ADMINISTRATORS’ MESSAGE O C T O B E R 2 , 2 0 1 3

S P E C I A L P O I N T S

O F I N T E R E S T :

• School Information

• Special Days

• SCC Highlights

• Character Education

• Dates to Remember

John Dryden P.S.

40 Rolling Acres Drive

Whitby, Ontario

905-434-7400

905-434-5363 FAX

Principal:

Sue Lunn

Vice Principal:

Stephanie Cleveland

John Dryden Public School Home of the Dolphins

“Preparing for the Future by Caring for Today”

The first month has gone by quickly, but September has been a great month with so many activities getting started. Our students have been busy with cross country running, walking club, volleyball, flag football and student coun-cil. What amazing students we have at John Dryden. Many of you will have noticed a different face in the office. Our principal, Sue Lunn, has been away on a sick leave. In her absence, we have the pleas-ure of welcoming Jerry Wright as our Acting Principal. Mr. Wright will be with us for a few more weeks until we welcome Mrs. Lunn back. Last Thursday we had wonderful sunshine for our Terry Fox Run. If you were nearby you will have noticed a sea of red and white running laps around the back of our school. School spirit and pride for our Canadian hero was evi-dent in the enthusiasm we had that day. Special thanks to Mrs. Jacques for organizing our day. Jerry Wright, Principal Stephanie Cleveland, Vice Principal

Kiss ‘n Ride Safety in our Kiss & Ride Lanes is very important. With more students being driven to school, we need your cooperation in ensuring our Dryden community is safe. Please use the sidewalks and marked crosswalk zones on school property when walking your child from the parking lot or the street. There are only 5 visitor parking spaces available, otherwise we encourage you to use our Kiss & Ride Lane to drop your children off safely to school. Please drive slowly and cautiously, being patient and respectful of others. Please pull your car up to the far end of the kiss‘n ride and we will load and unload children from the passenger side of the car. Upon exit from the parking lot, please turn right only to allow increased flow of traffic.

Please see attached map for directions of move-ment through our Kiss & Ride lanes. Thank you for your assistance in helping us keep our stu-dents, staff and parents safe at John Dryden.

PA DAY OCT. 11TH NO

SCHOOL

 

School Informa on

Custody and Access Orders

If there are any special arrangements for your child of which the school needs to be aware, please ensure that school administration and office personnel have an updated copy of court orders for access or custody, signed by an Ontario Court Judge. We must have a copy on file if you wish us to carry out the direction of the stated in the order. The school will continue to provide information on a child’s progress when requested by a non cus-todial parent who has legal access. Your prompt attention regarding this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Safe Arrival

If your child is going to be absent or late for any reason, please call the school at 905-434-7400. You may call at night or early in the morning and leave a message on the voice mail. If you are not sure of the duration of your child’s absence, we re-quest you call each morning your child is away. As we call the parents of every child who is away, your prior notification is appreciated.

Crossing Guard Times Here are the times that a crossing guard will be at Rolling Acres Drive and at Daines Drive: 7:55 am to 8:15 am 11:00 am to 11:10 am 11:45 am to 12:00 pm 2:45 pm to 3:05 pm

E.Q.A.O. Our 2012-13 EQAO results are now posted. Please visit www.eqao.com scroll down to the link to school search. Type John Dryden PS into the search. Scores will be displayed. There is also a link to scores on the DDSB main website page. Please know that our staff uses this data as well as other data sources to inform decision making and our school plan. Individual Student Reports will be sent home in the very near fu-ture. Please feel free to contact the school should you have questions.

 

Special Days at our School 

Help Fill the Pantry

During this season of thanksgiving, help us fill the pantry! Between Oct 2 - 10th our school will be collecting non-perishable items for our local Food Bank that will benefit those in our community that need it most. Baby formula, pasta sauces, macaroni & cheese, various types of dry pasta & side kick packages are just a few ideas for items that can be brought in. One lucky student from the class that brings in the most items will cut the principal’s tie!

JOHN DRYDEN SPIRITWEAR

John Dryden Spiritwear is on order now! T-shirt, long sleeve shirt, shorts, toques and baseball hats! Order through the link on our school website:

username: john

Password; drydenschool

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Allergy Information

Allergy Tips for the Month

♦ Anaphylaxis (anna-fill-ax-tic) is not the sniffles or a runny nose. It is a life-threatening allergic reaction that involves the airways. If not treated quickly and properly, coma or death may result.

♦ An anaphylactic reaction can occur within seconds, minutes or up to 2 hours from the time of the exposure. Anyone who has been injected with an Ep-iPen should seek hospital treatment immediately, even if symptoms seem to go away. Symptoms can reappear.

♦ Food allergies are not the only triggers for anaphylaxis. Some people are super sensitive and highly allergic to insect stings, medications, latex and even ex-ercise. Sounds strange, but it’s true. Other common food allergies besides peanuts and nuts included milk, eggs, shell-fish, fish, wheat, soy and seeds.

♦ THANK YOU to all parents who support our Allergy Aware Pro-gram. Every time you choose to bring peanut and nut-free foods to school, you are making a conscious choice to help make our school safer for children, staff and volunteers who may have these types of allergies.

Anaphylaxis Understanding allergies can sometimes be difficult and confusing. If you have questions or concerns

you can go to the following website: www.anaphylaxis.ca

  

Information

 

 

LITERACY/NUMERACY Hello John Dryden community! My name is Andrea Cronin and I am the Literacy/Numeracy Coach for John Dryden Public School. I am so excited to be a part of the successes, changes and challenges taking place here at Dryden this year. I have been a teacher with the DDSB for 12 years and have taught both the Primary and Junior divisions. My experience with children of all ages has allowed me to further develop my belief that all children are capable of achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. As a Literacy/Numeracy coach I will be working with both teachers and students, to build teacher capacity and thereby raise student achievement. As a parent myself, I am often wondering how I can help my child to learn and master new ideas and persevere with challenging topics. One of the areas parent often struggle to support the most is Mathematics. Both the way math is taught and the way we ask students to express their learning has changed significantly since many of us were in school! Math is now being taught through a series of Big Ideas, which are fundamental concepts and content that repeatedly emerge in the study of math-ematics. By understanding and connecting these “Big Ideas”, students are able to see that the things we learn in Mathematics are always related to each other. You will find that with this new way of teaching Math, the textbook is depended on less and students are asked to work through open ended and multi-faceted problem solving more often. Summative mathematics marks are based on a combination of teacher observation, mastery of the process ex-pectations and explanation of ideas in Math. Pencil and paper tasks and tests will come home less of-ten. In class, your child is engaged in Problem Solving tasks that have more than one solution or more than one way to arrive at the solution. They are working through shared, guided, and independent Math so that they can build their capacity to persevere with Mathematics problems, come to a rea-sonable solution and defend or explain their thinking. Top Tips for Parents Build strong, positive attitudes about math. When children feel positively engaged and successful, they are more likely to stick with an activity or a problem to find a solution. • Begin with activities that meet your child’s level of mathematical understanding. Early success in solving problems will build your child’s confidence. Gradually move to activities that provide more challenge for your child. • If you and your child are more comfortable in a language other than English, use it. Your child will understand concepts better in the language that he or she knows best. *Taken from Doing Mathematics with your Child – Kindergarten to Grade 6 (Ontario Ministry of Edu-cation)

 

STUDENT COUNCIL 2013/14 Congratulations to the 2013/2014 student council members: Grace, Maddie, Lauryn, Ka-janan, Kate, Maya, Aaron, Damilola, Khadijah, Chanté , Megan, Sierra, Farwa, Aaman, Saman-tha, Anna and Darla. We are looking forward to a productive and exciting year! We will be fo-cusing on culture and social-based events and activi-ties; please check the newsletters and John Dry-den website for upcoming spirit days and school wide events. - Ms. Millman, Mrs. Wilson-Brito, Ms. Hawkins, Ms. Wilsack

Parent-Police Coalition Team Meeting Durham Regional Police is holding a Parent-Police Coalition Team meeting next Monday on the topic of “Debunking the Stranger Danger Myth: Keeping Kids Safe.” This presentation focuses on helping keep children and teens safe from harm from a develop-mental perspective. The meeting will provide information about the current trends in preven-tion, the assumptions that have been made about children and safety, the mixed messages children have received in the past, the appropriate messages to give to children, practical safety tips and how to talk to children about their personal safety. The guest speaker will be Pearl Rimer, the Manager of Research and Training at Boost Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention. She designs and conducts award-winning training for com-munity service providers, children and youth, as well as designing psycho-educational groups for adolescent girls. Seating is limited, so please contact Constable Sitaram, School Resource Officer, Durham Re-gional Police Service at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 1813 to reserve your seat. WHERE: Ormiston Public School, 20 Forest Heights Street in Whitby WHEN: Monday, October 7, 2013 TIME: 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. CONTACTS: Constable Sitaram, School Resource Officer, Durham Regional Police Service 905-579-1520 ext. 1813

** MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA ARE INVITED TO ATTEND **

THANK YOU JOHN DRYDEN! THANK YOU for helping to mak-ing Jump Rope for Heart/Hoops for Heart such a great success last school year! John Dryden School raised a total of $4,160

for the Heart and Stroke Foundation—THANK YOU! Our school has earned 4,881 Heart Smart Points. We will be us-ing our points to purchase sports equip-ment for our school. We are looking for-ward to another great school year and supporting the Heart and Stroke Founda-tion. THANK YOU for making a differ-ence in so many lives.

 

Information

 

 

 

SCC  

Highlights  

 

 

SCC Meeting

Oct. 17th

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Fall Fundraiser Announced

Once again John Dryden's fall fundraiser is QSP Magazine sales (online and mail delivery). The dates for collection of the orders are as follows: Wednesday, October 2nd Friday, October 4th Monday, October 7th Wednesday, October 9th Tuesday, October 15th October 18th is the last day to bring your orders and money into the school but you can still place online or-ders. Also, if you have a discounted renewal currently with your subscriber QSP will match the price. All you need to do is attach the paper coupon to you order! Unfortunately, this does not include the magazine Highlight's. Did you know that if you renew/order it through QSP, John Dryden will benefit. https://www.qsp.ca/store/Lightreg.aspx. John Dryden's group number is 9826.

Campbell's Labels for Education There is still time to get in the Campbell's Labels. Each UPC label counts as one point which allows the school to turn your garbage and re-cycling into new equipment for our school. Please check out their web-site for more information and a list of all eligible products. http://www.labelsforeducation.ca/english/eligible_exp.asp

DO YOU HAVE ANY SPARE CANADIAN TIRE CASH?

The SCC is graciously accepting donations of Canadian Tire money to purchase new equipment for the school playground. Donations can be dropped off in the box outside the school office or sent in with your child. Donations can be made all year long.

 

Superintendent for Whitby John Bowyer -Superintendent ‐ 905‐666‐5500 Anne Taylor - Administra ve Officer Trustees are: Christine Winters - 905‐430‐6050 Kimberly Zeppieri - 905‐668‐7782

We are on the web www.johndryden.ca

Next newsletter will be published on October 30th, 2013

John Dryden P.S. 40 Rolling Acres Drive Whitby, Ontario L1R 2A1 905-434-7400 905-434-5365 FAX

"Follow us on Twitter @JohnDrydenPS"

Character Trait for October is Responsibility ….. I am reliable and dependable to do my work. I take own-ership for what I say and do. I think before I act, understanding there are consequences for my actions.

Dates to Remember

Yellow Jackets -Buzzzzzzzzz

The ferocity of yellow jacket wasps in September is well known. Teachers have been instructed to allow students to eat their snacks in-side. No food or drinks will be allowed outside.

Some Dates of Significance for October Islamic History Month Women’s History Month October 6th - World Communion Sunday (Christianity) October 14th - Thanksgiving (Canadian) October 14th - Hajj (Islam) October 15th - 18th - Eid-al Adha (Islam) October 20th - Birth of Bab (Bahai) October 21st - 25th—Ally Week (American) October 31st - Halloween (Celtic)

THIS IS OUR ONLY PAPER COPY OF THE NEWSLETTER!!!! All future newsletters will be posted on the website to save paper and money! Please check us out regularly at: www.johndryden.ca If you would still like to receive a paper copy of our newsletter please send back the bottom portion of this page. Please detach and return to your child’s teacher ------------------------------------------------------------ I would prefer a paper copy of the newsletter Child’s name ________________________________

Child’s teacher ______________________________

Oct 3rd - Grade 1’s & 1/2 go to Pingles Farm Oct 4th - Junior Celebration of Success Oct 7th - Picture Day Oct 7 - 8 - Mrs. Heemskerk’s class to Durham Forest Oct 8th - Cross Country Area Meet—PM Oct 9th - Mrs. Budway’s class go to Durham Forest Oct 9th - Primary Celebration of Success Oct 11th - PA DAY - NO SCHOOL Oct 14th - Thanksgiving Holiday Oct 30th - Primary Celebration of Success