Bully & the Beanstock

Recently, our Gr. 1 to Gr. 4 students saw a presentation about anti-bullying at Charlton called "Bully & the Beanstock", a takeoff on the "Jack and the Beanstock" story.
Students loved the costumes and stage 'tricks' employed by the actor in order to deliver the play to our students.

Messages around how we all may stand up to bullies were evident in the play and repeated in the follow up discussion with students.
Numerous students volunteered to be part of the play, and Mr. Barlow was an energetic participant too!

Holiday Music at Charlton

Members of the Intermediate Concert band are currently entertaining us with holiday music before school in our main foyer.

The concert band had a guest appearance by Ms. Leale on trumpet this morning.  If you get a chance to come in to hear this group, please do!  They are in the foyer from just after 8 am to about 8.30 am.

3 Part Math-solving 'big' math problems

Recently I visited a Gr. 7 classroom where students were working on a 3-part math problem.  These problems are completed in all grades, and are meant to challenge groups of students as they apply mathematical concepts to larger problems which require multi-step thinking.  There are many ways to solve these problems, and students learn about some of the different ways others solved the problems during a 'congress', where the class gets together and some students present their solution. This type of learning promotes a growth mindset in students (and also staff!)

It is fascinating to see how students think, and inevitably they have ways of solving a math problem that are completely different to what I would have done, or even thought of.

Below are 2 students working on their solution to determining the area of a 'new computer lab' at Charlton by deconstructing a hexagonal shape into shapes they have learned to calculate area from.

Doing this type of problem is not something I would be familiar with in my schooling.  It combines applying math concepts, flexible thinking, creativity, and communication skills in determining an answer.

Boy's volleyball and Mental Health Presentations

It was a busy day today at Charlton PS.  Our Gr. 4-8 classes listened to a Mental Health presentation from Youthspeak, a group who shares their personal stories of dealing with mental health issues and offering strategies on dealing with some of the mental health issues that many students struggle with. It was interesting to hear from people who have lived through and struggled through some of these issues, rather than learn about them in a book.  Our students were attentive and had some excellent questions for the speakers.

Charlton PS also hosted the Intermediate Boys' Volleyball Area Qualifiers today.  Your Charlton Volleyball boys came in 1st place out of 5 teams in the tournament.  Charlton never lost a game today! Thanks to coaches Mr. Kim & Mr. Goron for their fine work in preparing the boys for the tournament.  Area championships occur on Thursday here at Charlton.
Below are the boys in action - waiting for a serve in the semi-finals.

A Day to Remember

Our Remembrance Day Assembly was particularly well done this year, with performances by many of our youngest students, as well as songs sung by the entire school, and video viewing. Our MCs were members of our Leadership Team, one of whom is pictured below.  They did a fabulous job.

 Ms. Chan led the Intermediate band in Oh Canada to begin the assembly.

Our Gr. 1 class recited 'In Flanders Fields'.

Ms. Ptasznik led the school in 'Where have all the young boys gone?', by Pete Seeger.

And our Kindergartens were heard loud and clear in their song with Ms. Rozen on guitar.

We also enjoyed our Gr. 4-8s singing a new French song by Gregg LeRock.

Special thanks goes to Ms. Colangelo, Ms. Johnson, Ms. Rozen and Ms. Chan for organizing a wonderful assembly to remember those who served in war, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice.

Hallowe'en

It was a veeeerrrrryyyy  sccaaaarrrryyyy day today at Charlton Public School with students and staff in full costume for Hallowe'en.
We had our annual parade which was attended by many parents, and our monthly assembly followed.

Thank you for sending your children to school dressed and ready to have fun today. It seems the biggest kids (i.e. teachers) had just as much fun as our Kindergartens !!

Take a look...

Charlton Healthy Snack Program

Our Healthy Snack Program is back!

Since mid-September, students have AGAIN been enjoying a daily healthy snack thanks to some committed and energetic parents here at Charlton. Different parents come in to the school weekly to cut up fruits and veggies, and to prepare the snack to be served to our students.
Our super-shopper-wonder-woman, Ms. Tsenebis, shops weekly for fresh food for our kids, and not only that, she finds the most amazing shopping deals I've ever heard of to supply our kids with LOTS of nutritious food.
To top it off, Ms. Tsenebis recruits her 3 boys to deliver the weeks supply of snacks to Charlton. They are pictured here below delivering this week's food...

Ask your son/daughter what he/she had for a healthy snack today...you may be surprised to find that your daughter/son has eaten food in the healthy snack program they have not yet eaten at home!!

Important Resources

The Provincial and Federal governments, in concert with the Public and Catholic School Boards in York Region, have a website that assists newcomers to Canada to learn about some specifics of our school system.  Much of the information is beneficial to ALL parents, covering such topics as Full Day Kindergarten, Homework, Solving Problems at School, and High School courses and choices. Many pages of the information is translated into numerous languages, including Hebrew, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Spanish and many more!

Visit the site by clicking here.  

Message to the Charlton Community from our School Trustee

MESSAGE FROM OUR TRUSTEE

Welcome back to another school year.

I am happy to extend a warm welcome to our returning students and families and those who are new to our Board. I am the trustee for your child’s school and your representative on the York Region District School Board of Trustees.

I am looking forward to continuing my work to ensure that all YRDSB students receive a high-quality education within safe, caring and inclusive learning environments.

In the coming year, trustees will continue to focus on the priorities that we set out in our Multi-Year Plan: student achievement and well-being, the delivery of effective and sustainable educational programs and the responsible stewardship of Board resources.  

We know that partnerships with families are essential to achieving this goal. Good schools become better schools when they are connected to parents and families.

I hope that you will find positive and meaningful ways to engage with your child’s school over the course of the year. There will be many events and activities to look forward to throughout the year and many opportunities across the Region that support parent engagement.

2015-16 promises to be an exciting year. All the best for the upcoming school year.

Susan Geller

School Trustee

Charlton School Council-we want your participation!

Hello parents:

Charlton School Council meets for the first time this Thursday September 17th in the Library of the school at 7 pm.

School Council is an important way for parents to have input into the decisions made at the school, and to help Charlton reach one of it's goals - to create a community that will support and educate young people to be responsible and contributing members of society.

Studies have shown that when parents involve themselves in their children's school, those children feel more connected to the school and, as a result, are more successful in their studies.

Our School Council typically meets about 6-7 times a year from 7 pm to 8.30 pm.  We organize events for the community, some with a fundraising purpose, others to simply build a better community in which to raise your children. We share information about the events occurring in the school, and discuss issues that are important to the Council members and the larger school community.

Please join us this Thursday.

If you would like to help with some events but are unable to attend the meetings, please let me know at ritchie.mcnaughton@yrdsb.ca.

We look forward to making this year at Charlton the best year yet!

Our first Fire Drill of the year

We are back to our regular procedures here at CPS, and conducted our first of six Fire Drills of the year this morning.

Here is a photo of ALL of our students organized into classes in the yard after they have evacuated the building.  It took us less than 4 minutes to evacuate.  Usually we decrease this time over the year to closer to 3 minutes.

Luckily, we enjoyed the beautiful weather we are experiencing this week. Recesses have been particularly fantastic!

Celebrating Student Birthdays

At Charlton we celebrate student birthdays with a morning announcement and a ribbon students wear on their birthday (or the day after if it is a weekend). If parents would like to celebrate further, we recommend a small token (eg. special pencil or eraser) to be given to other students.

Due to the increase in student allergies and anaphylactic (life threatening) reactions, no food of any sort will be distributed to other students for birthday celebrations.

New staff at Charlton

WELCOME TO OUR NEW STAFF


We have some new staff at Charlton I'd like to introduce you to:

Ms. James is our new teacher in one of our Community Classes, specifically our class for students with Developmental Delays. Ms. James has taught at Bakersfield PS in our Board, as well as in Winnipeg.

Ms. Colangelo is another one of our permanent teachers delivering various subjects to mostly Primary students.  She has a background in Math, and has had numerous experiences within the Board.

Ms. Verri returns to us for the year in Gr. 5/6 to replace Ms. Onodera, who is on a maternity leave.

Ms. Johnson also joins us until Janurary to replace Ms. Hill in our Gr. 1/2 class.

Ms. Littlejohns joins us as an Educational Assistant in our other Community Class, our class for students with Multiple Exceptionalities. Ms. Littlejohns joins Ms. Fisher who is the teacher in that new class.

We are very fortunate to have the experience and expertise that these teachers bring to Charlton. Please help me to welcome them.

Welcome Back!

WELCOME BACK!

It is great to see our 'seasoned' students back at Charlton this year, as well as our new students coming from a range of places both within and outside our Board!

Welcome to Charlton for 2015-16.

As an introduction to the year, please click on any of the links below to get information on the following topics:

Tips for Back to School:

2015-16 Information for Parents and Students

Bargaining Update

Healthy and Environmentally Friendly Lunches

Much more information will be coming to this blog concerning Charlton and how to support your students at home.
Please (if you have not already) sign up with your e-mail address at the top of the post.  This will automatically send you one daily e-mail when postings occur that day on the blog.

We intend on using the blog as a primary source of information about Charlton this year.

'Blog to you soon!'

Volunteer lunch

Thank you to all of our fabulous volunteers who came out on Friday to enjoy our Pot Luck lunch provided by our staff, and to hear our Gr. 1 & 2 students sing a song of gratitude for the work our volunteers have done this year. Ms. Verri rearranged the lyrics to a popular song, and the young students sang with energy and enthusiasm. It was a memorable event.

Here, Mr. McNaughton introduces our budding stars...

Butterflies in Kindergarten

In the past month, our Kindergarten classes have watched the cycle of life of a butterfly.

 This past week, our youngest students watched their beautiful butterflies emerge from their chrysalises and fly.  They were released in our garden soon after with the help of our excited Kindergarten students.

Reading buddies

The Gr.7/8 students from Mrs.Chan's class wrote and illustrated picture books based on their Language unit, Analyzing Text, targeted towards 5-8 yr old readers. Themes ranged from caring for the environment, to courage in the face of bullying, to keeping your messy room clean! They then paired up for Reading Buddies with students from the community class, Ms.Rozen's kindergarten class, Ms. Rawji's Gr.3's and Mr.Barlow's Gr.1/2s to share their stories.

This engaging activity allowed the older students to learn about the reading process: how young students learn to read, what topics they enjoy most, and how to more actively engage younger students. 

The picture books have been laminated and bound, and will be on display in the library to share with the school community.

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Taking care of our garden

Mr. Craig has returned to Charlton to help contribute to our fabulous garden!
He has organized a group of students to help provide the 'labour' to beautify the front of the school.
What a job they have done!

Personally, I would put our garden up against any school in the Region.  Please come and see it when you can. Thanks to all of our student volunteers, to Mr. Craig, Ms. Lai and Ms. Ellenbogen who have lead the push to give us beautiful gardens.

Sharing their stories

Today Mr. Vaz' Gr. 2/3 class shared the stories they have created with Ms. Verri's Gr. 1 class.  Older students read their personal stories to the younger students in the library.  The task of the younger students was to determine the main idea of the story being read to them.  This is their current learning focus in Gr. 1. As you can see, younger students were very interested....

The younger students will now work on their very own stories.  What a fabulous way for our older students to model 'narrative writing' and 'determining the main idea' for our younger ones!

Mental Health Presentations by the Student Leadership Team

Last week our Student Leadership Team went into classrooms and presented to individual Gr. 3, 4, 5 and 6 classes on topical mental health issues in those grades.  On top of making announcements every Monday on breaking myths around Mental Health, these students researched and created their own presentations on topics such as The Importance of Positive Relationships, and How to Deal with Stress and Anxiety.

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They then organized presentations with classroom teachers and presented to students.  The point was made that they were not experts, but wanted to share their learning around mental health and the ways to cope with the daily stresses and anxiety brought about in everyday life.

The leadership shown by this group was truly amazing!  Thanks to Ms. Rawji and Ms. Antoniou for helping to organize and focus the Leadership Team in their presentations.  And special thanks to the Leadership Team members, who worked above and beyond their course work to help educate their peers, and make Charlton a better place to be.

Film Awards and Charlton winners

The PlaYR Video Festival and Awards were held last night in Newmarket.  We had a number of students in our Gr. 7/8 classes participate.  Here they are at the festival:

Two of these students won the videos they entered into competition.  Parnia S won for Best Experimental Film, and Richy R won for best Drama.

Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the PlayYR Awards !!

The Charlton Garden

Have you noticed our garden lately?

A small but mighty committee, including a recently retired Mr. Craig, along with parents Ms. Ellenbogen and Ms. Lai have been working with a number of students to weed, plant and spread soil to make our garden beautiful. Ms. Vaid has been instrumental in gathering donations of plants and gardening tools in order to support the committee.
I have seldom been to schools with a more beautiful front entrance.  The 'Garden Team' has done a fabulous job at making the front of our school attractive, increasing our 'curb appeal'.

Come take a look when you have time.  

Thanks to the entire Garden Team for making the front of the school so attractive!

Mental Health Week follow up activity

Yesterday, our Gr. 1 students did a follow up activity from the information shared with our Kindergarten and Grade 1 staff during Mental Health Week and our theme of reducing the stigma of mental health. The book 'How Are You Peeling', showing pictures of different fruits and vegetables and associating emotions with how they looked was used by these teachers.
Ms. Verri wrote:

I read the book to the class first and after we discussed the different emotions/moods people have. Then we brainstormed the different moods from the book and connected each mood they heard in the story to a particular colour, for example, red is angry or mad, blue is sad, etc. Next, I had the students close their eyes and think about how they felt today and one by one I called them to come up and check mark the mood they were feeling.

Then, I had the class view on YouTube "Art Attack Clay Faces". It teaches them how to shape clay, or in our case we are using model magic, to make different emotions on a face. After the video each student was given 2 small balls of model magic, one to use for the face and the other to use for the face features (eyes, eyebrows, mouth). They then coloured the model magic to match their emotion and created the face.

 
 Turned out great and the students enjoyed it.

Welcoming our new Kindergarten students

Last week we held our annual 'Welcome to Kindergarten' in which we invited all families of our newest students for September to come in, meet our staff (teaching staff, daycare staff, Early Years staff), and begin to become familiar with Charlton. There were many familiar faces of parents with students already at Charlton, and many new faces.  Students completed activities with their parents and went home with lots of supplies to continue those activities at home and get ready for school in September.  Our current Kindergartens wrote a note to the newcomers to welcome them.

We love to include our newest students into the Charlton family.  See you all again in September!

McMichael Art Gallery visit

  On Tuesday, May 19, the Gr.6, 7 and 8 students visited McMichael Art Gallery in  Kleinberg for a tour and workshop focussing on the themes of "wilderness" and "landscape". Students had the opportunity to learn about The Group of Seven (most famed Canadian landscape painters), and view their works including those of Emily Carr, a famous Canadian female artist. The workshop allowed students to sketch and colour with watercolour crayons, and apply the concepts of space (i.e. fore, middle and background), colour and value to their individual pieces (see photo below). We had a great day and hope to return again someday!

EQAO testing this year

A letter was sent home with students in Gr. 3 and Gr. 6 yesterday indicating that EQAO testing for this year will not occur at the scheduled time.  EQAO will not be sending materials to schools in which there is teacher job action, which includes all York Region District School Board elementary schools.
Normal school operations will continue, including the day to day teaching of all subjects.

May 20th - a busy day

Yesterday was a very busy day at Charlton.  Our Special Ed students went to their annual Track & Field event, we had a fire drill and a rooftop photo of the entire school population (the photographer was on the roof, not us!), and in the evening we had our Spring Fair.

Our Special ed students were extremely successful in their Track and Field events yesterday.  It was a sunny day, and not too hot...perfect weather for our athletes.  Here are two of our ribbon winners!

Our fire drill went off without a hitch!  We were able to evacuate the building in about 3 minutes, an improvement over our other drills this year.  If we ever have a fire, our kids know exactly what to do.

The rooftop photo is always a challenge.  Getting 300 students and 30 staff together for one photo went well, though.  The kids were very co-operative and our Kindergartens recited the longest "Chheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese" I have ever heard.  We will receive and post the photo in the coming weeks.

Our Spring Fair was a huge hit!!

Grade 7 and 8 students organized and ran the games, and worked with our School Council in order to sell food and distribute prizes.  We also had many ex-Charlton students visit, and some obtained volunteer hours by participating.  It's always good to see our ex-students and hear the successes they are having in Secondary School and beyond!

Oh, and did I mention that students had some fun?  Here is a shot of one of the pie eating contests.

 ...and finally, here's how you look (and feel) when you are the winner of that contest.

  Thanks to Mr. Kim, Ms. Rawji, Ms. Lai and School Council, Farco Entertainment and all the other people who made a special effort to make this a great experience for our families.

Music Monday

It was Music Monday at Charlton, and the band played some music for our community out on our lawn both before school and during the lunch hour. As well, supporters of the music program held up signs promoting both the music program and asking passing cars for support by honking their horns. Ex-students stopped by and remembered their music days at Charlton. The band played 'Mission Impossible', as well as many other tunes.  It was a great way to promote music and the music program within Charlton and beyond the school walls.  Thanks to Ms. Chan for all her work in our Music program, particularly on Music Monday.

Dance Performance

As advertised, Justin and his dance team led our students - yes, ALL of them - through their paces for an enthusiastic crowd in our gym at the end of their dance sessions with all of our classes.  He had not only the students but the whole crowd involved in dancing and moving to his music.  Our parents and grandparents got just a taste of what it was like to experience the energy of Justin and his Kreative Dance Kids team.  Attached is a photo of the many who attended the dance performance...it was one to remember!

Dance Program up and running at Charlton

We are in the middle of our whole school Dance program here at Charlton P.S. Kreative Dance Kids began last week and will be engaging our classes for another week or so, with a culminating performance at 1.40 pm in our gym on Wednesday May 22nd.  The instructors are dynamic and

classes are very active in learning their dance moves. I'm impressed at how many students are participating fully in the dance activities...we have a few budding professionals in our midst!!

Scientists in the School in Kindergarten

This week, our Kindergartens enjoyed Scientists in the School. A scientist came in 3 days in a row and joined parent volunteers in each Kindergarten class to deliver 4 activities to groups of students.  Kindergartens learned concepts such as recycling (which items go in which container), water conservation (how much water is needed to brush your teeth), and the conditions seeds need to grow in soil.  Each Kindergarten student made a string of food to hang from a tree in order to feed birds.

As you can imagine, there was a lot of excitement in the room, and a lot of learning occurring.
Thanks to all the parent volunteers who helped deliver the activities to our youngest students - they had a blast!

Math games to support our mathematics program

Part of a comprehensive mathematics program is to use specific games to support the math learning in class.  Recently we have been trying out some new games in our mathematics classes.  Students have responded very well and have enjoyed engaging in these games.  Many have commented on how they better understand a particular concept after having played a game.

Here, 2 students and a staff member are playing a card game to support their learning.  Ask your son or daughter if they have recently played a game in mathematics.

Recently, through a connection with one of our parents, Mr. Granite.  The Chess Institute offerred a program to our Community Class to learn chess, and at the same time teach the students skills of patience and taking turns.  The program was offerred for free, and our students LOVED  it!

Here you can see some of our students playing with an oversized chess board.  What a great experience for them.
As well, we had numerous chess sets donated to the school by Mr. Granite.  They now are being used by our Chess Club twice a week.  The Chess Club is run by members of the Charlton Student Leadership Team.

Clothing drive

As part of our year-long focus on doing things for others, called Feed the Deed, Mr. Goron's class decided to organize a school-wide clothing drive, collecting clothing from each classroom to help those in need stay warm in the record breaking cold temperatures this winter (see the January newsletter article).  They far exceeded their expectations with the clothing that was collected.

 The photo above gives you an idea of the amount of clothing that was shipped to Goodwill this week. Over 945 items were collected - it was a job well done!  Once again, we see evidence of a true sense of caring for those less fortunate in both our student body and in our community.  Congratulations to our Gr. 6 class for all of their efforts, and to you for showing our students how much caring for others matters!

Today we host the Area Qualifiers for Girls Basketball here at Charlton. Teams from Glen Shields, L.H. Frechette, Brownridge and Wilshire came to compete with our Charlton team to determine which 2 teams will compete

at the Area finals.  All the teams played very hard all day, and showed considerable skill.  Charlton won their first game by only one point in a close contest with Wilshire.  In their second game they played a very strong Glen Shields team and lost.  In the third game against Brownridge, our girls sailed through to another win.  In the final round robin game, Charlton edged Frechette by 1 point, finishing 2nd in a 5-team pool.
On to the semi-final.  In that game against Frechette, the score was close all game.  In the final minute, Frechette moved to 2 points back of Charlton.  They threw up many shots in the final seconds, but none went in.
Charlton is off to the Area finals!!
Congratulations Girls!!!

Deep Freeze
For the last few days we have been under a 'deep freeze', with temperatures well below -20 degrees Celsius.  As a result, we have experienced many days without outdoor recess.  On the majority of these days, we have opened up the gym at lunch to give students a chance to run around for at least 20 minutes playing sports such as basketball and soccer.  This exercise, paired with our daily physical activity (DPA), helps burn some energy and allow students to better focus in classes.
Let's hope the last of the cold weather is left behind in February, and we can return to our usual outdoor activities twice daily.