NOVEMBER 2014

William Berczy P.S.

120 Carlton Road, Unionville

905-477-2047

Principal

Ms. Kathy Lott

kathy.lott@yrdsb.ca

Vice-Principal

Mr. David Williams

david.williams@yrdsb.ca

Administrative Assistants

Ms. Nina Douvinos

Ms. Debbie Wong

Lead Caretaker

Mr. Sebastian Dignoti

Trustee

Ms. Ada Yeung (416) 885-3294

ada.yeung@yrdsb.edu.on.ca

Welcome to Mr. Billy Pang,

New WBPS Trustee, Dec. 2014

Superintendent

Dr. Lisa Walsh

(905) 940-7800

School Council Chair

Mr. James Lin

School Website

williamberczy.ps.yrdsb.ca

A Message from Administration –

The peaceful society we in Canada enjoy today is only a dream

to the many people in the world who live in countries torn apart

by violence. This peace is possible only because it has been

protected by the efforts and sacrifices of generations of

Canadians over the years who have put their lives on the line.

Remembering all that these men and women have done during

times of war, military conflict and peace helps us understand the

country we live in today and how we can build a better future

together. Remembrance Day is an opportunity to honour

those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Please join us Tuesday, November 11th

for our Remembrance

Day ceremony beginning at 10:45 AM in our gym.

Parent/Teacher/Student conferences are coming soon!

Please plan to come in to meet your child’s teacher(s) to discuss

their progress to date. All students will soon receive a notice to

take home regarding our school online booking program to

schedule your interview date and time with your child’s teacher

to discuss their Elementary Progress Report Card. When you

receive your information letter early next week, please read

through the process carefully and follow the instructions to

book your interview using our online booking program. We

hope that you continue to find this process user friendly. The

program allows for families with one or more children to book

their interview times back to back to ease your school visit times.

The new Elementary Progress Report Card that you will

receive November 12th

, does not reflect grades, however,

teachers do have enough evidence to report to parents how

students are progressing. We are looking forward to meeting

with you to have a rich discussion about how your child is

progressing in all learning skills and subject areas.

Partners in Education,

Ms. Lott & Mr. Williams

Communication Reminder

We believe communication is critical for student success. Your children, our students, MUST see us as

partners in their education. We will contact you when (and if) your child develops patterns of poor

decision making, and when they are not engaged in their learning. We will ask that we work together to

strategize our next steps towards improvement.

We will also contact you when there is reason for specific praise and celebration of success as we are

often proud of student achievement and are excited to let you know - as well as to ask you to extend the

praise at home. Please do keep the lines of communication open. Let us know about medications your

child may be on, planned trips, or conflicts that may affect your child’s day to day learning. Our

understanding of these matters will benefit your child’s self esteem as well as their achievement levels.

We look forward to meeting with you on November 13th or November 14th.

Elementary Progress Reports – November 12th

, 2014.

Interim Reports go home Wednesday, November 12th

, 2014

Term 1 Reports go home Wednesday, January 18th

, 2015

Term 2 (final) Reports go home Wednesday, June 24th

, 2015

THANK YOU! SCHOOL COUNCIL PIZZA

SUBCOMMITEE

Volunteers (from far left

clockwise): Vicky Hung, Jing

Zhang, Yvonne Zeng, Rise

Enokido, Cherie Yang, Michelle

Lin, Susanna Siu.

2014-2015 School Council Executive Members

Chair - James Lin

Vice Chair - Mandip Rai

Secretary - Dean Lee and Ellen Viero

Treasurer - Rise Enokido

School Council dates for this school year –

Please join us at our next School Council Meeting – all parents/guardians are invited. We meet

upstairs in our school library at 7:00 PM on the dates set below. Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, November 5th

, 2014

Wednesday, January 14th

, 2015

Tuesday, March 3rd

, 2015

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Tuesday, May 5th

, 2015

Wednesday, June 3rd

, 2015

Education Enrichment – our #1 School Council Fundraiser!

On behalf of the School Council, we would like to thank all the parents and guardians for your generous

donations to William Berczy Public School

Investment in Education for 2014-2015 school year.

Just over $24,000.00 was generously donated by

our William Berczy PS community.

All money donated to our Education Enrichment fund will be spent on our children this year –

enriching programs and learning opportunities at all grade levels! Purchases made will be featured in

future newsletters.

Light up the world PURPLE! - Thanks to those Berczy staff and students who wore purple on

October 10th

- the 2nd

anniversary of Amanda Todd’s death and World Mental Health Day.

After Amanda died, a video – featuring Amanda with a series of handwritten flash cards – was widely

viewed and shared, in the process becoming a focal point for public debate and demands that more be

done to prevent bullying and harassment wherever it occurs. At WBPS, we believe in awareness

campaigns such as these as they help us to talk about safety, inclusion and the power of the

UPSTANDER in any bullying situation, as we continue to be dedicated to developing strategies to

further educate and empower our community in the areas of social media, bullying and harassment.

During anti-bullying week, we have a special presenter coming to work with all of

our students to learn more about internet safety. Please do join us! “SOCIAL

MEDIA ZOMBIES” by Steve Chapelle is an image-rich presentation that

demonstrates the importance of applying critical thinking during social media

activities. Social Media Zombies presentation date is Wednesday, November 19th

Grade 1-6, 11:20 - 12:20 PM Grades 7-8, 2:00 - 3:00 PM.

Bullying is defined as typically a form of repeated, persistent and aggressive

behaviour directed at an individual or individuals that is intended to cause (or

should be known to cause) fear and distress and/or harm to another person's body,

feelings, self-esteem or reputation. Bullying occurs in a context where there is a real

or perceived power imbalance

During our September Super Hero Character

Assembly, all students were encouraged to be

a WBPS Super Hero throughout the year by

acting as an UPSTANDER when/if they see

any bullying behaviours. Every student has the right to

learn in a safe, caring and supportive environment.

Intermediate Boys Volleyball Team - by Jordan C. and Owen T.

The intermediate boys volleyball team has had quite a successful season. We have entered two

tournaments to date. The first tournament was held at Armadale Public School on October 15th.

We came in first in our pool and then beat Wilclay P.S. in the semi-finals to advance to the finals. We

played hard for 2 tough games against Armadale in the finals, but eventually came up a little short,

finishing second overall. Our next

tournament was held on October 22nd. We

again made it to the finals, where we beat

Wilclay to come in first. We continue to

better our skills and are learning to play

together as a team, thanks to our coach, Mr.

Pickthall, who we practice with four times a

week. We have three more exhibition games

upcoming against Parkview, Castlemore and

John McCrae, leading up to our Area

Tournament at Bill Crothers S.S. on

November 28th. We look forward to

working on our skills and continuing our

success through the rest of the season.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL - by Grace and Celine

The girl’s volleyball team is very dedicated and they practice on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, as

well as Monday and Wednesday at lunch. The team is coached by Mr. Cordick and he is extremely

proud of the girls' accomplishments and their growth as individuals and as a team.

Last Tuesday, the girls participated in an invitational tournament at Bill Crothers Secondary School.

Within their pool, the girls played hard and won all their games. They then moved on straight to the

finals and played a difficult game against Wilclay Public School to claim the

title as the champions. (They won a pink volleyball that went perfectly with Mr.

Cordick's outfit.)

The girls also played an intense exhibition game against Coledale Public School.

The girls played hard and won two out of four sets.

They are extremely thankful of Mr. Cordick for his time and dedication towards helping create a strong

and collaborative team. The girls have two upcoming games - one is a rematch against Coledale Public

School where the girls will strive to redeem themselves. The other is an exhibition game against

Unionville Public School, the team's old rival.

Library News - by Ms. Taylor

The Scholastic Book Fair will be arriving soon,

and we’re excited about sharing the joy of reading with our students.

Thursday, November 6th

– Friday, November 14th

Scholastic Book Fairs give our school the opportunity to bring families, teachers,

students, and books together. It’s the ultimate book event! Additionally, a portion of the sales benefits

our school. It’s the best way to raise funds while encouraging kids to read.

Being a part of something special is easier than you think. There are lots of ways to volunteer. We need

people in a variety of areas, including:

book fair set up - on Wednesday November 5th

, 9:00 – 12:00 PM

straightening/reorganizing displays, cashing out students, helping students make responsible

choices etc. Volunteers are needed from 9:00am – 3:30pm. NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IS

NECESSARY!

taking down the book fair afterschool on Friday, November 14thth

.

Please contact me via email (mary.taylor@yrdsb.ca) or in person if you are available to volunteer your

time. Thank you in advance for helping to make our students lifelong

readers – we couldn’t do it without your participation.

Introducing Berczy's newest staff member, Gandalf Bubbles Berczy 1st.

Come visit him in the library during morning recess on Day 1 and 4.

Student Council - WBPS is committed to

increasing student voice and school spirit!

Students will be running school initiatives throughout the year in six areas or

School Council ‘cabinets’.

Spirit

Community Outreach

Healthy and Active Schools

Digital literacy & Technology

Equity and Inclusion

Eco-Team

A special thank you goes out to all

students and teachers participating in Student

Council. We are all excited to see the

amazing things that can happen when

students are given opportunities to have their

ideas come to life! Go Berczy!

STUDENT COUNCIL - Spirit Cabinet – by Rachel H.

Hi Parents and Students! This is the Spirit Cabinet at William Berczy! This year, the Spirit Cabinet has

a lot of opportunities planned for the Spirit of Berczy! We are extremely looking forward to planning all

the spirit events at William Berczy. We are hoping that all students at Berczy would be able to

participate in all of our spirit days. We have at least one Spirit Day planned per month. We hope that

you will participate in as much Spirit as possible to light up spirit at Berczy!!!

November Character Assembly Spirit Day!

Friday, November 28 is SPORT JERSEY DAY at WBPS!

November 28th is a national day to show your love and support

for sport by wearing a jersey, team or club uniform to school.

We hope to see your love for sport at our assembly!

Community Outreach Student Council Cabinet leads another success Food

Drive for our local Markham Food Bank!

Over 700 food items were

collected! Thanks Berczy!

1st place - Ms. Rhodes class

2nd

place – Ms. Cariglia’s class

3rd

place – Ms. Petrovic’s class

(pictured above - our Kindergarten students creating a bar graph with their food drive donations)

Healthy Halloween Treats Blackberries & cantaloupe! Spooky Zucchini eye balls! Halloween Fruit treats!

For many recipe ideas and all sorts of healthy, active living tips check

out http://kidshealth.org/parent/recipes/

Enjoy a happy, healthy and safe Halloween –

from your William Berczy PS Staff