April 2014

Upcoming Events
April 2014
April 17
Pasta Day
April 18
Good Friday - No School
April 21
Easter Monday – No School
April 22
Earth Day
April 23
SAC Meeting @ 6:00
May 1
Grandparents’ Tea
May 8
School Track & Field Day
Southwood Staff
JK/SK – C. Bedal
ECE – M. LeBlanc
JK/SK – C. Djelebian
ECE – A. McKane
JK/SK – M. Savo-Newman
ECE – P. Heron
JK/SK – B. Chapman
Grade 1 – C. Coulter
Grade 1 – A. Mamo
Grade 2 – M. Dragicevic
Grade 2 – D. Hunt-Robinson
Grade 3 - V. MacDonald
Grade 3 – S. Forget
Grade 4 – K. Aversa / L. Brennan
Grade 4 – S. Tessier
Grade 5 – Mrs. Baughan
Grade 5 – D.DiVincenzo /J.Scherer
Grade 6 – J. Piescic
Grade 6 – K. Camlis
Grade 7 – S. Glover-Ludwig
Grade 7 – D. Chisholm
Grade 8 – J. Dunlop
Grade 8 – M. Cichon
SERR - M. Brown
LST- D. Edgar
GAINS – A. Bellemore
Physio - B. Johnson / M. Brown
French – M. Hermle
French – J. Meszaros
Library – M. Lucier
Music – J. Trocchi
Physical Education – K. Trudell
DSW – D. Branch
DSW – C. Jubinville
DSW – T. Wakeley
EA – T. Campbell
EA – A. Ferguson
EA – S. Gray
EA – T. Hayes
EA – S. Kovacevich
EA – K. Quick
EA – A. Renaud
EA – S. Szostopal
EA – K. Tazzman
EA – L. Zittlau
Happy Spring!
Spring has finally sprung and staff and students are feeling renewed and refreshed as we
navigate our way through the final term of school!
The integration of technology at Southwood School remains a central focus and
significant goal in our School Improvement Plan. Our classrooms are continuously
building a large and varied inventory and collection of technology such as SMARTboards,
iPads, iPods, laptops and netbooks for the students to choose from as they complete
their academic studies.
Many of these technology purchases could not have been made without the funds raised
by our school BINGO fundraiser. Thanks go out to our BINGO Team who work very hard
to ensure Southwood School completes a session at least twice a month! Please refer to
the “Bingo Update” article in this newsletter for additional information and we encourage parents to consider helping out the school as a BINGO volunteer!
Our School Advisory Council recently agreed to purchase the school another set of 10
iPads. Our staff and students are very excited to begin using this tool in the classroom!
The funds raised during Special Lunch Days have helped to raise these funds at the
school level and we thank all of the students and parents who support our Lunch Days or
volunteer to come out and assist with Special Lunch Days.
We are also pleased to announce that our school, along with a number of other schools,
has been approved by Director’s Council to move to a Balanced Day format this coming September. We are very confident that this schedule change will have a positive effect
on our students. Further correspondence about the Balanced Day format will be coming
home within the next few months (packing food for two nutrition breaks, etc.).
We have many exciting activities coming in the final three months of the school year,
including our Grandparents’ Tea (May 1), the school Track & Field Day (May 8), school lunch days provided by our SAC, various class Field Trips including the Grade 8 Trip to
Niagara Falls, our Grade 8 Graduation, and continuing events and information
assemblies sponsored by our very busy Eco Team. There are so many great things
happening at Southwood School and we are thankful to each and every one of the staff,
parents, family members and community partners who help to make this happen!
Yours in Education,
Mr. J. Wayvon
Principal
Mr. B. Johnson
Vice Principal
Read-a-Thon – March 5th
On Wednesday, March 5th, Southwood School held it’s annual Read-a-Thon. The entire day was devoted to activities related to
reading! Students were able to dress up as their favourite book
character … there were guest readers such as the Police, the Fire
Chief, Rich Garton from CTV News, Superintendent John Howitt,
and many more … many of our older students had a chance to read
to our our younger students … and students had the chance to read
their favourite books! Congratulations to Southwood School for
raising just short of $6000! The money from this fundraiser will
go directly back to the classrooms for things such as resources,
technology, field trips, etc. Thank-you to all of the families and friends who supported
Southwood students for this event! Thank-you to Mrs. Brennan, Mrs. Forget, Mrs. HuntRobinson, Mr. Bedal, Mr. Chisholm, and Mrs. Szostopal for organizing this exciting event!
Southwood Speech Contest
On Friday, March 1st, Southwood School held a speech
contest for students in Grades 4 to 7. Representatives
from the classes had the opportunity to practice their
skills as orators on a wide variety of topics in front of an
audience of students, teachers and parents. Mrs. Camlis
acted as the convener for this contest, Mr. Wayvon, Mrs.
Wishart and Mr. Johnson were the judges, Mr. Edgar and Mrs. Brown were the questioners
and Mr. Lucier was the official timer. Thank-you to all the staff who helped to prepare the
students for this great event … and a special thank-you to Mrs. Camlis for organizing this
event. The students in this speech contest were:
Hanna R. (4/5B)
Rishi N. (4/5B)
Julia M. (4/5B)
Nerojini N. (4/5B)
Matthew B. (6C) 3rd Place
Anumita J. (6C) 2nd Place
Samantha M. (6C)
Haris S. (6C)
Joey S. (6P)
Megan S. (6P)
Mara T. (6P)
Anita H. (7GL)
Megan W. (7GL)
Amber P. (7C) 1st Place
Easter Egg Fundraiser
This month, representatives from our Parent Council will be selling, once again,
Easter Eggs at lunchtime on April 15th and 16th. Last year, the Parent Council sold
582 eggs and they are hoping to sell even more this year! This is a very popular
fundraiser each year and last year it raised almost $500! Money raised through
these types of fundraisers help purchase items for our classrooms, such as iPads.
Thanks to all the families that send in their change with their kids to help support
these fundraisers, and thanks to our Parent Council for organizing fun events
such as this!
BINGO NEWS
A huge thank you to
our Bingo volunteers!
This year, Bingo funds have paid for
the license for the IXL math program
for every student at Southwood (JK
through Grade 8) for the year. Bingo
funds are also being used for the purchase of a set of iPads for student use in the classroom. Bingo funds are
used primarily for the purchase of technology for the students at Southwood School.
If you or anyone else you know are willing to volunteer to help with Bingos, so that we can continue to have
this great source of funds, please contact [email protected] for more information on how to become a
Southwood Bingo volunteer.
~Southwood School Bingo Team
A better way to learn math
IXL Update: All students in JK/SK to 8 currently have
access to IXL, a website dedicated to offering math
practice in a fun and interactive way. Each math concept
is approached from all angles, offering visual representations, word problems, interactive
activities and more. With an abundance of math problems for every learning style, students
can't help but build lasting skills and confidence. The IXL site is designed to be the ultimate
focused learning environment! Many of our students have been taking advantage of utilizing
this powerful tool at home. Here are some current statistics about how IXL has been used by
Southwood Students from September to the end of March for this school year:
Total number of questions attempted for the entire school:
318,495
Total time spent on IXL for the entire school:
Over 2016
hours
Total number of separate math skills practised:
1338
Percentage of Southwood Students using IXL:
72%
As you can see, we have 72% of our students using IXL. While that is the vast majority of our
students, we are hopeful that 100% of our students will be accessing and taking advantage
of the great learning that can happen through IXL! As another goal, let’s see if we can reach 500,000 math problems attempted by the end of the school year! If you still
have any questions about IXL, or if you need your child’s login information, please contact your child’s teacher or Mr. Johnson. Southwood Floor Hockey
The Southwood Sabres Floor Hockey team had another successful season. They went 11-1 during the
regular season, winning the President's trophy for the third consecutive year. They continued their strong
play during the playoffs, capturing their third championship in a row.
As a result of their strong play during the season, Owen B., Matthew B., Rhys K. and Ryan S. were selected to
represent Southwood at the 2014 OFHL All-Star game. The game was held on March 28th at Percy P.
McCallum school. They continued their strong play, helping the South Conference win the game!
Congratulations to the members of our Floor Hockey Team and to our awesome coaches, Mr. Renaud and
Mr. Trudell.
We currently have an abundance of items in the
“Lost & Found”, located in the entrance to the gym.
Some of the items that are currently in there are:
boots, shoes, pants, snowpants, coats, sweaters,
scarves, and, of course, tons of hats and mitts! If
your child is missing anything, please take the time
to look through the bin. Thanks!
ATTENTION PARENTS AND STUDENTS
After School Extra-Curricular Opportunity For Grades 1-6
BRICKS 4 KIDZ®
After School Programs - After School Enrichment Classes
Our one hour classes explore architecture, engineering, math, science and technology concepts using LEGO®
Bricks, axles, gears, pulleys and technic bricks. Students participate in 6 week sessions focused on exciting
themes including, Space Adventures, Famous Inventions, Natural Disasters, Life Sciences & Energy is
Everywhere, just to name a few. Themes may also be curriculum based to enhance what is currently being taught
within the classroom setting. We strive to work collaboratively with teachers and administration to devise a most
enhanced program to meet the needs of all students.
Classes follow the Bricks 4 Kidz® motto: We Learn, We Build, We Play with … LEGO® Bricks.
The program will be held at Southwood School, starting Thursday, April 24th @ 2:50 p.m. and it will run for
one hour until 3:50 p.m. every Thursday for a total duration of 6 weeks. Students from grades 1-6 will see a
presentation on Thursday, April 3rd and then flyers containing all the necessary information will go home with
students. Registration is completed online or by calling in. The staff at Southwood will not be collecting any
forms or monies for this after-school program, so please do not send the registration form to the school.
ECO CLUB UPDATE
Our Eco Team has been incredibly busy over the past number of weeks in a wide variety of initiatives, such as:
Electricity Challenge
Greening Project
Litter-less Lunch Campaign
Recycling (Plastics, Paper, Ink Cartridges, Batteries) & Composting
GOOS (Good On One Side) Paper Bins in All Classrooms
“Save On Fuel, Walk To School” Campaign
On March 28, our Eco Team held a full school assembly to bring awareness to all of our current Eco initiatives.
Our team led our students through lessons on recycling and composting, and they explained the garbage and
recycling audits that they have been conducting in recent weeks. The team also encouraged our students to pack
litter-less lunches as much as possible and to try our best to reduce electricity costs by turning off the lights
whenever possible and use natural lighting during the day. Our Eco Team is working
very hard to educate us all and to keep our school eco-friendly and green! Check out
their website for more information and pictures: http://ecosabres.weebly.com/

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