FEBRUARY 2014 ISSUE 6

MAZO NEWS Principal: Michael O’Reilly 905-836-1032 Vice-Principal: Linda Taglieri Superintendent: Dianne Hawkins Web site: www.mazodelaroche.ps.yrdsb.edu.on.ca Trustee: Martin Van Beek

Administrators’ Message While February is the shortest month of the year, it is going to be a month with lots of excitement and learning at Mazo. We will celebrate Carnaval during the last week of February. We will have many enjoy-able outdoor activities led by our Student Council and we will also have workshops for all of our stu-dents in our gymnasium on Kin-Ball, a cooperative game from Quebec. Our Grade 5 -8 students will have the opportunity for additional outdoor activity with downhill skiing, snowshoeing and tubing on Feb-ruary 4 and 20. The students continue to have many opportunities to participate in extra-curricular activities at lunch and recess (e.g. band, dance, envi-ronment, art, drama, sports, technology ). Our Jun-ior Co-ed volleyball team and our Intermediate girl’s and boy’s basketball teams continue competition in February. Our school police representative, Officer Wood, will begin VIP presentations with our Grade 3, 6, 7 and 8 students. The Junior Choir is excitedly preparing for their performance at “Voices for Africa” in early March. We are not allowing any “winter blahs” to set in at Mazo! The Term 1 Ministry report card will be sent home with the students on February 12. Please take the time to review the report card which reflects the stu-dents’ learning skills and academic achievement from September until early February. Use the report card as an opportunity to set goals with your child to continue to make progress. Interviews / confer-ences are not scheduled in York Region at this time. As always, if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s progress, please contact the teacher. On this report card, our teachers have in-cluded some “Next Steps” which are recommenda-tions of how parents can assist their child to make further academic progress. Have a great month! Enjoy Family Day on Monday,

February 17.

M O’Reilly & Mme Taglieri

FEBRUARY 12, 2014,

TERM ONE REPORT

CARDS GO HOME

DOOR BUZZER IMPLEMENTATION….TIPS FOR A SMOOTH TRANSITION

As everyone knows, beginning February 3rd, all school doors, including the front doors will be locked 15 minutes after the morning entry bell.

Here are some “tips” to assist us in making this an easy and safe transition for students and their families:

Make lunches with your child(ren) the night before school to save time in the morning;

Have your child(ren) put their completed homework in their backpack every night;

Make sure your child(ren) have everything that they need for school (agenda, instru-ment, snow gear, extra clothes, water bottle, etc.) before they leave for school;

When possible, please try to schedule ap-pointments for your child(ren) after school hours; and

When picking up your child(ren) from school at dismissal have a designated meeting spot outside where your child(ren) will meet you.

Following these “tips” will help foster inde-pendence and responsibility in your child.

2 MAZO MEMO

SNOW DAY ABSENCES

ALL PARENTS NEED TO NOTIFY MAZO, PREFERABLY BY EMAIL, IF THEIR CHILD(REN) ARE NOT COMING TO SCHOOL ON A SNOW DAY. Please email the school at mazo.de.la.roche.ps@yrdsb.edu.on.ca, or call the school at 905-836-1032 to report your child’s absence.

VOICES FOR AFRICA 8: Wednesday March 5, 6:20 pm at the Newmarket Theatre

The Mazo Junior Choir is pleased to have been invited to sing in the 8th annual Voices For Africa charity concert, in support of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. T- shirts are being sold to celebrate the event at a cost of $17, and order forms are available from Mr. MacKillican or from the office. Tickets for the concert are $22 and go on sale February 5th at the Newmarket Theatre box office, or online at https://secure1.tixhub.com/newmarket/procurement. Parents interested in attending the concert are ad-vised that tickets often sell out quickly. All proceeds go to further the Foundation’s work in Africa fighting disease and poverty. Thank you for your support of this worthy event.

Mr. MacKillican & Mme Velliette

Message from our Trustee This is an exciting time for our Board. We recently launched our new Mission, Vision and Val-ues, and the Board’s first slogan – Inspire Learning!

Our new mission statement – to advance student achievement and well-being through public education, which motivates learners, fosters inclusion, inspires innovation and builds commu-nity – will help to guide our work and move us forward in the months and years ahead. Thank you to everyone who shared their input. We look forward to bringing these statements to life in our school communities.

We are now halfway through the school year, a good time to celebrate all that your children have achieved and to set goals for the rest of the year. I encourage you to speak with your child not only about what they are learning, but also how they are learning. There are so many exciting and innovative things happening in our schools.

Best wishes for an enjoyable and successful second term.

Martin Van Beek

Trustee

https://secure1.tixhub.com/newmarket/procurementhttps://secure1.tixhub.com/newmarket/procurement

MAZO SPORTS

BASKETBALL

The Senior Girls Area Tournament will be held on Wednesday, February 26th and the Senior Boys Area Tour-

nament will be held on Friday, February 28th. Both tournaments are being held at Sir William Mulock Secondary School.

SKI DAYS

Grades 5 to 8 will be skiing at Snow Valley on February 4th and February 20th, leaving Mazo promptly at 7:15a.m. and returning at 4 p.m.

KIN-BALL PRESENTATION Kin-ball Canada is coming to present this new sport to all grades the last week of February. Kin-Ball, also known as Omnikin, is a team sport created in Quebec, Canada in 1986 by Mario Demers, a Physical Education Professor, in which the main distinctive characteristics are the big size of the ball (about 1.5 meters in diameter) and that the matches are played between three teams at the same time instead of traditional one-on-one.

JUNIOR COED VOLLEYBALL The Junior Coed Volleyball team headed to Newmarket High School for the Area Tournament on January 28th. They played very well and made it to the finals to face Stonehaven P.S. The first game was won by Stonehaven P.S. and the second game was won by Mazo to keep us in this real nail biter. Eve-ryone played at the top of their game and in the end it paid off as Mazo took it in the 3rd game by a score of 15 to 13. CONGRATULATIONS! WAY TO GO! The Coed Team moves onto the Regionals on February 6th at Aurora Senior P.S. GOOD LUCK!

HEALTHY SCHOOLS AND BIRTHDAYS While we understand that families celebrate their children’s birthdays with a variety of food traditions at home, we request that you do not send any food items to school to be shared with classmates for birthdays. There are a number of reasons for this request. Several parents have expressed con-cerns with “sweets” being sent to school for birthdays. Other parents have questioned their child’s per-ceived “need” to bring something to give to all classmates on their birthday. As well, many children have serious food allergies and others have medical concerns such as Type 1 diabetes. Birthday treats and sharing should be a home tradition. Thank you for your cooperation. Our primary teachers will continue to recognize our students on their birthdays in a variety of simple ways.

ALL SALES BENEFIT OUR SCHOOL!

Support Our Fundraiser!

The winter season is upon us. Parents know what that means – misplaced boots, lost mittens and various other clothing items that are “missing in ac-tion”. Find us at www.mdlr.mabelslabels.com to place your order. The school earns fundraising commission on every order.

Forest of Reading continues to be a popular draw during morning recesses. Students have been busy reading great Canadian con-tent and blogging about it. Parents are en-couraged to visit the Forest of Reading blog and check out the incredible student-created content! They are welcome to post comments and their own reviews, too. Book trailers are coming soon care of iMovie… http://foretmazo.wordpress.com

Library Blog Updates: Curious to see/read up on all the exciting class activities that are on-going or happening in the library? Check out Mazo’s Library Blog - entries appear in French first; however an English translation immediately follows. There are some great parent-friendly links under the “Parent” heading, too! www.bibliothequemazo.wordpress.com

Planning Ahead: Please mark your calendars as the Scholastic English Book Fair is on its way! It has been confirmed for the week of May 5th, 2014.

LIBRARY CORNER

http://www.mdlr.mabelslabels.comhttp://foretmazo.wordpress.comhttp://www.bibliothequemazo.wordpress.com

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2 3 4

Ski Day Gr. 5-8

Gr. 4 Soundsense

Presentation

5 6

Gr. 6 VIP

Junior Coed Volleyball

team to Regionals

7

PIZZA

8

9 10 11 12

REPORT CARDS

GO HOME

13

Gr. 6 VIP

14

PASTA

15

16 17

FAMILY DAY

NO SCHOOL

18 19 20

Ski Day Gr. 5-8

21

PIZZA

22

23 24 25

Gr. 6 VIP

26

6:45 p.m. School

Council Meeting

27

28

PASTA

February 2014

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