December 2009

1. Report Cards

Our plan is to send home report cards on Tuesday December 1 /09. Please review yourchild’s report card with them. It’s important to set goals for the second term. Somestudents may require your assistance with their organizational skills. You should be awarethat every teacher has a homework board so your child’s agenda should be filled out(each day and month at a glance pages). Other students have hastily completed work which is usually a result of time management problems or inconsistent work habits. Werecommended that parents review their child’s work to be submitted. We don’t want youto complete it, but you too can provide suggestions, teach, and provide revisionsuggestions. Other students may require support with academic concepts or skills. Yourchild’s success is dependant upon the efforts of the student, teacher and parents.

2. Interviews

Teachers will be arranging interviews with parents/guardians pertaining to their child’sprogress. On the afternoon and early evening of Thurs. Dec. 3

rd

and the morning of Fri.Dec. 4

th

, teachers will be available for personal interviews. Please contact the teachers toarrange times. If these times are inconvenient, please contact the particular teacher toarrange a personal or telephone interview earlier in the week or at a future date. It isextremely important to us to have an open line of communication between home and school. It requires a “team approach” for your child to have a successful year inall aspects of their “school life.” Please see inside article

“Tips for a Good Parent Teacher Interview”

3. Joint School Council / Home & SchoolMeetings

On Tuesday Nov. 3rd we held our first joint meeting of thetwo groups. It proved to be highly successful with goodattendance. At that meeting the Principal’s Report is givento both groups together. The following topics werediscussed:

“Outbreak” Status, Remembrance Day – school assembly,Student Council, staff & Home & School at the Cenotaph,

From the Principal’s Desk

From the Principal’s Desk 1-2 Athletics at Dundas Central 2Special Events Schedule ~Christmas Concerts & Plays2 The Parent-Teacher Interview: Make the Most of Your Time with your Child’s Teacher 2-3What, no More Pepperoni? 3Home and School News 4How do you want to hear from us?

(Cut and Return)

4Wanted! LEGO 3Celebrating Dundas Central Staff 3

Inside this issue:

7 3 M e l v i l l e S t r e e t D u n d a s , O n t a r i o L 9 H 2 A 2 B . M o r l o g , P r i n c i p a l P h o n e ( 9 0 5 ) 6 2 7 - 3 5 2 1 F a x ( 9 0 5 ) 6 2 7 - 3 5 2 2 . G e o r g e , V i c e - P r i n c i p a l

w w w . h w d s b . o n . c a / c e n t r a l d u n d a s

D u n d a s C e n t r a l S c h o o l N e w s E d u c a t i o n i s “ C e n t r a l ”

December2009

Students and Members of Home and school attended the Dundas Cenotaph wreath laying

Student Council Christmas Food andToy Drive

In the next three weeks, studentcouncil representatives willbe promoting donations of food and new toy items tosupport the Salvation Army’sannual Christmas drive.There will be boxes fordonations in every classroom until December 17th.Last year the Salvation Army supported about 270families, including 375 children in our community. TheSalvation Army has told us that they expect a large jump in the number of people needing help this year.Thank you in advance for your generous support.

report cards and interviews, student teachers, active recess, staffing,school trips, question period.

4. Active Recess

With the help of Mr. Verschoor, our senior students have been organizingphysical education activities for each division. The program is run duringthe second nutrition break on Fridays. The events utilize the field,apparatus on the playground and the gym. It’s great to see our seniorstudents demonstrate their leadership skills planning and running theactivities. Students of all ages are enjoying the sessions.This past week, Mr. Verschoor has provided each class with a couple of balls so that the students can be “actively” involved during their break time. It’s nice to see pupils involved in “pick up” games. We are alsoworking with students on cooperative participation in these games.

Page 2

From the Principal’s Desk continued...

Tues. Dec 15th Wed. Dec 16th Thurs. Dec 17th

Start time

1:45 pm 9:00 am 1:45 pm

Classes Involved

Primary / JuniorConcert

Mrs. DiDonato / Mrs.GillisMrs. GrovesMrs. PierceMr. GardnerMr. BellMrs. BennettMr. Bennett 5/6

Primary / JuniorConcert

Mrs. DiDonato / Mrs.LawsonMrs. BloomMrs. Graves/ MissDolsonMrs. Dunford / Mr.GardnerMr. VaradyMr. J. Bennett

Concert

ChoirBand

Classes Involved

Play

Class 71 PlayClass 81 Play

Play

Class 72 PlayClass 83 Play

Play

Class 82 Play

We are pleased to invite parents/guardians to attend the manyChristmas presentations that will be taking place at the schoolthis month. To assist in planning we’re providing a list of thedates, times and the classes involved in the presentations on

Special Events Schedule ~ ChristmasConcerts & Plays

73 MELVILLE STREET

Volleyball

All of our volleyball teams havehad a successful season!Three of our teams are going tothe finals for our area: the Junior Girls, team coached by Mr.Verschoor, the Senior Girls teamcoached by Mr. Dean; and theSenior Boys team coached byMr. Swackhammer.Congratulations to the Junior Boys team who finished with a3:3 season. Thankyou to their coachMr. Carpino.

Basketball’sComing

Basketball seasonwill be startingsoon at DundasCentral. Listen for Junior team try-out information onDecember announcements!

A t h l e t i c s a t D u n d a s C e n t r a l

Good care educates. Good education cares.Good care educates. Good education cares.Good care educates. Good education cares.Good care educates. Good education cares.The Umbrella daycare still has spaces!For more information please callLinda 905.973.7472

Umbrella Family and Child Centres of Umbrella Family and Child Centres of Umbrella Family and Child Centres of Umbrella Family and Child Centres of HamiltonHamiltonHamiltonHamilton

Want some insight into your child from the adultwho spends most weekdays with him? They’re afabulous opportunity to learn about your child’slife at school, how he’s faring, where he needs toimprove, how you can help — but that’s a lot of material to cover in the few minutes parents aretypically allotted. You need to come prepared.Here are some tips on how to do just that.

Before

Make a list of questions. For example:

•

Do you have any concerns about my child’sskill level?

•

Does my child have difficulty listening to orfollowing instructions?

•

Does my child find it challenging to stay ontask?

•

Does my child have difficulty organizing hisnotes, class work, stories and so on?

•

Does my child have friends and get alongwith his classmates?

The Parent-Teacher Interview: Makethe Most of Your Time with YourChild's Teacher

DECEMBER

Page 3

True! As of November 26, we will no longer be providing pepperoni pizza onThursdays. Don't worry, we will still be providing hot and delicious cheeseslices for our students! This move represents Dundas Central's first steptowards encouraging the healthy lifestyle reflected in the HWDSB draftNutrition Policy.“Modelling proper nutrition is essential to a healthy lifestyle,” says KrysCroxall, Superintendent of Program. “The more we encourage healthynutrition in our schools, the greater the opportunity we have to ensure thatour students are nutritionally well prepared for learningso that they can achieve their full potential.”Read more at the HWDSB Media Desk:www.hwdsb.on.ca/media/releases/details.aspx?id=998

What, No More Pepperoni??What, No More Pepperoni??What, No More Pepperoni??What, No More Pepperoni??

C e l e b r a t i n g D u n d a s C e n t r a l S t a f f

Welc

ome to new staff

Welcome to

Mrs. Lawson

starting in the SK LTOposition and

Mrs. Zinkewich

our new 0.5 officeassistant. Congratulations to Mrs. McGuire whohas joined the staff to Earl Kitchener School fulltime for this year.

Welcome to new family members

Mrs. Pipe and her family welcomedtheir new addition

Kaedan Andrew Pipe

on Tuesday Nov. 17th.

Celebrating Best Practice in our classrooms!

Mr. Varady

,

Mrs. Hensen

and

Mr. Bell

haverecently attended a conference where theypresented the findings of their research projectinvolving mp3 players to improve reading fluencyand comprehension in the grade four classes.They have seen some real success with their students' reading levels using mp3 technology..

Mrs. Waller

recently presented at the OntarioMusic Educator’s Association (OEMA) conferenceto primary and junior teachers on how to helpstudents develop skills in singing, using of bodypercussion, pitch to non pitch percussioninstruments, dancing movement and games.

LEGO

for classroom sciencekits.

We will make up the kits fromthe donated LEGO. Pleasebring any donations to Mr. Bellin rm 205 or to Ms. George inthe office.Thank you.

Talk to your child. Figure out your focus by finding out what yourchild most enjoys — and dislikes — about going to school.Consider your concerns Does your child seem to have a lot of homework?Does she avoid reading or getfrustrated with science? Be preparedto share.Is your family dealing with a stressfulsituation, such as a divorce, a seriousillness or a death? That stress may behaving an impact on your child’slearning and behaviour at school — something her teacher shouldknow about.

During

State your purpose at the beginning of the interview, let the teacherknow what it is you really want to find out, for example, “I would liketo discuss how my son is progressing in reading.” Always keep in mind - both of you are working toward the samegoals.

After

Keep it friendly and end on a positive note. Plan to keep in touch andfollow up.Talk to your child let him know what you discussed and what plansyou and the teacher made to support and enhance his learning.Follow through stay involved with your child’s learning and use yourchild’s agenda to keep in touch with his teacher.

Adapted from

The Parent-Teacher Interview

published in Today's Parent, October 2009 by Jacqueline Kovacs

The Parent-Teacher Interview (cont.’)

Al w a y s k e e p i n m i n d - b o t h o f y o u a r e w o r k i n g t o w a r d t h e s a m e g o a l s

.

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