June 5 2009 - Thornlea - SharpSchool

Thornlea Secondary
School E-Bulletin
June 5, 2009
thornlea.ss@yrdsb.edu.on.ca
Principal: S. Epstein
Vice-Principals: H. Henricks, S. Hetherington
http://thornlea.sharpschool.com
Inside this Edition
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2 V.P. Message 9 Prom
3-4 Outdoor Ed Trip 10 Book Drive
5 National Physics Contest 11-14 Business and
6-7 Music Global Citizenship
8 E.S.P. 15 Important Dates/Events
16 Banquet of the Arts Poster

Thornlea Newsletter Page 2
Vice-Principal’s Message
Dear Thornlea Community:
As the school year is again winding down, we come to that time of year when students should be
spending time studying in preparation for the final exams. Over the years, I have asked students
who have not done well on a test or exam to tell me how they study. They often lament that they
really studied “hard” by reading over their notes the night before. Unfortunately this study method,
which is common among students, will give one a retention rate of about 20 percent. There are
three basic principles behind improving one’s memory. The first is to practice active recall during
learning. This means involving oneself in the learning process rather than merely reading the
same paragraph a number of times because one is distracted by the text that a friend has just
sent or the three MSN conversations being held simultaneously. Try to make connections
between what you are currently learning to what you already know. Visualize what you read and
think of questions before, during and after. Summarize information within a section and list key
points you have just learned about. Creating an acronym which is silly often helps recall. For
example, the three members of the Triple Entente in World War 1 was BaRF (Britain, Russia,
France).
The second principle is to review your notes on number of different occasions rather than just the
night before. One technique is the PQRST method which stands for Preview, Question, Read,
State and Test. Preview the material by skimming through your notes, ask key Questions, Read
your notes carefully in order to answer your questions, State the answers to the questions out loud
and Test yourself on the material. A recent study from Purdue University compared the memory
recall of students who read over their notes, those who read over their notes and tested
themselves and those who did not studying at all. Not surprisingly, those who studied and tested
themselves retained the information more effectively. For those subjects that require the
demonstration of more application based learning, one should test using application type
questions. An example of this would be to try to solve a number of different math questions.
The third principle is to over learn the material to the point of mastery. Rather than merely having
the goal of retaining the information for a couple of hours, we should try to place our new learning
into long term memory. The more we know, the easier it is to relate to next new concepts and
ideas which further improves our ability to understand and recall. The purpose of learning is to
enhance who we are, to be the most interesting and interested person we can be. While I will
wish everyone best wishes during the exams, I won’t wish anyone good luck because if one
studies effectively, luck won’t be necessary.
Best wishes,
Mrs. Hetherington

Thornlea Newsletter Page 3
Thornlea Outdoor Education Canoe Trip 2009
From May 19-22, Thornlea’s Outdoor Education students participated on a 4-day canoe trip
into Algonquin Park. As the culminating activity for the course, students spent much of the
semester preparing for the trip of a lifetime. Canoeing, portaging, camping, group dynamics
and leadership skills were learned and practiced prior to the trip and then, as in Thornlea
tradition, had a chance to demonstrate those skills on the annual canoe trip. Accompanying
the students were teachers Mr. Hutchison, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Ackerman, Ms. Pike and Miss
Morris-Pocock. Many thanks to them for making the trip such a success!
This year’s trip had the class arriving at school at 6:30 am on the first day of the trip. Lastminute
packing was completed and the bus loaded with paddles, packs, fishing rods, food,
and of course, students. Following a 2 hour bus ride, we arrived at Algonquin Outfitters just
outside the park where we pick up the remainder of our equipment for the trip. A short while
later we finally arrived at our departure point – Smoke Lake. Once the bus was unpacked and
the canoes loaded, we were finally ready to set out on our great journey. At this point in time,
the group met its first challenge – the wind picked up and it began to rain. We would find
ourselves paddling into the wind with rain falling steadily for the remainder of the day.
Fortunately for us, the weather improved and for the remainder of the trip we had sunny skies!
Travelling south across Smoke Lake the route took us to our first portage into Ragged Lake.
From here we paddled and portaged into Big Porcupine Lake where we would spend our first
night. From here we paddled east to Harness Lake, where we camped on the most beautiful
campsite. Many would agree that this lake was the highlight of the trip! On the third day we
worked our way north into Cache Lake, then west into Little Island Lake where we spent our
last night. Finally, after all the paddling and portaging we returned to Smoke Lake to find our
bus waiting for us to take us home to Thornlea.
What was the canoe trip like Many students enrolled in Outdoor Education will tell you it was
the highlight of their time in high school. Travelling in the pristine Canadian Wilderness by
canoe is an experience unlike no other, with friends and good times. We encountered rain,
wind, gruelling portages, muddy trails carrying heavy packs and canoes, and paddled until it
felt like our arms would drop off. Our shoulder and backs ached from the portages, we were
sometimes swarmed by black flies and mosquitoes, slept on the hard ground in tents and ate
our food over an open fire. But we also had beautiful sunny skies, warm breezes, refreshing
swims in the lake, laughter around the campfire, experienced the “rush” of completing a long
and strenuous portage, met new friends and solidified old friendships. We gazed at the
millions of stars you could see at night, watched satellites circle the Earth and counted
shooting stars. We perfected the art of paddling a canoe, learned new camping skills,
prepared tasty meals and slept soundly after a hard day at school in Algonquin Park. Arriving
back at the bus we felt both the elation that we had completed the trip but also the
disappointment that we couldn’t just turn around and keep going in our canoes, on to another
portage that would lead us to our next lake. The canoe trip presented us with many
challenges and hardships, but we wouldn’t change it for anything in the world!
Thornlea’s Outdoor Education Class of 2009

Thornlea Newsletter Page 4

Thornlea Newsletter Page 5
Thornlea Physics students Excel in National Physics
Contest
The results are now in for the national physics contest for our grade 12 graduating students.
The University of Waterloo runs an extremely challenging annual physics exam for the top
students in Canada.
This year over 3000 of the brightest scholars in Canada participated in this competition hosted
by the University of Waterloo.
As with biology and chemistry, our students have done Thornlea proud.
We are pleased to announce these outstanding results:
Congratulations go to:
Jonathan Wu - in the top 17 % in Canada
Brian Bo - in the top 7%
and with a dazzling position - in the top 1% of all contestants is:
Kenny Tang
Kenny will receive a scholarship to the University of Waterloo in the Biotechnology/CA
program.
We wish all of our winners the very best as they graduate from Thornlea, to pursue
excellence in their science studies.

Thornlea Newsletter Page 6
Music Department
“Bravo!”
Thornlea Secondary School’s Music Council and Orchestral Strings and Guitar ensembles
had a wonderful time at the Kornel Wolak concert on the evening of May 26. His artistry, wit
and showmanship made for a truly uplifting classical music experience for our students.
Kornel’s clarinet trio and all the members of Quartetto Gelato were so gracious in meeting the
audience members after the concert, including our students. Such generosity is very
refreshing and engendered great respect. It was a tremendous example for our students.
We thank Ms. Katharine Kwok for her hands-on leadership at the event, and Ms. Bonnie
Armstrong of the Markham Theatre for giving us the honour of hosting this concert, and for
inviting us back to be a host in next year’s series. Our students were so excited to entertain
patrons in the lobby and they were thrilled to receive that hearty “Bravo!” from * Maestro Kerry
Stratton himself. The acknowledgements given to our group during the concert were very kind
and gave the kids a great boost, and they all came away from the evening full of pride.

Thornlea Newsletter Page 7
Banquet of the Arts
Tickets are $30 and are available from Music Council on the caf stage periods 3A, 3B 3C. It
takes place Wednesday, June 10 at The Mandarin restaurant and banquet hall starting at
6:30pm. The Banquet has an enviable 10 year track record of great food and great fun. …Oh
yeah: and great music, both DJ’d and from your favorite performers from Soft Rock Café
and Thornstock, including that motley crew of teacher rockers formerly known to have hair.
It’s a great way to celebrate the end of a fantastic year in the Arts at Thornlea, and a chance
to bid fond farewell to our beloved Mrs. Laurel Kinsinger who is joining the Music and Drama
departments at Vaughan Secondary School.
See Thornlea’s Banquet of the Arts 2009 Poster at the end of this E-Bulletin

Thornlea Newsletter Page 8
E.S.P.- Empowered Student Partnerships
Mr. Chan, Mrs. Wallace, and Mrs. Hetherington are very proud of the fine work done by
Thornlea’s ESP team. Following up on the school survey on issues of safety and well-being,
students received Red Cross training in bullying awareness and prevention.
These volunteers met weekly to create a presentation involving power-point delivery and
engaging group activities that they were able to bring to a group of elementary students at
Bayview Fairways Public School on Tuesday. The participation was enthusiastic and heartwarming.
They also enjoyed a celebration of region-wide ESP efforts with the York Regional Police at
the Community Safety Village last week. It is a joy to see these young people in the spirit of
community service taking charge in promoting positive relationships. Grade 11 student and
ESP Chair Keely Kundell will lead the team in further empowerment work with the incoming
grade 9s in September.
ESP involvement goes a long way in maintaining and growing a positive atmosphere in our
school community. We hope many more students will come forward and get involved in this
very worthwhile social endeavor in the years to come.
Armand La Barge, Chief of Police, YRP, addressing the attendees of the
ESP Celebration at The Community Safety Village on the grounds of
Bruce's Mill Conservation Area, May 28, 2009

Thornlea Newsletter Page 9
Prom 2009
The Thornlea Prom has once again come and gone. The event was a great success. The
students looked wonderful and had a great time. The students took a lot of pictures that will
bring back fond memories in the years to come. Thank you Ms. Williamson, Ms. Wallace for
organizing this wonderful event and to Mr. Ackerman for the great photos.

Thornlea Newsletter Page 10
OFFICE OF THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF ONTARIO
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES
BOOK DRIVE FOR ABORIGINAL YOUTH
TORONTO – The Honourable David C. Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, will announce
a book drive for aboriginal youth on Monday, June 1, 2009, 2:00 p.m., Queen’s Park Media
Studio.
THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR’S ABORIGINAL SUMMER READING BOOK DRIVE will last
until Sunday, June 21 st , the first day of summer and National Aboriginal Day.
Only brand new books for youth up to age 14 will be collected, with the intention of refreshing
local libraries in Ontario’s northern fly-in First Nation communities with the same choice of
current books that young people in other corners of the province will relish during the summer
months.
As in the past, new books can be dropped off at any Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)
detachment throughout the province and, within Toronto, at any Toronto Police Service
divisions. Land Forces Central Area (Department of National Defence) will help pack, sort and
transport books.
More than 40,000 new books were collected in the 2008 Lieutenant Governor Aboriginal Book
Drive.
“I encourage all Ontarians to purchase a book or two for native youth in Ontario’s northern
regions,” said Lieutenant Governor Onley. “I appeal to the same generous Ontarians who
have wholeheartedly participated in past book drives implemented by the Lieutenant
Governor’s Office to donate a new book that will make an enormous difference in the lives of
young people.”
Contact:
Nanda Casucci-Byrne
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
416-325-7780
www.lt.gov.on.ca
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!

Thornlea Newsletter Page 11
Business
In the Business Department we had the privilege of having Steve Alex, a Niagara University
student teacher, and Mrs. Ella Chan MBA, a Toronto Board Adult Education Co-op
placement teacher assistant, help out and train with us this year. They allowed us to learn
new things faster and use technology more in the classroom because of their ease with Excel
and accounting software.
Ella Chan
with Mr. Ifejika
& Mr. Fish
Accounting Club News
In March, thanks to training by the Sam Lazar from the Canada Revenue Agency, members
volunteered to do tax returns for Thornlea students and we achieved our goal of getting back
at least $2000 for our students thanks to the Ontario Tax Credit program. Brian Lee, Fedor
Gorin, Rob Gelman and Mike Hokkanen were very busy and excellent tax preparers.
Our accounting students also entered 3 different contests in May. The Coin Contest is
sponsored by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and was written in
Richmond Hill thanks to the cooperation of Ernst & Young LLP. The OBEA accounting
contest was on-line and 18 students took part in it.

Thornlea Newsletter Page 12
Thanks to the Ontario Business Education Association for hosting the event and the
students that competed on behalf of our school. Thanks to the parents for their continual
support of these outings and events.
The Club would like to thank the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario for hosting
eight of our members to a career day luncheon at the Metro Convention Centre. The following
students attended it and thoroughly enjoyed it: Authur Chung, Fedor Gorin, Arnold Hang,
Mike Hokkanen, Emily Liao, Cameron Tabatai, Kenny Tang, Saul Weiss & David Wood.
A final contest was entered that we also don’t know yet how we did but we want to thank
Angel Chu, Jackie Cheung, Michael Chang, Maggie Guo, Arnold Hang, Leslie Marmer
and Kenny Tang for editing, writing, and creating a DVD that was our CMA MakeItHappen
entry for $5000. This took approximately 100 hours or more and the final product was really
amazing so I will be very disappointed if we don’t win first or second in the contest.
Thornlea is thrilled to
announce the birth of
the new
Global Citizenship
Program!
What is Global Citizenship Why is it important
Educating our students about Global Citizenship encourages them to become informed and
active participants in an ever-increasingly interconnected planet. With advances in
technology, it is becoming essential that all people develop the critical thinking and
communication skills that will allow them to connect with, understand, and justly interact with
other global citizens. Whether our graduates are planning to attend college, university, start
an apprenticeship, or enter the workforce directly after secondary school, awareness of and
involvement in global citizenship clearly identifies them as young people with teamwork,
initiative, and organizational skills dedicated to making the community and the world a better
place.
Why does Thornlea have a Global Citizenship program
The staff at Thornlea shares a desire to develop these skills in our students. While many of
these skills were happening in various in-class and extra-curricular activities, students were
not always aware of the importance and transferability of these skills to other aspects of their
lives. To further develop the school’s motto “Think and be thought of”, and the York Region
District School Board’s mission statement, “We unite in our purpose to inspire and prepare
learners for life in our changing world community”, the staff at Thornlea are committed to
developing and implementing a global citizenship program which develops critical thinking,

Thornlea Newsletter Page 13
communication, research, action, and leadership skills in our students, so that they may make
a difference to themselves, their communities and our world.
What does this program at Thornlea look like
The Global Citizenship Program at Thornlea is not competitive. It is for all students. Each
student will have many opportunities to set personal goals and achieve results in an
environment that encourages learning and growth through participation in a variety of
curricular and extra-curricular activities. There will be many new and exciting activities coming
that we will share with you in future publications of this newsletter, but read on to find out
about some of the new exciting activities to come!
What do you know about Thornlea’s History
The Global Citizenship Committee of Thornlea would like to invite former
students of Thornlea to help share Thornlea's history with our student
body.
A display case will be created in the front hallway honouring the rich
history of Thornlea. To be able to complete this project before the
beginning of the upcoming school year, the Global Citizenship Committee
invites all parents, former students, and friends to contribute any artifacts
(i.e., photos, team pennants, information, etc.) that you may have, and
would be willing to donate. Your contributions will not go unnoticed, and
will be a great contribution towards the revival of Thornlea's great
history!
Please drop any items off in the Guidance office, or send us your Thornlea
History Facts via email. You can reach us at
ellen.philp@yrdsb.edu.on.ca.
We have already uncovered some very interesting facts about Thornlea
that we will share with you in upcoming issues! Stay tuned….

Thornlea Newsletter Page 14
THORNLEA’S NEW GLOBAL STORE!
The Global Citizenship Committee will be opening a new store in
partnership with Pharley’s for September 2009. The purpose of the Global
Store is to educate our Thornlea family about fair trade, responsible
consumerism, and how to reuse and recycle, all while raising money for
global causes and buying some pretty neat items! We have exciting plans
in the future to also feature some of our own student artisans and promise
an interesting and ever-changing selection.
We need your help to get the store up and running! Do you have any of the
following items that are in good-as-new or new condition that need a new
home
• Jewellery
• Scarves
• Candles
• Unused Perfumes
• Stationery, including notepaper, pens or pencils, etc.
• or any small items in new or good-as-new condition
Just think, you can finally pass on items that were too nice to throw out
that you really weren’t using anyway, and help out the planet at the same
time!
Your support will be greatly appreciated.
Donations will be accepted at any
time, but we really would like to
have a great selection organized by
the end of the school year. Please
drop of your items in the Guidance
Department or email us at
ellen.philp@yrdsb.edu.on.ca

Thornlea Newsletter Page 15
Important Dates/Events
June 10
Arts Banquet
June 10-12
Gr. 9 EQAO Math
June 15-23
Exams
June 23
Graduation
June 24
June 26
June 25-26
Exam Feedback Day
Our final E-Bulletin for this year
(look for important registration
information)
PA Days
Dates may change due to unforeseen circumstances