Music Opportunity

I'm forwarding this to the community on behalf of Etobicoke Suzuki Music:

 Etobicoke Suzuki Music Open House

Wed. March 5th, 5:00-9:00 p.m. at

Dixon Grove Public School

315 The Westway at Kipling

ESM is a not-for profit community program based on the philosophy of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki that talent can be taught and every child can learn. You are invited to come with your child and see what makes this school different. Observe one of the weekly group classes, listen to orchestras and ensembles, meet the teachers, talk to other parents and see if ESM might be the perfect place for your child to discover the joy of music.

Beginner Group classes and Music & Movement classes start at 5 pm. Group classes continue with more advanced classes until 9:00 pm. ESM welcomes all interested parents and children.

Friday, February 28, 2014

This week, I had the pleasure of working with the parents who came to our Parent Council Meeting and with our staff at the Staff Meeting, brainstorming how Lambton-Kingsway promotes a positive well being for students. As many of you know, the topic of "Mental Health" is at the forefront in TDSB and schools are now expected to have Mental Health and Well Being Committees that will focus on creating goals to create a positive climate in schools and address students' mental health concerns and issues.

We are excited to take on the challenge at LKS. We are in the process of establishing a committee. The data that we have gathered at this week's meetings will be a great starting point for establishing our goals. Ms. Dacyshyn will be Chairing our committee and she will be working with our intermediate students this week to complete a similar exercise because it is essential that we gather our students' opinions and thoughts on the matter also.

The Film Club has extended the deadline for those entering our Film Festival. All grade 4-8 Film Makers will now have until March 19th to submit their film to the office.

Finally, I thought I'd include a few photos that I took in one morning at LKS! They will show you the different ways are kids are learning and achieving!

Grade 2 and 3 Social Studies 

Grade 4 Social Studies Culminating Task! 

Grade 5 Smartboard Lesson 

Grade 3 Oral Presentation on Bridges 

March-Honesty 
3rd-Grade 4-8 Sharing Assembly
4th-Eco-Club Meeting at lunch 
7th-PA Day

10th-14th-March Break

17th-Author Visit-Grade 4-8-Eric Walters 

24th-Parent Council 

26th-Grade 8 Graduation Photos 

27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly;

28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

April-Co-operation

1st-Scientist in the School-Mrs. Burn's Class 

3rd- School Wide Film Festival
4th-LKS Social at the Old Mill 
10th-Film Festival Evening Gala (for filmmakers, friends and family) 

16th-Earth Ranger's Presentation 

18th-Good Friday and Easter Monday 

23rd-Grade 8 Grad Photo Retake 

24th-1-8 Sharing Assembly

25th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

May-Integrity

19th-Victoria Day

26th-Grade 3 & 6 EQAO Begins

29th-1-8 Sharing Assembly; 

30th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

June-Perseverance

6th-PA Day

13th-Grade 8 Graduation 
16th-Grade 8 Quebec Trip 

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)

Thank you to the families for coming to last night's movie night. Once again, it was really a fun time together. All funds raised will go to our extra-curricular clubs and events (i.e. buying games for the grade one games clubs). 

I'd like to thank the Seeds of Hope Club for their terrific fundraising efforts this week to support the building of a school! It's times like this that you make us proud of LKS! 

Seeds of Hope!

I'd also like to thank Mr. Bracht and all the teachers and parents who took our grade 6,7 and 8 classes skiing on Wednesday. What a fantastic field trip! Everyone had a great time and the weather was outstanding.  A few of the students even improved their skiing levels throughout the day. 

Another special thanks goes to Mr. Samotowka for taking our grade 7 band to the Kiwanis Festival this week. Our grade 8 orchestra and grade 6 band and strings will be attending the Festival over the next couple of weeks also. 

We completed registering the majority of our new kindergarten students for September. I'd like to thank the parent volunteers, Mrs. Stefanowicz, Mrs. Shakespeare, Mrs. Iafrate, Mrs. Burns, Mrs. Tyndall and Mrs. Norton for working through this process.  I 'd like to welcome our new families to LKS. 

Now that report cards and interviews are completed, staff will continue to meet with me and Mrs. Norton to review children with whom teachers have concerns to ensure that we are providing the best possible program. It is important that we continue to track all of our students and share best practices with each other to give the students, especially our young ones, a solid foundation. 

On the note of best practices, I was in Mr. Kuru's room yesterday watching some grade 7s work their way through an IXL lesson.  IXL is an on-line math program that the students can use in the classroom and at home. We introduced the program a couple of years back in our grade 4 classes and now have purchased a license for all the students in grade one through eight to use at home. We are finding it to be an invaluable teaching tool, especially at the middle school level. Mr. Kuru was explaining to the kids the direct correlation he is finding between the amount of time each class is using the program and the final unit test results; namely the classes that are spending the most time on the program are receiving higher test averages. Based on these observations alone, we strongly encourage the students to continue using the program at home. 

Finally, in the next couple of weeks you will see construction begin in one of our kindergarten classes as a new restroom is being installed. The construction should be complete in a couple of months. 

In closing, I'd like to thank you for your co-operation in the parking lot this week. The Kiss and Ride is much safer now that the pylons are staying in place and people are not parking illegally. Thank you to all the parents for helping out with this. 

February-Fairness 

24th-Parent Council at 7:00 p.m.; Grade 8 Orchestra @ Kiwanis; Hockey West Semi-Finals  
25th-Safety Rep meeting @ lunch 

26th-Grade 3 and 2/3 to AGO; Eco-Club "Walking Wednesday" 

27th-1-3 Sharing Assembly; Hockey West Conference Finals 

28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day; Grade 6 Band @ Kiwanis; Grade 3-8 Yoga @ lunch  

March-Honesty

3rd-Grade 4-8 Sharing Assembly
4th-Eco-Club Meeting at lunch 
7th-PA Day

10th-14th-March Break

17th-Author Visit-Grade 4-8-Eric Walters 

24th-Parent Council 

26th-Grade 8 Graduation Photos 

27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly; School Wide Film Festival 

28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

April-Co-operation

1st-Scientist in the School-Mrs. Burn's Class 

3rd-Film Festival Evening Gala (for filmmakers, friends and family) 

16th-Earth Ranger's Presentation 

18th-Good Friday and Easter Monday 

23rd-Grade 8 Grad Photo Retake 

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

13th-Grade 8 Graduation 

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)

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Mrs. Hall's Class celebrates 100's Day!

What did we do at LKS this week? Aside from some great learning going on in the classrooms, we celebrated 100's Day on Monday, Valentine's Day tomorrow, hosted tournaments, registered around 40 new kindergarten students and their families, conducted interviews, had a few pizza lunches and managed to get outside to enjoy a bit of the warmer weather. It was a great week! 

Looking ahead, the fun continues as we host our movie night next week and some classes continue to enjoy our skating program. 

On a very serious note, I do need to say that many parents and staff are getting extremely frustrated with our parking lot situation, and by that I mean the parents who continue to park illegally resulting in congestion and creating unsafe situations for our youngsters. On a few occasions this week, we've actually witnessed parents removing the pylons on the south parking lot in order to park. In seven years of putting out the pylons, we've never witnessed this. The reason we have the pylons there are a reminder that it is illegal to park.

As a result of the unsafe situation, 22 Division will be visiting all next week over the course of the day to not only ticket the illegal parking, but to help devise a plan that will hopefully make drop off and pick up around the school much safer. 

We all need to recognize that the parking lot and Kiss and Ride are worse in the winter because of the snow build up and more people are driving to school-this is happening in all schools. But we all need to have some common sense and courtesy over the next couple of weeks. The snow will melt, and it will get better in due time.  

I hope everyone has a great holiday on Monday with your family and friends. 

February-Fairness
17th-Family Day 
19th-Mrs. Wilson, Ms. Kim and Ms. Mandel are skating;  Grade 6-8 Ski Trip; Kindergarten Registration in the morning; Officer Rich visits grade 5    
20th-Grade 7 Band @ Kiwanis; Jr Hockey at Humbercrest and Sr at Runnymede; LKS Movie Night @ 6:30-Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2   
24th-Parent Council at 7:00 p.m.; Grade 8 Orchestra @ Kiwanis; Hockey West Semi-Finals  
26th-Grade 3 and 2/3 to AGO 
27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly; Hockey West Conference Finals 

28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day; Grade 6 Band @ Kiwanis 

March-Honesty

7th-PA Day

10th-14th-March Break
17th-Author Visit-Grade 4-8-Eric Walters 
24th-Parent Council 
26th-Grade 8 Graduation Photos 

27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly; School Wide Film Festival 

28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

April-Co-operation
1st-Scientist in the School-Mrs. Burn's Class 
3rd-Film Festival Evening Gala (for filmmakers, friends and family) 
16th-Earth Ranger's Presentation 
18th-Good Friday and Easter Monday 
23rd-Grade 8 Grad Photo Retake 

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
13th-Grade 8 Graduation 

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)

Thursday, February 6, 2014

What do you do when there is a 20 cm snowfall? Take advantage of it; just like Mr. Ross! Mr. Ross took his class to the Shale Pit yesterday to teach a math lesson. The kids drew geometric nets and solids (not much packing snow) in the fresh snow. Minus a few complications (dogs running through their shapes), it was a great way to enjoy our winter weather. Congratulations Mr. Ross for thinking outside the box!

I captured a photo of our grade 7 girls creating their dance. Dance classes are taught during physical education and will be reported upon on June's report card. Generally, the students really love dance classes and creating their own dances. It gives them an opportunity to be creative in mind, body and spirit. Last week, we had an professional instructor teach all the grade 1-8 classes and many of the students incorporated their new moves into this week's dance.  The instructor was paid for from Parent Council and your fundraising efforts. Thanks!

Grade 5 Math Class

Grade 7 Dance Class 

Every year, we receive our optional attendance status, and once again we are closed for attendance. That means no one living outside our area can attend LKS. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend in the snow!

February-Teamwork 
10th-Report Cards Go Home; Happy 100s Day!
11th-Kindergarten Registration; Sr Girls VBall @ LKS; Safety Rep Meeting @ lunch 
12th-Kindergarten Registration 
13th-Grade 7 Scientist in the School; Jr Girls VBall @ LKS; Sr Hockey vs Humber Valley 
14th-Middle School Dance; Happy Valentine's Day   
17th-Family Day 
19th-Mrs. Wilson, Ms. Kim and Ms. Mandel are skating;  Grade 6-8 Ski Trip; Kindergarten Registration in the morning; Officer Rich visists grade 5    
20th-Grade 7 Band @ Kiwanis; Jr Hockey at Humbercrest and Sr at Runnymede; LKS Movie Night @ 6:30-Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2   
24th-Parent Council at 7:00 p.m.; Grade 8 Orchestra @ Kiwanis; Hockey West Semi-Finals  
26th-Grade 3 and 2/3 to AGO 
27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly; Hockey West Conference Finals 

28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day; Grade 6 Band @ Kiwanis 

March-Honesty

7th-PA Day

10th-14th-March Break
17th-Author Visit-Grade 4-8-Eric Walters 
24th-Parent Council 
26th-Grade 8 Graduation Photos 

27th-1-8 Sharing Assembly; School Wide Film Festival 

28th-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Pizza Day

April-Co-operation
1st-Scientist in the School-Mrs. Burn's Class 
3rd-Film Festival Evening Gala (for filmmakers, friends and family) 
16th-Earth Ranger's Presentation 
18th-Good Friday and Easter Monday 
23rd-Grade 8 Grad Photo Retake 

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
13th-Grade 8 Graduation 

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)