Last week's school council meeting - some notes

These are not minutes, just a few notes I jotted down during last week's School Council meeting. The official minutes will come out prior to the February meeting.

In the principal's report:

• Ms. Persaud noted that Robert Munsch very kindly donated some of his books to the school library when he was here to read to the primary classes. He also signed autographs. The students had a wonderful time seeing him. There was considerable media coverage of the event.
• Ms. Persaud thanked Starbucks for donating the hot chocolate at the recent bus loop safety event, and noted that Starbucks is generously willing to continue to support the school by providing hot chocolate to literacy-related events up to once a month. Please remember not to stop your car in the bus loop; it is not a safe place to drop off your children. Use the parking spots instead. 
• A new caretaker, Mr. Porter, started at Clairlea in December. 
• A card-reader will be installed at the bus-loop school entrance to increase school safety. 
• The cable television paid for by School Council will be available in the gym prior to the 2010 Olympics. 
• For Winter Activity Day on Feb 5, grades 4-8 will go skating, skiing, bowling or other activities. Accommodations will be made at school for students who choose not to participate. 
• At Literacy Night Jan 28, the focus will be on inferring. This means comprehending, predicting, anticipating, reading between the lines, and bringing one's own knowledge and experiences to bear in understanding a text. (Mlle. Dungo does a better job of explaining it on her new blog.) Inferring is an important literacy skill that is being emphasized at all grade levels throughout Clairlea, partly in response to the school's EQAO scores. At literacy night, parents will learn how the skill of inferring is taught. 
• Also in response to needs revealed by the EQAO tests, Clairlea staff have been meeting in groups in what is known as a teaching/learning critical pathway. This helps teachers develop and standardize the criteria they use to grade their students' work.
• Ms. Persaud also mentioned that the school will have an assembly in February for Black History Month. 

Ms. Skerletovic presented the teacher's report. She mentioned that the teachers and administration met recently to agree on a consistent response to different types of discipline issues at the school. The teachers brainstormed different types of behaviours that they have encountered at Clairlea and categorized these transgressions into major, minor and suspendable. The hope is that with more clarity and a consistent approach, students will learn to better respect the rules of the school. The school's code of conduct will be revised according to the outcome of this project.

Ms. Skerletovic also described an activity planned for Education Week in May. More information about this will be forthcoming, but in essence it will be a day to bring the school community together and showcase the interests, hobbies, talents and customs of different families and groups.

The Fun Fair will take place on Saturday, June 12, 2010. Planning is underway. Irit is planning the activities and Mary-Anne, the food. Catharine (that's me) would greatly appreciate any assistance in soliciting corporate gifts for the silent auction. Please email me if you would like to donate or help solicit donations.

Spirit Wear is now on sale! There are t-shirts in grey or purple, with regular or shiny-silver print, as well as toques and hoodies.

Our very own Tami Oudendijk is chair of the French as a Second Language Advisory Committee. The committee is providing advice as the TDSB rewrites the core French curriculum this year. Please contact Tami if you would like to join this committee or provide input. The French Immersion curriculum will be reviewed in 2012.

Treasurer Ann Silver presented the finance report. There were a couple of requests for funding:

• $50 for Scholastic gift certificates for the Jordan family, as a thank you for their wonderful story which  brought Robert Munsch to our school
• $100 for refreshments for Literacy Night

Volunteers were requested for Pancake Day, Feb 19. Please contact Tami if you are able to help out that morning.

Literacy Night Thursday Jan 28

School Council meets tonight - Jan 20

The School Council meets tonight, 7:00pm at the school. All parents/guardians are welcome, whether or not you are a voting member of School Council! Childcare provided in the gym. Meeting wraps at 8:30 sharp.

Minutes from the last meeting are posted here.

Living the dream

I happened to be at the school this morning during the assembly for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Students related a brief history of Dr. King and a poem honouring his memory. After that, we watched a video of his historic I Have a Dream speech. I know I was not the only person in the room with tears in my eyes.

I believe that we are living Dr. King's dream right here at Clairlea. I'm not saying we're perfect. It's important to be vigilant and to protect the freedoms that were so hard won by so many, and to encourage and support diversity in its many forms - including in ways that could not have been understood in 1963. I know many of the younger children will have questions about what it all means - and that's because, thankfully, many of them remain blind to their own skin colour and that of others. That's something to be very proud of. We must take care as we teach our children this part of history.

If there's anyone out there who's interested in leading diversity issues on the part of School Council, please come to a meeting and speak to Ginnie.

No stopping in the bus loop

There have been some concerns about the safe use of the bus loop at the back of Clairlea during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up. It can be a dangerous spot, so I will summarize the information handed out by the Safe and Caring School Committee last week. (And thank you for the hot chocolate, that was a nice way of "sweetening" your message!)

1. NO STOPPING OR UNLOADING IN THE BUS LOOP. You have to park in one of the parking spots while your children get out of the car. The bus loop is just so you can turn around safely and exit the parking lot. Only buses should unload in the loop. 

2. NO WALKING THROUGH THE BUS LOOP. (I admit, our family is guilty of this.) There's too much traffic and too many people in a hurry. It's not safe. Walk on the path to the north and around the outside of the fence. 

3. If the bus loop is busy, PARK ON THE STREET. Both Knightsbridge and Karnwood allow parking in the morning. 

Book fair - Jan 26-29

Torch magic

This is a guest post from Clairlea School Council secretary Christina Mark. 

There are many moments in life that take our breath away.  There are many events throughout the course of our lives which we attend that make us feel a sense of pride and unity.  But how many of these moments and events which we have experienced can we say have historical value?  If you are lucky, you can say, “One.” 

We here at Clairlea PS in Toronto, Ontario are very lucky.  Many of us took the opportunity to witness the Olympic Torch Lighting Ceremony at Nathan Phillips Square on December 17, 2009. 

The lights around the square dangled and glistened over our heads as we made our way off the bus and toward the stage.  The clear night’s sky was the perfect blackened backdrop for the spotlights to proclaim our presence to the nation and the world.

The torch is coming through Toronto!

Around 70 of us from Clairlea were caught up in the magic of it all.  Parents, children, even teenagers were buzzing with anticipation.   We all proudly wore our custom-made purple Clairlea toques, signatured with a maple leaf.  We held tightly to our bags of popcorn and waved our mini-Canadian flags.  We also shook our tambourines provided to everyone by the RBC. 

The pride was reverberated throughout the entire arena, from the ice skaters, to the event coordinators, to the media, a sense of community could be felt throughout.

We made our way toward the stage and, as we had arrived with plenty of time to spare, we found a nice niche at the very front and spread ourselves out, claiming our territory.  We met up with Councillor Adrian Heaps from our ward and furnished him with his own Clairlea toque, which he wore on stage while delivering his speech!  We felt so honoured to be represented in such a large scale.

Before the performances and arrival of the lit torch, our group had the chance to hold and pose with one of the torches that the flame would be passed onto!  What an incredible and truly awesome opportunity to feel the sleekness of the Olympic torch beneath our fingers!  We could see the 2010 Olympic emblem, the Inuit Inukshuk, very clearly as it was only a few inches from ourselves. 

It was so exhilarating to know that this seemingly simple apparatus was being passed all across the country and represented what every Canadian wanted the world to feel:  unity, strength, pride.

Many of us were also interviewed by the different stations in Toronto and we all reflected this outlook in our answers.

The ceremonies began with songs about Toronto, as well as the blessing of a First Nations Aboriginal, Elder Alex Jacobs.  What a beautiful way to reiterate our message and to show our respect to the land we all share together.

The performances that night were a wonderful collaboration of dance, art and imagery.  There was the woman who danced with hoops, folding herself into and out of them while dancing and jumping, creating illustrations with the background of drummers and other dancers.

The choreography of COBA, the Collective of Black Artists, the Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company and the Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre flit before our eyes and entertained our senses with colour and sound.

A beautiful performance by Spirit Synott, whose interpretive dance showed us that art and beauty can be displayed, even when one has a disability.  She was full of grace as she glided herself across the stage while out of her wheelchair and also used her chair as an accessory to her presentation, dancing with it and creating movement within the soul.  She brought with her the conjunction of the Olympic Games with the Paralympic Games.

The Coca-Cola act got the crowed hyped as the MC got us jumping and singing while the people on stage showed us an array of acrobatics, drumming and hip-hop-style dancing.

The RBC wowed us with a surprising quartet of violinists while an artist painted a picture during the performance to auction off at a later time.

A huge trampoline was set up and a demonstration was given by snowboarders of the many tricks we will have the opportunity to see during the Olympic games.

While the performances were enjoyable our excitement and anticipation were growing as the time for the torch to arrive at Nathan Phillips Square drew closer and then passed.  Due to protests of the Olympic Games, the torch was nearly an hour late, but the performers and MCs did a fantastic job keeping us entertained and our hopes alive. 

Finally the torch arrived.  It made its way down the centre of the crowd.  We cheered and jumped and clapped and screamed. 

The coldness and numbness that went through our bones was replaced with electricity.

The torch was brought to the podium and we all watched as the orange glow from the flame roared its message.

This is Unity.

This is Pride.

This is Tradition and History.

With Glowing Hearts.

These are the Olympics.

GO TEAM CANADA!

Thank you, Christina, for writing this post and sharing your Olympic Torch experience with us!

Robert Munsch coming to Clairlea?!

According to the Scarborough Mirror, a Clairlea family has won ABC Canada's "Munsch at Home" contest. Congratulations to Christine, Aidan and Myles! The press release says, "Mr. Munsch will join the Jordans at their home in Scarborough, ON in January 2010 for a private reading of their story Myles the Rockstar and will also read their story to a group of students at Clairlea Public School in Scarborough." What fun!!! 


The press release also says: The Jordans’ story will be published alongside a special illustration created by Michael Martchenko, (illustrator of several Robert Munsch books) in spring 2010 issues of B-Zone and Today’s Parent magazines.


Read the Jordans' winning story here. It's great!


UPDATE: It's true! Robert Musch is coming Jan 15!
UPDATE 2: See the school blog for photos and more; it was also on CBC TV News and online.