October 2014

Principal: Mr. B. Stoikos

Vice-Principal: Ms. M. Salo

Superintendent: Mrs. S. Winter

Trustee: Mr. Chris Glover

Principal’s Message

With our first month of school behind us, we are starting to settle into our regular routines. I would like to use this opportunity to take care of some housekeeping issues that often arise. I’d like to remind parents NOT to park in the school driveway when they are waiting for their children. We have had numerous complaints from bus drivers about how difficult it is to manoeuvre their bus through the maze of cars. I would ask that you do not park in the driveway for safety reasons.

There will be times that teachers ask students to stay back for extra support, or when homework is incomplete. This is a great opportunity for your child to get some individual attention and complete missed work. They should not view this as punishment, but as a way to improve.

Instrumental Music is up and running and it is our expectation that students arrive on time for early instrumental days.

Lastly, please remember to purchase a school PE uniform or bring a red shirt and black shorts to PE class. Thank you for your co-operation in these matters.

As you can see from the calendar, October is a busy month at Hollycrest. I am very pleased to see the number of students taking advantage of the HIT Centre and the after school support that is offered.

It is wonderful to see the numbers of students participating on the various teams, Club Umoja, and the Art Club. Keep it up Hollycrest! This month we will have Parent Council elections, so if you are interested in being a part of the School Council, make every effort to come out on Wednesday October 8th at 6:30 pm – see you there.We are looking forward to an event filled October and an exciting school year!

VICE-PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Educators everywhere recognize the important contributions parents make toward a child’s success in school. There is no question about it - success at school begins at home. Parents are the single most important variable in a child’s schooling. Hollycrest M.S. has a strong tradition of supportive, hard-working parents. Throughout the year parents have the opportunity to develop that partnership in a wide variety of ways,parents join the Parent Advisory Council, help at the curriculum night, read to their children, and help in many other ways. It is important to your child that you are involved in some way at school. It’s a way to let your child know you think his or her school is important.At the beginning of a new school year, we find teachers establishing school standards and rules. In the most successful classrooms, teachers have established specific routines for the children to follow. These routines, form a smooth running classroom. At home, it is also important to provide routines. Many families build a daily “quiet time” when the television and computer are turned off. This quiet time provides students the opportunity for completing schoolwork or for silent reading. The routine of a daily quiet time provides an opportunity to develop self-discipline, stimulate imagination, and enhance reading skills. School and home can work together to build skills and knowledge, reinforce values, and develop a strong sense of self- worth. We should invest our time and energy in Canada’s most valuable resource - our children.

student Absences

If your child is going to be absent or late for school, please call our Attendance Line at

(416) 394-6431. Your message can be recorded on the answering machine any time of the day or night.

Safety of our students is of the

utmost importance. Please remember to call or you can email .

student Entrance, Drop Off & Pick Up

Drivers are reminded to drop off and pick up students by the basketball court and not at the front entrance. Blocking the driveway into the school parking lot can cause congestion and difficulties for other drivers, including school bus drivers,and presents a safety hazard to students. For those students who live in the neighbourhood we encourage them to walk or ride their bike to school each day as part of a healthy lifestyle.

At the front of the school there is one handicapped parking space and school bus loading zone and parking for administration. Drivers are asked to respect the need to keep these reserved spaces available. For supervision and safety reasons, the designated student entrance is the door by the basketball court. Students are to use this door for early morning entry i.e., for Instrumental Music, as the music classes are very close to this door. For safety reasons students are not to use the front door entrance as there is a high volume of traffic in the morning, lunch and the end of the day. Please do not drop off your students at the front doors. Please drive around the back to the basketball courts. Your understanding and co-operation is appreciated.

School Photo Retakes

Photo Retakes will be on Wednesday, October22, 2014 photos will be taken.

ALS CHALLENGE

Way to go Hollycrest! As a school, we raised a grand total of $867.66 for the ALS Association. Thank you to all the Hollycrest families for their generosity and helping to make this such a successful event. A special thank you to “The Iceman” for their support of the event. Hollycrest’s Ice Bucket Challenge was”tweeted” across the TDSB and has been uploaded to the HMS Youtube site. You can view it by typing the link below into your browser. http://youtu.be/Z7FtSj-mPeQ

Terry Fox Run

On Friday, September19th Hollycrest took part in the Terry Fox Run. The entire school took part in the walk/run and they were rewarded with a popsicle at the end of the event. Hollycrest families raised $806.50 for this worthy cause. Congratulations to HP3 for raising $203.25 and being our top Terry Fox fundraising class. Thank you again to Chris’ No Frills for their generous donation of popsicles for our event! Chris has supported our Terry Fox Run for many years and we appreciate his support.

Hollycrest School Council

An excellent way to be involved in your child’s education is to attend School Council meetings. We encourage interested parents to join the school council. Everyone is welcome. Please consider volunteering for ourHollycrest School Council Executive. Elections will be held

on Wednesday October 8th. Please make sure

to attend if you wish to sit on the executive. Hope to see you there.

GRADE 8 INFORMATION NIGHT

Please join us on Thursday, October 23rd in the grade 6 Pod.

At 6:30 p.m. a representative from Brightspark Tours will be here to discuss the Grade 8 Graduation trip to Quebec City that is planned for the Spring.

Choices for Nine Presentation for all grade 8 families with children making the transition to secondary school will start at 7:00 p.m.

At 7:45 p.m, families with children in the High Performance Program will be here. Mr. Arduini, Co-ordinator of the Elite Athletes program at Silverthorn CI will to share information about the program at SCI.

grant applications

To date, Hollycrest submitted 6 grant applications for everything from I pads, laptops to math resources. We will keep you posted on the status of our applications.

Immunization Information for Parents of Grade 7 & 8 Students

Each year, Toronto Public Health offers Hepatitis B and Meningococcal vaccines to all grade 7 students and the Human Papillomavirus vaccine to all grade 8 female students. These vaccines help protect students and our community from infections which can cause serious disease.

Immunization Day: November 20, 2014

After School Support in HIT Center

Parents please remember that there is after school support available in the HIT Centre for students from 3:15 to 4:00 p.m. Students can get help with their homework, or use the computers for research, projects or assignments. We encourage the students to us the HIT Centre as it is a great opportunity to get extra support.

NEW COMPUTERS FOR HIT CENTRE

Thanks to school fundraising efforts last year, we have been able to purchase 20 new CPU’s for the HIT Centre. The updated computers are faster and can support more software. We are looking forward to having our students put them to good use! The older computers will be redistributed to various classrooms throughout the school.

Pizza Lunch

This year, we are offering a Pizza Lunch at Hollycrest. Our pizza lunch program is in compliance with the Provincial School Food and Beverage Policy (P/PM 150).

Our first pizza date will be on October 9th.

Subway Lunch

Childhood obesity has become a matter of great concern in our society. This is why Subway Submarine Sandwiches have taken action in helping parents and schools address this problem. One of the many ways we promote a healthy diet to young children is through our Subway School Lunch Order Program. The Subway School Lunch Order Program provides children with a variety of lunch pack options, including a healthy sandwich and fruit juice or bottled water.

Our first subway date will be on October 7th.

Lunch Lady

The Lunch Lady is back at Hollycrest! The Lunch Lady will provide healthy hot lunches to your children. All the lunches are prepared fresh daily with brand name, high quality ingredients, in an inspected commercial kitchen. Lunch Lady offers a Total Allergy Management System so everyone can participate. All students will receive a menu outlining all possible orders. All orders will be delivered to Hollycrest on Fridays.

hollycrest website

Please check the school website for information of various workshops offered to parents by some of the Etobicoke Community Agencies. Parents may have an interest in specific workshops and this is a great way to find out what is offered. . You can also find information on high schools on the guidance page; links for students to help with homework; HR teacher’s webpage; a Library link for research; a school calendar and the Hollycrest Heartbeats. For those of you interested, you can follow us on Twitter. So visit the address below and take some time to browse through our website. http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/hollycrest/Home.aspx

Hearing and Vision Clinic

We are holding this clinic at Hollycrest on October 23rd. You will be receiving a separate letter for this. The cost for both is $15.00

HOLLYCREST ART CLUB

Hi all Hollycrest students. Art Club has begun! Everyone is welcome to come to the Art Room at lunch on Day 5 and 6 for art making and having fun! Art Club makes painting, posters, murals, mosaics, sculptures…you get the picture. Ms. Taylor

PHOTOGRAPHY FOR GRADE 8’s COMING TO HOLLYCREST

Grade 8 Photography on display!

On October 15, 16, 20 and 21, Hollycrest welcomes renowned professional photographer, Tobi Asmouchi. Tobi will lead the Grade 8 students in Photography workshops using DSLR cameras and photoshop. Students will print an 8-1/2 x 11” image!

In February 2015, Grade 8 students will have their outstanding photographs displayed in downtown Toronto’s famous and fabulous photography space: Gallery 44! Ms. Taylor