Town Centre Montessori

March 2016 Main Campus Elementary Information Bulletin

Inside this issue:

International Day 2

Many Faces of Markham 2

March Break and Easter 2

After School Courses 2

Parent Teacher Interviews 2

Kiwanis 2

Winter SSAF 3

Unionville Milliken Soccer

Club

4

IB Updates 4

Montessori Pre-School, Private Elementary School, & Private High School, Three Distinct Programs - One Unique School

Dates to Remember:

March 11

International Day Assembly

March 14 to 18

March Break

March 21

After School Courses

Term 3 Begins

April 6

Report Cards Distributed

April 7

Gr. 7 and 8 Parent Teacher Interviews, Main Gym,

3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

April 8 Gr. 2 to 8 Parent Teacher

Interviews, 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

® Private Schools

We are currently accepting registrations for the 2016-2017 school year. We encourage all parents to register as soon as possible as we have already begun planning for the next school year. Parents are reminded that requests for class placement cannot be guaranteed and can only be considered if submitted in writing before April 1st. As well, parents do not need to make requests for grades 7 and 8 placements as the students will be on a rotary system. Thank you to all those parents who have registered their children and have made TCMPS the right choice for their child’s education.

This year’s Summer Camp is packed with many fun activities and exciting programs which will surely keep all our campers happy and busy during the summer months. The Summer Camp package is now available in the Main Office and we are now accepting registrations for July and August. Register before April 1st and take advantage of some great discounts!

Please note that the following discounts will expire on April 1st: Parents paying tuition in monthly instalments can take $100.00 off the prepaid June 2017

payment if registered before April 1st. Register for 2 weeks of summer camp by April 1st to receive $25.00 off the fees. Register for 3 or more weeks of summer camp to receive $50.00 off the fees.

Keep updated with the latest TCMPS news and events! Help us grow our presence;

like us on Facebook, “The Official Town Centre Montessori Private Schools”,

and follow us on Twitter, “tcmps@tcmps”.

Town Centre Montessori Private Schools

On February 26, a group of elementary and high school band students participated in the Kiwanis Music Festival. They played a piece called Air for Band which earned them a 2nd Place Silver Award! Congratulations to Mr. Danny Friedman, our Band Director, and the band students!

Montessori Pre-School, Private Elementary School, & Private High School, Three Distinct Programs - One Unique School

Page 2

March Break and Easter We would like to remind all of our families that TCMPS will be closed from Monday, March 14, through to Friday, March 18 for March break. Classes will resume on Monday, March 21. As well, TCMPS will be closed for the Easter Holiday on Friday, March 25 and Monday, March 28. Classes will resume on Tuesday, March 29. Parents or guardians who are planning an extended holiday are asked to notify the Main Office in writing of the student’s absence from school. We would like to wish everyone a safe and enjoyable March break and Easter holiday.

Term 3 After School Courses Parents are reminded that the last day of Term 2 After School Courses will be on Friday, March 4 and Term 3 will begin on March 21. Limited spaces are still available in many courses. Please refer to the After School Courses package for a full listing of the courses and the fees.

We are proud to have our students associated with the Many Faces of Markham competition which celebrates Markham’s cultural diversity. Sponsored by the City of Markham’s Race Relations Advisory Committee, this annual contest is a poster, writing, and video competition. Winners will be recognized during the Many Faces of Markham event at the Flato Markham Theatre. All winners will be invited on stage to receive a certificate for their achievement on the afternoon of Sunday, March 20. Thank you to all the TCMPS students who participated and congratulations to the students who were awarded first, second or third place in their grade division for the poster or writing competition!

Many Faces of Markham

International Week During the week of March 7 to 11, the elementary students will participate in the school’s International Week which will be a wonderful cross cultural experience for our students and staff. The highlight of the week will be International Day which will be held on March 11 with a special assembly. On International Day, students are encouraged to wear traditional clothing and to bring in a food dish from their country of origin for their class parties. Teachers will be posting a sign up sheet for any snack you may wish to contribute. We ask that a complete list of all ingredients accompany all food brought in for International Day.

Poster

1st Place 1-215 Adam Jagoda

3-122 Kashwini Rajeswaran

2nd Place 1-214 Christian Colozza

3-126 Leka Sanjeevakumar

3rd Place 2-121 Daryn Markandaier

5-202 George Obasuyi

Parent Teacher Interviews

The second term of the school year is nearing completion, culminating with the report cards and Parent Teacher Interviews. The report cards will be sent home on Wednesday, April 6. The Parent Teacher Interviews will be held on Friday, April 8 from 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Parent Teacher Interview Day is a non-school day for the students. Parents are encouraged to sign up for an interview with the class teachers as well as the subject teachers. Grades 7 and 8 parents are asked to note that we have added additional interview time slots for interviews with grades 7 and 8 teachers on Thursday, April 7 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. These sign up sheets will be posted in the main hallway on Wednesday March 23. We look forward to speaking with you at the Parent Teacher Interviews.

Writing

1st Place 2-119 Kiana Raneskumar

3-122 Kyan Azad

7-141 Odosa Obasuyi

2nd Place 7-141 Mathew Bruhn

3rd Place 1-215 Krish Vykunthan

3-127 Rayan Atique

4-207 Anika Thayaparen

7-148 Shirothie Puwaneswaran

Kiwanis Music Festival

Montessori Pre-School, Private Elementary School, & Private High School, Three Distinct Programs - One Unique School

Page 3 Main Campus Elementary Information Bulletin

Elementary SSAF Updates

Pranav Arora

Celine Chak

Deven Chakravorty

Justin Gray

Natalie Lam

Anika Li

Ilya's Mohamed

Clayton Narathan

Faizan Niazi

Nelish Satheeskumar

Alexandra Vanigasooriyar

Zanan Virani

Winter SSAF Teams:

Boys’ Basketball

Team

Celine Chak

Deven Chakravorty

George Chen

Derrick Cho

Jason Li

Hayden Nguyen

Andrew Pun

Rukana Ragutharan

Jason Ye

Michelle Zhang

Adam Bather

Shivane Brinthanath

Benson Hu

Dev Patel

Benjamin Sitarenios

Jacob Stuy

Suraj Sudheendra

Ivan Wu

Jayden Xiao

Under 12

Basketball Team

Girls’ Volleyball

Team

Anika Bather

Karen Chen

Ashley Eto

Lauren Hau

Kelly Huangfu

Mandy Meng

Sanaa Philbert

Rukana Ragutharan

Zainab Shamsi

Brahmi Sivarajan

Roycee Southerland

Christine Young

Table Tennis

Team

Fizan Alibhai

Tarini Amarasinghe

Jenevieve Bowerbank

Caitlyn Bredschneider

Wesley Kyle De Vera

Zoe Kwong

Ananiya Narmathan

Shakil Popatia

Sona Thayalan

Chaeli Thom

Curling

Team

Coming up next:

Try out for the

Elementary Badminton and

Under 12 Badminton Teams!

Our TCMPS teams had a very busy winter SSAF session. Thanks to the our elementary SSAF teams: Girls’ Volley-ball, Boys’ Basketball, Under 12 Co-Ed Basketball, Co-Ed Curling, and Co-Ed Table Tennis teams for their super enthusiasm and excellent sportsmanship this season. The winter session is nearly finished and we have some terrific SSAF results to share with you! The Under 12 Basketball team had a fun day at their tournament winning 2 of their games in round robin play. Congratulations to the Co-Ed Curling team who had a great tournament! Our Team A placed 3rd overall with Team B ending the day in 4th place. The Girls’ Volleyball team finished in 2nd place during the regular season and have qualified for the playoffs! The Boys’ Basketball team placed 3rd during the regular season and finished as semi-finalists! Good luck to the Co-Ed Table Tennis team who are scheduled to play in a tournament on Monday, March 7th. Great job to all our SSAF players and coaches!

Main Campus / Head Office 155 Clayton, Drive

Markham, Ontario

L3R 7P3 Phone: 905-470-1200 Fax: 905-470-0184 E-mail: admin@tcmps.com

Milliken Campus 3 Clayton Drive

Markham, Ontario L3R 8N3 Phone: 905-470-8178

Fax: 905-470-0570 E-mail: admin@tcmps.com

Amarillo Campus

76 Amarillo Avenue Markham, Ontario L3R 0V3

Phone: 905-474-3434 Fax: 905-474-3113 E-mail: admin@tcmps.com

Montessori Pre-School, Private Elementary School, & Private High School, Three Distinct Programs - One Unique School

Town Centre Private High School News

www.tcmps.com

IB Learner Profile Focus for March: Open Minded

“Open minded students understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions

of other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience.”

IB Coffee Mornings As our school transitions to becoming an IB school, we encourage all parents to take the opportunity to learn more about IB by attending the school’s parent information sessions. Recently, on February 24, we hosted an IB Coffee Morning to give parents the chance to ask questions about IB in a more informal setting. Here are some updates about IB at TCMPS.

How will IB look in the classroom? There are three tangible ways that parents should notice a difference in the classroom. The first and most important is the emphasis placed on Approaches to Learning. Approaches to Learning or ATL’s are a set of 21st century based skills that all students require to be successful in their futures. Some of these skills include; critical thinking, self-management, collaboration, communication, information literacy, and media literacy, to name a few. These skills will be explicitly taught within the context of the unit of work the students are doing. The second way in which you will likely see changes is in the types of assessment tasks your child is doing. While students will still have tests and quizzes there will also be emphasis on contextual learning, which means students will still learn content but will be asked to apply that content in a real life context. Finally, along with the types of assessments changing, the way in which we assess will look a little different. Students will receive much more robust feedback on assessments and parents will see a lot more rubrics coming home which will help students and parents understand the assessment grading and the rationale for a specific grade given. Will TCMPS still be teaching the Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum? As an Ontario school we have an obligation to teach the Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum and will continue to do so. The IB provides a framework which matches seamlessly with the Ministry expectations. Where much of our attention will be placed is on our Approaches to Teaching and Approaches to Learning which are embedded in the IB philosophy. Keep posted for more information about upcoming IB Information Sessions and Coffee Mornings. We encourage all interested parents to attend and learn more about the International Baccalaureate Programme at TCMPS.

Recently, Sr. Prep and grade 1 students participated in the Unionville Milliken Soccer Club’s School Outreach Soccer Gym Unit. Coaches from UMSC visited our school to teach the students about soccer, and to encourage all students to get physically active. Please see the attached flyer for UMSC programs and to see how your child can get involved in soccer this year.

Unionville Milliken Soccer Club

IB

Montessori Pre-School, Private Elementary School, & Private High School, Three Distinct Programs - One Unique School

Montessori Pre-School, Private Elementary School, & Private High School, Three Distinct Programs - One Unique School