It seems just yesterday we were working together as staff, students and school council to create our collective vision of the Churchville Graduate. To paraphrase, we envisioned

Churchville graduates who are good problem solvers, communicators and collaborators. They will

respect people and the environment, think critically and question information. They will leave not only

with an open mind but with the knowledge and understanding that other opinions and views are valuable to

growth.

Now we are but three months away from watching our first group of Grade 8’s walk across the stage to accept their certificates and awards! Watching them dressed in white shirts getting their Grad Photos done yesterday, I was mindful of all of the outstanding opportunities they in class and in extra-curricular activities to develop and refine these skills and qualities. The short student-written articles throughout this newsletter highlight just a few of the 60 or so activities available to all of our students. The possibilitie really are endless. For a real sense of the depth and breadth of options, please check out our daily e-

announcements at http://bit.ly/2fHSiLe.

I hope all of you will take advantage of the opportunity to capture the memories of the year forever in our Yearbook. It really is an outstanding archive of special moments, people and a snapshot of a moment of time in your child’s life. Your children have been really been enjoying the flashback photos of staff taken from their old yearbooks. Who knew Mrs. White is timeless and looks exactly the same now as when she was in Grade Nine? Such a treasure! Please note that yearbooks are only available by preorder, so order now.

I want to thank each and everyone of you for your support for our recent fundraising efforts via our Move-a-thon. The event was certainly colourful and well-received by your children, and we managed to raise $4,000.00 to put toward the ping pong tables, four square court, etc.

Finally, I would like to ask for your feedback. We have launched Your Voice Counts, the on-line survey for staff, students (grades 4 through 8) and parents. Please tell us how you feel about our school by taking 10 minutes to answer the questions. The survey is anonymous. Responses help to guide our school success plan moving forward. You can access the survey through our website or using with the following link: http://pdsb.me/yvcparent. If you have more than one child at Churhville, just complete the survey once and keep one of your children in mind as you do. We currently hold the record in all of Peel for having the most families using School Cash On-line (95%). Let’s see if we can do the same or better with a response rate on the Your Voice Counts Survey.

Jan Crofoot Principal

Churchville Chatter

Home of the Chargers! Newsletter Edition 4

March 21, 2017

Spring Edition

Stay up to date. Following us on twitter (Churchville PS). Check our daily e-announcements

http://bit.ly/2fHSiLe and by checking our website http://schools.peelschools.org/1436/Pages/default.aspx .

Newsletters will be published bimonthly and posted on our website.

NEW – Community Corner: www.peelschools.org/parents/communitycorner

Throughout the month of February, students celebrated the achievements of Black heros and trailblazers. The month culminated with a school assembly that focused on Black heritage. This year’s theme began at the time when escaped slaves entered Canada and continued to face racism and segregation. Students sang songs, danced and role played short stories about the Civil Rights movement. The focus was on prominent black activists such as Viola Desmond, Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King and Jackie Robinson. One highlight was when students acted out a play set in Dresden On. A newspaper journalist uncovered that segregation was still in place in the early 50’s. He published an article in the Toronto Telegram and the information became public. The government intervened and segregation was abolished. The story is powerful and was well played by our students. A hearfelt thank you goes out to Ms. Gonsalves who prepared the whole assembly and coached our students.

From March 4th

to the 18th, 180 pieces of Churchville student art filled the Beaux Art Gallery in downtown

Brampton in an exhibit open to the general public for a two week period. Grade 6, 7 and 8 students created sculptures, mixed media and acrylic on canvas pieces inspired by First Nations culture, traditions and history. The show was entitled The Seven Grandfathers: Symbolism in First Nations-inspired Art. Wednesday, March 8

th was our

gala evening with parents, students and our trustee, Kathy MacDonald in attendance. The Glee club performed, refreshments were served, and over a hundred people gathered in the quaint gallery to celebrate student artists, read the thoughtful artist statements and and enjoy the creations.

On Thursday, March 9

th, the Churchville Dance Crew performed at the Living Arts Centre. Ms.

Gonsalves and ten student dancers created a spectacular routine depicting ‘light’ which they performed to the sound track “Left Standing”. Our dancers out-did themselves with their passion, coordination and creative movements. The performance was at a professional level and inspiring.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

BEAUX ART GALLERY

PEEL DANCE SHOWCASE

In the month of March we had two spirit days. We celebrated Crazy Hair Day to kick off the March Break and in support of World Down Syndrome Day we wore our crazy socks to school. Tuesday, March 21st is World Down Syndrome Day, a day of global awareness observed by the UN since 2012. WDSD helps cities all across the globe raise awareness towards Down Syndrome. It encourages friends all over the world to choose their actions and activities in a positive way. That is exactly how we at Churchville have recognized this day. Together in our wonderful little community we have made a positive impact, because every action makes a world of a difference. When it comes to crazy hair day we totally rocked it! In every corner of Churchville we had crazy hair day. Students and staff both had creativity bubbling on their heads. It was certainly a sight to see! We look forward to more spirit days as the spring season progresses. Written by: Mahnoor M.

Don't you think it would be cool to make a moveable bridge for the Peel Technological Skills Challenge with REAL wood? If you said 'yes', and you are in grade 4 - now is your chance!

You may be thinking that I am going to talk about an ordinary bridge. Well... you are wrong! We will be using pulleys and gears and we will be working with REAL wood and REAL tools to make our bridge AWESOME. Can you believe we get to use real saws, manual drills and miter boxes! We need to use these tools safely to make sure that no one gets hurt. Safety ALWAYS comes first. The expectation for the bridge is very simple. It needs to use pulleys and gears and it has to be moveable. The rest is up to us to research and explore. The purpose of this project is to make transportation easier during floods to help the Red Cross Foundation.

I can't wait to see what the students of 4A, 4B and 4C come up with. These are going to be EXTRAORDINARY!! Written by Haroon K.

GIRLS BASKETBALL The Senior Girls Basketball team consisted of 15 girls from Gr. 7 and 8. Thanks to Mr. Zizek and Ms Hurford, the skills of our team, throughout the year, has grown with practise and hard work. Once we

SPIRIT DAYS

PEEL TECHNICAL SKILLS CHALLENGES

SPORTS

touched court we moved a team and played as a whole. The basketball team gave us a chance to make new friendships by doing something we love. Written by Ishika B. BOYS BASKETBALL The Senior Boys Basketball team consisted of 16 players coached by Ms. Cochrane and Ms. Robserts. They led the team to a tier two Silver Medal and a division five Bronze Medal. Over time the team’s skills improved as well as their team chemistry. Written by Sohaib A. As our field recovers from the snow and rain, we have had to get creative to help make ‘hard top recesses’ exciting. In addition to our outdoor sound system, we introduced a skipping zone, thinking we might encourage a few students to engage in this healthy, active pastime. Little did we know we would create a new Churchville Craze. We have purchased and distribute 250 new skipping ropes to classes so so students can master the rope, including all of the fancy moves! They’re getting good!!!!

On Feb. 28

th Churcvhille held it’s Moveathon fundraiser. All students

from Kindergarten to Gr. 8 shaked and shimmied their bodies to the sounds of Dance Play. The gymnasium was lit with neon finger lights and glow bracelets that students wore.Thank you for your generosity. 1C enjoyed an ice-cream party. Congratulations to Zainab T. and Jeel S. who spent a day as Churchville’s vice-principal and principal, respectively.

SKIPPING

FUNDRAISER

As an extension of learning, Churchville students have the opportunity to engage in mathematics competitions. This year, we will be taking part in two competitions: The Mathematica Centrum Contest on April 12

th (for students in Grades 3 – 6) and the Gauss Math Contest on May 10

th (for students in Grades

7 and 8). Students are encouraged to review past contests online at www.mathematica.ca (Grades 3 and 4 Byron-Germain preparatory test; Grades 5 and 6 Pythagoras preparatory test) and http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/contests/past_contests.html (Grades 7 and 8 Gauss) and bring their questions to Math Club! Here at Churchville students are allowed to share ideas about extra-curricular activities and clubs they are interested in having. So, we will have a new club starting on April 4

th! This club is called Cubing Club.

It will allow students to learn how to solve the Rubik’s cube. If they already know how to solve a Rubik’s cube, they are welcome to come and practice. Having your own cube will be helpful since you can practice at home. But don’t let that stop you because we are willing to share ours with you. Written by Armaan Ali J.

This year during Camp I Can we did many different activities and educational games. We would always have an amazing time playing games but stull have a balance with learning games and problem solving. The last day of camp we treated ourselves to a day out at Laset Quest and we had pizza for lunch. This was a great use of my March break and I recommend this camp for younger students. Thank you to Mr. Zizek for organizing the camp. Written by Neha J.

With the growing number of social media sites, it is no surprise that social media is the most common form of communication for children and teenagers. Posts, status updates, comments, instant messages, video uploads, tweets and texts have become a regular part of their lives. While there are many positive benefits to using social media, including staying connected with friends and expressing your interests, students must be cautious in their use of these networks. Here are some tips, provided by the Canadian Safe School Network and GetSafeOnline.org, to keep your children safe and help them make smart choices when using social media:

Set some boundaries for your child before they get their first ‘connected device’.

Have a conversation about what is appropriate online behaviour and what actions could have huge repercussions that could damage their reputation and be harmful to others.

Discuss with your child what is safe and appropriate to post and share online.

Explain to your child that being online doesn’t give them anonymity or protection, and that they shouldn’t do anything online that they wouldn’t do face-to-face.

Tell your children they must never email, chat, or text with strangers, and it’s never okay to meet a

stranger in the real world.

Ensure your children set their privacy settings appropriately.

SOCIAL MEDIA

MATH CONTEST

CUBING CLUB

CAMP I CAN

Tell your children never to share personal and private information with anyone online (i.e. his or her full name, age, birth date, address, phone number, social insurance number, credit card information and parents’ full names).

Limit the amount of time that your children spend on social media platforms.

Through the Continuing & Adult Education department, the Peel District School Board offers a wide variety of English language classes that help parents experience success in Canadian English in both listening/speaking and reading/writing. Courses are designed for a range of basic, intermediate and advanced English (Levels 1 to 7) as well as the more experienced learner needing to prepare for an IELTS exam. Classes are ongoing - Register anytime. All learners that complete a session will earn a certificate of learning from the Peel District School Board. Classes in Brampton are held at:

Brampton - Adult Education Centre - #300 - 7700 Hurontario Street To learn more or to register, call 905-270-6000 Also visit www.peelschools.org/adulteducation or follow us on Twitter: @PDSBLearnESL

At the Peel District School Board, our mission is to inspire success, confidence and hope in each child. There is no doubt that families play a vital role in helping us achieve this goal. As our partner in education, we hope you'll stay connected to your child's learning throughout his or her entire school experience. Visit www.peelschools.org/parents/helpyourchild to explore all resources available to parents. There you will find easy-to-navigate buttons that connect families to tip sheets and web pages on a number of different topics, including math, homework, special education, EQAO and mental health.

ADULT ESL or LINC CLASSES

HELP SUPPORT YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING