1. education
2. school

A TREASURE TROVE OF LEARNING!!
Volume 3 Issue 9
May 1, 2015
PA R N A L L P U B L I C S C H O O L
507 Geneva St., St. Catharines, ON L2N 2H7
NEWSLETTER
IMPORTANT DATES
TO REMEMBER:
 Track & Field - May
1st
 Brock Badminton
Tournament - May
6th
A MESSAGE FROM
THE PRINCIPAL
 PAC mtg. - May 6th 6:30 p.m. at Gov.
Simcoe SS
It looks like Spring has finally arrived! As usual, the students and
staff of Parnall will be very busy this
month. Both our Grade 3's and 6's
will be writing the EQAO assessments starting the end of May.
Teachers will be meeting with parents for Special Education IPRC’s
and many of our students will be involved in Track & Field over the
course of this month.
 Kindergarten
Mother’s Day teaMay 7th
 Superstar Assembly
- May 8th 1:35 p.m.
 PD Day - May 15th
 Rankin Run - May
23rd - 10:00 a.m.
 PAC mtg. - May 26th
- 7:00 p.m.
 EQAO Testing period - May 25th to
June 2nd
Contact us at:
Phone:
905-934-3348
Fax:
905-934-3349
E-mail: [email protected]
C. Scott - Principal
GRADE 3 & 6 EQAO
The Provincial Standards testing for
grades 3 and 6 will be held between
May 25th and June 2nd. Testing will
occur daily during this period. Please
plan to make sure that your child is
in attendance.
Since education is a partnership of
parents, students and teachers, we
stress to parents to better prepare
their children for the E.Q.A.O. assessments and the Ontario Curriculum that reading with your children
from a greater variety of texts
(poetry, magazines, computer manuals, newspaper, plays, etc.) would be
very valuable. Reviewing and solidifying number facts and mathematical
concepts would also be helpful. As
you view your children’s creative
writing or any form of writing,
challenge them to use more interesting
vocabulary, a variety of sentence structures, and stress the use of imagery
(similes, metaphors, alliteration) or vivid
verbs and adjectives.
Finally, try to stress independence in your
child. Certainly some parental guidance of
homework is fine, but try having your child
re-read, and re-think instructions and attempt solutions on his/her own.
LITERACY WEEK (MAY 4—8)
Next week Parnall will be celebrating Literacy Week. Each day students will be
dressing up. Monday: “Reading Rocks
Wear Some Funky Socks” - Wear funny
socks; Tuesday: “Hats Off to Books” Wear a funny hat; Wednesday: “Be a
STAR and Read”
- Wear sunglasses;
Thursday: “Score With Books” - Wear
your favorite team gear; Friday “Curl up
to a good Book” - Wear your PJ’s to
school.
We will also be having a theme each day.
Monday: “design your classroom door contest” where classes will choose a favourite
book and cover their door portraying that
story; Tuesday: “D.E.A.R.” (Drop Everything And Read); Wednesday: “guess how
many books we have in our Library”;
Thursday: “Book Swap” - each child brings
in a book from home that they have already read and they swap it with another
student. Each student will then go home
with a new book. Friday: “Reading Buddies” - classes match up to read together.
Check out our Website at: http://parnall.dsbn.org or follow us on Twitter @parnall_ps
PARNALL PUBLIC SCHOOL — May Newsletter
Page 2
APRIL’S SUPER STARS
Silas B-D.
Tavi R.
Tucker F.
Graeme M.
Morrigan S.
Lily A.
Alanice B.
Leland T.
Anita T.
Gibson D.
Jamie V.
James M.
Inshaa A.
Trinity D.
Keeley F.
Kaeden P.
Svea G.
Jackson M.
Felicia P-W.
Hayden F.
Sarina B-P.
Austin D.
Daniel S.
Ryan C.
Ethan P.
Madison T.
Andrei T.
Ty A.
Orlin C.
Sam D.
Catherine B.
Aidan W.
Brenon D.
Jared D.
Emily B.
Larissa A.
Matthew J.
Yujung K.
Gage D.
APRIL’S CHARACTER EDUCATION WINNERS
Matthew J.
Ariza T.
Tiffany A.
Sarah S.
Zala I .
Lucan W.
Madison W.
Naomi B.
Emma D.
Reisa M.
Jaejun K.
Thomas D.
Chaewon K.
Aiden M.
Noah P.
Ethan R.
Brandon C.
Dane S.
Dalton W.
Josiah E.
Maya J.
SCHOOL VANDALISM
TALENT SHOW AUDITIONS
We ask your cooperation in reducing vandalism.
Should you observe unusual activity at the school
please call in confidence either of the following
emergency numbers:
Auditions for the Parnall Talent Show are now underway. Students who are selected for the Talent
Show will receive a notice to take home and are
asked to continue working on their Talent Show
piece at home. The Talent Show will be on Thursday, June 18th in the a.m.
905-682-8065 or
905-653-1293
A big Thank You to everyone who plans to try out!!
(Mme Best & Mrs. Lockyer)
PARNALL PUBLIC SCHOOL — May Newsletter
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RANKIN CANCER RUN…
Save the date! Rankin Cancer Run will be held on May 23 rd, 2015 at 10 a.m
CHOCOLATE BAR FUNDRAISER & PRIZE WINNERS
Thanks to all of the students who participated in our recent chocolate bar fundraiser. We raised $7000 for
Parnall School. Well done!!!
Kennedy Shea - Early Bird Draw
Mr. Pickett’s class - top ELKP selling class
Duke Asadoorian - Top Seller
Mrs. Cosby’s class - top Primary selling class
Duke Asadoorian - iPad mini Draw
Miss Erwood’s class - top Jr./Int. selling class
SUMMER HEAT 2015
We are pleased to offer SUMMER HEAT, a primary Summer Learning Program, again this year. The program
will run from Monday, July 13th to Friday, July 31st for students entering JK to grade 4 in the fall of 2015. Kindergarten Kick Start is for students entering junior and senior kindergarten in the fall, while Funshine Kids is
for students entering grades 1, 2, 3 and 4. This three week program is entirely FREE, but space is limited so
please be sure to register early. Registration can be done online starting Friday, May 1 st. The program will begin
at 8:15 a.m. with breakfast provided, and it will end at 12:15 p.m. Students will be involved in a variety of learning opportunities throughout the morning, with a focus on literacy, numeracy and active living. We are excited
about being able to offer this amazing program to our families. Check it out on the DSBN website at
www.dsbn.org/summerheat
Summer HEAT will be offered at the following sites:
St. Catharines - Edith Cavell (literacy and mathematics site), Connaught (literacy and mathematics site),
Lincoln Centennial (literacy and mathematics site), Grapeview (Aboriginal site with literacy)
PAC MEETING
Our next scheduled Parnall Advisory Council meeting is set for Thursday May 6th at 6:30 p.m. at Governor Simcoe SS (auditorium). We will be seeing Motivational Speaker Dick O’Brien who will be talking
about Teenage Resiliency. We encourage any and all interested parents to attend. Our next regular
meeting is scheduled for Tuesday May 26th at 7:00 p.m.
YMCA ON NIAGARA SUMMER CARE FOR 3 & 4 YEAR OLDS
YMCA Child Care will be offering a new weekly program this summer for 3 and 4
year olds in designated licensed centres (3 year olds must be born in 2011). Designed to keep your child engaged in play-based learning throughout the summer, YMCA Summer Care provides a safe and nurturing environment for children to develop into confident, caring and happy individuals. For more Information on locations
and fees, please visit www.ymcaofniagara.org
PARNALL PUBLIC SCHOOL — May Newsletter
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LEARNING ADVANTAGE WORKBOOKS -’Keep your head in the game’
Parnall School will be making available a summer activity workbook called "Learning Advantage" later in the
month of May. "Learning Advantage" is a fully coloured 192 page, activity book designed to reinforce and maintain Kindergarten to Grade 7 students' academic learning skills over the summer months. There is one 192
paged activity book per grade level from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 7. All major units and 3 summer fun
units in each book are aligned with the Ontario curriculum expectations. In addition to the summer months,
the books can be used all year long from September to the following June. All books have parent information
pages, evaluation forms; follow up activities and a family focus.
A full lineup of French immersion books is also available. The cost of each book is $19.05 plus GST ($20
total). This is a savings of about $4 compared to retail and online prices.
You can visit
www.learningadvantage.ca to download a free unit of the book you would like to order for further review.
An order form and information sheet with more details about the “Learning Advantage" program will be sent
home to all parents within the next few weeks.
Please direct questions to Mary-Jo Montalban
[email protected]
Please note: the order form does not state a due
date for orders - Orders are due back to the
school June 4th. The books ordered will be delivered to the school before the last week of school.
CAN TAB CHALLENGE
The CAN TAB CHALLENGE is coming to an end for 2014-2015. Please make sure to have all
of your CAN TABS into your class by May 29th. So far, Miss Watson's class is in the lead
with 2 1/2 full buckets. All of the money raised by recycling the CAN TABS will be used to
help fund the SNACK PROGRAM here at Parnall. Thank you in advance for all your support.
PLANNING TODAY TO ENERGIZE EDUCATION FOR TOMORROW
DSBN Trustees are supporting student success by revitalizing our public schools. An important part of this
process is the role of Accommodation Reviews.
On March 26, 2015 the Ministry of Education released revised Pupil Accommodation Review Guidelines (PARG)
and the DSBN has revised the Accommodation Review Policy to align with the new Ministry Guidelines.
You are invited to provide your comments on this new policy. From May 6 to June 3, 2015 please go to
www.dsbn.org and click on the “Accommodation Review Policy Feedback” button. You may also provide comments
via mail. Please send to Lora Courtois, Superintendent of Planning, District School Board of Niagara, 191 Carlton
St. St. Catharines, ON, L2R 7P4.
PARNALL PUBLIC SCHOOL — May Newsletter
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Parnall Fun Fair
Thursday June 18th
5:00-7:00
Check backpacks and agendas on Monday May 4th for a
letter and order forms for the end-of-year fun fair!
Order forms and payments due May 14th.
Come play at the Fun Fair: bouncers, carnival games,
Mad Science, Petland, “touch a truck” event, and
so much more! Read all about it in the letter home!
Volunteers needed!
Can you spare an hour to make the fun fair a success?
Does your high school student need community service hours?
Sign up for part of the evening, or as much of it as you can!
See the form sent home May 4th to sign up,
or visit our facebook page for more details!
SPONSORS: it’s not too late to sponsor the Fun Fair!
$50 for your business name and logo on the back of our
Fun Fair t-shirts, or a donation for our silent auction/raffle!
Facebook: Fun Fair @ Parnall 2015
[email protected]
[email protected]
PARNALL PUBLIC SCHOOL — May Newsletter
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INTERNET SAFETY - MONITOR YOUR CHILD’S USE!

Keep the computer in an area of the house that is busy and well-monitored, allowing you to “check” on activity from time-to-time.

Teach children and young people never to share personal details with anyone
they have met on the Internet, including when they register for free e-mail
addresses or when they visit chat rooms, bulletin boards, and web sites. Personal information includes name, address, school, photos, year of birth, credit
card information, or passwords.

Sit with your children when they register for instant messaging or e-mail accounts to ensure that no personal information is given out.

Set clear rules about the kinds of sites your children are allowed to visit. Bookmark your favourite sites so
that they can be accessed quickly and easily without needing to “surf the web” to find them again.

Talk to children about predators and potential online dangers. Young children should not participate in chat
rooms. As they get older, steer them towards well-monitored and age-appropriate chat rooms. If teens
participate, find out what chat rooms they are visiting and who they talk to.

Encourage your children to tell you if anyone says or does anything online (such as posting pictures) that
makes them feel uncomfortable or threatened.

Remind your children never to post anything on the Internet that they wouldn’t want the whole world to
read.

Report any incident of online harassment, physical threats, or ongoing solicitation of personal information
to the local police or your Internet Service Provider

Teach your children to only open emails from people they know and never to open attachments unless they
have specifically requested them. Viruses most often enter your computer system through an email attachment.

Use kid-friendly search engines or adult search engines that offer filtering.

Disable Java and Java Script in your browser preferences. This will prevent your children from getting
caught in a cycle of pop-up inappropriate windows.

Use email filters. Most email programs offer some filtering options and there are many software products
on the market that can be used to control spam (unwanted and continuous email)
PARNALL PUBLIC SCHOOL — May Newsletter
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S
S!
Support Our School!
How can you help? It’s easy!
Please think of our school when those magazine renewal notices start to
arrive in the mail and
Save Our Subscriptions!
Please save your magazine orders and renewals for our QSP Magazine Fundraising
Program that we will be running again this fall. This program allows us the opportunity to focus on literacy and support READING and helps raise funds at the same
time. These funds go towards extra-curricular programs, activities, supplies and equipment that benefit our children and are essential to a meaningful, well-rounded education. On average our school earns $10.00 per subscription.
WE ALL BENEFIT!
We get great magazines at great prices. Save up to 80% off of newsstand prices!
Our School earns a profit to go towards the many costs and extras that help to enrich
our children’s school experience.
Our Children – Any reading material encourages children to read and/or model
your reading behaviour and help literacy skills.
Save your renewals for our magazine subscription fundraiser this fall. There is still
time to order now at www.qsp.ca. You will be helping to raise money for programs
and activities to benefit all our students.
Remember, if you have any questions regarding your magazine order; please call QSP
Customer Service at 1-800-667-2536
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