530 Prospect Street, Box 430, Palmerston, ON, N0G 2P0 519-343-3520

“Be The BEST That You Can Be”

“Fais De Ton Mieux”

2016-2017 Newsletter #4 December 1, 2016

ADMINISTRATORS’ MESSAGE

It is hard to believe that it is December already! While each month holds a lot of activities in and around the school, December is a particularly special month as staff and students celebrate the upcoming holidays with a variety of activities. Our Student Activity Council (SAC) has a number of events planned for the school, including a Food Drive the first week of December, Santa Grams, and a Spirit Day on December 23rd. There will also be the annual Palmerston P.S. Christmas Concert, a dance for our Intermediate Division (Gr. 7 and 8), as well as a door decorating competition. It is sure to be a great month!

In addition to preparing for the holidays, our staff continues to be hard at work. A number of teachers

are participating in an online Math course aimed at inspiring students in mathematics, which wraps up at the end of January. Kindergarten teachers and ECEs are also participating in a day of learning on December 16th, further exploring the new Full Day Kindergarten curriculum, which includes a new report card for our youngest students. A number of staff have also committed to reading “The Leader in Me” by Stephen Covey, a book which explores how we can support students in identifying and building on their individual leadership skills and passions. Over the holidays teachers will be reading the first two chapters of the book and then meeting in January to discuss what they have learned. If you would like to learn more about helping your child(ren) unlock their leadership potential, this book is one of the many great resources for both educators and parents/guardians!

On behalf of the PPS staff, we would like to wish everyone a safe and wonderful holiday season!

Tracy Baker Shannon Spike Principal Vice-Principal

UPPER GRAND District School Board

JK REGISTRATION – 2017-2018 SCHOOL YEAR

Junior Kindergarten registration for the 2017-18 school year begins on January 9, 2017. Children born in 2013 are eligible to begin Junior Kindergarten in September 2017.

Please note that the registration process for the upcoming school year has changed. This includes changes to the French Immersion registration and selection process. For more information about this process or to find the time and date of our JK FI registration process information nights at a school near you, please visit www.ugdsb.on.ca/jkfi'.

QSP MAGAZINE FUNDRAISER Thank you to all families who participated in the QSP Magazine Fundraiser in November. Our school will receive $326.01 for everyone’s efforts.

FRIDAY, NOVMBER 4 – PAJAMA DAY UPDATE

Thank you to everyone who brought in a donation on Pajama Day, as well as to the Intermediate Students who contributed during their Halloween Dance. PPS raised $551.70 towards bed kits. Sixteen (16) bed kits have been purchased in Palmerston PS’ name. The winner of the Pizza Party is Madame Spruyt’s classroom. Madame’s class raised $85.15. Great job everyone!

HARRISTON PACKING COMPANY - FUNDRAISER

Purchases can be picked up December 5 between 2:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. in the gymnasium. New this year is the ability to pay for purchases and enter your orders online through School Cash Online. Cash and cheques will still be accepted if necessary, however we do encourage the use of School Cash Online to avoid the need for your child (ren) to be responsible for money being brought to school.

SNACK BIN PROGRAM – INCLEMENT WEATHER DAYS

A reminder to all parents and students: there will not be a Snack Bin Program in classes on inclement weather days.

BOOK FAIR NEWS

Wow!! Way to go Palmerston Public School. Our Book Fair raised $4969.70 in total sales!! We reached our goal and then some! The percentage that we earned from that total will be used to benefit our Library. Thank you to everyone who came out and purchased an item, every little bit definitely helped in reaching our goal. Thank you also to all that helped in making the book fair run smoothly, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you!! M. Doig

ME2WE

POPCORN

FOR

SALE!!! Tuesdays, Thursdays, First break.

NEW PRICE $2.00 (starting Jan 2017)

Proceeds from Popcorn sales will support Grade 6, 7 and 8 students the opportunity to hear one of Free the Children's many inspirational ambassadors at Empowerment Day in Guelph. This year, the “duo” students will have the opportunity to listen to and learn from are filmmakers of the documentary Living on One Dollar, Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci. These young men worked as radish farmers and survived learning the hardships of living on one dollar a day in rural Guatemala.

FOOD DRIVE During the week of December 5th to the 9th, 2016 students and staff at PPS will be collecting goods to donate to our local food bank. Students are asked to bring the following items if able: Monday, December 5 Paper Products Tuesday, December 6 Canned Goods Wednesday, December 7 Baby Items Thursday, December 8 Toys Friday, December 9 Item of your choice – final day of collection Please remember all items must be new and not expired. Thank you everyone for your generoisity!

SANTA GRAMS Santa Grams will be for sale from Dec. 12th to 16th, 2016. Santa Grams will be sold for $0.25 each. When you purchase a Santa Gram, you will send a short message and a small candy cane to the friend or classmate you address it to. You may purchase however many you would like during this week. This is a fun way for your child(ren) to give back during this holiday season. Half of the proceeds raised from the annual Santa Gram sales will go towards the Snack Bin Program at our school, while the other half will go to the local food bank.

SKATING Students grade 1 – 8 will be going skating prior the Christmas Break. Below is the schedule for each class: Thursday, December 22 Mrs. Pratt, Mrs. Stroeder, Mrs. Arand’s 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Friday, December 23 Mrs. Rozendal, Mrs. Smart, Mrs. Savoie, Madame Spruyt, Madame Zantinge’s 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Friday, December 23 Madame Haanstra, Madame Black, Madame Morrell 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Friday, December 23 Mr. Walls, Miss Horton, Madame Lange, Madame Zavitz 1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. All skaters must wear CSA approved helmets.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT Students from Kindergarten to Grade 4 are busy preparing for our Christmas concert. We would love to share it with you!! Please make sure you save the date. There will be two performances for you to choose from. Both shows are on Wednesday December 21st. First show is at 11:30am and the second is an evening performance starting at 6:30pm. Hope to see you there and celebrate the Holiday Season!!

FEEDBACK WELCOME ON DRAFT POLICIES The Upper Grand District School Board is welcoming public input on draft policies. Currently under review are Code of Conduct Policy 213 and Child Abuse and Protection Policy 502 (submit feedback by January 13, 2017). You are invited to review the draft documents and submit online feedback at www.ugdsb.on.ca/policy.

FOOD AND FRIENDS Give a gift with special meaning. This year, instead of purchasing a gift, why not honour your teacher with a donation to the Children's Foundation's Food & Friends program? The Children's Foundation would be pleased to provide a tax receipt for donations over $20 and the individual(s) with a card to notify them that you have made the donation in honour of this holiday season. Go to the following link on the web to make a donation. https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E920301QE&id=11

Canadian Parents for French North Wellington Christmas Parade Float

CPF North Wellington is organizing a float for the Palmerston Christmas Parade. They are looking for students interested in participating, as well as staff support to teach the students a few songs to sing while on the float. Needed:

- children to practice at school - children/parents to decorate the float and practice the songs on December 1st in the evening - children/parents to ride on the float on December 3rd

Please sign up on the CPF bulletin board at the school or contact: Robin Ross 519-261-0441 zobbie@icloud.com On behalf of CPF North Wellington, thank you to everyone for your participation in this year’s float.

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

1 Day 4 School Council meeting 6:30 pm

2 Day 5

5 Day 1 Harriston Packers Meat Pick Up 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Food Drive Starts Paper Products

6 Day 2 Pizza Day Junior Volleyball Tournament Food Drive – Canned Goods

7 Day 3 Grilled Cheese Day Food Drive – Baby Items

8 Day 4 Norwell Grade 8 Info Night Food Drive – Toys

9 Day 5 Food Drive – Last Day

12 Day 1 Santa Grams

13 Day 2 Pizza Day Santa Grams

14 Day 3 Santa Grams

15 Day 4 Santa Grams Volleyball Tournament NDSS

16 Day 5 Pita Lunch Santa Grams

19 Day 1

20 Day 2 Pizza Day Dress Rehearsal for Christmas Concert

21 Day 3 Hot Dog Day Christmas Concert 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Juniors go to the Norgan 9:15 a.m.

22 Day 4 Skating Primary’s go to the Norgan 11:30 a.m.

23 Day 5 Skating Intermediate Dance Dress in Red/Green and White

26 Day 1 27 Day 2

28 Day 3 29 Day 4 30 Day 5

No School – Christmas Break

http://calendarholidays.xyz/holiday/168/human-rights-day.

Monthly Environmental Activities to help celebrate our planet

December 10th is Human Rights Day!

It is vital to teach our children to respect and take care of the environment.

Celebrate Human Rights Day on December 10th!

“This year, Human Rights Day calls on everyone to stand up for someone's rights. It starts with each of us.” Step forward and defend the rights of someone whose voice is not being heard. Demonstrate an understanding of equality, human dignity and justice. Consider and be respectful of the rights and opinions of others, especially if they are different from yours. Recognize that human rights include the right for all of us to have access to clean water, unpolluted air and healthy food.

“There is no action that is too small: wherever you are, you can make a difference. Together, let’s take a stand for more humanity.”

-- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein”

http://www.un.org/en/events/humanrightsday/

Simple yet meaningful ways for your family to celebrate the rights and responsibilities that we all share as

human beings!

• Learn about how children live in other parts of the world. Look at pictures on the web and discuss how we are the same and how we we are different.

• Read the book: We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures by Amnesty International

• Read the Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights. Decide if there is a cause your family wants to support, or an Ecojustice action you want to take on.

• Talk to someone you know who is from another country. Where are they from? What was their life like there? What language did they speak? Did they go to school? What do they miss? What do they like about their new country?

• Start a tradition of doing a family service project on Human Rights Day. There are many opportunities to volunteer, such as preparing and serving meals at a local homeless shelter or simply gathering enough to put together a bunch of care packages of simple needs and necessities. https://humanrightswarrior.com

“For the bigger picture we can (and should) do what we can to fight injustice.

But on a smaller scale, in the day-to-day, practicing kindness can help

knit a web of compassion to give humanity a boost of resilience”

Discover the Awesome Tools that Students Can Access in the Read & Write Toolbar

Every student in the Upper Grand District School Board has access to a handful of incredible tools via an app called Read & Write that can help them with reading, comprehension, written expression, & gathering research.

Read & Write is attached to student accounts, so students need to be logged into Chrome to use this feature.

Check it out! … Supports on the R&W toolbar include;

Word Prediction

Quick access to dictionary tools

Having text read out loud in English or in French

A tracking tool that provides a focus when reading

The ability to turn your speech to text

Highlight and collect text, & build vocabulary lists

Changes to Voice, Speed & Language can be made easily in Settings

Read & Write tools are powerful for ALL kids, but they make a huge difference for those with learning disabilities. These tools allow students to read independently, comprehend more of what they are reading, and demonstrate their understanding; allowing them to work smarter, not harder.