Victoria Terrace P.S. News
500 Victoria Terrace · Guelph, ON · N1M 2G5
Phone: 519-843-2720
FAX: 519-843-1558
Principal: Mrs. K. Kowch
Office Co-ordinator: Mrs. D. Wilson
May 2016
Principal’s Message
It is hard to imagine that we are turning the calendar to the last two months of the school year -- where did
April go?! With the snow finally gone and sunny, spring weather helping to re-energize us all, it is also a
wonderful time to reflect on all of the great things that this school year has offered us and all of the exciting
events still on the calendar. The Gr. 1-4 students have been involved in an “Energy” inquiry, and no doubt
you’ve heard some “wonder”ings and “ah-ha” moments about this engaging learning experience. And still to
come -- Family Math Night/Art Show/Book Fair next week, Jump Rope for Heart, Track & Field, Special
Olympics, EQAO, and outdoor trips to name a few. We hope you will join us and your child in some of the
many activities between now and the end of the year!
K. Kowch
Education Week
Education Week is fast approaching (May 2nd – 6th), and our annual Family
Math Night, Art Show & Book Fair is next Thursday, May 5th, from 6:00 – 7:30
pm. We look forward to seeing all of our families coming out to play some
math games with your child(ren) in classrooms -- and again this year, Jester’s
Fun Factory Toys & Games will be set up in the community foyer, showcasing
some wonderful math games that are available for purchase from their store!
We also have some great door prizes to be won -- your family may be a lucky
winner, just by sitting down and playing math games together! Don’t forget to
also take in the beautiful artwork that has been created by your child(ren) and
is on display in the gym, and to browse through the Book Fair, which has some
excellent spring deals. This year’s The Book Fair will also be open on Tuesday,
rd
May 3 and Wednesday, May 4th at first recess only (10:45 – 11:10). We’re looking forward to seeing you
and sharing in your child/ren’s learning!
If You Are Moving ...
Please contact the school if you know that your child(ren) will not be attending Victoria Terrace Public School
in September. This will help the process of organizing classes for next year. Thanks!
EQAO
This year, the Grade 3 and 6 provincial assessment for Reading, Writing and Mathematics will be administered
in all elementary schools in Ontario. The Grade 6 students will write during the first week from May 25th to
May 27th, and the Grade 3 students will write during the second week from May 30th to June 1st, 9:00 – 10:15
and 11:15 – 12:30 each day.
SMART START FOR EQAO:
* avoid absences to the greatest extent possible
* re-schedule appointments
* ensure your child gets lots of sleep
* provide healthy food and snacks
* eat a good breakfast
* give hugs and pats on the back
* be positive
School Council Needs YOU!
School Council is made up of parents (one is voted in as chair), the principal, a teacher, a non-teaching school
employee and a community representative. The majority of the Council must be parents/guardians. Although
fundraising is a big part of what our Council does, it also acts as an advisory body that is actively involved in
setting school priorities, improving student achievement, promoting meaningful parental and community
involvement, actively seeking the views of the school community, and enhancing the accountability of the
education system, with the opportunity to voice concerns and needs at the school and Ministry levels. VT’s
School Council is an integral part of our school planning, events and direction setting through our monthly
meetings.
It has been wonderful to have some new faces around the table this year, and as always, we are very
appreciative of the “seasoned” members who continue to dedicate their time to our school and its
endeavours. School Council typically meets the first Monday of the month in the library from 7:00 pm - 8:30
pm, determined by the evening that is most convenient for the majority. For the School Council to effectively
represent the Victoria Terrace P.S. community, we need new members to replace those whose terms are
ending and others to sit as members at large to help inspire new ideas and to keep things running. Please
consider making a commitment to support our school, staff and students by joining us. School Council
supports the school by donating money to:
•
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Classroom reading resources/ Birthday books
Scientists in School
Busing to special events
Special events/presentations
Sports/outdoor play equipment
Our naturalized playground and outdoor learning spaces
If you would be interested in learning more about the important role you could play as a Council member,
please do not hesitate to call the school or speak to any of our Council members. We are currently looking for
volunteers for our VT’s Mighty Motors fundraising event being held Sat., June 4th, 10 am - 2 pm at the Fergus
Sportsplex, back field. Please consider offering a hand for this event!
Track and Field
Here’s hoping the weather will start to cooperate for our outside activities! The following are the scheduled
Track and Field dates for your calendar:
There will be three practices in May:
Tuesday, May 24th: 12:05 – 12:45
Wednesday, May 25th : 1:40 – 2:20
Friday, May 27th: 1:40 - 2:20
VT Track and Field Day will be held Wednesday, June 6th, with the rain date on Thursday, June 7th.
Centre Wellington Area Track & Field will be held Wednesday, June 15th at J.D. Hogarth Public School.
Children in Grades 4, 5 and 6 should come to school prepared with hats, sunscreen and running shoes on
those days. We will need volunteers to help on Wednesday, June 11th. Please call me at 519-843-2720, ext.
424 if you are available to help. Mme. Stepien
Outdoor Play
Safety and inclusive play are regularly promoted and reinforced by teachers in the classroom and supervision
staff on the school yard. Please continue to reinforce with your child(ren) at home, the importance of:
❁ Including all those who ask in your fun activity,
❀ Being a willing and alert participant,
✿ Following the rules of the creative playground -- no toys, skipping ropes or
balls brought into the area, no tag or chase games in the area,
✾ Staying within the boundaries of our school yard, respecting the spaces
designated for larger, active play/games,
❀ Remembering the NO TOUCHING policy -- keeping hands, feet and body to yourself and using ‘gentle’, one
hand touches for games of tag.
Together we can make our play area safe and happy!
Changes in Weather Temps
As the warmer weather finally makes it here to stay, it is often difficult to know how to
dress appropriately for the changes in temperature throughout the day. During the
transition from cool mornings to warm afternoons, we suggest layering so that your
child can be warm in the morning and remove layers if and when the weather warms
as the day progresses. Also, please remember to make sure that your child(ren) has a hat,
sunscreen, and appropriate clothing for track and field, field trips, and outdoor gym classes.
Remember to put your child’s name on all articles that come to school!
Appropriate Dress
Victoria Terrace students are expected to dress in an appropriate manner -- showing respect for themselves,
their bodies and others. Please help your child(ren) to exercise common sense and good judgement in their
choice of clothing, recognizing they are in a public learning environment, which may differ from their personal
choices at home and in the community. Please be reminded that muscle shirts, spaghetti straps, bare midriffs,
bare backs, and low scoop necks are unacceptable. Shirts must be ‘tuckable’ and shorts/skirts must be a
reasonable length (no shorter than arm length) and secured no lower than the hips. Undergarments should
not be visible on males or females of any age.
As the sun begins to shine, we do encourage students to wear hats and apply sunscreen before going outside.
Although sandals and summer footwear are acceptable footwear at school, students are still required to have
running shoes to allow for participation in physical education activities.
Earth Day
Students and staff celebrated Earth Day on April 22nd. We all turned our lights out for nutrition breaks and
each class signed up to collect the garbage for a designated area around the school, including the creek. We
participated in our Gr. 1-4 inquiry on energy which also added to our appreciation for relevant environmental
issues and scientific ideas. Students were given a white spruce tree to plant -- we hope you enjoyed planting
your tree! We even had a visit from Ministry of Energy staff, who came to hear about all the great things we
are doing at VT to support our environment. They were very impressed by our commitment to making the
Earth a better place to live. Thank you for your continued support with our Boomerang initiative and litterless
lunches – every little bit helps!
Summer Reading and Writing Program
The summer holiday is a great time to relax with a good book. Many of our children
would benefit from extra practice reading and writing during the summer
months. Please consider our Summer Reading Program for your child. There will be
opportunities to choose books at the appropriate level for your child, as well as
writing materials. In an effort to foster commitment and interest, a teacher will be
there to check the writing and cheer your child on! If you are interested in enrolling
your child(ren) in the Summer Reading Program, a form will be going home during
the last week of May. This program runs one day a week throughout the summer
for a nominal fee. This fee will be used to purchase levelled books which will be
distributed to classroom teachers at the end of the summer. The money is also
used for incentives for the treasure chest. The children receive a little toy every
week for their efforts. Please return the registration form before June 17th so the
summer reading kits can be prepared for the children.
School Council Updates
For many girls and boys, there’s nothing quite so fascinating as big machines and vehicles that do really big
jobs. Victoria Terrace Public School is going to make it easy for families to get up close to wide variety of
vehicles and equipment at the second annual “VT’s Mighty Motors” event on Saturday, June 4th from 10 a.m.
to 2 p.m., in the back sports field at the Centre Wellington Sportsplex, 550 Belsyde Avenue E., Fergus.
Admission is $5 per person, or $20 for a family of four or more. The line-up of mighty motors at the event will
include police, fire and EMS vehicles, combine, tractor, dump truck, school bus, excavator and lots more. Food
vendors will be on site include. VT’s Mighty Motors will go ahead rain or shine.
The event is a fundraiser for an outdoor classroom and naturalized playground at the JK to Grade 6
elementary school. The $10,000 project is currently in the planning and design stage, in consultation with
Trillium Outdoor Services.
On the web: https://www.facebook.com/VTMightyMotors
May Environmental News
Climate Change refers to any changes in long-term weather patterns (temperature,
precipitation, wind, storms) that have been caused by humans polluting the atmosphere
with too many greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide. We need to act now,
because who can argue with reducing pollution? Pollution can't possibly be good for us!
The world is tracking climate change. Weather and temperature has been changing too
quickly over the past few decades, which seems to be caused by the industrial revolution here on Earth. We
are sending too much pollution (from cars, trucks, factories, and power plants using coal) into our
atmosphere. Over the past hundred years the temperature of the Earth has risen and this has caused many
changes in nature. For example, species of plants and animals are either migrating or becoming extinct. Some
seaside cities may soon be underwater from rising sea levels. We are having more severe weather patterns
like tornadoes and hurricanes and ice storms. Drinkable water sources are drying up.
What can you do to help be part of the solution? Well, all of the things we have been talking about this year
can help. It you buy less and reduce, then less energy will be used and less pollution will be sent into our
atmosphere. If you don't waste electricity you help out too. If you walk or bike to school or carpool you are
doing your part. If you buy locally you reduce the greenhouse gases emitted through shipping and this helps
planet Earth too.
You can Google: "Top 10 ways you can stop Climate Change" to get more ideas on how you can help.
And finally, eat a fresh, local apple - Not only is it good for you, but greenhouse gases were not created in the
processing, canning, freezing, packaging or long distance transportation, so local apples are good for the
planet too!
Slogan of the month: Climate Change is not cool!
Health and Physical Education
This year the new Health and Physical Education curriculum will be implemented in all schools in Ontario.
Included in the update are new expectations in the Human Development and Sexual Health component of the
curriculum. 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. To support these
discussions, we are letting parents know that this unit will be covered in the (first two
weeks of May/or insert other timeline) by (insert divisions/classes). There are plenty
of resources available for parents to support the learning of the curriculum on the
Ministry of Education
website: http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/health.html.
What is STEM and why is it important?
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The idea is to offer students tasks that
integrate more than one subject area such as thinking about all the angles, measurements and calculations
involved in building a structure that could stand up to the elements of our Canadian winters. STEM provides
opportunity to focus on one assignment while applying knowledge gained in a number of subjects so
knowledge gained in one area can be applied in another. Check out this link for more information
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlPJ48simtE)
Think of it like driving a car. We can’t just focus on braking or steering by themselves. We need to
simultaneously think of acceleration, steering, signaling, braking and road signs all at the same time and
ideally we’d like our students to have the same flexibility with their thinking across different subject areas.
Try this activity to promote mathematics, science, engineering and language.
Using popsicle sticks, glue, tape, and elastics, design and build a device that will launch 3 marshmallows as far
as possible using elastic bands. The elastic energy may be “loaded” by hand but the device must get all of its
launching power from the stored energy in the elastic bands.
Have fun and enjoy!
Does your child have an LD, ADD/ADHD or both? Here are some great resources to
help you:
1. Work with your child to understand how they think and learn
2. Develop some strategies with your child to help them advocate for what they
need to learn (technology, accommodations to the environment or learning tasks)
Other great online resources include:
The Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario, which has lots of good information on LD and
ADD/ADHD issues, including topics about how to understand the IPRC and IEP, how to
advocate for your child and topics related to specific LDs.
http://www.ldao.ca/introduction-to-ldsadhd/what-are-lds/
The Learning Disabilities Association of Wellington County connects to the Ontario chapter, but
provides links and information about workshops and activities that are being held in Wellington.
http://www.ldawc.ca/
Our school board has also worked hard to address the needs of LD and ADD/ADHD students
by providing SEA equipment, Google Read and Write training and targeted reading programs to
help LD students access the curriculum and develop key academic skills.
Connect with your child’s teacher to discuss all the supports that are available to your
child!
SUNDAY
MONDAY
May 2016
1
2
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
3
4 *Time2Read 6-7:00
*Skipping Team
*Gr 3/4-Green Legacy,
trip
Damascus
*11:15 a.m.
*A.M. JK/SK to Guelph
skipping demo at Lake
VT
10:45-11:10 Book Fair
THURSDAY
5
*Gr 5/6 Green Legacy,
Damascus
*6-7:30 p.m. Family Math
Night/Art Show/Book Fair
FRIDAY
6
10:15 a.m. Grades 5
& 6 to Galaxy
Theatre in Guelph
SATURDAY
7
Education Week * 5/6B Art Auction at Bethel Church & Freshco * Gr 2/3 Outdoor Learning
8
9
7:00 p.m. School
Council Mtg in the
Library
10
a.m. Rm 10
Swimming
11
12
1:30-3:00 p.m. Gr 3 Swim
to Survive
13
14
15
16
17
18
*Special Olympics at
St. James, Guelph
19
*Pickup MacMillans 3–5pm
*1:30-3:00 p.m. Gr 3 Swim
to Survive
20
21
22
23
Victoria Day
NO SCHOOL
24
*a.m. Rm 10
Swimming
*12:05-12:45
p.m. Track &
Field practice
25
*1:40-2:20 p.m. Track
& Field practice
*6-7 p.m. New JK
parent orientation
26
*1:30-3:00 p.m. Gr 3 Swim
to Survive
*Time2Read 6-7:00 p.m.
*Gr 3/4 Scientist in
School
Fancy Day
27
*1:40-2:20 Track &
Field practice
*2:30 Flexibility
Assembly
28
9:00 – 10:15 and 11:15 – 12:30 Grade 6 EQAO
29
30
31
June 1
*7:00 p.m. School
Council Mtg. in the
Library
Grade 6’s to Camp Brebeuf
Thursday, June 2nd – KA/KB to African Lion Safari
Saturday, June 4th – Mighty Motors event at Sportsplex from 10 – 2
Friday, June 10th (5:30 to 7:00 p.m.) Year-End Community Picnic
9:00 – 10:15 and 11:15 – 12:30 Grade 3 EQAO
Please remember to check the school’s website for the latest and greatest VT newsletter at http://www.ugdsb.on.ca/VictoriaTerrace/newsletters.htm.
If you require a hard copy of the newsletter, please send your request in writing to Mrs. Wilson at the office. Thank you for being GREEN!
FAMILY MATH NIGHT / ART SHOW / BOOK FAIR
Thursday, May 5, 2016
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Family Math time is a fun way to help children explore the math curriculum. It will give you an
opportunity to play some math games in the classroom with your child and you will take away
ideas to use at home. Jester’s Fun Factory Toys & Games will also have tables set up in the
with some of their awesome math games for you to try. There will also be some great “math”
door prizes for those families who come to play!
Student art will be displayed by each class in the gym. Please take a few moments to view all of
the awesome art produced by our very own VT artists. We know that you will be very
impressed!
The Book Fair will be held in the library. We will have a great selection of books, posters and
other items. Take this opportunity to stock up on books for summer reading!
The Book Fair will be available on Tuesday, May 3rd and Wednesday, May 4th from 10:45 – 11:10
and Thursday, May 5th from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
We’re looking forward to seeing you and sharing in your child(ren)’s learning!
Mark your calendars for these upcoming VT School Council events:
 Saturday, June 4th – 10:00 – 2:00 – VT’s Mighty Motors, behind the Fergus Sportsplex
 Friday, June 10th – 5:30 – 7:00 pm – Year-End Community Picnic. More details to follow!