January 2016

270 Firgrove Cres., Toronto, Ontario,

M3N 1K8

Tel: (416)395-2420 Fax (416) 395-5240

Visit our website: http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/firgrove /home.aspx

Sukhwinder Singh Buall

Principal

Nancy Jassal Vice Principal

Gina Cristini Office Administrator

Valerie Trento Secretary

Tiffany Ford

School Trustee

Jacqueline Spence Superintendent

Dr. John Malloy Director of Education

Welcome Back…

A Very Happy New Year to all Firgrove Families! May it be a year blessed with peace, good health and prosperity and joy!

We would like to extend a gracious welcome back to all of our students and families with the commencement of a new year! We hope everyone enjoyed a restful and fun-filled winter break with memorable moments surrounded by the company of loved ones. As we move into January, it is time to get back into work mode! This term will be another one filled with great learning experiences at our school.

Build Character, Build Success!

Teamwork Teamwork is all about working together in a united way in order to reach a common

goal. Teamwork involves creating a positive work environment. Teamwork means team

members support each other: they combine their own individual strengths in order to

achieve a better performance for the entire team.

In elementary classrooms, teamwork can be practiced through playing cooperative

classroom games. By playing these games, students have the chance to become critical

thinkers, learn to work with one another and apply these skills to accomplish team goals.

The difference between cooperative games and competitive games is that, while

competitive games focus on winning teams and losing teams, cooperative games are

about building self-esteem because all teams must succeed. In cooperative games, no one

is left out and communication between team members will enable them to plan

strategies for finding solutions to problems. Children learn about the importance of

teamwork, as cooperative games help them learn how individual efforts unite to help the

team accomplish goals.

Quote of the month:

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

~ Helen Keller ~

Winter Wonderland … We would like to start off this New Year with a mention of how proud we are of our students for their outstanding performance at our Winter Wonderland concert! It took a great amount of confidence to get on stage and perform. We commend them for all their hard work and dedication!

Looking Back to a Busy December Month

Successful Food Drive

The students who attended

We Day earlier this year have

started their first community

event in December. The Me to

We Foundation encourages

children to make a difference

in their communities by

completing initiatives that

they think will have the most

impact. Our students’ first

initiative was to organize a

Food Drive and it was a HUGE

success! Thanks to our

wonderful Firgrove families,

Ms. Aceto’s van was filled

with non-perishable food

items that were donated to

our local food bank! Thank

you to all of you and Good

Luck to our Grade 4/5

students with their future

initiatives!

A Message from

ECO Club Firgrove’s ECO Club would like

to let all of you know that our

school had the opportunity to

receive ten big trees which

were planted in our school

yard. We would like to remind

everyone of our love of nature

and to encourage all our

students to care for our new big

trees.

Winter Weather During the winter season, many parents are concerned about school policy on outdoor recess. When temperature and/or wind chill factor indicates -20 to -28C, recesses may be shortened to 10 minutes and lunch recess to 20 minutes, depending on local conditions. When temperature and/or wind chill factor indicates -28C or lower, children will remain indoors.

In order to ensure your children’s comfort

while outside for recess, please dress them with

warm coats, boots, mittens, hats and scarves.

Also, please pack an extra pair of socks in your

child’s backpack to have handy in case of need.

We all need to be prepared for the extremes of

Canadian weather.

In case of severe weather, you can check on Bus

Cancellations by visiting www. STOPR.ca or

listening to the radio stations listed at bottom

left of this page.

Radio Stations

104.5 CHUM FM 99.1 FM CBC

98.1 FM CHFI 107.1 FM Q107

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King, Jr., (Jan. 15, 1929 – Apr. 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, humanitarian and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs. The city of Toronto is one of the few cities outside of the United States that officially recognizes Martin Luther King Jr. Day, every year. This year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is on January 18th.

No Name-Calling Week The week of January 18th to 22nd is No Name Calling Week in the Toronto

District School Board. The purpose of this week is to celebrate kindness

while working to create safe schools free of name-calling, bullying and bias.

No Name-Calling Week was inspired by a novel for young adults written by

James Howe. It is celebrated by schools across the nation and supported by

over sixty national organizations.

For Your Information

Coming Up …

January 12 School Parent Council meeting January 28 Pizza Lunch Feb. 4 EQAO Night Feb. 11 & 12 Parent Teacher Interviews Feb. 8-12 Book Fair Feb. 18 Kindergarten Registration

Iroquois Midwinter Ceremony

In the month of January, after the new moon appears, the people of the Six Nations in southern Ontario gather for the Iroquois Midwinter Ceremony. This eight-day ceremony marks the beginning of the new year. During the first two days of the ceremony a custom called “stirring ashes” is performed in a longhouse. Two stoves at each end of the longhouse are filled with wooden logs. Once the logs have burned everyone gets a turn to stir the ashes with a special wooden paddle as they give thanks for their blessings and pray for the renewal of the earth.

Source: Lighting Our World. A Year of Celebrations by Catherine Rondina

Open questions and parallel tasks are helpful in a class with children who have different levels of “mathematics preparation, skill and confidence.” In one of our previous newsletters, we introduced open tasks to you. But what are Parallel tasks? They are sets of tasks (two or three) that are designed to meet the needs of students at different levels, but that get at the same big idea and are close enough in context that they can be discussed simultaneously. For example, if the Big Idea to be taught is that there are many ways to represent numbers, a Parallel task might look like this: Option 1: Choose a number between 1 and 10. Show that number in as many ways as you can. Option 2: Choose a number between 20 and 30. Show that number in as many ways as you can. Regardless of the chosen task, students could be asked:

- What number did you represent? - How do you know that that number was one that was okay to choose? - What are some of the different ways you represented that number?

The Math Corner

Challenge for Students:

Think of a Parallel task that your

teacher might give you.

Write it down together with a Big

Idea or some questions that the

teacher can ask regardless of each

option a student choose to solve.

Bring your task to Ms. Colceriu

(Rm. 206) by the end of this week.

The best Parallel task will be

published in next month’s

newsletter.