Week End - April 19, 2013

I'd like to thank Mr. Kuru and Mr. Littlejohn for coaching our Cricket Team. Last year, the team entered the Mayor's School Cricket Tournament and placed 2nd. Recently, they were invited to a ceremony at City Hall and the Board office to be honoured.  This year, we will be attending the tournament and hopefully move forward to the newly formed GTA league. Congratulations everyone!

Celebrating at City Hall!

Mr. Littlejohn, Mr. Kuru, Matthew and Kieran at Board Office

Currently, our staffing committee is busy planning for September 2013. Our enrolment has dropped to 655 students decreasing our staff numbers to 34 teachers. As a result, we will be declaring 4 teachers surplus. Our support staff numbers remain the same with two staff in the office, one special education assistant, 4 lunchroom supervisors and one vice-principal. We will receive our special needs assistant numbers closer to June.

Next year, our model consists of the following homerooms:

Kindergarten-6 half-day classes

Grade One-3 straights

Grade One/Two-2 splits

Grade Two-1 straight

Grade Two/Three-2 splits

Grade Three-3 straights

Grade 4-2 straights

Grade 5-3 straights

Grade 6, 7 and 8 classes- 2 straights at each grade

As many of you know, we may have to re-organize in September if our enrollment significantly increases or decreases.

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.

On Wednesday, we will Administrative Professionals Day honouring Mrs. Stefanowicz and Mrs. Shakespeare. I'd like to thank them for loving the kids at LKS and making everyone feel special.

Please see our Notice section on the website for information regarding synthetic marijuana passed along to us by Toronto Police. 

APRIL

23rd- Grade 3 to Black Creek

24th-Grad Re-Photo; Grade 8 Badminton

25th-Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies; Artist in Room 159; Forest of Reading Voting Breakfast

26th-Pizza Day; Grade 5 to ROM; Middle School Dance

29th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assemblies; Grade 5 Badminton @ LKS

MAY

1st-Badminton Conference Finals @ LKS

4th-Springfest

6th-Artist Visit to Mrs. Tyndall; Grade 4-8 Aussie Football 

7th-Artist Visit to Mrs. Iafrate; Grade 4-8 Aussie Football; Track @ Centennial

8th-Grade 6 Band recording Provincial entry; Grade 4-8 Aussie Football  

9th-Artist Visit to Mrs. Mendrinos

10th-K-2 Storyteller

13th-Parent Council Meeting; Jr Boys Soccer @ Swansea

16th-Grade Two to AGO

17th-Forest of Reading Lunch

20th-Victoria Day

21st-24th-Book Fair

22nd-Kindie Sharing Assembly; Dental Screening; Jr Girls Soccer Tourney; Grade 6-8 Cricket   

24th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly; Track @ Centennial

28th-Grade 3 and 6 EQAO begins

29th-Grade One to Harbourfront

31-Pizza Day

JUNE

3rd-Frisbee Conference Finals

4th-Middle School Concert @ 6:30 p.m.

7th-PA Day

10th-City Conference Finals

11th-City Track Meet

14th-Grade 8 Graduation

17th-21st-Grade 8 Quebec Trip

18th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assembly

26th-Report Cards Go Home

27th-Lunch on the Lawn (Pizza Day); Year End Assembly; Last day for students

Track and Field

If it is raining on Monday the 15th , Primary Track and Field will be cancelled.

Week End- April 12, 2013



Thank You!

 Look at the amount of clothes we are sending to are sister school, Second Street. Thanks to Mrs. Saha and Mrs. Kim for organizing this caring initiative. Mr. McLean, the current Principal of Second Street (and our past VP) very much appreciates the effort of our community!

Thank you to Kim DeLonghi and her committee for organizing the Social next Friday. Looking forward to a great night. 

I've attached a few photos of some spectacular art pieces. Our grade 8 students completed a culminating activity under the direction of Mr. Ourique. They students were studying Surrealism in Native art.

APRIL

15th-Parent Council Meeting at 7:30 in the library; Seeds of Hope penny collection (until the 18th)
18th-Seeds of Hope "WE ARE SILENT" campaign(students are encouraged to wear black)
19th-Parent Council Parent Social at Earth
23rd- Grade 3 to Black Creek
24th-Grad Re-Photo; Grade 8 Badminton
25th-Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies; Artist in Room 159; Forest of Reading Voting Breakfast
26th-Pizza Day; Grade 5 to ROM
29th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assemblies; Grade 5 Badminton

MAY
1st-Badminton Conference Finals @ LKS
4th-Springfest
6th-Artist Visit to Mrs. Tyndall
7th-Artist Visit to Mrs. Iafrate
9th-Artist Visit to Mrs. Mendrinos
10th-K-2 Storyteller
13th-Parent Council Meeting
17th-Forest of Reading Lunch
20th-Victoria Day
21st-24th-Book Fair
24th-Sharing Assembly
28th-Grade 3 and 6 EQAO begins
31-Pizza Day

JUNE
4th-Middle School Concert
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






























































































 



Week End-April 5, 2013

I'd like to congratulate Mr. Samotowka and the grade 6 band on their accomplishments this year. On February 20th, the Grade 6 Band won their Kiwanis competition with a Platinum mark of 92. This mark, along with a recommendation from the adjudicators, allowed the Grade 6 Band to win a $300 scholarship from the Kiwanis Music Festival and recently we found out the group has also been recommended to move  onto the Provincials later this Spring. In late April or early May, the Grade 6 Band will record a session and send a CD to Provincials where they will compete against other bands in the Ontario. This is a great honour to represent the Toronto Kiwanis Festival and a first for the LKS. Congratulations to all members of the Grade 6 Band for their hard work and dedication.

On Friday, I had the pleasure of attending a workshop with our grade 3 teachers, namely Mrs. Adair, Dr. Grant, Ms. Sunde and Ms. Bradshaw. We had the opportunity to network with other administrators and teachers and explore the topic of creating global learners and leaders. We learned that education must focus on character education, citizenship, communication, critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration and creativity and imagination. We will continue to look at this research as a staff over the next few months and into the fall. 

APRIL
15th-Parent Council Meeting at 7:30 in the library; Seeds of Hope penny collection (until the 18th)
18th-Seeds of Hope "WE ARE SILENT" campaign(students are encouraged to wear black)
19th-Parent Council Parent Social at Earth
23rd- Grade 3 to Black Creek
24th-Grad Re-Photo
25th-Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies
26th-Pizza Day
29th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assemblies


MAY
4th-Springfest
10th-K-2 Storyteller
13th-Parent Council Meeting
20th-Victoria Day
21st-24th-Book Fair
24th-Sharing Assembly
28th-Grade 3 and 6 EQAO begins
31-Pizza Day

JUNE
6th-Middle School Concert
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

End of Week-March 28, 2013

Research says that parent engagement is crucial to a child's learning. At LKS, we are fortunate to have a community of volunteers that assist staff in the classroom ultimately making a positive impact on student learning.

Another form of "engagement" is parental involvement with learning at home. This year, we introduced three on-line programs that parents and children can use at home to supplement the classroom work. Over the next couple of weeks, we will share our reviews of IXL (grade 4 and 5 math ) and RAZ (primary reading). Our third program that we have introduced this year is the Khan Academy. We have mentioned this on-line math tutorial in previous blogs, and it is worth mentioning again.

This year, Mr. Kuru introduced the program to his grade 7 and 8 math classes. Recently, Mr. Kuru and Mr. Bracht completed a staff review of the program. They found the program to be helpful to both the students and the staff as it allows the learner to track his/her own growth and areas of concern. It is an interactive program with a variety of exercises and instant feedback. The teacher can track student participation in the program and Mr. Kuru finds it beneficial to assess areas that he may have to attend to in future lessons.

When reviewing the program, the teachers analyzed a small group of students and found that the children who used the program regularly were doing well in the class program. Even though they looked at a small sample, both teachers agreed that the program can certainly improve students' math achievement. We look forward to discussing this more at Parent Council.

I do want to mention our Seeds of Hope penny drive from April 15th-18th. Students have been encouraged to bring in pennies to help provide clean drinking water in struggling countries. Also, on April 18th, the club will be participating in the "WE ARE SILENT" campaign. The campaign highlights the circumstances of children around the world without at voice. Thank you to the junior/intermediate students and staff, namely, Mrs. Olson, Mrs. Adair, Mrs. Zappi and Ms. Young for organizing both events.

I hope you have a great weekend and wish those celebrating Easter a wonderful time with your family and friends.

MARCH

29th-Good Friday

APRIL
1st-Easter Monday
15th-Parent Council Meeting at 7:30 in the library; Seeds of Hope penny collection
18th-Seeds of Hope "WE ARE SILENT" campaign(students are encouraged to wear black)
19th-Parent Council Parent Social at Earth
23rd- Grade 3 to Black Creek
24th-Grad Re-Photo
25th-Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies
26th-Pizza Day
29th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assemblies


MAY
4th-Springfest
10th-K-2 Storyteller
13th-Parent Council Meeting
20th-Victoria Day
21st-24th-Book Fair
24th-Sharing Assembly
28th-Grade 3 and 6 EQAO begins
31-Pizza Day

JUNE
6th-Middle School Concert
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

End of Week-March 22, 2013

Welcome back everyone! I trust that you and your family had a great March Break.  Hopefully the weather will turn warmer pretty soon as I'm getting a bit tired of the snow; just like most of you!

We had a productive first week back as we welcomed Ms. Luckman, a new student teacher to Dr. Grant's class. As some of you know, we host a few candidates a year to encourage collaboration and mentorship among teachers.  Teachers enjoy having the students as they usually provide new ideas and activities to the classroom.

On Wednesday, our grade 6-8 students listened to Mr. Vollum who presented a workshop called, "The Social Web 101". He gave some sound advise and practical suggestions mainly around the new privacy settings on Facebook. Parents were invited back that night to hear Mr. Vollum speak on issues and concerns around social media.

Staff continue to teach the final curriculum outlined in the grade long range plans. These plans are on the website if you want to look at them further and keep in contact with the teachers if you have any questions. We are excited to be sending some grade 3 teachers to a workshop next week to learn more about "student inquiry" and the Ministry's "Co-Learn" initiative.

The following is being included on behalf of Parent Council:

SPRINGFEST


Springfest 2013 (Saturday, May 4 from 10 am - 2 pm) needs Committee Chairs and Committee Members.

Do you have one - two hours a week to help on one of these committees? We need you!

* Tombola (5 needed)
* Games (1 more needed, 3 committee members already)
* Silent Auction (3 more needed, 5 committee members already)
* Volunteers (1 or 2 needed)

Please contact Allison Needham by email at allison.needham@rogers.com if you are interested in volunteering.

SILENT AUCTION DONATIONS

The Silent Auction Committee is looking for donations! If you wish to donate a product or service to the auction, please complete a donation form and return it to the donation box in the school office or by email to: Allison Needham at allison.needham@rogers.com or Stephen Montano at stephen_montano@hotmail.com

OTHER WAYS FAMILIES CAN HELP SPRINGFEST:

Other ways parents can help is to sponsor a game, or donate prizes. Sponsors will receive recognition/advertising at the event (if desired).


I hope you have a great weekend!


MARCH
27th-Grade 8 Grad Photos
28th-Pizza Day
29th-Good Friday

APRIL
1st-Easter Monday
15th-Parent Council Meeting
25th-Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies
26th-Pizza Day
29th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assemblies

MAY
10th-K-2 Storyteller
13th-Parent Council Meeting
20th-Victoria Day
21st-24th-Book Fair
24th-Sharing Assembly
28th-Grade 3 and 6 EQAO begins
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

End of Week-March 8th!



Grade 7 and 8 Houseleague

 We are so proud of the students who participated in the grade 7 and 8 hockey tournament this week. I had the opportunity to watch both our teams play against each other! Again, thanks to Mr. Bracht and Mr. Lanis for coaching this year.



Grade 4-6 Houseleague

 I also want to thank Nicolette and Dana from grade 7 as they were instrumental in organizing and running our grade 4-6 girls' houseleague. We will be running a grade 4-6 boys houseleague program after March Break.



Kindergarten Reflection



Kindergarten Reflection

This week, our kindergarten classes attended the Young People's Theatre to watch "The Cat Came Back"! They really enjoyed themselves and loved talking to the actors as they left. Thanks to Mrs. Mendrinos, Mrs. Raymond, Mrs. Tyndall and Mrs. Iafrate for organizing and taking the kids, and a big thank you to all the volunteers! 



Grade 8 Conference



On Thursday, Mrs. Chandra and myself attended a conference with four grade 8 girls to celebrate International Women's Day. The day focused on girls' self-esteem and body image. Gender issues were looked at on a global perspective.

Congratulations to all the students who checked out a book in the library. Last month, we checked out 1844  books school-wide compared to 1501 books in February of 2011. Keep up your reading over the Break everyone!

Finally, we hope Ms. Olabanwo, one of our lunch room supervisors, the best of luck as she welcomes her third baby to her family.

Have a great March Break!


MARCH
11th-15th-March Break

20th-Grade 6-8 Internet Safety Presentation, followed by presentation for parents @ 6:30 p.m.
22nd-Kindergarten Sharing Assembly
27th-Grade 8 Grad Photos
28th-Pizza Day
29th-Good Friday

APRIL
1st-Easter Monday
15th-Parent Council Meeting
25th-Kindergarten Sharing Assemblies
26th-Pizza Day
29th-Grade 1-8 Sharing Assemblies

MAY
13th-Parent Council Meeting
20th-Victoria Day
24th-Sharing Assembly
28th-Grade 3 and 6 EQAO begins
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