Churchill Newsletter - November 18th, 2011

Churchill AlternativeSchool Council

Email Blast for Friday,November 18th

1.     Holiday Craft Fair:  Make sure you mark yourcalendar!  Our Holiday Craft Fairfeaturing 30 local artisans is next Saturday, November 26th.  If you want to donate to the book table orchildren’s shopping area, please drop off your items in the school lobby.  We’re still looking yummy homebaked items forthe bake table.  If you want tocontribute to our café, we’re always looking for tasty contributions. Pleasecontact Pam Dilworth Christie at dilchrist@rogers.com or Maureen Clarke at kmclarke@primus.ca.

·       CandleMaking and Kids Crafts:  We needvolunteers for the two Areas of Candle Making and Kids Crafts.  As in past years during the Craft Fair therewill be the popular Beeswax Candle Making and the Children's Craft Area.  Projects have been organized but we arelooking for Parents to help the kids within either of these two areas.  We only request an hour of time per volunteer(of course more time would be great).  Noexperience is necessary in either area. These are projects that children can make, so an adult can learn ittoo.  If you can help please contact Ulanaat leduc1812@hotmail.com, or Donnaat dwelden@istar.ca.

2.    School Newsletter:  Pleasefind the November school newsletter attached. The school calendar of events isalso attached.  Put it on your fridge!

3.    School Directory:  Pleasefind the Churchill School Family Directory attached.  A big thank you to those parents,particularly Michael Richardson, who helped pull it together this year.

4.    Resources for Families:  Each week we willbe trying to share links to helpful or interesting education-related resources.Thanks to those who sent in links this week! Please send any suggestions to Dan(dmackinnon1@gmail.com). This week we suggest:

Are boysstruggling at school more than girls? A six-part series in the globe and maillooked at this question last year: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/failing-boys/

Are naturalplaygrounds best for kids? Here some links about a school in Scotland that islooking at natural alternatives to sand and concrete:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15623658

http://merryleeprimarypc.org/Urban%20Jungle.htm

What is the most effective way to help yourkids at schoool? People for Education released a study on this in August.

http://www.peopleforeducation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/People-for-Education-Doing-What-Matters-Most-how-parents-can-help-their-children-succeed-at-school-20111.pdf

Did you know that learning cursive writing isnot required by the Ontario curriculum? Is cursive writing a thing of the past?Here are two articles about the decline of cursive writing, and a link to somecursive-writing practice sheets.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/us/28cursive.html?_r=3&hp

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2011/04/is_cursive_dead.html

http://abcteach.com/directory/basics/handwriting/dn_style_font/cursive/