Website: http://www.ugdsb.on.ca/rossrmackay
Principal: Mr. P. Huddleston
Office Coordinator: Mrs. E. Lantz
Happy New Year and welcome to January
2015! We hope that everyone was able to spend some time with friends and family over the holiday and that students feel rested and rejuvenated to begin an exciting new year.
Thank you for donating food items under our tree, which went directly to support the East
Wellington Community Services (EWCS) Food
Bank and needy families in our community.
Without the generosity of our school community, this would not have been possible.
We had a wonderful Christmas carol assembly on December 17 th
highlighting piano playing by
Mr. Robnik, our student emcees, and numerous classroom songs and plays.
Please help us reinforce our “ Hands to
Ourselves ” and “ No Throwing Snow ” policies at school by talking with your children on a daily basis. Our youngest students are struggling to understand that it is not appropriate to push, hit, or kick other students during free time. We need parent support to help us teach and model appropriate play
35 Trafalgar Road, R.R.# 2
Hillsburgh, ON N0B 1Z0
Phone: (519) 855-4957
Fax: (519) 855-6901
January, 2015 behaviours. Our goal is to ensure safety of all children at school.
We continue to work on our school-wide goal of teaching math through a ‘3 Part Problem
Solving’ strategy. Ask your child to explain how their math classes look, now that they are building independence in problem solving. The more math discussions students engage in, the better their understanding of the concept. Be a part of this growth!
Teachers will begin writing report cards on
January 23 rd
, a Professional Activity Day. (No school for students.) First term report cards will be sent home February 12 th
, 2015.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. P. Huddleston
Thank you to all parents for taking the time to call the school when your child is ill. This allows our office staff to focus on the needs of the students within the school rather than trying to track down where a particular child is on that day. Please leave a clear message on the answering machine or if you call after 8:30 a.m., you may speak to the office staff. Thanks for your help!

ELIABLE
In terms of environmental awareness, you should know that water is our most precious resource.
Over 70% of our Earth's surface is covered by water (we should really call our planet "Ocean" instead of "Earth"). Although water is seemingly abundant, the amount of fresh water available for us to drink is only 3%. The message we need to learn is that, as the population of the Earth increases, we need to be very careful to not pollute our water sources and to use it very wisely.
We all can make a difference in protecting our most precious resource – water. Water conservation
is a big challenge, but every little bit helps, so don't think that what you do doesn't matter. Demonstrate your reliability in conserving water by using the following ideas: Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth. Install water-saving devices such as low-flow showerheads and toilet dams or low-flush toilets.
Shorten your shower by a minute or two and you'll save up to 500 liters per month. Use a broom instead of a hose to clean your driveway. Wash your cars and bikes with a bucket of water and sponge, instead of a hose that wastes around 15 litres of water per minute if left running. Use a rain barrel to collect rain water to water your plants instead of using precious tap water. It’s OK to let your lawn go dormant during the summer and let the rain water it naturally. Water conservation
needs to be a way of life, not just something we think about once in a while. If we all do our part in conserving water, we can make a huge difference for the environment
.
Don't waste water – its more valuable than you think . - Let’s go green, everyone!
•
Friday, January 23, 2015
Professional Activity Day
Report Card Writing
(No school for students)
•
Saturday, January 24, 2015
UGDSB – Digital Saturday
Island Lake Elementary School
(9:00 am

12:00 pm)
Please ensure that your child has a second pair of shoes to wear inside, and boots or another pair of outdoor footwear for outside. The floors can be very wet during the winter season, and in the event of an emergency evacuation or fire alarm, students must have footwear on to leave the building. It is unsafe for children to be without shoes.
L ost
& F ound
During the winter months our “Lost and Found” containers seem to fill rapidly. Be sure to mark your children’s clothing with their initials, as so many mittens, snowpants and boots look alike.
When you are in the school, please take a moment to look in the bins located in the front foyer.
Winter has arrived, and along with it comes unpredictable weather that can cause changes to transportation plans for parents and bus travel. Please ensure the school has updated phone numbers and emergency contact numbers. The school relies on accurate and updated information to ensure your child is safe and accounted for.

The Upper Grand District School Board cordially invites parents, staff, students and the community to its second Digital Saturday Open House.
Explore and learn more about:
• new technologies in the classroom like
Chromebooks, UGCloud and iPads
• assistive technologies to support all learners including Kurzweil and Google Read and
•
Write online digital resources for assisting student learning such as UG2GO, UGCloud and
•
•
Homework Help parent engagement strategies for home use of technology appropriate use of technology, digital citizenship and personal technologies in our classrooms
Where: Island Lake P.S.,
50 Oak Ridge Drive,
Orangeville -
Saturday, January 24th 2015 Day:
Times: Doors open at 9:00am for displays –
Event adjourns at noon
We hope to see you there as partners in education! infor mati on technol ogy
Hello Everyone!
Hope you all had a wonderful winter break celebrating with family and friends.
For those who purchased our Milk Pre-Ordering option, you will have a letter sent home. If you purchased the Gold Option, you will receive a reminder to check that you are okay for the rest of the year for your child's milk. If you purchased the
Silver Option, you will be reminded the date on which your child's milk will end, but you will also have the option to purchase our Buy-Out Option for the remaining days of the school year. The Buy-Out
Option will also be made available for those interested in purchasing the rest of the school year as well.
FEBRUARY ORDERS ARE DUE:
JANUARY 17 th
, 2015 (by 3 pm)
Late on orders? Always forgetting what the Friday lunch is? Then "Like" my page on Facebook. You will receive reminders for Lunch Order due dates,
"Lunch of the Week" notifications, and other school updates. Just search "RRM Lunch & Milk Program" page on Facebook to get your notifications. Be sure to share this page.
Thank you!
Cherie Jardine
Lunch & Milk Coordinator
Ross R. MacKay Public School
519-827-4556
Kindergarten Registration at Ross R.
MacKay P.S. is February 2  6, 2015
Please visit the school’s website for more information.
(http://www.ugdsb.on.ca/RossRMacKay/)

What is learning?
Learning is defined as the activity or
Over the years, there have been many changes made to the way we process of gaining knowledge or a assess and evaluate student learning. Learning used to be determined by skill through instruction and/or comparing students to each other. Today, student learning is measured in a experience. more holistic manner using four Categories of Achievement: knowledge and understanding, thinking, communication and application.
What is achievement?
Achievement is something that has
- essentially, the result of hard work.
These categories are organized in a chart, for each subject, outlining a standard set of criteria that link learning and individual achievement. This been done or achieved through effort achievement chart supports teachers in making consistent judgements about student performance across all subject areas. When reporting, teachers use the categories as well as the curriculum expectations to determine an overall achievement level for each student.
In 2010, the Ontario
Ministry of Education released the 1st Edition of Growing
Success: Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools
(Grades 1-12).
The purpose of this new policy document is to ensure valid and reliable reporting of student achievement across our Province. The
7 principles guiding assessment and evaluation of student learning is that it is:
●
fair
● equitable
● carefully planned and student centered
● clearly communicated to students and parents
● ongoing and varied
● specific and meaningful feedback of the learning
● developed to promote student self assessment www.edu.gov.on.ca
by: Patricia Josephson (Curriculum Leader) &
Gina Betts (Instructional Coach)
As outlined in Growing Success, a partnership among students, parents and teachers is vital to the learning and assessment process. We can support our students by helping them to use the categories of achievement as a learning tool.
The questions next to each category are meant to initiate dialogue with your child around his/her learning.
Knowledge & Understanding —
relates to the grade specific subject content
What did you learn?
Thinking
— the use of critical and creative thinking skills and processes used to learn the content
How and why did you learn it?
Communication — explaining the knowledge and understanding
Explain or show me what and how you learned it?
Application — use of knowledge and skills to make connections
When and where can you use what you learned? How does this learning connect to what you already know?