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NOTE Yard Supervision for Grades 1 to 6 begins at 8:25 AM and ends at 3:50 PM.

Morning Kindergarten supervision begins at 8:30 AM. Afternoon Kindergarten supervision begins at 12:30 PM.

Parents are responsible for their children’s safety and conduct in the yard before and after these times.

VISITOR SIGN-IN BOOK Visitors are requested to sign in at the main office and wear a ‘visitor badge’. This is a

safety measure to ensure that visiting adults are recognized and encouraged to feel welcome in our school. Thank You!

Character Trait for March: Honesty

Honesty: means being truthful in word and action, showing trustworthiness, and being reliable in carrying out commitments, obligations and duties. It also means telling the truth and admitting wrongdoing.

Kindergarten Registration for September 2011 Ongoing throughout the Spring.

For more information about Kindergarten Registration visit : www.tdsb.on.ca/kindergarten

Start your children in Kindergarten at Orde Street Junior Public School and watch them achieve great things! See inside for more details.

Message from the Principal/directeur

I can’t believe we are in March already. As much as I enjoy winter I can honestly say I’m looking forward to warm sunny days! Despite the cold there have been a number of wonderful activities here at the school that has created a warm feeling school wide. For Black History month we have had announcements, book talks, storytelling, movie viewing with pre and post discussions and a performance by Oakdale Park Middle School’s steel pan group (more on that later in this newsletter). I would like to thank Mr. Kevin Brewer, an occasional teacher here at Orde, for organizing the storytelling and Ms. Karyn Haynes from Oakdale for bring the steel pan group down to Orde. Both were very enriching experiences for our students. School Council is sponsoring two major family events in the spring. 1st, there is the Family Literacy Night. Planning is well underway and the plans for the evening look spectacular. There will be many different types of activities for families to participate in. The Family Literacy night will take place on April 13th. Please mark this date on your calendars. You won’t want to miss it. Secondly, Ms. Intarakosit along with parent volunteers/School Council members are planning a Family Fitness night. I am amazed at the number of wonderful activities/events that will take place on that night. Please circle May 19th on your calendars. More details to follow. If you want like to help out with either of these events please contact the school. March Break is fast approaching. I wish all of you an enjoyable and safe break.

Orde Street Public School 18 Orde Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1N7 Telephone: 416.393.1900 Fax: 416.393.0864 Principal: David Tomlin Website: http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/ordestreet

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Safe Arrival Program

The Safe Arrival program is used by parents/ guardians and schools to account for any student’s unexplained failure to arrive at school. Please call the school safe arrival number 416-393-1900 before 8:45 AM or 12:30 PM (for an afternoon absence) if your child will not be attending school. This line is available 24 hours a day with voice mail. If your child is absent and we have not heard from you, we will make every effort to contact you using the information provided on the Emergency Form. The name and telephone number of an emergency contact is absolutely essential.

Administration of Prescribed Medication

Please inform your child’s teacher if prescribed medication needs to be administered during school hours. We will send home a letter from the Toronto District School Board outlining the conditions under which the medication will be administered. There is a form which must be completed by the parent and physician. If your child has a medical condition that requires specific management, please inform your child’s teacher so that the Management of Emergency Medical Concerns form can be sent home.

Reminder: Orde Street strives to be a peanut, nut and egg safe school

We have a number of children who are severely allergic to peanuts, nuts, whole eggs and other allergens. We want to provide a safe environment for our students and staff. As a first step, we request that children not bring food items to school containing peanut, nut or whole egg products.

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School Council Meeting Wednesday, March 30th , 6:00 PM Please consider attending an Orde School Council meeting. At Orde, these meetings are held monthly and are designed to enhance communication between parents and the teaching staff and the academic performance of the school. To make it easier to attend, free childcare and pizza are provided at the meetings. You can learn more about Orde’s school council by reading the detailed minutes of the previous meetings available on the Orde school website. The website address is http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/ordestreet

Upcoming Council sponsored activities: Family Literacy Night April 13th, 6:15 pm Family Fitness Night May 19th, 5:00 pm

It’s Flu Season!

The flu virus spreads quickly and easily among children at school and at play. The flu is spread by coughing and sneezing and from touching contaminated surfaces like toys, doorknobs and computer keyboards after someone with the flu has touched them. Children should be reminded to wash their hands frequently during the day and to cover their nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing.

To reduce your children’s risk of getting the flu, have them vaccinated this season. It will protect them and you from getting the flu. You can get your flu shot from your family doctor or at a Toronto Public Health vaccination clinic. To find the nearest location go to www.toronto.ca/health or call the Ministry of Health’s Flu Information Line at 1-866-FLU ‘N YOU (1-866-358-6968).

Our Community

Health & Wellness

Don’t take Rocks for Granite! By Ms. Hughes grade 4 class.

We had a Scientist in the Schools visit in Room 12. Our Scientist was Jennifer Armstrong, a Geologist. This was a hands on workshop and we learned a lot about Rocks and Minerals and we had fun doing it. Ms. Armstrong also read us a book about the importance of owning a special pebble. So we got to choose our own pebble; one that felt good in our hands and in our pockets. A pebble that is special just because! We even wrote poems about our pebbles and gave them names and a birthday. And some of our pebbles even have a personality. One of our students lost his special pebble in the schoolyard and he was very upset, so the entire class formed a “search party” and guess what, the missing pebble was found by its owner safe and sound. Alls well, that ends well.

Jennifer Armstrong working with our students on rocks.

Ms. Hughes and students digging for gold!

Junior student leading a study group

Our Volleyball Season By Mei Yi This year our grade 5 and 6 volleyball team coached by Mr. Lewis had a great season. We were very nervous but still excited at the first tournament. But after a few serves, we were ready and our confidence was building up by the second. We went through the game by game scoring points one by one. Our practices obviously paid off when we’ve won both of the play-offs against the Island school and Niagara. We were so full of happiness that our feelings were unable to be explained by words. Since we won first in the first tournament, we got to skip the quarter-finals. We practiced really hard. The days felt like they passed by faster than usual. When the game day had approached, we were really anxious. We did most things right, but Hawthorne Alternative was better at them. They sometimes had lucky serves that we were pretty sure wouldn’t go over but they did. They beat us in the first round. It did look like we were making a comeback in the second one, but Hawthorne caught up and beat us again. We didn’t need a third round, since Hawthorne had already won two games. But even though our season is over, we still had an excellent one. Thanks to Mr. Lewis for coaching us!

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Akeelah and the Bee By Bob from Rm. 17 (Editor’s note: As part of celebrating Black History Month, Mr. Lewis showed the junior classes a powerful film. Viewing questions were discussed before and after the film) Last month the students in rooms 17 and 12 watched a powerful movie called, “Akeelah and the Bee”. This movie is powerful (in my opinion) because it takes place in a rundown crime ridden part of America where the main character, Akeelah, goes against all odds to become recognized as a child-prodigy despite her background. She lives in south-central L.A. where life is tough for everyone. She goes to a disadvantaged school called Crenshaw Public School where she’s known as a freak for being smart. This all changes when she meets Dr. Larabee, a well educated man that made it to the national spelling bee before. Throughout the movie we see how different characters, including Akeelah, change. What makes me think this is an extraordinary film is the powerful morale it carries with it: You can do anything once you put your mind to it. I personally enjoyed this movie.

Steel Pans at Orde

To help celebrate Black History month at Orde, Oakdale Park Middle School’s steel pans came to visit. Oakdale Park is located in the Jane and Finch community and the steel pan group has been performing all across Toronto the last few years. At Orde they performed a number of musical songs including two contemporary ones, Grenade by Bruno Mars and Dynamite. The Oakdale students were fantastic. It was like listening to a professional band! Some of our Orde students and staff starting dancing spontaneously in the aisles! In between musical sets, different Oakdale students spoke to our students about the history of the steel pans and their place in black history. So in addition to being exposed to a diverse musical form, students were also given a small history lesson. It was no surprise then that the audience began calling for an encore, which they did with another stirring rendition of Dynamite. A big thank you to Oakdale Park for a great performance!

Oakdale Steel Pans performing.

Ms. Haynes, the music teacher, performing with Oakdale students.

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Chinese New Year at Orde Early in February we had a sensational Chinese New Year assembly. Student performed a variety of dances and movements. Students and staff were dressed in traditional garb. We also watched a traditional Lion Dance performed which awed the crowd especially the younger students. Thank you to the Wong family for inviting the dancers and Ms. Tam for putting together the lucky red envelopes and delivering them to the classes for the students. Thank you to our International Languages instructors who decorated the main foyer of the school and the gym in celebration of the Lunar New Year. Last but not least, a hearty thanks to Ms. Tsui and Ms. Gibson who have been planning the event for quite some time. A wonderful time was had by all.

Our masters of ceremonies.

The Lion Dance.

Grade 3 students posing.

March Break Camp International Languages International Languages with support of Focus on Youth offers a March Break Camp held from March 14th to March 18th, 2011 for students JK to Grade 8. March Break Camp will take place at Ryerson C.S. Ryerson is located at 96 Denison Road (Dundas and Spadina). Classes run from 9am to 4 pm, Monday to Friday. Classes combine language learning (half day) with activities (half day). Five languages are offered-one language a day. Activities include arts, games, dance , music and sports. A camp fee of $30 per child includes lunch and healthy snacks. Daycare is available from 4 to 6 pm for an added cost of $20. If interested, please go to the staffroom at Ryerson C.S. on Saturdays from 9:45-11:45 am for registration. Registration will be accepted on a first come first serve basis. For more information, contact Lisa Oliveira at 416-527-2779 or Fani Papadopoulos at 416-985-5926.

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Reminder to Parents re Parking on Orde St.

Parents are reminded of the bus loading zone on the west end of Orde St. at McCaul. This are should be kept clear to accommodate our school buses. Thank you!

Home Depot Home Depot has donated a number of children’s workshop kits for our upcoming Family Literacy Night. We would like to thank them for the donation. One Saturday a month, families can sign up for a family workshop (for children ages 9 and below) where children build small wooden projects with their family members for free. Call the Home Depot for more information.

100 Day at Orde Late in February our Primary division celebrated 100s day. To celebrate numeracy, students participated in a variety of activities by rotating from one classroom to another. Students made necklace with cereal pieces using colour patterns, some learned and recited a poem about the number 100, others made paper crowns with groups of objects on them counting to 100 and another classroom had students do a number of dance steps and exercises that counted up to 100. It was a rich experience for our students.

Creating 100s necklaces.

Creating 100s placemats using different shapes and objects.

Using pasta to celebrate the number 100!

100s crown.

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Dancing to the number 100.

Storytelling for Black History Month On Friday February 25th were treated to a wonderful storytelling session. Mr. Brewer, who is an occasional teacher here at Orde, along with Natalie Gyles (a storyteller from the Harbourfront Center) led the way by telling our students some very exciting stories to help celebrate Black History month. Mr. Brewer also does storytelling at the Harbourfront center when he isn’t busy teaching at Orde! Thank you to both! Our students were captivated by their dramatic flair and the power of the stories that were told.

Storytelling with Mr. Brewer .

Girls Club Conference By Shruti On February 9th, Ms. Sullada had taken four girls on a trip. All the girls belonged to the girls club. She had taken students from different grades. We went to the Sprirale Banquet Hall on Don Mills road. We had to switch from the subway to the bus on the way there. It was quite far away. It was a really pretty place. There were many tables and there were lots of girls, about 500. We had got served breakfast; it was really yummy ( we got cream puffs, jam puffs and muffins). There was a lady, an artist who told us things about self esteem and bullying and all sorts of things about girls. We did a lot of activities such as decorating mirrors and other things too. After awhile we got lunch. It was really yummy. We got garlic bread, pasta in sauce, salad and a drink. We also got dessert. It was vanilla chocolate ice cream with strawberries and strawberry sauce. After lunch we had many different types of issues related to girls and did more activities. Then we headed back to school. It was one of the best trips I’ve been on.

Poetry Corner

Below are selected poems from Ms. Huynh’s ESL class. Rainbow By Deema Rainbow, rainbow You are so BIG You have a beautiful colour Rainbow, rainbow Rainbow, rainbow You have colours Red, orange and yellow Green, blue and purple Rainbow, rainbow I like rainbow Rainbow, rainbow I like rainbow Earth By Calvin Earth is our home Earth is our mum. We can’t leave earth. We must treasure earth. Earth is colourful. Earth is beautiful. Earth is great. We like earth.

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Junior Boys' Basketball Team

The boys' basketball team played extremely well in a day tournament at Jesse Ketchum Public School. They went up against Ogden, Given Shaw, Oriole, and Jesse Ketchum. The boys played with a lot of heart and soul...placing them in second place at the tournament. They displayed outstanding sportsmanship throughout the day. A huge 'THANK YOU' goes out to the amazing coaches for their time and dedication to the team - Mr. Yee Chau, Mr. Lance Straun and Mr. Wayne Tam. A special 'SHOUT OUT' goes our to Savannah from room 1 and her mom (Darlene Tam) and Daiki's parents (Kenji and Nobuko Baba) for coming out to the tournament and supporting us!

Here's what Ms. Tam wrote in to say about the team... "Basketball's the game, Orde Street Boys Basketball team is the name. Sitting on the sidelines, I had the opportunity to watch the amazing plays at the boys basketball tournament. Thank you boys for playing the games with such will & determination. They were very enjoyable to watch!" Way to go Orde Street Public School!!!

Pictured (left to right) Jude Mahou, Daiki Baba, Benjamin DeGraff, Chih Li Wang, Chrishtian Agard, Daniel Zhang, Darren Biosah, Sean Li, Jonathan Chen, and Mackenzie Chau

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