Eramosa Public School
5757 Fifth Line ✧ R.R. 1 ✧ Rockwood, ON N0B 2K0
Telephone 519-856-9529 ✧ Fax 519-856-4239
Website: www.ugdsb.on.ca/eramosa
Newsletter
Katrina Plazek,
Principal
September 2015 – Issue 1
Sheri MacKenzie,
Office Co-Ordinator
FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK…
I want to wish everyone a very warm welcome back after a summer that actually felt “summerish” with
some hot sun and several beautiful summer nights. As families drop by, it is good to
hear of all the adventures everyone has had. We are all very glad to be back and are
looking forward to a terrific year of learning and discovering ahead. Thanks are
extended to Mr. Baker and his cleaning crew for sprucing up the school and making it
look shiny and clean!
This year we are pleased to welcome Mlle Lise McLeod to our staff. Mlle comes to us from Hamilton
and she will be teaching core French to the grade 4, 5, and 6s. We are also delighted to have several
new students to our school. Welcome to everyone!
Katrina Plazek
Principal
School Twitter Site
This year we will be on Twitter where we hope to capture some of the great happenings in the school.
Our Twitter handle is @EramosaPS. For people without a Twitter account, please visit
our school website where you can see the Tweets even without an account.
Transportation Twitter Site
Follow STWDSTS Transportation @STWDSTS for news, inclement weather and other
great information.
Bus Changes
The STWDSTS (Service de Transport - Wellington-Dufferin - Student Transportation Services) has
made extensive changes to the bus routes, pick up times and drop off times. Because of the earlier pick
up times at the end of the day, students will line up in their bus lines at 3:25 at the end of the school day.
Buses will be entering the school grounds starting at 3:30, so if you are picking up your child park at the
side and try to leave the parking lot by 3:30, so you don’t get caught in the busing traffic.
All students will be sent home on the bus unless the office receives a note in the agenda (seen by Ms.
MacKenzie in the morning) or a call at the front desk and you have spoken to Ms. MacKenzie directly.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Due to the large number of route changes made over the summer, STWDSTS deleted all subscription
accounts. Parents are asked to re-subscribe to receive emails regarding bus delays and cancellations.
To do this go to www.stwdsts.ca and click on the green subscribe icon and follow the steps.
Food Program
The food order forms and information will be coming home today. Please return all forms
and money by September 14th at the latest. Parents love pita, hot dog and pizza days and
the kids do too! Please note that changes to orders, cancellations and additions will only be
done at Christmas and March break. On days when school is cancelled, food orders will be rescheduled
and you will be given advance notice using a sticker in the agenda/Kindergarten communication book.
Battery and Pop Tab Recycling –New* (Marker Recycling)
Please keep sending in your old batteries to keep them out of the landfill sites. We sent a full pail of
batteries back to the recycling depot! Pop tabs are given to the Legion and this helps to purchase
wheelchairs. This year Mrs. McKnight discovered that we can recycle markers so we will have a bin for
recycled markers at the front door. Please feel free to send these items to school with your child.
Important Information to Complete and Return
There are some important pieces of information coming home. Please complete and return these as
soon as possible:
- White Student Verification form (accurate information is important). If you have an important concern
such as a life threatening condition, change in custody, etc. please contact Mrs. Plazek.
- FOI (Freedom of Information) form
- Food Program Order (due September 14th)
- Volunteer Form
- Parent Council Form (due Friday, September11th)
- CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation)
CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation)
The importance of CASL legislation is becoming very clear. When you get unwanted emails from
companies advertising something you have no interest in at all, you are able to scroll to the bottom and
select the unsubscribe button; this assures you that you are taken off a mailing list which you do not
want to be on. This is a legal requirement for any organization that is offering a product(s) for sale.
The Upper Grand District School Board is CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation) compliant. Please
visit our CASL Consent website at www.ugdsb.on.ca/CASL to ensure we have your consent to receive
newsletters, school and Board updates, announcements, event invitations and other electronic
messages which may contain advertising or promotions regarding school fundraisers, field trips, the sale
of yearbooks, student pictures, uniforms, books, prom or dance tickets or similar events and offers.
School Council
School Council is made up of a group of very dedicated parents that are committed to supporting the
students and staff to make the education of the children the best it can be. There are official positions
including Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Official Parent Rep. All parents are welcome to join us at any
meeting, and hopefully once you come out, you will stay. Our meetings start at 7 pm in the library and
we try very hard to keep it to one hour so we finish around 8 pm; time to tuck the kids in and have a
snack. Our first meeting will take place on September 15th. We will be making plans for our first
welcome back barbeque so if you can help us with that it would be most appreciated! Our school council
runs many events that bring the entire community together, including a Halloween Dance,
Breakfast with Santa and a Silent Auction in the spring, to name a few. This is a great way
to be involved in your child’s education and we hope you will consider joining us. Meetings
usually take place on the second Tuesday of the month – this year’s meeting dates will be
published in the October newsletter. Please join us!!
No Tippy Tappy Whole Family Soccer Playing Event – November 14th 1-3 pm
The School Council applied for and obtained a grant that will permit entire families and
their invited guests to participate in a free, family event on Saturday, November 14th,
2015 from 1-3 pm. This a wonderful family time opportunity where health, fitness and
family time are all blended into one. Please invite friends and families to join you. This
is an all ages event! Aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings are welcome! Stay tuned for
more information coming home from the parent council. Keep the date open on your calendar.
Electronic Newsletter
To help save the environment and reduce the use of ink, paper, toner, etc., paper copies will be provided
only to people who contact Ms. MacKenzie at the office and make arrangements. Thank you for helping
us to help the environment! Newsletters are available on the first school day of the month. The
newsletter can be viewed online at www.ugdsb.on.ca/eramosa.
If you have registered on the CASL website (www.ugdsb.on.ca/CASL), Ms. MacKenzie will send you an
email from the school notifying you when the newsletter has been posted online.
Agendas
Agendas are a valuable communication tool that promotes the habit of excellent
organization. Thank you to EPSAC for supporting this initiative.
Students with Life Threatening Allergies to Peanuts, Nuts & Kiwi- Anaphylaxis
We have students with life threatening allergic reactions to peanuts, kiwi & other nuts. The safety of all
our students is very important to us. Please be aware that, due to legislation requiring every school to
reduce the risk of exposure of anaphylactic causative agents, we are restricting the
presence of nuts at Eramosa. Please DO NOT send kiwi or nut products to school for
snack or lunch with your child; this includes imitation nut products. Students with
anaphylaxis may perish if they come into contact with foods containing even small amounts of peanuts
or nuts.
Toonies for Terry
Please mark Wednesday, September 30th at 2:15 pm on your calendar and plan to join us
for our annual Terry Fox Run. We will send home information soon about our plans for this
event. No family is untouched by cancer. Let’s help to conquer cancer.
Class Organizations
Classroom organizations are tentative until our enrolment numbers are confirmed and the Board staffing
committee meets to review Ministry compliance. Necessary changes will be made in the third week of
school. Mrs. Plazek will contact parents of any students who will be moved.
School Visitors
We love to have visitors! Parents and volunteers are often at Eramosa for a variety of reasons. When
you come into the building, please follow these procedures:
• Go into the office to report to Ms. MacKenzie. Please wait until you are received.
• Sign our Guest book.
• Sign out at the Office when you leave.
Lifetouch Photographers
Individual and class photographs will be taken by Lifetouch on Tuesday, Tuesday,
November 3rd. More information will follow with details about how to purchase.
Retake day & pictures for absent students will be communicated in the October
newsletter.
Eramosa Staff and Phone Extensions for 2015 – 2016
For future reference, please refer to this list. To report a late arrival or student absence we ask that you
leave a message only at extension 100. This extension is monitored regularly every day.
Class
Jr. & Sr. Kindergarten
Grade 1A
Grade 2/3A
Grade 2/3A & Library
Grade 3/4B
Grade 4/5A
Grade 5/6B
Core French
Planning/ Resource
Early Childhood Educator
Custodian
Office Co-ordinator
Principal
Teacher
J. Nyman
F. Follas
J. McKnight
S. Gorr
A. Semanyk
D. Shaw
P. Demysh
L. McLeod
N. Ellis
W. Jackson
T. Baker
S. MacKenzie
K. Plazek
Ext.
410
401
407
225
402
406
409
408
414
403
400
221
223
Open House
Our September Open House, Barbeque and Book Fair is tentatively booked for Thursday, September
24th from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
Our evening schedule is:
5:00 - 7:00 Book Fair
5:00 - 6:00 Barbeque
6:00 - 7:00 Classrooms open
More information about the EPSAC BBQ will be sent home in the coming weeks.
Because of time constraints and lack of privacy on Open House Night, this is not an appropriate time for
individual parent-teacher conferences or progress reports. If you would like more specific information
about your child’s progress, please feel free to make an appointment with his/her teacher on a different
day, when your questions can be properly addressed.
Safe Arrival and Departure
If you drive your child(ren) to school in the morning, please drop them off at the front walk, ask them to
put their backpacks in their designated class line and join their friends on the playground. Students are
not to walk on the black top unescorted in the morning or afternoon for safety purposes. Entry into the
school prior to the bell is permitted only under special circumstances and with permission from the
classroom teacher. Children who arrive after the 8:55 am bell are considered late and need to report to
the main office to pick up a late slip before going to their classroom. Parents may accompany children to
the front foyer, and children will walk from there to their classrooms on their own or with a staff member.
Punctual attendance is expected and helps your child to learn.
If you pick up your child during the day, please sign them out in the Student Sign In/Out binder. If you
are picking them up after school, please sign them out on the appropriate bus clip board in Ms.
MacKenzie’s office. We will ask you to wait in the front foyer, where your child will meet you.
Please do not go to the hallway, classroom or playground to pick up your child. If someone other
than the parent or guardian is picking up your child, please send a note or call the school to let us know.
Thank you for understanding that these procedures are in place for the safety of all of our children.
Calling at the end of the day should only happen in extraordinary circumstances. Please use your child’s
agenda to notify the office of your plans. Please do not leave emergency information on voicemail as it
may be missed if the Office is busy; please call and speak directly with Ms. MacKenzie. This helps
ensure the safety of all the children.
Recess
Recess time is designed for students to take a break from their studies and to enjoy
some outdoor active play. This is an opportunity for them to learn and practise
social skills of taking turns, playing fairly and including others. Students are
welcome to bring skipping ropes and balls from home. Please label all equipment
with your child’s name. Access to the creative play structures will be dependent on
weather conditions. For safety reasons please note that children will not be allowed
on this equipment if they are wearing flip flops. Older students are not to pick up younger students on
the playground, or inside the hallways.
Medication at School
All student medication (prescription or over the counter) must be stored and administered from the office.
It is important for the safety of the child taking the medicine and the other students in the school. In
order to give any medication, we must have the appropriate form completed and signed by a parent or
guardian. As well, the container must have the pharmaceutical sticker on it indicating the name
of the child and directions for administering the medication. This is designed to
ensure that mistakes are not made. Please call the school when you require these
forms.
Children requiring medication such as EPI-PENS for life-threatening medical
conditions are required to carry these medications with them at all times. We
suggest a fanny pack. Additional EPI-PENS may be kept in the school office.
If your child has a life threatening medical condition, please call the school for more information and to
set up a “Life Threatening Management & Prevention Plan,” in consultation with your family doctor.
Ryan’s Law has been passed enabling children, with parent permission, to carry their puffers with them
at all times. Asthma, like anaphylaxis, can be life threatening. Please contact the office if your child
develops asthma and requires a puffer. We recommend a fanny pack for this item as well.
Dress for the Weather
September weather can be unpredictable. We plan to go outside for every recess
break, unless there is heavy rain or the threat of severe storm. Children should
have a sweater or light jacket in their backpacks to wear outside if necessary.
All children need to have two sets of footwear, one for indoor use and the other for
outdoor. The best choice is running shoes, which can double as gym shoes, for
both indoor and outdoor use. For safety reasons, flip flops are not suitable for
school.
Student Accident Insurance
Parents or guardians are responsible for expenses related to student injuries on school premises during
school activities. Accidents can and do happen and the costs involved might not be fully covered by
Provincial Health Care or employer group insurance plans.
The Upper Grand District School Board is empowered under the Education Act to offer Accident and Life
Insurance for students.
Information has been sent home with respect to Student Accident Insurance offered by the Old Republic
Insurance Company of Canada (“Old Republic”). You should receive the Director’s letter, an
Acknowledgment to be signed by parents (and returned to school) and a Student Accident Insurance
Application form (to be mailed directly to Old Republic). Old Republic offers a variety of options,
including family rates and multi-year plans, at affordable prices. The cost must be paid by parents or
guardian.
Subscription is directly through Old Republic by mail or on line. Questions should be directed to Old
Republic at 1-800-463-5437 or www.insuremykids.com
For today’s active children, especially those who participate in field trips, co-curricular and other school
activities outside the school day, Student Accident Insurance is valuable.
Head Lice
This is a good time to check your child(ren) carefully for head lice. Many children are in
close contact with each other over the summer and as a result these pests spread easily. If
you do find head lice on your child they must be treated and all nits/eggs removed before the
child returns to school. We need volunteers to periodically check children here at school.
These checks are done during class time and volunteers are discreet in reporting their
findings to the office. If you not wish to have your child participate in routine checks for head
lice, please send a note to the school. If you are interested in offering your assistance we
would greatly appreciate your help.
Bicycles
Students in grades 5 and 6 may ride their bicycles, weather permitting, if they have
written parental permission. One note is sufficient for the season. Students need to
wear a helmet, walk their bicycles on school property, lock it on the bicycle rack and
follow safety and traffic rules when riding to and from school. They need to inform the
office when they ride their bike home before they leave. For the safety of all, permission
may be temporarily withdrawn from individual students if these rules are not followed.
A Message from the Program Department
Do you believe that all children can excel in mathematics?
Do you believe that children are born with the math gene?
Do you believe that children can suffer from math anxiety?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then please take a moment and continue reading.
This year our work in math will continue to focus on helping your children understand that math is about
learning, not performing. Research indicates that every time any one of us makes a mistake in math our
brains grow and connections are made1. We need to help our children understand that making mistakes
is not a ‘bad’ thing. Making mistakes is how we understand and get better at math.
At school, we want to help your children understand that math is about problem solving, reasoning and
proving, making connections, communicating their thinking and persisting when tasks are challenging.
We want to help them adopt an “I Can do Math” attitude.
In order for this to happen, we need to teach math differently than the way many of us were taught. No
longer is the teacher robotically demonstrating mathematical methods that your children don’t
understand or care about.
Sebastian Thru, CEO of Udacity, says that we do not and cannot know what mathematics students will
need in the future. The best preparation we can give them is to teach them to be quantitatively literate,
think flexibility and creatively and pre-solve and use intuition as they develop mathematical ideas2. Math
is about so much more than plugging numbers into a formula. Math is about children actively engaging
with the problems, so that they understand how math is used in their own life. We need to teach our
children to use mathematics in the world they will live in now and tomorrow. We’re not sure what that
world will look like, although we do know that it will be different from the world we grew up in. We also
know that we want our students to love math and say with confidence “I can do math”. As parents we
think you want that too!
For ideas to support your children in math go to www.YouCubed.org
UGDSB Curriculum Department
1. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education 7, no.1 , January 2012
2. What’s Math Got to Do With It, Jo Boaler, 2015
WDG Public Health News
International Walk to School month (IWALK) is an annual global event taking place each
October. It celebrates active transportation and its benefits such as: increasing physical
activity, decreasing traffic congestion, improving safety, developing a sense of
community, promoting social interaction, and preserving the environment.
International Walk to School Day October 7th
IWALK week is October 5-9 or
Walk/wheel to school all month!
It is important to keep your child’s immunization records up-to-date with Public Health. Students who do
not have up-to-date immunization records, may be suspended from school. Please report your child’s
immunizations to Public Health by calling 1-800-265-7293 ext.4396.
New Health & Physical Education Curriculum
In September the new Health and Physical Education curriculum will be fully implemented in Ontario
schools. For elementary schools, the new curriculum has existed for several years, but will now include
an updated portion of its ‘Healthy Living’ component to include Human Development and Sexual Health.
The document as a whole aims to educate children to understand themselves and others, think critically
to make healthy choices, develop and maintain healthy relationships, be safe physically and emotionally,
and to be physically active for life. The curriculum is available on the Ministry of Education’s website.
The Human Development and Sexual Health component of the curriculum had not been updated since
1998. Since then much has changed and kids need to know more to keep themselves healthy and safe.
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. Teachers will endeavour to communicate upcoming topics from the
Human Development and Sexual Health units to families. Open and honest conversations at home
about body parts, their functions, physical changes, healthy relationships and effective living habits help
children connect learning and lets them know they have someone to talk to about questions they might
have. Questions about topics can always be directed to the teacher or school principal.
As mentioned above, Human Development and Sexual Health is one sub-component of the curriculum.
The document also focuses on skills related to Active Living, which involves physical fitness, safety and
active participation; Movement, which teaches specific movement and physical activity skills and tactics;
and Healthy Living, which focuses on understanding health concepts, making healthy choices and
making connections to healthy living.
There are plenty of ways you can support your children’s learning from the Health and Physical
Education curriculum. Consider what you and your child can do together that is fun and healthy.
Enjoying physical activity or making meals together is a great start. Ask your child and their teacher
about what is being taught and have discussions where you provide factual, straightforward answers to
your child`s questions. Finally, learn how to be safe online and use that information to guide your child’s
use of any device that connects to the internet. There are plenty of resources available for parents to
support the learning from the HPE curriculum. The best place to start is the Ministry of Education’s
website: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/health.html or
at https://www.ontario.ca/page/sex-education-ontario.
Upper Grand District School Board
Upper Grand District School Board: Request for Consent
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) came into force on July 1, 2014. As a result, the Upper Grand
District School Board, would like to ensure that we have your consent to receive newsletters, school and
Board updates, announcements, event invitations, and other electronic messages which may contain
advertising or promotions regarding school fundraisers, field trips, the sale of yearbooks, student
pictures, uniforms, books, prom or dance tickets, or similar events and offers.
If you wish to receive the above communications from us, please visit our CASL registration
website at:
www.ugdsb.on.ca/CASL
By registering your email on this webpage you will receive electronic communication from the school
which may or may not contain commercial electronic messages as described above. If consent is not
provided, you will not receive electronic messages containing commercial content and may find
it more difficult to be aware of the activities that take place in school, and which your child may
have an interest in participating.
If you have any questions or if you wish to withdraw your consent at any time, please visit the same site
and click on “Unsubscribe” to remove your name from our contact list.
For additional information on Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation you may visit our board’s website
at www.ugdsb.on.ca.
Eramosa Public School
September 2015
Sunday
6
13
20
27
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
1
2
3
4
5
9
10
11
12
*Labour Day
8
*Welcome Back!
First Day of
School for
Students
14
15
16
17
18
19
*Food Program
Orders Due
*EPSAC Mtg.
7pm Library
21
22
23
25
26
*Milk program
begins
*Hotdog Day
24
*Open House,
Book Fair &
BBQ 5-7pm
28
29
30
*Pita Day
*Toonies for
Terry
7
*Parent Council
forms due
*Pizza Day