The Ferndale Flash THE FERNDALE FLASH. From your Admin May Principal: Mrs. Poppy Gilliam. Hello everyone, Vice-Principal

Transcription

1 THE FERNDALE The Ferndale Flash FLASH Principal: Mrs. Poppy Gilliam Vice-Principal Mr. Warren Dixon Secretaries: Mrs. Kathy Woelk Mrs. Vicky Janzen INSIDE THIS ISSUE: School 2 Council Events Earth Day 3 Expo Falcons in 5 the Community From your Admin May 2018 Hello everyone, The weather has certainly been unpredictable! Our students look forward to getting outside and shedding their winter clothing. Track meets, 3-pitch tournaments and other outdoor fun are all scheduled for the near future. We regret to inform you that Mrs. Gilliam is off on a medical leave until further notice. She had a tough winter battling Influenza B, pneumonia and then an infection in her heart. She is seeing a lot of specialists and we wish her a speedy recovery. She misses everyone greatly and will pop in when she can to connect with the kids. In the meantime, I will be the Acting Principal until she returns and our Instructional Coach, Cathy Meesters, will be our Acting Vice Principal. As close as the end of the year seems, we still have two months of learning ahead of us. Mathematics remains at the forefront of our learning. Research tells us that student interaction, through classroom discussion and other forms of interactive participation, is foundational to deep understanding and related student achievement. Staff continue to deepen their understanding of the most effective instructional strategies that move student learning forward. Ferndale is an amazing place to learn! Welcome to JK Autism Awareness Week Last Month at Ferndale Please remember to check our twitter page (@Ferndalerocks) or website (Ferndale.dsbn.org) for all of the great activities that are taking place here at Ferndale. Sincerely W. Dixon and C. Meesters May Dates 12

2 PAGE 2 Professional Activity Day Friday, May 18 th is a PA Day. Schools will be closed for students while staff will participate in school-based professional development. Enjoy a fabulous long weekend! Caption describing picture or graphic. Monday, May 21st Victoria Day Holiday - School is closed School Council Events Back by popular demand..ferndale School Council is planning an exciting dance/bbq that will take place in June, and will be our last fundraiser before summer. We hope that you will all come out for this fun evening which will include a BBQ, dance and raffle prizes. More information will come home later on this month. If you are interested in helping with this event please call the school and or visit the office. Our next School Council meeting is on Wednesday, May 2nd at 3:30 pm in the library. Breakfast Club Reminders We are looking for adult volunteers to help out with breakfast club. If you are interested please call the school. Breakfast club hours are from 8:00 am to 8:35 am. If students finish their breakfast before 8:35 am they can go to the library at 8:20 am with Mrs. Priddle. It is our expectation that students will remain in the breakfast club until 8:20 am and will let the adult know they will be going to the library. An adult will give students permission to leave.

3 PAGE 3 Earth Day Expo On Wednesday, April 18th, Ferndale s Grade 5 & 6 students recognized Earth Day by attending an Earth Day Expo in the downtown Market Square. Students viewed presentations and attended booths to learn about the impact humans are having on our natural environment. Following the field trip, students were asked to communicate their learning by creating a report. Dear Ferndale Families, Earth Day Expo On Wednesday April 18, 6N and 5/6M went to the Earth Day Expo at the St. Catharines Farmers Market. There were lots of stands and they taught students from all grades how we can help the earth. I learned that lettuce, potatoes, celery and garlic can regrow itself! Just put the end of the lettuce or celery in water and wait for new roots to grow before you plant it! The new roots starts growing in only 3 days! Something else I learned is that clean tin-foil is recyclable and napkins can be put into your compost! Another thing I learned is that Tim Hortons cups can t be recycled with paper because of the wax lining on the inside. The event helped me realize how much we are damaging the earth by hitting animals with our cars and spending so much more money than you have to on bottled water. It costs so much less for tap water. One thousand litres of bottled water costs $4000 while 1000L of tap water costs $1.19! It also made me realize that if you put your garbage in the right bin, you will be helping the earth a little more. Only rain should go into storm drains because most of the time it goes into a body of water where communities get their drinking water. That s why you should use environmentally friendly soap to wash your car and you shouldn t put dirt or stones into the storm drains. After spending a day at the Earth Day Expo, I learned many new ways to help make the earth a better place! -Hayley Y

4 PAGE 4 Earth Day Expo Earth Day Expo On Wednesday April 18, 2018, Mrs. Meger s and Mrs. Nash s gr. 6 classes went to the Earth Day Expo on 91 King street. The classes were not the only one s there. There were about three other classes from three other schools. The Expo was held at the Market square downtown. At the beginning, mayor Walter Sendzik gave a speech to start the Expo. He talked about Links to Greener learning and gave a speech. After that we had a snack time and set up camp. There were tons of things going on like the snacks and the smoothies, gift bags, they even had a recycled jewelry table, recycled tech table and the beekeeper table. There were all things you could do at the market in my opinion the best table was the snacks table because there were so many. My least favourite table was the bees table because there were dead bees floating in water. We spent about six hours at the market. At the Electronics table were laptops, a projector, and desktop computer some of which were taken apart. At that table there was a lesson that taught you how to take apart a computer and recycle the insides of it safely and easily and that is important because when we throw away electrical things they harm the environment greatly. The whole point of the Expo is to make people aware of the Earth how to prevent pollution from getting any worse than it already has become at this point in time. When the time came we made it to the smoothie making area where you pedal a stationary bike and generate power to blend a smoothie on the top. From that I learned that there are other ways to generate electricity like wind energy, solar energy, and water energy. These can be used instead of electricity plants because those can be very harmful. At the jewelry table there was no real lesson but you could easily see that you could recycle metals. It was just kind of a souvenir for the Expo. At the table I purchased a gift bag for 6$.The table had necklaces and rings and even little watches. There was also a table about waste getting in the sewers. At the table they gave you a button and a yellow fish shaped card and the lesson there was that all the things that were getting into the sewers are actually getting into bodies of water. When we got to the second station it was about how to deal with bees and their lifestyle. They taught us that there is a smoke you can use to calm the bees down. Beekeepers are sometimes forced to wear nets on their heads and sometimes they wear them on their whole body but it depends on how the bees are feeling. There were also talks about the bees eating the sunflower seeds. Speaking of seeds there was a whole hive full of them on the table. They even had the beekeeping cloths under the table. Bees are important to the earth because they help all plant life grow. With all the things we learned we now know multiple things we can do to help the Earth. We have to step up on ideas to help. The two classes had a lot of fun but surely we didn't go there just to have fun but we actually learned something. At the bee table we learned that bees actually help with plant life and I mean all plant life so we don't think bees are annoying dangerous flies and kill them. We also learned that Electronics have insides that are really bad for the Earth. With all the things we learned I think it will benefit the Earth to have more schools on the high alert about pollution. Thanks for reading Ferndale community I hope you stand with us. By MAZEN KARAMALLA Caption describing pic ture or

5 PAGE 5 Falcons in the Community SAVE THE DATE!!! Ferndale School will once again be participating in the Rankin Cancer Run on Saturday, May 26, 2018 and we are looking for students and families to join us. The Ferndale Falcons team is now online ( and ready for your registration. Orange information letters were sent home with youngest/ student in the family with dates and other details. More information will be provided closer to the date. Thank you for your continued support of this incredible and powerful local event. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Nash at the school. Reading Clubs Updates Reading Club Updates The Silver Birch and Red Maple readers are eagerly anticipating the DSBN s Forest of Reading Celebration at the ScotiaBank Centre on May 4. This year s theme, Reading Matters has been in clear display as the club members have been diligent and excited about their books and the opportunity to vote for their favourite title. Thank you to Mrs. Nash and Mr. Tayler for providing students with this awesome opportunity!

6 PAGE 6 Welcome to Kindergarten We will be hosting our annual Welcome to Kindergarten evening on Wednesday, May 16th from 5:00-6:30pm. If you, or someone you know in the Ferndale neighbourhood has a child who will be attending our JK program in September 2018, we invite you to join us for a fun evening. During the visit, children and parents will make new acquaintances and participate in fun, literacy and numeracy activities. Families can also meet our community learning partners who will be sharing information about their programs and how parents can get their JK s ready for school success. Jr. Boys & Girls Basketball A big thank you to the Jr. boys basketball team for their hard work and dedication this season. We worked hard, learned a lot, and fell just a bit short in the end. Congratulations to Cody, Lucas, Cole, Sam, Aiden, Dallas, Jacob, Noah, Ethan, Lebron, Josh D, and Josh P for putting in a great effort and always making Ferndale proud on and off the court. Great work boys! Mr. Snider & Mr. Tayler Congratulations to the junior girls basketball team on a season of hard work and excellent sportsmanship. Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Meger are very proud of all of your efforts!

7 Autism Awareness Week at Ferndale PAGE 7 The Structured Strategies Program staff and students thank everyone who contributed to our highly successful week of events. Through a bake sale, hot dog day and an enjoyable Pie in the Face day, Ferndale school raised $ that was donated to Autism Niagara. This event was successful because of support from our school staff, ticket sales and wonderful EA's that all jumped in to help. Special thank you to White Oaks for donations of water and condiments as well as O'Hara Trucking and Excavating who donated hot dogs and buns. I want to thank Hasti Davoudi and Brenda VanEde for their extra hard work behind these events in preparation for making everything run so smoothly.

8 Last Month at Ferndale \Snapshots of April. Students working hard to make their math learning visible Showing school spirit on Crazy Hair Day! Jersey Day in support of Humboldt Strong

9 Grade 3 & 6 EQAO PAGE 9 Provincial EQAO Assessments are scheduled for Grades 3 and 6 students during the month of May. Students will be completing the assessment over the course of 2 weeks from May 22nd to June 4th. More information will be sent home during the first of May. Please do your very best not to schedule any appointments for students during this assessment as it is difficult to make up missed time. Grade 8 Graduation Mark this date on your calendar! Our Grade 8 graduation ceremony is scheduled for Monday, June 25th at 6:30 p.m. It will be held at the Merrittion Community Centre. There will be an after celebration held for our grade 8 graduates at Johnny Rocco s after the formal ceremony at the Merrittion Community Centre. More information will be sent home the beginning of June. Our Graduation Committee is beginning to plan this special event and we re looking forward to sharing this milestone in your child s life. Jump Rope For Heart On Thursday, May 17th, Ferndale School will be participating in the Jump Rope For Heart campaign. Students will be encouraged to bring a donation and support this important event. You can easily register and fundraise online at jumpropeforheart.ca Envelopes for donations will also be available. On the day of the event, students will be involved in a number of activities.

10 Dress Code Reminder Now that warmer weather is hopefully on the way, we remind our students and parents of our dress code. Students should come to school in clothes appropriate for a school environment. Halter tops, tank tops, muscle shirts, tops with spaghe straps, tops that reveal the midriff, short-shorts, and other revealing summer apparel are not appropriate at school (regardless of the age of your child). Music Monday Please join us for our Music Monday Concert on May 7, 2018 at 1:30pm. This event is a nation wide event that celebrates the importance of Music in schools across Canada. Ferndale students will join their voices in song as we enjoy the underlying power of Music. This year s song encourages us to sing for Joy, Truth, Healing and Freedom. The Music Monday anthem, Sing It Together features Inuit Throat Singers, Métis Fiddling, Indigenous Drumming and a High School Choir. All students are encouraged to wear brightly coloured shirts or their Ferndale T- shirts on Monday May 7th. Ferndale has officially registered their event and we on the Map! Please visit :

11 PAGE 11 Summer Learning Opportunity! Registration opens March 19th for summer day camps offered by the Learning Disabilities Association of Niagara. The S.L.A.M. (Sunshine, Learning, Achievement and More) Camp is for students who will be in grades 1-5 in September, See ldaniagara.org or contact Brittani for more information. or call: (905) Mrs. Van der Kant also has more information if you have questions. May is Mad for Science During the month of May, Mad Science Clubs will start for those students who registered for the program. Upcoming dates for spectacular science in action are May, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st, during second breaks. Math Olympics On Thursday, April 12, Grade 7 & 8 students, Rajin, Amal, Elijah and Marissa competed in the Math Olympics at Club Roma. The event consisted of three rounds of competition; individual, pairs, and full-team tests. The sum was added to give a full-team score. Out of 72 participating schools from the DSBN, the NCDSB and even a school from Hamilton, our Ferndale team came in 6th place! It was a very fun experience and I hope we do it again next year! By Elijah Cosby

12 Upcoming Events/Dates Friday, May 4th: Forest of Reading Celebration Monday, May 7th: Music Monday concert, 1:30pm Thursday, May 10th:Track & Field Regional Competition Friday, May 11th: Muffins With Mom 7:30-8:45 am in the school library Friday, May 11th: Spring Dance for all students JK-Grade 8 Theme: Sparkle & Shine Wednesday, May 16th: Grade 7& 8 students GAUSS Math Contest Wednesday, May 16th: Welcome to JK Open House 5:00-6:30pm Thursday, May 17th: Jump-Rope-For-Heart event day Thursday, May 17th: Grade 7 Hep-B & HPV Vaccinations Thursday, May 17th: Eden Flyer Day for Grade 8 s Friday, May 18th: PD Day Monday, May 21st: Victoria Day Holiday Tuesday, May 22nd EQAO grade 3 and 6 starts Thursday, June 7th- Period 1 9:00 am Primary Assembly Respect - Super Hero Day Thursday, June 7th- Period 2 9:40 am Junior/Intermediate Assembly Respect