October 2011

Ryerson P.S.

749 Grand Valley Drive

Atte nd an ce Li ne : 519 -570 -812 3 Principal: Mr. Peter Berndt

X 3 726

S cho ol Li ne 519 -653 -5532 Office Manger: Mrs. Sandra Spurgeon

School Council President: Mrs. Amy Willard-Brown

Principals Message
Where has September gone? It is hard to believe that we have already completed one month of school! However, as you walk through the halls and go into the classrooms you can easily see that our students have been hard at work as they are familiar with the routines of their class and school. The walls of their classrooms are filled with the quality work they have completed. It almost feels like we have not stopped since last year except for the fact that we have a few new faces amongst our staff and students and we all look just a little bit older. Ryerson continues to have some small construction projects that need to be completed still from the new build, but all in all the major projects we encountered at the beginning of last year are long gone. We have been adjusting to having another new portable, a new kindergarten class, our first grade of French Immersion in our school, around 50 new students and 10 new staff. Learning names is definitely a challenge now for anyone entering the building, so lets help each other out when we meet each other. It was great to see so many of you out at our Meet the Teacher BBQ on September 8. We are hoping to see many more of you again at our Thanksgiving Assembly on October 7, our Remembrance Day Assembly on Nov. 11 or at one of our two Winter Concerts on December 21 and 22. The month of October is jam packed with events for your children to be involved in so keep track of the calendar of events and have some great conversations with your child about their involvement in these special days. I always welcome your visits, emails or phone calls. Please feel free to contact me when you wish to discuss an issue or to share some praise for what your child is accomplishing at Ryerson. Sincerely, Mr. Peter Berndt

Special Dates
Oct 5 Oct 6 Oct 7 Oct 10 Oct 12
Oct 19 Oct 21 Oct 26 Oct 31

World Teacher Day Provincial Election in our gym Thanksgiving Assembly Thanksgiving Holiday - No School
1st NB Remember Me Inc Lunch Identity Day Kindergarten vision screening 1st NB RMI Lunch Spirit Day Orange & Black Halloween Celebration Family Literacy Night School Council @ 6:45 pm Remembrance Day Assembly all welcome to attend Interim report cards go home Interviews: 4 pm 8 pm Interviews: 9 am noon Winter Concert (Day time) Spirit Day Last Day of school before Winter Break begins

Nov 3 Nov 9 Nov 11

Nov 14 Nov 17 Nov 18 Dec 21 & 22 Dec 23 Dec 23

School Council Update

School Council held its first meeting in September. We were pleased to welcome a number of new members. It was wonderful to see some new faces with great new ideas and a willingness to help out and make our school even better. The first order of business was the election of members in the role of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. Amy Willard-Brown has continued on in the role of Chair with Helen Parker-Brown acting as Co-Chair. Cheryl Schmehl will be Secretary for the year and Jennifer Snellgrove has joined us as Treasurer. This years members include: Carrie Labine, Elaine Browne, Lisa Pearson, Sandra Fudge, Titi MacLennan, Dale Dobratz, Alissa Pearson, Jen Coady, Julie Ehrlich, Donna Woolcott, Holly Heise, Gopi Nivarthi, Barb Pfeffer and Wendy Gilchrist. Fundraising goals for 2011-2012 have been set at $15, 000. We will work to achieve this through two fall fundraisers. The first is a Donation Request in which 100% of the money will go towards improving our school. The second, for those who prefer a more typical fundraiser, will be a QSP magazine campaign. Watch for details coming home soon. School Council will also be helping with events throughout the school year. The first of these will be the upcoming Thanksgiving celebration. Although we have had our first meeting and are hard at work planning events for the year, new members are always welcome. If you are interested in coming out, the next meeting will be Wednesday October 12th at 6:45 pm. Volunteers are also required for events on an occasional basis. If you are unable to come out to our meetings, but interested in contributing to the school, please let us know. If you would like more information about school council, please subscribe to our update newsletter by sending a message at ryersonschoolcouncil@hotmail.ca. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at the above email address, or through the school. Amy Willard-Brown School Council Chair

Character Education at Ryerson

At Ryerson, we want students to work positively and cooperatively in school, at home and in their communities. Our Character Education Program is based on the 8 Keys of Excellence: Speak With Good Purpose, Integrity, Balance, Commitment, Failure Leads to Success, Ownership, Flexibility, and This Is It. Students are given many opportunities to practice the 8 Keys at school, and we encourage them to use these habits of excellence in all aspects of their lives. Each month, we have one Key that we focus on. There is an assembly each month to highlight the new key, and celebrate a month of success. Every class votes on one student each month who they feel has demonstrated that key consistently throughout the month, and they will be recognized at the assembly, and have the opportunity to win a lunch out with Mr. Berndt and the staff member of their choice! The Focus Key for October is SPEAK WITH GOOD PURPOSE, which is about using words to uplift and enlighten, instead of tearing down. We want everyone at Ryerson to focus on communicating in a positive way with honesty, strength, praise and encouragement. We have the power to control our words, and we want to think before we speak. For more information about our program, please see the Character Education page in your childs planner. You can also visit the 8 Keys of Excellence website at www.8keys.org. We appreciate your support as we all work together to guide our students toward a future full of confidence, leadership, teamwork and motivation!

Safety Drills Mr. Berndt

Did you know that your child has participated in 5 school wide safety drills over the past few weeks? We have conducted 3 fire evacuation drills, 1 tornado drill and 1 lock down drill. Our students and staff have done a great job in understanding what to do and where to go in the event of such emergencies. Have you practiced a safety drill for a fire or tornado at your home with your children?

Family Literacy Night

Please mark Thursday Nov. 3 on your calendar. It is Family Literacy Night, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. Join us with your family for reading games, gently used book exchange, book making, story telling, visit our computer lab, and much more. Every student attending will receive a brand new book. More information to follow in late October.

Special Parking Spaces Mr. Berndt

Please ensure that you respect the specially designated parking spots for our YWCA Daycare users and for the 3 handicapped parking spots. Using these spots without a valid permit, even for only a few minutes, when no other spots are available can result in a $301 fine. Lets ensure that these spots are open for those of us in our community who need them.

Thanksgiving Food Drive

The Thanksgiving Food Drive will run from October 5-14. Please send in nonperishable food items with your child. The class that collects the most food items will win a pizza party! Here are the most needed items: Small jar of peanut Butter Pasta Sauce Cereal Canned Fruit Canned Beans Toothpaste Flour Canned pasta Apple Juice Powered Milk Canned Vegetables Shampoo Balsmati Rice Oil

NEW Food and Beverage Policy Mr. Berndt

Starting this past September 1, 2011, the province of Ontario has instituted a standard food and beverage policy across all Ontario schools. The standards will control what food and beverages are sold to children at school, both during the school day and at special evening school events. The focus is to reduce the amount of fat, salt and sugar in the foods made available to students at school. As we enter into this school year, you will notice some changes to food options available to your child. Our pizza for instance is made with whole grain crust and low fat cheese. As well, each school is allowed 10 days a year to be exempt from the standards for special events. Our Meet the Teacher BBQ was one of those special events, for instance. Our staff and school council will work together to determine what other events will round out the other 9 days we have left to use for these types of functions. We will keep you informed of the changes as the coming year progresses. If you wish more detailed information, please visit the Ministry of Educations website or contact the school.

Remember Me Inc
Our school milk and hot lunch program is underway now with 2 ways to order, school order forms and online paperless orders. Please remember when completing your order to fill in all the necessary information such as your child's name, teacher, and complete order details. Also, if sending money with a sibling for another child, please make sure to fill out that information on BOTH students forms. When ordering online, you can always check your order history to make sure your order has been submitted the way you intended. If you have any questions or concerns about your order or the program, please leave a message for Ms. Gill at the school (519-570-8123 x 7084).

Identity Day
On Wednesday, October 19th, all Ryerson Raptors will be participating in a school wide Identity Day event. Students will have an opportunity to share something of importance, something that they are passionate about, to the rest of the school. All students will have projects set up to share on the event day and have a chance to visit other classrooms to learn about each other. Projects will take many forms and may be worked on at both home and school. Classroom teachers may also send home additional information regarding classroom expectations or suggestions related to this event. Please refer to the letter sent home regarding Identity Day and check out the link on our school website as well: http://rye.wrdsb.on.ca/Identity%20Day. Any additional information can be requested from event coordinator, Ms. Gill, or your child's teacher.

Bikes, Skateboards and Roller Blades Mr. Berndt

Each day we see many wheeled means of transportation coming to school. Students, this is reminder to everyone, that riding a bike to school is a great way to start your day! Please ensure that you wear a helmet and follow proper road safety when coming and going to school. Please use a lock to keep your bike safely protected at the bike rack during the day. Remember that you are not to ride your bike on school property, but walk it instead, in order to avoid any collisions with other students. Skateboards and Roller Blades are not allowed at school. Please leave these items at home to be enjoyed at another time.

Ryerson Running Club

Our Ryerson Raptors Run for Life Running club is back in motion for our second annual fall running season! Ms. Kiefer, Mme. Pedersen, Miss McMullen, and Miss Bates are all very excited about the dedicated runners who have been showing their commitment to running and staying fit! All those committed runners will be joining 14 other schools in the area at Shades Mill Conservation Area on October 21 for the Run for Life Fall Fun Run Celebration. We will be wearing our Raptor pride as we celebrate and show off our love for running, stride by stride! Way to go Running Club, its going to be runtastic!!!!

Leadership Club 2011/2012 By Mr. Grant, Miss Nichol, and Ms. Bates Ryerson would like to thank all the grade 5 and 6 applicants to the leadership club. Ryerson Raptors, you have shown your true leadership qualities yet again with over 55 applicants for us to look through. It was an extremely tough choice deciding between such amazing students and leaders. To those of you that did not get in, we appreciate your time and effort applying to the club, and we wish we could take all of you; hopefully, you can find many other leadership opportunities in and around Ryerson. Thus, the leadership club members for the entire 2011/2012 year are: Sarah B., Jayden G., Amelie B., Nancy T., Payton S., Amber H., Natasha B., Bhuvna D., Arhum M., Sheheryar Q., Maria D., and Angela J. Congratulations for creating great resumes and showing you deserve to be in leadership club with your great attitudes and work ethics. Way to go and we look forward to a great year ahead! See you next month for our first Kids Korner Leadership update!

Ultimate Football League By Mr. Grant, Ms. Bates, and Ms. Nichol
For a five week period in September and October, a junior intramural league has been created open to all junior boys and girls: the UFL (Ultimate Football League). The league has over 40 junior participants divided into 3 teams: the Lions, the Bills, and the Packers. Each team will play one another once in a round-robin schedule, and then there will be a semi-final between the 2nd and 3rd place team, and then a championship game between the winner of the semifinal and the 1st place team. These games are all followed by some thrilling announcements over the P.A. lead by Mr. Berndt, where game highlights are read with enthusiasm and all students gain a "sporty" nickname to distinguish their skills. The benefits of intramurals are numerous, ranging from increasing the physical activity level of our kids to improving their sense of self-esteem and self worth. The goal is to provide numerous sports and leagues throughout the year, getting more juniors active and engaged in organized physical activities. It is our hope that all junior students will take full use of the intramural program in order to maximize their quality of physical fitness and exercise. Looking forward to a great season, and more fun to come throughout the year!

Fresh Tracks Is back!!!

The staff and students at Ryerson would like to welcome the 8 new students who are joining us for our Fresh Tracks Program. They will be joining us for the next eight weeks and hope that over these weeks the students will make them feel welcome.

Zehrs Tapes
Do you shop at Zehrs? Did you know that Zehrs receipts last year provided our school with over $500 worth of sports equipment? How does this happen? Gather up your Zehrs receipts every time you receive them and send them into school with your child. We collect them in the office. We have parent volunteers who organize the receipts and total the amounts and then send them into the head office for Zehrs. We then receive a percentage of money back to spend on sports equipment for our school based on how much we have submitted. This simple fundraiser is something that we have been doing for years and it has provided a large amount of equipment for all our students. Please consider becoming involved in this simple way to support Ryerson! Send in those Zehrs receipts!

Terry Fox Update.

Dear Ryerson Families: Thank you so much for your donations to the Terry Fox Cancer Research Foundation! We all know someone whose life has been affected by this disease. Your donations will help to make the future brighter for those who suffer from cancer. Your contributions, combined with countless other donations across Canada and the world, are proof that goodness and generosity runs strong in us and among us. Our school raised a total of $537.60...almost DOUBLE that of last year! Thank you again for your generous spirit!

THANK YOU - THANK YOU -THANK YOU