Friday, April 27, 2012

Thank you to all the Eco-Warriors, Eco-Buds, staff and parents who organized this week's Earth Week activities. You did an amazing job! A special thanks to the grade 7 and 8 students who ran the Olympics for the student body. You demonstrated amazing leadership skills throughout the day. We have our Eco-Audit in a few weeks and the group is working hard to prepare. We currently have Gold Status and are hoping that we, one day, get Platinum!  A special thanks to Ms. Moser and Mrs. Besner who have been advocates for our school!

Now that the nice weather is here, we will be practising our three fire drills and one lockdown.  We practice with the students to ensure they know the expectations in case of a real event.

Just a quick reminder that if your child will not be here in September, to please inform your class teacher and the office.  Soon we will begin class placements. As in previous years, staff work together in teams to place the students in classes for the following September. Gender, academic achievement, social needs, and ministry caps are among the list of things that we consider when placing children. The goal of student placements is to have 'balanced' classes. As most of you know, we do not take 'teacher' requests from parents and we ask that you honour this part of the process. By the end of the year, teachers have a good understanding of their students and place the children accordingly. In most cases, staffing hasn't fully been completed until the end of the year, and as most of you know, changes happen all the way into September. We thank you in advance.


May
1st-"Annie" Performance for student body-afternoon; Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school; May 1-9th-Public Health Dental Screening
2nd-Eco-Warriors Meeting; Annie Matinee and Evening Performance; Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school
3rd-Annie Evening Performance;Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school
4th-Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school; Pizza Lunch
5th-Springfest!
7th-First Track and Field Meet @ Centennial
8th-Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies
11th-Grade 6 Soccer Tournament;
14th-Parent Council @ 7:30 p.m.
15th-Scientist in the School-Mrs. Raymond; Forest of Reading Lunch
16th-Seeds of Hope at lunch; Jr and Sr Boys Soccer Tournament
17th-Sr Ultimate Frisbee; Jr Girls Soccer Tournament
18th-Jr Ultimate Frisbee
21st-Victoria Day
22nd-Track Meet #2 at Centennial; Book Fair until Friday
24th-Grade 8 Hep B/HPV; Author visit
28th-30th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO
29th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly
30th-Seeds of Hope; Safety Meeting @ lunch
31st-Kindergarten Sharing Assembly; Sr Ultimate #1 Tournament

June
1st-PA Day
6th-Eco-Warriors Meeting
7th-Grade 3s to Kortright Conversation Centre
8th-Pizza Lunch
12th-Track and Field Finals
15th-Grade 8 Graduation
18th-22nd-Grade 8 Quebec Trip; Kindergarten Sharing Assembly
20th-Grade 1-7 Sharing Assembly
26th-Reports Go Home
28th-Year End Assembly and Lunch on the Lawn

Friday, Aprl 20th

I really want to sincerely say thank you to the community and Parent Council for supporting the many enriched opportunities that have been given to the school. This week alone, we had another author visit fully funded by parent council and the pizza lunch on Friday is completely organized by Mrs. Laco and supported by the many classroom volunteers. I really appreciate your efforts, and the commitment of the Parent Council as they endeavour to continue to support community.

As we begin planning for next week, please make sure you tell your classroom teacher and the office if you will not be here next year. It is important we have this information as soon as possible. If you move outside the catchment area, please make sure you register at your new school. If you need assistance in this area, please call the office. Thank you in advance.


April Dates
23rd-Happy Earth Week!
24th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assemblies (grade 1-8); Kindergarten Eco-Olympics
26th-Eco-Olympics-Assembly in the morning and the students rotate through activities; Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies-postponed until May 8th
27th-Primary Track and Field Day-afternoon; Forest of Reading Breakfast @ 8:15 a.m.; Earth Day Clean Up

May
1st-"Annie" Performance for student body-afternoon; Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school; May 1-9th-Public Health Dental Screening
2nd-Eco-Warriors Meeting; Annie Matinee and Evening Performance; Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school
3rd-Annie Evening Performance;Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school
4th-Pizza Lunch; Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school
5th-Springfest!
7th-First Track and Field Meet @ Centennial
8th-Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies
11th-Grade 6 Soccer Tournament
14th-Parent Council @ 7:30 p.m.
15th-Scientist in the School-Mrs. Raymond; Forest of Reading Lunch
16th-Seeds of Hope at lunch; Jr and Sr Boys Soccer Tournament
17th-Sr Ultimate Frisbee; Jr Girls Soccer Tournament
18th-Jr Ultimate Frisbee
21st-Victoria Day
22nd-Track Meet #2 at Centennial; Book Fair until Friday
24th-Grade 8 Hep B/HPV; Author visit
28th-30th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO
29th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly
30th-Seeds of Hope
31st-Kindergarten Sharing Assembly; Sr Ultimate #1 Tournament

June
1st-PA Day
6th-Eco-Warriors Meeting
7th-Grade 3s to Kortright Conversation Centre
8th-Pizza Lunch
12th-Track and Field Finals
15th-Grade 8 Graduation
18th-22nd-Grade 8 Quebec Trip; Kindergarten Sharing Assembly
20th-Grade 1-7 Sharing Assembly
26th-Reports Go Home
28th-Year End Assembly and Lunch on the Lawn

Friday, April 13, 2011

At LKS, we have a staff IT committee consisting of Mrs. Heath, Mr. Elias, Mr. Littlejohn and myself. This year, we had two major goals. The first was to provide professional development opportunities to staff to increase capacity and usage of our wonderful technology at the school and the second was to write an IT curriculum for the school. The ministry really doesn't have a "document" outlining expectations, nor a reporting expectation, compared to other subjects like English or math. This year, we resourced many "curricula" in other regions and have adapted those to meet our expectations at LKS. We are almost at the finish line, knowing that this will continue to be a working document. We already came up with new ideas for next year! I really want to thank all staff for the great effort they are making to continue to learn about our technology, sometimes a foreign world to some, in order to teach these skills to our students.

As mentioned in earlier blogs, the TDSB trustees continue to look at the budget to address our fiscal shortfall. Many cuts in Human Resources have been made. If you are interested in learning more, please log onto the TDSB website. As a result of this process, our local staffing procedures have been delayed. This week, we got our teaching staff numbers, and we did receive an additional ".5" teacher raising our number to 36.5. Based on this number, we were able to create a tentative school model that will be sent to our superintendent for approval. Given the parameters, our staffing committee created the following tentative model: 3.5 kindergarten classes, 3 straight grade ones, 1 one/two split, 3 straight grade twos, 1 two/three split, 2 straight grade three, 1 three/four split, 3 straight fours, fives, sixes and 2 straight sevens and eights. I will discuss this more at the Parent Council meeting on Monday night.

April Dates

16th-Parent Council @ 7:30 p.m. (library); Grade 3 & 6 EQAO Parent Info Night @ 6:30 p.m. (Library); Eco-Warriors Meeting
17th-Grade 4 and 5 Math Contest; Grade 5 Badminton @ LKS
18th-Safety Rep Meeting; Ms. Chandra and some grade 8s to Power Fluids Competition
19th-JK-3 Author Visit; Grade 8 Badminton @ LKS
20th-Pizza Lunch; Grade 8 Grad Retakes; JK-3 Author visit continues; Grade 6-8 Dance
24th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assemblies
26th-Eco-Olympics; Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies
27th-Primary Track and Field Day; Forest of Reading Breakfast @ 8:15 a.m.

May
1st-"Annie" Performance for student body-afternoon; Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school
2nd-Eco-Warriors Meeting; Annie Matinee and Evening Performance; Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school
3rd-Annie Evening Performance;Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school
4th-Pizza Lunch; Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school
5th-Springfest!
7th-Grade 4-8 Track Tryouts at ECI before school
11th-Grade 6 Soccer Tournament
14th-Parent Council @ 7:30 p.m.
15th-Scientist in the School-Mrs. Raymond; Forest of Reading Lunch
16th-Seeds of Hope at lunch; Jr and Sr Boys Soccer Tournament
17th-Sr Ultimate Frisbee; Jr Girls Soccer Tournament
18th-Jr Ultimate Frisbee
21st-Victoria Day
22nd-Track Meet #2 at Centennial; Book Fair until Friday
24th-Grade 8 Hep B/HPV; Author visit
28th-30th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO
29th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly
30th-Seeds of Hope
31st-Kindergarten Sharing Assembly; Sr Ultimate #1 Tournament

June
1st-PA Day
6th-Eco-Warriors Meeting
7th-Grade 3s to Kortright Conversation Centre
8th-Pizza Lunch
12th-Track and Field Finals
15th-Grade 8 Graduation
18th-22nd-Grade 8 Quebec Trip; Kindergarten Sharing Assembly
20th-Grade 1-7 Sharing Assembly
26th-Reports Go Home
28th-Year End Assembly and Lunch on the Lawn

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Our spring sports teams are starting up including badminton, swimming, track and field, co-oed volleyball, cricket, soccer,and ultimate frisbee. We are so excited to see so many kids try out for these teams, but unfortunately not everyone is going to make an inter school team. We are committed to offering as many opportunities for the kids to play a sport on an inter school team. The purpose of TDSB inter school leagues is to provide opportunities to have schools compete with others schools. By providing as many sports as staff can, we are advancing skill level and promoting a healthy competitive environment stressing teamwork and fun. In the past, some parents have had concerns that the same kids make the teams. There is a reality to that scenario, but as coaches, we also work together to include as many kids as possible, always taking into consideration that these are inter school teams. That is why we offer as much house league as possible; so students can participate in team play throughout the year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff who volunteer many coaching hours.

I will also be running a grade six girls' running club over the next two months. The purpose of the club is to of course, have fun, and to get as many girls interested in running. We've noticed that many of the girls drop out of cross-country when they enter middle school, so we are hoping that some of the girls in the club join cross-country in the fall. The girls and I will be running in the first TDSB Fit for Life 5K run on June 9th. It should prove to be fun.

I'd also like to thank Mrs. Hall and Mr. Blais for participating in the Contact Exhibition this year. We have participated for the last few years. This year, the students will be visiting the AGO next week, and then creating albums that will be part of an exhibition at the AGO.

I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend.


April Dates

10th-Officer Rich visits Mrs. Tyndall's class
11th-Crossing Guard Bob visits grade one
12th-Mr. Blais (SK) and Mrs. Hall visit AGO; Grade 6 Badminton @ LKS
16th-Parent Council @ 7:30 p.m.; Grade 3 & 6 EQAO Parent Info Night @ 6:30 p.m. (Library)
17th-Grade 4 and 5 Math Contest; Grade 5 Badminton @ LKS
18th-Safety Rep Meeting
19th-JK-3 Author Visit; Grade 8 Badminton @ LKS
20th-Pizza Lunch; Grade 8 Grad Retakes; JK-3 Author visit continues
24th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assemblies
26th-Eco-Olympics; Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies
27th-Primary Track and Field Day

May
1st-"Annie" Performance for student body-afternoon
2nd-Eco-Warriors Meeting; Annie Matinee and Evening Performance
3rd-Annie Evening Performance
5th-Springfest!
11th-Pizza Lunch
14th-Parent Council @ 7:30 p.m.
15th-Scientist in the School-Mrs. Raymond
16th-Seeds of Hope at lunch
21st-Victoria Day
29th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly
30th-Seeds of Hope
31st-Kindergarten Sharing Assembly

June
1st-PA Day
6th-Eco-Warriors Meeting
7th-Grade 3s to Kortright Conversation Centre
8th-Pizza Lunch
15th-Grade 8 Graduation
18th-22nd-Grade 8 Quebec Trip; Kindergarten Sharing Assembly
20th-Grade 1-7 Sharing Assembly
26th-Reports Go Home
28th-Year End Assembly and Lunch on the Lawn