the coyote howl
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Are you in Grades 7 to 10? Need help with math homework?
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The Coyote Howl Elgin Court Public School Newsletter
October 2018
Elgin Court Public School—Thames Valley District School Board
We have so much to celebrate. September has certainly been a month of collaboration. We are very fortunate to have so
many caring and talented individuals working together each day to make great things happen for our learners.
A special thank you goes out to our PTA for organizing our Back to School BBQ. We were so pleased to have so many fami-
lies visit our school and share in the excitement of a new school year. A huge round of applause goes to our teachers, edu-
cational assistants, early childhood educators, custodians, PTA, parent volunteers, community supporters, and Mrs. Johnson
for getting our new year off to a great start.
Our entire staff has been busy getting to know our students. They are reviewing student reports and assessments. DRA as-
sessments are beginning and provide educators with pertinent information to guide students to further develop their read-
ing skills. EQAO results from 2017-2018 have been released from the Ministry. Please refer to the EQAO website
(www.eqao.com) for detailed school results. Individual student reports for last year’s grade 3 and 6 families have already
been sent home.
As you can tell, great things have been happening this past month at Elgin Court!
Sincerely,
Tammy Waller Gordon Kim Campbell
Principal Vice Principal
A Message From the Elgin Court Administrative Team
Principal—Mrs. Tammy Waller Gordon
Vice Principal—Mrs. Kim Campbell
Administrative Assistant—Mrs. Joy Johnson
Superintendent of Student Achievement—Mr. Paul Sydor
254 First Avenue
St. Thomas ON, N5R 4P5
Phone: 519-631-7118 Fax: 519-631-3515
Website: www.tvdsb.ca/ElginCourt.ca
Twitter: @ElginCourtPS
Email: elgincourt@tvdsb.on.ca
Picture Day: Thursday, October 18th
Mark your calendars and practise your
smiles.
Students will have individual photos and
class photos taken that day.
Important Dates and Events
Oct. 12 - Green Spirit Day for Cerebral Palsy
Oct. 15 - Pepperette Fundraiser sheets go home
- Tree Planting with Kettle Creek
Conservation
Oct. 16 - Cross Country Finals at Fanshawe
Conservation Area
Fire Drill with St. Thomas Fire Department and trucks
Oct. 17 - Hot Lunch
Oct. 18 - Picture Day
Oct. 25 - Halloween Dance 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Oct. 26 - PD Day (no school for Students)
Oct 29 - Gr. 8 Trip to Jaffa
Oct. 31 - Black and Orange Day
Nov. 5 - PTA Meeting 6:30 in the LLC
Nov. 7 - Hot Lunch
Nov. 9 - Remembrance Day Service at 11:30 a.m.
Nov. 14 - Fundraiser (Pepperette) Pick up
Parent-Teacher Association
The Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) is a group of
parents and guardians that meet monthly with the
Principal and Vice Principal to discuss academics, ac-
tivities, and concerns at the school. The purpose of
the Parent-Teacher Association is to improve student
achievement and to enhance the accountability of the
education system to parents.
In addition to organizing family focused after-school
events, the Parent-Teacher Association organizes
fund-raising ventures, and provides funding for vari-
ous school projects such as field trips, technology,
software, and presentations.
The 2018 - 2019 PTA Elected Committee is:
Chair: Jennifer Cormier
Secretary: Betsy McClure
Treasurer: Michelle Shannon
E-Gaming Representatives:
John Armer and Tracey Oprenchok
All are welcome to attend our meeting. We look for-
ward to meeting you!
To contact the Parent - Teacher Association, please phone the school.
P.T.A. Meeting Dates for 2018-2019
Monday, September 10, 2018 at 6:30 P.M. Monday, October 1, 2018 at 6:30 P.M. Monday, November 5, 2018 at 6:30 P.M. Monday, December 3, 2018 at 6:30 P.M. Monday, January 14, 2019 at 6:30 P.M. Monday, February 4, 2019 at 6:30 P.M. Monday, March 4, 2019 at 6:30 P.M. Monday, April 1, 2019 at 6:30 P.M. Monday, May 6, 2019 at 6:30 P.M. Monday, June 3, 2019 at 6:30 P.M.
Terry Fox Fundraiser and Walk
Our Terry Fox Run was a tremendous success this
year. We met our school goal of $1000 and Mrs.
Waller Gordon found herself in a very sticky situa-
tion. A special thanks to Mrs. Schned and
Mrs. Ostrander for or-
ganizing our assembly
and the school run.
Thank you to our stu-
dents and their families
for donating to this im-
portant cause.
Productive Struggle in Mathematics
We, as parents, want our children to succeed in school. We feel uncomfortable when our chil-dren struggle and often want to make the work easier to help them (and us) escape the discom-fort.
While helping and making challenging material easier for our children may feel like the right thing to do, research shows us how being less helpful is more supportive of learning –permanent change in understanding. Learning is greatest when children are given challenging tasks requiring
thinking and reasoning. This active thinking is where sense-making, deep understanding, and self-confidence grows.
Productive struggle in mathematics is the sweet spot we all experience when we have just enough support and prior knowledge to engage with a challenging problem. There is no learning without struggle. Doing the thinking for a child by explaining what must be done or providing a formula ensures there is zero thinking and, thus, no learning.
There are two important aspects to this idea:
1) Productive: children need support in the form of math tools (like coins or counters) and gentle guidance. E.g., “I wonder if a picture might help you understand this problem?”
2) Struggle: the task can’t be immediately obvious to the child
If a supported child struggles to the point of nearing frustration, it is appropriate to change the task to avoid unneces-sary upset.
Messages our children need to hear: “I would love to help you with your homework. Before I do, I’m really interested in how you thought about this
problem.” “Problem solving is what we do when we don’t know what to do!” “You worked really hard on that problem to find a solution. That is impressive.” “How does it feel to know that you wrestled with that tough problem and figured it out?” “I’m glad you made that mistake. Your brain grew at that moment. When you realized you had made a mistake,
your brain grew even more!” “Doing mathematics is about being challenged. This is hard. This is fun!”
Links to Support You at Home
https://www.youcubed.org/
https://www.mathplayground.com/thinkingblocks.html https://solveme.edc.org/mobiles/ https://mathies.ca/
So, let’s value and celebrate the struggle our children experience and forget the “that was easy” button.
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