Seneca Trail newS
Michael Bowman, Principal
Tami Rayner, Vice Principal
While it is hard to believe that we are almost in November, we have certainly had our share of
successes and wonderful events and happenings throughout our school and community these
past couple of months. We have had successes on the academic front with students meeting goals
in classrooms, as well as extracurricular success with teams and a variety of activities taking place
each and every week.
Staff put a lot of effort into these activities, and we are grateful that they wish to give our students
as many opportunities to grow and develop their skills as possible. Thanks to our parent community for supporting these opportunities and coming and cheering on students whenever possible.
We are currently gearing up for our new SCC to begin work in the community and with the
school, we have an upcoming Black and Orange dance-a-thon, we have the ECO Tribe up and
running and the Me to WE group forging ahead with a food drive, as well as many more exciting
things that you can read about within these pages.
On the academic front, staff are getting prepared to complete Progress Reports and set up parent
interviews for November 20th and 21st. This year we are going to an electronic booking system
for interviews, where parents will need to log into the website and click on a link and book their
appointments that way. More information will be forthcoming very soon in this regard, so stay
tuned.
As always, we are exceptionally proud of our students and community, and this month, the focus
on Random Acts of Kindness, was nothing short of incredible. Please read the section in the
newsletter in regards to the successes and stories we shared during this event.
I wish everyone a wonderful end to October, and an even better November ahead.
Michael Bowman
Seneca Trail News 2014/2015
Parent Name _____________________ Student: _____________________
At Seneca Trail P.S. we provide a monthly newsletter for students and community members as
part of an ongoing communication plan. In order to reduce the amount of paper we use, we are
asking for each family to choose the format they require for receiving the newsletters below:
* hard copy of the newsletter: classroom _______________________________
* If you have not already been receiving our updates or emails over the past few months and
are interested in receiving an electronic copy, please provide your email address:
_________________________________________________________________
* I will read the newsletter online @ http://www.ddsb.ca/school/senecatrail
Please detach and return this portion to your teacher asap. Thanks
(905) 728-2210 or by email at : [email protected]
Another Great Start to the Year……..
Should you require accessibility accommodations to receive this newsletter please contact the office at
The mission of Seneca Trail Pubic School is to embrace diversity and inspire life-long learning in a safe
and inclusive environment. Through a shared vision, we will engage and inspire students, develop community partnerships, promote innovation and empower positive leaders to enhance student achievement.
Irena Budkowski, Administrative Assistant
Character Education at Seneca Trail P.S.
This month we worked hard to demonstrate Kindness where we focused on:
*Being sensitive to people’s feelings and helping others in need.
*Never being mean or hurtful with my actions or words and being charitable.
For November we are focusing on :Teamwork, where we will strive to:
*work cooperatively, valuing the opinions of others, towards a common goal.
*Encourage others to participate
SCC at Seneca Trail P.S. The school community council plays a vital role in our school. As a
group we meet on selected Thursdays throughout the school year in the library. The SCC works
with administration to make decisions regarding school goals, fundraising ventures, community
outreach opportunities, and acts as an advisory group to share and discuss issues that affect our
school and community of learners.
Our introductory meeting of the year was held on October 2nd, 2014 at 7:00 pm, and we had
approximately 15 parents and community members come out to support us, and to provide valuable input into
things such as fundraising, parent engagement events, etc.
We are very happy to announce the SCC executive for 2014/2015 as follows:
Chairperson—Dave Basi
Vice Chair—Lori McIsaac Secretary—Angela Mastrangelo-Da Silva
Treasurer—Allana Kirouac-Blake
We also have many parents joining us as voting members. As a group we decided that we would like to change the
meeting times to begin at 6:30pm and offer babysitting if required during the 1 hour session, to encourage more
people to attend and provide their input into the decision making that takes place.
We welcome everyone to come out and see what we are all about. We appreciate and value the commitment of all of
our stakeholders in decision-making that affects our community. Please plan on attending. If you have any questions, please feel free to call the school. Our next meeting will be held on November 27th at 6:30pm in the Library.
SCC Chairperson—Message
Good day to our fellow parents, teachers and community members!
On behalf of the SCC, I wanted to reach out and let you know that the council is very excited about the coming year
and the growth we will continue to build on from the great work that was accomplished through the efforts of everyone involved with last year's SCC.
As many of you know the SCC is comprised of parents, school staff, students and community members. United, our
objective is to work together to support student achievement. Of course, for the SCC members at Seneca Trail we
know that these are not just "students" but truly, they are all of our children and the future. The motto of Seneca
Trail, to "Dream, Believe and Inspire" runs not only strongly through the school but through the SCC as well as we
work to maximize the experience that Seneca Trail can provide to all of our children.
I would very much like to invite you all to all or any of our SCC meetings to attend to see what's happening or to join
the council itself. All are welcome and we encourage your participation, support, ideas and feedback. The more
input we can have from the entire school community, the better we can all serve to support the achievement of our
students.
If you have any questions or would like more information on the SCC, please feel free to reach out to Mr. Bowman or
myself directly, at [email protected].
Thanks very much,
Dave Basi, SCC Chair.
New Unnamed Stonecrest PS to open September 2016
OPEN HOUSE
Wednesday November 19th, 2014
Drop in between 7:00pm and 8:30pm
located at
Seneca Trail PS gymnasium
1915 Queensbury Drive, Oshawa
The purpose of the Open House is for Durham District School Board (DDSB) staff to show information and
gather feedback regarding the relocation of the French Immersion program from Seneca Trail PS to the new
Unnamed Stonecrest PS, scheduled to open September 2016.
The Unnamed Stonecrest PS will be located at the north-east corner of
Coldstream Drive and Clearbrook Drive, Oshawa.
The Open House format provides an opportunity for parents to circulate between DDSB staff and view
information set up at stations.
Details of the French Immersion boundary relocation is provided in the Board Report entitled Unnamed Stonecrest
PS French Immersion Boundaries available on the DDSB website at www.ddsb.ca at
About Us > Facilities and Accommodations > Boundary and Program Reviews > Unnamed Stonecrest PS
French Immersion Boundaries
A summary of the proposal based on the September 2016 school year is as follows:

New Unnamed Stonecrest PS will be a single track French Immersion school

Unnamed Stonecrest PS will offer two JK/SK English program classes and Grades 1 to 8 French
Immersion

Current French Immersion boundary at Seneca Trail PS will remain in place as the boundary for
Unnamed Stonecrest PS

Seneca Trail PS will become an English program school with its current English program boundary
A dedicated email address and phone line have been created to collect feedback from the community
regarding the proposal. Feedback will be collected until December 5, 2014 and summarized into a report for
Trustee consideration. Comment sheets will be available at the Open House for community feedback.
Final approval on the relocation is scheduled to occur on February 17, 2015 by Durham District School Board
Trustees. All feedback will be collected and summarized into a report for the Trustees consideration.
Email: [email protected] Telephone: 905-666-8080 Ext.5107
Community Outreach @ Seneca Trail P.S.
Me to We and Eco Club are joining together and need your help!
Batteries - we've all got them. They clog our drawers or are scattered all over
the garage. Well EcoClub and Me to We are here to help you out! For the
next couple of weeks the two groups will be collecting batteries for 2 reasons.
The first is to keep batteries out of the landfills and keep our environment clean. The second reason is that the zinc
in the batteries can be reused to help children who don't have access to clean drinking water. The zinc can be turned
into tablets which will help strengthen immune systems, help with hydration and prevent illness. So please package
up those used batteries and send them in to Seneca Trail. The collection bin will be outside the library. Together we
can make a difference!
EcoClub wants your garbage!
Well, not all of it. Seneca Trail has to opportunity to partner with a great company called TerraCycle. This company
takes items like Kool-Aid Jammers and used computer printer ink cartridges and turns them into new products like
stylish bags and water bottle totes. The bonus is that TerraCycle will pay us for all of our collecting efforts! We will
be recovering the Kool-Aid Jammers from our classroom red bins but you can help by sending in any that you have
a home! Same with those ink cartridges. Just send them in and we’ll take care of the rest. The collection bin will be
outside the library for students to drop them off!
Random Acts of Kindness
week at Seneca Trail:
Our Kindness tree was full
with 781 random acts of kindness leaves visible on our
tree. From October 14th to the
17th, staff and students at Seneca Trail were completing
kindness acts individually, in
their class, the school and the
community.
Mrs. McCauley came up with
the wonderful idea of creating
Seneca Trail's Kindness quilt
(one square per class). It will
be donated to a Seniors centre
with each square bearing a
message of kindness from a
student representative per
class. Every student created a
paper quilt square and proudly
displayed on their classroom
door all with amazing messages about positive ways of how to treat others.
Our primary students gave out paper hugs, delivered Kindness cards to other classes, created a second Kindness quilt, also be donated to a seniors centre and our Kindergarten classes greeted the older classes by joyfully
singing songs to them all week.
Our junior students made many cards to share with our staff that showed their appreciation of their hard work
to keep the school running in tip top shape. Other cards were designed for students having a difficult time at
school. They were designed as little pick me ups that can be used by the principal and vice principal as well
as cards to send to Sick Kids Hospital to cheer others up!
The intermediate division filled the hallway lockers with sticky notes of encouragement for each other, used window markers to share kind messages throughout the school to all the school staff and left positive messages to all
students. Many staff were deeply touched by the individual letters of appreciation personally written
to them from an intermdiate student. One class even made a bin full of bookmarks with happy notes that were left
in the library for anyone who needs or wants a bookmark to use and have brought many smiles to unexpecting students.
The spirit of kindness throughout Seneca Trail was so evident during this week and it touched many people. We
look forward to seeing random acts of kindness continue throughout the year.
Inside our classrooms:
As a teaching and learning community, we are working together to ensure that our classrooms remain places
where students learn, progress, and see themselves represented in the curriculum before them. As part of our
focus, we are continuing to ask staff to create “The Loop”…….and what this means is to include the following
for students to interact with:
Learning Goals: Th ese a re a descr iption of w ha t stu dents a re expected to know , u nder sta nd, or
be able to do by the end of a lesson. It tells students what the focus for learning is going to be. Learning goals
emphasize the process of learning rather than the end product or activity. Informing students what they are going to learn and whey they should learn it gives students the tools they need to take ore responsibility for their
own learning, and achieving learning independence.
Success Criteria: Su ccess cr iter ia a re the sta tem ents th a t help stu dents recognize if th ey ha ve
been successful in their learning. They summarize the main teaching points (key ingredients) or processes (key
steps) and they always link directly to the learning goal(s). They essentially spell out the steps required to
achieve the learning goal, offering explicit guidance on how to be successful.
Descriptive Feedback: Descr iptive Feedba ck com m ents on th e qua lity of a stu dent’s work and offers advice on how to improve: It contains these three elements:

Evidence on where the student is now( this is their success as it relates to the agreed criteria)

A definition of the desired goal; and

Practical strategies to close the gap
Descriptive feedback points students towards ways to realize the improvement and reach the goal. To be truly
descriptive, feedback must help plan the next steps in learning. Formative feedback is:

Timely

Relates to the focus of the learning (learning goal

Identifies where success has occurred

Identifies where and how improvement can take place

Allows time for improvement

Is accessible to the student in terms of meaning/vocabulary; and

Provide opportunities for students to incorporate the feedback into the final product
Please take the time to ask your son/daughter about their classroom “Learning Goals”, what “Success Criteria”
they are focusing on in different subjects and areas, and look for evidence of “Descriptive Feedback” on work
samples coming home.
More information on these items can be found on the Ministry of Education website if you search for “Growing
Success” at : http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/growSuccess.pdf
Photo Retake Day at Seneca Trail P.S. Lifetouch will be taking retake photos
and class photos for groups that did not get taken on the first picture day, as follows:
Friday November 7th, 2014 for all grades JK-Grade 8…………….please note this day
on your calendar and look for more information to be sent home as we get closer to
the dates.
Bus Cancellations / Winter Weather information
Durham Student Transportation Services announced in Spring 2014 that it was updating weather cancellations
for Fall 2014. In an effort to better address inclement weather cancellations, DSTS has introduced weather zones.
DSTS encourages you to review the new zones on our website at www.dsts.on.ca.
The zone applicable to Seneca Trail P.S. is Zone 4
Bus Cancellations can also be found on the DDSB website, in the bottom right hand corner if you click on
“Student Transportation Service”. In cases of extreme weather, please listen to one of the local ra-
dio stations or T.V. news casts below for notices of transportation cancellation:
CKDO—AM 1580
Q107-FM—107.1
KX96-FM—95.9
94.9 The Rock
CHFI—FM—98.1
EZ ROCK—97.3
CFRB—AM—1010
CHUM—FM—104.5
CICX 105.9
Bob—FM 91.9
Global TV
CP24
OH WHAT A NIGHT!
The SCC would like to thank everyone who participated in our
first Meet the Teacher BBQ, Fun Fair and Silent Auction on
September 25th. The weather was perfect, the BBQ dinner was
delicious, the kids had a ton of fun at the carnival games and
the silent auction was a hit with parents and staff outbidding
each other for that perfect prize. What a wonderful evening it
was to spend time with family and to meet your child’s teachers,
friends and their parents!
We would like to thank Mastermind Toys, Neb’s Funworld,
Oxford Learning, Blue Moon Retreat, City of Oshawa, No Frills
(Simcoe), Great Clips, Plumbing and Parts Home Centre,
Cineplex Odeon, Lunch Lady, Putting Edge, HBC Foundation, Domino’s Pizza, McDonalds, Buffalo Wild Wings,
Planet Gymnastics, Scholar’s Choice, Ron Jones, Eldorado Golf Club, General Motors Centre, and Toys R Us
(Pickering) for generously donating to the Silent Auction. We appreciate their support of our school, and for
sharing in this community endeavor.
A special Thanks to Mr. Dunn for being the brains behind all the wonderful Carnival games. I think the toilet
toss might have been the favourite, or maybe it was the flying chickens! Thanks to Charlotte Hamilton at
Blueshine Art for helping with the Carnival games. Yes, we made them. We hope that everyone had a chance to
try their skills at a game or two that night! The winning class was Mrs. Ducharme’s class with 1100 tickets. They
won a movie afternoon with juice boxes, chips and pretzels and candy kabobs. They also received a $25 gift certificate for their class from Scholar’s Choice.
Thanks to the SCC committee that organized the night Diana Eid, Jodi Glover, Allana Kirouac, Lori McIsaac,
Deborah Verbaan and Nicole Wright. Also to the parents and staff (especially our BBQ crew) who volunteered
their time to help make the night a success. You know who you are.
Through the efforts and generosity of all the above people we were able to raise $3926.00 that night. The funds
will be used for assorted athletic and academic programs in our school!
Note: our fist BBQ/Fun fair was a success but there is always room for improvement. Please send your suggestions and comments to the SCC by email. If you have a personal contact with a company that would be willing to
donate to the next BBQ/Fun fair, please let us know. Email: Lori McIsaac (SCC Vice chair)
[email protected]. Its never too early to start planning!
Dear Parent or Guardian of Seneca Trail Student:
The Seneca Trail yearbook committee is pleased to announce this year’s yearbook, bursting with COLOUR
PHOTOS, stu dent por tr a its, a ctivities, h igh lights, a nd of cour se, spa ce for specia l au togra ph s.
The smiles and memories of your child’s school year at Seneca Trail will be remembered forever in a full
colour yearbook.
As you make choices about purchases for your child, please consider the long-term value of a yearbook. For
the price of a CD or a few music downloads, your student can have a book that captures forever the special
events of this year. A yearbook grows more valuable over time.
Make sure your child doesn’t miss out on this opportunity! W e w ill need to ha ve a m inim u m
number of orders to proceed with the creation of the yearbook. The cost will be $20.00 and orders will ONLY BE ACCEPTED UNTIL December 12, 2014.
There are two easy ways to order a yearbook:
1. Complete the order form below and return it with payment to the school. Please note that CHEQUES ONLY w ill be a ccepted. P lea se
make all cheques payable to Seneca Trail Public School, with your child’s name written on the cheque.
OR
2. Order your yearbook online by CREDIT CARD. Go to the website ybpay.lifetouch.com and enter the Yearbook ID Code 12035315.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call us at the school.
Sincerely,
M. Schoonderbeek, H. Grove, A. Ramdial, J. Littlefair
Yearbook Committee
__________________________________________________________________________
Seneca Trail Public School
Yearbook Order Form
Number of books ordered: _________________________
Student’s Name:
_________________________________________________
Grade & Homeroom Teacher:
________________________________________
Enclosed is a cheque for : __________________________________________
*Please make cheques payable to Seneca Trail P.S.*
*Please return this form to your homeroom teacher by December 12, 2014.
Yearbooks will
arrive in June
Dates to Remember
October 29th
Early Childhood Educator Apprecia on Day
HPV—HEP B needles (Grade 7-8)
October 30th
Recogni on Assembly
October 31st
Halloween (Cel c)
Orange and Black Dance
November 1st
All Saints’ Day (Roman Catholic and Anglican)
November 7th
Picture retake day and class photos
November 8th
Grade 8 FI visit to MCVI
November 11th
Remembrance Day (Canadian)
November 12th
Birth of Baha ‘ u ‘ llah (Baha’i)
Gi ed Tes ng—Grades 4-8
November 13th
Bandi Chhor Divas (Sikhism)
Gi ed Tes ng—Grade 3 (am)
November 13th-17th
Diwali (Hinduism)
November 16th
Louis Riel Day
November 19th-21st
Book Fair
November 20th
Progress Reports Go home/Interviews 4:40-5:30pm and 6:30-8:00pm & spiritwear sale
November 21st
PA Day / Parent interviews 9am-12 noon & spiritwear sale
November 23rd
Holodomar Memorial Day
November 28th
Interna onal Day for the Elimina on of Violence against Women (UN)
Trustees: Michael Barrett (905)-725-2980 or [email protected]
Larry Jacula: Phone: 905-571-0195 E-mail: [email protected]
Kathleen Hopper: Phone: 905-436-3647 E-Mail: [email protected]
Superintendent of Education / Oshawa Schools: Silvia Peterson (905) 666-6369
Seneca Trail P.S.
1915 Queensbury Drive
Oshawa, Ontario L1K 0S1 (905) 728-2210
SCHOOL WEBSITE
http://www.ddsb.ca/school/senecatrail
Twitter: @SenecaTrailPS