ORCHARD PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
24 Calverley Street, Orillia, ON L3V 3T4
Phone: (705) 325-7772 Fax: (705) 325-5522
School Web Page http://orc.scdsb.on.ca
Follow us on Twitter: @OrchardParkPS
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Eileen Wise
Principal
February 2016
Shelly Long-Bokma
Vice Principal
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
We have said farewell to our Senior Secretary Mrs. Novosky as she transferred over to Warminster and we
applauded Mrs. Morrison as she strolled the halls for the last time before her retirement. We wish them
well!!
DATES TO REMEMBER
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
Feb
1
3
4
9
10
11
16
17
19
School Council Meeting @6:30pm
Domino’s Pizza Night
National Sweater Day
Food Orders to go home
Grade 5 – 8 Orillia Public Library Visit
Gifted Debate All Day
March Food orders Due
Operations Appreciation Day – WEAR GRAY
Report Cards home
Feb 24 Anti Bullying Day and Assembly WEAR
PINK!
March 7 School Council Meeting @6:30pm
SAFE ARRIVAL-PLEASE CALL!
Our Safe Arrival Program is vital to the safety of
all of our students. Please remember to call the
Safe Arrival Line if your child will be
late or absent from school. To
report an absence or late arrival,
call the school (705) 325-7772 and
press 1 to leave a message.
Include the student’s name,
teacher, reason for absence and expected date
of return in your message. This service is
available 24/7 for your convenience.
February Assembly and
Spirit Day
We will be holding our next spirit day on
Wednesday, Feb. 24. Our theme will be AntiBullying Character day. Students can dress in
pink clothes or accessories. Any students
dressed, or accessorized in pink will earn house
points. Gr. 6-8 students will also earn credit
towards their activity points.
PA Day added on April 15
An additional Professional Activity (PA) day has been added to the 2015-16 school year
calendar for Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) elementary and secondary
schools. This PA day is scheduled for April 15, 2016. The school year calendar for 2015-16
now includes 187 instructional days and seven professional activity days. The additional PA
Day is part of the settlements that were centrally negotiated with the Elementary Teachers Federation of
Ontario (ETFO) and the Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF). View the updated
school calendar at www.scdsb.on.ca and click on ‘Schools’ and then ‘School Year Calendars.’
MARCH FOOD ORDERS DUE BACK FEBRUARY 16
Reminder about our school parking lot
A friendly reminder to take extra care in our school parking lot now that snow has finally arrived! Drivers:
please be mindful of pulling out of parking spaces as piles of snow can decrease visibility. School board
property is private property, and in some cases (eg. after hours) vehicles could be towed from parking lots
to facilitate snow removal. Unauthorized parking in school lots overnight and/or weekends is at the sole
risk of the vehicle owner.
Operations Appreciation Day a chance to say ‘thank you’
EVERYONE WEAR GRAY!
Feb. 17 is Operations Appreciation Day in the Simcoe County District School Board. On that day, school
communities across the county will celebrate the positive impact custodians and operations maintenance
employees make. The work they do to keep our schools safe and clean affects each of us—they help
create the positive environments for learning and working we all enjoy.
We’re grateful to K. Morrison, C. Labelle and C. Fountain!
Top 8 snow day questions
Bus cancellations and snow days are inevitable in Simcoe County. Each time buses are (or
aren’t!) cancelled, the SCDSB and the Transportation Consortium receive many questions
from students, parents and community members. Check out the Sharing Simcoe blog for the
top eight questions we receive and our responses: visit www.sharingsimcoe.com and search for ‘snow’.
Nominations Invited for Character Recognition Evening on
May 18
The Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) recognizes students, staff and volunteers who
demonstrate good character in their daily lives at the annual Character Recognition Awards Evening,
taking place on May 18 this year.
Each year, nominations from schools and the Education Centre are received highlighting the good
character of our students, staff and volunteers. Nominees are invited to the Education Centre on May 18
to celebrate those who exemplify the SCDSB Commit to Character attributes. The nomination process
opens on Feb. 8 and ends on Feb. 26, 2016. Recommendations can be made by email or fax. More
information and the Character Recognition nomination form is available at www.scdsb.on.ca under ‘About
Us’ and then click on ‘Commit to Character.’
Is your child turning four this year? It’s time to
register for Kindergarten!
Do you or someone you know have a child who was born in 2012? If so, it’s time to
register them for Kindergarten in the SCDSB! Our school is now registering children for
Kindergarten for the 2016-17 school year. Required registration documents include
birthdate documentation, proof of address and record of immunization. For more
information and to watch our new Kindergarten video featuring local students, visit
www.scdsb.on.ca/kindergarten
OTIP Teaching Awards - nominations due by March 31
Want to recognize a teacher who does great work at our school? For many years, the Ontario Teachers
Insurance Plan (OTIP) awards have recognized the
excellence of teachers in publicly funded education.
The Primary classes have enjoyed getting fit this
There are three categories of awards: elementary
month by playing "Super Soccer" and challenging
school teacher, secondary school teacher and
ourselves with a fitness circuit, while continuing to
beginning teacher in the first five years of teaching.
jog indoors. We have celebrated our winter
Winning teachers attend a fall awards ceremony in
wonderland with snowshoeing, crazy-carpeting in
Toronto where they are presented with a personal
the primary yard, broom-ball and snow hockey!
award of $1,000 and a Certificate of Recognition. Their
Primary house league has provided many funschools are also recognized with a $1,000 prize and a
filled fitness breaks that have left us breathless !!!
Certificate of Recognition. Visit www.teachingawards.ca
for details. The deadline for submitting nominations is
Here's to more fun and getting outside in
March 31
February! From Mrs. Helleman and Mr. Barsevich
Public Library Visit
During February, the librarian from the Orillia Public Library will be visiting gr. 5-8 classes at Orchard
Park. The Orillia Public Librarian will be discussing the Public Library’s collection of E-books and
Audiobooks and how students can access them. The librarian will also provide students that do not have
library cards at the Orillia Library, with a form they may take home. Once they return this form
the next day, we will send the forms to the Orillia Library and they will create library cards for
the students and will return them to Orchard in early March. Students with Public Library cards
can sign out E-books for their electronic devices like phones and tablets.
SCSTC IS NOW ON TWITTER
The Simcoe County Student Transportation Consortium (SCSTC) recently announced that
school vehicle cancellations are now available via Twitter. Simcoe County students and parents
can follow @SCSTC_SchoolBus for timely updates on school vehicle cancellations.
With the winter weather season in full swing, everyone is also reminded that this information can
also be found on the SCSTC website at www.simcoecountyschoolbus.ca. Efforts are made to
post and announce school vehicle cancellations between 6 and 6:30 a.m. on the SCSTC
website (www.simcoecountyschoolbus.ca) and via Twitter @SCSTC_SchoolBus.
Message from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit:
Limit your child’s screen time to two hours a day
Cutting back on the time kids spend in front of the TV, playing video games, or online can open up a
world of discovery for them to learn new skills. Turning off screens also encourages kids to get up and
move, which can help keep them at a healthy body weight and build their self-confidence. So what are
you waiting for? Try unplugging and discover something new! For tips to help you get active as a family,
visit www.simcoemuskokahealth.org or call Health Connection at 705-721-7520 or 1-877-721-7520 to
speak with a public health nurse.
Protect yourself and others from the health hazards of secondhand smoke
Remember, it is against the law to smoke ANYWHERE on school property at ANY TIME. This includes
smoking in your vehicle on school property. It's also against the law to smoke or hold lit tobacco in a
vehicle carrying anyone under age 16. Fines for smoking on school property while in a vehicle with
children under 16 years of age could total $460. For more information or help with quitting, visit
www.simcoemuskokahealth.org or call Heath Connection at 705-721-7520 or 1-877-721-7520.
Getting out the door on time in the morning
Ah, the morning chaos of a household waking up: cleaning, dressing, eating and racing out the door…
Any number of things can make for a stressful morning: lack of sleep, a child needing reminders every
step of the way, the last minute lunches. The key is organization. Be realistic about how much time you
need to get ready in the morning. Time pressures add stress to everyone.
Some tips from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit:
 Get yourself ready first, before your child. Go to bed at a reasonable hour so you wake up rested
and ready for the day.
 Plan ahead: pack lunches, find the mittens, and pick clothes the night before.
 Keep the television off! Electronics and TV can be very disruptive first thing in the morning. If
there is extra time, let them use it to read, chat, or help out.
 Be clear and realistic about what your child can do. Praising them when they do something well
encourages them to do it again and gain new skills.
Remember to have patience. Your child learns from watching you and you have the unique opportunity
to show these skills. In time your child will learn to plan ahead, be organized, and develop patience. For
more information you can call Health Connection at 705-721-7520 or 1-877-721-7520 and speak with a
public health nurse or click on the health unit website at
www.simcoemuskokahealth.org or visit www.triplepontario.ca. For
more tips, check out SCDSB’s Sharing Simcoe blog at
www.sharingsimcoe.com and read the post “Resolve to have an
organized household this year – 6 tips to get you started” (posted Jan.
14).
NATIONAL SWEATER DAY- FEBRUARY 4, 2016
As a certified Ontario Eco School, we are required to report on four environmental stewardship campaigns that
our school has taken part in this year. One of the stewardship's we would like to take part in is National
Sweater Day on February 4th. This day can be a fun way to bring awareness to global warming and the costs
to the environment while we heat our building.
Since 2010, over a million Canadians have participated in National Sweater Day. National Sweater Day is a fun
way to learn about the importance of saving energy, and inspired you to use less heat all winter. Heating
accounts for 80% of residential energy use in Canada, and is a significant source of emissions. If all Canadians
lowered their thermostats by just 2 degrees Celsius this winter, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by
about 4 megatons – equivalent to shutting down a 600 megawatt coal-fired power station.
At Orchard Park we will be turning down the heat on February 4th please participate by wearing a sweater and
show how we can make a difference to climate change by reducing waste and pollution. This year Orchard
Park is going for GOLD. That is gold certification with the Ontario Eco Schools program. With this program we
look at ways our school can reduce our environmental footprint. There are five areas including waste
minimization, energy conservation, school ground greening, curriculum connections to the environment and
environmental teamwork and leadership. Waste minimization is an important factor at school. School lunches
are a major source of waste in Ontario – the average student’s lunch generates a total of 30 kilograms of waste
per school year, or an average of 8,500 kilograms of waste per school per year. With your assistance, we can
make a great contribution to reducing waste, every day. Please try to use reusable lunch containers and
recycle waste in the proper bins. By using reusable lunch containers you can:
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Reduce the cost of waste disposal so that education funding can be put to better use.
Encourage fresh and nutritious lunches (many pre-packaged lunch items contain significant amounts
of sodium, sugar, preservatives and fat).
Help you reduce the cost of lunches: a waste-free lunch can cost as little as $2.50 per day, whereas a
regular lunch containing pre-packaged items can cost $4.50 or more per day.
Thank you for doing your part in reducing the lunch time waste!