Gage Gazette
http://schools.peelschools.org/1519/Pages/default.aspx
February 3, 2014.
Important Reminders:
Date / Event / Time / LocationFebruary 3 / Girls Badminton Tournament / All Day / Fletcher’s Creek
February 4 / Boys Badminton Tournament / All Day / Fletcher’s Creek
February 5 / Hockey Tournament / All Day / Cassie Campbell
February 6 - 7 / Peel Health Dental Screening – Grade 8’s / All Day / -
February 7 / Report Cards Go Home / - / -
February 11 / SWOLE Work Hard Day / AM / Gym
February 13 / Black History Month Presentation by SWOLE
February 18 / School Council Meeting (Tuesday) / 6:30 / School Library
February 19 / Digital Citizenship Assemblies / AM / Gym
February 26 / Grade 8 Rose Theatre Trip / 9:00 – 12:00 / Rose Theatre
March (TBA) / Awards and Character Education Assembly / TBA / Gym
Principal’s Message
On Friday, report cards go home. At the school level, we have had wonderful conversations with students, parents and staff about next steps, successes and goals. The interesting point here is some measures that students and parents believe we measure children in schools: standardized tests, essay, multiple choice exams, observations, anecdotal etc., but these are not the only true measure of whether someone will succeed, be happy, and contribute later on. They don't measure creativity, resiliency, character, or executive function -- which are all far better measures of a successful life than traditional rubrics. We do talk with our students about success in the present and future.
Perhaps one thing that we all know is that parenting has never been harder -- the cultural pressures are everywhere and to succumb too much to them can actually work against your child's best interest. This past month, the school council brought us Stand Up – Bruce Langford to talk about Cyber ‘safety and bullying. Parents asked some great questions around social media and devices at school and home. We need to believe in our kids and have high expectations for them even though many parents feel pressured to let their children bring devices to school. A mighty difficult choice in the culture in which we live.
This term, we will continue to challenge the students with the traditional form of grading. They may be getting only feedback without a mark. This won’t come to the surprise to the students, as they understand the Learning intention of the lesson, build the success criteria together with the teacher and be given an opportunity to make their assessment piece better. We will celebrate the students’ successes this past term – stay tuned for more information on this awards assembly.
Mary Rizos
Celebrating Black History Month – An Essay from SWG Graduate Benjamin McDonald
Canadians should celebrate Black History because it is a foundation for them to stand on, it teaches about
the struggle for equality among Blacks and Whites, and it highlights the important role of Blacks in our
society today. Black History educates Canadians about their foundation. A firm foundation, once grasped,
memorised and understood can inspire dreams despite hardship.
Courageous black individuals like Rosa Parks, went to jail for not giving up her seat. Viola Desmond refused to move from the white section of the theatre because she was disgusted by the maltreatment of Blacks. Learning about these events in our history should inspire youths and discourage them from taking their freedom for granted. Today’s youth need to understand the sacrifices made by individuals like Nelson Mandela, who went to jail for 27 years, to abolish Black injustices in South Africa. When the sacrifices are understood, students will value education, especially after learning about Blacks who were not allowed to learn to read or write. Blacks with a better understanding of their history will cherish the efforts of Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela.
Learning about Black history month inspires Canadians to achieve great things. While discovering our past we learn about the great accomplishments of Blacks today. “I have a dream,” says Dr. King, "that Blacks will one day attain equality among whites". Martin Luther King’s dream was truly fulfilled when a Black man became the leader of the most powerful country in the world. Barack Obama was sworn in for the second term in 2013 as president of the United States of America. There are several Canadian Black role models today like Lincoln Alexander, Michaëlle Jean and Jean Augustine. While learning about these Black leaders Canadians, especially the youth, will soon realize their potential and intelligence. Blacks will be encouraged to become leaders when they realise that it is possible. Their gifts need to be used in positive ways: not in ways that agree with the negative stereotypes.
Green Gators
The Green Gators are happy to announce that we have successfully applied to be certified for Eco Schools this year. In order to apply we had to conduct a waste audit where we looked at the garbage and recycling in each classroom. The Green Gators armed themselves with gloves and a clipboard headed out to do the messy job of sorting through our waste here at Gage. We were surprised to see how many people were not aware of what waste should be put where – either in the garbage or recycling. We have graphed our data and posted it in the school for all to see. The Green Gators will be making visits to each classroom to educate the students on where their lunch time waste should go. We hope that the follow-up audit will show that students are more aware of where their waste should go. Goooo Green and Goooo Gators!!!
Student Council
Future Aces comes to Gage
This month Gage brought the Future Aces from Bernice Carnegie. She gave us a presentation both to students and staff. The creed consists of the word “ACES” but each letter having an obligation. For example “A” is for developing a positive attitude to everyone and ones work, developing your talents and abilities to be of assistance to society and taking initiative to achieve all your goals with honest and sincere effort. The student council feel that practicing this creed in our daily lives will help form the school to where it needs to be. As time goes by the creed will be practiced more and it will be nothing more than ordinary to each and every student, hopefully bringing them closer to success, their goals and dreams while in theprocess helping out the school as well.
School Council
Thank you to everyone who came out to Bruce Langford’s Stand up: Keep Your Kids. We had parents joining us from Queen Street P.S., Copeland P.S. to hear Bruce’s talk on Internet Safety and Cyber bullying. We hope you enjoyed your evening and that you found it beneficial and helpful.
Also, thank you to our volunteers who helped organize, set up and clean up for the event. Your support is much appreciated. A special thank you to Jenny for the many treats that you provided!
Our Next School Council Meeting – All are welcome: Tuesday, February 18th @ 6:30 PM
School Council Dates:
· Tuesday February 18
· Monday March 17
· Tuesday April 22
· Tuesday May 20
Email correspondence can be sent to:
Visual Arts
Grade 5's are taking a critical look at First Nations Art by identifying their "Spirit Animal" and creating a painting of that animal in the style of George Littlechild.
Grade 6's are taking a critical look at First Nations Art by looking deeply into "the circle of life" and how family, community, nature and spirituality play a significant role in First Nations culture. They will be critical looking at the works created by Norval Morrisseau.
Grade 7's are continuing to look critically at themselves through critical literacy, justice and photography. They are exploring their "uniqueness".
Grade 8's are continuing to look critically at themselves through critical literacy and photography. They are dispelling stereotypes and myth about who they are.
Yearbook
Hey Gage, want your photos in the yearbook? So do we! Students, parents and teachers can contribute pictures to the Yearbook Club by uploading directly to our website for potential use in the yearbook this year. You can eShare photos of field trips, sporting events, school and community activities or shots of you and your friends that otherwise might be missed by our Yearbook Club Members. There are large eShare posters up around the school with more information on the process of eSharing. Posters are located outside the Art Room, across from the teacher`s workroom on the 2nd floor - near the pod or outside Mr. Ramirez`s room - room 112. Remember the more you eShare, the better our coverage can be.
~Ms. Bailey, Ms. Gardener and Mr. Duncan
Technology
This month we will be continuing with Part 3 of our Digital Citizenship presentations. Part 1 focused on Digital Communication and Digital Etiquette. Part 2 focused on Digital Safety and Cyber bullying. Part 3 will focus on Digital Literacy, Digital Responsibilities and Health and Wellness online.
Music
We are excited to start a bucket drum club here at SWG. Sign-ups are during the week of Jan 27th-Feb 3rd. Our first meeting will be on February 6th (day 2) and the club will meet on every day 2 during lunch recess. Band and String students are invited to join as well.
~Music Dept
Our band and instrumental rehearsals begin the first week in February. Please arrange for students to be dropped off by 7am in the morning. All instrumental music students are asked to start bringing their instruments to school starting Feb 3rd.
We are sad to announce that Ms Padgett has left the board for personal reasons. We are in the process of hiring a music teacher. In the interim, Ms Stockwell will be helping with the delivery of the music program.
Our Library - Book Nook
Our Forest of Reading Program began in January and we have students participating in all seven programs: Silver Birch—Express, Fiction, Non-Fiction; Red Maple—Fiction; and the three French programs—Le Prix Pulpier, Le Prix Tamarac, Le Prix Tamarac Express. Fantastic! Students received a passport for their specific program(s), and will complete a brief synopsis of every book they read, as well as providing reasons for rating the books they way they have. Students will then meet with adult experts, who have read the same book, for a discussion about it...and to get their passports signed. These meetings will begin in mid-February and continue until the voting day in April. Please listen to the morning announcements for more details. There is still time to get involved in the Forest of Reading program. Interested students should contact Mr. Logue to sign up as soon as possible…there is something for everyone’s interest and reading level! Finally, there are opportunities to write about what you are reading online, through websites created by the Ontario Library Association (Forest of Reading Program organizer). Parents, please visit the sites below to sign up (use teacher/librarian site) and share your thoughts about the books you are reading:
For Silver Birch®: http://www.silverbirchonline.ca
For Red Maple™: http://www.maple.bibliocommons.com/dashboard
“A Students’ Site and an Adult's Site
Both students and those running the Forest® programs have a dedicated environment where they can rate books, post their comments and share their recommendations with others. We have formatted these sites in an effort to engage students, and hope they will feel a sense of community and share accordingly.
Why have we split the sites in this way? In our follow-up research both in school and public library environments following past year’s [r]e-Forest Interactive project, a strong theme was the need for a dedicated environment in which students could develop their voice. The presence of adult commentary in the same space that students were using seemed to make it feel less like their own space. For the teachers’ site, we are hopeful that a sense of community will also emerge.”
https://www.accessola.org/OLAWEB/Forest_of_Reading/re-Forest_Interactive.aspx?&WebsiteKey=397368c8-7910-4dfe-807f-9eeb1068be31&hkey=5c7d94f0-199a-4836-8a41-a3b5067427ab
Parents, please do not have your child sign up for one of the sites! There will be a meeting with Mr. Logue in February to walk students through this process.
~Mr. Logue
Guidance
Grade8s are well on their way to selecting courses for high school using myblueprint.ca/peel. Remember, this website is also accessible from home.
Students who have applied to regional programs will be notified on February 7th if their application has been accepted during the first round. The second round of acceptances will be released on February 14th.
Grade7s will be creating their profiles on myblueprint.ca/peel during the month of February.
Special Education Team
ABC Peel Chapter
Check out this site for homework help sites.
http://abcpeel.org/k_homework.html
Parents' Meetings are generally held on the last Thursday of each month at 7:15 pm in the Inglewood meeting room at the Peel District School Board office on Hurontario Street (see map on the Parents’ Night page). When appropriate, we also invite children to the Parent Meetings. For information about the upcoming meetings please go to the Current Events page of this web site.
Physical Education
It is getting really busy in the Phys. Ed. department here at Gage! Extra-curricular activates are going on full steam ahead with the badminton tournament at Fletcher's Creek Sr. P.S on Feb. 3rd and 4th. Basketball tryouts have also begun with a tournament scheduled for Feb. 26th at Brampton Centennial Secondary School.It is an exciting time at the moment with Gage athletics! Go Gage!