Dear Parents/Guardians:

We hope everyone had a lovely relaxing and fun March Break! Now, we’re headed into the home stretch and lots will be going on.

Presently we are in the throes of planning for our next year’s classroom organization, 2017 - 2018. Our projected enrolment for next year is 362. The organization of classes is based on projected enrolment. At our next School Council meeting, Thursday, April 6th at 6:00 p.m., classroom organization models will be presented and discussed. This is a great opportunity to participate in discussion about the pros and cons of various organizations for the next school year, 2017 – 2018. By the time you receive this newsletter, you would have received a case of the World’s Finest Chocolate, 30 bars at $3.00 each, a chocolate fundraiser that will be held from March 30th to April 18th. Parents, please support this fundraiser, as it is the sole fundraiser initiative for our school offered by the School Council this year. The monies will go towards new musical instruments, audio/visual equipment and will subsidize classroom excursions and graduation dinners. Of course we strongly suggest that the children not go door-to-door to sell chocolate – unless parents go with them. If parents can assist by asking friends and relatives to buy, it would be wonderful. The school hasn’t sold chocolate in many years. Past experience has shown that it is a very lucrative way to raise money. So please help support this initiative. I am pleased to share that our LN 19 will be having a K-8 summer school site at Bendale Jr. P.S., 61 Benshire Dr. Any student from the TDSB can attend. The focus of the program is on literacy and numeracy skills, with the vision of “Mindfulness Through The Arts”. Applications are now available at our office. Transportation is arranged by each parent. The grade attended at

C

Churchill Heights P.S. Newsletter April 2017

Message from the

Principal

Co- & Extra-curricular Activities

Mondays Junior Choir - Lunch Music Practice - Lunch Yearbook - Lunch House League Volleyball - 3:30 p.m.

Tuesdays Senior Band - 8:00 a.m. Music Practice - Lunch SLC - Lunch Co-ed 5 & 6 Volleyball - 3:30 p.m. House League - a.m. & p.m. recess

Wednesdays Folk Dancing Primary/Junior - Lunch Senior Band - Lunch Co-ed 5 & 6 Volleyball - 3:30 p.m. House League - a.m. & p.m. recess

Thursdays Chess Club - Lunch Origami Club - Lunch Co-ed 5 & 6 Volleyball - 3:30 p.m.

Fridays Virtual Reality Club - 11:30 Music Practice - Lunch House League Volleyball - After School

749 Brimorton Drive, Scarborough, ON, M1G 2S4

Principal T. Dillinger / Vice-Principal J. Stamatopoulos 416-396-6160 / Fax 416-396-6164

Superintendent S. Chan 416-396-9178 Trustee D. Smith 416-393-8809

School Website http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/churchillheights School Council Email ChurchillheightsSC@gmail.com

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school events.

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Are You Moving?

Character Trait Winners the summer school is the grade the child is in currently this 2016-2017 school year. In April we have Student and Parent Census month. For JK – Grade 3, we are asking parents to fill out a Parent Census survey. For grades 4-6, there will be a Student Census and a Parent Census survey form. For grades 7 – 8, there is a Student Census form only. The participation of all students and parents is very important to assure that the data collected represent the voices of all our students and parents so that we can continue to provide the right supports for every student to achieve their full potential. Translated versions of the Parent Census are available if requested. Parents, if you would like a translated version in another language, please let your teacher know, so that we can provide a copy for you. It is very important that all parents fill out this Census survey. Just a reminder that Easter weekend is April 14th to April 17th. It is a 4-day weekend. The last school day is April 13th and classes resume April 18th. Our school will be having its Track and Field Day on Wednesday, April 19th. The rain-date is April 20th. If you would like to volunteer at our track event, it would be much appreciated. Please contact Mrs. K. Ali and let her know you would be available. Our date at Birchmount this year is Friday, May 19th. April 21st we will be having Earth Day activities for the students, as April 22nd is Earth Day. Parents, hope to see you at the next School Council meeting on April 6th. Sincerely, T. Dillinger

Please inform the office as soon as possible if your child will NOT be returning to Churchill Heights in September. It is important to keep your child’s records up to date. Please advise us of any changes to his or her personal information or emergency contacts throughout the year as they occur.

Congratulations to the following students who put into practice the qualities of HONESTY in the month of March: Room 1A: Oviya, Thenuja

Room 1: Arna, Yash

Room 2: Haimi, Logan

Room 4: Alex, Bilee

Room 5: Pirathisha, Shivan

Room 6: Seyon, Svara

Room 7: Bansri, Varshinee

Room 8: Maya, Vyom

Room 9: Piranavan, Shanuka

Room 11: Graham

Room 21: Devesh, Kena

Room 22: Ali, Tulsi

Room 23: Devesh, Kena

Room 24: Bhavya & Mahee

Room 25: Arif-Dean & Julian

Room 26: Blake, Jiale

Room 27: Harman, James

Room 28: Samuel

Room 29: Sohail, Vickram

“We learned about honesty and integrity - that the truth matters... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.” Michelle Obama

Ms. Mui & Ms. DeGuzman's class using our new Magformers for our STEM inquiry. Thanks for the gift from the School Council.

We have three co-ed volleyball teams running this spring. Mrs. Ali, Mr. Ho, Mrs. Petsinis and Ms. Su are coaching the grade 5 and 6 teams and Mr. Cashman and Mrs. Majmudar are coaching the grade 8 team. Good luck to all of our co-ed volleyball teams in their upcoming tournaments this April! Mrs. K. Ali

You Can Visit Canada Without Leaving the Library!

Canada will be turning 150 this spring. To celebrate this important anniversary, Mrs. Wentz is starting a Virtual Reality club for students in grades 6-8. The idea is for the club to "see Canada" using a phone app called "Google Excursions." This free app is designed for teachers to take students on virtual tours. Imagine visiting the Rocky Mountains, or the Atlantic Provinces, or the CN tour, and using virtual reality goggles to walk through these

sites and experience them in 3D. The VR experience can also be expanded to visiting world museums, the Grand Canyon, the ocean floor, the Amazon jungle etc. all in 3D. If you have a smart phone you can download the Excursions app and try it yourself, but it works much better with the cardboard viewer.

In order to make the club work, we will need cardboard virtual reality viewers such as the original "Google cardboard," or the various cheaper knockoffs. These are not the expensive gaming VR viewers but rather very inexpensive models made of cardboard that work with your cell phone. One clever student even made his own google cardboard with magnets, cardboard, and water lenses, but this isn't practical on a larger scale. Bought separately, real lenses cost as much as the cardboards. We may have to buy some, but first I would like to ask for donations. Sometimes VR cardboard viewers are given away at trade shows or as a promotion when you buy certain products. If you know of any source for donated Google cardboards or you can donate one yourself, please send them to school with your child or contact Mrs. Wentz. This activity will be bring-your-own-phone, and we will be sharing so that everyone in the club can participate, but I want to provide students with the Google cardboards or similar cardboard VR viewers. This is an experiment. If things go well with the club, I hope to expand the experience to the rest of the school. Thanks for your support. Mrs. Wentz

Kindergarten

Volleyball

Virtual Reality Club

School Cash Online

One month ago Churchill Heights launched School Cash Online, a board-wide endeavour to provide the convenience of online payment and eliminate cash handling. So far our adoption rate is 19.45% for the entire school. We hope to see the participation rate increase as new items and events become available, and eventually have everyone on board 100%. We recommend that you register for School Cash Online now, even if there is no item to purchase for your child at this time. Some of you have already done this. Thank you! Please see below for the current adoption rate of your

child’s Homeroom to date.

Register Today!

It is important to report an absence before 8:30 a.m. for morning or full-day absences, and before 12:30 p.m. for afternoon absences so the office staff can record the reasons before the attendance sheets are scanned. If you don’t call the office within a reasonable time frame, the automated attendance system will begin calling the primary contacts of each student who has an unexplained absence, until someone responds to the prompts and completes the call. Please note that this procedure occurs in the morning and in the afternoon. If you respond to the prompts in the morning, but do not call the office as well, you may get another call in the afternoon. We understand that this can be a nuisance but be assured that this system is in place to ensure the safety of each and every student at our school.

Parents, please do not drop off your children or their lunches from the school parking lot. Parking is available on Brimorton Drive, outside of the bus loading zone. If you are late in the morning or returning from lunch, come to the office through the front doors and check in with the office.

Our friend and former staff member, Mrs. Sawh, is organizing an exciting opportunity for Toronto families. Her students have partnered with Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation to help plant trees in the city of Toronto. It is a very simple initiative. People are paired with a tree that they get for free to plant on their private property in the city of Toronto. If you are interested in getting a free tree for your property, visit the following website to register, TPTF.CA ( http://www.torontoparksandtrees.ca/Programs/Programs/Tree-for-Me-1). You will be paired with a tree. Tree pick up is on May 10th at Glen Ravine P.S.

Room # Registered Total Adoption

Students Students Rate

1 12 24 50.00%

11 3 5 60.00%

1A 11 25 44.00%

2 3 24 12.50%

21 2 22 9.09%

22 1 20 5.00%

23 3 29 10.34%

24 2 18 11.11%

25 1 18 5.56%

26 0 24 0.00%

27 1 24 4.17%

28 0 24 0.00%

29 0 22 0.00%

4 9 20 45.00%

5 4 18 22.22%

6 11 20 55.00%

7 7 21 33.33%

8 1 21 4.76%

9 7 20 35.00%

Unknown 0 2 0.00%

78 401 19.45%

Attendance Robo-Calls

Tree for Me

Staff Parking Lot