindies
15th-Forest of Reading Lunch-Grade 3-8 in the Library; Lockdown Practise @ 9:0018th-Victory Day!
22nd-Sharing Assemblies
25th-West Track and Field Meet @York University-Grade 2-8
26th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO
29th-Pizza Day
June
2nd-Dental Screening
3rd-Free the Children Assembly
4th-Grade 4-8 York University Conference Finals; Grade 1 Classes to the Zoo!
5th-Grade 6 Cosmic Connections; Grade 2 Classes to Harbourfront
8th-12th-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
8th-Parent Council
10th-Grade 4-8 City Track Finals-U of T
23rd-Grade 8 Graduation
25th-Last Day for Students
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