Mountain Ash Public School

December 2014

Principal’s Message:

This month, as a staff we have come together to create our new Mission Statement. I am happy to share with you that the mission of Mountain Ash Public School is to inspire students to choose the path that leads to awesome! This will be accomplished when we recognize students to be their very best in a positive learning environment where creativity, critical thinking and character are valued.As a school we are committed to building a positive climate by focusing on the character traits of Caring, Cooperation, Honesty, Respect, Responsibility, and being Inclusive.

With respect to fundraising, as a school, we are looking to add to our learning environment with more opportunities for students to work with technology and to create visual upgrades that align with our school’s Mission and Values. We are hoping to create murals, enhance our playgrounds for both our Kindergartens and Grade 1-8 students, purchase new net books that are portable, and add to our existing ipad resources.To make this happen we are hoping that you will support the various fundraising initiatives planned from both the school and School Council. We are hoping to have a Winter Carnival in February where all students are encouraged to make a donation. We will also have a Spring BBQ with a Silent Auction of “class themed baskets” in late May with family activities. In addition to this, we are hoping to have monthly “Samosa Sales” from our School Council. During our Holiday concerts on Dec 11 and the 18th, School Council will be selling winter themed cookies for a toonie. Please plan to enjoy these as you watch your children perform! If you have other ideas or would like to make a donation in any way, please feel free to speak with Mr. Cooper.

 Principal: Craig Cooper

 Vice Principal:Brian Rasmusson

 Superintendent:Pat Noble

 School Trustee: Jagdeep Mann

XMAS HOLIDAY

December 22nd, 2014 to

January 2nd, 2015

Help your family stay warm this winterCanada Safety Council recommends the following tips for staying comfortable and preventing hypothermia when working or playing outdoors:  ·  Wear a warm hat—most body heat is lost through the head. Children should keep an

extra hat at school.·  Wear layered clothing. Layers allow warm air to stay trapped around the body.·  Protect your feet and hands. Wear loose waterproof boots. If the boots have liners,

carry an extra pair to replace damp ones or take an extra pair of socks. Mittens are warmer than gloves. Carry an extra pair of mittens to school, on outings, etc.

·  Prevent dehydration and exhaustion, which can lead to hypothermia. Drink plenty of fluids and pace yourself when doing vigorous activities.

·  Stay fit by exercising and eating well—people who are fit are less susceptible to hypothermia.

·  If you stay indoors, avoid moving from a hot environment to a cold one. Excessive sweating caused from an extreme change in temperature increases the risk of developing hypothermia.

·  Eat high-energy food such as nuts and raisins. If you are travelling (on the road or in the wilderness) carry emergency supplies. 

Help us keep students and staff safe in the school parking lot Kiss and Ride Thank you once again for ensuring that our Kiss and Ride drop off is safe for all students and staff. We have noticed that on certain days when there is rain, cold temperatures and/ or snow, that our Kiss and Ride drop off and pick-up is significantly busier. To ensure that our Kiss and Ride is operating in a safe and efficient manner, we would continue to ask that when waiting to drop off your children that you stay in the right lane. We ask that you wait until you pull up to one of the 3 locations (marked with a tall pylon) before students are dropped off. This will prevent cars from making lane changes and should expedite the drop off. Also please be sure that students exit through the passenger side of the car for safety reasons. Your patience and cooperation is greatly appreciated. 

Traffic safety in our community

Safety is a top priority at our school. Here is a list of traffic tips to keep students, staff and parents safe while commuting to and from school.

·  Respect traffic signs and road markers around the school. ·  Drive slowly and with caution on and near school property. Adhere to the posted speed limits

on any surrounding streets used by students on their way to and from school.·  Always yield to pedestrian traffic. Wait for students, staff members and parents to cross

before driving past them.·  When dropping your child off at the school, use the Kiss'n'Ride area. This is a supervised area

that is designed to keep students safe.·  Do not double park or do anything else to block traffic or draw your child off the curb and into

traffic. Do not take shortcuts over curbs.·  Have your child ready to exit the car when you reach the curb. Say goodbye to your child

before you park at the curb to let your child out of your car.·  During regular drop-off times, students are to remain in the car until it is safe for them to exit

the car onto the curb.·  Follow the directions of staff or volunteers on duty in the school parking lot and treat staff,

students, volunteers, passengers and other drivers with respect.·  Consider parking off site and walking a short distance to school. This will give you time to talk

to your children about their day, review new vocabulary words, math concepts, etc.·  Remind your child to only cross the street at an intersection or crosswalk. They should never

“jaywalk” by crossing in the middle of the street. Students who bike to school should always wear a helmet, and follow all traffic laws. They should only cross the street at a crosswalk or intersection—never in the middle of the road. Me to We December - 'Adopt' a family and winter clothing drive The holiday season is a time of family, tradition and giving. Unfortunately, for thousands of families this time of year often brings sadness and disappointment as they go without simple things such as a decorated Christmas Tree, a warm meal or a few small gifts to unwrap.  Because of this, the Me to We team here at MASH has decided to sponsor a few families in Brampton, to help ensure they have a happy holiday time. To make this possible we’re asking for the help of our students and community members. The following items are in great need:

•       Children’s toys•       Stickers, colouring books, reading books•       Non-perishable (canned or boxed) food items•       Gift cards for Wal-Mart, No Frills or other grocery stores•       Small money donations to allow the Me to We team to purchase specific items needed•       New or gently used winter clothing such as jackets, hats, gloves and scarves

If you have any questions or for more information please contact Ms. Harvey or Mrs. Domenicini at the school.

We recently had ten grade sevens and eights train to be Red Cross Beyond the Hurt Youth Facilitators. The Canadian Red Cross’ Beyond the Hurt program supports a school wide approach to preventing bullying and building empathy and respect.Beyond the Hurt is based on the belief that all youth—those targeted, those who bully, and bystanders—have a critical role in preventing bullying. Beyond the Hurt gives youth the tools to take a stand to stop bullying before it starts. The newly trained Youth Facilitators are looking forward to presenting anti-bullying workshops to the junior and intermediate students of Mountain Ash.

This past month the Kindergarten students visited Reptilia, Canada’s largest fully indoor reptile zoo displaying over 250 reptiles. The students saw and learned a great deal about a variety of different reptiles. They learned a lot and have added some new materials to our classrooms to further explore our interests in Reptiles.

The 2014 Lego Robotics Team has been working very hard to get ready for their tournament at Tomken Road Secondary School on December 6th! Not only have they been building robots, programing missions and working together to solve problems, they have also created an innovative solution for how students can choose their future career path! Check out the link to their presentation on the Mountain Ash website. Good luck MASH Mustangs!

 Pizza Days at Mountain Ash!This month pizza days will occur on December 4th,December 11th, December 18th.Pizza has been pre-ordered by students and students cannot purchase slices at school. Pizza will arrive for consumption during second nutrition break, so please pack snacks and drinks for your child that day. January orders need to be submitted by December 18th. Thank You!

Samosa Day — December 10th, 2014

Bring a $1 and purchase a samosa

News from the LibraryFall Book FairThanks to all the staff, students and parents who supported the Kingdom of Books Scholastic Book Fair in the library during Parent Teacher Interviews (Nov. 10-14) Students enjoyed contests and draws during that week and won some fun prizes. Great sales allowed us to put over $1800 in books and resources back into the library. Congratulations to Jasmeet in Mrs. Salik’s K2 class who won the Scholastic Family Event draw for $25 in books for herself and $25 in books for her teacher's classroom. A big thank you to the enthusiastic and dedicated team of student volunteers who made our Book Fair such a successful event.

Mrs. Salik and Jasmeet from K-2 Book Fair Student Volunteers

Green Team Update

The Mountain Ash Green Team is up and running at our school. Elections were recently held and we congratulate Sanghavi and Arnav in Grade 8 for being elected as our student leaders for this year. Mountain Ash continues to be recognized as an Ontario EcoSchool. The program pillars include ecological literacy, energy conservation, waste minimization and school ground greening, each with a step-by-step process that engages the entire school community in practices that help reduce their environmental impact. Students from Grades 5-8 are welcome to join the Green Team.( We meet on Day 7) and students from Grades 1-4 will be known as our Eco Warriors and will work to keep their own classrooms eco friendly.

Turn Your Trash into Cash

Join the Drink Pouch BrigadeTo help us with our Eco-School initiatives again this year, the Mountain Ash Green Team is happy to recycle your child’s foil drink pouches; this includes Kool-aid Jammers as well as various fruit punch drinks. In PEEL, these items are NOT RECYCLABLE, but we are now associated with Terra-Cycle and they use these foil pouches to make new items like pencil cases, purses and bags. Please feel free to send in any collected foil drink pouches from home and help with our fundraising efforts. We also collect the Lunchmate plastic containers. All monies are going towards the establishment of a garden centres in the Kindergarten outside play area. Thanks to Mrs. Bolton’s class who prepares these pouches weekly for us to send to Terra-Cycle.

It's time to register children born in 2011 for kindergarten Register at Mountain Ash Public School on Feb. 2, 3, 4 & 5 We inspire success, confidence and hope in each student…and it all starts in kindergarten! If your child was born in 2011, he or she can start kindergarten in September 2015. Registration will be held at our school from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Feb. 2, 3, 4 and 5 and from 5 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 5 What you will need to bring to registration

Proof of child's age:Canadian birth certificate Canadian passport citizenship card/certificate Permanent Resident Card confirmation of permanent residence work permit refugee permit

Proof of addres:Ontario driver's licenseutility bill bank statement/client slip (directly from financial institution) credit card statement federal government forms (e.g. Social Insurance Number, Service Canada documents) purchase agreement

Proof of custody – children must live with their parent(s) unless provided documentation supports an alternate living arrangement

Proof of immunization – proof that your child has been immunized/vaccinated Extended-day program for kindergarten students Families have the option of enrolling their child in before and after-school programs developed by the Ministry of Education to complement the full-day kindergarten program. These programs are run by qualified, experienced staff from our childcare partners. At registration, we will ask families to tell us whether they are interested in the extended-day programs. The programs can only run if there is enough interest among families. Important information about immunizationIn order to attend school in Ontario, your child must have an up-to-date immunization record. When you register your child for school, you will provide copy of your child's immunization record and the school will send it to Peel Health. After registration, keeping your child's records up to date is your responsibility. Peel Health reviews immunization records regularly. Students who are not completely immunized and do not have a valid exemption may not be allowed to attend school.

Register for French Immersion by Jan. 30, 2015 Are you thinking of registering your child for Grade 1 French Immersion (FI) for the 2015-16 school year?  Registration for Grade 1 FI for the 2015-16 school year will be available online at www.peelschools.org/French as of Monday Nov. 24, 2014 at 9 a.m.  The deadline to register is Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 at 4 p.m. Registrants after that date will be put on a waiting list.  The FI school for our area is Fairlawn Public School. The phone number is 905-794-6063 Registration process A grade 1 FI enrolment cap is in place. This means that a specific number of spots are available for students entering grade 1 FI. If the number of students registered by the deadline exceeds the number of spots in grade 1 FI, a random selection process system will be used to identify students gaining entrance into the grade 1 FI program.   All students who make the registration deadline will be placed in a random selection process and assigned a rank using a computerized random selection process. Spots are not assigned on a first come, first served basis. Once students have been assigned to all available spots, remaining students will be placed, again in rank order, on the school's waitlist.  Some students will be automatically placed in grade 1 FI. To find out if your child does not need to participate in the random selection process, and for more information about the random selection and waitlist processes, visit www.peelschools.org/French.  How to get more information Visit the Peel board website—www.peelschools.org/French.Call Fairlawn Public School at 905-794-6063Visit the Canadian Parents for French website at http://on.cpf.ca/.

Register for Extended French by Jan. 30, 2015 Are you thinking of registering your child for Grade 7 Extended French (EF) for the 2015-16 school year?  Registration for Grade 7 EF for the 2015-16 school year will be available online at www.peelschools.org/French as of Monday Nov. 24, 2014 at 9 a.m.  The deadline to register is Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 at 4 p.m. Registrants after that date will be put on a waiting list.  The EF school for our area is Sir John A. MacDonald. The phone number is 905-457-5535 How to get more information Visit the Peel board website—www.peelschools.org/French.Call Sir John A. MacDonald at 905-457-5535.Visit the Canadian Parents for French website at http://on.cpf.ca/.

Bus cancellation & closing schools due to bad weather During the winter months, we may need to cancel buses or close schools because of inclement weather. Information regarding details of cancellations or closures will be announced on radio and television stations listed below and posted at www.peelschools.org and www.stopr.ca. Information will also be available on Twitter @Peelschools, Facebook at www.facebook.com/peelschools or by calling 905-890-1010 or 1-800-668-1146. VIRGIN RADIO FM99.9 CHUM AM1050 CFTR AM680CFNY FM102.1/AM640 CJCL AM590 CHFI FM98.1CFRB AM1010 EZ ROCK FM97.3 CJBC (FR) AM860FM Z103.5 FM93.1 FM Q107CHIN FM100.7/AM1540 CBC99.1CITYPULSE GLOBAL NEWS CTV One of the following messages will be announced (highlighted text only): Peel District School Board buses are cancelled. This means that schools remain open for students and staff, but buses are cancelled. Bus cancellations could occur in all or parts of municipalities. Buses will remain cancelled all day. All activities that require busing will also be cancelled. Permits, night school classes, child care and other activities in schools will operate as usual. All Peel District School Board schools and board offices are closed. This means that all schools and Board offices are closed to students and staff. All activities in schools and board offices are also cancelled, including child care, night school and permits. All evening programs and permits at the Peel District School Board are cancelled. This means that all activities in schools and Board offices are cancelled, including continuing education courses and events. The buildings will be closed. All weekend programs and permits at the Peel District School Board are cancelled. This means that all activities in schools and Board offices are cancelled, including continuing education courses and events. The buildings will be closed.

Celebrating Faith and CultureDecember 2014

December Luut'aa Aboriginal Spirituality

December 2 Maun Agiyaras or Muanajiyaras

Jainism

December 6 Sanghamitta Day BuddhismDecember 8 Bodhi Day (Rohatsu) BuddhismSunset of December 11 to 30

the month of  Masa'il Bahá’í

December 13 Birthday of Imam Agakhan IslamSunset of December 17 to 24 Chanukah JudaismEve of December 20 to 21

Yule Wicca

December 21 Tohji-taisai ShintoDecember 25 Christmas Christianity and

CanadaDecember 26 Boxing Day Christianity and

CanadaDecember 26 Zarathosht-no-Diso ZoroastrianismDecember 26 to January 1

Kwanza African-Canadian communities

December 28 Birth of Guru Gobind Singh SikhismDecember 31 to January 4

Ghambar Maidyarem Zoroastrianism

December 31 to January 18

the month of Sharaf Bahá’í

 

DECEMBER 2014 Attendance Line: 905-793-7595 – Press #4Sunda

y Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3 4

Pizza Day

5 6

7 8 9 10

Samosa Sale $1

11Pizza DayXmas Concert 6:30pm – Kindergarten –and primary choir

12Crazy Hair Day

13

14 15Puppet ShowKindergarten –Grade 3

16 17 18Pizza DayJunior Intermediate Music Festival 6:30pm –Grade 4 - 8

19Last Day of School

20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

X M A S H O L I D A Y