Kleinburg P.S. June 2017

Dear Families;

The month of June has arrived. It is incredible to think that we are nearing the end of another school year. This year the school has been fortunate to have had a number of wonderful opportunities for our students, staff and parents/ guardians to participate in. A big thank you to all of the people who have been involved in these events. We would like to extend a special thank you to the School Council for all their work this year. We would also like to thank the many parent volunteers and our dedicated staff who have been involved in the school. It is this partnering that makes Kleinburg P.S. so successful. As we wrap up this school year, we are busy planning a successful start for September 2017. We are working with a tentative organization and tentative class placements. We will be notifying you by email the last week of August with your child’s tentative homeroom assignment and teacher. If your email has changed, please notify the office immediately with your new email address. To our Grade 8 graduates, may you cherish the time you have spent here at KPS. Each and every one of you has a bright future ahead and all of us here at KPS wish you much success. To the students and families leaving us for other educational experiences or moving out of the community, thank you for being a part of KPS; we wish you well in everything that you do.

Please remind your child/children to be careful and obey the rules of the road when riding skateboards, bicycles, scooters and rollerblades throughout Kleinburg. We would ask that all parents review the rules of the road with their child/children. As June winds down and summer winds up, we would like to thank our parents/guardians, community members and the KPS staff for their continued support of the school. Happy Summer!

Greg Morandi Donna Donalds

Principal Vice Principal

Kleinburg P.S.

10391 Islington Ave.

Kleinburg, ON

L0J 1C0

Phone: 905-893-1142 Fax: 905-893-3500

www.kleinburg.ps.yrdsb.ca

Principal Greg Morandi

Vice Principal

Donna Donalds

Admin Assistant Lori Ainsley

Secretary

Anna Gagliardi

Lead Caretaker Elio Sarro

Caretakers

Ken Jackson Brian Niessner

Tyler Wick

Superintendent Paul Valle

(905) 764-6830

Trustee Anna DeBartolo (416) 898-9653

School Council Co-Chairs

Michelle Qubti Megan O’Connor

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSIGNMENTS

On Tuesday, June 7, 2017 at the York Region District School Board meeting of trustees and senior administrators, decisions were made regarding some of the administrative assignments for the coming school year. The Board has removed Mrs. Donna Donald‘s status as interim Vice Principal at KPS and she now becomes our full time Vice Principal for September. We look forward to our continued work supporting student learning and wellbeing next year. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office.

JUNE 29, 2017 EARLY DISMISSAL IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

All schools in the York Region District School Board are committed to improving student achievement and well-being. On Thursday, June 29, 2017 an early release day will take place to allow elementary teachers and support staff to take part in meetings during the afternoon of that day. These meetings will allow for school staff to engage in culminating activities regarding the review and revision of the School’s Improvement Plan as well as year-end and transition activities that support student success.

As has been our practice in the past, students will attend school during the morning of Thursday, June 29th, 2017 only. Students will be dismissed early that day at 11:25. Arrangements will be made to ensure that students who are normally bused to and from school will receive transportation at this time. Parents/guardians whose children attend after school child care should make appropriate arrangements to address this change in schedule.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL SEPTEMBER 2017 The first day of school for the 2017/18 academic year will begin on Tuesday, September 5th. Our start and end times remain the same. School begins at 8:35 a.m. and dismissal is at 2:55 p.m. Supervision begins at 8:20 a.m. An email will be sent out at the end of August to notify you of the class placement of your child (example, 1A, 5/6A, etc.). On the first day of school, each teacher will be outside by a chair indicating their Homeroom. Students will line up with that teacher and students will be taken to their classroom. Class lists will not be posted. If it rains, we will move to the gymnasium. Unfortunately, we are not able to share teacher names at this point as not all hiring has been completed. Kindly remember that all KPS teachers hold an Ontario College of Teachers certificate and are qualified to teach in the division and/or grade assigned. Requests to change student grade placements need to be made in writing to the principal detailing the reasons for your request. Consideration to requests will happen at the end of September when we do a final reorganization of classes. Please understand there will be no changes made before then.

CLASS PLACEMENTS In June, current homeroom teachers, appropriate support staff and the school administration work to develop balanced classes that strive to best meet the needs of all our students. All class placement decisions are made after extensive planning, preparation, and discussion on the part of many people. Our primary goal is to develop balanced classes that reflect the diversity of our learners, and allow the variety of interests and talents of our students to emerge.

After working with your child over the course of this year, your child’s teachers have a very good understanding of your child’s abilities and needs, both academic and social. Each new year brings opportunities for all students to meet new friends and expand their circle of acquaintances.

The writing of letters requesting a specific teacher and/or placement with certain friends often results in the school receiving over one hundred letters. As you can imagine, honoring each request is impossible and makes it extremely difficult for us to create “balanced” classes. Please be aware that we do not accept requests for

specific teachers and/or for particular groups of students to remain together but will accept letters describing a classroom environment which you feel meets the learning style of your child.

How Can Parents Help? The teachers and administration at Kleinburg P.S. strive to provide the best possible learning environment for all students. Open dialogue between parents and teachers helps us to accomplish this and has a direct and positive influence on your child’s learning. If you have information about your child that may have an impact on his/her ability to learn effectively, you are encouraged to share that information with his/her teachers at the beginning and throughout the school year. Parents play a critical role in helping their child make the adjustment to a new teacher and new classmates. Teachers will be working very hard to make sure they create inviting learning environments for all their students. Your active support in helping your child remain positive about the new challenges ahead is important for a smooth transition to the new class. Team Teaching Approach Our teachers work collaboratively in grade teams to deliver a consistent program to all students. This approach ensures that all students receive the same program regardless of class placement.

YEARBOOK Thank you for supporting our 2016-2017 yearbook efforts. Books are expected to arrive just in time for graduation and end of year festivities. There will be a very limited quantity of yearbooks available for $35 CASH. Please bring exact money amount to Mrs. Di Padre in the Learning Commons during Book Exchange/AM attendance.

TENTATIVE KPS CLASSROOM ORGANIZATION FOR SEPTEMEBER 2017-2018

FTJSA (FDKA) GR5A

FTJSB (FDKB) GR5B

FTJSC (FDKC) GR5/6A

FTJSD (FDKD) GR6A

GR1A GR7A

GR1B GR7B

GR1/2A GR7/8A

GR2A GR8A

GR2B GR8B

GR3A

GR3B SSCA - JUNIOR

GR3C SSCB - INTERMEDIATE

GR4A COMMUNITY CLASS

GR4B CCA – Junior/Intermediate

LEARNING COMMONS Thank you so much to all students and families for returning books to our Library Collection. Circulation will stop on Friday, June 9th. All materials should be returned no later than Thursday, June 14th. Mrs. Di Padre

and Ms. Kerr are busily organizing the materials as they come in. Thank you for your support in getting things in tip-top shape to ensure the space is ready for a new school year in September.

A big THANK YOU to all the families who supported the Commemorative Book Program. Books have been added to our book collection in the honour of your special nominees and will be available for check out in

September.

All students are encouraged to keep up their literacy adventures throughout the summer. Check out what's happening at VPL just two doors from us. Happy Things Literacy.

VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION

Thank you to staff for organizing a beautiful morning celebration to honour the special helping hands of the family and friends who volunteer at KPS on a daily, weekly, and/or monthly basis. We thank you so much for the time and effort you dedicate to our students, staff, and school. We wish you a safe and restful summer holiday.

BINDERTWINE 2017

CHARACTER MATTERS

In the month of June, we focus on PERSEVERANCE. What is Perseverance?

refusing to stop ‐ continuing to purse your goal without being discouraged.

How to demonstrate/achieve perseverance: 1. Identify your goal.

2. Develop a plan to achieve your goal. 3. Prepare for any failures.

4. Take the first step. 5. If you fail, keep on trying!

6. If you fail again, re‐assess your approach. 7. Believe in yourself ‐ you can do it!

YRDSB SUMMER LEARNING PROGRAMS The York Region District School Board is pleased to offer a variety of summer learning programs for elementary and secondary students. More information about summer programs and registration can be found using the link below.

http://www.yrdsb.ca/Programs/summer/Pages/default.aspx

SUMMER LEARNING AT HOME

Summer learning loss is a real problem. Alarmingly, research suggests students may lose more than one month of reading knowledge during the summer, and the losses in math may be even greater. Here, we’ve compiled a few resources to keep students learning through the dog days of summer, with a particular focus on math and reading. For starters, the Edutopia blog post "Avoiding the Summer Slide in Reading and Writing" from Heather Wolpert-Gawron is chock-full of useful information and strategies for parents and students. Source: EDUTOPIA

http://www.startwithabook.org/summer-reading-learning

Fun Learning in the Summer! During the summer, you can continue to engage your child in learning activities, whether at home, or on the road! Here are some fun ways you can help build literacy and math skills to maintain gains made during the school year.

I spy! In the car, at the grocery store, at the beach…play ‘I spy’ using rhyming words, words that start with … using shapes, and of course the old stand-by- colors.

Start with a book! Read. Talk. Explore. Check out the website: http://startwithabook.org/readingaloud for tips on reading with your child.

Growing Readers in Science! Check out: http://www.readingrockets.org/extras/stem_series

Playing board games is a great family literacy activity and math activity that also helps create a strong family bond and promotes language comprehension.

Keep a backpack of books, pencils, crayons and paper or notebooks, puzzles, crosswords, word searches, games for the car.

Download stories to iPods/iPads. This is a great idea for long car rides. Check out the Public Library for downloads.

MUSIC CORNER

MusicFest Nationals Niagara Falls 2017: Our KPS Concert Band and Spectrum of Sound vocal ensemble participated on the MusicFest Nationals Stage in Niagara Falls on May 16th & 17th. Our KPS musicians put in many hours of rehearsing and fundraising to make this a possibility. Forty-six of our top instrumentalists and vocalists (many of whom were away from their parents alone for the first time) along with Mr. Morandi, Mr. Scanga, Mrs. Mumford and Mrs. Caldwell enjoyed the festival competitions, evening concerts and some sightseeing throughout the memorable 4-day excursion. Our KPS Concert Band performed three selections on “Stage B” at the ScotiaBank Convention Centre: African Spirit Dance by John O’Rielly, Ancient Moon by Elliot DelBorgo and Early One Morning Arr. David Marlatt. The adjudicators presented our musicians with a Bronze Award for their stage performance ~ an above average performance with latitude for improvement. In the clinic following, our KPS instrumentalists shone with a Gold performance in sight-reading and a Certificate of Excellence for their responsiveness during the clinic! The Concert Band Honour Award was presented to Gr. 8 percussionist Jacob Diamond. Congratulations Jacob!

SCHOOL COUNCIL CORNER As we approach the end of the year, we have some exciting KPS events where we are in need of volunteers. Fun Day – June 23rd If you are available for a couple of hours during the day on June 16th, please contact either Michelle Qubti at mqubti@rogers.com or Megan O’Connor at megangilbert@yahoo.com. We can always use an extra set of hands to help with games, food, etc… Grade 8 Graduation – June 21st The Grade 8 Graduation is just around the corner (June 21st) and as is tradition at KPS, the Grade 7 parents help in preparing the gym for the big event! We prepare the gym during the day on June 20th and 21st. If you are a Grade 7 parent and would like to help out, please contact Katie Fortuna at kt42na@hotmail.com Other News: We are happy to announce that KPS School Council, through the generosity of our parent community, has contributed $5,000 to our music program to provide much needed support to upgrade some of our instruments. Finally, we would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe summer! Please consider coming out to our next school council meeting in September, everyone is welcome!

Spectrum of Sound, along with our KPS Percussion Ensemble and our accompanist Mrs. Leber performed at the Redeemer Bible Church three selections, which included: Give Us Hope by Jim Papoulis, Alleluia, Alleluia by Amy Bernon and Hidden Away by Josh Groben and Dan Wilson. Our vocalists earned a Gold Award for their stage performance ~ which signifies the ensemble has achieved excellence in all facets of the performance. The following clinic with Nancy Kidd was a lot of fun and filled with compliments for our young KPS performers! Eva Macoretta, a Gr. 7 soprano vocalist, was presented with the Honour Award. Congratulations Eva!

Mrs. Caldwell would like to extend a special thank you to each of the Gr. 8 graduating members of this years’ KPS Concert Band! Some members were new to us this year but many have been integral to the development of the program over the last 3-4 years! Flute: Merochini Manohar Clarinets: Alyssa Campagna, Ellie Cohan, Delsi Shah & Karina Tavernese Alto Saxophones: Nicole Chiaravalotti & Danielle Duria Tenor Saxophone: Gianluca Cudizio Baritone Saxophone: Eden Zanette Trumpets: Mikaela Aiello, Dylan Reeves & Charlotte Scarangella Baritones: Benjamin Lorenzana & Angel Vargas Percussionists: Sofia Del Re & Jacob Diamond Each of you contributed in your own special way through peer leadership, instrument technique, positivity, rehearsal focus and attention to detail! You will be missed! I wish each one of you all the best in your future musical endeavors! The KPS Concert Band and Spectrum of Sound Members thank everyone in our school community for their continued support of the fundraising initiatives and the whole KPS music program!

SCHOOL CALENDAR AND COMMUNICATION – KEEPING YOU INFORMED

Please consult our school calendar at the following web address for upcoming school events:

http://www.yrdsb.ca/schools/kleinburg.ps/NewsEvents/Pages/School-Calendar.aspx

As well please reference the following links for other information items: The KPS blog- https://kleinburgps.wordpress.com/

The KPS twitter account - @KPSCoyotes Our school website - http://www.yrdsb.ca/schools/kleinburg.ps/Pages/default.aspx

Our front signage Our monthly newsletter

http://www.yrdsb.ca/schools/kleinburg.ps/NewsEvents/Pages/Newsletters.aspx Front Entrance Digital Signage