Ross R. MacKay
Public School
35 Trafalgar Road, R.R.# 2
Hillsburgh, ON N0B 1Z0
Phone: (519) 855-4957
Fax: (519) 855-6901
Website: http://www.ugdsb.on.ca/rossrmackay
Principal: Mr. P. Huddleston
Office Coordinator: Mrs. E. Lantz
Principal’s Message
Dear Parents & Guardians:
Thank you for arranging a time to come in for
teacher, student, parent, interviews. Using the
Progress Report as the conversation starter, we
know that students have set specific goals to reach
before the first Provincial Report Card in February,
2014. Your support by asking your child to review
his/her goal each week will help him/her achieve
the goal.
As a school, we have also made specific goals for
our 2014-2015 school year. In each classroom,
teachers are using the 3 Part Lesson in math
classes to help students work through a problem
solving process.
The first part of the lesson is called “Minds On”,
which activates prior knowledge and helps prepare
students for the mathematics and learning goals
they will encounter in the core math lesson.
Part 2 introduces “The Problem”, where the
teacher will engage in a brief dialogue to help
students understand what is being asked in the
problem. Students work collaboratively to solve the
problem in the way that best makes sense to them.
Part 3 is the “Consolidation”
section; where students offer
their understanding outlined in a
solution, which will be shared with
other members of the class.
This is the section where
teachers will ask for
clarification about the student’s
workings, which engages all
December, 2014
students in a class discussion about different ways
to solve the problem.
In order for the teacher to see if the concept has
been understood, another problem would be posed
to the class, and students would independently
demonstrate their learning. This will let teachers
know who understands the concept and who might
need some further help.
The 3 Part Lesson is a whole school initiative and
will be used throughout the year. Please ask your
child how they enjoy working collaboratively on
problems in math.
We hope that everyone has a safe and happy
holiday!
Yours sincerely,
Mr. P. Huddleston
Breakfast Club
We would like to thank the following Breakfast Club
sponsors for their generosity:
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•
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RRM Lunch Program/School Council/C. Jardine
for donating milk
Foodland for donating fresh fruit
Our Kindergarten Teacher, Mrs. Lawson for
donating cereal
We are pleased to report that our Breakfast Club
received additional funding from Breakfast for Learning
in the form of President’s Choice gift cards and our
program also received a $1000 grant from the Metro
Green Apple program. These extra funds help us
immensely!
Please note that Breakfast Club does not operate on
days when the school buses are cancelled.
Dates to Remember
On Wednesday, November 13, 2013, our
Grade 6 students and Mrs. Miller attended “We
Day” in Waterloo. It was a wonderful event for our
Ross students to attend and to see thousands of
students from across Ontario excited about making
a difference. There were many guest speakers
throughout the day including Marc and Craig
Kielburger, Dr. Dave Williams, Kardinal Offishall,
Shawn Desman and others.
East Wellington Community Services
Food Drive
Christmas is a time for giving and
sharing. We have families in our
community that need some help.
If you are able to donate a nonperishable food item for our
E.W.C.S. food drive, our Ross R.
MacKay community would greatly
appreciate your support. Your
donation can be sent to school
with your child or you can drop it by. We will have
boxes ready to be filled located by our Christmas
tree in the front foyer. Our Food drive will run from
December 8th -15th. Thank you to all for supporting
our community outreach initiative. We will send our
food contributions in by December 18, 2014.
Many thanks to our School Council who works hard
to help support our students through volunteering in
our building, hot lunches, breakfast program, and
supporting the purchasing of items in the classroom
through fundraising initiatives. Your hard work and
dedication to our students is much appreciated!
Our School Council positions have been acclaimed.
CHAIR
– S. Romanelli
TREASURER
– C. Jardine
SECRETARY
– L. Campbell
EVENTS
– D. Wright
EVENTS
- J. Holm
EVENTS
- A. Jansa
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Thursday, December 4, 2014
John Howard Society at the
school
•
Thursday, December 11, 2014
John Howard Society at the
school
•
Thursday, December 18, 2014
John Howard Society at the
school
•
Friday, December 19, 2014
Last day before holidays
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Monday, December 8, 2014 
Monday, December 15, 2014
EWCS Food Drive
•
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Christmas Concert
2:00  3:00 p.m.
Parents/community are welcome
•
Thursday, December 18, 2014
John Howard Society at the
school
•
Monday, December 15, 2014 
Friday, December 17, 2014
Carolling in the Gym
(12:15 pm  12:45 pm)
•
Friday, December 19, 2014 
Friday, January 2, 2015
Christmas Break
(No school for students & staff)
Wellington County Library
98B Trafalgar Road, Hillsburgh
Scholastic Book Fair 2014
(519) 855-4010
It was wonderful to have so many Ross R students
and their families attend the Scholastic Book Fair
held in November!
Community Board
Your support of this event has helped to raise over
$300 in new books for the school library which will
benefit all students.
Several programmes are offered during the month of
December for residents at the Hillsburgh Branch
Wellington County Library.
St. John Ambulance Babysitting Course
(ages 11 and up)
Young People 11 years and up will earn skills to care for
children of all ages. Registration fee: $50.00 (payable to
St. John Ambulance)
DATE:
Saturday, December 6, 2014
TIME:
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
More importantly by taking an interest and coming
to this event, you have helped to foster a continued
love of reading in your child.
Thanks again for all of your support!
Sincerely,
Heather Grant
Planning/Library
Tis the Season
(all ages)
Tis the Season for festive creations for the entire family.
Please Register.
DATE:
Saturday, December 13, 2014
TIME:
10:30 am - 11:30 am
Souvenirs Joyeux!
(all ages)
Pour toute la famille! Des histoires, des chansons et des
activités pour créer des Souvenirs Joyeux! Enregistrer
s'il vous plait.
DATE:
Monday, December 22, 2014
TIME:
2:30 pm
Merry Memories!
(all ages)
Bring the entire family for stories, songs, and activities to
create some Merry Memories! Please register.
DATE:
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
TIME:
10:30 am
Message from the
Lunch & Milk Program
Hello Everyone!
Well, it's almost the Winter Holidays.... So with that
said, please be sure to get your January 2015 order
forms in on time, as the orders will need to be
processed before school is out for the holidays.
January orders are due on:
DECEMBER 12TH, 2014 (by 3pm)
I have set up a Facebook page, "RRM Lunch & Milk
Program", where you can receive lunch order
reminders such as: order due dates, reminders of
what lunch week it is, as well as tips for packing fun
lunches. So please, feel free to "like" the page and
start getting your notifications today!
Movie Afternoon - Muppets Most Wanted
(all ages)
Spend a rollicking afternoon on a global tour with the
Muppets Gang. Lots of catchy songs, clever gags and
laughter for the whole family! Please register.
DATE:
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
TIME:
1:30 pm
I would like to wish you a safe and wonderful
Winter Holidays from my family to yours and best
wishes to you all for 2015!
Cherie Jardine
Lunch & Milk Coordinator
Ross R. MacKay Public School
519-827-4556
The World Needs Your Kid!
Connie Bender, Elementary Curriculum Leader
Many of our schools in Upper Grand, both elementary
and secondary, are involved in Free the Children’s Me to
We clubs. If you aren’t familiar with Free the Children, it
is an international organization created in 1995 by
Canadians Marc and Craig Kielburger. The mission of
this organization is to “create a world where all young
people are free to achieve their fullest potential as
agents of change. This is done by empowering youth to
become active and engaged citizens both on a local and
global level. Me to We clubs in our schools learn about
local and global issues and create action plans to
educate others and become positive, active, agents for
change.
a child who is compassionate, caring and an engaged
global citizen:
In 2009, Marc and Craig Kielburger wrote the book, “The
World Needs Your Kid: How to raise children who care
and contribute. This book was in response to requests
from parents to engage in conversations around how to
embrace the Me to We philosophy at home. Marc and
Craig take a closer look at how to help raise participants
in a world full of bystanders. As parents, we tend to see
this as an overwhelming task. Marc and Craig argue that
in fact it isn’t. We often underestimate how even very
young children are capable of participating in
discussions and actions around how to make their
community, or their very own family home, a better
place. Regardless of age, we all have something to
contribute. They see the focus as needing to be on
raising children who are empathetic and caring because
it allows them to build courage to take action regarding
their beliefs. This can translate into helping a friend on
the playground who is be bullied to writing letters to local
politicians about climate change. Everyone can find
something they are interested in and passionate about.
The world needs all of these voices and agents of
change. So how do we do this?
Most importantly children need strong family
connections. In order to develop empathy and concern
for others, they need to experience concern and
empathy from a trusted adult. In addition, they need
opportunities to engage in conversations around why we
do some of the things we do. Next time you shovel a
driveway for your elderly neighbour or drop off a meal to
friends who has just had a baby, take a few minutes to
talk with your children about why you are doing that.
Explain why you say, “Good Morning” to the neighbours
as you head out in the morning or why you go out of
your way to smile at someone at the grocery store. Build
those connections and talk about those connections.
Marc and Craig emphasize “small actions, every day”
with your children. They provide you with over 100 ways
to do that. Here are just a few ways you can help to raise
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Connecting leads to caring. Set your alarm 20
minutes early each day so that you aren’t rushed in
the morning with your children. Checking in and
connecting is a vital part of their day. Help start the
day on a positive note.
•
Let you children know that their efforts are important
to running your household. Helpers in the home are
helpers in the neighbourhood. Responsibilities are
good for all of us.
•
Make the back seat of your car a technology free
zone. Take the lead and share with them some
details of you day. You might be surprised how
much they share after some practice.
•
Make gratitude a habit. Have your children share
something wonderful about their day at the dinner
table or just before going to bed. Focusing on the
positive can help our children be resilient.
•
Model random acts of kindness. Open doors for
others, bake some muffins for your grandparents or
offer to babysit for a friend. The possibilities are
endless and they don’t have to involve money.
•
Step back so a child can step up. Remember to
provide children with a chance to do the right thing
or solve a problem with a friend on their own first,
and then be there to help them talk through their
choices afterwards. When they suggest a way to
help someone else, honour that thought and do
what you can to support them in taking action.
For more information check out
www.freethechildrren.com or go to your local library and
borrow a copy of “The World Needs Your Kid.”
“The greatest part of each day, each year, each lifetime
is made up of small seemingly insignificant moments.
These moments may be cooking dinner, taking out the
trash, stopping at a stop sign, relaxing on the porch with
your own thoughts after the kids are in bed, playing
catch with a child before dinner, speaking out against a
distasteful joke, driving to the recycling centre with a
week’s newspapers. But, they are not insignificant,
especially when these moments are models for kids.”
Barbara Coloroso