Churchill Newsletter - November 10th, 2011

CHURCHILL ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL COUNCIL

Email Blast for Thursday, November 10th

1.  ProgressReports:  Progressreports came home today! Look for them in your child's backpack.  Makesure you sign up for your child's student led conference.  A form willhave been sent home with your child. 

2.  StudentLed Conferences:  Student Led Conferences arecontinuing into next week due to schedules and popular demand.  We reallyappreciate you taking the time to come in and conference with your child aboutall the wonderful things they are doing and learning about.  You will begetting information from your child's teacher around parent interview times andrequests.

3.  November11th:  Theschool sharing begins at 10:30 am in the gym and will run for approximately30-40 minutes.  Come and remember with the Churchill Community. Grade4/5/6's will be walking down to theWestboro Cenotaph to attend the Remembrance Day Ceremony.  The ceremony starts with our Junior Choir(School Of Rock) performing a song just before 2:00pm at the Cenotaph. Childrenwill depart from the school at 1:15pm. The Cenotaph is located between RichmondRd. and Byron on the pedestrian pathway, approximately a 10 min. walk from theschool.  The ceremony at the Cenotaph runs until approximately 2:20pm,which means that our return to school will be later than the regular dismissaltime. Please keep that in mind.

Thanks to Ray and Dana fororganizing our Remembrance Day ceremony.  It is a very special event atour school that brings us together as a community and school.  It will beparticularly special to have School of Rock performing with the WestboroLegion.  It is particularly important to several of our families,including my own, that have active service members or our families withveterans. Megan

4.  EducationCommittee:  The CASC Education Committee is meeting onTuesday November 15th at 7:00pm in the Staff Lounge. All are welcome.  We will be discussing Churchill's report-cardpolicies and procedures and welcome your questions, comments & concerns.  We will also be planning our up-coming"family information night(s)", and welcome your ideas.  If you have any questions, please contact Dan(dmackinnon1@gmail.com).

5.  HolidayCraft Fair: Comeand join us on Saturday, November 26, 2011 9:30 am – 3:00 pm.  For moreinformation contact Pam Dilworth-Christie at dilchrist@rogers.com or Maureen Clarkeat kmclarke@primus.ca

6.  Entertainment Books: We are stillneeding over 80 Entertainment Books paid for or returned.  Please returnthem ASAP  they are now overdue and ifthey have not been returned the school has to incur the cost.  Thank-youto all of you that purchase one or more of the books.  We have currentlysold 122 books!

7.  Churchill Cooks:  Our Cookbook is well on the way to being finished and we arehopeful it will be on Sale as of November 25th.  We will send more detailssoon!

8.  SnowsuitFund:  The Snowsuit Fund continues to need your help.  If yousnowsuits your children have outgrown this is a wonderful cause to donate themto.  The donation box can be found in thelobby.

9.  PledgeForms:  Pledge Forms from the morning run - if you have notalready sent in your pledge forms for the marathon/morning run please send themin by November 25th.  All funds collected will be sent to Unicef forFamine relief.

10.      Knitting Club:  Ourvery popular knitting club is due to start on January 6th. If you have any yarnto donate please put it in the box next to the fish tank in the lobby.We love bulky yarn, but will take all types. Any yarn we don't useat Churchill will be donated to a yarn using charity.  If you areinterested in helping with knit club, please contact Eloise Holland(collison@aei.ca) or Andrea Wall (anoelw6@yahoo.com)

11.      Full DayKindergarten:  There are currently no updates on our full day kindergartenprogram as of yet.  Megan will be sure to give regular information as soonas an update is available.

12.       Resources forFamilies: Each week we will be trying to share links to helpful or interestingeducation-related resources. Please send any suggestions to Dan (dmackinnon1@gmail.com). This week we suggest:

a.   Our progress reports are coming! If you don't remember thesefrom last year, there is information at the Ministry site here: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/nr/09.12/faqs.html

b.    Many people wonder about the role oftechnology in education. Some recent articles offer an interesting perspectiveon this question:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/technology/at-waldorf-school-in-silicon-valley-technology-can-wait.html

http://www.torontowaldorfschool.com/about_TWS/news/WaldorfApproachtoComputersMakesWaves.php

Another perspective on this topic is presented by"edutopia":

http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration