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.