April 2012

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
What has been most impressive about being at Ryerson these past few weeks has been the tremendous way our staff and students have shown that they care for others. I have seen a kindergarten class rally to show their support for one of their classmates siblings who is fighting a battle against a relatively unknown disease. They sold Smencils to raise money for research support and quickly exceeded the amount they wanted to raise within days of starting. A junior student felt passionate about providing bed mats for people in 3rd world countries and inspired our whole school to collect milk bags (which are made into bed mats). Now another student is doing the same at various locations around the city. One student has recently been inspired to inform others about Autism, and how it affects so many people, including many at Ryerson. This has been based on a family member recently being diagnosed on the Autism spectrum. This student has rallied us all to wear the colour blue (Autisms signature colour) today Monday April 2 to help show our awareness and support. At the end of the month one of our students whose Mom has recently gone through successful cancer surgery and treatment will be personally bringing our awareness to this disease during cancer awareness month with some fundraising through homemade jewelry she and her Mom have made. We as a school are presently in the middle of our Spring Food Bank Drive. On the evening of April 17th our school will host a fundraising talent show as a WE DAY initiative to support our citys homeless shelters. These individual leaders and you as supporting them have shown the power of what one or a few can do to inform, support and make our school, community and world a much better place to be. What better education can we be involved in than this? It is with great pride that I can say how much Ryersons students, parents and staff are a caring and supportive school beyond measure! Sincerely, Mr. Peter Berndt

Special Dates
April 4 April 5 April 6 April 9 April 11 April 11 April 18 April 19 April 20 April 22 April 25 April 27 April 28 May 2 1st NB Pita Lunch Character Education Assembly Good Friday No School Easter Monday No School 1st NB RMI Lunch School Council @ 6:45 pm 1st NB Pita Lunch Talent Show @ 6 pm PD Day No School Earth Day 1st NB RMI Lunch Spirit Day Earth / Crazy Hair Day Craft Sale: 9:00 am -1:00 pm Kodaly Choir performs at Centre in the Square in Kitchener @ 7 pm Family Math Night Victoria Day No School Kindergarten Information Night PD Day No School Party in the Park

May 17 May 21 May 24 June 1 June 14

Mark your calendar for a few Ryerson Thursday Evening events for everyone!
Family Math Night May 17 @ 6 pm Bring your whole family to an evening at the school to take part in a variety of fun and exciting math games and events. Spend time with other families discovering many new and unique ways to develop stronger math skills with your children. Kindergarten Information Night May 24 @ 7 pm A parent focused night for next years new JK and returning SK parents. Learn all about the Kindergarten program at Ryerson during this night; learn what room they will be in and who will be their Kindergarten and Early Childhood Educator. All the details will be explained such as how best to make lunches, the ins and outs of riding a bus, what curriculum will be covered and much, much more. Party in the Park June 14 @ 5 pm During the evening of June 14th from 5 to 8 pm, Ryerson will host a community party in Witmer Park, located on Arthur Fach Drive in our Mattamy-Townline Road community. Everyone from Ryerson is encouraged to come on out and enjoy an evening to celebrate the nearing of the end of our year together! Lots of food and activities will fill the evening as you celebrate with the Ryerson family. Dont forget to mark off your calendars now for these upcoming events. You wont want to miss them!

BVL Intramurals
By: Miss Nichol, Mr. Grant & Ms. L. Bates Our BVL (Beach Volleyball League) junior intramural finished just before March Break with an exciting round of playoffs! The first semi-final was played between the first place team from Pool A, the Warriors, and the second place team from Pool B, the Mustangs. The Warriors were victorious 2 sets to 1 and were headed to the finals. The second semi-final was between the first place team from Pool B, the Lancers, and the second place team from Pool A, the Badgers. The Badgers sailed ahead to meet the Warriors in the final with a win of 3 sets to 1. Our championship match was a tight battle, with the Warriors winning 2 sets to 1. Finally, to top off the season, we had an intense game between the Staff and Grade 6 All-Star team. The students put up a strong effort, but the Staff ended with the win of 2 sets to 0. Thank you to all of our amazing junior athletes - your sportsmanship and the improvement of your skills over the course of the season were fantastic to see! Thank you also to the Leadership Club members for doing a great job keeping score! Until next year... The BVL - Bring It On!

French Concours
On Thursday March 22, four of our students participated at the French Concours speaking competition held at the board office. In the extended French category, Shadi Zargari presented a speech about La Mode and Clara Xi presented a speech entitled Laigle a tete blanche. In the core French category, Lillie Nadeau spoke about Lhockey while Katrina Hermann entertained the crowd by speaking about Mon Chat Sparkles. All girls put a tremendous effort into writing and memorizing their speeches. Ryerson was well represented as each girl delivered her speech with poise and confidence. A huge FELICITATION to each and everyone of you for the great work you put forth. A special congratulations goes out to Lillie who will be moving on to compete in the next level at York University in Toronto on May 12. We wish Lillie the best of luck. Mme.Pedersen

Kodaly Choir at Ryerson P.S.

This year we have a fantastic Kodaly Choir! Thirty choir members are faithfully practicing every Day 1 and Day 3 during nutrition breaks to learn 16 different songs in unison, and 2 or 3 parts. They are also learning songs in different languages. On March 7, they joined 7 other schools at Elgin Street Public School for their first small mass choir practice. They will again be going to Elgin Street Public School on April 12 for another small mass choir rehearsal. Ryerson Kodaly Choir will join 18 other schools at the Centre in The Square in Kitchener on Wednesday May 2 for the Kodaly Choir Festival. Great work Kodaly Choir!

Spring/Summer clothing
A reminder to all families to please review the schools dress code located in your childs planner/handbook. As the warmer weather arrives we are seeing students wearing clothing that are not appropriate for school. Our school and portables are air conditioned so students are working within their classrooms in comfortable temperatures at all times. Please go over these dress expectations with your child to ensure that the clothing items that are selected each day meet the dress code. Thank you for your help and support in this matter.

School Council Update

On April 28th , School Council focus turns to the 2nd Annual Craft and Gift Sale. This event will see over 30 vendors transform the gym into a marketplace full of gifts and crafts. At this point we have over 30 vendors confirmed including favorites like Norwex, Epicure and Scentsy as well as unique jewelery and clothing items from a variety of artisans. Admission to the sale is free; however there will be a raffle for prizes donated by the vendors. All proceeds from the event will benefit the improvements to the playground which is slated to begin this summer. Plans for the new playground will be on hand for everyone to check out. Please come out and support the vendors who have supported our school by paying for their booth space at this event! If you are interested in being a vendor, there are still a few spaces available. Please contact us at ryersonschoolcouncil@hotmail.ca for more details.
Edc am p W ate rl o o Re gi o n

Pita Pit at Ryerson By Mr. Grant, Miss Nichol and Ms. Bates
Yes indeed, Ryerson is now offering Pita's every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month! If you didn't have the opportunity to purchase a pita through our first four-week run through in March and April, sales will be coming up shortly for Wednesdays in May and June. A pita is a hollow thin bread filled with delicious vegetables and condiments. Pita Pit offers nothing deep-fried, battered or grilled in fat. They do not add salt (unless you want), and they don't stuff good-for-you, great-tasting fillings in big wads of bread. As their website states, "Welcome to fresh thinking and healthy eating at the Pita Pit, a proudly Canadian place to eat." Students may get any of a Turkey, Chicken, Ham, or Garden (Vegetarian) pita for just $5 each. Also, every student gets an order form, which gives them a FREE pita, so if you haven't tried one, head out to your local Pita Pit and try one soon!

On Saturday, March 31, Ryerson hosted the Waterloo Region's first ever Edcamp event! Over 100 educators from across the province attended Edcamp Waterloo Region, with pre-service teachers, educational assistants, teachers, retired teachers, consultants, and even our WRDSB CIO came out to join us! There were at least 11 different school boards represented at the event and over 150 online participants in the back channel discussions on Twitter. Our event was unique because it included a student technology showcase session. 14 of our junior Raptors represented us very well during this session, sharing tools such as GarageBand, Comic Life, Smartboard use, Pages, Keynote and PowerPoint, iPads, wikis, blogs, student created websites, Twitter, and some multimedia projects. The Ryerson students literally stole the show! We are very proud of Simon, Alycia, Macks, Graeme, Lexus, Shaheryar, Alex, Thivyan, Susan, Kara, Rachel, Logan, Mathew, and Jacob for teaching teachers about technology! If you are a Twitter user, follow the #edcampwr hash tag conversation to see what educators were saying about the event and the students' participation.