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March 8, 2013

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Many exciting events took place during the month of February. In the classrooms students learned about Groundhog Day and were engaged in studying and reading about Black History Month since January. We celebrated Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day with stories and treats. Firefighters and Police Officer Alison Burns visited the Grade 1 and Grade 2 classes for their communities studies. The primary classes also celebrated Hundred’s Day. At the Recognition Assembly for February, we recognized students who have demonstrated the character attribute “Fairness”.

February’s “Fairness” Recognition Assembly recipients

Sir Samuel B. Steele Jr. Public School

"131 Huntsmill Blvd, Scarborough, On. M1W 2Y2 Tel: (416) 396-6580 Fax: (416) 396-6582

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M. L. Lam, Principal

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During the January recognition assembly, Mrs. Azami’s grade 4’s presented a dramatic and exciting tableau for Black History Month.

Mrs. Tanaka’s and Mrs. Weiss’ grade 1 and grade 2 students produced this wonderful display to recognize the Lunar New Year, a celebration followed by our students and staff of Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese heritage.

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Also, the Avid Reader Award was presented to one student from each class who read the most and who also demonstrated an enjoyment in reading. Each student received a certificate, a book and a 24K gold plated bookmark.

Congratulations to the following Avid Readers:

Sandy Tanaka Kareem Mohamed Kristina Weiss Rachel Goldfield Dana Fabian Jesse Liu Brian Rothman Abigail Chiu Kate Beckford Sakura Huang Nicki Azami Cynthia Lam Kurn Kim Janani Sridev MJ Flann Dimitri Papadopoulos Zahra Mirali Paul Kuang Gloria Montanaro Hilary Shi Brigitte Bryan Ajeeta Shanmugarajah Angela Ogden Anastasia Draganidis Gordon Chong Jason Zhou

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Dental Health and Dental Screening"

Between February 11 and 14, dental screening occurred and 291 children were screened. The following web sites contain information on “Dental Health” and “Healthy Eating” which may be helpful to you and your children:

http://www.toronto.ca/health/dental/index.htm

Toronto Public Health offers free dental services in their clinics. They also work with many community health centres, community agencies and private dentists throughout the city to make sure you get the treatment you need. They offer dental services to eligible children and youth (0-17 years), adults enrolled in selected Toronto Public Health programs, and seniors (65 years and older).

Scientists-in-Schools Program

The Scientists-in-Schools program continues to occur in all classrooms and in February Mrs. Hernandez, a parent volunteer, worked with Grade 2/3 classes on the science unit “Structures”. The students were able to learn how to build bridges and test the strength of their

designs. We would like to thank Mrs. Hernandez for volunteering in the classrooms. It was an excellent experience for the students.

French Speech Arts

Two students in Mrs. Bryan’s class, Helen Li (Grade 6) and Dineth Silva (Grade 5) won our school’s French Speech Arts competition. They have now advanced to the area’s French Speech Arts contest scheduled on March 22nd, 2013. Congratulations to Helen and Dineth. You make us proud!

The English Speech Arts for the school will take place mid-April and the area Speech Arts is scheduled in May. Please check the school website for further details.

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New Baby Gecko Was Born! The following was the announcement in the morning on March 5th by our ESL teacher, Mr. Yoon and his students:

"Boys and Girls, Teachers, Volunteers….we have some very exciting news to share with you today!

Over the weekend on March 2nd, a small baby gecko was born! Soon, under the direction of Mrs. DeClute, the new addition to the Sam Steele family will be revealed for all to see!

But first, we are going to have a baby-naming contest. We are asking each class to submit one name (a very creative name!) by the end of the week, this Friday, to Mr. Yoon.

A panel of judges including Mrs. Lam, Mr. Schappert, Mrs. Humber, Mrs. DeClute, and Mr. Yoon will select the winner before the March Break. Good luck to every class!

This message has been brought to you by the Primary ESL students: Hubert, Queenie, Parco, and Jason. Thank you!"

Observations about our new baby gecko: Article and photos by Holly Cheung and Annie Cho (Mrs. Azami’s grade 4 class)

Did you hear? There’s a new baby gecko in our library. It feeds on really small worms. The baby gecko has yellow, black and orange stripes on its back. We’re not quite sure if it’s a boy or a girl. When it gets frightened it makes hissing sounds. It hides under a rock when it gets too hot. As you know from Mr. Yoon’s article above, there’s a contest for naming our newest Sam Steele member. We think it was born on March 2nd or March 3rd. What’s we found most amazing is that such a large baby gecko could come out of such as small egg.

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News from the Library

On April 11, we will have an author visit our school. Kevin Sylvester has been invited to speak to our students from Grade 1-6. He has written the Neil Flambe series Splinters. Both titles are nominated in this year’s Forest of Reading Award.

Even though we don’t have a Silver Birch Reading Club this year, the Silver Birch books are now available for the junior students to sign out and read. Students are encouraged to put their name on the waiting list with Ms. DeClute or to visit the public libraries to get the books. The Blue Spruce reading program (K-3) is also available and the primary students have access to the reading during Library periods. The Extended French students are offered Forest of Reading books to read. The classroom teachers are reading the Le Prix Peuplier to the students. Voting will take place in May for all the above-mentioned reading materials.

A musical performance has been booked for the entire school! "Funny Bamboo Music" is an adventure in sound using traditional Vietnamese instruments which coincidentally ties into Asian Heritage Month. May 6th @ 9:00 in Gym 1.

Parent Resources

The Ministry of Education’s parent guides, Reading and Writing with Your Child, Kindergarten to Grade 6 and Doing Mathematics with Your Child, Kindergarten to Grade 6 are scheduled to arrive at the Board in March and arrangements will be made to have these valuable resources distributed to elementary schools. Each guide – one for early literacy and one for early mathematics – offers families a range of fun and easy ways to make a contribution to their children’s learning and educational achievement.

The parent guides are now available not only in English and French but also in Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Korean, Portuguese, Punjabi, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Urdu and Vietnamese. The guides are available online at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/abc123/eng/tips/ and in hard copy from Service Ontario at

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https://www.publications.serviceontario.ca/ecom/ where schools are able to order on behalf of families free of charge.

You will also be able to access these sites through our school website by the middle of March under the “PARENTS” section: http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/sirsamuelbsteele/

Summer programs for International Languages - Elementary

Open to all students from JK to grade 8, International Languages Elementary summer programs combine language learning with engaging activities like games, songs, dance, storytelling and writing. The TDSB offers one of the most comprehensive international language programs in the country. In a world where economies and communications networks are more integrated, knowing

languages and cultures powerfully benefits our students. Registration will open soon. For more information visit: http://www.ileprograms.ca.

What Will You Learn This Spring? Did you know that the TDSB offers courses for adults? Through our Learn4Life program, we run more than 500 classes at locations across the city. Get in shape with a fitness or dance course. Work on your golf swing. Pick up the guitar for campfire sing-a-longs. Learn the local language before traveling to a new city. Create a work of art. Join the spring session today! Register at http://www.learn4life.ca. Classes begin the week of April 2. TDSB Continuing Education is your partner in lifelong learning.

Summer Music Camps Enrich your child’s summer vacation with music camp.

"Through three unique programs – Summer Sounds, DownTown Strings and Toronto Summer Music Camps – the TDSB offers band, strings and orchestral experiences for students from grades 3-9. Registration opens March 5. For more information visit: www.tdsbsummercamps.ca.

Adult English as a Second Language Program Did you know that the Toronto District School Board offers one of the largest adult English as a Second Language (ESL) program in all of Canada? Each Year, nearly 30,000 adults enroll in a TDSB Adult ESL program each year. All levels of

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English are taught and students can prepare for Citizenship tests, learn about settlement and employment related issues and gain a deeper understanding of Canadian society – its history, geography and politics, For more information on the ESL summer program please visit http://www.ESLtoronto.ca or call 416-338-4300.

Some additional recent events from our Sam Steele classrooms

The students in Ms. Fabian’s, Mrs. Tanaka’s and Mrs. Weiss’ classes taking part in this year’s 100th school day activities.

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Pajama Day in Mrs. Flann’s grade 6 class.

Mrs. Montanaro’s grade 4’s and grade 5’s created this art display based on onomatopoeia.

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A student in Mrs. Flann’s class is seen showing his classmates (in our Computer Lab) how to use the National Film Board of Canada’s PixStop stop-motion animation app for the iPad.

Ms. Fabian’s grade 1 students are creating patterns using pattern blocks during Math class.

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“SNOW-HENGE” (Doesn’t it look a bit like Stonehenge?) – A photograph by Gabriel Tenn (Mrs. Bryan’s class) of a snow structure created by Sir Sam Steele students. ______________________________________________________________________________

On behalf of the staff, I would like to wish you all a very safe and relaxing March Break. We look forward to seeing you on March 18th, 2013.

M. L. Lam,

Principal, Sir Samuel B. Steele Jr. P. S.