Windsor School News December 2014

Principal’s Message: It is hard to believe that we are entering the second last week before the Winter Break. It has been a busy and exciting time of activities this fall. We are looking forward to the Winter Concert on Wednesday, December 10th. The theme for the concert is “Bring on the Snow”. There will be a dress rehearsal at 10 a.m. and an evening performance at 7 p.m. Guests are welcome to attend the dress rehears-al at 10 a.m. Our students and staff have been working very hard to prepare for this performance. A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Braun and all the K to Grade 6 teachers and Educational Assistants for their efforts. Students have also been very busy collecting coins for “Pennies from LRSD”. Each day students from the Grade 7/8 class have been collecting coins and counting them to see how much money has been raised. A bake sale is also being arranged for Friday, December 12th. The students will deliver the coins to the divisional offices on Thursday, December 18th. Through the “Pennies from Heaven” campaign, students from Windsor have been involved in helping those in need during the holiday season. Each contribution – no matter how small— helps teach our children the virtue of generosity. I hope you have had an opportunity to check out Windsor School’s website. Since September there have been many changes and more and more information is posted weekly for you to be able to see what is happening at Windsor School. I encourage you to take some time this month to become acquainted with it at www.lrsd.net/schools/winsdor. In the last month you will have seen information about our School Dance with Energy 106, new staff, Henry Hudson video and Pizza Day to name a few. You might also want to follow Windsor School on Twitter. Our twitter address is @windsorLRSD. Students will be dismissed at 2:15 on December 19th, the last school day before the Winter Break. School resumes on January 5th, Day 6. We look forward to many exciting activities that will happen during the month of January, such as the MTYP plays, Musical Discoveries, Max Bell Track Activities, ORFF Day and the Junior High Band, Guitar, Art Show on January 22nd. On behalf of the staff of Windsor School, we greatly appreciate the ongoing support that is provided to us by you, the Windsor community, as well as the enthusiasm and willingness to learn that your children bring to school each day. As the holiday season begins, we want to express our appreciation and wish everyone the very best of the season.

Inside this Issue

Gr. 1/2 News 2 Gr. 4/5 News 2 Gr. 2/3 News 3 Staffing update 4 Home and School News 4 Drop-off and Pick-up reminders 4 Grade 3 News 5

Happenings in the Art Room 6 Gr. 5/6 News 7 Patrol News 8 Student Voice 9 Dates to Remember 10 Call to report absence 10 Windsor Wear 10 Happy Holidays from Windsor Staff 11

We are getting pretty excited about our fast approaching Winter Concert. Stu-

dents are working really hard and having so much fun preparing for the big

night. In ELA, we are learning ways to make simple sentences into more complex

sentences by adding details. We are working on various ways of describing, re-

producing and extending patterns in Math. We continue to learn about how dif-

ferent Manitoba animals prepare for the winter. We are gathering information

about many different cultures, appreciating the similarities and differences we

all have. We are learning about celebrations and traditions around the world. In

Art, we are learning all about the interesting techniques we can use with water-

color paint.

EXCITING EVENTS IN GRADE 4/5 In grade 4/5 we have been studying the digestive system. We also dissected pig hearts and lungs, it was very interesting. In art we have made up mythical creatures. We have also gone to Winnipeg Harvest. Last time we went we sorted potatoes and chopped fruits and veggies. Most of us are patrols. We loved the Energy 106 dance last week. We are getting excited for the Winter Concert. Thanks for reading this.

By Tommy and Maddie

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These are some of the things we have been doing in class:

In our class our grade three ’s have been learning how to handwrite and our grade two‘s have been learning how to print. Tatyana

Writing sentences is fun! Ethan

This year we have been learning about magnets in science. Toby

A new thing we have been learning is about how to stay healthy. David

We have been learning how to dribble in the gym. Jackson

So if you want to solve a problem you have to talk about it. Ben

I learned how to take turns. Mathew

We have been writing about Jordan Banman. Payton

Also we have been writing about Terry Fox. Katherine

I love learning about Peace because we went on a Peace Walk. Hannah

I love learning to skip count by 10’s to 100. Genevieve

We have been doing science experiments. Jack

We are learning about Roots of Empathy. Fiona

I liked reading to myself. It is fun! Judiya

I love learning about math strategies. Roan

Our class has been learning about lines in art. Hailey

One new thing I liked was learning about foreground, middleground, and back-ground. Helen

I love Rights and Responsibilities. Rain

We are using I Pads. Connor

We learned how to use the laptops and how to put them away. Rhyder

Grade 2/3 is fun for all

of us!

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Staffing News: We have had some changes to our staff since the beginning of the school year that we would like to share with

you. We have added Mrs. Connie Sawatzky to our Educational Assistants. She started in October. Also Mrs.

Colleen Fowler is our Library Assistant. She started in November. Mr. Tim Wishnicki is our new custodian.

He started in October.

We will also be having a change in the office as Mrs. Smith has received a full-time secretarial job at Victor

Mager School. We wish Mrs. Smith well as she moves on to Mager and thank her for service here at Windsor.

We also want to welcome Mrs. Leecole Chapman to Windsor School as she will be replacing Mrs. Smith as

secretary.

We would like to welcome all of these people to Windsor School.

Windsor Home and School Association News

It’s been another busy fall for the Windsor Home & School Association. Many thanks to the volunteers that

assisted with the fall picnic held in September. It was fantastic to see so many people enjoying the evening.

We’d also like to thank everyone who supported WHSA through the QSP magazine fundraising campaign.

This year, WHSA is covering the cost of a bus trip for every class at Windsor School. The funds raised

through the magazine campaign helped to support this initiative. Please stay tuned for future fundraising cam-

paigns.

Members of the WHSA Executive attended the November 25, 2014 LRSD consultation meeting and had an

opportunity to share our views on school safety and budget priorities. We encourage parents to share their

views through the survey available on LRSD website.

Getting involved with the Windsor Home & School Association is a great way to support student learning,

find out what’s happening at the school, connect with school staff and engage with others in our community.

You can start by attending a monthly meeting or sending us an email at windsorhomeandschoolas-

soc@gmail.com to be added to our email list.

Our next meeting is January 19, 2015 at 7:00 pm in the school library. Please join us. All are welcome!

Windsor School Pick-up and Drop-off

Student safety is of utmost concern at school and here are some reminders in ensuring that students are kept safe on their way to and from school. The school car park is a particularly dangerous place with traffic coming to the school and to the Community Centre and so it is of utmost importance that the following occur:

Students should be dropped off on the side roads around the school: either Killarney Street or Cunnington Avenue for example.

Students should walk on the sidewalk and enter the school grounds by the bike racks or the Cunnington entrance and at no time should students walk through the school staff parking lot.

Grade 7 and 8 students should exercise the utmost caution when walking through the Community Club parking lot to their entrance.

Students should arrive at school at 8:52 AM, just prior to the entrance bell.

Under no circumstances should parents’ cars enter the staff parking lot to drop off students as this can be ex-tremely dangerous when vehicles reverse and drivers may not be able to see small children.

Thank you in advance for your compliance in this matter as we all work together to ensure the safety of our children. Please talk with your child about the need to follow the above procedures and avoid the parking lot at all times.

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Grade Three News Science

Right now in Science we are learning about magnets. It is pretty cool. I have always wanted to learn about magnets.

Math We are adding to find out how much our names are worth. Donya name’s is worth 59 and Olivia’s name is worth 68.

Social Studies We have talked about our rights as citizens of the classroom. We have the right to a fun and friendly classroom. Our responsibility is to play with everyone and be a kind and gentle friend. Our right is to participate and be active in the classroom. Our re-sponsibility is to play the game, just do it. Next we will talk about our rights in Canada, then after that, rights in the whole world.

Art In art we learned about Vincent Van Gogh. We painted a flower pot in Van Gogh style and it was very fun. We put a spider plant in the pot and took the plant home on Parent/Teacher/Student conference night. By Donya and Olivia

Winter Concert We are singing Hot Chocolate, Blizzard on the Way and Angels in the Snow. These are our favourite songs. All music is taught by Mrs. Braun. We will do some acting. Some people are skaters, snowflakes and joke tellers. Please come. By Cait, Aubree, Kaleigh,

Choir In class we are having lots of fun! In choir we are going to sing to senior citizens. Af-ter we are going to Boston Pizza. Choir is really fun. By Grace

Holiday Market We are holding a holiday market for kindergarten to grade 2/3 including the Tiny Tots for the first time! You can buy 1 to 5 presents for $2.00. The Market starts on Decem-ber 15, 2014. By Skyler, Jack, and Liam

Happenings in the Art Room

The art room at Windsor has been

an active place since the beginning

of the year. The Grade 7 and 8 clas-

ses started the year looking at crea-

tive lines and drawing larger ver-

sions of cartoon characters.

Be on the look out for a flock of angry birds outside the office!

Recently we have studied 3D

shapes and shadows. Come in

and see what we’ve done!

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GRADE 5/6 December 2014 Update –

Composed by all 5/6 students, edited by Mme Neil Math

In math we were learning about rounding with addition, subtraction and multiplication. We’re

also learning about the Rainbow Method for placing factors, and place value numbers. Factors

are the numbers you multiply to get the product. The Rainbow Method is where you take a

number and find all its factors. In rounding we are learning about the one up one down method

where you round the number that is at the top one up the one on the bottom stays the same.

ELA/SS

In the past, we learned about Afghanistan, we read about a girl named Parvana, in

the book “The Breadwinner”, she lived in Afghanistan and went through terrible

misfortunes. Then our next subject was human rights, we learned about how lucky we are to

live in Canada and a democratic country that respects our human rights. We have been doing

Adobe Photoshop with Mr. Mulder, we are making our evil twins. With Mr. Arnold we are

writing fiction or non-fiction stories. Right now we are learning about the fur trade and how

they lived, we are watching a series of videos called Quest for the Bay; it is with people in the

21st century re-enacting and re-living the life of the voyagers, one of the participants lives in

our neighbourhood.

Sci/Art

In Sci/art we drew geometric and organic shapes and we made puzzle pieces with geometric

and organic shapes. We learned about invertebrates and vertebrates. For Halloween we made

skeletons using masking tape and water colour paint. Right now we are making bugs out of pa-

per.

Leadership

This term we have been learning how to be leaders around the school. During the past few

months we have run 2 and soon to be 3 pizza lunches. We use are pizza money for field trips.

With our grade 1/2 buddies we’ve done lots of crafts, art and school projects. In our kindergar-

ten buddies we have been helping them learn how to use the computers. In 2/3, we help them

with spelling and word sorts. That is what we’ve done in leadership!

Phys. Ed., Music & Upcoming events

Right now, in phys. ed we are learning basketball, we are working on dribbling and shooting

hoops. In November, we played spongy polo we played a lot of spongy polo games. In October,

we played volleyball we learned how to do forearm and some handball. In September, we

learned about soccer and we played a good amount of soccer games.

In music we have been singing and playing instruments. We are preparing for our winter con-

cert. Lately we’ve been working on actions for the songs, the concert is on December 10th. On

December 11th the choir is going Christmas carolling. On December 12th our class is going to

Oak Hammock Marsh, we will be doing outside winter activities. On the 18th our class is host-

ing another pizza lunch but this time we’re introducing ice cream. On the 19th, the last day of

school before the winter break, our class is going bowling with Mr. Nuytten’s class. In January,

we will go to Max Bell for track events with other schools.

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PATROL NEWS

Grade 4, 5, 6 patrols work hard to provide a safe crossing to our students. They come to

school early and leave late; their priority is to help students cross the street safely. We

thank them for their dedicated service! Patrols cross students in the morning, lunch and at

the end of the day at the corner of Killarney and Cunnington Ave-

nue.

Patrols are on duty from:

8:30am until 8:50am,

11:40am until 11:50am,

and 3:25pm until 3:40pm.

On days when the wind chill is colder than -32°C patrols will NOT

be on post; between -29°C and -31°C patrols will be on post for

no more than 10 minutes.

Thank you for your support, Mme Neil – Patrol Supervisor

Life at

Windsor

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Energy 106 School Dance

Terry Fox Run

Wacky Wednesday with Glenlawn students Steve Jones Research

Energy 106 School Dance

Student voice

This year has come around and we have started up student voice. We have meetings every

Tuesday with Mme. Bradshaw at 11:45 in the library, for grades 4-8. Lots of kids in each grade

handed in a form that told the teachers what they had to offer to student voice, and although

everyone was a candidate, only 3 from each class were chosen, and the teachers had trouble

deciding.

We have already had a productive year, we’ve been to WE DAY at the MTS center,

The Power of being a Girl, and the Commit 4.0 Conference at the board office. We have done

surveys in every class about the things everyone wants to see in the school, then we read

through all the surveys and gathered all the data. At We Day we learned about the year of Em-

powerment, and even though we are young, we have a voice and we can speak up for what we

believe in even if we’re standing alone. At WE DAY we saw Spencer West, who climbed

Mount Kilimanjaro with no legs, we also saw a Rafiki Mama, from Africa who told us about

how making Rafiki bracelets has changed her life, Craig and Marc Kielburger, the founders of

Free the Children, and so many more inspiring people!

At the Power of being a Girl, 4 girls from Windsor were sent to bring back all of the

information they learned. We learned how to protect ourselves from getting harassed, we

learned how to become healthy and keep a healthy life style, we also learned how to stand up to

bullies and help change people’s life for the better, and we learned so many more important

things about being a girl. We had a special guest named Rachel Ashley, she is a singer and en-

courages girl’s empowerment. She sang us songs about being strong and standing up for your-

self from her own experiences and gave us a speech of how to stand up to bullies and don’t

stand back and watch.

At the Commit 4.0 conference we again sent 3 people to bring back the activities, post-

ers and information they received at the conference. We learnt about leadership skills, how to

lead appropriately and not be bossy. We also learnt about Up Standers, like bystanders, but they

don’t stand by and watch the problem they stand up and take action. And they reminded us

about being ourselves and that we shouldn’t pretend to be anyone else, and should just be our-

selves, because we are perfect just the way we are! We also learnt so many more things that

were brought back and shared with peers. At the conference we had lots of fun we had a pizza

lunch, we learnt team building exercises/activities and we did a big poster that we brought back

to school. We met lots of new friends from different Louis Riel School Division schools.

We plan to do lots of fun activities and fundraisers. We have started the Coats for Kids

that will be finished December 17 and on December 12 we will be holding a bake sale with

baking donations from people school wide, everything will be less than $3.00 for anyone to

buy.

-Student Voice (Kaitlyn Clarke and Kylie Walker)

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Dates to Remember December 10th: Winter Concert 10 a.m. dress rehearsal and 7 p.m. evening performance December 11th: Choir Carolling December 12th: Bake Sale—Pennies for LRSD Field Trip Grade 4/5 & 5/6 December 16th: Gr. K-3 MTYP “Peter Pan” December 17th: Field Trip Grade 4/5 Wpg. Harvest Students vs Staff Volleyball Game December 18th: Pizza Lunch hosted by Gr. 5/6 December 19th: Field Trip Grades 4/5 & 5/6—Bowling Last day of school, early dismissal 2:15pm January 5th: School re-opens—Day 6 January 16: Gr. 7/8 MTYP “Black Violin” January 19th: Home & School Meeting, 7.00pm-8pm January 22nd: Jr. High Band/Guitar Art Show—evening Gr. 4 ORFF

Call to Report Absence

Please call the office @ (204) 237-4057 to notify us of your child’s absence. A message can be left on the school answering machine at any time. Your help with this important process eliminates time spent communicating redundant information and expending unwarranted concern regarding your child’s whereabouts.

Windsor Wear

At the end of January, beginning of February keep your

eyes open for Windsor Wear Clothing. Choices of t-shirts,

hoodies, sweat pants and shorts will be offered. More in-

formation will come out in the New Year.

Cold Weather Dress-up

As the

temperature

drops we remind

students and parents that dressing

for the conditions are important.

Toques, mittens, boots, ski pants and

warm coats will allow students to

enjoy the Manitoba weather.

Please remind your children the

importance of staying

warm.

The Staff of

Windsor School

Would like to wish the students and

Their families a very happy,

Peaceful Holiday Season.

And a very Prosperous , Healthy

New Year in 2015

Life at Windsor