OZ Jr. - Steve Maclean Public School - Ottawa-Carleton District ...

Steve MacLean Public School Year 6, Volume 8Spring Edition!April 2012OZ Jr.Principal’s MessageIt feels like summer is fastapproaching and ourschool year is going byvery quickly. We are lookingforward to seeingmany of you here at ourStudent-Led Conferencesduring Education Week(May 7-11). More informationwill be comingsoon from your child’steacher. Our students arevery proud of their accomplishmentsand are lookingforward to sharingthem with you.Although the weather iswarmer, some morningscan be cool. Please besure to send your childrento school with appropriateclothing for the day’sweather. Extra clothingleft at school is always agood idea given the variedweather we’ve experiencedlately.As many of you know, ourschool continues to grow.We are projected at 960students for September2012. As a result, 14portables will be in usenext year until the constructionof our new additionis completed nextJanuary 2013.Please note that our gradethree and grade six studentswill be writingEQAO during the lastweek of May and the firstweek of June. We wouldappreciate if appointmentswere not made during thattime as it is often hard forour students to “make up”missed assessments.In two weekw, our schoolwill be filled with all theenergy from our musicalproduction OZ JR. We arevery much looking forwardto all our performancesand are hoping to seemany of you for our twoevening performances onWednesday, April 25 andThursday, April 26 at 7:00p.m. Admission will be$5.00 per person.We extend a warm welcometo Sarah McDonald,who is taking good care ofMme Sarah’s grade 1 classwhile she is off with hernew baby girl.Denise Poirier, PrincipalDates toRemember April 29—CupcakeDay/ Inside Out Day May 12—Mother’s Day May 10, 8:00 a.m.—Volunteer AppreciationBreakfast May 16, 7:00 p.m.—School Council Mtg. May 17, 7:00 p.m.—Kindergarten InformationEvening May 15—18—DentalScreening (JK, SK, Gr.1 & 2) May 17—Outdoor classphotos (rain date May27) May 21—Victoria DayholidayFree Math Tutoring—Students Gr. 7-10Students in mathematicsnow have a new resourceto help them improveand succeed in math—thanks to a Ministry ofEducation pilot project.A free online math tutoringservice is available tostudents in grades 7 to10 in the Ottawa-Carleton District SchoolBoard. Students haveaccess to 20 hours aweek of free, online mathtutoring. Students cancheck out the free HomeworkHelp at http://HomeworkHelp.ilc.orgwhere certified Ontariomath teachers are availableSunday to Thursday,5:30 p.m. to 9:30p.m., for one-on-oneconfidential help. May 22—OutdoorPhoto Rain Date May 25—Western Day June 21—School CouncilFamily BBQ June 26, p.m.—Grade8 Farewell Celebration June 28—Last Day ofClasses

News from the Green TeamEarth Day is fast approaching (April22 nd ) and our Eco Schools Club isworking hard and having fun at thesame time! Recently, SMPS held theirown “Earth Hour”. All of our studentsand staff members turned off theirlights and computers for one hourlast Friday. Also, our school is registeredin the “Clean the Capital” program,through the City of Ottawa, andmany students will show their supportfor this on April 13 th by helping toclean up our yard. In addition, ourschool will be receiving some largerblue bins which will be placed insome high traffic areas in order topromote more recycling by all students,staff and visitors to our school.We will have an assembly for EarthDay to promote environmental awarenessand also display our work andinitiatives in the main hall showcase.For Earth Week (April 16 - 22), SteveMacLean Public School will be participatingin an initiative called“Boomerang Lunches” in order toreduce the waste created by packedlunches. A boomerang is a curvedpiece of wood that, when properlythrown, will return. A “boomeranglunch” is a lunch that has every pieceof it returned back to its source. Inother words, everything in the lunchgoes back home at the end of the day,no matter if it is leftover food (whichcan be composted), containers, recyclablesor garbage. Our hope is thatthis will encourage families to packlunches with minimal, if any, waste.For detailed information, please checkthe school website. Thank you foryour support!Ms. McClacherty,Mlle Lauzon, Mrs.Saari, Mrs. DiCesare,Mrs. O’Rourke,Mr. LarmourThe Culture of Bullying No Longer Acceptable in SchoolsAt a recent workshop on Bully Preventionfor administrators in theOCDSB, we were reminded of thechanges that have occurred withinour culture. For instance it is nolonger acceptable to use derogativeterms to describe indigenous groups,to think racial jokes are funny or tosay “boys will be boys” when behaviourgets out of hand. Rather there isgreat power when we understand ourdiverse backgrounds and support theacceptance of differences as a way forour own children to develop a moralcompass, where acceptance of othersis the norm and the right thing to do.As I was reading a letter in the week-end paper, I was struck by the questionsthat you as parents might havein particular: what does SMPS do tointervene in incidents of conflictand bullying? Again here are someanswers to that very important question.I was pleased that the steps wetake at SMPS are aligned with thebest practices that I heard at theworkshop.- create a positive and respectful climateand foster strong relationshipsamong staff and students- be more formative and less punitive-“be harder on the issue and gentleron the student”. This means investigateevery situation and seek to fosterand develop a deep understanding inthe students (who were bullying orwere bystanders) of the impact theirwords or actions have on the victimizedpeer.- encourage and practice listening toeach other among students to validateeach student and their role as a memberof the school community.Mrs. Gutman, Vice-Principal19 Habits of MindAs discussed in the past couple ofmonths, habits of mind are“mindsets” that are part of the typicalor habitual way in which a personapproaches a situation or task.Habits of mind may be articulatedin different ways. Here is the continuationof our list:Thinking for one’s self• Circumspect: Is tentative inone’s belief until there is sufficientevidence or complexity towarrant a more definitive position.• Empathic: Is able to empathizewith those in situations differentfrom one’s own and in differenthistorical contexts.• Tolerant of ambiguity: Is willingto live with ambiguity—doesn’trequire black and white answers.Thinking with others:• Inclusive: Seeks to include allparticipants.Page 2Spring Edition!

Kindergarten EQAO Testing StarsAlthough the Kindergarten registrationperiod has come and gone, youstill have an opportunity to registeryour school age child. If friends orneighbours also have children ofjunior or senior kindergarten age forthe upcoming school year, pleaseencourage them to register as soonas possible.We look forward to seeing all kindergartenparents (for the upcomingschool year) at our kindergarteninformation night, May 17 at 7:00p.m.Our Grade 3 and 6 students will betaking part in the EQAO Provincewideassessment. In order to ensuretimely completion of all componentsof this assessment, parentsare asked to avoid scheduling appointmentsduring this time if at allpossible and to ensure regular,punctual attendance of their children.The assessment will takeplace during the weeks of May 23—June 6, 2012. Any questions youmay have regarding EQAO shouldbe directed to the classroomteacher. More information will followshortly.Marsville hits Steve MacLean PublicSchool again this year. The Grade 7and 8 students are “building the firstcolony on Mars” Friday, April 13,2012, in the afternoon. Mme Paradisand her group of dedicated studentshave been preparing and building forthis event which ties in nicely withthe science curriculum.Volunteer Appreciation BreakfastPlease mark your calendar. OurVolunteer Appreciation Breakfastwill be held on Thursday, May 10,8:00—9:00 a.m. It is our traditionalway to say a special thankyou to all the parent and communityvolunteers who have helpedus during the school year. If youare one of the parents who havebeen so generous with your timeand efforts, please plan to attendand be treated to a deliciousbreakfast in your honour.Moving?If you already know that you will bemoving this summer and that your childrenwill not attend Steve MacLean P.S.next September, we would appreciatebeing informed at your earliest convenience,in writing, so that we may planas accurately as possible for next year’senrolment and school organization.Spring is in the AirThe Spring Concert will be onThursday, May 31, 7:00—8:00 p.m.in the school gym. It will feature thePrimary Choir and the Grade 7 and8 Bands.Band members are reminded towear black bottoms and white tops.Primary Choir members are askedto wear a navy blue top (a t-shirtwill work fine).Book FairOn Tuesday, May 8, the students willbe able to view the sample books displayedto make a wish list of booksthey would like to order. The studentswill have time to purchase theirorders on Wednesday, May 9. Teachers,who have a wish list, will beposted at the book fair for you, if youwould like to buy books as a gift foryour child’s classroom or teacher.Purchases will arrive within twoweeks.You may also order online by Friday,May 11 through the Online Catalogue:www.usborneonline.ca/sandra.Thank you for supporting Steve Mac-Lean Public School Library.Tuesday, May 8, 9:00 – 3:30Wednesday, May 9, 9:00 – 3:30Year 6, Volume 8 Page 3

Steve MacLean PublicSteve MacLean P.S.4175 Spratt RoadGloucester, ONK1V 1T6Phone: 613-822-0341Fax:613-822-7874Superintendent:Stephen SliwaSchool Councilis on the web:smpscouncil.orgMission StatementAt Steve MacLean Public School, we, as a family, foster personalexcellence, respect and responsibility. We will make the world abetter place.Home of the StarsDuring Education week, May 7-11, we will be displaying art work from studentsacross the grades in the Steve MacLean Public School Art Gallery. Please take sometime to stop by and take a look at the work of our talented artists.MedicAlert’s No Child Without Program is at Our SchoolThis program offers a free MedicAlert membership to students who attendour school and are between the ages of 4 and 14. If your childhas a medical condition, allergy or is required to take medication on aregular basis then you should consider a MedicAlert membershipthrough this program. It is your child’s voice in an emergency.MedicAlert identification can alert school staff, friends, coaches andothers about your child’s medical condition should an emergency occur.For more information, go to their office for a brochure or go towww.nochildout.ca. To register your child you will need a No ChildWithout brochure from the office.If your child is already part of the No Child Without program andthere have been changes to their medical condition, medications oremergency contact information, call MedicAlert at 1-866-679-3220,ext. 1 to update your child’s file.Community InformationThe Manotick Arts Camp offersSummer Day camp and PD dayprograms for kids 6-16.Check out our programs in Theatre,Vocal, Instrumental, Danceand Visual Art. Experience funtimes as we stage a show over atwo week day camp. Registernow for a great experience , creatingmemories that will last alifetime!www.manotickartscamp.caPD Day WorkshopsApril 27 & June 8 ages 7 and upSummer Day CampsSession 1July 9-20 ages 10 and upSession2July 23 - Aug 3 ages 10 andupSession 3Half day or full day Aug 7-10ages 6-10Music for Wee Onesyear round ages 3-6Check out the website/call 613-692-1062/c.613-890-1529.