McKay Public School

320 Fielden Ave

Port Colborne, On L3K4T7

Tel: 905-834-4753 Fax: 905-834-1140

News from The Lions Den

March 2016

Dear Parents or Guardian,

It is hard to believe that tomorrow is April 1st. March has just flown by with March Break

and Easter taking up seven school days.

We had a busy month with Mr. Faragalli and Mrs. Hamilton’s classes making a trip to the

Sugar Bush, and the Niagara Falls Art Gallery with their Stop Motion Animation presenta-

tions in M. Chaffart and Mme Neville’s classes.

The Student Recognition Assembly was well attended today as well, and congratulations to

all the “Optimism” award winners. We look forward to celebrating “perseverance” in April

It looks like April is going to be a slower month here at McKay, giving us time to catch our

breath before May hits. Watch the calendar for upcoming events in May

Once again, we thank you for your continued support.

Mrs. Grenier & Mrs. Hurd

School-Cash Online We know you have many different priorities competing for your attention each day. To

respect those demands, we’d like to help you save both time and effort.

Beginning February 29th, you’ll be able to approve permission forms and pay for

school items, such as fieldtrips and school spirit wear, online.

It takes just five minutes to register for this service. You will be able access the ser-

vice by visiting our school website and clicking on “School Cash Online.” There, you’ll

find more information about the system, links to registration and support. You can use

School Cash Online with confidence; it is a safe and secure portal.

Using School Cash Online, you may never have to search for spare change again!

That is, unless you’re looking for coffee money.

We will be awarding prizes on a weekly basis. As families register, their name will go

into a ballot box for a weekly draw, and at the end of March, there will be a Grand

Prize winner selected from the registered families for an iPad.

There will also be a pizza party for the class that has the most families

registered!

Thanks for your support.

Visitors to the School

With the new security measures put in place, parents are asked to ring the buzzer to the right of the door to notify the office of your arrival. All visitors are asked to check in at the office when you enter the school. Parents should be entering the school through the front doors (off Fielden Ave.) and signing in and out at the office. If you are picking up your child due to illness or for

any other reason during the school day it is necessary for the office staff to be notified. It is for the safety of all students that we encourage entering the

school to sign in at the office. At the end of the day, if parents wish to pick up their child, we ask that you wait outside the front doors. We thank you your

cooperation in looking out for the safety of all our children.

Street Crossing The City of Port Colborne hires Crossing Guards to ensure the safety of your chil-dren while crossing some of our busy streets coming to and from school. Please

remind your children to cross with our crossing guard. We also encourage parents who pick up their children from school to use the crossing guard, especially if the

busses are in the Bus Loading Zone. Students are reminded to walk their bikes and

refrain from cell phone or headset use when crossing. Thank you for your

cooperation in this matter.

New Sign-In Process

Please ensure that your child checks in at the office before reporting to class, when arriving late, to ensure they are not marked absent by the teacher. This

will avoid an unnecessary and upsetting phone call home.

Breakfast Club at McKay

We are very fortunate to have funding provided for our daily breakfast pro-

gram through Breakfast for Learning, a branch of President’s Choice Chil-

dren’s Charity along with community donations from Nappa’s Auto, United

Church Women’s Group, The Clinic on Elm chiropractor office

and memorial donations made by McKay families. With this

funding foods are purchased daily- milk, fruits, veggies, eggs,

ham, yogurt, bagels, cream cheese, sunflower seeds, dried

raisins and cranberries, orange and apple juices, pancake and

muffin mixes, breads, cheeses, crackers. As you can see, our breakfast is quite

a deluxe meal! Mrs. Mac would like to THANK the adult volunteers that come

in to offer their time to help prepare, serve and clean up: Mrs. Pauline

Rochon, Mrs. Liz Bowman, Mrs. Linda Skotniski, Mr. Jeff Donohue, and Mrs.

Kerry Royer. Mrs. Mac would especially like to THANK the MANY student vol-

unteers that step in to help her each morning without whom she would not

be able to serve so many of our McKay family. Thank you to all!

Mrs. Mac

McKay’s Milk Program

Students are encouraged to drink milk. Statistics show that many school-aged children do not get the rec-

ommended amount and this is an excellent way to help.

Milk (chocolate and white) is sold at the School Store for 75 cents on a daily basis.

We are providing other “Heart Healthy Snacks” at the store including rice cakes, popcorn, cheese and crackers.

Go Girls Club meets each Thursday 12:50-1:45 in the Learning Commons.

Student Safety First - Leaving School at Lunch Hour

Parents and guardians are once again asked to finalize any necessary arrangements with their children before they leave for school each day or have it written in their organizers. Given our enrolment, the volume of requests asking us to deliver telephone messages,

lunches, homework, water bottles ect. to students is often overwhelming. We ask that parents have their children ready for their day at school.

Also, please be aware that morning student supervision does not start until 8:35am. We want to ensure student safety so it is important to make ar-rangements for your child to be looked after in the morning before school hours. McKay does have before and after school daycare available. If you would like further information, please call Amanda at 905 380 5306. Your

understanding and cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Did you know that Port Colborne was the first city in Ontario to be designat-

ed as a Fair Trade City? McKay would like to be the first school in Ontario to

be designated as a Fair Trade School, and we need your help! A Fair Trade

Committee of teachers and staff has been established, and will meet regular-

ly to come up with ideas to reach our goal. Stay tuned for more exciting de-

tails. In the meantime, please check out http://fairtrade.ca for more infor-

mation on fair trade.

Intermediate Cell Phone Policy

Cell phones, iPods and other devices are permitted at school but may

only be used with teacher permission. You should not receive a text

from your child during the day unless they have teacher permission to do so. They are not allowed to be used during break times in the class

or on the yard because during these times it is too difficult to monitor

their use. If your child goes out for lunch they may

use them of course but they must be put away when they return. Chatting and games are not necessary

here; but, using it to: listen to music while working,

go online to find information, do math calculations/

conversions or take advantage of a dictionary app are all excellent ways to incorporate them into the class-

room. We feel this is the best way to manage their usage to ensure

they are being used productively. Cell phones can be an effective

tool in the classroom and that is how their use will be approached dur-ing this school year.

We have four pairs of prescription glasses in the lost and

found in the office. If anyone is missing their glasses, please

come and check.

Thank You

Mark your Calendar!

The elementary school year calendar has

been tweaked slightly. As a result, your chil-

dren will get to enjoy a PA Day on Friday,

April 15, 2016. We’ll also send out a quick

reminder closer to the date, but wanted to

give you a heads up so you can begin plan-

ning.

Friday April 15, 2016 PA DAY

Monday May 23, 2016 – Victoria Day Friday June 10, 2016 PA DAY Wednesday June 29, 2016 Last Day of School for Students Thursday June 30, 2016 PA DAY

Bus Students:

The morning buses for all students will be running as usual.

The afternoon buses will arrive at home 3 hours earlier than usually. This means that buses will pick up

the students at approximately 12:15 p.m. You can expect your child(ren) to arrive home about 3 hours early. Students waiting for their buses may eat their lunch as normal and they will be

supervised until the buses arrive.

All students that walk to school will be released at 12:00 p.m., the beginning of period 4.

Early Release Days –

The Board has allocated the afternoon for professional development of teachers.

PA Days

And

Holidays

Breakfast Club at McKay

We are very fortunate to have funding provided for our dai-

ly breakfast program through Breakfast for Learning, a

branch of President’s Choice Children’s Charity along with

community donations from Nappa’s Auto, United Church

Women’s Group, The Clinic on Elm chiropractor office and memorial dona-

tions made by McKay families. With this funding foods are purchased daily-

milk, fruits, veggies, eggs, ham, yogurt, bagels, cream cheese, sunflower seeds,

dried raisins and cranberries, orange and apple juices, pancake and muffin mix-

es, breads, cheeses, crackers. As you can see, our breakfast is quite a deluxe

meal! Mrs. Mac would like to THANK the adult volunteers that come in to offer

their time to help prepare, serve and clean up: Mrs. Pauline Rochon, Mrs. Liz

Bowman, Mrs. Linda Skotniski, Mr. Jeff Donohue, and Mrs. Kerry Royer. Mrs.

Mac would especially like to THANK the MANY student volunteers that step in

to help her each morning without whom she would not be able to serve so

many of our McKay family. Thank you to all!

Mrs. Mac

EARTH RANGERS IN ACTION!

Our school will be participating in the

ECOKIDS BATTERY BUSTERS Spring Cleaning Contest.

From April 1 until May 5, we will try to collect as many used

batteries as possible. Ask your family, friends and neighbours, at your parents' work etc. if they have used batteries lying around, or if they can save them for you. Bring

them to school in a plastic bag, and put them in one of the Battery Recycling Boxes in

Mme Tremblay's classroom, Mme Suk's classroom, or in the office.

Our school could win $2,500 for collecting the most batteries, or $1,500 for the

most creative battery collection display and campaign!

Thank you!

STUDENT RECOGNITION ASSEMBLIES

2015 - 2016

“Optimism” AWARD WINNERS

Class #1 #2 #3

Mrs. McMahon – FDK1 Carley Sidey Ella Wotherspoon Owen Porcino

Mrs. Edwards – FDK2 Kylee Dafoe Lyra Reid Jakob Bover

Mrs. Thomson - FDK3 Olivia Hircsu Lilly Duncombe

Mrs. Buck – Gr 1 Jacob Bowman Coral King Tyler Sibbald

Mrs. Bidoski - Gr 1/2 Zoe Bates Karina Rozic Haiden Mathes

Mrs. Hemauer – Gr 2/3 Reece Mercuri Haiden Hudak Sonnie Taylor

Mr. Faragalli - Gr. 4 Kevin Capecchi Drayden Donohue Zachary King

Mrs. Hamilton - Gr. 4/5 Cameron Brown Dylan Isherwood Reese MacKenzie

Mr. Mitchell - Gr. 6/7 Owen Ragione Alleigh Carter Aidan Perks

Mr. Pelletier - Gr. 7/8 Scott Verbeek Ella Jeffs

Mme. Kalbfleisch - Gr. 1-1FI Adison Grevelle-Hogg Carlee Chevalier

Mme. Stayzer – Gr. 1-2FI Lilly O’Connor Rowan Smits-Talving

Mme. Tremblay – Gr. 2FI Ryleigh Foley Joshua Cairns Emerson DeFreitas

Mme. Suk - Gr. 2/3FI Ryland Horrocks Chantell Kovach Tessa VanDuzen

Mme. Clarke/Poulen – Gr. 4FI Madison Busby Carter Kish Ian Murphy

Mr. Chaffart - Gr. 5FI Marcus Aiello Paige Gismondi Jenna Porter

Mme Neville - Gr. 6FI Nicholas Detenbeck Rebekah Hofstee=Mangoff Isabel Pearson

Mme. Christie – Gr 6/7FI Hanna Smith Avery Smits-Talving Ben Stansfield

Jeffrey Panunte

Mme Vanderlaan - Gr. 7/8FI Maddy Matthews Jessica Minor Caitlyn MacKinnon

Mme. Walinga Gr.8FI Cher Augustine Kira Cherevaty Abbey Rivers