Friday, September 28, 2012

Friday, September 28th, 2012


I'd like to thank Mrs. Gibson for organizing our wonderful Terry Fox Walk on Thursday. It was a beautiful day for a great community event! So far, around $16, 000 in donations has been raised. Thank you so much for your support!

A big thank you to Mrs. Barrett, Mrs. Teti and Mrs. Painting who organized our first Pizza Lunch. It was a great success! Thanks to all the parents who supervised the classrooms.

I'd also like to thank Mrs. Adair, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Olson and Mrs. Zappi for leading our Seed of Hope Club. Today, the teachers attended the annual, "Me to We" Day downtown with 31 of our students. For those of you who don't know, the Seeds of Hope Club is a club that older students can join and it focuses on social justice issues.  They purpose of the club is to help bring awareness to issues and concerns around the globe.  This is a wonderful club as it allows the older students leadership opportunities. Discussions tend to develop abstract and higher level thinking skills.

This week, staff had the opportunity to begin analyzing our data from last year, namely our report card summary and EQAO. Although, we will look at it further, it is evident our students do well overall in reading, writing and math, usually achieving above Board and Provincial levels. We will continue to focus on teaching implicit thinking in reading and making connections; two areas that require more direction instruction. We will talk more about this as the year progresses.

Good luck to our grade 1-8 cross-country team as they compete in the first meet next Tuesday and to our grade 7 classes as they are heading off to their three day outdoor trip next week!

Hope to see you at the Book Fair!

OCTOBER 2012
1st-3rd-Grade 7 Outdoor Ed Trip
1st-4th-Book Fair-Library
2nd-Cross Country Meet @ Centennial
8th-Thanksgiving
16th-Individual Education Plans (IEP) go home
24th-Photo Re-take Day (a.m. only)
26th-Pizza Day
31st-Hallowe'en Parade

NOVEMBER 2012
9th-Remembrance Day Assembly
12th-Report Cards Go Home
16th-PA Day
30th-Pizza Day

DECEMBER 2012
7th-PA Day
20th-Pizza Day
24th-January 4th-Holidays

JANUARY
7th-School Begins
24th-Pizza Day
25th-PA Day

FEBRUARY
11th- Report Cards Go Home!
15th-PA Day
18th-Family Day!
22nd-Pizza Day

MARCH
11th-15th-March Break
28th-Pizza Day
29th-Good Friday

APRIL
1st-Easter Monday
26th-Pizza Day

MAY
24th-Sharing Assembly
31-Pizza Day

JUNE
7th-PA Day
14th-Grade 8 Graduation
17th-21st-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
18th-Sharing Assembly
26th-Report Cards Go Home
27th-Lunch on the Lawn (Pizza Day); Year End Assembly; Last day for students









Friday, September 21, 2012

Friday, September 21, 2012

Over the past week, I've spoken to a couple of you regarding the withdrawal of some extra-curricular activities. It is a frustrating process for everyone. Please know that teachers are teaching, planning and learning is happening in the classroom. Thank you.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Friday, September 21, 2012

It's been a very busy week in the classroom. The students are completing initial reading, writing and math diagnostics and delving into their assignments. I've been in the primary classes this week, and it is amazing how much the kids' learning has improved even in the last two weeks.

The grade 3 and 6 students should be taking home their individual EQAO results this week.

Next week, we will host our first Sharing Assemblies. The assemblies are a time where we get to honour students who have displayed exemplary character traits. The trait for September is Respect. I really love the sharing assemblies because I think it is really important to recognize the good things the students are doing around the school! They also give a leadership opportunty for our grade eight students as they lead the assemblies.

At the end of next week, Mr. Elias will be retiring. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for all that he has done at LKS. He began his career in the early Toronto Board and has taught a variety of subjects here including special education, physical education and computers. He has been an active member of many committees and we will miss his expertise, especially in the area of IT! We wish him the best of luck in the future!

Have a nice weekend.

SEPTEMBER 2012

24th-Sharing Assemblies
19th and 20th-Photo Days
26th-Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies-9:00 and 12:35 (Lunchroom)
27th-Terry Fox Run
28th-Terry Fox Rain Date; Pizza Day

OCTOBER 2012
1st-3rd-Grade 7 Outdoor Ed Trip
1st-4th-Book Fair-Library
8th-Thanksgiving
16th-Individual Education Plans (IEP) go home
24th-Photo Re-take Day (a.m. only)
26th-Pizza Day
31st-Hallowe'en Parade

NOVEMBER 2012
9th-Remembrance Day Assembly
12th-Report Cards Go Home
16th-PA Day
30th-Pizza Day

DECEMBER 2012
7th-PA Day
20th-Pizza Day
24th-January 4th-Holidays

JANUARY
7th-School Begins
24th-Pizza Day
25th-PA Day

FEBRUARY
11th- Report Cards Go Home!
15th-PA Day
18th-Family Day!
22nd-Pizza Day

MARCH
11th-15th-March Break
28th-Pizza Day
29th-Good Friday

APRIL
1st-Easter Monday
26th-Pizza Day

MAY
24th-Sharing Assembly
31-Pizza Day

JUNE
7th-PA Day
14th-Grade 8 Graduation
17th-21st-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
18th-Sharing Assembly
26th-Report Cards Go Home
27th-Lunch on the Lawn (Pizza Day); Year End Assembly; Last day for students















Monday, September 17, 2012

Monday, September 17, 2012

As many of you know already, some sports teams have been cancelled today. We will do our best to inform you if events will be cancelled in the future. We thank you in advance.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

September 13, 2012

I'd like to thank everyone for attending Curriculum Night on Tuesday. The teachers had the opportunity to discuss their programs and routines. If you are interested in reading our team Long Range Plans, please check for them on the website next week. Our website is up and running, but we are still finding "lost" information.

As many of you know, Bill 115 was passed this week. With the passing, comes lots of questions regarding our extra-curricular activities. If there are any changes, I will blog them and communicate with you through our grade parent emails. Thank you in advance.

The past two weeks have been busy within the classrooms. Teachers have begun reviewing and completing language and math diagnostics. The special education  staff and teachers are also busy creating Individual Education Plans for some of our students. The IEPs will be completed, with parent consultation, and sent home on October 16th.

I'm including an article on tutoring that I found interesting (http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/09/04/Tutor-Advantage/).  I thought I would send it out, as I've had discussions around tutoring with some of you over the last six years. The article seems to be based from the British Columbia perspective, but I did find it interesting and it gives us a bit more insight into the question, "Does tutoring work?"

Finally, congratulations to Mr. Ross and his wife, as they welcomed their new baby girl!

SEPTEMBER 2012

19th and 20th-Photo Days
27th-Terry Fox Run
28th-Terry Fox Rain Date; Pizza Day

OCTOBER 2012
1st-3rd-Grade 7 Outdoor Ed Trip
8th-Thanksgiving
16th-Individual Education Plans (IEP) go home
24th-Photo Re-take Day (a.m. only)
26th-Pizza Day
31st-Hallowe'en Parade

NOVEMBER 2012
9th-Remembrance Day Assembly
12th-Report Cards Go Home
16th-PA Day
30th-Pizza Day

DECEMBER 2012
7th-PA Day
20th-Pizza Day
24th-January 4th-Holidays

JANUARY
7th-School Begins
24th-Pizza Day
25th-PA Day

FEBRUARY
11th- Report Cards Go Home!
15th-PA Day
18th-Family Day!
22nd-Pizza Day

MARCH
11th-15th-March Break
28th-Pizza Day
29th-Good Friday

APRIL
1st-Easter Monday
26th-Pizza Day

MAY
24th-Sharing Assembly
31-Pizza Day

JUNE
7th-PA Day
14th-Grade 8 Graduation
17th-21st-Grade 8 Quebec Trip
18th-Sharing Assembly
26th-Report Cards Go Home
27th-Lunch on the Lawn (Pizza Day); Year End Assembly; Last day for students




Friday, September 7, 2012

September 7th, 2012

We are off to a great start! We just received our EQAO results and our students did an exceptional job. Our grade three students scored 87%, 91% and 93% in reading, writing and math, respectively and our grade six students scored 83%, 81% and 83% (percentage indicates our students at Level 3 and 4). These scores are a result of setting high expectations from you, the staff and the students. The students should feel so proud of themselves!

Karen Miller, one of our moms who organizes the Parent Grade Reps is searching for a few more volunteers. We thank you in advance if you can help out!

The following classes require one more volunteer:

Ms. Raymond - PM Kindergarten
Ms. Iafrate - AM Kindergarten
Mrs. Gibson - Grade 1
Mrs. Younger - Grade 1/2
Ms. Shklar/Ms. Sunde - Grade 2/3
Mrs. Bradshaw - Grade 3
Mrs. Adair - Grade 3
Ms. Grant - Grade 3/4
Ms. Chandra - Grade 8

The following classes still require two volunteers:

Ms. Iaftrate - PM Kindergarten
Mrs. Olson - Grade 1
Mrs. Wilson - Grade 2
Mr. Ross - Grade 5
Mrs. Taylor - Grade 6
Mr. Ourique - Grade 6
Ms. Moser - Grade 7

If someone is interested in the role please have them contact me at karen.p.miller@rogers.com

We look forward to our Curriculum Night on Tuesday. A notice indicating times/room numbers has been posted on our main page of the website.

Finally, on September 11th, our thoughts will be with the LKS families and friends who lost loved ones during 9/11.

SEPTEMBER 2012
10th-Terry Fox Assembly @ 9:00 a.m; September Forms returned from home
11th-Curriculum Night
19th and 20th-Photo Days
27th-Terry Fox Run
28th-Terry Fox Rain Date


OCTOBER 2012
1st-3rd-Grade 7 Outdoor Ed Trip
8th-Thanksgiving
16th-Individual Education Plans (IEP) go home
24th-Photo Re-take Day (a.m. only)
31st-Hallowe'en Parade

NOVEMBER 2012
9th-Remembrance Day Assembly
12th-Report Cards Go Home

16th-PA Day

DECEMBER 2012
7th-PA Day
24th-January 4th-Holidays

JANUARY
7th-School Begins
25th-PA Day

FEBRUARY
11th- Report Cards Go Home!
15th-PA Day
18th-Family Day!

MARCH
11th-15th-March Break
29th-Good Friday

APRIL
1st-Easter Monday