THE DENNE PRESS Principal: Nazreen Freeman Superintendent: Drew McNaughton 905-895-5155 Trustee: Martin Van Beek 905-830-6776 School Office Administrative Assistants: Noreen Trace and Sheryl Adley School Website: www.yrdsb.ca/schools/denne.ps/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DennePS

330 Burford Drive, Newmarket, ON L3Y 6L1 Phone: 905-853-2303 Fax: 905-853-0581

Principal’s Message October Events

I S S U E 4

Safety Week Sept.25-Oct. 2

Picture Day 5

School Council Mtg—7pm 5

Area Cross Country Meet 9

Thanksgiving (No School) 12

Regional Cross Country Mt. 15

Waste Reduction Week. 19-23

Earth Rangers 22

Spirit Day: School Colours (Burgundy & Grey)

23

November Dates Picture Retake Day Nov.4

Halloween (Dress up) 30

Dear Denne Families:

After some discussion last spring at our School Council meetings, parents along with the school decided to be more inclusive with our major fundraiser, and as such have changed the date and reached out to our student population for input on a new name. At Denne P.S., student voice is extremely important to us, and we believe in not only celebrating student voice, but providing as many opportunities for students to provide their input.

I am extremely excited this year to re-launch our annual fall fundraiser. It is tentatively scheduled to take place in November, assuming our School Council is able to recruit enough volunteers from our parent and community members. Council will be discussing more of the fundraising details at our upcoming meeting.

At the beginning of June 2015, our school council chair asked the grade 6, 7, and 8 classes to come up with a list of possible ‘hop’ themes to act as the basis for gym decorations and possible student costumes. These students were informed at that time that a school survey for student input will decide on the actual theme for this year. After much deliberation, we narrowed down the long list of student generated ideas. I am thrilled to inform you of our 5 finalists which all students in our school will have the opportunity to vote on in the upcoming weeks.

1. Glow in the Dark Theme (glow bracelets provided to all students) 2. Sweater Weather (anything goes ;) 3. Movie Theme (Dress as your favourite character) 4. Under the Sea 5. Animals

I am a firm believer in allowing students to create new traditions that they can feel contributes to a school’s legacy. I am thrilled to be part of this opportunity for our students at this time. By creating conditions where student input is not only sought but valued, we are able to create an environment that promotes acceptance, and is inclusive of everybody’s thoughts and ideas.

What I love even more about this new opportunity for Denne, is that one of the classes came up with the theme ‘Chargers Rumble’. I have chosen not to use this as one of the choices for this year’s dance theme, but am rather excited to announce that the Halloween Hop will now be known as the Chargers Rumble. Are you ready for it? Let’s get ready to Rummmmbbblllllee!!!!!

Sincerely, Mrs. Nazreen Freeman Principal

What’s Inside Terry Fox Run Pg.2

Halloween Pg.3

Community Celebrations Pg.5

Elections Pg.9

York Region Mission: To advance student achievement and well-being through public education, which motivates learners, fosters inclusion, inspires innovation and builds community.

York Region SLOGAN:

On Wednesday, September 30, we are hoping the weather co-operates to give us a perfect fall day to participate in our annual Terry Fox Run - this date is also the National School Run Day. Staff and students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8, will walk, jog and run in support of the 35th Terry Fox Run. A special thanks in advance to our Cross Country students who will be helping to lead all classes around our school property. We are extremely excited this year to offer our community the ability to donate to this worthy cause online! Donors will be receipted automatically. Here is the link to our school’s direct fundraising page: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/TeamPage.aspx?EventID=166394&LangPref=en-CA&TeamID=602296 Please do not send your students to school this year with money (donations), as there will be no collections in either classrooms or the office. We are requesting that donations are made solely online. Throughout the month, many students will be taught about Terry's courageous 1980 Marathon of Hope and learn about who Terry was as a person. He maintained that he was just like everybody else; no better, no worse and that his run to raise funds for cancer research wasn't about him, but about finding a cure. Those of us who remember Terry's run are encouraged to share those stories to keep alive his legacy. The Terry Fox Foundation has raised $500 million dollars for cancer research and Denne PS can be very proud to be a faithful contributor throughout our school's history. It will be exciting to join thousands of other students across Canada on the Terry Fox National School Run Day, as we all help to keep Terry's dream alive, and honour a true Canadian hero. Thank you in advance to all families who contribute to the cause!

Denne PS Will Proudly Participate in Another Terry Fox Run

The Ontario Curriculum: Mathematics has been designed so that students build their understanding of mathematics as they progress from K to Grade 12. In designing lessons to help students achieve the curriculum expectations, teachers employ a balanced variety of instructional strategies including problem solving, direct instruction, investigation, assessment, and practice. An important goal of the curriculum is that students be able to apply the mathematics

that they have learned in real-world situations. To find out more about the Ontario Mathematics curriculum, please go to www.mathies.ca. At this website, you will find a variety of games, learning tools, activities, and additional supports that have been specifically designed to help students to achieve the expectations in The Ontario Curriculum: Mathematics. There is also a Parents page that will provide more information on how you can help your child to succeed in the mathematics classroom. http://www.edugains.ca/newsite/math/schoolleader/ideas_for_school_leaders.html

Ontario Mathematics Curriculum: A balanced approach

T H E D E N N E P R E S S P A G E 2

Halloween Celebrations! Each year, our students celebrate the long-standing tradition of Hallowe’en.

At this time, it is important to remember that the York Region District School Board’s Safe Schools Policy #668.0 in accordance with the Ontario Safe Schools Act, includes the following mandatory expulsion criteria:

A student shall be expelled from school if the student commits one or more of the following infractions while at school or engaged in a school-related activity (as set out in the Ontario Code of Conduct):

A) possessing a weapon or replica weapon, including a firearm. Students celebrating this occasion in costume at our school must comply with the above stated policy. Costume accessories including, but not limited to, toy guns, knives, axes, swords, etc.. are not in compliance with York Region District School Board’s Safe Schools Policy #668.0. Please note: the above policy applies to all students at all levels, including Kindergarten throughout the course of the entire year.

HALLOWEEN CANDY REMINDER A friendly reminder to please check your child’s Halloween candy before they bring it to school on Monday, November 2nd. We have a number of students with life-threatening allergies to peanuts. Items that contain nuts, peanuts or other nut products are not permitted at school. We thank you for your help and support with checking items being brought to school.

It’s that time of year again when student photographs make lasting memories that can be shared with friends and family. Please mark Monday October 5th on your calendar for Denne’s picture day. November 4th: Photo Retake Day

A short while after picture day, students receive a package with sample pictures that parents may wish to order from. If you do not plan on ordering pictures, please return the sample portraits. If you would like to have re-takes done, you MUST return these sample portraits to have re-takes.

School Council - Join Us!! Have you been to a school council meeting yet?

Why not join us!

Our next school council meeting is scheduled for Monday October 5th starting at 7pm in

our school library.

Parents talk about how to support the students, teachers and build a great school community.

At meetings, council plans how to raise or use funds, and hears about new initiatives in the school.

Have an idea? Everyone is welcome to attend council meetings the 1st Monday of each month. Please join us or con-tact denne.ps@sc.yrdsb.edu.on.ca.

This year’s elections will take place on October 5th.

We continue to look for School Lunch Assistants at Denne PS for both part time and back-up positions. This is a paid position and the hours are 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 pm during the school day. Even if you are only available on certain days of the week, we would love to hear from you. Please call Mrs. Adley if you are interested for either this year or starting in September. She can be reached at 905-853-2303.

School Lunch Assistants

We were fortunate once again to have our bus company run school bus safety sessions for all of our students. These sessions took place on September 21st for students in Kindergarten to grade 8. Please continue to remind students of the importance of staying in their seats while on the bus as well as the need to continue our school ‘hands-off’ policy. If problems on the bus arise, we will follow the 3-step policy below: 1. Student receives a warning 2. A phone call is made informing a

Parent/Guardian that this is the second incident

3. Possible suspension of bus privileges

Bus Safety School Picture Day

T H E D E N N E P R E S S

Wonderful Celebrations in our Community!

P A G E 5

Baha’i Faith Oct. 20 - The Birth of the Bab The Bab was born Siyyid’ Ali Muhammad in Shiraz in southwestern Iran in 1819 C.E. His title, in Arabic, means “The Gate”. Work and academic studies are suspended on this day.

Islam Oct. 14 - Muharram (New Year’s Day) begins the new Islamic year. This is the year 1436. Oct. 23 - Ashura falls on the 10th day of Muharram. The 10th day commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Wicca Oct. 31 - Samhain. The third harvest, meaning "summer's end", when the ancestors are honoured. It is a magical interval when the mundane laws of time and space are temporarily suspended, and the thin veil between the worlds is lifted, symbolized by the sCrone and her aged Consort.

Judaism Oct. 5 - Shemini Atzeret is a festival marking the end of the holiday of Sukkot on which a special prayer for rain is recited. Oct. 6 - Simchat Torah is marked by singing and dancing which celebrates the end of public reading of the Torah in the synagogue and the beginning of its reading anew.

Hinduism Oct. 13-21 - Navaratri (Fall) is a nine-day celebration of the Divine Goddess for good health, happiness and knowledge.

Christianity Oct.4 - World Communion Sunday is observed worldwide. Communion is the most fundamental of all Christian rituals.

Religious based articles taken from the YRDSB Holidays &

Observances Calendar.

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!

Martin Van Beek

Greetings from our Trustee

T H E D E N N E P R E S S P A G E 6

Get a copy of the school newsletter online! We will continue to use the emails provided by families at the time of registration to send out our monthly newsletter. We

would appreciate it if you could ensure that we have your most up to date email. If you prefer to receive a (black and white) hard copy, please inform Mrs. Adley in the main office. If you know of someone who is not receiving our emails,

please tell them to contact our office to update their contact info.

New Recess Program coming to Denne! Let’s P.L.A.Y! (Peer Leadership for Active Youth)

We are very lucky to be able to offer healthy snacks to our students. Our goal is to offer all students the opportunity to have access to a healthy snack 3 times a week. This includes fresh fruits and vegetables as well as snack size portions of cereal with raisins or cranberries. There is no cost to students. Student volunteers run the program and do all the preparation and organizing of the snacks. We will be starting our snack program this month at Alexander Muir P.S. A large part of our program relies on dona-tions in order to provide a healthy breakfast or snack each morning to our young students Students in a healthy school can:

Improve their concentration and learning Increase confidence, motivation and self-esteem Have improved access to services in the community Build leadership skills Attend school regularly Help to make their school healthier If you would like to help build our healthy school program you can;

make a financial donation to help purchase healthy snacks drop off a box of cereal or a bag of raisins or cranberries See pictures below for the acceptable items (they must meet provincial nutrition guidelines)

Healthy Schools SNACK Program - Donations Needed

The need for more structured and supervised physical activity programs during recesses has been well-documented in elementary schools across North America. Bullying is occurring at an alarming rate in all playgrounds. Lack of organized activity leads to boredom, which in turn can lead to conflict, vandalism and a generally unhealthy climate and culture on the schoolyard. We are going to start a peer-led recess Physical Activity/Games Program here at Denne Public School within the next couple of months. Interested and committed Peer Leaders will be taught to lead younger students in a variety of fun games and physical activities during a selected weekly noon hour recess. Trained parent and/or teacher facilitators will also be on hand at these special recesses to help supervise and support the Peer Leaders in their leadership role. This new program will be called “The P.L.A.Y. Program”, which stands for Peer Leadership for Active Youth. If you are interested in hearing more about this program, or are interested in becoming a parent facilitator please contact: Mrs.Harris at (905) 853-2303 @ ext: #121 by October 14th, 2015. Thank You The students and staff will be hearing more about this program as preparation begins. As a parent you can encourage your children to participate either as leaders or participants so that we all can become a healthy, active, fun-loving school community.

Let’s All P.L.A.Y.!

General Safety

www.safety-council.org www.mcgruff.org/ www.elmer.ca/ www.riskwatch.org http://www.safekidscanada.ca/gateway.aspx

Traffic Safety www.osl.org www.safety-council.org www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety

Fire Safety www.sparky.org www.usfa.fema.gov/kids/ www.firesafetycouncil.com/english/pubsafe.htm www.yoursafety.ca/fire_safe.html

Water Safety www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=000881&tid=001

Food Safety www.fightbac.org www.homefoodsafety.org www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/pub/pub_menus/pub_foodsafe.html

Electrical Safety

www.miltonhydro.com/Kids.html www.fortisontario.com/public_safety.asp www.hydroonenetworks.com/en/safety

Internet Safety

www.safekids.com www.cyberangels.org www.ou.edu/oupd/kidsafe/start.htm www.netsmartz.org/ www.bewebaware.ca

Weather Safety

www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.86f46a12f382290517a8f210b80f78a0/?vgnex-toid=fbb5e821cbdf9110VgnVCM1000002bf3870aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

Playground Safety

www.uni.edu/playground

Home Safety www.homesafetycouncil.org/ www.halloweenmagazine.com/play.html www.sosnet.com/safety/safety1.html

Bicycle Safety

www.tfhrc.gov/safety/pedbike/pedbike.htm www.city.toronto.on.ca/ems/safety_tips/bicycle_1.htm

School Bus Safety

www.ncsbs.org www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/schoolbus/schoolbus.htm www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/schoolbus/smarts.htm

Over the past number of years,

YRDSB has promoted Safety Awareness Week near the start of the school year.

The week

traditionally incorporates a

variety of different local school

activities on a broad range of safety related

themes (traffic, internet, personal,

water, bicycle, etc.).

Safety Awareness

Week has also afforded an

opportunity to conduct a required

‘lockdown’ Drill.

Great Websites for School Safety Week

T H E D E N N E P R E S S P A G E 7

Newmarket Cares for Kids is a local non-profit organization. It provides programs, in a variety of activities, at no cost. Programs are available for children ages 3-18 whose parents would otherwise not be able to afford them. Newmarket Cares for Kids is also a link to other support services that fund arts and recreational activities in Newmarket. In some cases, transportation through a local taxi company may be offered. Call (905) 716-1447 for more information.

Newmarket Cares

Elections Day is: Monday October 19th voting hours are 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Special Ballot voting –at the returning office daily until 6:00p.m. Tuesday October 13th Advance polls – selected locations October 9, 10, 11, and 12 from 12:00p.m. to 8:00p.m

We are currently recruiting staff to work in the Polls on Election Day.

For information about employment on Election Day as a Poll Official please apply on line www.elections.ca

T H E D E N N E P R E S S P A G E 1 0

Character Corner: A message from our School Council

OPTIMISM IS

… looking for the good instead of the bad. … believing that things will get better, even if it is hard now.

Books: “How Full is your Bucket?” for kids Tom Rath (gr. JK‐5) 

“Loser” Jerry Spinelli (gr. 5‐8) 

“Raising Resilient Children” Robert Brooks & Sam Goldstein 

Brought to you by Denne School Council http://dennepublicschool.com

Email: denne.ps@sc.yrdsb.ca

Did you know that you can download the York Region District School Board app, YRDSB Mobile, using your iPhone, Android or Blackberry 10 device? YRDSB Mobile provides parents and students with up-to-date news, access to student resources, school maps and contact information. Users are able to access the Report It tool, school year calendars, transportation information and much more. To download the free app, search for "YRDSB" in your app store.

Download the YRDSB App!

Explore More: Read, listen or watch stories on Optimism http://freestoriesforkids.com/tales-for-kids/values-and-virtues/stories-about-optimism

Dinner Talk: 1. How did you make today a better day for a friend? 2. What can we do to make our family happier?

http://quotes.land/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Optimist-vs-negatron.jpg