Last Days of November

I love our Sharing Assemblies! These assemblies give me another opportunity to see the kids in a different light. There is singing, reciting of poems, acting and sometimes dancing. It is a time to showcase the good things that have been happening in our classes. They provide a "small moment" for me to cherish as a principal. I do want to thank the Parent Council Literacy Committee for getting the kids "excited" about reading. The kids are looking forward to the tatoos! Thank you to the grade 5 girls for a wonderful, nail biting, dance!

A big thank you also to Mrs. Quintal(Parent Council member) for organizing our many performances this year (next year the middle school students will experience Nearly Lear! It is great to celebrate the Arts in our school. We are so happy to see the great visual artwork and drama the teachers are doing with the kids in the classroom, and these performances only add to our artistic experiences.

Each month the Student Safety Reps have organized different events to celebrate our monthly Character Development Trait. This month is Empathy. Teachers have been providing lessons on this very important trait. Empathy is an advanced concept to learn, but kids really start understanding it as they get older. Here are a few suggestions to help talk about Empathy at home:

-doing family projects around helping others; reading and/or watching the news and encouraging discussion about how those involved might feel; engaging your child in volunteer opportunities and participating in discussions around family feelings (i.e. when siblings argue)!

*December Trait is Kindness and Caring!

Lots of things are happening next week:
25th-Junior Boys Volleyball at Runnymede all day
26th-Nearly Lear Performance for grades 6, 7 & 8
27th-Author Visit for grades 1 & 2
28th-Grade 5 Girls' Bullying Workshop

December
1st-Book Fair
2nd-Reports Cards Go Home!Grade 8 IPRC Reviews
3rd-A Christmas Carol for Primary
4th (evening) and 5th-Parent Teacher Interviews
8th-Grade 8 HPV;
9th-LKS Christmas Concert-Grade 1-3 @ 6:00 p.m.
10th-LKS Christmas Concert-Grades 4-8 @6:30 p.m.
12th-Term 1 Athletic Assembly @ 2:40 p.m.
15,16 and 17th-Community Officer Keith visits

A few parents asked me if we have clubs at the school...we do! In addition to lots of sports and houseleague, some teachers are offering clubs this term. So far we have a photography club with Mrs. Zappi (intermediate grades), an art club for grades 7 & 8 (Staff Advisor: Mrs. Walker), a Craft Club (December) for grade 7 (Staff Advisor: Mrs. Caddel); Guitar Club for grades 4-8 (Staff Advisor: Mr. Littlejohn).

Week Ahead!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. It certainly was hard getting to cross-country today! I'm sure we will be back into routine tomorrow. We've got a few things happening of interest this week:

Today:
-Welcome to Jim Spyropoulos, our superintendent. He visited Ms. Malobabic's class to see the comic book workshop
-Our semi-finalists in cross country had their final run before tomorrow's meet at Centennial
-Mr. Kuru and the Senior Boys' Football team are at a tournament for the day
-The grade 6 classes are enjoying the nature trip right now

Thursday:
-Acorn Day!-All classes will be participating in our card making fundraising activity
-We have Bus Safety Presentations for our primary classes
-The Senior Girls have a football tournament

Friday:
-Our Junior Girls have a football tournamnet
-Our first Sharing Assemblies throughout the day

Just a reminder of our Parent Council Meeting next Monday!