Wilmington E.S.
www.tdsb.on.ca
October, 2011
Welcome to another wonderful year at Wilmington E.S.
Thank you so much for welcoming myself and all of our
new families to Wilmington! Each day, I see examples of
why we have such a fine reputation for being such a
warm and welcoming community. We have been busy
working to move towards our collective school
improvement plan goals and are looking forward to
providing our students and their families with a vast
amount of experiences that are engaging as well as filled
with innovative ways to teach and learn!
Thank you so much for your patience and understanding
as we moved through the months of September and
October. Due to changing enrolment and the Primary
Class Size Cap, we were fortunate to have enough
kindergarten students new to Wilmington, that we were
able to open a new morning Kindergarten class. Please
welcome Ms. Madia Ayala who has joined us as their
teacher. Wilmington is so fortunate to have added Ms.
Ayala to our staff of dedicated, enthusiastic and caring
teachers. (-:
At this time, I would like to encourage you to contact
your child’s teacher or myself if you have any questions
or concerns centered around your child’s programming
and well being at school. We regard our parents as
essential partners in the education journey! Together we
can accomplish many wonderful and exciting ventures in
education for our children.
All the best,
Diane Bailey
Eco Schools Focus
It is wonderful seeing the children visiting the Butterfly Garden. They are
so curious and excited about the vegetables and flowers growing there.
The Butterfly Garden has provided a beautiful setting for the children to
talk, to enjoy the plants, and to visit with friends.
A special thank you goes out to the staff and children in Wilmington
Child Care Centre who watered the garden every week during this very
hot summer.
Our Earthsavers student club will be starting up next week. Two children
per class will be chosen by their teacher and peers to come to weekly
meetings and then to report back to their classes.
All students are encouraged to participate in boomerang lunches and
snacks. The children are encouraged to bring their food in reusable plastic
containers and to have sturdy reusable water bottles, in order to eliminate
garbage in the lunchroom. It is great to see the carryover from last year –
many of the children are bringing reusable containers. Thank you for
your support of this important idea.
A major school goal this year will be to beautify the front of the school.
During October, each child will be planting a tulip or daffodil bulb near
the front entrance of the school. In the spring, we will have a gorgeous
display of colour. We are looking for parent volunteers to help in digging
the ground at the front entrance, as well as digging out weeds in our
overgrown front shrub beds. If you would like to help with this project,
please contact the school with your name and phone number.
School Choir
Our School Choir will begin after Thanksgiving on Days 1 and 4.
Practice will be in Room 206 with Ms. Tseng and Ms. Friedman.
Students eat their lunch in the gym and will be picked up for the
practice at 11:55am. Open to grades 3 and 4 students. We will
be working on pieces for Remembrance Day.
Mrs. Friedman & Ms. Tseng
School Contacts:
Office – Diane Bailey (Principal), Wendy To (Office Administrator)
Superintendent of Schools – Jeff Hainbuch, 416 394-2032
Trustee – Howard Kaplan (Ward 5), 416 395-8406
330 Wilmington Ave, Toronto, Ontario M3H 5L1 Tel: 416 395-2180 Fax: 416 395-2182
Pick-up and Drop-off
For the Safety or our students, it is essential that:
1. Everyone uses the parking lot for drop-off and pick-up
a. If you are staying in the car, you may wait for a short
period of time beside the fence, closest to the field.
b. If you need to leave your car, you must use a “proper”
parking space.
c. Please ensure that cars are able to complete a full
(counterclockwise) loop to exit.
2. The Front Loop is used ONLY by school buses.
3. All Fire Routes are kept clear of cars. (Please note: The
“Student Drop Off Zone” is part of the Fire Route.
Therefore, the car may only be stopped there while students
are “loading or unloading”)
4. Please ensure that you are respectful of our community
neighbours and their parking spaces and driveways.
Hallowe'en
Safety Tips
Please Note: Cars have
been ticketed
in the Fire Route in
the past. The fine is approximately $250.
Hallowe'en provides an opportunity for parents and children to spend
time together creating costumes, carving pumpkins, planning trick or
treat activities and participating in family parties.. Hallowe'en is also a
time for students, parents, and schools to take extra care to ensure
safety and security.
If parents are concerned about trick or treating, here are some basic
safety rules to follow¢ Children should NEVER eat any treats until
parents have had a chance to go through them and inspect them.
Parents should look for tampering of packages and discard any they
believe to be unsafe or unknown.
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NEVER go into a stranger's house.
NEVER trick or treat with people you do not know.
Trick or treat only at homes you know.
Children should always stay in groups if no parent is present.
Younger children should ALWAYS be accompanied by an
older person.
Accompany your child when trick or treating.
If you can not accompany your child then know the route
your child will take.
Flame resistant (retardant) costumes are in order. Keep
costumes short and remind children to stay away from
pumpkins with candles in them.
Remind children to stay away from pets they do not know.
Remind children of road safety rules. Cross only at corners.
Do not criss-cross the road. Go up one side of the road and
down the other side. Never cross between parked cars. Walk
facing on-coming traffic if there is no sidewalk.
Remind children that not everyone celebrates Hallowe'en,
and to avoid any homes that have no lights on.
• With older children, be sure to know what other events (such as
parties) they plan on attending.
The year began with an exciting start in the library. Classes
have begun visiting and signing out books and using the
library as a comfortable place to come together and talk
about books read over the summer and books students are
interested in reading and seeing on the library shelves.
A huge thank you to our own Wilmington Parent Council who
generously provided over $1800.00 of new books for the
library and for the Book Rooms in the school. These books
were a result of the money earned at our Scholastic Book
Fair last year. It was organized and operated by members of
Parent Council and volunteers from the Wilmington
Community. Stay tuned for the dates of our upcoming Book
Fair and thank you again for your generous support.
We will be participating in the Forest of Reading Book Clubs
again this year. All students will be exposed to the Blue
Spruce Fiction Contest. Students will hear ten fictional
picture books written only by Canadian Authors. They will
have a chance to vote for their favourite book on voting day
and we will choose a winner for our school. Our results are
sent in to find the favourite book in the TDSB and then on to
the favourite book for our province. Its great fun and the
books are all very different.
Just in case your child didn’t mention it, last year our school
chose the picture book My Think a Ma Jink as our favourite.
A new lunch time book club will be offered this year as well.
The Silver Birch Club pairs fiction and non fiction books for
students in Grade Three and Four. Students must read at
least five of the books to become eligible for voting (similar
to Blue Spruce). We will meet once a week, share lunch and
our thoughts and feelings about the books. Stay tuned for
more details.
Please check out our school library website. From home
you can follow these links.
-go to www.tdsb.on.ca
- click on Parents
-click on School Library (on the right hand side of page)
-EXLORE!!
There are so many areas to explore that benefit your Child’s
academic development and love of reading.
Homework: Ask your child how to enter the Just Read It
contest on the school library website.
Thanks,
Mrs. Collict
FOOD ALLERGIES AND FOOD
SHARING!!!
Terry Fox Run!
It was a wonderful day to have a run outside to
support the Terry Fox Foundation! We had lots of
fun exercising while raising money and awareness
of cancer research. A big thanks goes out to the
parent volunteers who came out to guide our
students and participated as well with their children!
Thanks also goes to the staff who organized this
wonderful event! Mr. Zomparelli, Ms. Dickson, Mr.
Tiho, Mr. Louis as well as Ms. Debassige. Mrs.
Collict was an AWESOME DJ as she played some
happening tunes for us to run to. We look forward
to next year’s event. See you there!
Food Allergies have a very wide range of consequences, all of which harm the child who
has been exposed. The most serious can kill.
While we have been experiencing an increase in the number of students who have very
serious food allergies, we have also been trying our best to ensure the safety of all our
students. The most common food allergens are peanuts, tree nuts, seafood, and egg
and milk products.
For this reason, in coordination with the School Council, we are again asking parents to
support us as we strive to eliminate peanuts and tree nuts from our school. Should there
be a student in your child’s class with another type of serious allergy, we will be sending
a letter home outlining the foods that should not be sent to school.
Another step we are taking to ensure the safety of our students is to stop the sharing of
food. Food that you send with your child should be eaten by your child or brought back
home. We appreciate and understand the desire to send food to share with the class on
special occasions, but this increases the risk of accidental exposure and injury.
We understand Birthdays are a special time for children. We will continue to celebrate
in classes, but please do not send food. If you wish to share something with the rest of
the class, please limit to small gifts, like erasers or pencils.
To summarize:
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No Peanuts or Nuts (other allergens will be communicated class by class)
No Sharing of Food
Respect
In The Land Of Oz
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
The students in Mr. Zomparelli's grade 3 class
performed a song and skit for the Respect
Assembly. They worked as a team to put
together a show with some singing, acting and
tableux. During rehearsals, the students would
offer suggestions to give humour to the
production such as having the character of the
witch say, "Please, please, no autographs!"
It was exciting for the students during
rehearsals to see how the show was slowly
coming together and what new ideas would be
added next. The message that the witch
learns in the play is that there are many ways
to show respect to others and to yourself (e.g.,
listening to others, playing fair).
Please stay tuned for our next assembly
coming in November!
The Respect Assembly
At the school's first Character Trait assembly, Mrs. Dickson's Grade 1/2 class
presented a readers' theatre version of the book David Goes To School by
David Shannon. David is an energetic student who acts out in class and
needs a great deal of reminders to behave himself in school and follow the
school rules. Two thirds of the class enjoyed playing the role of David while
the rest of the students responded in the stern voice of the teacher. The
Social Studies unit this term focused on Rules and Responsibilities, which fit
perfectly with the theme of the book and this month's character trait of
Respect.
The class also performed The Respect Song which included the chorus:Respect yourself, Respect Others, Respect the School, That is just what we
do. Throughout the past two weeks the class practiced both the play and the
song daily so that only the 'teacher' role required a script. The children
worked extremely hard and enjoyed preparing for the assembly. They were
very proud of their performance.
Mrs. Dickson
We’ve had a busy start to the new year with a number of exciting initiatives already underway:
Weekly Pizza lunches are here! A favourite of both students and parents alike, every FRIDAY is pizza day at
Wilmington. Our current lunch program runs until November 4th. Your opportunity to sign up for the next session will
be coming soon so don’t miss out!
Halloween Movie Night is Coming! Preview your Halloween Costume and join us on Thursday October 27th for a
screening of Walt Disney’s Spooky Buddies. This is a fundraiser for our school and will be held across the street at
C.H. Best. Tickets are limited and on sale soon so send those forms in early to avoid disappointment.
The Scholastic Book Fair is coming in November! This year’s theme is Reading is Out of this World. Did you know
that for every $10 you spend at the book fair, up to $6 goes back to our school? Last year because of your support we
were able to purchase more than $2000 of books and educational resources.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: As you can see, we have a lot underway. There has been a small and dedicated group of
parents who have given their time and energy to help make our school council thrive but we cannot do it alone.
If you have some time to give, whether it be a half hour at lunch on Fridays to help give out pizza, or a few hours to help
us plan one of our upcoming events or fundraisers, your input would be greatly appreciated. We meet the second
Thursday of every month at 6:45 pm in the school library. Childcare is provided. Please join us soon or contact us at
executive@wescouncil.com. You may also leave your name and number with in the office with Wendy (416-395-2180)
and we will be sure to get you involved!
November
October
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Responsibility Month
Pizza Lunch every Friday
October 20th School Bus Safety presentations
October 27th Movie Night at CH Best
October 31 Hallowe’en parade
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Pizza Lunch Every Friday ( except PA DAY)
November 10th School Advisory Council Meeting @ 6:45
November 11th Remembrance Day Assembly
November 15th Progress reports go home
November 15th Book Fair Opens
November 16th Picture re-takes
November 17th Parent teacher interviews
(Afternoon/evening)
November 18th PA day No School For Students
November 18th Parent Teacher Interviews all AM
November 18th Last day of Book fair