December 2017 Principal: Mr. B. Stoikos Vice-Principal: Ms K. Lee Superintendent: Ms. R. Dickinson Trustee: Mr. Chris Glover [email protected]

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

December is here and we are only three weeks away from our Holiday Break. Within the school, our music department has been very active, especially now as they prepare for the Holiday Concert on Thursday, December 14th at 7:00 p.m. The band, strings, keyboards and the choir are rehearsing and preparing for the concert. All instrumental students are expected to participate in the concert as it is considered their culminating task for the class. Not having a full complement of instruments also impacts the sound of the performance. We hope you are able to join us and we look forward to seeing you on December 15th. Please note that this year we will have a large number of themed baskets to raffle off at the end of the concert. The Gift Basket Raffle at the Holiday Concert has become a Hollycrest tradition, and as per past year’s Parent Council has asked that each classroom assemble a basket based on a chosen theme. Proceeds from the basket raffle will go toward school initiatives and Grade 8 Graduation. If there are any baskets that families or businesses would like to donate, please bring them by the school office. This year, our Parent Council, will provide each student in the school with a raffle ticket for the gift baskets. The baskets will be on display for two days, Wednesday, December 13th and Thursday, December 14th, before the concert and students will be able to purchase tickets for the draw even if they will not be at the concert. Thank you for your support! Thank you for your support. As always coaches are busy preparing their teams for various TDESAA Tournaments. Currently the hockey teams, Girls’ basketball, and boys volleyball teams are preparing for

upcoming competitions representing Hollycrest in their respective tournaments. Go Hawks! Last month over 75 Hollycrest students participated in the Beaver Math Challenge on November 9th. It was our second time taking part in the event, and we are very proud of our students! A special thanks to Ms. Dhawan for organizing the event, and prepping our mathematicians for the contest. Great job Hollycrest! Once again this year we will be running a food drive for the Daily Bread Food Bank. The drive will officially start on Monday, December 4th and continue for 2 weeks until Monday, December 18th. Boxes for the collection have been delivered to classrooms. Please support our food drive as many families are in need during the holiday season and this is a great way for us to give back to the community. There will also be a clothing drive this year to support our student cooking program. There is more information in the newsletter regarding the clothing drive. I would encourage parents to visit our school website as it is constantly being updated and improved and changes from week to week. On it you can find information regarding: school life, parent workshops, a calendar of events, and display of student work posted on our Twitter feed on the main page. Take a moment to browse through the website and see the great things happening in academics, athletics, and the arts at Hollycrest Middle School. Despite the cold and snow yet to come, this is a wonderful time of year. It is a time of celebration for many cultures represented at Hollycrest. Diwali, Birthday of Guru Naka Dev Shahib, Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa are all celebrated between November and

December. I would like to wish our Hollycrest families all the best for the holiday season. Enjoy the celebrations with family and friends. Have a safe and wonderful break, relax, rest up and we look forward to an exciting and eventful New Year. See you January, 8th 2018! Mr. Stoikos, Principal

Craft and Bake sale! We have everything from jewelry to ornaments and gift tags, all handmade with care by the students and staff in Room 24. Got a sweet tooth? Of course, delicious freshly baked traditional seasonal treats will also be sold. We will also be selling during the upcoming Holiday concert. All proceeds will be used to support Room 24's cooking program. See you at the sale!

VACCINATIONS FOR ALL GRADE 7 STUDENTS

On Wednesday, December 13th, Nurses from Toronto Public Health will be here to provide free vaccinations to the Grade 7 students. The vaccines will protect students against serious infections. These are also great to get before travel. FOOD DRIVE FOR THE DAILY BREAD FOOD BANK Once again, Hollycrest will be running a food drive from Monday, December 4th until Monday, December 18th to support the Daily Bread Food Bank. Boxes have been placed in all homeroom classes for donations. The most needed items are: canned meats and fish, canned fruits and vegetables, lentils, beans, powdered or canned milk, soup, rice, baby formula and baby food. However, any and all unopened canned and dried food items will be gladly accepted. Our goal this year is 1,500 lbs of food. Please do what you can to support this worthy cause for those in our community who need our support. Thank you. Ms. Campbell BEAVER COMPUTING CHALLENGE

Beaver Computing Challenge (BCC) is an online challenge organized by University of Waterloo. It is problem solving contest with a focus on computational and logical thinking. This year over thirty Hollycrest students in grades 5-8 took the challenge to participate in BCC on November 14th. Congratulations to all participants and felicitations to Jaylen Wiltman and Elizabeth Verby for being the top scorers amongst Grade 5/6 and Grade 7/8 categories respectively. Stay tuned for more Math Contests that would be organized throughout the rest of the year. ROOM 24 CRAFT AND BAKE SALE

The Holiday season is finally here and beginning December 6th, you can make your day a little more festive by supporting Room 24's annual

ROOM 7-

8B NEWS Students in 8B are working very hard heading into the last few weeks before our "Hollyday" Break! In language our second novel study is in full swing. We are currently reading The Outsiders and The Giver. During this novel study we will be examining the deeper themes and authors' messages found in these timeless classics. Students will be engaged in creating some very interesting assignments. Our persuasive essay writing continues to represent our main form of writing however students will once again be provided with an opportunity to demonstrate their creativity through our culminating task: The Verbal-Visual Essay Box. This assignment will encourage students to find ways to visually represent and then write about the themes, figurative language and imagery that these novels present to readers. In math we are working on rates and ratios and examining their real-world applications found in business. Our science unit about systems is also wrapping up soon. The two final culminating tasks will have students first prepare lesson plans and teach lessons to the class in a role-reversal exercise! The second assignment is hands-on! Students will be constructing actual systems designed to make work easier and accessible. They will be working in engineering teams and in competition with each other. Finally in Geography our first unit about populations and settlements is almost complete. Our culminating task will be to create a class Geography Magazine!! Keep up the great work 8B! Mr. Kozaris

HIT CENTRE SUPPORT This is another reminder to parents that there is nightly academic support in the HIT Centre for students. There is always an SNA, EA or Teacher there for support from 3:10 pm – 4 pm. Please take advantage of this great opportunity.

The HIT Centre is closed on Staff Meeting Days, which fall on the last Monday of each Month. Outside the HIT Centre, teachers have made themselves available for extra help. If your child is in need of extra help, please encourage him/her to talk to his/her teacher and get the help y needed to clarify concepts.

WINTER CONCERT – DECEMBER 14TH – 7PM Holly Crest Holiday Concert is coming up on Thursday December 14th, 2017 starting at 7:00pm. The students have been busy at school preparing for the big evening! We are really looking forward to having the groups play for you! Students should be wearing black pants and white tops for the concert and should be arriving at 6:30pm for tuning on the evening of the concert. All students should be practising regularly in order to be proud of their performance in the concert. Monthly Practice Logs for Band and Strings started in the November and will be due the first week of December. We encourage all students to be taking their instruments home and working on material assigned in class. Last year we saw a huge improvement in the level of performance of all the groups and this can be attributed to the more regular practie being done at home. The practice logs are meant to help students organize their practice and make note of things that need to be worked on further. In order to be effective students should be practicing five times per week for twenty minutes. This will ensure that they are moving forward with the rest of the class and feeling good about their individual role in the group. Tickets can be purchased at the door for the price of $2.00 each or $5.00 for a family of 4. The money raised goes to help fund our instrument repairs at the school. BAG2SCHOOL

This year Hollycrest's Autism program is running a fundraiser in order to support their cooking program. The class has organized a clothing drive with the company Bag2School. Bag2School comes to the school and picks up all the clothes and weighs them on the spot. For every ton of clothing collected we will get $200.00! Not only will the clothing drive support the cooking program

and those in need,but contributing to this cause will help reduce the amount of textiles that are sent to landfills. In western countries, like Canada, 6-12% of landfill waste is due to old clothing and other textiles. Instead of throwing out all these textiles, we can use these old clothes as affordable second-hand clothing in both western countries and overseas. Any items that are seen as undesirable will be sent to a textile recycling facility where they will be broken down into useful materials. Bag2School will accept all types of textiles ( ripped, stained, etc.), shoes ( in pairs), purses, jackets, etc. and even old stuffed animals! The scheduled the pick up to take place on December 15th and will accept the bags on the 14th and 15th. Any little bit helps! We appreciate your support in advance! STUDENTS TAKE PART IN A WATER TASTE TEST

As part of the Project Refill initiative, Hollycrest's EcoTeam performed a water taste test from November 6-10 at lunch time. Students were asked to taste two samples of water: one from bottle A and one from bottle B. One of the bottles contained plain tap water and the other contained bottled spring water purchased from the grocery store. Students were asked if they preferred the taste of one water over the other. After tasting both samples, many students made comments like “They both taste fine” or “They both taste the same”.The results were very interesting. An overwhelming 73% said they preferred the taste of bottle A; 21% chose bottle B; and 6% said they didn’t really notice a difference between the two. So which was which? Bottle A, which was chosen by 73% of students, was the tap water! This test, like many done all over the world, shows the same result. Most people can’t tell the difference or actually prefer the taste of tap water. Results from the water test will help achieve EcoTeam's goal to have a new water refill station installed in our school. In the new year, we will be selling stainless steel reusable bottles to encourage our students to avoid bottled water. Order forms will be sent home in January.

TDSB NEWS Stay Healthy During Flu Season Flu season is here again. In Canada, flu season tends

to run between October and April. The Ontario government is encouraging Ontarians to avoid getting sick this flu season by getting their annual flu shot. Toronto Public Health is recommending that whenever students and staff experience flu-like symptoms, they are sent home and do not return to school until they are no longer infectious to others. Therefore, ill students and staff should be symptomfree (especially from vomiting and diarrhea) for at least 48 hours before returning to school. The primary concern is for the health and safety of all students and staff. Please note that no special measures are required when there is a case of influenza in a school or daycare. However, everyone should do their part to stop the spread of the flu. As parents, you can also assist by: - reminding children to wash their hands often especially after using the washroom and before and after eating; - reminding children to cover their sneeze and cough; - watching for symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, and/or high fever; - informing the school if your child is ill; - keeping your child at home when he/she is ill. For more information, please visit the Toronto Public Health website www.toronto.ca/health, contact your family doctor, or Telehealth Ontario. 1-866-7970000.

• Stop, look, and listen for traffic. • Only cross at corners and crosswalks. • Make eye contact with drivers. • Walk on the right side of the crosswalk. • Wear appropriate footwear to reduce the chances of slipping. • Never run into the street. • Obey crossing signals. • Cross only if clear. • Walk on sidewalks. • Where there are no sidewalks, walk as far away from traffic as possible, facing traffic. The safety of our students is always a top priority. Let’s work together to make the winter season safe so we can enjoy all it has to offer High School Information Nights To help you make an informed decision when choosing a high school, TDSB schools host information nights for parents and grade 8 students each year between October and January. Learn everything you need to know about our incredible variety of schools, programs and courses. The dates and times for all High School Information Nights are available online at http://www.tdsb.on.ca/HighSchool/GoingtoHighSch ool/OpenHousesandInformationNights.aspx. Winter Weather and Student Transportation From time to time, it may be necessary to cancel student transportation, classes and/or programs due to severe weather. On rare occasions, severe weather makes it necessary to close schools, administrative offices or sites.

Traffic Safety Tips: Help Make this a Safe Winter Season As winter approaches, we know that severe weather will be part of our daily lives for the next several months. While traffic safety is an important matter all year long, this is a particularly good time to review what we can do to keep students safe.

With approximately 246,000 students in our schools and sites each day, any decision to cancel buses, classes and/or programs or to close sites can have a significant impact on thousands of families across Toronto. This decision is not taken lightly. When schools remain open on days with inclement weather, parents/guardians make the final decision on whether to send their children to school and they can keep children home from school if they so choose.

The need to be aware and alert at all times, on any road, and even in the most routine circumstances is key to traffic safety. This applies to students and drivers alike. Road conditions can be challenging in the winter months. So to those of us who drive, please take extra care on the roads and in parking lots, especially in areas where children might be present.

Should a cancellation or closure be necessary, information will be posted on the TDSB website, TDSB social media and provided to local media by 6 a.m. For more information, please see the TDSB’s Procedure for Severe Weather: http://www.tdsb.on.ca/About-Us/Detail/docId/242

School staff periodically review street and traffic safety with students. Parents can help reinforce these safety messages with children at home. Below are some tips that might be helpful to review.

National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women - December 6 On December 6, TDSB students and staff mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Established in 1991 by the Parliament of Canada, this day coincides with the

anniversary of the death of 14 young women who were tragically killed on 6 December, 1989, at l‘École Polytechnique in Montreal because of their gender. On this national day of remembrance, we honour the memory of these women and reflect on the ways that gender violence continues to affect us. For more information, visit Status of Women Canada and participate in their #ActionsMatter campaign. To find out how you can help prevent violence against women visit www.ontario.ca/page/lets-stop-sexualharassment-violence. Within the TDSB, please contact www.tdsb.on.ca/gbvp for further support or questions on any issues related to gender-based violence.

DATES TO REMEMBER

December 4th – 18th – Daily Food Bank Drive December 6th – Room 24 Craft and Bank Sale December 13th – Immunizations for Grade 7’s December 14th - Winter Concert December 22nd – Last Day of School January 8th – School Resumes

December2017.pdf

Page 1 of 5. December 2017. Principal: Mr. B. Stoikos. Vice-Principal: Ms K. Lee. Superintendent: Ms. R. Dickinson. Trustee: Mr. Chris Glover. chris.glover@tdsb.on.ca. PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE. December is here and we are only three weeks. away from our Holiday Break. Within the. school, our music department has been ...

377KB Sizes 0 Downloads 227 Views

Recommend Documents

No documents