what’s up windham?

DECEMBER 2013

Respect Honesty Fairness Perseverance Courage

Responsibility Empathy Initiative Integrity Optimism

Trustee: Diane Giangrande

Superintendent: Clayton La Touche

Principal: Véronique O’Malley

Vice Principal: Athena Loopstra

Office Administrative Assistant: Kelly Giesen

School Administrative Support : Sandy Fiorido

Lead Caretaker: John Malcolm

School Council Chair: Liz Novatsidis

What’s up Windham? 32 Red Cardinal Trail

Richmond Hill, Ontario

L4E 3Y4

P: 905 773 5443 F: 905 773 3451

EMAIL: [email protected]

8:25— Supervision starts in school

yard

8:35—Entry bell

8:40—Attendance is taken

10:40— Recess (students are

outside)

11:00—11:10 Snack time

12:30— 12:50 Lunch recess

(Students eat lunch)

12:50—1:30 Lunch recess (students

are outside)

1:30– Attendance is taken

3:00—Last call for students to be

called out of class for dismissal

3:10—Dismissal bell rings

3:22—Buses depart and no teacher

PLEASE NOTE

CHANGES TO

LUNCH

SCHEDULE

Dear Families,

December is a busy time of year for all of us and there is a palpable

energy and excitement radiating throughout Windham Ridge. The band

and choir are in regular practice preparing for their upcoming concert on

December 12, the grade eights have been diligently fundraising by selling

scarves, there is a food and toy drive for families in need, and students

are enthralled with the beautiful gingerbread houses on display which are

to be part of a fundraiser for Philippine disaster relief.

The break at the end of December is fast approaching and for many

families it marks a time of fun, celebration, and gathering with family.

During this time students are not expected to do any homework, but

there are plenty of activities that students can do in order to keep up

their French skills over the two week break.

Write a French journal; this is especially fun if the family takes a

vacation

Read French books

Sing French songs

Have a conversation in French

Children teach parents new vocabulary

French websites and games

French movies and TV! (When your child asks to watch a show, make

it educational by choosing a French option!)

Enjoy the season and time with your family!



Français

Responsabilité

Organisation

Julia Dizon

Isabell Iron

Enric Duong

Taliesin Yip Hoi-Lee

Ryan Domin

Rachelle Van

Christian Aitas

Aromie Jung

Owen Mortensen

Cole Cavaliere

Zanir Khot

Leena Kim

Essence Lewis

Anika Mawa

Eileen Danaee

Ryan Hollander

Mark Rosen

Michelle Van

Katie Malapitan

Albert da Silva

Shaelynn Knowles

Amelia Singh

Andrea Wong

Rachel Sorbara

Juliana Weidlich

CERTIFICAT D’EXCELLENCE— The following students received a certificate

at our November 12th assembly. Congratulations to all!!!

Maya Zebeljan

Thomas Hebert

Eleanor Leo

Ethan Bick

Summer Rahman

Raiya Kassam

Motunrayo Animashaun

Catriona Hartung

Max Godel

Gabrielle Leblond

Talya Mason

Tesneem Totah

Ameera Khwaja

Tanya Sheberstov

Emma Stefanutti

Keziah Blundell

Sasha Frenkel

Jordyn Kim

Valery Volkova

Adrianne Tang

Muskoka Blundell

Amelia Singh

Katharine Zhu

Isabelle Manarin

Olamide Animashaun

Amelie Kolnik

Christopher Gunawan

Vanessa Vo

Veronica Delgado

Anna Lambros

Daniel Ochakovski

Naomi Massimiani

Liya Weinberg

Peter Sheberstov

Liana Jia

Jessica Dizon

Hailey Jeffrey

Raiyan Khwaja

Brianna Wilson

Antonia Rusu

Kayla Mainolfi

Athena Chan

Megan Macpherson

Victoria Mammoliti

Natasha Tsinovoy

Holly Macklin

Mary Gefter

Monica Tzonev

Rachel Shtilman

Lauralee Romanese

Arabella Marasigan



Initiative Collaboration

Carlos Fu

Matei Balica

Aaron Tam

Lola Nelson

James Knowles

Isabella Segal

Sydney Thompson

Arnav Divekar

Annie Wu

Allyson Koid

Kaila Applebaum

Reed Davidson

Alexis Applebaum

Taylor Imbriglio

Malcolm Rouse

Salim Kanji

Alyssa Wilson

Logan Thompson

Bailey Davidson

Vivian Oparin

Shayan Bahreini

Yunna Kim

Natalie Thompson

Liam Esliger

Nicholas Phillips

Sophia Lorimer

Ryan Kiss

Julius Qi

Caellum Yip Hoi-Lee

Eva Martelli

Kiyan Sajadi

Nicole Iankine

Carson Wong

Kousha Ehsani

Sara Eblagh

Adriana Lorusso

Tayah McGraw

Aren Singh

Shaylin Prajapati

Elia Leblond

Ali Totah

Jemma Lam

Jacob Ewacha

Hannah Ramirez

Brenda Lee

Alexandra Mazanko

Sonia Berman

Elizabeth Bougadis

CERTIFICAT D’EXCELLENCE

This year, Windham Ridge will be hosting three awards assemblies to celebrate student

achievement. Our first assembly was held on November 12th and students received awards in

the following areas: French Responsibility Organization Collaboration Initiative

There will be another two assemblies scheduled around the timing of report cards. Dates are

recorded in our school calendar available on the front page of our NEW website:

www.windhamridge.ps.yrdsb.ca

Students will receive awards for various Learning Skills and academic subjects. Each homeroom

teacher will nominate the top student in each category. Parents of recipients will be contacted

ahead of time and invited to attend the assembly. If your child is an award winner, please don’t

let him/her know ahead of time; as it is wonderful to see the students’ look of surprise and

delight when their name is called!

http://www.yrdsb.ca/schools/windhamridge.ps/Pages/default.aspx



REMEMBRANCE DAY

ASSEMBLY

An assembly was held on November 11th to commemorate Remembrance Day. There

were a variety of presentations during the assembly. Some of these included a dramatic presentation of “In Flanders Field”

and a dance entitled “Dance of Remembrance”. Our students and staff

showed respect throughout the assembly. We demonstrated our Canadian pride and honoured all those who help to protect our

way of life.

FRENCH IMMERSION

INFORMATION SESSIONS AND REGISTRATIONS

Information sessions for the French

Immersion (FI) program will take place at Windham Ridge on January 16, 2014 at 7 p.m. FI registration will begin January 17,

2014. In order to streamline the registration process, parents or guardians of Senior Kindergarten students entering Grade 1 in

2014, and wishing to enroll in the FI Program, can visit or call their current 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 Windham Ridge to register between January 17 and February 14, 2014.

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 enroll. The FI program will be

offered in Dual Track or Single Track set-tings, 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. This will allow flexibil-ity in addressing community needs and the opportunity to use existing space in schools.

More information is available on the Board’s website: www.yrdsb.edu.on.ca. Please note: Some of the FI accommodation 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. Overflow refers to situa-tions in which the Board directs students to

attend a school other than their community school or optional program for a specific period of time, as defined in Policy #108.

SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR

Thank you so much for your

generous support of our French Scholastic Book Fair held in mid-November. The sale of books

was great and from the profits we have been able to purchase many books for our

library. Once our new books have been processed, we will invite students to come and borrow them. We appreciate your

support tremendously! Happy reading!! ...

Mme Rouse

MOVEMBER

Through the sales of moustaches for Movember, the Phoenix Club raised $

470! We are so proud to see such amaz-ing school spirit! Thank you all for your sup-port for this cause and all proceeds will be

sent to the Canadian Cancer Society.

NEW WEBSITE

Have you had a chance to check out our

new website www.windhamridge.ps.yrdsb.ca

where you can find the school calendar on

the home page or newsletters and other

school events on the News and Events page.

The Students page features pictures of

students engaged in school activities.

http://www.yrdsb.edu.on.ca

http://www.yrdsb.ca/schools/windhamridge.ps/Pages/default.aspx

WINTER WEATHER

All students are required to go outside twice

a day. Please make sure your child comes to

school dressed appropriately to go outdoors.

All students should have an outdoor pair of

shoes or boots, as well as an indoor pair of

shoes to wear in the classroom and for

physical education. Children go outside for

all recesses unless the weather does not

permit it. Students who are ILL SHOULD

NOT COME TO SCHOOL until completely

recovered as indoor supervision is NOT

provided during recess.

WITH THE WET AND

MUDDY WEATHER AHEAD

OF US, PLEASE SEND

EXTRA CLOTHING LIKE SOCKS AND

PANTS TO BE KEPT AT SCHOOL. IT

WOULD HELP REDUCE THE CALLS MADE

TO PARENTS ASKING TO COME IN WITH

DRY CLOTHES.

Occasionally, buses may be cancelled

due to inclement weather.

Announcements are made after 6:00

a.m. and are broadcasted on local radio

and television stations as well as on

www.schoolbuscity.com.

If buses do not operate in the morning,

they will not operate in the afternoon.

If buses are cancelled and parents

take their children to school, they are

responsible for picking them up at the

end of the school day at 3:10 p.m.

As part of our Safe Arrival Program,

parents must still call the school office

on these snow days to inform us that

their child will not be attending school

due to the bus cancellation or

inclement weather. Please leave a

message on the school’s attendance

line by calling the school and pressing

“2”.

BUSES & INCLEMENT

WEATHER

INFORMATION

DENTAL SCREENING NEWS

On December 11th, we were scheduled to

have Dental Screening at the school for

Grades 2 & 8. Dental health has informed us

that this date has been CANCELLED and

will be rescheduled in the Spring. We will

notify parents of the new dates once they

have been given to us by York Region

Dental Health.

MATHLETICS COMPETITION

On Saturday November 16th, 10 students from Windham Ridge

participated in the Mathletics competition. This completion lasted

5 hours and tested math skills, speed at answering math questions,

and endurance. We would like to congratulate all the students who participated. A

special congratulation to the following students who placed in the top 10. In the junior

category, Nicholas P. placed 8th, in the senior category, Rehanna K. placed 6th and Alex

M. placed 3rd. Congratulations to all.

NEW MILK SESSION

Forms for the next milk

session were sent home

earlier this week. Please return your

money and forms to school by

Wednesday December 11th.





In combination with the Holiday for Heroes food and clothing drive, Windham Ridge will

be accepting monetary donations in support of the Philippines disaster relief fund. The teachers and staff of Windham have donated gingerbread houses decorated in house

which students may win. Each donation of $1 will entitle a child to receive one ticket. A donation of $5 will ensure the child receives 7 tickets. All money donated will be for-warded to the Philippines relief fund organized by YRDSB prior to the winter break. The

parents of the winner of each house will be contacted the week of December 16th.

Houses will need to be picked up from school.

Thanks for your help and generous support during this holiday season!



arts@baythorn

Would your child enjoy learning the Ontario curriculum through the Arts?

If so, the York Region District School Board offers an Elementary integrated Arts program at Baythorn Pub-lic School. Students currently in grades four and five may apply for the arts@baythorn program, where they will have the opportunity to explore the disciplines of Dance, Drama, Visual Arts, and Music while meeting the expectations of the Ontario Curriculum for grades five, six, seven, and eight.

To learn more about the arts@baythorn program, students and their families are invited to attend an information eve-ning at Baythorn Public School on Thursday, January 16, 2014 @ 6:30 p.m.

Applications will be on line via the school website and available after January 16, 2014. www.baythorn.ps.yrdsb.edu.on.ca

Among many lunchtime activities taking place at Windham Ridge, Grade 3 Clay Club is

being held on Mondays from 12:50 to 1:30 and Grade 3 Lego Wedo is being held on

Wednesdays from 12:50 to 1:30.

Try-outs for Junior co-ed volleyball has started during recesses and will take place until

December 9th.

HOCKEY NEWS

This year, Windham Ridge will be fielding a senior co-ed hockey team.

The tryout for the team will be Tuesday December 10th from 7 -8 am at

Bond Lake Arena. This is open to students in grade 6-8. The fee for the

tryout will be $7. Please ask your child to see Madame Massaro if they are interested in

trying out. The tournament for our team will be played at the end of January with the 2

winning teams advancing on to play at the Richmond Hill Winter Carnival.

http://www.baythorn.ps.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/



Dear Parents/Guardians,

We recognize the importance of digital literacy and its potential to engage

students in meaningful communication and collaboration. As a result, the York Region District School Board is providing and managing access to the Google

Apps for Education service for staff and students. This service, referred to as GAPPS, may be used by your child’s teacher to complement the learning that

already occurs in our classrooms on a regular basis. Specifically, GAPPS provides fast and easy collaboration, real-time editing and feedback, and access for

students on any device at any time. Use of GAPPS, by both staff and students is governed by existing policies, including

Policy #194: Appropriate Use of Technology. This policy is available for review

on the Board’s web site.

Along with access to the GAPPS platform, most students will now have access to

a Board email address. This email address can also be used as a login for other

cloud-based educational tools, such as Moodle. The activation of student email on the GAPPS platform, will occur as follows:

JK-Grade 2: no email access Grade 3-5: access to internal York Region District School Board email only

Grade 6-12: access to internal and external email

As with all use of technology, we rely on parents/guardians to be strong partners

in educating children on the appropriate use of technology. To this end, the

service is provided as a privilege and violations of Board policy may result in

withdrawal of the service. The standard format for the GAPPS email address will

be student#@gapps.yrdsb.ca where student# is the same number students use

to access the Board network and classroom computers.

Please take the time to review our appropriate use of technology policy and

reinforce the importance of responsible technology usage. For your information,

we have attached some internet safety tips to this letter.

More information and login for the GAPPS platform is available at

https://google.yrdsb.ca.

Sincerely,

Mme O’Malley

http://www.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/pdfs/p&p/a/policy/194.pdf

http://www.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/pdfs/p&p/a/policy/194.pdf

mailto:student#@gapps.yrdsb.ca

https://google.yrdsb.ca

what’s up windham?

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