Laurelwoods Elementary School
Newsletter
April 2014
PRINCIPAL NEWS
As this month comes to an end, I have to stop and think how quickly this year is passing by. It’s hard to believe
that we are entering the last leg of the school year. April, May and June calendars are quickly filling up with
activities, field trips, and sporting events.
Now that spring has finally arrived, we are hoping that the weather will co-operate and we will see an end to
the snow and ice. On behalf of the staff, I would like to thank you for your support during the days when the
buses did not run in the afternoon. Mrs. Gardhouse and I are looking at improving our methods at getting bus
cancelation information out to parents in a timely fashion. Hopefully we will not need to make any more of
these calls this year!
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 Wednesday April 2nd, 2014.
The staff wishes everyone a Happy Easter with family and friends.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Walker
Family Math Activities
Guess My Number
Goal: Can you guess the number I’m holding?
One player takes two playing cards. The cards can be ordered any way.
Be sure no one else can see the cards!
All other players take turns guessing what the number is by asking math questions.
"Is it even?" "Is it odd?" "Is it greater than 10?" "Is it a factor of 20?" and so on.
The player holding the cards can only answer with a "Yes" or "No", until the actual number is guessed.
Let’s Get Loonie
(Materials: 2 dice, coins - 8 pennies, 2 nickels, 4 dimes, 6 quarters and 1 loonie.)
Roll the two dice and add the two numbers together.
Take that amount of money from the centre.
(Try to always have the least number of coins in front of you at a time).
Object: to be the first player to get “Looney”.
Graduation Preparations
Graduation night is scheduled for Wednesday, June 25th, 2014. Any parents of grade 8 students
who are interested in helping to decorate for grad night are invited to meet Mrs. Jordan in the library
at 6:30 p.m. on April 24th, 2014.
Two for Two is What You Do!
Moving
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
If you know you will be moving and
will not be attending Laurelwoods Elementary
School in the fall please let the office know.
Tornado & Fire Safety
During the next three months we will be practicing
both our tornado and fire safety procedures. During
these drills anyone in the school is asked to follow
the same procedures as students and staff.
Junior & Senior Kindergarten
Registration for the School Year September
2014
If you have not already registered your child for full
day every day Kindergarten in September 2014,
please drop into the office and complete the
necessary forms. Eligible students for
the JK program must be four years of
age on or before December 31, 2014.
Bus Code of Conduct Review
LES students will:
1. Remain seated with belongings on their lap
2. Face the front at all times
3. Refrain from eating or drinking
4. Obey the bus patrollers and bus driver
Arrival @ LES:
• students will walk in an orderly fashion to the
tarmac playground area
Departure @ LES:
• students will walk in an
orderly fashion to board
the bus
• no student is permitted to
walk or run while a bus
is in motion in the loading
area.
Safety on the Playground
With the warmer weather approaching our students
are anxiously waiting for our playground structure
to reopen. This is a good time to remind everyone students, parents, staff and yard supervisors of the
rules on the playground and play structures that
help make break times fun and safe.
On the playground........ Remember:
• play in the designated boundaries
• play safe, fair and appropriate
• use appropriate language
• avoid any physical contact games, rough play, or
play fighting
• eating or drinking on the playground or play
structures is not permitted
• share playground equipment
• respect playground equipment
• leave stones/rocks on the ground
• ask for permission to use the washroom or enter
the school
• enter/exit through the appropriate door with
permission
• respect the environment
• refrain from use of personal sports equipment (i.e.
roller blades, skateboards, scooters)
We know how much the children enjoy our play
structures and are looking forward to the spring
weather so they can use them again. We make
safety at play our major concern, and will be
reminding our students and staff on a regular basis
about playground rules. We hope that you will
reinforce them at home with your child.
Riding Bicycles to School
A reminder that permission
from parents must be granted
before riding bicycles to
school. These forms are
available in the main office at
the school. Students are
expected to wear mandatory head gear. Bicycles
are to be parked in the bicycle racks located at the
front of the school. At the end of the day, students
who ride bicycles are dismissed after the last bus
has departed from the school.
Breakfast Club: Laurelwoods
E.S. Breakfast program continues
to provide the opportunity for
students to have a nutritional
breakfast on Monday, Wednesday
and Friday mornings. With
breakfast, students have a great
start to their day! Our program is
sponsored by Food for Friends grants but we
continue to be thankful for any donations parents or
community partners wish to make. If you have any
questions about Laurelwoods’ Breakfast program,
please contact Danielle Cellucci at the school.
Engineering Science Quest School
Workshops
Laurelwoods is excited to welcome engineering and
science students from the University of Waterloo on
April 1st. They will be visiting several classes to
provide students the opportunity to experience
science, engineering and technology in a fun,
hands-on way. Some of the activities include
building pop bottle rockets, making circuits and
building water filtration systems.
Badminton
The Laurelwoods Badminton team
travelled to Glenbrook Public School on March 5th.
The team played a great tournament by winning 15
out of the 18 games! Congratulations to all the 14
team members who represented Laurelwoods and
demonstrated great sportsmanship and leadership.
Thank you also to Ms. Gaudette and Madame
Neumann who did an amazing job coaching.
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 14th
– 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.
Music Monday – May 5th, 2014
We welcome parents to our second annual Music
Monday event on Monday, May 5th in the gym.
More details to follow.
Grand Valley and District
Minor Hockey Association
Registration
GVDMH is accepting
registrations for the 2014 –
2015 season. They offer local
league hockey at the Mites and
Tykes level and Rep and local
league hockey at the Novice,
Atom, Peewee, Bantam and Midget age group
where numbers permit. New lowered fees are
being offered and financial assistance may be
available, if needed. This season they are also
trying to establish an all girls, in house,
development hockey for ages 6 – 10 and 11 – 17
years old for $150.00. Registration dates are April
13th, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at Grand Valley and District
Public School and April 15th, 7:30 p.m. at the Grand
Valley and District Arena. You can also register at
the Grand Valley Duck Race on May 26th, 2:00 –
4:00 p.m. Registration deadline for the 2014 – 2015
season will be May 31st. A late fee of $100.00 will
apply for any registration after this date. Postdated cheques are accepted. GVDMH is also
looking for potential coaches! If interested, or for
more information, please visit the website at
www.eteamz.com/gvmh/ and/or contact the
registrar at coraleebell@hotmail.ca or the
development director at j.church@sympatico.ca.
Looking forward to having another successful
season! Go Twisters!
OPP KIDS Program
This new Ontario Provincial Police KIDS Program is
a timely and interactive way of engaging grade 6
students in conversations about matters that are
important to them. KIDS stands for Knowledge,
Issues, Decisions, and Supports. This new
program was developed by the OPP as a tool for
officers to talk to young people about decisions
they may need to make and what supports are
available. Provincial Constable Nancekivell will be
leading these 6 classroom sessions with the use of
videos, workbooks and interactive games. This
new OPP program will now take the place of the
D.A.R.E. program which has been taught in the
schools over the last few years.
Chimes Choir
Our Beginner, Intermediate and Senior Chimes
Choirs will be performing at various Retirement
Residences during the month of April as well as
preparing for the Dufferin Arts Festival which takes
place in May. Many thanks to all the Chime Choir
members who practice every Thursday under the
direction of Mrs. Moritz.
Update from the Eco Crew
.....well, we are waiting….for some green to show
so that we can do our yard cleanup on Earth Day!
Tree seedlings have again been donated by the
Copernicus Company and will be handed out
during the week of April 22nd. Unfortunately, the
ones planted last year didn’t take so we are hoping
that you take some time to plant them well on your
own property with your child. Every tree counts in
making the world a better place! In the meantime,
we have one full battery bucket ready to ship out
with two more waiting to be filled. Check your junk
drawers and bring in those toxic batteries to be
safely recycled. Stay tuned for more news from the
Eco Crew!
Earth Day
nd
Earth Day is just around the corner! April 22 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 Eco Schools.
Ontario Eco Schools 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 Eco Schools 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.
~ Connie Bender – Elementary Curriculum Leader
Laurelwoods Elementary School is a Silver
Certified Eco School.
Easter Holiday
There will be no school for students on Friday, April
18th and Monday, April 21st, 2014.
Milk Tokens
Milk tokens are available through your child’s
classroom teacher or the school office. The tokens
are sold in bundles of 20 tokens for $17.00.
Students can also pay $1.00 cash by putting the
coins directly in the milk machine.
Win a Movie Pass
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.
A ballot will be drawn from the yellow mailbox each
month indicating the winning family for the month. This
th
month’s draw will be held on Wednesday, April 30 ,
2014. Our family had read the newsletter corresponding
to this draw.
Family Name: _____________________________
Child’s Name: ______________________________
Parent’s Signature: _________________________
PARENT COUNCIL CORNER
Apparently Spring is on its way. Won’t it be great to finally say “good-bye” to the mile-high snow banks and
“hello” to robins and daffodils!! It also signals the start of increased activity for the Parent Council.
KEY DATES
WHAT’S HAPPENING – HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED
Tues. April 15
7:00 – 8:30 PM
PARENT COUNCIL MEETING
Throughout
April
PREPARATIONS FOR SPRING FLING
Our biggest event of the year – and preparations have already begun.
We need your help
 Donations for the SILENT AUCTION
• Can your company or place of work donate an article or gift certificate?
• Are you on really good terms with a local restaurant, business or club?
• Does a business owe you a favour?
• Simply drop off the articles at the school office with a note or business card
from the donor.
 PRIZES for the Carnival Games
• New or gently used/clean toys - just in time for your spring cleaning
Mon. April 28
GRADUATING CLASS
If you have a son or daughter in the Graduating Class of 2014, please ensure that they
have completed and returned the following items to their home-room teacher:
 Artwork for Graduation Medallion
 Graduate Page for Yearbook
 Baby Photo for Yearbook
Paperwork will be distributed to the students shortly with more detailed instructions. If
you require greater clarification please do not hesitate to contact either myself or Ms.
Jordan.
Wed. April 30
What to Expect
in MAY
Thurs June 5
5:00 – 8:00 PM
YEARBOOK SPONSORSHIP DEADLINE
 Place a Business Card Ad in the school’s yearbook for only $25.00. What a great way
to market your business!
 Please see the enclosed flyer and form for more details
 Spring Fling Flyer
 Request for items to be included in Themed Classroom Baskets for Spring Fling
 Yearbook Order Form
SPRING FLING
*** save the date ***
Judy Cusiter
Chair, Parent Council
519-940-3666, Ext 495
Laurelwoods Elementary School
374027 6th Line
Amaranth, ON L9W 0M6
(519)940-3666
April 1, 2014
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Production is underway for the 2013/2014 Yearbook.
To help keep the cost of purchasing a yearbook more manageable and affordable to all, we are once
again offering advertising opportunities to local businesses. The more sponsors we get, the less
costly to purchase a yearbook.
Our advertising cost is very reasonable – the exposure and marketing reach is to a significant number
of families in our local community - and you would be helping to support a wonderful school project.
We encourage any local companies to participate – and don’t forget to approach your families,
friends and acquaintances.
The cost to advertise on one of our sponsor pages is:
• Business Card Ad - $25.00
• Half-Page Ad - $100.00
If you are interested in sponsoring our yearbook through this local advertising opportunity please:
• complete the order form below
• include your business card (or artwork) and payment
• return to the school no later than April 30, 2014.
Families are also able to sponsor a page or ad and create their own personal logo/message!!
Should you have any questions regarding this opportunity, please feel free to
contact me and thank-you in advance for your support,
Judy Cusiter, 519-940-3666, Ext 495
Parent Council Chair
YEARBOOK ADVERTISING SPONSOR FORM
Please complete the form and enclose, along with your business card and payment, in an envelope or Ziploc
bag clearly marked “YEARBOOK ADS” and return to the school before April 30, 2014.
NAME:
________________________________ PHONE: ____________________________
BUSINESS NAME:
_____________________________________________________________________
ADDRESS:
_____________________________________________________________________
AMOUNT: _____________
□CASH □CHEQUE (Made payable to “Laurelwoods Elementary School”)
□ BUSINESS CARD ENCLOSED
Laurelwoods Elementary School
374027 6th Line
Amaranth, ON L9W 0M6
(519)940-3666
April 2014
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thurs
1
Science Quest
Presentation
Cookie Day
Pita Day
6
7
-no school-
27
9
Primary Reading
Presentation
7:00pm
Peek a Boo Eye
screening JK’s
15
16
10
5
11
12
Pizza Lunch
Gr7/8 Vaccinations
17
Hot Lunch Day
Vow of Silence
Intermediate Chimes
Grade 8 Grad
re-takes - Mono Am
22
23
Cookie Day
Pita Day
Presentation
Beginners Chimes
Presentation
EARTH DAY
OPP KIDS - GR 6
28
4
Day of Pink
Cookie Day
Pita Day
Parent Council Mtg
7:00 pm
OPP KIDS - GR 6
21
Easter
Monday
3
OPP KIDS - GR 6
Pizza Lunch
8
14
Sat
Wear Blue for
Autism Day
OPP KIDS - GR 6
20
2
Hot Lunch Day
Cookie Day
Pita Day
13
Fri
29
Cookie Day
Pita Day
OPP KIDS - GR 6
30
Hot Lunch Day
Senior Chimes
Presentation
24
Gr. 8 Graduation
Parent Mtg.6:30pm
18
19
Good
Friday
-no school-
25
Spirit Day - P. J. ‘s
Pizza Lunch
26