October 2013
Principal’s Message:
Friday, October 25th is an Early Dismissal Day:
September was an exciting and very
busy month at Glenbrook!
We
opened our new, beautiful school.
We enrolled 375 students (37 more
than initially predicted) which resulted
in our school being allocated an additional teacher. We reorganized during the second week of school, opening up a new Grade 6 classroom.
Friday, October 25th, 2013, will be an “Early Dismissal Day” for all elementary
students within the Upper Grand District School Board. All elementary students will attend school for half of a regular school day on this day.
We held our Meet the Teacher night
and Open House on September 19th.
Thanks to our School Council for organizing the pizza for this event!
We participated in the Junior and Intermediate Soccer tournaments. A
special thanks to Ms. Gammage,
Mrs. Horsley and Mark Rogers for
coaching our Junior team and to Mrs.
Whitehouse and Mr. Schooley for
coaching our Intermediate team.
On Sept. 26th, we held our first Terry
Fox run. Thanks to Ms. Gammage
and all Glenbrook staff, students and
parents for supporting this event.
October 11th P. D. Day:
The staff at Glenbrook will be participating in a Ministry mandated Professional Development day on Friday,
October 11th, 2013. This day will
focus on developing a School Improvement Plan with Guided Reading
and Mathematics instruction being
two components of this plan.
Staff will also be reviewing our students’ E.Q.A.O. scores on the
2012—2013 Primary and Junior Provincial Assessments. Plans will be
developed to improve student
achievement on these assessments.
At Glenbrook, students will attend school from 8:30 a.m. until 11:40 a.m. This
time period represents half of our school day. At 11:40 a.m. all students will
be dismissed for the day. Teachers will be engaged in assessment and
evaluation activities during the afternoon on Friday, October 25th.
Trees Planted In Glenbrook School Yard:
Thanks to the generosity of Bill Gillam (Fines Home Hardware) and Trees
Canada, we were able to plant two Silver Maple trees on our yard at the back
of the school. These trees are already providing shade for our students on
the hot fall days that we have been enjoying.
A special thanks goes to Bill Gillam for spearheading this program for our
school. We would also like to thank Mike Clarke from Trees Canada,
Linda Cruikshank, School Council Chair, Walter Benotto, Town
Councilor and Mrs. Bowler-Mackenzie’s Junior and Senior Kindergarten students and Mr. Henry’s and Mrs. Whitehouse’s Grade 8
students for attending this tree planting celebration.
Glenbrook School Council:
The Glenbrook School Council held its first meeting on Thursday, September
12th. At this meeting, the executive for the Council was established. The following parents will be forming the School Council Executive for the 2013—
2014 school year:
School Council Chair:
Linda Cruikshank
Director:
Nicky Fifield
Director:
Magdalena Faria
Treasurer:
Karen Isaac
Co-Secretary:
Andrea King
Co-Secretary
Tara McCreadie
We appreciate these parents stepping forward to take on these leadership
roles within our school.
Our next School Council Meeting will take place on Wednesday, October 2nd
at 6:15 p.m. We plan to establish a mission statement for our Council and will
begin to develop policies and procedures. All Glenbrook parents
are invited to come out to be a part of School Council and learn
about all of the great things happening at our school. We hope to
see many parents attend this meeting
Ministry Mandated P.D. Day —Friday, October 11th, 2013 (all day)
New Staff at Glenbrook:
School Photos:
We would like to welcome two new staff members to our school. Mrs. Eisen
has taken over teaching responsibilities in our new Grade 6 classroom. Mrs.
Eisen comes to us from Brant Avenue school in Guelph. We are very pleased
to have her joining the Glenbrook team.
Edge Imaging photographers will be
coming to our school on Thursday,
October 10th to take class and individual student photos.
Ms. Nicholls will be providing French language instruction to Mr. Grin’s Grade 4
students. Ms. Nicholls also teaches French at Centennial Hylands Elementary
School. Ms. Nicholls will be an excellent addition to the our staff.
Students will be bringing home further information
regarding
school photos prior to
this event taking place.
Our photo retake day
is scheduled for Tuesday, November 12th,
2013.
Dufferin County Cross Country Running Meet:
Glenbrook students have been training hard for the annual Dufferin County
Cross Country Running event being held at the Orangeville Agricultural Centre
on Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013. Thursday, October 3rd is the raindate.
Glenbrook has students from Grade 1 to Grade 8 participating in this event!
We thank Mrs. Nienhuis, Mrs. Snook, Mrs. Shilvock, Mrs. Fernandes, Mrs. Voigt, Mrs. Crago and Mrs. Mavins for coaching our
Cross Country team this year. We sincerely appreciate all that
you have done to prepare our athletes for this event.
Parents are welcome to attend the Cross Country meet. Please
consider car pooling as parking at this venue may be limited.
Junior & Senior Kindergarten Field Trip:
Our Junior and Senior Kindergarten students plan to visit
Downey’s Farm on Wednesday, October 16th, 2013.
These students will be studying farm animals and will
learn about pumpkin growth. This will be the first “official”
excursion for our new Junior Kindergarten students.
Grade 8 Career
Awareness Day :
On Tuesday, October 8th, 2013, our
Grade 8 students will be travelling to
the Orangeville Agricultural Centre to
participate in a Career Awareness
Day.
The first part of the day will be spent
listening to a guest speaker and then
students will have an opportunity to
learn about a variety of careers
through workshop presentations and
by asking questions of the presenters.
A Message From Mrs. Stewart in The Glenbrook Library:
Mrs. Stewart would like to express her appreciation to everyone for their patience while she
works to get the library up and running. She would like everyone to know that there is a great
resource available to students who have electronic devices. Students can now access eBooks
and Audio books online! Students can access this service through UG2GO and by clicking on
the OVERDRIVE link. Books here are available 24/7 and there are over 1000 ebooks and 175
Audiobooks. Login using your school username and enjoy the book on your computer, tablet,
smartphone, or eReader device. Don’t forget to check out the other great resources that UG2GO
has to offer: Tumblebooks, Learn 360 videos, and many reference materials. Have a look!
Read This Newsletter and Win a Prize!!!
Win a Basketball:
After your family has read this newsletter, please sign and detach this coupon. “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 yellow mailbox each month indicating the winning family for the
month. This month’s draw will be held on Friday, October 25th, 2013.
Our family has read the newsletter corresponding to this draw.
Family Name:
___________________________Parent’s Signature:
____________________________
A Message From The Upper Grand District School Board’s Program Department:
Every day children go about their daily lives exploring things around them, and by doing so they are
exposed to the world of mathematics. And since mathematics has become increasingly important in
this technological age, it is even more important for our children to learn math at home, as well as
school.
Attitude is Important
How do you as a parent feel about math? Your feelings will have an impact on how your children
think about math and themselves as mathematicians. Take a few minutes to reflect on these questions:
Do you think everyone can learn math?
Do you think of math as useful in everyday life?
Do you believe that most jobs today require math skills?
If you answer “yes” to most of these questions, then you are probably encouraging your child to think
mathematically. Positive attitudes about math are important for your child’s success.
Mathematics as Problem Solving. Communication, and Reasoning
Helping your child learn to solve problems, to communicate mathematically, and to demonstrate reasoning abilities are fundamental to learning mathematics. These attributes will improve your child’s
understanding and interest in math concepts and thinking.
A problem solver is someone who questions, investigates, and explores solutions to problems.
They stick with a problem to find a solution and understand that there may be different ways to arrive
at an answer and attempt different ways to get there. You can encourage your child to be a good
problem solver by involving him or her in family decision making using math.
To communicate mathematically means to use words, numbers, or mathematical symbols to explain situations; to talk about how you arrived at an answer; to listen to others’ ways of thinking and
perhaps alter their thinking; to use pictures to explain something; and to write about math, not just
give an answer. You can help your child learn to communicate mathematically by asking your child
to explain a math problem or answer. Ask your child to write about the process she or he used, or
draw a picture of how he or she arrived at an answer to a problem.
Reasoning ability means thinking logically, being able to see similarities and differences about
math concepts in different domains and made choices based on those differences or similarities.
You can encourage your child to explain his or her reasoning behind answers and encourage them
to ask themselves, “Does this make sense?” As you listen, you will hear your child sharing his or her
reasoning.
Look forward to next month’s newsletter more about how you can help your child/children further develop these attributes of a strong mathematician.
Constant Contact Electronic Test Email:
On Friday, October 4th, we are planning to send out a “test” email to all families who have provided us with an email address in order to see how well the “Constant Contact” program works. If you have provided the school with an email address, are expecting to receive an email and do not receive one, please contact us at the school (519) 925-0580.
October 2013
Sun
6
Mon
7
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
Cross Country
Running Meet
(11:30—2:30)
3 Raindate for
Cross Country
Running Meet
(11:30—2:30)
4
5
10
Glenbrook
Photo Day
(Edge Imaging)
11
Professional
Development Day
12
8
9
Grade 8 Careers Grade 2 & 3
Awareness Day Library Trip
(Orangeville
Agricultural
Centre)
(No School for
Students)
Pizza Day
13
14
Thanksgiving
15
16
JK & SK Trip to
Downey Farm
(9:00 a.m. to 1:30
p.m.)
Grade 2 & 3
Library Trip
20
21
22
Waste Reduction Week
23
Pizza Day
17
18
HEP B Vaccination for Grade 7
Students
HPV Vaccination
for Grade 8
Girls
Read4Success
(6:00—7:30)
24
Take Me Outside Day
Read4Success
(6:00—7:30)
27
28
29
30
19
25
26
Early Dismissal Day
(Students dismissed
at 11:40 a.m.)
Assessment and
Evaluation for
Teachers (p.m.)
31
Hallowe’en
Glenbrook Elementary School Phone Number ….. 519—925—0580