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School Trustee : Diane Chase
Superintendent of Schools:
Wes Hahn
We’re on the
Web!!
www.winger.
dsbn.org/
From Mr. Burns’ Desk
Winger News!
Well everyone, it looks like winter
has finally arrived! According to
most of our groundhog friends, it
shouldn‟t stay too long-although they
haven‟t always been right in the past!
I want to thank all the parents and
care-givers for coming out to our
magic show this week! Our students
were GREAT! They were excellent
students for Mr. Claude Haggarty–
and have taken away some great life
lessons as well as some entertaining
illusions.
Hopefully you‟ve all had a chance to
read your child‟s report card. The
teachers at Winger put an incredible
amount of work into them so that you
know exactly where your child‟s
level of learning is, and what it will
take to help them move forward.
Although there is no formal inter-
view night, please contact your
child's teacher if you have any ques-
tions about the report card or what
plans need to be in place for the new
semester. I really hope you have the
opportunity to go through the report
card and have your child set goals for
themselves in the new term. We
have so many opportunities for our
students in the coming months, but
we want to make sure that they al-
ways come back to support your
child‟s learning, and emotional well
being. Thank you all for your contin-
ued support! Have a great time with
the winter weather– while it lasts!
Home o f the Migh ty Wo lve r ines !
February, 2016
Pink Shirt Day Feb. 24th The origins of pink shirt day go back to Cambridge, Nova
Scotia where two ordinary boys did something extraordi-
nary that has been recognized nation-wide! When they dis-
covered that another male student in their school was being
targeted and teased because of his pink shirt, the two boys
headed out after school in search of pink shirts. After some
hard work, they found 50 of them and handed them out to
all their friends. The next day, there was a show of solidar-
ity amongst the students. Fifty students waiting in the
foyer of the school sent a mesaage saying „Bullying Stops
Here!” Our Winger „Booster Club‟ is putting together
some special PINK activities!
SCHOOL COUNCIL &
PARENT ASSOCIATION
Hey everyone! Our next S.A.C. meeting
is Wednesday March 23rd, and we hope
that you can all make it out! However,
on Tuesday February 23rd, at Port Col-
borne High School we are all invited to
a combined school council meeting with
all the other schools in the Port Col-
borne Community from 6pm to 8pm.
There will be many different presenta-
tions (including one by myself on sup-
porting math at home) as well as some
time to communicate with other parents
from different communities. It would be
great to see a strong presence from our
Winger community!
Student Absence
Please call the school of-
fice in the morning and
leave a message on our answering ma-
chine if your child is not going to be at
school that day. It helps immensely when
doing our attendance. If your child is home
with flue-like symptoms (fever, cough)
please inform us of this when you call.
How Long Must My Child Stay Home When Sick?
Please keep your child at home and away from others if he or she has
any of these symptoms:
Fever
Diarrhea
Vomiting
Rash
Frequent coughing or sneezing
Yellow or green discharge from the nose, ears, or eyes
Sore throat
Contact your family doctor for a diagnosis. Your doctor will advise
you about care and treatment if a communicable disease is diagnosed.
For more information, please contact the Infectious Disease Program at
905-688-8248 ext. 7330 or 1-888-505-6074 or www.niagararegion.ca
It's almost that time again, in Feb-ruary we will be having our final Scholastic book fair for this school year. Purchases at the book fair directly benefit Winger's school li-brary and help to provide us with new and interesting books. Thank-you again for your support of this valuable fundraiser!
Book Fair Class Previews Tues Feb. 23 in the afternoon - NO sales
Book Fair Sales Wed Feb. 24,
Thurs Fri. 25, and Fri 26. during
1st block from 9 to 10:45 - classes
will be called down to purchase.
The elementary school year calendar has been tweaked slightly. As a result, your children 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 planning.
If your children currently access before and/or after school care, your provider will contact you
with information about availability closer to the date.
Mark your Calendar!
Page 2
Page 3 1, Issue 1
Make Change for Children Week!
The Education Foundation of Ni-
agara is an organization that works
for all schools and students in our
region. They have supported
Winger school with thousands of
dollars is support for individual
students, and programming over the past number of years.
From February 29th to March 4th, we will be participating in
the “Make Change for Children” campaign. We will be asking
everyone to participate in a „coin-drive‟, with Monday asking
students to bring in nickels, Tuesday, dimes and so on until on
Friday we would ask each student to bring in a toonie!
This is a very worthwhile charity, that has supported us here at
the school many time! Let‟s do our best to support them as
well!
Intermediate Boys Basket-
ball I want to thank all the boys from the intermediate boys
basketball team. These fine young men were an abso-
lute pleasure to coach this year– always enthusiastic to
get in the gym and practice; always supportive of each
other; and always complete gentlemen on the court.
These young men made me and their school proud at
every opportunity. They finished 3rd place in league
play, and came within a
basket, TWICE at the
Port High Tournament!
However, what means
most to me is that com-
pliments I received from
both the refs and oppos-
ing coaches about how
our boys played. Great
job Owen, Mitch, Jack,
Jairus, Dallas, and Rod!
Intermediate Girls
Basketball
I can honestly say that
I have NEVER seen a
team improve as much
as our intermediate
girls team did this
year. Our team
started at a bit of a disadvantage: as all
but a few of the young women on the
team were ACTUALLY intermediate!
Most were junior girls (grades 4-6) who
stepped up to support the intermediate
team. And let me tell you, there can be a
BIG difference in height between a jun-
ior, and an intermediate team! I‟m so
proud of Latisha, Tessa, Kyla, Alyssa,
Ilean, Iesha, Chloe, Annika, Natasha,
and Alyiah. Keep up the great effort
girls! We look forward to seeing many
of you play on the Junior team next
month!
Lego Robotics Club!
Many of our Junior and
Intermediate have been
giving their lunch and
recess breaks to learn the
fine art of engineering
and computer program-
ming! In teams of 4
students, students have
been learning how to
build robots with motors,
sensors and gears; as
well as program those robots to perform tasks! These
tasks include navigating difficult trails, picking up and
dropping objects into small containers, as well as tests
of strength and speed! This club can be lots of fun, but
definitely tests the patience, creativity and problem
solving of all who partake! On Tuesday, Feb 16th, we
will be having our own „Winger Robot Challenge‟
where the junior and intermediate teams will compete
against each other. The winning team from each will
move on to the DSBN Board wide competition on
Thursday, Feb 18th. Good luck to all our competitors!
Feel free to stop by in the afternoon if you‟d like to see
the teams in action!
Mindfulness involves being fully present and accepting of our moment-to-
moment experiences, without becoming lost in thought about the past or future.
Life as a parent is busy and as a result it‟s easy to operate on auto pilot. Being a
mindful parent means taking the time to enjoy the everyday moments with your
children. As parents, mindfulness is especially important because it allows you to
role model mindfulness practice, allowing your entire family to reap the benefits.
Some examples of daily mindfulness activities you can do with your children
include:
Going for a walk and giving everyone the task of finding 5 things that they
hear, see or feel/touch during the walk and reporting back to the family upon return
Spending time unplugged and together as a family. Take turns sharing stories about your day and listen to
each with kind attention.
Practicing daily mindfulness activities prepares you to respond thoughtfully to situations rather than react to
them. For example, if your child is showing signs of anger, rather than reacting with discipline, take the time
to think about why they are upset. Connecting in this way, with compassion can help defuse the situation.
Dan Siegel, best-selling author of several parenting books, co-director of the UCLA Mindful Awareness
Research Center and executive director of the Mindsight Institute, offers a wonderful description of
what it means to be a mindful parent in this short video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=FXxrJEnIboM
Being a more attentive, mindful parent can help you feel more confident and content within your family!
From our School Health Nurse: Mindful parenting, mindful kids
PORT COLBORNE
FAMILY OF SCHOOLS
JOINT PARENT COUNCIL
MEETING
YOU ARE INVITED!
COME JOIN US ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016
6:00PM– 8:00PM
AT PORT COLBORNE HIGH SCHOOL
for INFORMATIONAL BREAK-OUT SESSIONS ,
DRAWS,
and a CHANCE TO CONNECT
with folks from
OUR PORT COLBORNE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS!
Mike Burns,
Principal,
Winger Public School
How can I support
mathematics
learning at home?
Karen VanKraligen, DSBN Teacher Librar-
ian/Kim Salierno,
DSBN Consultant
What’s your
“Destiny”? Access-
ing On-line Library
Resources
David Pearce, DSBN Social
Worker
Pro-active
Parenting
Strategies for
your Teens
Patty Moore/George
Scott,
Conservation-alists
Butterflies and
Bees:
Environmental
FEATURING...
