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295 Brock Street West, Uxbridge, ON L9P 1G1

Phone: (905)852 7303

December

19 : Holiday Concerts

21 : Grade 1 –3 Winter Solstice

(Activity Day)

22 : Last day of school before Holidays (No early Dismissal)

January

8 : Back to School

15 : SCC meeting—7pm

19 : PA Day—No School

Mission Statement Quaker Village Public School has built its reputation on the foundation of quality, values, pride, and success.

Jill Foster Gavin Ruddock Heather Elrick

Principal Vice Principal Admin Assistant

Durham District School Board Jim Markovski: Superintendent (905)666 5500 Stephen Nevills: Administrative Officer (905)666 5500

Gord Baxter: Trustee (905)904 2444 Newsletter December 7, 2017

C o l d W e a t h e r

I s H e r e !

A s t h e w e a t h e r b e g i n s t o

g e t c o l d e r , a l l s t u d e n t s

a r e e x p e c t e d t o g o o u t -

s i d e f o r r e c e s s . A t l u n c h

t h i s m e a n s 4 0 m i n u t e s o f

o u t d o o r p l a y .

P l e a s e e n s u r e y o u r c h i l d

i s d r e s s e d f o r t h e w e a t h -

e r c o n d i t i o n s .

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

We were so pleased to meet with so many of our students’ fami-lies during Parent Teacher interviews last month. What a great oppor-tunity for us to work together to plan for ongoing student success and achievement.

Speaking of working together, thank you to the many volunteers who support our school both inside and outside the classroom. A collabo-rative team approach can generate truly great ideas! A special thanks to all our volunteers. Through your support, we are able to offer extra help to our students. Thank you as well to our SCC members for their ongo-ing support advising on school events and policies as well as fundraising. SCC volunteers run such programs as our popular Thursday Pizza lunch-es and the Dance-a-thon. The money raised through these events provide funds to purchase technology and extend programming in areas such as STEM, visual arts and our music department. We are very grateful for your support in making QVPS the great school it is! We hope you will join us on Tuesday December 19th for our an-nual holiday concert. Staff and students are hard at work preparing for this year’s performances and figuring out how to transform our gym into a Winter Forest! The evening begins with our Kindergarteners at 6 p.m. Our Grade 1 – 3 students will perform beginning at 6:30 p.m. The last act, which should start around 7:30 p.m., will centre on our Gr. 4-8 stu-dents. More details to come as we get closer to the date. The concert en-try fee is a donation of non-perishable food for the local food bank.

The holiday concert is simply one event amongst the many activi-ties scheduled for the next few weeks. Our food drive and Tree of Warmth collection have begun. Our annual trip to the arena for an after-noon of skating is set for Friday, December 22 between 1 and 2 p.m. We encourage families to join us. Please note skaters must wear a helmet on the ice.

No matter how you mark the upcoming holidays, we hope you have a happy healthy season filled with all the love and happiness that is the promise of this special time of year. Best wishes from the entire QVPS team to our families and friends for a happy and prosperous New Year!

Jill Foster

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Dates of Significance - December

December 3- 24 – Advent (Christian)

The Advent season lasts for four Sundays leading up to Christmas. At that time, the new Christian year begins with the twelve-day celebration of Christmastide, which lasts from Christmas Eve until Epiphany on January 6. (Advent begins on the Sunday that falls between November 27th and December 3rd each year.)

December 12 – 20 – Hanukkah – Judaism

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights (and the Feast of Dedication), commemorates the victory of Judah the Maccabee and religious freedom, and the rededication of the Temple in 165 BCE. It also celebrates the power of God and the faithfulness of Israel.

December 25 – Christmas Day – Christianity

Christmas celebrates the anniversary of the birth of Jesus. In 336 A.D., the Catholic Church declared that it commemorates Jesus’ birth on this date. This date is celebrated in different ways around the world, with traditions as diverse as the cultures from which they come.

December 26 – January 1 -Kwanzaa – African Heritage

Kwanzaa is celebrated by many North Americans of West African descent in recognition of their African heritage. The candles of a seven-branched candelabrum repre-senting attributes such as unity, self-determination, responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith are successively lit over the seven days of the festival

Cricket

Our Intermediate Cricket team captured a pennant at the Durham Finals in late Novem-ber. The team advanced to the Final 8 teams in all of Durham Region. This is the second year we have competed and we improved so much this year. The game is a lot of fun. Tanner and Peter

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Math Problem of the Month - School / Home Connection

Try to solve any or all of the questions below. Submit your answers to the office. Random participants will be chosen from all entries received to win a prize. November’s winners : Kylie Jeffrey

Kindergarten -1 Molly is making Gingerbread Men. She is using chocolate chips for the eyes and jelly beans for the buttons. How many chocolate chips did she use to make 5 Gingerbread Men? Grade 2-3 Gingerbread cookies cost $0.30 each. If you want to buy 10 cookies how much money will you need? Grades 4-6 Grandma lives in Por t Per ry. Sarah and her family live 15 kilometres south of Grandma. Susan lives 20 kilometres north of Sarah. Brendan lives 5 kilometres south of Sarah. How far does each person live from Grandma’s house? Grades 7-8 I have 3 dogs of different ages. If I add their ages together I get 14. If I multiply their ages I get 84. How old are my dogs?

Trip to the Firehall On Tuesday Nov 21st our PLP class walked over to the Uxbridge Firehall for a tour. Firefighter Captain Colin showed us around the new Firehall. We learned about the steps to use a fire extinguisher (PASS- Pull, Aim, Squeeze and Sweep). We also had a chance to sit in the new Fire Truck Pumper 73. Colin showed us all the safety gear that they need to wear and also gave us a tip for wearing our snow pants (they keep their boots inside their pants so its quicker to put on). We had a great time at the fire-hall and even stopped at the store for an ice cream on the way back.

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SCC Update

At our last Character Assembly, December 1st, our fearless Administrators made good on

their promises. Ms. Foster kissed a pig (A Guinea Pig is sort of pig, right? We will look for an

actual pig in the spring ) and Mr. Ruddock and Mrs. vanderMeer got “slimed”. Our students

were rewarded with these “spectacles” in celebration of our community’s successful effort to

raise money during our Dance-A-thon in October. All proceeds are going toward purchasing

new technology for our students.

Pizza Orders

Our SCC members collect, organize and prepare our orders and we appreciate all the time and

work that is done to provide this service for our families. Below are the two remaining Pizza

Day Blocks. Please respect the timelines established for our Pizza Days.

A hard copy will be sent home early February to recognize that online orders are available. A

reminder email from School Cash OnLine directly is also sent home to our families as well as

school Synervoice calls. If you would like to receive a “Remind” text, consider joining the

schools account, or follow us on Twitter @QuakerVillagePS

Session 3 Opens February 5th, Closes February 25th

Session 4 Opens April 23rd, Closes May 13th

If you have any questions about our Pizza Days, please see Jill or Gavin in the office.

Our next SCC meeting is January 15th starting

at 7 pm in the library.

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Holiday Gift Bags!!!! Our Grade 4 - 8 students creat-ed these wonderful Holiday Gift Bags for an initiative the Durham Regional Police are running in conjunction with the LCBO this Holiday Season. The students created the bags to promote the message of “safety” over the holidays. The bags will be available to the public starting December 13th at the LCBO located on: 2 Welwood Drive in Uxbridge.

Bully Awareness and Prevention Week The Durham District School Board recognized Bully Awareness and Prevention Week during the week of November 20th - 24th. Here at Quaker Village we decided to promote Kindness. Students that demonstrated Random Acts of Kindness received a personalized certificate that we displayed around the school. We also had our Grade 6 students reward our Kindergarten to Grade 3 students with stick-ers if they were caught being safe, including others, and or promoting positive play out on the school yard.

Please support us in encouraging your child to seek help from an adult or the office if someone is making them feel uncomfortable at school. Or use the Report Now button on the front page of our school websitel

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Dear Parents and Guardians, Our school is collecting non perishable food items for our local Loaves+Fishes food bank this Christmas. Ms.Sneath’s class will be collecting and bringing the donations to the food bank. Wednesday, Dec.13th to Wednesday, Dec.20th, and during our holiday concert, on the 19th. Some recommended items to donate are: Food: Personal hygiene: -macaroni and cheese -tooth paste -crackers -towels -canned soup - tooth brushes -tuna - Bars of soap -salmon - Shampoo -tomato sauce - Conditioner -dry pasta - Dental floss -applesauce - Laundry soap -canned or boxed juice -Toilet paper rolls -cookies -canned fruit/vegetables -peanut butter -salsa -hot chocolate mix

*any grocery store gift cards are also welcome to be donated*

Happy Holidays!!!! And don’t forget our Tree of Warmth!