Friday, September 28, 2013

It was great having so many parents and family members walk with us at the Terry Fox Walk on Thursday afternoon. Thank you so much for your support during the last few weeks of fundraising for the campaign.

We just finished our second Kindergarten Sharing Assembly. This month we are celebrating the character trait "respect". On Monday, we will be celebrating with our grade 1-8 students. Each month we will continue to celebrate our character traits.

An integral part of our school plan is developing students' personal responsibility.  This year, Mr. Kuru and Ms. Chandra have introduced to our grade eight classes a new club called "LIVE"- Lambton Intermediate Volunteer Experience. The teachers are currently discussing the initiative with the students. The purpose is to encourage the students to volunteer their time both inside and outside the school. In secondary, 40 hours of volunteering is a requirement for graduation, so this program will begin the process a bit earlier.  So many of our students already volunteer so the teachers thought they would "formalize" the process a bit and provide guidance as the kids begin their journey. Students' good deeds will be recognized throughout the year, and at final graduation.

Mrs. Hall and myself have organized a movie night to help fund some extra-curricular activities this year. We will be showing Despicable Me 2 on the 17th. A flyer went home with the youngest in the family this week. If you would like to come, just return the completed form by the 4th and we will send you a ticket. Please make cheques payable to Lamton-Kingsway School.

Finally, the grade 8 girls running club and myself formed a team and will be running the Run for the Cure on October 6th. If you would like to donate to our school team, please log onto the site "Run for the Cure", find the Toronto location, and donate to our LKS School Team. Thank you so much in advance. We have about 17 students and moms running to beat breast cancer.

Saturday is supposed to be beautiful. Enjoy!

October-Responsibility
5th-LKS Grade 6 Music Camp
11th-PA Day
14th-Thanksgiving
15th-IEPs sent home
16th-Grade 7/8 Hep B and HPV
17th-Family Movie Night-Despicable Me 2
24th-Photo Re-take Day
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day
28th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
31st-Hallowe'en Parade

November-Empathy
4th-Parent Book Interviews On-line
11th-Remembrance Day Assemblies; Report Cards Go Home
15th-PA/Interview Day
22nd-Pizza Day
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
26th-1-8 Sharing Assembly

December-Kindness and Caring
18th-1-8 Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day
19th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
20th-Holidays Begin

January-Teamwork
24th-PA Day
30th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
31st-1-8 Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

February-Fairness
27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

March-Honesty
7th-PA Day
10th-14th-March Break
27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

April-Co-operation
24th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

May-Integrity
19th-Victoria Day
26th-EQAO Begins
29th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
30th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

June-Perseverance
6th-PA Day
18th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
19th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
23rd-Report Cards Sent Home
27th-Last Day for Students; Lunch on the Lawn (Last Pizza Day)

Friday, September 20, 2013

I can't believe we are going into our last full week of September. It's been so busy this week and the time has flown.

I'd like to remind everyone of some safety concerns. While we strongly encourage you to walk to school, we do realize that some parents have to drive. If you are dropping your child off in the morning, please make sure you stop the car and ensure your child enters the playground safely. There is absolutely no parking in the staff parking lot, especially during drop off or pick up times. Also, please do not park in the other parking lot; it's actually a city street. There is parking available around the school.  Secondly, there are no dogs allowed on the school property.

Thank you for returning all your September Forms to the school. Shortly, the office will be sending home a "data verification" form home for you to verify the information that we have on file. Although we have tried to streamline the amount of forms being sent home, there does tend to be more at the beginning of the year. There also seems to be request for payments (i.e. agenda/T Shirt/pizza) or donations (i.e. Terry Fox, Classroom Fund). Please do not feel that you have to contribute to everything sent home; that is your choice. Parent Council and staff will continue to be cognisant of our requests and try to find even more efficient ways of collection. Thank you in advance.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

24th and 25th-School Photos (see your teacher's schedule)
26th-Terry Fox Walk (27th Rain Date)
27th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day
30th-1-8 Sharing Assembly

October-Responsibility
5th-LKS Grade 6 Music Camp
11th-PA Day
14th-Thanksgiving
15th-IEPs sent home
16th-Grade 7/8 Hep B and HPV
17th-Family Movie Night-Despicable Me 2
24th-Photo Re-take Day
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day
28th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
31st-Hallowe'en Parade

November-Empathy
4th-Parent Book Interviews On-line
11th-Remembrance Day Assemblies; Report Cards Go Home
15th-PA/Interview Day
22nd-Pizza Day
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
26th-1-8 Sharing Assembly

December-Kindness and Caring
18th-1-8 Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day
19th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
20th-Holidays Begin

January-Teamwork
24th-PA Day
30th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
31st-1-8 Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

February-Fairness
27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

March-Honesty
7th-PA Day
10th-14th-March Break
27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

April-Co-operation
24th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

May-Integrity
19th-Victoria Day
26th-EQAO Begins
29th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
30th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

June-Perseverance
6th-PA Day
18th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
19th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
23rd-Report Cards Sent Home
27th-Last Day for Students; Lunch on the Lawn (Last Pizza Day)

Friday, September 13, 2013

I'd like to thank everyone for attending our Curriculum Night on Tuesday. If you were not able to make it and would like to get an overview of the "learning expectations" that your child's teacher will be covering, please visit our website next week and look for Long Range Plans.

We will be hosting our first Parent Council meeting next Tuesday. I encourage you to attend as new members will be voted in and volunteer lists will be generated. Babysitting will be available. The meeting will be at 7:00 p.m in Room 210 (upstairs).

We have received our school budget for the year and we have been cut approximately $11, 000 to $99,000.  You can actually view all school budgets on the TDSB website. The TDSB is responsible for major facilities  and salaries and the school budget is mainly used for program expenses, minor facility repairs, and office expenditures (i.e. telephones, photocopier rentals, etc). We are so fortunate to work closely with the LKS Parent Council as we off-set the school's budget with the money that you donate to provide enriching programs like Artist in the School, Classroom Fund, Scientist in the School, etc.  If it wasn't for your donations, we couldn't possibly provide so much that we can to the students. I will continue to talk about Budget at our monthly Parent Council meetings.

This year, we are fortunate to have Rosa Militano, our new guidance counselor. Rosa will mainly be working with our grade 8 students and teachers completing the necessary paperwork as they move to secondary school next year, but she is also available to our families for counseling and guidance related concerns.  Here is a message from Mrs. Militano:

Hello LKS parents , My name is Rosa Militano and I am the guidance counsellor at Lambton –Kingsway My mandate is to work with the Gr.7 and 8’s . I am a well-seasoned guidance counsellor and have 4 other schools that I am currently responsible for. I am at Lambton-Kingsway ½ day in a 5 day cycle. I am looking forward to working and getting to know the Lambton-Kingsway community.If you need to get a hold of me, please email me at rosa.militano@tdsb.on.ca.   

I hope everyone has a great weekend. 

Thanks for the lemonade Mrs. Keogh

Cyberbullying Presentation!

September-Respect

16th-Parent Council @ 7:00 p.m.
24th and 25th-School Photos (see your teacher's schedule)
26th-Terry Fox Walk (27th Rain Date)
27th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day
30th-1-8 Sharing Assembly

October-Responsibility
5th-LKS Grade 6 Music Camp
11th-PA Day
14th-Thanksgiving
15th-IEPs sent home
16th-Grade 7/8 Hep B and HPV
17th-Family Movie Night-Despicable Me 2
24th-Photo Re-take Day
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day
28th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
31st-Hallowe'en Parade

November-Empathy
4th-Parent Book Interviews On-line
11th-Remembrance Day Assemblies; Report Cards Go Home
15th-PA/Interview Day
22nd-Pizza Day
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
26th-1-8 Sharing Assembly

December-Kindness and Caring
18th-1-8 Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day
19th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
20th-Holidays Begin

January-Teamwork
24th-PA Day
30th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
31st-1-8 Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

February-Fairness
27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

March-Honesty
7th-PA Day
10th-14th-March Break
27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

April-Co-operation
24th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

May-Integrity
19th-Victoria Day
26th-EQAO Begins
29th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
30th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

June-Perseverance
6th-PA Day
18th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
19th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
23rd-Report Cards Sent Home
27th-Last Day for Students; Lunch on the Lawn (Last Pizza Day)

Friday, September 6, 2013

It's been a wonderful week catching up with you and the children. Everyone seemed to enjoy the summer, even though many of our families were affected by the flood in some way. The clean up is still underway for some of our families. 

It's been pretty busy this week as staff and students get back into the routines of school. As many of you know, our school runs with the help of our volunteers, especially our grade parents. Currently, we are looking for grade parents for the following classes: Mrs. Hall, Ms. Mandel, Ms. Sunde and Ms. Bradshaw. Also, we need one more parent rep for Mrs. Tyndall (AM), Mrs. Younger, Ms. Kim and Ms. Walker. If you would like to volunteer for this position, please email karen.p.miller@rogers.com. Thank you so much. 

As of this post, we have approximately 650 students. We've had some new registrations and a few families have left the school. Right now, our class organization will remain the same and there is no need to re-organize.  We will continue to work on this next week.

Our Special Education teachers including, Mrs. Dacyshyn, Mrs. Young, Mr. Blais and Mrs. Souter (formerly MacPherson) have been busy meeting all our students who receive resource and making final adjustments to timetables to allow maximum amount of support. We are also very fortunate to have back Mrs. Lyons, Mrs. Najder and Mrs. Whale who will be working with the teachers and students.

Our library and computer room renovations are moving along at a good rate and we hope to be back in the rooms over the next two weeks. There ended up being limited damage to the computer room, with six needing  repairs  and all surfaces in both rooms have been cleaned and inspected by the Board. The shelving and books will be put back over the next couple of weeks in the library, and a new floor will be installed shortly. Mrs. McGee has been rotating to classes introducing the library program and the second computer room has been useful to accommodate all classes. 

We are also happy to share that we received an additional 3 security cameras and a "buzzer" system for the front door. The new safety door was installed and funded as part of a ministry initiative. As of Monday, all the doors will be locked. You will have to "buzz" in order to enter the school.  For this reason, we strongly encourage everyone to keep visits (i.e. dropping off lunch bags) to a minimum. Please continue to begin your visits at the office. We thank you in advance.

As we come to the end of the week, we ask that all monies and paperwork be sent back to the school as we will be going collecting them in the office for filing. We thank you in advance. 

I'd also like to thank Mr. Kuru and Mr. Bracht for coaching football this year, and Mr. Ross and Mr. Littlejohn for starting up the softball teams. Mr. Ellerker, Mrs. Wilson and myself sent home Cross Coutnry permission forms this week, with practices beginning on the 16th. I'd also like to extend a warm thank you to Mrs. Gibson as she has been so busy getting ready for the Terry Fox kick-off assembly on Monday. I love the Terry Fox Walk as it really brings us together in such a positive spirit at the beginning of the school year. Yes, I've agreed to be sprayed with "condiments" if we reach $25 000 and Mr. Lanis is going to shave off his beard!

We hope to see you at Curriculum Night on Tuesday. A flyer has been sent home with locations and times of meetings.

September-Respect

9th-Terry Fox Kick Off Assembly
10th-Curriculum Night
11th-Student Safety Assemblies
13th-Cyber Busters Performance
16th-Parent Council @ 7:00 p.m.
24th-School Photos
26th-Terry Fox Walk (27th Rain Date)
27th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day
30th-1-8 Sharing Assembly

October-Responsibility
5th-LKS Grade 6 Music Camp
11th-PA Day
14th-Thanksgiving
15th-IEPs sent home
16th-Grade 7/8 Hep B and HPV
17th-Family Movie Night-Despicable Me 2
24th-Photo Re-take Day
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day
28th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
31st-Hallowe'en Parade

November-Empathy
4th-Parent Book Interviews On-line
11th-Remembrance Day Assemblies; Report Cards Go Home
15th-PA/Interview Day
22nd-Pizza Day
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
26th-1-8 Sharing Assembly

December-Kindness and Caring
18th-1-8 Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day
19th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
20th-Holidays Begin

January-Teamwork
24th-PA Day
30th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
31st-1-8 Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

February-Fairness
27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

March-Honesty
7th-PA Day
10th-14th-March Break
27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

April-Co-operation
24th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

May-Integrity
19th-Victoria Day
26th-EQAO Begins
29th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
30th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

June-Perseverance
6th-PA Day
18th-1-8 Sharing Assembly
19th-Kindie Sharing Assembly
23rd-Report Cards Sent Home
27th-Last Day for Students; Lunch on the Lawn (Last Pizza Day)

Friday, August 30, 2013

Welcome back to school everyone! I am so excited to begin the new school year and to see all the kids on Tuesday.  I hope you had a great summer with your family and friends. The weather was fantastic for the most part!

I'd like to welcome Walter Wozniak, our new head caretaker, and Andrew Robbie, our new evening caretaker who replaced George. They've done a fantastic job getting the school ready for Tuesday.  In addition to the "normal" clean up, they also had to deal with the flooding of the library and computer lab.

As some of you know, both rooms are still closed as work is being completed to ensure a safe environment for staff and students. We are in the process of working with the Board to complete this process including getting quotes for new computers, carpet and furniture. I'll update you on the process next Friday.

I will continue to update the LKS community by blogging every Friday.  I'm in the process of updating teacher blogs/websites this week.

I hope you have a great long weekend and we will see you on Tuesday. We will meet in front of the school as usual with the primary students lining up by the field, the grade 4-6 grades by the front door and the intermediates will meet their teachers at the north end.