Withrow Bulletin

November 24, 2014

From the Withrow Public School Staff, Teachers and Students

Withrow Bulletin

Special Dates

December 3 Home and School Meeting 7 ?9 PM

December 5--PA Day

December 17--Withrow Concerts - @ 1:15 pm or 7:00 pm

December 18 ? Quest Concert @7 pm

December 17, 18, 19 8:30 AM ?Caroling in the main hallway (location may change)

Last Day of term: Friday December 19

Winter Holidays: December 22 - January 2

First day back: Monday January 5, 2015

Inside this issue:

Lunchroom

2

Supervisors

Annual Giving

2

Campaign

Caroling and Winter 2 Concert

Minecraft Club

2

The Pit Update

3

Withrow Cares for the 3 Holidays

SK French Immersion 4 application deadline

Library and Learning 4

Commons

Roots of Empathy

4

Inquiry Cycle and Mindfulness

Every term, teachers get together and are involved in an Inquiry Cycle in which teachers look at a particular part of their program.

Last year we looked at our students' learning skills and how we teach learning skills, for instance. To inform our practice, we examined last year's report cards to see if we noticed any trends.

ing core exercises, mindful listening, an understanding of how our brain works and mindful awareness. For second and third term, we will look at our learning skills report card data and see if the mindfulness activities in class have had an impact on our children acquiring and better understanding those learning skills, in particular self-regulation.

Overall, self-regulation was an area we needed to focus on as a school, specifically when it came to teaching boys.

As divisional Inquiry teams we purchased and explored the Mind Up Curriculum. This curriculum is based on neuro science and understanding why we act and behave the way we do. Understanding these things can help children to perform their best in a learning environment.

Our teachers have had a chance to reflect on their practice and see how the mindfulness activities have had an impact on their class and the children. However time will tell on the long term effects to mindfulness.

If you would like more information regarding Mindfulness, please see the Mind Up Curriculum at the Hawn Foundation (http:// mindup/)

As a result many teachers have incorporated some mindfulness activities in their class including breath-

A Tribute To Erica Stark

We were saddened this month by the death of a beloved parent here at Withrow, Erica Stark. As many of you know, the Stark Family have been part of our community since the eldest son started attending Withrow 2006. Two younger brothers also followed their older brother into Withrow and over the years, many staff and parents got to know Erica through her children and her ongoing involvement with our school. Erica's commitment to the school exemplified what the ideal parent- school partnership should be. She demonstrated caring for all of our children daily in her very presence and full participation in school life. Erica was dependable and supportive and her warmth, kindness and genuine nature touched many of us here at school and in the greater community. She will be truly missed by all.

-Serge and Dan

Withrow Bulletin

Lunch Room Supervisors

We are currently looking for temporary and permanent lunchroom supervisors. Our lunchroom staff work Mon-Fri from 11:30-12:45 in our primary, junior, and KG lunchrooms. Please call the office at (416) 393-9440 if you are interested.

-Serge and Dan

Girls' Minecraft Club

Amelie and Riley enjoying the Girl's Minecraft Club

Junior Girls' Minecraft Club has arrived at Withrow! Every Thursday, over a dozen girls meet in the library to create and play together in this wildly popular videogame. Minecraft is like having a set of digital Lego where you never run out of pieces. The focus of our club is to introduce girls to science, engineering, computer programming and

collaborative play. The club is run by Mr. O'Donnell with the support of many amazing Withrow teachers.

After the March Break, the boys will get a chance to play in their own Minecraft club until the spring.

-Mr. O'Donnell

Caroling and the Winter Concerts

CAROLING

Children and parents who would like to sing some traditional carols are invited to drop by the front hall of our school at 8:30 am on Wed. Dec. 17th, Thurs. 18th, and Friday the 19th and get in the spirit of Christmas! Depending on the weather and numbers, the location may be the music room, library or gym. Stay tuned....

WINTER CONCERTS Mme Boujos, Mme

Our Winter Concerts will

take place at 1:15 pm and 7:00 pm Wednesday

Dec. 17th. If you would

like a less crowded expe-

rience... consider the af-

ternoon performance!

Wong, Mme Claire, Mme Brigitte Junior Classes: Ms. McAllister, Ms. Nickels, Ms Sebestyen, Mme Beaugrand, Ms Noiles Advanced Ukulele

Classes participating in

(year 2 and 3, Thursday lunch class)

the December concerts Junior Choir

are: Primary Classes: M.

During the evening concert, your child will be un-

Steve, Mme Lambert- der teacher supervision.

Denis, Ms. Rashid,

Please sign them out at the end of the concert, which is about an hour and 15 minutes long.

Please be respectful and stay for the entire performance!

All our other classes will be performing in our Spring Concerts. See you soon!

-Madame Massicotte

Annual Giving Campaign

The Withrow Home and School Association will be kicking off the Annual Giving Campaign this week. This year's campaign will be particularly important as we will be raising money for our usual classroom enhancements and the revitalization of our schoolyard. Please keep an eye out in your children's backpack for more details.

Page 2

-Susanne Truelsen and Josette Chen Co-chairs, Withrow Home & School Association, withrowhands@

The PIT Update!

We are really excited to see the changes that have occurred in the Pit over the last month. We are close to completion, we are so excited!

So far, the work is behind schedule because of the weather : cold weather conditions and below zero degree temperatures have hampered the final stages of

the completion of the Pit.

We are currently waiting for the weather to warm up sometime next week; we need to get closer to +5 degrees Celsius for a few days for them to pour asphalt.

The granular base is ready and the construction team is waiting for a warm day to

complete the ground work.

They will be putting in the posts for the fencing next week before the fence goes up.

Finally the terra-seeding is to take place in the first week of December. Attached are recent site photos of the work in progress as

of last week before the frost and snowfall.

The City sewer connection to replace the catchment on city property is set to take place next week.

We hope that in the next newsletter we will not have a Pit update but rather have a Pit re-opening message!

Withrow Cares for the Holidays

Withrow is about to launch into our annual Withrow Cares program for 2014. The two organizations that have been selected as recipients this year are Interval House and The Daily Food Bank. As many of you know, Interval House is a local shelter that supports families fleeing domestic violence. Interval House has 12 families in residence at this time. We have selected our Kindergarten classrooms to support these families. The Daily Bread Food Bank provides free food to thousands of people from across the city, from all walks of life. The Daily Food Bank will be supported by our Grades 1-6 students and their families. The Daily Food Bank has a great need this holiday season and we want to best support as many families in the Toronto area as possible. News will be forthcoming in the next week outlining more details and items that have been requested by each organisation.

Page 3

Library and Learning Commons

French Book Fair

Thank you to everyone who supported the French book fair. Our total sales for the four-day event were just over $5600, leaving us with net sales of about $5200 after tax. With sales of this size, Scholastic gave us a commission of 50% of our earnings in free product. In other words, we received $2600 worth of new books for our school! Profits were shared with the 14 French Immersion teachers, who were each given $50 in free books for their classrooms. The rest has gone towards French resources for our library.

SK French Immersion Deadline

A quick reminder: the French Immersion application deadline for JK students applying to SK French Immersion is December 5, 2014. You will need your child's OEN (Ontario Education Number) to complete the application. If you don't have this, please call the office. The link is provided below and on our website.

tdsb.on.ca/pars

Withrow Avenue PS 25 Bain Avenue Toronto, Ontario M4K 1E5

Phone: 416-393-9440 E-mail: Withrow@tdsb.on.ca

We are on the web! Check us out:

Special thanks go out to the studentlibrarians, the teachers and the parents who gave up some of their time to work at the book fair. It wouldn't have been possible without such a great team effort.

Virtual Library Learnmarks

The TDSB Library Department has created a website with links to many fabulous resources. Some of these sites are subscription-based, requiring usernames and/or passwords to access them from home. To facilitate this home access, the library department has created a bookmark with the names of these sites and the necessary log-in information. If your child has not already received this "learnmark," please look for it in their bags this week and keep it in a safe place near your home computer. The virtual library can be found at http:// tdsb.on.ca/Findyour/Schools/ LibraryCat.aspx?schoolno=5285

Mr. T's HPE and Withrow

Withrow HPE and Athletics News for November

The website below is one-stop shopping for all things HPE and Withrow Athletics. Updates on all athletics, including Boys Volleyball and Girls Basketball, can be found in the news feed. Visit the events page for info on a special at home fitness challenge, The FITNESS SHOE.

INDOOR SHOES: All students will be required to wear indoor running shoes in the gym. Muddy and wet shoes will not be allowed for safety and cleanliness reasons.

INTRAMURALS are finishing in the next two weeks! A new session will start in the new year: -Primary Kickball at lunch on Wednesday, Thursday -Junior Basketball at PM recess on Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Roots of Empathy

Roots of Empathy is an evidence-based classroom program that help reduce levels of aggression among school children while raising social/ emotional competence and increasing empathy. This year, Mr. Mars' gr. 4/5 class is working with our Roots of Empathy baby, Charlotte and her mom and dad.

WEBSITE:

-Jane Mundell, Teacher-Librarian

ajtarvit.

mrtarvit

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