April 2014 PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE: It seems that winter will not let up—but hopefully spring will be here soon to stay. Thinking about spring and melting snow, it would be helpful if students (especially our younger ones) kept a change of clothing in their backpacks in case the melting snow becomes wet and messy at recess times. Earlier in the month of March, Mrs. Horan and our Student Council sponsored a terrific winter carnival. It was a fun day of many outdoor cooperative games, followed by some hot chocolate to warm everyone up. It was a beautiful sunny day with lots of smiling faces! Thank you to Mrs. Horan, our Student Council, and the parents who helped with the hot chocolate. Our fourth annual Boogie-a-thon took place in March and it was a huge hit this year with our students. We had a multi-cultural theme, where classes were challenged to find music and dances from around the world. They did a fantastic job of this and many students reported that it was the best Boogie-a-thon ever! In total we raised just over $5300.00—plus our local Scotiabank on First Street has agreed to contribute another $5000.00 to our Boogie-a-thon fundraiser initiative. This money will go toward supporting our many Arts Days that are currently being planned, as well as supporting other great things at Credit Meadows such as the purchase of additional chromebooks, iPads, more levelled classroom reading materials, and sports equipment for our students to use. Thank you to all families who supported this initiative—your contributions are greatly appreciated. Immediately following our Boogie-a-thon, our Intermediate Badminton team did an excellent job of representing Credit Meadows at the annual Badminton tournament. Thank you to our Cobras for a job well done, and to Mr. VanMaren for coaching our team this year. Sincerely, Vicky Crandall Principal CALENDAR OF EVENTS: April 2 April 28 Pizza Day Sideline Basketball Tournament 4:30pm @ MAPS Popcorn Day JK Eye Screening Pasta Day Curriculum Night Event for Parents Primary Arts Day (gr. 1-3) Cookie Day School Council Meeting ROM Trip— Mrs. Hollran-Thompson’s class KidsFest Trip—Grade 6 students Pita Pit Day Intermediate Arts Day (gr. 7-8) Smoothie Day Hot Dog Day Junior Arts Day (gr. 4-6) Poem in Your Pocket Day Cookie Day Eva Olsson presentations (gr. 6-8) April 30 Pizza Day April 4 April 8 April 9 April 10 April 11 April 14 April 16 April 17 April 23 April 24 April 25 Late Arrivals: While we’ve noticed some improvement, we continue to have a few too many students arriving late in the mornings. This is often disruptive to the learning environment and can delay the start of classes if all students are not ready to begin. It is best if students can arrive to school between 8:15am and 8:25am. This will allow them a little time on the yard with their peers—but more importantly it also allows them to enter and settle with their class when the bell rings at 8:30am. Thank you for your support with this. Page 2 Boogie-a-thon Prize Winners: World Autism Awareness Day Congratulations to the following students: Posters Posters Posters Special Books Ukelele Lesson Ukelele Lesson Knitting Lessons Art Lesson Ice Cream Party Sports Equipment Sports Equipment Pizza Party in a Tent Gym Time Police Car Ride Galaxy Movie gift card Cineplex Gift Card EB Games gift card Lego Book Baking at School Dairy Queen Lunch Dress Up a Teacher Sports Utility Bag Acer Tablet Nintendo 3DS XL Librarian for the Day Principal for the Day Gordon Jackson Jade Wesley Victoria Victoria Nicholas Michael Lucas Mackenzie Ryan Nicholas Conor Trent Landen Kelsie Jaden Gavin Connor Evan Madison Alex Aven Michael Abbey gr. 2 Kaelan gr. 7 JK gr. 1 gr. 2 JK SK gr. 4 gr. 1 gr. 2 gr. 2 SK SK SK gr. 1 JK gr. 2 gr. 8 gr. 2 SK SK gr. 2 SK JK gr. 6 gr. 7 Thank you to everyone for your participation in this fund-raiser! LOST and FOUND Now that spring is here and the weather is starting to get warmer, this would be an excellent time to have your child check the Lost and Found bins for winter wear (i.e. hats, mitts, boots, etc…). Our lost and found pile is always growing. Unclaimed items will eventually be bagged and donated to charity. The seventh annual World Autism Awareness Day is April 2, 2014. Every year autism organizations around the world celebrate the day with unique fundraising and awareness raising events. By bringing together autism organizations all around the world, we will give a voice to the millions of individuals worldwide who are undiagnosed, misunderstood and looking for help. Please join Upper Grand District School Board in our effort to inspire compassion, empowerment and hope by wearing BLUE on Tuesday April 2nd 2014. Special Education Survey Does your child have an IEP? If so the Special Education Department would like your feedback about special education supports and services. A survey for parents will be posted on the Upper Grand District School Board website from April 14- April 30th. This survey is for parents who have children at the Upper Grand District School Board with Individual Education Plans (IEPs). The information from the survey will be used to help in the planning of special education supports and services. Responses will be kept as confidential and used in summary reports. Thank you for watching for this. Page 3 Earth Day 2014 Connie Bender Elementary Curriculum Leader Earth Day is just around the corner! April 22nd has been recognized as Earth Day since the early 1970’s and was originally created to highlight the need for all of us to be involved with environmental protection. Although many of our communities organize neighbourhood clean-ups and earth friendly activities for us to participate in on Earth Day, more and more schools are trying to make the environment a focus in the day to day lives of students and staff. One way is through the participation in Ontario EcoSchools. Ontario EcoSchools is an environmental education and certification program for grades K-12 that helps school communities nurture environmentally responsible citizens while reducing the environmental footprint of schools. Schools that have opted to participate in this rigorous program create a “Green Team” consisting of students and teachers. In some cases, parents, principals and custodians also participate to create a team that truly reflects the entire school community. This Green Team takes a leadership role in the school. Students are empowered to take a close look at how the school is conserving energy, minimizing waste, greening up the school grounds, engaging in environmental stewardship and environmental leadership. The purpose of this program is to engage students throughout the year by having them collect data about their own school, create action plans, educate others about how to make some change, and then follow up and report the results back to the school community. The goal is to create environmentally conscious citizens who think about their impact on the environment as they walk through their day to day life at school, at home and in the community. Whether your school is involved in EcoSchools or not, many schools are working with students to actively engage them in things like litterless lunches, re-useable water bottle campaigns and reducing landfill waste. Parents can help by supporting students in their participation in these initiatives and by modelling environmentally conscious actions at home. Having conversations with your children about your choices and actions are a great opportunity for them to understand how important we are to the environment. By supporting our children to grow up green, we are helping to create a more sustainable future. For additional information about Ontario EcoSchools, please check out their website at: http://www.ontarioecoschools.org/ . Page 4 Talking About Mental Health Helping Your Family Deal with Stress and Anxiety Everyone experiences stress during their daily lives and there are times in our lives when we feel anxious. This is normal. It happens to all of us. However, some of us and some of our children/youth are anxious more of the time and to a greater degree and this can be challenging for the children, youth and their families. The good news is that there a lot of positive things that you can do as parents to help reduce the stress and anxiety that you and your child/youth feel. Here are some tips! Listen: Take time to listen to your child/youth’s thoughts and feelings. Being heard is very important and can make someone feel less distressed by talking about it. Talk: Let your child/youth know that they are not alone. Lots of people feel stressed and anxious. It is normal, harmless and temporary. Share: You as a parent experience fear, stress and anxiety. Model how you cope with stressful situations with positive coping strategies. Support: Let your child/youth know that you care and support them as they struggle with stress and anxiety. Practice: Practice calming strategies with your child/youth when they are calm. Practice every day so calming becomes a habit. Encourage: When stress arises, encourage your child/youth to use their calming strategies. Praise your child/youth for using their calming strategies. Model: Be a good role model for your child/youth. Create a positive, predictable environment at home. Use your own coping strategies. Allow your children to observe how you face and deal with stress in a positive way. You are the single most important influence in your child’s life. Here are a couple of calming techniques that you can practice with your child/youth: Calm Breaths. When we are anxious we breathe faster, which actually makes us more anxious. By calming our breath we are sending signals to our brains and bodies that things are going to be OK. Take slow deep breaths. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. For younger children they can blow bubbles or pretend to. For older children/youth guide, they can imagine breathing in calm and breathing out worries or tension. Keep taking calm breaths until the breath is smooth, deep and calm. Have the child/youth notice what it feels like to be calm. Muscle relaxation. When we are anxious, our bodies become tense. By relaxing our bodies, we are sending signals to our bodies and our brains that it is going to be OK. Sit or lie down. Tighten up one part of your body (e.g. your legs). Hold the tension for 10 seconds. Relax your body. Allow the tension and tightness to drain away. Repeat tightening and releasing different parts of the body. Tighten your whole body, hold for 10 seconds then release. Lie or sit for a moment allowing your body to be totally relaxed. Have your child/youth notice what it feels like when their body is relaxed. Hope these tips are helpful. The best thing that you can do is practice relaxation techniques every day with your family to build coping skills and to have calmer, happier children, youth and families. Enjoy! Page 5 Talking About Mental Health (Continued) Helping Your Family Deal with Stress and Anxiety For more information: http://anxietybc.com/parent/index.php http://www.mindyourmind.ca/wellness For children and youth: KidsHelpPhone.ca 1 800 668 6868 24 hour phone line and website for children and youth. If you are concerned that your child/youth is experiencing excessive anxiety, you can talk with your school or community mental health provider: CMHA WWD: 1 844 HERE 24 7 (1 844 437 3247) - For Guelph/Wellington Children and Youth Services and Guelph/Welllington/ Dufferin Adult Services DCAFS: 519-941-1530 for Dufferin Children and Youth Services May 4-11, 2014 is Child and Youth Mental Health Week. Next time I will share some information and activities that are coming to your schools and communities. Dr. Lynn Woodford, Psychologist, is the Mental Health and Addiction Lead for the Upper Grand District School Board. Health What a good feeling! April 2014 Two for Two is What You Do! Brushing your teeth two times a day for two minutes each time helps prevent cavities. If you don’t have dental insurance and can’t afford care, we have free dental services for your children at Public Health. At our dental clinics, we provide free cleanings for children. We can help children with cavities and other urgent problems get the treatment they need. For more information about our dental services, call our Dental Line at 1-800-265-7293 ext. 2661 or visit www.wdgpublichealth.ca