Central Public School
97 Dublin St., N. Guelph ON N1H 4N2
Phone: 821-7990 Fax: 821-8270
May 2016 Newsletter
Principal: Rochelle MurrayCako
FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE
It is amazing what a difference the sunshine and a
few extra degrees of temperature can make in one’s
outlook and energy level! The next eight weeks of
school promises to be very eventful, with many
activities planned, trips, and projects occurring
around the school.
Spring is also the time when many children wish to
ride their bike and scooter to school. This is just a
reminder that both bicycles and scooters are to be
walked when on school grounds and to be parked
and locked at the bike rack.
Rochelle MurrayCako
Principal
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
 May 2 – 6 Education and Mental
Health Awareness Week
 May 3 – Sibling/Spring/Kindergarten Grad
Photo
 May 4 – School Council Family Math Night
 May 18 – Special Olympics and School
Track and Field
 May 20 – Talent Show
 May 23 – Victoria Day – No School
 May 25 – June 8 EQAO – Grade 3 and 6
 May 25 – Volunteer Tea
 May 28 – School Council Garage Sale
EQAO
During May 25 – June 8th students in grades three
and six will work with their teachers on the
provincial Education Quality Assurance Office’s
(EQAO) annual standardized assessment of
mathematics and language skill. Testing will occur
during the morning blocks. For all students in grade
Office Coordinator Sarah Greisman
3 and 6 please avoid scheduling appointments to
allow students the opportunity to participate in this
assessment.
Happy May everyone! School Council is looking
forward to some great upcoming events!
Math Night
Wednesday, May 4th – 6:30 – 8:00 learn how math
is taught today!
Plant and Yard Sale - Saturday May 28th 9am-12
- behind the school rain or shine! The order form
for the plant sale is coming home soon!
Please note donations to the yard sale are being
accepted May 24-27th from 4:306:30pm, items can be dropped off
in the Arts Room. Volunteers will
be on hand to help you unload your
car.
Save the Date!
June 16 - End-of-year BBQ
Come join our school community for
food and fun in the school playground.
We'll be cooking up burgers, veggie dogs, there will
be crafts, games and free activities from The
Children's Art Factory!
Next Council Meeting
Monday, May 16th
6:30pm – 7:30pm
SCHOOL CASH ONLINE
Parents – Please register for School Cash Online!
As of September 2016, Central will be able to offer
School Cash Online! School related expenses such
as pizza days, field trips, Spirit Wear, etc. will be
available for online purchase. Please take a few
minutes to register so you can enjoy the
convenience of online shopping.
Follow these 3 easy steps below to get started!
Go to this website:
https://ugdsb.schoolcashonline.com and Register
by selecting “Get Started Now” and following the
steps.
Respond to the confirmation email, select the ‘click
here’ option, sign in and add each of your children
to your household account.
If you do not have access to a computer at home or
would like help with the registration process, please
come to the school office, as we will have a
computer set up for you to use and can help you in
any way.
Please note:
PIZZA, MILK AND SUBS will be available to
order as of September.
VOLUNTEER TEA
Our many volunteers make a huge
difference throughout the year to our
school. The staff of Central Public
School would like to thank all of our
volunteers for their contributions to
our school community. Our annual Volunteer Tea
will take place on Wednesday, May 25th at 3:20 –
4:00. Invitation’s will be sent!
SAFE FUN IN THE SUN
As the weather gets warmer, remember to stay safe
in the sun. Before you and your child head outside,
check the UV index on The Weather Network or
Environment Canada websites. When outside, wear
sunglasses, hat and sunscreen (SPF of 15 or higher).
And if the UV index is 6 or more (high), also stay in
the shade. For more information about sun safety,
visit Health Canada at www.healthcanada.gc.ca.
NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY
Grade 1, 2, and 2/ 3 students
celebrated the Blue Spruce
program with a Blue Party at the
end of April. Each student cast their vote about
their favourite book in the program. May is the last
month of the school year for borrowing library
books. It would be great to see students exchanging
books every week! Grade 5 and 6 students can
exchange books on day 1 and 2 of the five day
cycle. Other classes have their book exchange on
the following days:
KA: Day 3, KB: Day 5, Grade 1: Day 2, Grade 2:
Day 1, Grade 2/ 3: Day 2, Grade 3/ 4: Day 3, Grade
4: Day 2
ECO TEAM NEWS
Thank you Central Public School families for all of
your donations for the Walmart plastic bag
collection. The bags collected will stay in North
America and will be re manufactured into a variety
of plastic products including composite lumber,
reusable bags, plant pots, and piping. We had a
super turn out for our Clothing Swap. The students
had a lot of fun choosing clothes and seeing their
friends wearing an item of theirs too!! All of the
extra clothes were donated to Hope House. Lastly,
students and teachers remembered litterless lunches,
lights off and participated in a community clean up.
Thank-you for keeping our school Eco Friendly!!
Miss Benham, Mrs. Gibson and The EcoTeam
Parents - please register for School Cash Online!
ONLINE PAYMENTS NOW AVAILABLE!
For safety and efficiency reasons, we want to reduce the amount of cash and cheques coming into our school.
School related expenses such as Pizza & Milk, Sub Days, field trips, Spirit wear, etc. will be available for online
purchase. Please take a few minutes to register so you can enjoy the convenience of online shopping.
Why Use School Cash Online?
Convenient: Make secure payments 24/7 from the comfort of your home
Easy To Use: Online shopping with various payment methods
Safe: Your child won't be carrying cash or checks to and from school
Saves Time: Manage your school expenses and view payment history in one place
Here’s how to register:
Step 1: Go to this website:
ugdsb.schoolcashonline.com
Step 2:
Register by selecting “Get Started Now” and following the steps.
Step 3:
Respond to the confirmation email, select the ‘click here’ option, sign in and
add each of your children to your household account.
Join the 2015 Pause to Play challenge
May 10th – 16th 2015.
The Pause to Play challenge encourages students and their families to put their television, video games and
computers on pause for one full week. Participants are more likely to feel good about themselves. Exercise that
gets your heart pumping has many benefits to your health!
Being active for at least 60 minutes daily can help children:
• Improve their health
• Do better in school
• Improve their fitness, grow stronger and maintain a healthy body weight
• Have fun playing with friends and feel happier
• Learn new skills and improve their self-confidence
Take the challenge for a week or more and learn how much fun it can be to pause to PLAY!
Go to www.wdgpublichealth.ca for more information and for a list of free or low cost activities your local
library and recreation centres are offering.
FREE ONLINE MATH COURSE
By Cheryl Van Ooteghem, UGDSB Principal of Program.
An online math course is getting excellent reviews. Dr. Jo Boaler, a well-known professor of mathematics
education at Stanford University, is running an online course entitled "How to Learn Math: For Students". It
starts in May and is FREE. It is geared towards any math learner, although students under the age of 13 should
progress through the course with their parents.
"How to Learn Math is a class for learners of all levels of mathematics. It combines really important
information on the brain and learning with new evidence on the best ways to approach and learn math
effectively. Many people have had negative experiences with math, and end up disliking math or failing. This
class will give learners of math the information they need to become powerful math learners, it will correct any
misconceptions they have about what math is, and it will teach them about their own potential to succeed and
the strategies needed to approach math effectively. If you have had past negative experiences with math this
will help change your relationship to one that is positive and powerful.
The course will feature Jo and a team of undergraduates, as well as videos of math in action - in dance, juggling,
snowflakes, soccer and many other applications. It is designed with a pedagogy of active engagement. The
course will run from May/June to the end of December, 2014. Check it out online at:
https://class.stanford.edu/courses/Education/EDUC115-S/Spring2014/about
Monthly Environmental Newsletter Inserts
May Environmental Theme: CLIMATE CHANGE
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.
You can Google: "Top 10 ways you can stop Climate Change" to get more ideas on how you can help.
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!
Slogan of the month: Climate Change is not cool!
New Health Curriculum
This year the new Health and Physical Education curriculum will be implemented in all schools in Ontario.
Included in the update are new expectations in the Human Development and Sexual Health component of the
curriculum. This education starts with children learning about themselves, their feelings, their bodies and about
showing respect for themselves and others in a reliable and accurate way. This learning is most effective when
parents and schools work together. Parents help their children form values about relationships and their
behaviours. To support these discussions, we are letting parents know that this unit will be covered in the (first
two weeks of May/or insert other timeline) by (insert divisions/classes). There are plenty of resources available
for parents to support the learning of the curriculum on the Ministry of Education website:
http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/health.html.
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!
Does your child have an LD, ADD/ADHD or both?
Here are some great resources to help you:
1. Work with your child to understand how they think and learn
2. Develop some strategies with your child to help them advocate for what they need to learn (technology,
accommodations to the environment or learning tasks)
Other great online resources include:
The Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario, which has lots of good information on LD and ADD/ADHD
issues, including topics about how to understand the IPRC and IEP, how to advocate for your child and topics
related to specific LDs.
http://www.ldao.ca/introduction-to-ldsadhd/what-are-lds/
The Learning Disabilities Association of Wellington County connects to the Ontario chapter, but provides links
and information about workshops and activities that are being held in Wellington.
http://www.ldawc.ca/
Our school board has also worked hard to address the needs of LD and ADD/ADHD students by providing SEA
equipment, Google Read and Write training and targeted reading programs to help LD students access the
curriculum and develop key academic skills.
Connect with your child’s teacher to discuss all the supports that are available to your child!