January 2016

P.D. Day —Friday, January 22, 2016 (full day)

Principal’s Message: 2016—2017 Kindergarten Registration:

Our School Council has been busy planning for our 3rd annual Dance—a –thon which will be held on Friday, February 12th, 2016. The theme for this year’s Dance-a-thon is “Masquerade“. Our Dance-a-thon is the largest fund-raising event held at the school each year. Last year, the Glenbrook School Council was able to raise over $11 000 with the assistance of the Scotiabank funds matching program. We are looking forward to our Inter-mediate students assisting with the planning of this event. Information and pledge sheets will be sent home with students later on this month (January). We thank all parents and students in advance for your support of this initia-tive. We are hop-ing that this will continue to be a profitable fund-raiser again this year.

Welcome to New Staff:

We would like to extend a warm Grizzly welcome to several new staff at Glenbrook. Mrs. McFarlane will be our new Special Education Resource Teacher, Planning Time Teacher and Grade 1 class room teacher, Mrs. Wagner will be our new Grade 3 teacher and Ms. Wal-ter will be teaching in our Grade 7/8 classroom. Each of these teachers is kind, car-ing and excellent. We know they will enjoy becoming part of our com-munity and we look forward to learning.

Kindergarten Registration will be held from Monday, February 1st until Friday, February 5th, 2016. Eligible students for the Junior Kindergarten program must be four years of age on or before December 31st, 2016 and students must be five years of age on or before December 31st, 2016 to register for Senior Kindergarten. Parents are required to come to Glenbrook E. S. to complete the Student Ad-mission Form and provide the following documentation:

Proof of Birth Date—i.e. Birth Certificate/Canadian Citizenship, Permanent Resident Card

Proof of and Full Address—i.e. Driver’s License, Purchase/Rental Agree-ment, Bank Statement, Hydro Bill

Proof of Date of Entry (if born outside of Canada) i.e. Stamp in Passport, Citizenship & Immigration Canada Documentation, Statement Notarized by a Notary Public, Permanent Resident Card

Immunization Record

Custody Order (if applicable) If you know of a neighbour or friend who presently does not have children at Glenbrook E. S. and lives within the school boundary, please give them this information or ask them to contact Ms. Mitchell at the school, 519-925-0580 ext. 221.

January 22nd P. D. Day:

January 22nd is a full day Profession-al Development Day. School staff will be engaged in writing Provincial Report Cards. Teachers will be meeting to discuss student progress and to develop the comments that will appear on first term reports. Report Cards will be sent home with students on Wednesday, Febru-ary 10th, 2016.

School Council Meeting:

The next Glenbrook School Council Meeting will be held on Thursday, January 14th at 6:15 p.m. in the School Staff Room. We encourage all parents of stu-dents at Glenbrook to attend these meetings. New members are always appreciated. There are many ways in which you can choose to be in-volved with this group. We look forward to seeing you at this meet-ing.

Is Conflict The Same As Bullying?:

People may sometimes confuse conflict with bullying, but they are different. Conflict occurs between two or more people who have a disagreement, a difference of opinion or different views. Conflict between students does not always mean it’s bullying. Children learn at a young age to understand that others can have a different perspective than their own, but developing the ability to gain perspective takes time and the process continues into early adulthood. In conflict, each per-son feels comfortable expressing his or her views, and there is no power imbalance. How people deal with conflict can make it positive or negative. Conflict becomes negative when an individual behaves aggressively by saying or doing hurtful things. Then the conflict is an aggressive interaction. Conflict only becomes bullying when it is repeated over and over again and there is a power imbalance. Over time, a pattern of behaviour may emerge where the person who behaves aggressively in the conflict may continue or even make it worse. The person who is the recipient of the aggressive conflict may feel less and less able to express his or her point of view and feel more and more powerless. That is when negative conflict may turn into bullying. A school will respond to bullying and conflict differently. For example, in the case of a conflict, a school staff member may try to have the students come together to tell their side of the story and help them resolve the situation to-gether. In the case of bullying, a principal will consider progressive discipline, which may include suspension or expul-sion.

Read This Newsletter and Win a Prize!!!

Win A Galaxy Movie Pass: After your family has read this newsletter, please sign and detach this coupon. “Our family” must include at least one parent/guardian who has read the newsletter. This coupon must be placed in the yellow mailbox in the front office at Glenbrook school. A ballot will be drawn from the clear mailbox each month indicating the winning family for the month. This month’s draw will be held on Friday, January 29th, 2016. Our family has read the newsletter corresponding to this draw. Family Name: ___________________________Parent’s Signature: ____________________________

Cultural diversity, whether it be in your background or in the Glenbrook community, has a tremendous influence on the choices your child makes regarding the clothes they wear, the music they listen to, the technology they use and the television they watch. All children should be introduced to and taught to recognize and respect the cultural diversity that is in their region, province and country. Here’s how you can help: Teach your child that cultures are dynamic and that people in different cultures have preserved tradi-

tions despite overwhelming pressures to assimilate. Provide books, dolls, toys, wall decorations such as painting, drawings, photographs, welcome signs,

TV programs, and CDs that reflect racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity. Expose your child to a variety of real life role models to demonstrate the possibilities for their own fu-

ture. Make it a firm rule that a person’s identity is never an acceptable reason for teasing or rejecting them. Your child will learn from open, honest discussions of differences, prejudice, and the unfairness of

biases. Answer their questions carefully. Listen with empathy to what your child may want to know and what your child is feeling.

Help your child learn the difference between feelings of superiority and feelings of self-esteem. Teach your child how to feel good about themselves without feeling that they are better than others.

Nurture a sense of responsibility for addressing racism. Teach your child the importance of change in making a better society.

~ At Glenbrook, everyone belongs.~

Building a Welcoming and Inclusive School Community:

Continuing Education Programs 2016

Badminton – All ages Come out and play a fun game of badminton! Mon Jan 11 – Mon Mar 7 or Mon Apr 18 – Mon Jun 12 8 Classes Centre Dufferin High – Double Gym 7-8:30pm Individual $40.00 Family Rate $80.00

Acting 101 – Ages 8 & up This program will help to develop confidence both off and on stage. Children will learn improvisation techniques and will play drama games to enhance confidence and gain comfort working in a group. They will also work towards a show-case on the last day of the course to perform for friends and family. Danielle Gamache 12Classes Tue Jan 26- Tue Apr 19 Centre Dufferin High – Cafetorium 6:45-8:15pm $85.00

Home Alone – Ages 10-12 This Canada Safety Council program is designed to provide skills and knowledge to be safe and responsible when home alone for short periods of time. They will learn how to prevent problems, handle real-life situations, and keep them safe and constructively occupied. Small group discussion problem solving, role-playing, and instructor-led demonstra-tion with a student reference book will allow participants to actively participate in class assignments. The child will re-ceive a certificate upon successfully completing the program. Fee includes student reference book. Kim McLelland 1 Class Tues Mar 8 or May 17 Glenbrook ES - Library 4:30-7:15pm $27.00

Babysitting Bootcamp It is our most famous and popular program delivered to thousands of kids every year. Like all Kidproof courses, the Babysitter's Training program has tons of activities and hands-on practice to increase student confidence and provide skills needed to be the best babysitter possible. After successfully completing the Kidproof Babysitter's Training Pro-gram, students will be confident, prepared, professional, safe, and in demand. Each student receives a Babysitter's Handbook and wallet card upon successful completion. Parents trust Kidproof to bring them the most up-to-date, valua-ble and beneficial child safety program. Please bring a nut free lunch, pen/paper, doll or stuffed animal. Kim McLelland 2 Classes Mon Feb 22 & Tue Feb 23 or Mon Apr 18 & Tue Apr 19 $50.00 Glenbrook ES – Library 4:30-8pm

Please feel free to register on line at www.learningforyou.ca Or call us at 519-941-2661

Parents may think that noise is a problem they need not worry about until their child reaches the teenage years. Not so. Some toys are so loud that they can cause hearing damage in children. Some toy sirens and squeaky rubber toys can emit sounds of 90 dB, as loud as a lawn mower. Workers would have to wear ear protection for similarly noisy sounds on the job.

The danger with noisy toys is greater than the 90-dB level implies. When held directly to the ear, as children often do, a noisy toy actually exposes the ear to as much as 120 dB of sound, the equivalent of a jet plane taking off. Noise at this level is painful and can result in permanent hearing loss.

Toys that pose a noise danger include cap guns, talking dolls, vehicles with horns and sirens, walkie-talkies, musical instruments, and toys with cranks. Parents who have normal hearing need to inspect toys for noise danger.

Before purchasing a new toy, listen to it. If the toy sounds loud, don’t buy it.

Examine toys you already have at home. Remove the batteries or discard the toys if they are too noisy and pose a potential danger to hearing. Some parents place heavy duct tape over the speakers on noisy toys.

The Sight and Hearing Association publishes a list of the noisiest toys each November for your information.

Noisy Toys ~ Should you Worry?

In Canada, we create a lot of garbage. We throw away too much paper, plastic bags, food, old toys, electronics and much, much more! The good news is that at our school we have made a really good start to reducing some of our waste. We recycle paper, cardboard and containers made of metal, glass and plastic. We try to photocopy double-sided and use GOOS bins (bins that hold paper that is Good On One Side and can still be used). We do waste audits to see what we are throwing away and it seems we need to try to reduce our food waste as well as our packaging. Start thinking about bringing uneaten food from lunch back home to eat as a snack after school because we find perfectly good apples and other fruit, or even uneaten sandwiches, in the school garbage cans.

The best way to solve the problem of too much waste is to not create it in the first place. We have been talking about reducing the number of things we buy and buying items that can be reused instead of immediately being thrown away and taking up more landfill space. For example: use cloth towels instead of paper towels, borrow most books from the library instead of buying them new, use cloth bags instead of plastic bags, use litter-less lunch containers and a metal water bottle that you can refill, and use reusable gift bags instead of wrapping paper. The list goes on and on - there are so many ways you can help to reduce waste!

We also need to let our government know that we don't want all that extra packaging when we buy things. Other coun-tries have already banned all that unnecessary plastic, cardboard and Styrofoam that toys and cosmetics and games and food come covered with. So make a difference - write a persuasive letter to both the Ontario and Canadian Govern-ments to ask them to be tougher on packaging laws. Our garbage dumps are filling up. They need to hear from you to stop all this waste!

Slogan of the month: Let's reduce our waste - our planet is worth it!

January's Environmental Theme: Waste Minimization

Winter is now here! Snow is beginning to fall and temperatures are dropping. However this is Canada and we love win-ter! Please be aware that we continue to work with the school board and Public Health Department to create a school community where children are safely able and encouraged to walk each day to school. We continue to promote walking as a healthy and environmentally way for our students to travel each day. Please ensure your child is warmly dressed for walking and recess activities at school. Vehicle traffic patterns at the school have also been examined and consider-ation has been given to how traffic flow might be made safer for our walking students and those arriving by bus or car. If you are dropping off/picking up students at Glenbrook, we ask that you please use the sidewalk area on the west side of the school, rather than the north sidewalk area at the front of the school. Students should enter the tarmac area through the west gates. If you would like to see your child right to the door or tarmac area, we ask that you please park your vehicle in the gravel parking area to the south west of the school and walk with your child onto the playground. Please do not leave your vehicle parked (i.e. no driver) in our front driveway loop or along the sidewalk on the west side of the school. We greatly appreciate your cooperation with this procedure as it will help to keep all of our students safe.

Wellington, Dufferin & Guelph—Safe and Active Routes to School

Your child’s teacher continues to as-sess and evaluate learning skills and academic progress for term 1 report cards. Term 1 ends on January 21st, 2016. Report Cards will go home with your child on Wednesday, February 10th, 2016.

Term 1 Report Cards:

We are currently seeking Supervisors for our Nutrition Breaks. These breaks occur from 10:30am -11:10 am and 12:50pm - 1:30pm. Supervisors are responsible for keeping stu-dents safe and assisting with student needs dur-ing meals and while at play. Supervisors are required to complete training in Health & Safety and a Police Record Check. If you are available daily during these times and interested in this position, please submit a cover letter and resume to the school Principal, Valerie Smith. We are also seeking volunteers to assist students with their literacy and numeracy skills. Many of our students would benefit from extra opportunities to practice their skills with an adult volunteer. If you have an interest in assisting in the classroom please contact your child’s teacher or the school Office Coordinator. A volunteer application and Police Rec-ord Check will be required.

Nutrition Break Supervisors and School Volunteers:

You can help us reduce our photocopy cost, making more of our budget available for other school needs, including student supplies and resources. How? Go to www.ugdsb.on.ca/CASL and sign up to receive the monthly Glenbrook Newsletter in electronic format. The newsletter will be emailed to an address of your choos-ing! All of the same great information in an environmen-tally and economically friendly format!

Making Better Use of our Budget.

Januar y 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

3 4

First School Day

of the New

Year!

What are your

goals for 2016?

5 6

7

Pizza Day

8

KDGN skating

11:00 am

9

10 11

12

13

Junior Skating

11:30am

Gr.7 & 8

Immunization

School Council

Meeting (6:15)

Gr. 8 Art’s night

CDDHS

14

Parent Council

Meeting 6:15pm

15

Popcorn Day

KDGN skating

Grade 6 Students

to Trappers and

Traders Program

16

17 18 19

20

21

KDGN Skating

Pizza Day

22

PA Day

23

24 25

26

27

Primary Skating

9:00-12:30

28 29

KDGN skating

30

31 FEBRUARY 3rd

Grade 8 Parent’s

Night @ CDDHS

7:00pm

Library News: January is the perfect time to curl up with a good book, and that is just what we are encouraging our students to do! From January to April the library will be running the Forest of Reading Book Club. A special thank you to Parent Council for supporting this school wide club. Students from K-3 will be reading 10 picture books during their library time. Students in grades 3-8 will be introduced to the titles through a book talk and can join the Silver Birch (grades 3-6) or Red Maple (grades 7-8) Book Club. Students who join the club must read 5 out of 10 titles to vote. These books are written by Canadian authors and include titles by Gordon Korman, Eric Walters, Susin Nielsen, Caroline Pignat and Deborah Ellis. Books are availabe at Glenbrook and Shelburne libraries. Happy Read-ing!

Corrections to

skating dates