Thursday, April 30, 2015

This week, we've had the opportunity to begin looking at some year end statistics. First, we are so please to have reduced the number of students that we monitor for academic or social concerns by about 10%. As an educator, that is significant as our goal is to see student improvement and it is evident that the partnership between staff and home is an integral part of this growth. I applaud everyone in this celebration. 

Also, we received a report showing our average absenteeism rate for 2013-2014. It looks like our average absenteeism rate is 9 days/school year. This is slightly below our Family of Schools and TDSB. I want to stress the importance of being at school as research shows that high absenteeism has a negative impact on a student's individual academic performance, a school's overall morale, and a teacher's overall performance as they continue to deal with disruptions and paperwork. 

We also find that children are being picked up early from school. Parents are coming into the office and asking for their children to be called down to leave for the day. Again, this is extremely disruptive to the class. We understand that appointments, especially with specialists, are hard to reschedule, but please make arrangements for your child to leave the classroom ahead of time. We've asked the office not to interrupt the classes unless it is for an emergency. 

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the Parent Council and the vast numbers of volunteers who will be working Springfest this weekend. Your efforts are truly appreciated. Let's hope for sunshine!

May 2015

4th-Grade 7 Band to Humber Valley; Aussie X (to the 8th); Grade 2/3 to Black Creek; Jr Girl's Soccer Tourney  
5th-Grade 3/4 (3s) to Black Creek; Huddle Up Committee to Conference 
7th-Grade 6 Scientist in the school (and the 8th) 
8th-Grade 6 Soccer Tourney; Grade 8 Shale Pit Clean Up 
14th-Celebration Lunch for Forest of Reading (grade 3-8) 
15th-Author Hazel Hutchinson visits; Grade 7 Shale Pit Clean Up; Sr Frisbee Tourney 
18-Victoria Day
19th-Book Fair until the 22nd; Sr Boy's Soccer Tournament  

20-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Harbourfront visit (Ms. Wilson, Ms. Kim, Ms. Mandel, Ms. Zapp i (grade 2) Ms. Hoffman (grade 2); Grade 7 Vaccines; Sr Girl's Soccer Tourney  
21st-Harbourfront visit: Ms. Gibson, Ms. Younger, Ms. Olson; Artist visits Ms. Tyndall; Jr Frisbee Tournament 
22-Grade 7 Shale Pit Clean Up  

25th-Parent Council @ 7:00 p.m
26th-Scientists visits Ms. Hall 

27th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly
29th-Pizza Lunch 

June 2015

June 1-4-Dental Screening; Frisbee Conference Finals 
2nd-Grade 6-8 Middle School Concert 
3rd-Track and Field Conference Finals 
5-PA Day
8-Frisbee City Finals 
9-City Track and Field Finals 
10-Grade 4 to Medieval Times; Grade 7 and 8 to Jay's Game  

12-Grade 8 Graduation; Grade 6 Shale Pit Clean Up 

15-19-Grade 8 Quebec Trip

17-Kindie Sharing Assembly

19-Grade 1-7 Sharing Assembly; Grade 6 Shale Pit Clean Up 

24-Report Cards Go Home

25-Student Assembly; Lunch on Lawn; Last Day of School 


August 2015
31-Office opens 

September 2015
8-School Begins
15-Curriculum Night at 7:00 p.m. 

Thursday, April 23, 2015

I'd like to thank Ms. Moser and the Eco Committee for an outstanding job organizing a variety of activities including the Reptilia assembly and the community clean up; they should be proud of their contributions.   Thank you to Ms. Clarke for her involvement this year. 

On Monday night we had the pleasure of hosting two presentations for the parents. The Argos have been working with a group of students, along with Ms. Najder, Mrs. Taylor and Ms. Chandra, on creating school-wide activities that focused on bullying prevention strategies. These strategies were reinforced to the parents at the workshop by Jason Colero, the presenter. 

We were also fortunate to host Marci Warhaft-Nadler, a speaker on body image. During the day she spoke with our grade 7 and 8 students about body image, media and eating disorders. She focused on the negative messaging created by marketing and the resulting poor body images and rising eating disorders among both boys and girls. She reiterated the presentation to the parents and also gave strategies for parent t use s when dealing with these very complex issues. Please look for her book, The Body Image Survival Guide for Parents. We have a copy in our library. 

We are very pleased to announce that the roof has been completed-almost.  A few small jobs need to be completed along with a solid cleaning of the grounds. We haven't had one leak this week! 

Have a great weekend. 


April 2015

28-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly; Scientist in School; Forest of Reading Pancake
Breakfast 
29-Grade 8 Scientist in School; Badminton City Finals  

May 2015

1st-Primary Track and Field Day 
2nd-Springfest 
4th-Grade 7 Band to Humber Valley; Aussie X (to the 8th); Grade 2/3 to Black Creek 
5th-Grade 3/4 (3s) to Black Creek; Huddle Up Committee to Conference 
14th-Celebration Lunch for Forest of Reading (grade 3-8) 
15th-Author Hazel Hutchinson visits 
18-Victoria Day
19th-Book Fair until the 22nd 

20-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Harbourfront visit (Ms. Wilson, Ms. Kim, Ms. Mandel, Ms. Zapp i (grade 2) Ms. Hoffman (grade 2); Grade 7 Vaccines 
21st-Harbourfront visit: Ms. Gibson, Ms. Younger, Ms. Olson; Artist visits Ms. Tyndall 

25th-Parent Council @ 7:00 p.m
26th-Scientists visits Ms. Hall 

27th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly
29th-Pizza Lunch 

June 2015

June 1-4-Dental Screening
5-PA Day

12-Grade 8 Graduation

15-19-Grade 8 Quebec Trip

17-Kindie Sharing Assembly

19-Grade 1-7 Sharing Assembly

24-Report Cards Go Home

25-Student Assembly; Lunch on Lawn; Last Day of School 


August 2015
31-Office opens 

September 2015
8-School Begins
15-Curriculum Night at 7:00 p.m. 

Thursday, April 16, 2015

I hope everyone had a great week. The weather has been a bit more forgiving this week so we've been able to get outside again. 

The staffing committee has finalized our class organization based on the staffing numbers that we were given from the Board. Next year, we have the following number of classes: 

Kindergarten-5 
Grade One-2
Grade One/Two-1
Grade Two-2 
Grade Three-3
Grade Two/Three-2
Grade Four-2
Grade Five-1
Grade Five/Six-3
Grade Seven-2
Grade Eight-2 

We are very excited to be offering a couple of workshops for parents next Monday. Please see the Grade Parent letter for further information. 

I hope you have a great weekend and we hope those attending Friday's social have a great time. We thank you for your support. 

April 2015

20-Parent Council @ 7:00 p.m; Parent Information Sessions: Eating Disorders and Huddle Up Bullying Presentation; Badminton Tournament  

21-Kindie Sharing Assembly
22-Earth Day; Reptile Assembly 
23-Badminton Conference at Silverthorn; Grad Photo Retakes  
24-Pizza Lunch 

28-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly; Grade 8 Scientist in the School 

May 2015

1st-Primary Track and Field Day 
2nd-Springfest 
4th-Grade 7 Band to Humber Valley; Aussie X (to the 8th); Grade 2/3 to Black Creek 
5th-Grade 3/4 (3s) to Black Creek; Huddle Up Committee to Conference 
14th-Celebration Lunch for Forest of Reading (grade 3-8) 
15th-Author Hazel Hutchinson visits 
18-Victoria Day
19th-Book Fair until the 22nd 

20-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Harbourfront visit (Ms. Wilson, Ms. Kim, Ms. Mandel, Ms. Zapp i (grade 2) Ms. Hoffman (grade 2); Grade 7 Vaccines 
21st-Harbourfront visit: Ms. Gibson, Ms. Younger, Ms. Olson; Artist visits Ms. Tyndall 

25th-Parent Council @ 7:00 p.m
26th-Scientists visits Ms. Hall 

27th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly
29th-Pizza Lunch 

June 2015

June 1-4-Dental Screening
5-PA Day

12-Grade 8 Graduation

15-19-Grade 8 Quebec Trip

17-Kindie Sharing Assembly

19-Grade 1-7 Sharing Assembly

24-Report Cards Go Home

25-Student Assembly; Lunch on Lawn; Last Day of School 

Thursday, April 13. 2015

It's been a very busy short week at LKS! Ms. Hall, myself and Ms. Santiago started Folk Dance, we've gone to a volleyball tournament, badminton continues, the Eco-Club is gearing up for Environment week and lots of parent volunteers are finalizing plans for next week's social and Springfest. I love Spring; in spite of this horrible weather. 

On Tuesday, Ms. Kim, Mrs. Perrin and myself attended our last workshop at Rotman. We were introduced to more thinking models on creativity. We will share these with staff in the upcoming year with the intent they will be used in the classroom to engage the students in high level thinking activities. 

We also had a group of teachers attend a professional development session with other teachers in our Family of Schools. Our staff learned how the teachers have incorporated student inquiry into their classrooms and the partnerships they have developed between schools. Our teachers were so impressed with the work being done by their colleagues and are ready to share with the LKS staff, ideas on how we can continue to support and plan for inquiry  activities in the classroom. 

As you can see below, we will be practising our fire drills and lock down over the next few weeks. We do 6 fire drills a year and two lock downs. 

I hope you have a great weekend. 


13-Fire Drill; Grade 4 to Tafelmusik performance with Dr. Grant 
14-Ms. Sunde and Ms. Caligiuri to Outdoor Ed 
16-Fire Drill; Badminton tournament at LKS 

20-Parent Council @ 7:00 p.m; Parent Information Sessions: Eating Disorders and Huddle Up Bullying Presentation 

21-Kindie Sharing Assembly
22-Earth Day; Reptile Assembly 
23-Badminton Conference at Silverthorn 
24-Pizza Lunch; Earth Rangers 

28-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly; Grade 8 Scientist in the School 

May 2015

18-Victoria Day

20-Kindie Sharing Assembly

25-Parent Council @ 7:00 p.m

27-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly

June 2015

5-PA Day

12-Grade 8 Graduation

15-19-Grade 8 Quebec Trip

17-Kindie Sharing Assembly

19-Grade 1-7 Sharing Assembly

24-Report Cards Go Home

25-Day 0; Student Assembly; Lunch on Lawn

Monday, April 6, 2015

 The air quality tests were done tonight and they were acceptable, although slightly high around room 208 and lunchroom. They will be re-checking in the morning after the night of ventilation. They expect everything will be okay. We will see you at school tomorrow. I hope you had a great Easter weekend.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

As some of you know, the school has been projected to have 612 students next year. Based on that number, we have been allocated 32.5 teachers, down from our current 35. As mentioned at the Parent Council meeting, we have been cut in ESL and special education.  Next year, our ESL students will be taught by an itinerant teacher that is shared by a variety of schools. Our special education team will have 2 teachers. At our staff meeting, staff brainstormed a variety of different strategies that we will incorporate in order to continue to provide the best possible programming for our students. Staff have also created a variety of possible classroom organizations. We will communicate that in a couple of weeks when our model is finalized. 

Over the next few months, staff will also be placing students in next year's classes. As mentioned in the past, the teachers work together to balance the classes based on ministry numbers, gender, academics and social factors. We ask that you not request a teacher at this time, but if you have any concerns, (i.e. friendships) please do not hesitate to have a conversation with your current teacher. 

Work will continue on the roof this weekend. Please read my blog late Monday night for air-quality results. As in the past, we expect no surprises. 

I wish everyone a wonderful time with your family and friends this weekend. We will see you on the 7th. 

April 2015

3 and 6-Good Friday and Easter Monday
7-Grade 6 Badminton; Grade 6 Scientist in the School 
8-Jr Co-Ed Volleyball at Bell; Grade 6 Scientist in the School 
9-Sr Co-Ed VBall at Bell 
10-Scientist in School visits Mrs. Burn; Grade 8 Badminton @ LKS 
13-Fire Drill; Grade 4 to Tafelmusik performance 
14-Ms. Sunde and Ms. Caligiuri to Outdoor Ed 
16-Fire Drill; Badminton tournament at LKS 

20-Parent Council @ 7:00 p.m; Parent Information Sessions: Eating Disorders and Huddle Up Bullying Presentation 

21-Kindie Sharing Assembly
22-Earth Day; Reptile Assembly 
23-Badminton Conference at Silverthorn 
24-Pizza Lunch; Earth Rangers 

28-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly; Grade 8 Scientist in the School 

May 2015

18-Victoria Day

20-Kindie Sharing Assembly

25-Parent Council @ 7:00 p.m

27-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly

June 2015

5-PA Day

12-Grade 8 Graduation

15-19-Grade 8 Quebec Trip

17-Kindie Sharing Assembly

19-Grade 1-7 Sharing Assembly

24-Report Cards Go Home

25-Day 0; Student Assembly; Lunch on Lawn