Terry Fox Run

Good luck to everyone who is participating in the Terry Fox Run today! Here's hoping it's a big success.

Sept 23 School Council meeting

Please forgive the length of this post, but there is lots to share... The first School Council meeting of the school year took place on Wednesday night. About 20 people were in attendance, with the first order of business being the election of a new Council executive (chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer). Congratulations and thanks to Ginnie Zaromitidis, Tami Oudendijk, Christina Mark and Ann Silver for filling those roles again this year. Some parents expressed their wish to become voting members of School Council, signalling their commitment to attend all or most meetings, while others preferred to attend meetings as non-voting members. Whether voting or non-voting members, all Clairlea parents and guardians are welcome at all School Council meetings and everyone's voice will be heard. Please contact the Chair to add an item to the agenda. Principal Persaud presented her report, which touched on the creation of a Safe and Caring School Action Committee (parent representatives are welcome). This committee will supervise fire drills, lockdown procedures and equipment safety and will also take on the task of ensuring that the school is a welcoming and inclusive environment and forestalling any sense of division that may come from being a dual-track (French and English) school. Ms. Persaud mentioned that school staff, service providers, volunteers and visitors must wear ID cards at all times. Parents are reminded to check in at the office before going anywhere else in the school. If you see anyone on site who is not wearing ID, please inform a staff member or escort the person to the office. Ms. Persaud reported that the former Design and Tech room has been converted to a new Visual Arts classroom under the supervision of Mme Demeter, who now teaches art to all grades in both French and English. Other site improvements are also being considered, including a possible Robotics program for intermediate grades. Funding for this proposed program has yet to be secured. A question was asked about whether there is a list of additional programs that could be considered for Clairlea. Ms. Persaud indicated that although no comprehensive list exists, she would see if she could direct us to a source for such information. In addition, Ms. Persaud will be introducing the Roots of Empathy program to Clairlea. This program seeks to build students' social and emotional competence by introducing them to a newborn baby, who will visit the classroom every three weeks throughout the school year. In observing the baby's development and feelings, students learn to "identify and reflect on their own feelings and the feelings of others." Mme. Dungo's grade 2 class will the the first class to participate in the program. More information is available here. Vice Principal Frenette reported on classroom placements. Some adjustments have been made in the French Immersion stream to accommodate class sizes, which are capped at 20 in primary grades (K-3) and at 35 in junior grades. The adjustments have resulted in an additional split class, but have reduced certain class sizes considerably. A number of university students and co-op high school students will be assisting in the classrooms over the course of the year. Mr. Frenette also reported that a student nurse will be in the school two days a week, working with primary grades on good eating habits, handwashing, infection control and other healthy habits. Remember, proper handwashing is the best way to stay healthy! There was a discussion at the Council meeting about engaging families of diverse backgrounds, and various opinions were expressed as to how best to do that. Anyone who wishes to lead a Diversity Committee, share ideas, or be otherwise involved in this effort is encouraged to contact Ginnie Zaromitidis or Ms. Persaud, or attend the next Council meeting. Mme. Speed, who teaches grade 1 French immersion, was the teacher representative at yesterday's Council meeting. We thank her for giving up her evening to be with us. She brought the teachers' thanks for the lanyards, t-shirts and welcome breakfast provided to the teachers on the first day of school. She also expressed the teachers' enthusiastic support for their new principal and vice principal, who she said are already making a positive impact on the school. The following funding requests were approved: - $240 for one-size-fits-all aprons for the teaching of art - $80 for the purchase of roti for the Diwali lunch, which will be presented by two parent volunteers - $140 for t-shirts for the Student Leadership Team, which helps and supports School Council in many ways, including the serving of snacks at tonight's Curriculum Night - $875 to run a cable to bring a television signal to the gymnasium. This will allow students to watch coverage of world events such as the Olympics. A question was asked about whether there was a big-picture spending plan for money raised by Council, and it was agreed that this would be addressed at a future meeting. Thanks to everyone for their participation. I hope you all enjoyed Curriculum Night too!

Day 1, Day 2...

Confused by the new Day 1-5 system at school? This was introduced in response to the concern that certain classes would miss too many of the same subject or activity if it always fell on a Friday or Monday. It also allows the school to assign a "Day Zero" when there is, for example, a track and field day or some other activity that will take students away from their regular schedule for the day. Student agendas should help, and the day numbers are also marked on the school's online calendar, here. Thoughts, comments? Voice them at the School Council meeting on Wednesday evening! 7pm at the school, all welcome, childcare provided.

Ernie

Those kids who walk to school will already know Ernie, the new crossing guard on Pharmacy at Knightsbridge. This morning, as I was walking back from dropping my son at school, Ernie stopped me. "Catharine! Look what the principal brought me!" Excited, he showed me an enormous hand-made welcome card, signed by all the kids at school. "I'm so happy," he beamed, the joy written across his face. I don't know whose idea this was, but it was a great one. It's things like this that make Clairlea the wonderful community that it is. p.s. That's right, Ernie knows my name - and the kids' names, too. If you haven't already, do introduce yourself as you pass by.

Welcome back!

Welcome back, Clairlea! The School Council provided breakfast for the teachers this morning, as well as a small welcome-back gift, on behalf of all the kids who benefit from their teachers' hard work, energy and dedication. Teachers, we know you are going to be working hard all year and we want you to know how much we appreciate you. Thank you! (Thanks also to the parents who spent Monday evening getting everything ready and were up early this morning to deliver the treats.) There are many ways to stay on top of what's going on at Clairlea:

• Read this blog, plus the school blog at http://clairlea.blogspot.com.
• Send an email to clairleacouncil@gmail.com to be added to the School Council email list.
• Attend Council meetings - all parents & guardians are welcome to attend, whether or not they choose to be voting members of Council. First meeting is Sept 23, 7pm.
• Check to see if your child's teacher has a blog - a special shout-out to Miss Lowen and Ms Vincent for being the first to update their blogs this year. :-)
• Check your child's bag for notices home - I believe the plan this year is that notices will be sent home weekly in a large envelope that should be returned the next day for re-use. I'm sure we'll be learning more about that this week.
• Important notices are also posted on the school web site, http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/clairlea, along with plenty of other useful information.

Have a great year!

6 days to go!

Well parents, I'm sure you're in full back-to-school mode just like me. I hope you've had a terrific summer. Just a few notes to share as we all get ready for the first day of school on Tuesday Sept. 8:

• If you don't already know what class your child is in, you can find it at the top-right corner of last year's report card, and then you can check the list of teachers by room number. (Subject to change.) Then check if that teacher has a blog.
• Bus routes have been posted on the school web site. (Thanks, Mr. Knierim.)
• The first School Council meeting is Wednesday September 23, 7:00pm. All Clairlea parents & guardians are welcome. We will be soliciting new voting members and electing our 2009-10 executive. Please do come. Childcare will be provided in the gym.
• Upcoming events at Clairlea are posted on the September calendar, including Curriculum Night on Sept 24.

That's it for now, folks... enjoy the last few days of summer, and see you on Sept 8!