Wexford Public School 1050 Pharmacy Avenue, Scarborough, Ontario M1R 2H1

Tel: 416-396-6640 Fax: 416-396-5925 Web Site: http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/wexford

Principal : Leonard Naismith Vice Principal : Samantha Gillan Office Administrator: Shahla Alam

Secretary: Jamie LeBlanc Chief Caretaker: Paul Micallef

The Wexford Word

December

2016

Wexford

Public School

Annual Dance-a-thon Fundraiser Raises almost $7,500!

Over the month of November, we had our big fundraiser for the year, the Dance-A-Thon! We are proud to announce that we raised a total of $7,483.50!!!! We would like to thank all of our families for their financial support in raising funds for our school. The children had a blast at the dance and especially loved dancing with the glow sticks. We have a lot of incentives still to come for the class/students who raised the most money. The students were very excited when the winners of each prize were announced! (See picture on Page 6. ) A special shout-out goes out to Ms. Tsang's class for raising the most money; they raised $1,013!! Ms. Tsang, Mrs. Darwish, and Mr. Greer's class will all receive free Pizza Lunches for raising the most money! Students who raised the most in each class will have the opportunity to silly string Mr. Naismith and Ms. Gillan! Aimee in Grade 5 individually raised the most—$400! Thirty students will get a free lunch at the Mandarin in the spring. With the money raised, we are able to provide bus transportation for trips, Scientist in the School presentations for each class and other ways to enrich our school programming. Thank you again for all your support, it is greatly appreciated!

Dates to Remember:

Dec. 14 and 15—Winter Concert 7 p.m.

Dec. 15 —Kindergarten Concert, 1:00 p.m.

Dec. 24—Jan. 8—Winter Break (School Closed)

Jan. 9, 2017 —School Begins again

Holiday Shout-Outs!

Holiday Shout-Outs are on

sale for $0.50 each! Get in

the

holiday spirit

and send some cheer

to someone dear!

A Trip to See “Seussical” Ms. Kondos, Ms. Pelc, and Ms. Darwish’s classes went on an outstanding trip to see the musical, “Seussical”, at the Young People’s Theatre. Honestly, I had a blast! There were beautiful coloured lights everywhere! The actors sang loud and proud! They sang beautifully, and

the way they would talk sounded like how an actual cartoon character would. The props and costumes looked so fictional, like I was in the real book! If I would have to rate the musical out of 5 stars, I would rate it a clear 5! It was the world of fantasy! They would read the words of the books the play was based on, Horton Hears A Who and Horton Lays An Egg. The plot of the story was so interesting with a juicy problem and a hap-pily ever after, just like the books. The play was very creative, just like how Dr. Seuss was. My favourite part was the special effects. They were magical! For example, when bubbles were filling up the sky and neon lights amazed the audience! It was just wonderful! It was even better when they said it only took them 2 weeks to rehearse! It looked too professional! I thought it took them about 2 years, from how good it was! Overall, it was an awesome time, and I loved it! ~ Maryam Medhi

Page 2

Residential Schools & the “Secret Path”: The Story of Chanie Wenjack In the past two weeks, student in room 20 have begun to takes steps towards reconciliation. We have examined many online re-sources and books about residential schools. These “so called” schools were created to assimilate First Nations children into “Canadians”. In these schools, children suffered many kinds of abuse and were treated horribly on a daily basis. One of the pieces of information we examined was the graphic novel entitled, “Secret Path” by Gord Downie and Jeff Lemire. Mr. Downie is a fa-mous singer herein Canada, and he decided to raise awareness about the abuse in residential schools. To do this, he created mu-sic and helped to co-write a graphic novel about a young boy named Chanie Wenjack. Chanie and his sisters were forced to attend one of these schools. Tired of the abuse and sickness, Chanie and two other boys decided to run away from the school. The two boys made it to their ancestral home safely but Chanie need-ed to continue on his own journey - a journey of nearly 800+ kms. Chanie walked until he could walk no more. He died alone and afraid next to the railroad tracks he was following. Stories like Chanie’s and thousands others, have left a terrible mark on our history as a nation. What path will you take towards healing, towards reconciliation? - Anthusi

Page 3

Corn Husk Dolls

We, the Grade 5 students from Room 16, made corn husk dolls inspired by an Iroquois legend called “The Doll With No Face.” The Legend goes something like this: The Corn Sister of the Three Sisters was so beautiful that she became vain. Creator warned her that she would be punished if she did not change her ways. She tried for awhile, but she couldn’t resist her beauty. One day, when she was admiring herself in the creek, a screeching owl snatched her reflection from the water. From that day on, the Corn Sister had no reflection. Mothers tell their children this Legend as they make them faceless dolls out of corn husks. This is to remind them that no one is better than anyone else, and that Creator has given everyone a spe-cial gift. Ours was a messy process, and our dolls didn’t always turn out the way we expected, but we en-joyed our experience. Although some of us weren’t happy with our individual dolls, we were sur-prised by how well they turned out when we put them all together!

Seasonal Variety Show at Wexford C.I.

On December 8,2016, Room 19 and 20 went to Wexford C.I. to watch their Seasonal Variety Show. The show was tremendous in many ways. Words cannot describe how good the show was. There were many great performances, from Frosty the Snowman to Santa Claus vs Beyonce. It was evident that there was a lot of time and effort put into place by the performers. Their commitment was obvi-ous and it seemed like they really enjoy performing. For us students, it shows that anything can hap-pen as long as you work hard and train to put on a great show. All of us had a really great time watching and we are really looking forward to the next Seasonal Variety Show. We know that it will a be another great one!

Page 4

TRIPS TO Forest Valley

Ms. Pelc’s Grade 5 and 6 students at Forest Valley

Ms. Pelc’s Grade 5 and 6 Class Forest Valley was super interesting. Our grade 5 and 6 class were learning about the "Underground Railroad" and how slaves or "Freedom Seekers" had to use the "Underground Railroad" to escape to freedom in Canada. If they were caught they were hanged, jailed or sold. The "Freedom Seekers" used a hand crafted quilt which had special markings to help them find their way through forests and towns to reach freedom in Canada. We found out how to identify the patterns on a quilt that helped to guide the journey. Here are most of the patterns that slaves used to contact others ... North Star square, Grist mill square, Sail-boat square, Bear paw square, Log cabin square and the Wagon wheel square. These were all signs of hope and peace because they led to freedom. The most fun part about this field trip was that we got to learn all about the "Underground Railroad" in the autumn forest. This trip was an amazing adventure and we gained a lot of information as well. - Viola and Marcus, Grade 6, Room 17

Mr. McCormack’s Grade 2/3 Class On our trip to Forest Valley the grade 3’s in Mr. McCormack’s class and Mrs. Tucker’s class learned how the First Nations people lived and used plants. We did some fun activities like make tea, eat maple sugar and play fun games. We also got to play in a park. We even got to touch, smell and eat different plants like seeds from a Sumac Tree. We talked about how the First Nations people made things out of plants as well. All the students had a great time, learning and experiencing new things.—Jailah, Room 10

What’s New in the Parenting Centre?

The past few months have been busy in our parenting

centre. Parents, grandparents and caregivers with

their young children, are coming regularly to play and

share in the adventure that is child rearing! Playing

outside, in the gym and in our room, and cooking

healthy, delicious food to share, are all part of how we

spend our days. Please join us or tell a friend to come

by room 22, Monday to Friday, 8:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Page 5

Spinclusion

Spinclusion was a fun learning game explained to us by someone from the Canadian Disability Centre of Toronto. She told us that no matter what, there is nothing wrong with having a problem. The game we played was fun but you had to put your mind to it. To spin the wheel you had to answer the question correctly. If you ask what the questions were, well, let's just say they were based on inclusion. Even if someone has a problem with their mind or body, we always include them. We also played another game where one person in your group was blindfolded and the rest of you had to direct them where to go. If you direct them wrongly, they would bump into something. That game was based on trust and a belief that you can do it and not saying you can't do it. - Raeann, Gr. 5

Streetproofing Tips

The Toronto Police streetproofing program encour-ages you to teach your child:

1. his/her name, address, phone number

2. to Dial 9-1-1 in an emergency

3. to communicate with you when they feel unsafe or afraid

4. to keep you informed as to his/her whereabouts at all times

5. never to admit to being alone in the home when answering the telephone

6. never to invite strangers into the house or answer the door when alone

7. never to approach or enter a stranger's car or hitchhike

8. never to travel or play alone -- always be with friends

9. to trust their feelings and say "NO" to an adult if that adult wants them to do something that is wrong

10. to tell you if someone has asked them to keep a secret from you

11. that if he/she is being followed, or approached too closely, to run home or go to the nearest public place and yell for help

12. to report to your school authorities or a police officer, any-one who act suspiciously towards him/her

Recess During Cold Weather

Elementary school students are kept indoors for recess and lunch times for a number of weather conditions such as rain, lightning in the area, extreme winds and extreme cold. When temperature and wind chill measure -28C or lower, students are kept indoors. Re-cesses and lunch hour may be shortened if the temperature and

wind chill reading is between -28C and -20C. If a student's medical condition requires further consideration due to weather conditions, or if parents have other questions or concerns about how and when weather conditions affect your child's school day, please contact the school office.

We look forward to seeing you at our Winter Concerts!

Wexford P.S. will be holding three Winter Concerts. On Dec. 14th and 15th at 7 p.m., some of our classes as well as our choirs and

instrumental groups will be participating. On Dec. 15th, at 1:00 p.m., our Kindergarten classes will be performing. We will also be holding Holiday Sing-a-longs on Tuesday Dec. 20th—Primary at 9 a.m. and Junior/Intermediate at 12:45 p.m. You are welcome to join us!

Page 6

Some of the excited winners from our Dance-a-thon prize draw!