January 2013

Ryerson P.S.

749 Grand Valley Drive

Atte nd an ce Li ne : 519 -570 -812 3 5532 Principal: Mr. Peter Berndt Vice Principal: Mrs. Beverlie Stewart

X 3 726

Schoo l L ine 51 9-65 3-

Head Secretary: Ms. Wendy Knowles Secretary: Mrs. Milivojevich

School Council President: Mrs. Amy Willard-Brown

Principals Message
Happy New Year to you and your family from the entire Ryerson staff. We hope that you had a wonderful break and experienced a time with your child(ren) that was meaningful and refreshing. It was so nice to come back to the school yard covered in snow and to see a few snow hills made from the plows keeping our pavement area clean! The students have been maximizing this new play opportunity upon their return to its fullest. There is nothing more warming on a cold winter day than to see a field full of students playing in the snow! We know with the Yo-Yo weather we have in January that it will be here and gone and here again, but what an awesome treat for our students to have nonetheless! I do want to remind families that with this winter weather comes the need for warm winter coats, boots, hats and mitts. Many of our students always seem to lag behind the weather in what they are wearing, and we really want to see all our students with the proper clothing for the weather conditions. Thank you for your continued effort in ensuring that boots and snow pants are worn on a regular basis. As we enter the year of 2013 and are not yet halfway through the school year, it is always a shock to talk about next year`s registration times, but we need to start planning for our Grade 1 French Immersion class and our NEW Kindergarten students for the coming 2013-14 school year. Please note the dates in the column beside this article and read about the details in the specific articles within the newsletter. We are already looking forward and planning for a great year ahead! Sincerely,

Mr. Peter Berndt

Special Dates
January 10 31 Grade 1 French Immersion On-Line Registration January 16 January 17 January 18 January 23 January 23 January 25 January 26 January 30 January 31 RMI lunch 1st NB Pizza Lunch 1st NB PD Day no school Pita Lunch 1st NB School Council @ 6:45 Pizza Lunch 1st NB Cambridge Winterhawks Game RMI lunch 1st NB Grade 1 French Immersion registration closes General Kindergarten information nights @ Hespler P.S. 6 PM Pizza Lunch 1st NB Kindergarten Registration Report Cards go home Family Day no school March Break no school Easter Break no school

January 31

February 1 February 5 & 6 February 11 February 18 March 11 15

March 29 April 1 April 19

PD Day no school

achievement, ESL/ELD, IEPs, and the codes R, I, and NA. (Growing Success, 2010) For this reporting period, there will be no scheduled interviews. Teachers may, however, request to see you if necessary. Parents/Guardians may also request to meet with the teacher if there are specific concerns. We appreciate partnering with you to support your childs success in school!

SAFE ARRIVAL PROGRAM

Ms. Knowles
A reminder for parents to please notify the school 519 570-8123 ext 3726 if your child is ill or will be late due to an appointment. Please state your name, your childs name (spelling the last name), grade and teachers name and the reason for the absence. Please contact the school EACH day your child is absent unless you know they will not return until a certain date. If a student is absent and no phone call/note has been received, a phone call home will take place to ensure the childs safety. Arriving Late Please ensure you sign your child in at the office if they arrive after the bell. The student will need an admission slip to enter the classroom. Leaving Early When students are leaving early for the day, please write a note in the planner indicating the time you need to pick the student up, and you may meet them in the office at that time. All students leaving during the day need to be signed out in the office.

Twitter
Mrs. Stewart is on Twitter! You will now get-to-to date school news items and information through our new school Twitter feed. You do not need to have a Twitter account to read our tweets. You can read our Twitter feed as it can be viewed on our school website near the bottom of the welcome page. You can also go to http://twitter.com/RyersonVP to see what we are tweeting. You do need an account to reply or tweet back to us! This is a great place to check for upcoming events (such as a fundraiser or PD day) and last minute news items (such as a bus delay or school emergency).

Character Education at Ryerson

In November, we focused on the key of INTEGRITY. The following students were chosen by their classmates as the person who demonstrated INTEGRITY on the most consistent basis: Mrs. Haefling/Mrs. Shergill: Cami W. Mrs. Fowler/Mrs. Warburton: Diya B. Mrs. Campbell/Mrs. Hodgson: Adi K. Mrs. Edgell/Mrs. Sanderson: Nathan C. Miss Munroe/Mrs. Gute: Abbey S. Mrs. Kewley: Nate M. Mrs. Van Rees: Katie Z. Miss A. Bates: Mahad H. Mr. Hoyte: Lydia B. Mrs. McKinnon: Mackenzie L. Mrs. Smith: Nadia A. Miss Kiefer-Cox: Natalie S. Miss McMullen: Jessica P. Mme. Claus: Ethan H. Mrs. Piraino-Crandon: Jamie C. Mrs. Doerner: Emilyn F. Mrs. Roberge: Iqra M. Miss. L. Bates: Shehreryar Q. Mr. Grant: Susan T. Miss Nichol: Katherine H. Miss Gill: Andrew R. Our next Focus Key will be COMMITMENT. Commitment is standing by your responsibilities, keeping your word and telling yourself Stick With It!

PD Day
On Friday, January 18th, teachers will be involved in a Professional Development Day focusing on assessment and evaluation of Term 1. During this day, the school will be closed to students. The teaching staff will be working on the process of writing their report cards for students, in preparation for report cards to go home on Monday, February 11th.

Report Cards
Term 1 Report Cards are a reflection of your childs achievement of curriculum expectations which were introduced and developed since the beginning of the school year. Achievement is reported as a letter grade, with a plus or minus sign as appropriate. The students development of Learning Skills and Work Habits will also be commented upon. The provincial report card for Grades 1-6 also includes information about letter grades, levels of

Please refer to the Character Education page in your childs

well as a generous donation of an unwrapped toy. The donations allowed us to give 18 toys both for boys and girls from a range of ages. The toys were dropped off at the local police station and then made their way to deserving children in our community. Thank you so very much for helping to make many Christmas' much brighter. Ryerson's Me to We Group Jenni-Rebecca Roberge

planner if you would like more information about the 8 Keys of Excellence. Remember Me Inc, Milk and Lunch Program Changes
Starting new in 2013, there are some changes to the delivery of our milk and lunch programs. We will continue to offer these selections at Ryerson, however the ordering process is being altered. A ll or de r s m ust no w be ma de o n the Re me m ber Me Inc. we bs ite (http://remembermeinc.com). Families have the option of paying using a credit (Visa, MasterCard, American Express) or bank interact card. If you have not yet had the opportunity to use the online system, you will need to take a few minutes to create an account for your family. You can find this option in the top right corner of the site.

Ryerson Night with the Winterhawks Mark your calendars ! This years Night at the Cambridge Winterhawks is scheduled for Saturday January 26th. For those who havent attended before, this is a fun night out to watch some great local hockey while socializing with fellow Raptor families and staff. This year we managed to secure the Skate with the Hawks night, so children can bring their skates and will have the opportunity to skate with members of the Cambridge Winterhawks after the game. Order forms for tickets will go home before the holidays in December and will be due back early in January in order to ensure that tickets are received in time for the game.

Save the Date

Ryerson's Canadian Tire Money Fundraiser

Thank you very much to our Ryerson community for taking part in our Canadian Tire money fundraiser. The donations poured in all week long and I am excited to announce that we collected $212.50 in cash and Canadian Tire money, as

Grade 1 French Immersion for 2013-14!

On-line registration for grade 1 French Immersion is now open for all Senior Kindergarten students. Parents should go to the Waterloo Region District School Boards website http://wrdsb.ca/ and click on the French Immersion link to register their son/daughter. This registration website

will be open until the end of January. At that time, a lottery system will take place for those registered to create next years class. The lottery will start with Ryerson families first, and if room allows, families living outside the Ryerson boundary. Please contact the school if you have any questions regarding French Immersion registration.

We are now accepting Senior and Junior Kindergarten Registration for children born in 2009(JK) and 2008 (SK). Formal registration will take place on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 and Wednesday, February 6, 2013 from 8:30-3:30 by APPOINTMENT ONLY (15 minutes in length). If you have a child born in 2009 or 2008 who is not presently attending Ryerson, please contact the school office at (519) 653-5532 so that an appointment can be made and an information package can be provided to you. If your child currently attends Junior Kindergarten at Ryerson, it is not necessary to register your child again. If you are aware of anyone living in our school area with children born in 2009 or 2008; friends, relatives or neighbours, please forward this information to them. Please bring your child to the appointment.

Safe and Secure Schools

When visiting Ryerson, please be reminded that you need to check in at the office to indicate your arrival. We ask that you do this each and every time you come to school during the school day to either drop-off a student or an item of their belongings. Visitors are asked not to go beyond the office/main foyer area during the school day unless they have been given specific permission to do so by office staff. Kindergarten students who are dropped-off will be escorted by staff to their classroom. If items are required to be given to students, they will be delivered by the staff or the student will be called down to obtain the item themselves. Please do not by-pass the office to go directly to portables. Following these simple procedures will help ensure that our school is a safer place for all our students and staff. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.

Cambridge Area Kindergarten Information Night

Parents of 3 year olds are invited to attend an information night on Thursday, January 31, 2013 at Hespeler Public School (300 Winston Blvd., Cambridge) 6:00 7:30pm about Kindergarten. There will be information available about Kindergarten, school bus transportation, child care, community programs and services, a tour of a typical Kindergarten room and fun activities for your child! Registration for the event is appreciated, but not necessary. To register go to wrdsb.ca.

YWCA Cambridge is proud to announce the first ever, Girl-led TechGyrls Program. Its free for girls ages 9-13. Starting from January 15, the program will run every Tuesday from 5:30 7:30 pm. Each week, the girls have the opportunity to learn and explore Science, Technology, Engineering and Math in many different ways, such as;

Senior and Junior Kindergarten Registration for September 2013

Design your own dream bedroom Create Science experiments Field Trips Explore new ideas

Learn to make and manage a website For further information the YWCA Cambridge Girls Centre Silly Science will be holding a free event on Saturday January 12 from 10 a.m. 1 p.m. The Silly Science will be starting on January 15 at the YWCA Girls Centre. To register please contact Melissa at m.sandu@ywcacambridge.ca Please remember all Saturday workshops GirlsCentre are FREE and include lunch. Bus tickets are also available upon request. You can also register in advance by calling 519-267-6444.