Phone: 519-735-6260 Fax: 519-735-1291

Principal: Amanda Dibbs Vice Principal: Tracey Rilett Secretary: Judy Colman

We are proud to have Jenna report on A.V.G.’s top story of the month! Thank you, Jenna.

Sincerely, A. Dibbs, Principal and T. Rilett, Vice Principal

A.V. Graham Oral Communication

Festival

By Jenna 7F

On Friday, February 17, A.V. Graham held the school's annual oral communication competition.

Thirteen talented students from grades four to eight stood in

front of their peers, teachers and guest judges to recite their well-written, well-memorized speeches.

The speech topics ranged from fashion and dumb inventions to grumpy neighbours and the summer Olympics. For an hour and fifteen minutes, the large audience listened intently to the interesting presentations.

Once all thirteen speeches were completed, the four judges had a difficult time deliberating who the two winners and two runners-up would be.

Mara from 5W won first place in the junior

grades for her speech on natural disasters. Casey from 4F was runner-up for her speech on socks.

Olivia from 7F took first place in the intermediate grades for her speech on colours. Colin from 8A scored runner-up for his speech on expressions and phrases.

All in all, each student did an excellent job with his or her speech and it was an enjoyable afternoon for everyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Below: Mihir absent for photo.

Dear A.V. Graham Community:

February Images…Speech Contestants

Safety in Our

Parking Lot

If you are dropping off children at school, please be sure to have them exit the vehicle on to the play ground area. We are concerned for the safety of children after witnessing some students exit cars in high traffic areas.

The A.V.G. Griffin

G . E . C . D . S . B . A . V . G r a h a m P u b l i c S c h o o l

Volume 1, Issue 7

March 2012

March Calendar

Inclement Weather Moo Crew ECO School Team Coaches’ Corner

3

School Council Constant Contact Zehrs’ Tapes Windsor Essex-County Health Unit

4

Speech Results Caught You Coupon Winners Character Quote Don’t Stop Believin’ Pink Shirt Thank You

5

A Drum Social and a Gathering of Stories

6

More Images… 7-9

Book Fair We Value Your Input

10

Inside this issue: 815 Brenda, Tecumseh, Ontario, N8N 2G5

The school calendar may be viewed on our

homepage under Calendar of Upcoming

School Events or click on the link below.

http://www.gecdsb.on.ca:9995/avgraham

month. Listen to the announcements to see how your class can get the trophy in your room for a month. Thank you Mr. Murray for the great idea!

When wondering whether the buses are running, please remember to visit http://www.buskids.ca where bus cancellations are posted. Fog Days: Buses do not run in the AM but will in the PM. Snow Days: Buses do not run in the AM or the PM.

from Uyger and Evan

Congratulations A.V.G., we have recorded the total milk purchased on the last order. There were 276 white milk and 597 chocolate milk sold, for a total of 873.

Milk does the body good. So, let’s increase this total next month. Keep your bones strong and drink more milk.

Milk orders are due

on March 8th.

SPELLING BEE NEWS!

Erin represented A.V.G. at the Regional Spelling Bee on

February 26, 2012. Congratulations Erin! We are proud of you!

ECO School Team

Inclement Weather Moo Crew News

Coaches’ Corner

Attention all classes: We now have an ECO School Trophy that will travel to different classes each

Page 3 The A.V.G. Griffin

information from A.V.G. School and the A.V.G. School Council right to your email box. Visit the School site at: http://avgraham.pbworks.com/ and join up today.

The next A.V.G. School Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. in the school library. The School Council is a valuable connection between parents and school to provide chance for parental input, as well as hear about the latest school news and Board/School initiatives, and provide support for achieving student academic success.

The School Council consists of Principal Mrs. Dibbs, Vice Principal Ms. Rilett, Teacher Reps. Mrs. Merritt and Mrs Chesnik and many parent members. Please consider attending and participating in your child’s School and School Council. Hope to see everyone there! Wayne Samwell A.V.G. School Council Chairperson

city in the world. The fear of being blamed for a bed bug infestation can prevent some people from reporting bed bugs in their home or apartment, which only makes the problem worse. Rather than try to place blame, it is more important to

Traveling soon…learn how to prevent an infestation of bed bugs, identify them and act if necessary. With global travel and new limits on pesticides, bed bugs have spread to just about every

take action. If we all do our part to prevent, identify and act we can control this pest. http://bedbugsinfo.ca/

http://www.wechealthunit.org/

Constant Contact Email System

Windsor-Essex County Health Unit

Please visit the A.V.G. School website and join up for the electronic email system. A.V. Graham Public School has moved to reduce paper consumption and provide paper copies of newsletter by request only. Why not receive this information directly to your inbox by signing up for the Constant Contact email system. You will receive the latest news and

Zehrs’ Tapes

Please remember to save your ZEHRS' tapes and send

them to school with your child. Saving grocery tapes is

an easy way to raise funds for our school. There is a drop

off box in the office.

Thank you

Page 4

School Council

The next School Council Meeting is on

Thursday, March 22, 2012.

Time: 6:30 P.M. Location: Library

All parents are welcome to attend! We hope to see you.

A.V. GRAHAM ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FESTIVAL Our Oral Communication Festival was held on Friday. February 17th. Our speakers entertained us and informed us as they presented their speeches. The Junior Winner was Mara Vassos and the Junior Runner-Up was Kasie Rayner. The Intermediate winner was Oliva Sulja and the Intermediate Runner-Up was Colin Cerimagic. Oliva Sulja will represent us at the Area Competition at Tecumseh Vista on Thursday, March 1st.

Congratulations to all our speakers. 4F Kasie Rayner 4M Manojlo Lozo 5C Mihir Gupta 5W Mara Vassos 6M Hunter Batten 6V Evan Tanovich 7F Oliva Sulja 7M Ameen Fadel 7S Lindsay Bond 8A Cameron Heraldo 8G Mitchell Ubene 8H Colin Cerimagic 8V Thomas Hales

Page 5

Speech Results

The children in the grade 7 and grade 8 bands, open to any intermediate student, have been rehearsing after school since the beginning of February. Their efforts will culminate in a performance for the school just before March Break. The combined grade 7 and 8 band members will be selected from these two bands after the break.

The Intermediate Musical Don't Stop Believin’ has been cast and rehearsals are underway. Look for performances of this entertaining musical in May.

Caught You Coupon

Monthly Winners:

Danielle 4F

Jordan 5W

Zane 7F

Don’t Stop Believin’

A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside.

Dennis Waitley

Thank you for wearing pink on Wednesday, February 29, 2012.

The Pink Shirt has become a symbol of the UPSTANDER. The upstander who will make a difference in the life of others by standing up and playing a role in creating safe, equitable spaces for all students, staff and community members.

Bansho Math in 4F

Ask your child about Bansho Math!

The Grade 7 students are reading the Hunger Games before the movie

comes out at the end of the month.

SPECIAL NOTICE: We have gone green...each month you will be able to find our newsletter online. If you do not have access to the internet, please have your child go to the office to pick up a printed copy. The newsletter may be found at http://avgraham.pbworks.com/w/page/23772229/Newsletters . Sincerely,

The ECO School Team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We Value Your Input - Feedback Form If you have any comments, please feel free to write us a note in the space provided and send it with your child to school. Homeroom teachers will collect these and send them to the office. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Note—All returned feedback forms will be entered into a monthly draw for a prize. In order to stick to our ECO Friendly Goal, this feedback form will only be given to the youngest child in each family. With that being said, please print the names of your children attending A.V. Graham below. Name of Student:___________________________ Class: ___________ Name of Student:___________________________ Class: ___________ Name of Student:___________________________ Class: ___________ Please sign: Parent/Guardian: ___________________________

A.V. Graham will be holding a Scholastic Book Fair from Thursday, March 22 to March 27. A Book Fair flyer is included. Come see for yourself all the great books Scholastic has to offer. Everyone in your family will find wonderful books and other exciting products at the fair. The Book Fair helps us promote learning while purchasing new books for our library. We accept cash, cheques, VISA and Master Card.

WE NEED BOOK FAIR VOLUNTEERS!

We need volunteers to handle the cashier’s desk, help students choose their books and tidy the book displays. Your help would be greatly appreciated. If you are able to help, complete the section below and return to your child’s teacher.

********************************************************************

Yes, I wish to join The Book Fair Team!!

NAME:____________________________________TELEPHONE_______________________

CHILD’S NAME____________________________CLASS_____________

AVAILABILITY: FIRST CHOICE_________________TIME____________

SECOND CHOICE_________________TIME____________

BOOK FAIR DATES: Thursday, March 22 to Tuesday, March 27th

BOOK FAIR TIMES: 9:00 AM—12:00 PM and 1:15 PM—3:00 PM

The A.V.G. Griffin March 2012

The February Newsletter Draw winner was Madison N. (5W).

A.V. Graham Public School Book Fair