Principal’s Message :

Schomberg Public School Principal : Mr. Corey Trute

Elementary Office Administrative Assistant: Ms. Debbie Mitchell

School Administrative Support: Mrs. Marianne Di Febo

Trustee: Mr. Peter Adams-Luchowski Trustee

Superintendent of Education: Becky Green

Website: http://www.yrdsb.ca/schools/schomberg.ps/ Follow us on Twitter @yrdsb_schomberg

December 2017 Issue #4

SCHOMBERG SCOOP

Best Wishes for the Holidays! As we approach the end of the 2017 calendar year, we take time to reflect upon Schomberg Public School commu-nity successes and its dedication to improving student achievement. The staff have been busy implementing the various curriculum expectations in their classrooms, completing Progress Reports and have met and are meeting with parents and their colleagues to discuss and further plan for student achievement and well being. The Elemen-tary Progress Reports went home on November 22, 2017. This is a great opportunity to discuss and reflect with your child their progress while setting goals for the months to come. Communication between home and school is an essential element of student success. We appreciate your ongoing involvement in your child’s education, the time spent communicating through the agendas, and the conversations you have had with staff. We look forward to continuing our partnership in the upcoming year. We would also like to thank parents for their ongoing support at home. Helping with homework assignments and discussing your child's school day provides the opportunity for support and positive reinforcement. Furthermore, it provides parents an opportunity to exercise strategies used at school to reinforce key concepts. The holidays are a terrific opportunity for our students to enjoy the greatness of our Canadian winter. Encourage your children to play outside, skate, toboggan or simply play in the snow. And while indoors, take the time to play board or card games with your children. Games that involve strategic thinking enhance critical thinking skills and provide invaluable family time where you can share in the gifts that each of your children bring to our community every day. As a school community, we are indeed blessed with committed and caring individuals. As the holiday season approaches and 2017 quickly draws to a close, we wish to extend best wishes for the holiday season and for a happy 2018! We are confident that the two week break will prove to be a restful and pleasurable time for families to spend together. Thanks to all of you for all that you do to make Schomberg Public School a great place to be. Whether you come to School Council meetings, participate as a parent volunteer, or come to special events — your involvement and presence matters and we value the time, treasures and talents you bring. We look forward to greeting your children upon their return from the holiday on Monday, January 8, 2018.

Have a happy, safe holiday!

Mr. Trute

Upcoming Dates: IMPORTANT DECEMBER DATES TO REMEMBER:

December 13- Holiday Concert 2pm and 7pm

December 22—Good News Assembly 9:30 am

December 22– Skating Trisan Center 2-3pm

January 19 - Kindergarten Registration Begins

Winter Break—December 25, 2017 – January 5, 2018.

We look forward to returning to school on January 8, 2018

Join us on our Schomberg

P.S. Float and be part of

the Santa Claus Parade

on Saturday, December 2.

Students or families interested in helping

to decorate the float are asked to meet at

the school at 11a.m. on Saturday. For

more information, please

contact Wendy Outram at

wendy.outram@grupobimbo.com

Lost & Found

Lost and found items will be on display in the front hall during the week of December 11-15 . Please stop by and see if there are any items that look familiar. Unclaimed items will be donated over the holiday.

Indoor Shoes All students are expected to have a pair of indoor shoes

so that we may keep the floors as dry and as clean as possible. Thank you to students who are changing into their indoor shoes before they enter the classroom.

Weather Watch All students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6 are expected to go out for every recess unless the principal decides that weather conditions are so poor that it would be detrimental for them to be outdoors. Students are to come to school ready for winter and prepared to be outdoors up to 40 minutes after lunch. We always monitor the weather and, in extreme conditions e.g. wind chill; we keep the students indoors or shorten the recess breaks.

We often receive requests from parents asking us to keep their children indoors during recess times because they are not feeling well. Unfortunately, we do not have the staff or facilities to supervise students who are sick or still recov-ering from an illness. Students with heavy colds, etc., which are serious enough to prevent them from participating in physical education, recesses or other outdoor activities, should remain at home until their condition improves. This will likely benefit the students concerned and prevent the spread of this illness to others. Please make sure that your children are dressed properly for our invigorating winter days. It is advisable for students to bring extra pants and socks. A change is often necessary due to the wet and cold weather of the winter months. To avoid adding to our clothing collection in the Lost and Found, please be sure to label all articles of clothing. Boots, hats, mitts/gloves, scarves, and snow pants for the younger children will help make recess an enjoyable time.

Central Cares Holiday Drive

Schomberg Public School is currently supporting the “Central Cares” Holiday Drive in support of families within

our York Region Community.

We are collecting new toys, coats, mittens, scarves, socks and boots from November 22-December 15, 2017. A

donation area has been set up outside of the main office.

In addition to the “Central Cares” drive, we will be collecting donations of non-perishable food items that will

be delivered to the Fire Hall in time for the Holiday Season. There will be an opportunity to donate a non-

perishable item as “admission in the door” at Schomberg’s Holiday Concert held on Wednesday, December

13th at 7p.m. or at our Matinee Concert on December 13

th at 2p.m.

Thank you in advance for all your support of our holiday initiatives once again this year!

Diagnostic Reading Assessments (DRA) inform teachers of student's strengths and weaknesses in order to program appropriately for them. There are three main components on the DRA. Listed below are those components and what a teacher would be looking for:

Student Reading Survey:

Engagement or Wide Reading - Is a student choosing appropriate level books, across a variety of genre?; Is the student reading

consistently throughout the school year?

Self Assessment/Goal Setting - Can the student articulate his or her strengths, and areas in need of improvement?; Can he or

she set goals for improvement?

Oral Fluency: When reading the required passage out loud without rehearsal, a teacher looks for:

Rate, expression, phrasing, and number of miscues (reading errors)

Comprehension Skills/Strategies:

How well can the student make prediction, summarize, comprehend literally, interpret and reflect on the what he or she has

read?

Primary students also take part in reading assessments. This assessment is called the PM Benchmark Reading Assess-ment. It’s purpose is again to determine an independent reading level for each student and to determine strengths and next steps. Teachers use the information gained from the assessment to plan for instruction and chose appropriate leveled books for each student.

Reading Assessments - Did you know??

YRDSB Cost Sharing…

With the support of School Council Funds, Schomberg P.S. has taken advantage of the YRDSB Cost Sharing Program to add additional technology to our school. Our recent purchase of 31 Chromebooks will help to support the integration of technology into student Learning.

Bus Transportation If you need your child to not take the bus home, please be aware that without parent/ guardian permission through a note or phone call to the main office your child will be placed on the bus. Thank you

OHIP+ is coming… The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is releasing additional resources ahead of the January 1, 2018, launch of OHIP+: Children and Youth Pharmaca-re. On the ministry’s website (health.gov.on.ca/ ohipplus_resources), you will find Factsheets for pa-tients/families, Postcards (available in 14 languages), and more. Through this program, Ontarians aged 24 years and younger, who are OHIP insured, regardless of their family income, will be eligible for over 4,400 medications and drug products at no cost. If you have any questions about OHIP+, please send an email to OHIPplus@ontario.ca. For more information, please visit: Ontario.ca/OHIPplus.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle this holiday season with ideas from the Environment Committee

Reduce: Sometimes our children get too many presents to open at once and we put the extras away to open anoth-er day. Not to mention the non-favourite toy that got unwrapped but never made it out of the box. With the holidays approaching it is a great time to get these items out. Consider re-gifting them (reducing your shopping list – which is never a bad thing) or donating them to support other children in need. Reuse: Purchase gift bags (paper and fabric), decorative boxes and tins, that can be reused again and again. Consider co-ordinating these with your household decorations for gifts to the immediate family, helping to create that “out of a magazine” look but being very functional at the same time. Plain gift boxes with a fan-cy ribbon look great and are quick to wrap! Recycle: Envelopes, cards and wrapping paper go in the blue bin. Foil/metallic type wrapping paper, tissue, ribbons and bows are not recyclable but you can keep them out of the garbage a bit longer by saving them to use on future gifts (assuming they made it through the present opening relatively unspoiled). Also, consider using them for craft projects. Get crafty at Christmas: Each year we get cards of holiday wishes and we display them around our homes. What happens to them after? Do you keep them all... forever? No probably not. So make them into GIFT TAGS. How? Cut the card along the fold and discard the portion with the verse and signature. Punch a hole in a corner of the remaining card front (so you can loop ribbon through to attach it to this year’s gift) and write your message on the blank back side. Consider making your own wrapping paper. Buy plain brown Kraft paper and get your kids to decorate it. Use stamps, stickers or draw pictures on it to give it a personal style. Get baking! Consider giving a tin of home baking – a great option for those hard to buy for adults on your

list. Get the kids to help with the baking and make it a fun afternoon project. Don’t forget to

have the kids do some “quality control” by sampling the goodies. Include a list of ingredi-

ents and/or recipe as precaution for those with food allergies.

Kindergarten Registration to Commence January 19, 2018 Kindergarten registration will commence on January 19, 2018 for

the 2018-19 school year. Registration forms are available on

YRDSB’s website: www.yrdsb.ca. Children who turn four or five

years old during 2018, live within the school boundary and whose parents are public school tax sup-

porters will be eligible to register for kindergarten. A kindergarten information session for parents is be-

ing planned for this spring. For more information please visit the YRDSB website or contact your local

school.

French Immersion Information Sessions and Registrations

Information sessions for the French Immersion (FI) program will take

place at French Immersion schools on January 18, 2018 at 7 p.m.

Please visit YRDSB’s website in January 2018 (http://www.yrdsb.ca/

Programs/fi/Pages/Program-Locations.aspx) to find the FI program loca-

tion for your elementary school location. FI registration will begin Janu-

ary 19, 2018. Parents or guardians of Senior Kindergarten students entering Grade 1 in 2018, and

wishing to enrol in the FI Program, can visit or call the school office and request an Office Index Card -

short version. The Office Index Card must be signed by the principal of the home school. Parents or

guardians then take this form, along with one piece of identification showing their address to the desig-

nated FI program location to register between January 19 and February 9, 2018. This eliminates the

need to provide duplicate enrollment information or to pre-register.

YRDSB’s FI Accommodation Plan provides long-term consistency and equity of access to all students

in York Region and will enable YRDSB to continue to offer the FI program to all who wish to enrol. The

FI program will be offered in Dual Track or Single Track settings, in a variety of configurations. In order

to meet community needs and optimize available space in our schools, a community's Grade 1-8 FI

program may be provided over more than one school during the course of a student's FI education.

Space requirements at some schools may mean that siblings are in different schools for primary dual

track French Immersion programs due to differing grade structures. Like any of our schools across the

Board, changes to school boundaries, and/or the accommodation model for the French Immersion pro-

gram may need to be considered when new schools open, a school experiences enrolment growth, and

program changes occur. This will allow flexibility in addressing community needs and the opportunity to

use existing space in schools.

More information is available on the Board’s website: www.yrdsb.ca. Please note: Some of the FI ac-

commodation plans will require facility modifications or the development of new schools and will require

short-term transition plans that might include overflow while we work toward the long-term vision. Over-

flow refers to situations in which the Board directs students to attend a school other than their commu-

nity school or optional program for a specific period of time, as defined in Policy #108.

To ensure the safety of students, school bus service may be cancelled due to inclement weather, ex-

treme temperatures and/or poor road conditions. In these cases, parents and students should develop

alternate care/transportation arrangements.

Cancellation decisions will only be made after thorough consultation with the Safety Officers of school

bus companies servicing York Region and are based on several factors including precipitation, air tem-

perature, road conditions and weather forecast.

Please note the following;

A decision to cancel school bus service will be region-wide meaning all school buses, vans and

taxis will not operate.

School bus routes may be cancelled when severe weather may not be affecting all municipali-

ties in York Region. Both the YRDSB and YCDSB operate many regional educational programs.

Students attending these programs are transported over large attendance areas encompassing several

municipal boundaries. This limits the ability to cancel bus service using a municipality or zone methodol-

ogy.

When bus service is cancelled all school tests and/or examinations will be cancelled and resched-

uled.

Student trips involving the use of school buses will also be cancelled.

Unless otherwise stated, schools will remain open and parents can make arrangements to transport their

children to and from school even if school bus service is cancelled. If buses are cancelled in the morn-

ing, they will not operate in the afternoon. Therefore students transported to school by parents

will require the same transportation home.

Parents, students and school staff are asked to access the following radio and television stations after

6:00 a.m. to receive bus cancellation information:

RADIO

590 AM 640 AM 680 AM 860 AM 1010 AM 1050 AM

1540 AM 1580 AM 88.5 FM 89.9 FM 92.5 FM 93.1 FM

94.9 FM 95.9 FM 97.3 FM 98.1 FM 99.1 FM 99.9 FM

101.1 FM 102.1 FM 104.5 FM 100.7 FM 105.9 107.1 FM

TELEVISION

CITY TV CTV Barrie CTV Toronto CP24 GLOBAL NEWS

A bus cancellation message will also be available at www.schoolbuscity.com and by calling 1-877-330-3001, or by following @YRDSB and @YCDSB on twitter.

School Bus Cancellation Notice

Student Transportation Services of York Region 320 Bloomington Road West Aurora, Ontario L4G 0M1

905-713-2535 FAX: 905-713-2533

Web site: www.schoolbuscity.com

On behalf of the students and staff at Schomberg Public School, we would like to wish you a happy and healthy holiday season.

1. It’s fun!

2. Reading is a great way to connect and spend time with your child.

3. Success in school is directly linked to reading ability.

4. You are your child’s best and most important teacher.

5. While reading you learn about what interests your child.

6. You can discuss your opinions about important values and principles.

7. You can monitor their progress and be able to discuss their school work with them and with their teacher.

8. The video games and electronic devices like Ipads and phones will be turned off.

9. Your child will know that you value their ideas and opinions.

Top 10 Reasons to Read With Your Child

“Children are made read-

ers on the laps of their

parents.”

Emilie

Buchwald

I am sure that most people at some time received a book as a gift and couldn’t wait to read it. If you are thinking of giving your children a book this holiday, ask them about their interests, about authors they like, or titles they are interested in. There are some wonderful, fun holiday books to help celebrate the holiday season!

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

A Main Street Christmas Schomberg Santa Claus Parade

3 4

5

Grade 4 to BORC (Outdoor Education Centre)

6

Grade 2 to BORC (Outdoor Education Centre)

7 8 9

10 11

12

Grade 3 VIP 9:15-10:15

13

Holiday Concert Matinee 2:00p.m. Concert 7:00p.m. Baskets on display

14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22

Good News Assembly 9:30a.m. Skating 2-3

23

24 25

Winter break

26

Winter break

27

Winter break

28

Winter break

29

Winter break

30

31 1 January

Winter Break Winter Break Winter Break Winter Break

December 2017

Perfect Gifts for Your Children Give the gift of acceptance. Teach those around you that they are loved for who they are. Give this gift with a kiss. Give the gift of self-confidence. Help them understand that they must trust themselves, not the opinions of others. Give this gift with a hug. Give the gift of possibilities. Give them the freedom to be anything they want to be. Give this gift with a smile. Give them the gift of life without needless fears. Show them that you tackle problems and encourage them to be doers as well. Give this gift with a laugh. Give them the gift of being a person who has spark and an appreciation for all of life. Give this gift as they go out the door, for all these gifts will last forever!