Principal S Message s5

April 2014

Principal’s Message

School Organizational Model

Our Staffing Committee, with consultation, has worked hard to plan an organizational model for 2014/2015 that best meets the needs of our students, and the parameters set by the Board. This model was recommended to the Superintendent. Please find below a tentative organizational model for the upcoming school year. This model will remain tentative right up until the end of the first month of the new school year as we are required to meet Ministry demands through reorganization (if necessary). We are confident that the school organizational model outlined below will meet our students’ learning needs and provide them with the best possible learning environment.

Organizational Model for 2014-2015

JK/SK FDK

GRADE ONE

GRADE ONE/TWO

GRADE TWO

GRADE TWO/THREE

GRADE THREE

GRADE FOUR

GRADE FOUR/FIVE

GRADE FIVE

GRADE FOUR FRENCH IMMERSION

GRADE FIVE/SIX FRENCH IMMERSION

Student Placements

Student placements are decided by our Placement Committee, which consists of the sending teachers, receiving teachers, specialist teachers and administration. The members of the committee follow the school’s placement guidelines and have the best interests of the children in mind. The following are examples of our guidelines used by the Placement Committee when placing students into next year’s class groupings.

They include:

Academic Strengths and Needs

Gender Balance

Social / Emotional Strengths and Needs

Class size

Occasionally, there may be personal information that is unknown to the school staff that may affect the child’s placement. This might include family changes, recent learning assessments or medical situations.

Please share this information with your child’s present teacher by May 16, 2014. Thank you for your cooperation in helping us to prepare for next year in a positive and productive way.

Please refrain from making straight grade or staff member requests. These are not supported by the guidelines. Thank you.

EQAO

During the week of May 29, 30 and June 2, Hollywood will be participating in the EQAO for the assessment of reading, writing and mathematics. Students will complete a variety of assessment activities designed to allow them to demonstrate their skills and knowledge relating to reading, writing and mathematics as described in The Ontario Curriculum. The assessment is administered province-wide and is developed by Ontario teachers and assessment experts to reflect curriculum expectations. EQAO has developed a “Parent’s Guide to EQAO Tests” and “Questions and Answers for Parents” (available in 20 languages) to give you more information about the assessments and an understanding of what to expect. To access these resources, go to the EQAO Web site (www.eqao.com), click “Parent Resources” and then select “Primary Division (Grades 1–3) and Junior Division (Grades 4–6). If you have any questions, please call me or your child’s teacher.

School Climate Survey

As part of the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) effort to prevent bullying and promote a positive school climate, the TDSB will be conducting online school climate surveys of students, parents/guardians/caregivers, and school staff at least once every two years.

This spring elementary school students in Grades 4 to 6 and their parents/guardians/caregivers are invited to fill out the school climate surveys. The surveys ask questions about safety, support for teaching and learning, interpersonal relationships, school environment, and student background. The survey results will help schools and the TDSB find ways to promote a positive school climate and prevent bullying in all schools. Please visit our website to learn more about the surveys. http://www.tdsb.on.ca/elementaryschool/caringsafeschools/schoolclimatesurvey.aspx

The school climate surveys are voluntary and anonymous; we will not be collecting identifiable information such as your name, IP address, or your child’s name or student ID. All completed survey responses will be sent directly to the TDSB’s Research Department for processing. The information will be used for research and planning purposes only. All efforts will be made to ensure no one in the school will come to know the individual responses to the surveys. All results will be grouped and presented in a way that protects the confidentiality of all participants.

Student Survey:

All students in Grades 4-6 will be asked to complete the online student survey at school. The survey takes about 20 minutes to complete. Some translated versions of the survey are available, if required. We would like you to encourage your child to participate in the survey, so that we will have sufficient information to plan and implement programs to improve the school climate and prevent bullying and harassment at school. Should you decide not to have your child participate in this survey, please complete the section of the form that you will receive, and return it to your child’s teacher.

Our school will be administering the student survey from to May 19 to May 31.

Parent/Guardian/Caregiver Survey:

All parents, guardians, or caregivers of Hollywood P.S. are invited to complete the Ministry of Education’s Survey for Parents and Guardians About: Equity and Inclusive Education, and Bullying/Harassment. The parent survey is available at www.schoolclimate.ca. To access the survey you will be required to insert a survey code specific to our school which will be provided in the week of May 19. The survey for parents is available in paper copy in 22 languages, which you can request from our school’s main office.

We thank you for your support!

Registration is now open

Whether you're joining the TDSB family for the first time or you're a current student considering the opportunities available to you, registration is now open for a variety of programs. Visit Find Your School if you are interested in learning more about a specific school. Take some time to explore and find what inspires you.

Does your child have a passion for sports or music? Are they interested in developing their leadership skills or attending a school with a focus on healthy, active living? If so, the Elementary Academies could be the right place for them to explore their individuality and creativity within the TDSB. http://www.tdsb.on.ca/AboutUs/Registration.aspx

Track and Field

All students from grades 1-6 are practicing for Track and Field. May 7, 2014 is the event date for qualifying students at Esther Shiner. Some of the sports we are doing are running long jump, standing long jump, 100 metre dash, 200m run, 400m run, relays and shot put. The TDSB North meet will be May 14.

Girls Club, by Alison

At Girls Club we have been learning about how we should love our self, not because of our looks! We have been talking about how all of our favourite stars on magazines don’t really have that perfect body shape. Many of them have been photo-shopped so they look better. We have also talked about how our favourite television shows have the main character skinny and her best friend overweight. In most cases when the characters go to a beach or the mall, everyone looks perfect. In reality we see all shapes and sizes. Thanks for reading.

Floor Hockey

Who will be the best of the best? We will find out this floor hockey season. All ages and grades can compete. Floor hockey games will be first recess and third recess. It will be boys vs boys and girls vs girls. We make sure that it is not all about winning; it is about having fun and teamwork.

Scholastic Book Fair By Melissa and Sabrina

In April there was a fabulous book fair for kids of all ages. There are a lot of books! We enjoyed the book fair. Thank you for coming!

Go Green Eco Desk

Our internal waste audit results are complete and posted on the ECO Board. We are doing well Hollywood but we can do better in certain areas. The green bin program is on the radar and we are hoping to reduce much of our paper waste and create a compost area in one of our gardens.

The student ECO team continues to work hard at keeping the school yard super tidy and our perennial gardens in top shape! Also, we conducted our annual 'Mulch-a-thon' on Earth Day. What a great success that saw all classes participate in taking care of our trees and gardens. Pictures are posted on the ECO board as well.

EARTH Day has come and gone but not for our school... like we say "Make Earth Day Every Day". Our 'lights out' campaign has now continued on into a 'walk and bike' to school challenge. Our hopes are that we can make these 'ACTIONS' carry right through to June. Now that is a lot of ECO Friendly ideas coming to life here at Hollywood.

Green Thinking Always!

Your Go Green ECO Team

Summer Music Camps
Enrich your child’s summer vacation with music camp. Through three unique programs – Summer Sounds, DownTown Strings and Toronto Summer Music Camps – the TDSB offers band, strings and orchestral experiences for students from grades 3-9. Registration opens March 5. For more information visit: www.tdsbsummercamps.ca.

News from Portable 2

On Friday May 2nd, 2014 2 students from York University visited P2 to talk about energy and the environment. The students learned to construct animal food webs while investigating the effects of pollution through bio-magnifications.

Mrs. Alvarado’s class has constructed 5 turtles and their habitat for “World Turtle Day” at the Toronto Zoo. The turtles will be on display at the Toronto Zoo on May 17th through the 19th. Visitors will vote for the best turtle, the winner will get a free class trip to the Toronto Zoo. So go to the Toronto Zoo and vote for the best turtle.