May 2016
Principal’s Message:
“Empowerment Day”
Once again, Glenbrook
Elementary School students will be supporting
the Heart and Stroke
Foundation by holding
our “Jump Rope For
Heart” event. We are thrilled to be a
part of this worthwhile fundraiser and
activity.
Many Glenbrook students from Grade 5 to 8 had a wonderful opportunity to
attend EmpoWErment Day on April 15 at the Centre Wellington Community
Sportsplex in Fergus. Glenbrook’s Me To We team was invited to attend, as
well as additional student leaders in our school. There were over 3000 students from across Upper Grand in attendance at this event designed to show
students that they can make a difference in the world and in their community.
The day featured Canadian astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield, Me to We’s Molly
Burke, Olympic champion Brian Price and local musician Sarah Smith. These
inspirational speakers encouraged the students in the audience to strive for
the impossible and to believe that they could achieve great things in their lives
if they were confident and worked hard. Tara McCabe, our Child and Youth
Counsellor, deserves a special Thank You for organizing this motivational trip
for our student leaders.
Students participated in a “Jump
Rope for Heart” kick off assembly on
Monday, April 18th. They will have
the opportunity to collect pledges during the last week of April and the first
two weeks of May.
Our Jump Rope event will be held on
Friday, May 20th. We thank all parents and community members for
supporting our school with this initiative. We are pleased to be able to
make a contribution towards heart
and stroke research!
Glenbrook Book Fair—May 4th to May 8th:
This month in the library we will be finding out which book won for our Blue
Spruce Reading Program. Students will be learning about how to find information in the library with their classes this month. Students in grade 3-8 who
were part of the Forest of Reading will be going to Toronto to Harbourfront to
meet the authors and celebrate the winning book in the categories of Fiction,
Non-fiction and Express.
Our next book fair will be in June and it is a 2 for 1 sale so watch out for
flyers!
Parking Areas:
Math Night is May 4th! May the Math Be With You!
If you are picking students up at Glenbrook,
the safest method is to
park in our school parking area or the
gravel parking area to the south of
the school. We then ask you to meet
your children on the tarmac area at
the back of the school and walk back
to your car. If you must “kiss and
ride” please do so along the west
curb of the school driveway. No
parking is permitted along the grassy
knoll on the way into the Arena parking area. The area in front of the
school is also a no parking/no stopping area. Please help keep all of
our children safe by following
these requests.
Glenbrook Parent Council and Staff invite you to join in an evening of
fun filled math activities and games for your family. The evening will
provide you with ideas for “playing with math” and learning with your
child(ren). The evening program includes:
5:00 - 5:30 pm Early Registration and Dinner (available for purchase
from Pete’s Deli)
5:30 - 5:45 pm Sign In and Math Kit Pick Up
5:45 - 6:00 pm Orientation to the Evening
6:00 - 7:50 pm Math Workshops (choose 4 workshops, each 20 min.
in length)
7:50 - 8:00 pm Swag Bag Pick Up and Departure
Workshops will be 20 min interactive opportunities to engage in an exciting math exploration with your child(ren). Workshops will be designed with specific age groups in mind.
You may register in advance at the school, on line at
www.goo.gl/Zgulaf or at the door. Swag Bags are guaranteed to those
who register in advance.
Grade 3 & 6 E.Q.A.O. Assessment— May 25th to June 1st, 2016
Dufferin Youth Festival of the Arts:
Forest of Reading Clubs:
Glenbrook was extremely well represented on April 27th
at the DYFA celebration at Compass Church in Orangeville. Mrs. Thompson’s choir learned and performed a
beautiful song from the Philipinnes “ “, while Mrs. Crago’s
class demonstrated their talent with a lively Indian style
dance, complete with vibrant music and scarves. Mr.
Schooley prepared Mr. Long’s class to perform a dramatic “Three Little Pigs” en Francais, which included
props and costumes. Culture and the Arts are alive and
well at Glenbrook. Our students received many kudos
from students, staff and parents watching the show. Well
done to all participants. We are very proud of you!
The Forest of Reading Clubs have voted and in May we will
find out which books were selected as the favourite Canadian books by the children across Ontario. Congratulations to
Sarah and Sunit, two students in the Silver Birch Book Club,
who entered a Video Challenge Contest about their Forest
of Reading Program at Glenbrook and won 20 tickets to the
Forest of Reading Celebration in Toronto. We will host a
fundraising sale on Monday May 4th from 3:10 pm - 8:00 pm
at the Book Fair to help cover the cost of a bus to Toronto
for Silver Birch Club members.
School Council Meeting:
The Glenbrook School Council will hold
their next monthly meeting at 6:15 p.m.
on Thursday, May 5th, 2016. All parents and community members are invited to attend. The meeting will be held
in the staff room.
What is STEM and why is it important?
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics. The idea is to offer students tasks
that integrate more than one subject area such as
thinking about all the angles, measurements and calculations involved in building a structure that could
stand up to the elements of our Canadian winters.
STEM provides opportunity to focus on one assignment while applying knowledge gained in a number
of subjects so knowledge gained in one area can be
applied in another. Check out this link for more information (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=AlPJ48simtE)
Think of it like driving a car. We can’t just focus on
braking or steering by themselves. We need to simultaneously think of acceleration, steering, signaling,
braking and road signs all at the same time and ideally we’d like our students to have the same flexibility
with their thinking across different subject areas.
Try this activity to promote mathematics, science,
engineering and language.
Using popsicle sticks, glue, tape, and elastics, design
and build a device that will launch 3 marshmallows
as far as possible using elastic bands. The elastic energy may be “loaded” by hand but the device must get
all of its launching power from the stored energy in
the elastic bands.
Have fun and enjoy!
Appropriate Dress At Glenbrook:
We remind parents and students that as the warmer weather
approaches, students will start wearing “cooler” clothing.
Students are to ensure that clothing selected for school covers all forms of underwear. We also
ask that this spring / summer clothing
covers a student’s midriff (stomach). If
parents have questions about appropriate clothing, please contact your child’s
teacher, our Vice-Principal, Ms. Kennedy
or Mrs. Smith in the school office.
Climate Change Is Not Cool:
Climate Change refers to any changes in long-term weather patterns (temperature, precipitation, wind, storms) that have been
caused by humans polluting the atmosphere with too many greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide. We need to act
now, because who can argue with reducing pollution? Pollution
can't possibly be good for us!
The world is tracking climate change. Weather and temperature
has been changing too quickly over the past few decades, which
seems to be caused by the industrial revolution here on Earth. We
are sending too much pollution (from cars, trucks, factories, and
power plants using coal) into our atmosphere. Over the past hundred years the temperature of the Earth has risen and this has
caused many changes in nature. For example, species of plants
and animals are either migrating or becoming extinct. Some seaside cities may soon be underwater from rising sea levels. We are
having more severe weather patterns like tornadoes and hurricanes and ice storms. Drinkable water sources are drying up.
What can you do to help be part of the solution? Well, all of the
things we have been talking about this year can help. It you buy
less and reduce, then less energy will be used and less pollution
will be sent into our atmosphere. If you don't waste electricity you
help out too. If you walk or bike to school or carpool you are doing your part. If you buy locally you reduce the greenhouse gases
emitted through shipping and this helps planet Earth too.
And finally, eat a fresh, local apple - Not only is it good for you,
but greenhouse gases were not created in the processing, canning,
freezing, packaging or long distance transportation, so local apples are good for the planet too!
Reminder: We would appreciate it if dogs were not walked to school with students or walked on school
property during school hours. If you have dogs on school property outside of school hours, please remember
to “poop and scoop” after your pet.
Student Placement Procedures for 2015—2016:
In late May and early June, the staff at Glenbrook Elementary School will hold a number of placement meetings in order
to begin student placement procedures for the 2016—2017 school year. We would like to inform parents about how we
approach this important task.
First—Our school’s staffing committee receives a school organization from the Board’s District Staffing Committee. This
school organization is based on the expected student enrolment and the number of teachers that are allocated to our
school by the Upper Grand District School Board’s Staffing Committee.
Next—Staff collect data on each student which is then used at grade level placement meetings. When considering
placement, we sometimes recommend students be kept together or separated because of the positive or negative influence on each other’s learning. Other issues requiring careful thought include special needs, health concerns, resource
and withdrawal needs and male/female role models (in grades where a choice exists).
We appreciate your trust in our professional judgment in balancing all of the aforementioned considerations when developing classes for next year. If you have questions about this process please contact Ms. Kennedy or Mrs. Smith.
E.Q.A.O. Grade 3 & Grade 6 Provincial Assessment of Reading, Writing & Math:
The students at Glenbrook Elementary School have been preparing for the Education Quality and Accountability Office’s
(E.Q.A.O.) Provincial Assessment of Reading Writing and Mathematics throughout the school year.
During the months of May and June, students in Grades 3 and Grade 6 will take part in the Education Quality and Accountability Office’s (E.Q.A.O.) Provincial Assessment of Reading, Writing and Mathematics. This assessment has
been scheduled to take place between May 25th and June 1st, 2016.
Students will engage in two 1 hour assessments each day for a three day period. The assessment is designed to be
completed within 6 hours. The Grade 3 students will complete the assessment on May 25th, May 26th and May 27th.
The Grade 6 students will complete the assessment on May 30th, May 31st, and June 1st, 2016. All
assessment materials must be returned to E.Q.A.O. on June 4th, 2016.
We ask that the parents of our Grade 3 & 6 students make every attempt to have their child(ren) at
school on time for each of the assessment days in order to ensure that your child has the opportunity to
complete the assessment. Results of this assessment will be returned to the school in the fall of 2016.
Junior Kindergarten Information Evening:
At 5:30 p.m—7:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 2nd, parents of students who will attend our full day Junior Kindergarten are
invited to attend an information night in the library at Glenbrook Elementary School. The parents of students who will be
attending Senior Kindergarten and are new to Glenbrook are also invited to attend as well.
School staff will provide parents with information about Glenbrook Elementary School and the Kindergarten program
that Junior Kindergarten and Senior Kindergarten students will be engaged in during the 2016—2017 school year. Parents will also have the opportunity to get to know the layout of the school and will visit the Kindergarten classrooms.
We encourage all parents of JK students (and new SK students) to attend this information meeting.
We are still accepting registrations for September 2016. Please contact Ms. Mitchell, our Office Coordinator, if you plan to register your child for Kindergarten for next year.
Read This Newsletter and Win a Prize!!!
Win A Nike Hat:
After your family has read this newsletter, please sign and detach this coupon or a note. “Our family” must include at
least one parent/guardian who has read the newsletter. This coupon must be placed in the yellow mailbox in the front
office at Glenbrook school. A ballot will be drawn from the mailbox each month indicating the winning family for the
month. This month’s draw will be held on Friday, May 27, 2016.
Our family has read the newsletter corresponding to this draw.
Family Name:
___________________________Parent’s Signature:
____________________________
M ay 2016
Mon
1
8
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
2
3
Education Week
Begins
Children’s Mental Health Week
Arbour Week
Rafiki Sales
CDDHS Official
Opening 7:00pm
4
Math Night
5:30-8:00pm
Wear Green for
Mental Health
5
Hydro One
Forestry Unit
presentation—
Grade 2
Pizza Day
6
Popcorn Day
Native Speaker &
Drumming
Grade 5
Glenbrook Spirit
Day wear Orange
& Blue
7
9
11
13
Earth Keepers
Group #1
14
20
“Show & Shine”
Day at CDDHS for
Grade 8 students
(12:45pm start)
21
10
Parent Council
Meeting 6:15pm
Joint Parent
Council Meeting
hosted by
Glenbrook
6:00pm
15
22
29
16
Earth Keepers
Group #2
23
30
EQAO
Assessment
Day—Gr. 6
12
Earth Keepers
Group #1
Gr. 7 & 8
Immunizations
Pita Day
17
Earth Keepers
Group #2
Forest of
Reading trip to
Harbour Front
Toronto
Boys’ Basketball
Finals @ WSS
7pm
18
Earth Keepers
Group #1& #2
24
25
EQAO
Assessment
Day—Gr. 3
31
EQAO
Assessment
Day—Gr. 6
19
Pizza Day
Jump Rope for
Heart Event.
JUNE
1
EQAO
Assessment
Day—Gr. 6
26
EQAO
Assessment
Day—Gr. 3
27
EQAO
Assessment Day—
Gr. 3
Pita Day
GRIT Assembly
2
3
28
4