Afternoon/Evening at the Pops

Children are currently rehearsing for the Prince Andrew end-of-the-year concert.  Here is some information:

 Who: All grade 5’s and 6’s (concert bands), all members of the junior choir, all members of the intermediate concert band, all JK’s and all SK’s.

 When: Thursday, June 16/11 (1 pm  and 6pm)

 Where: Prince Andrew Gymnasium

Theme: ‘Pop’ hits from music stars, movies and television

 Dress: Students are encouraged to dress with black pants/shorts and white dress/golf shirts. 

Please have your child/children at the school for 5:30 pm.  The concert is expected to last until 7 pm.

Make a Difference

Prince Andrew is having a book drive! We are kindly asking for some donations of gently used children’s books.  Students from grade 8 will be visiting classrooms from June 1st through June 15th to collect book donations.  Class totals will be recorded and the class with the highest number of donations in each division will receive a popsicle party.  All proceeds/books will be donated to a less fortunate school in our district.  Our goal is to raise awareness of how fortunate our school is to have many books and to pay it forward to help others in need.

Thank you in advance for your help in supporting this endeavour!

EQAO Information for Grade 3 & Grade 6 Parents/Guardians

All students in Grades 3 and 6 will be participating in the EQAO assessment of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics.  As we move towards the testing date, there is some information we want to share with you and there are some important things you can do at home to help your child. 

What can you do at home?

 1) Please ensure that your child is well rested during the testing period.  As the weather gets warmer, it’s beginning to feel a lot like summer and some students tend to stay up a bit later.

 2) Please try to encourage your child to eat a healthy breakfast each morning.  This will provide your child with the ability to focus on their work.  We will also be providing every child with a healthy snack each morning but you can continue to send them with their own snack as they do work up an appetite.  Please send them with a reusable water bottle as they will not be allowed to leave the class for a drink during the testing period.

 3) Please remind your child to wear comfortable clothes.  This makes it much easier for them to sustain their attention and remain seated for the duration of the test.

 4) Attendance is very critical.  Please try to avoid any interruptions during the testing period especially in the morning.  Also, please ensure that your child is at school on time.  It is very difficult and intimidating for your child to walk into class late (especially during this time).

 5) Remind your child to relax and do their best.  They have worked very hard and they should be very proud of their accomplishments this year.  This is the time for them to really show what they know!

  Testing will take place during the morning!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher.  Thank you for preparing your child.

Parental Input to Class Lists

To our Prince Andrew families,

 Happy Spring to all of you! It appears as though our weather is finally catching up with the calendar!

 As you may know, May and June are very busy months at school as we simultaneously close off one school year and lay the groundwork for the next one. It is an exciting time as we reflect on our successes and develop a vision for future possibilities. One of the many tasks that we complete at this time of the year is the development of class lists for next year.

 The purpose of this letter is to invite input from you as we begin to develop class lists for September 2011. Input should be submitted in writing and sent directly to my attention (you’re child can place it in the mailbox on my office door). Input can include information about your child’s learning style, or other important information which you want staff to consider as they build class lists. Please note that specific teacher requests or requests for straight or combined grades cannot be honoured or guaranteed. In building class lists, teachers consider each individual student, their strengths and needs, academic and social skills and peer dynamics. Our staff work very hard to ensure that classes are created to ensure equity and fairness for all of our students. All final decisions regarding student placement are made by the school staff and are subject to my approval.

 If you wish to submit written input into this process, we ask that you do so by, no later than, Friday, May 20^th, 2011.

 We are also excited to tell you about another change we are planning to implement which should ease some anxiety as our students transition to next September. This year, on the final day of school, time will be set aside to hold a “New Year’s parade”. During this time, students will be placed with their September class and teacher for introductions and information sharing. We believe that this will be a helpful support, particularly to those families who have expressed that students worry all summer about who will be in their new class.

 It is very important to note that all class organization is tentative until our Board staffing process concludes during the third week of September. This flexibility is important to allow for changes in enrolment which take place during the summer. Any changes will be communicated to you at that time.

 I look forward to another great year,

 Dustin O’Neil,

Principal

School Council Meeting Minutes

Present

Kevin Harris (teacher Rep) Jennifer Saxton, Jennifer Gillen, Deb Wall, Heather  Dureno, Dustin O’Neil

Regrets : Nick Arundine

 Review April Minutes

1. Approval of Minutes

 Chair order update

1. Chairs have been ordered and should be here soon

 Lottery Fundraiser

1. Jenn will be looking into that and bring something back in June

 Teacher’s Luncheon

1. Teachers will discuss contributing at the next staff meeting

 Treasurer’s Report

1. $7702
2. Working balance (a bit over $1000)

 Principals Report

 Dustin shared a draft letter to propose some changes to our year end/startup procedures

1. Track and Field – kids need to have time to eat – will sort out tomorrow
2. iPods
3. Bring Your Parents to School Day
4. Agendas for next year
5. Grade 1 fundraiser – no conflicts
6. EQAO snacks – School Council will provide snacks

Bring Your Parent to School

Have you ever wondered how your child learns while at school? What things are different from when you were a kid? What hasn’t changed? Are there ways we can help our children obtain literacy skills if we understand their program better?

 Prince Andrew School Staff and the School Council have teamed up to provide parents with an opportunity to visit your child’s classroom(s) and experience first hand what happens during a literacy lesson.  It is our hope that this will provide you with insight into our current literacy programs as well as opportunities to better understand how you, in the role of parent can further support literacy development in your child.

The day will begin at 8:45 am with a meet and greet with other parents in the gymnasium.  Parents will then be invited to attend their child’s classroom and see what occurs during a Literacy Period. After morning announcements, families will move to their child’s classroom where they will observe and/or participate in the day’s literacy block. At 10:15 am, families will be invited to the gymnasium to ask any additional questions that they may have. 

In order to accommodate families, we are planning on hosting different days for students in different divisions of our schools. We are also hoping to know numbers of participants for planning purposes. Families who are unable to join us will have the opportunity to receive any resources which are distributed. Some classrooms will also be web-casting their literacy block for parents who have access to the internet.

 Please review the dates below and indicate when you might be able to join us.  

May 17^th (For parents who have children in grades 1, 1/2, 2, 2/3 and 3) 

May 18^th (For parents who have children in grades ¾, 4, 5 and 6)

May 19^th (For parents who have children in grades 7, 7/8 and 8) 

We certainly hope that you can attend.

School Council Meeting

This is a reminder that there will be a school Council meeting on May 10th beginning at 3:30.  Your presence at this meeting is greatly appreciated.  Hope to see you there.

FUN PASS

Last year, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture implemented a newElectronicFunPasspilot project. The Fun Pass program provides one free admission for an elementary school age child, when accompanied by a paying adult, to visit participating MTC agencies and attractions such as Ontario Place, the AGO, ROM and Ontario Science Centre.

 Last year, new ElectronicFunPasspilot project was implemented. The ElectronicFunPassis a “Green Initiative” that seeks to reduce waste and conserve resources. The project received very positive reviews from the school boards that participated last year. The ElectronicFunPassoffers students the opportunity to access and print the FunPasscoupons from the FunPasswebsite. The students or parents would access the website at www.ontariofunpass.com. They would then enter the name of their school board, school and their family name. They are then given access to an electronic coupon, to print and redeem.

This year we are expanding the Electronic Fun Pass Program. This year alone the Ministry of Tourism and Culture will be printing 300,000 lessFunPassbooklets and plans to expand the program to even more schools board in the future.   

We are seeking your help in promoting the transition from the traditionalFunPassbooklets, to the new Electronic Fun Pass. Would you please incorporate the attached newsletter insert into your monthly newsletter in May. We feel it is very important for the parents and students to be aware “where” and “how” they can access theFunPassonline.

Thank you very much for your time and continued support of the Fun Pass Program.

  Jake Moore

Program Coordinator

Ministry of Tourism and Culture

School Council Meeting Minutes

                                                      The following were minutes approved from the March Meeting.

                                                     Council Minute Meetings

                                                     Prince Andrew Public School

                                                     Wednesday, March 9, 2011

   Attendance

 1.  Mr. Arundine (Vice Principal)

 2.  Heather Dureno (Chair)

 3.  Jen Saxton (Vice-Chair)

 4.  Jen Gillen

 5.  Azie Saatchi

 6.  Deb Wall

 7.  Missie Alliet

 8.  Darlene Klingbile

 9.  Patricia Hearn

10.  Mrs. Ardovini ( Grade 3 teacher was there for first half of meeting)

  1.  Reviewed February Minutes and approved.

 2.  Litter less Lunches – Mrs. Ardovini  came to talk to us about the

amount of food being thrown out

     in the garbage.  They are finding sandwiches, fruit and yogurt not

even touched in the garbage.   Trying to do an audit action plan to minimize waste.  Parents and

children need to be aware of what  is going in the garbage not even touched.   We do not want to go to

a litter less school where kids  have to bring their garbage home but need the message to get out to

parents about reusable containers and talking to their kids about their lunches and what they will eat and not throw out.  We are going  to put it on the Blog and have the kids to an announcement.    The class that has the least amount of\garbage can win a Pizza Party.       Just trying to reduce before eliminating!

3.  Treasure Report – There is $7673.70 in account. $3000.000 going to fund raiser next year  and $800.00 to parent grant.  Which leaves us with about $4600.00 left

      March popcorn sold about $300.00 dollars worth with a profit of $140.00

 4.  RAZ Kids – Have purchased the programs for grades 1, 2, and 3

 5.  Chairs for School – Still looking into the price from metal and plastic before ordering.

 6.  I POD – WalMart did not want to donate or give discount on any of the I PODS to our school.   Going to look around for prices on the I PODS before council donates any money for them.

 7.  JK/SK Registration was a great night.  Well organized and a definite success since there is 32 children registered for next fall.  Which means two JK classes.  In the fall of 2012 we will be going full time for JK/SK.

  8.   Pizza Day will be on March 11th and Pasta Day March 25th

  9.  Hot Food – Council voted to give a voucher back to students who did

not receive their subs on  the snow day to  be used in the month of April for Hot food days. 

Council reviewed the policy for Snow Days that happened on Hot Food Days that the money will now be a donation to the school. The chips from Sub day will be handed out the following Friday.  We will have this new  policy on our Blog and typed on the forms given out for Hot Food Days.

      April Hot Food Days will be April 8th – Pizza Day and April 29th -

Pasta Day

 10.  Parent Involvement – Education week is May 2nd to May 6th  Planning something for that week for the Parent Involvement.  Due to limit parking space, supplies etc. we need to see how we are  going to organize the day.

 11.  Mr. Arundine told us Mr. O’Neil’s surgery went well but was having some complications with infection and is hoping to be back to School the Monday after March break.

 12.  Next Meeting will be Wednesday April 6th.

Earth Day Assembly

The Primary Division (grades 1, 2 and 3) are presenting an assembly to the entire student body to celebrate Earth Day.  Since Earth Day happens to fall on a school holiday, we will be holding it the following week.  This assembly will take place on April 27th between 11:00 am – 11:35 am. The purpose of this assembly is to celebrate our Earth and our school’s eco-achievements as well as raise awareness regarding our role in protecting the environment.   Students will be singing four eco-themed songs in a large choir, with presentations in between each song (i.e., student poetry, etc.).  We are strongly recommending that students wear either a blue or green shirt on this day.

Parents/Relatives/Guardians are invited, of course, to this event.  The students have been working very hard at practicing their songs at school!