THE HALBERT HERALD – Spring 2015

Contacts:

Principal: Nicole Miller 416-396-6300

Superintendent of Schools: Kerry-Lynn Stadnyk (416) 396-9192

Trustee: Parthi Kandavel (416) 397

Website: http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/hahalbert

Twitter: Halbert Rocks @NMHalbert

LIKE our Facebook Page: HA Halbert Jr PS on Facebook!

Our Eco-Forest: https://createyourforest.ca/visit/halbert

HA HALBERT Website:

Our website is a great way to keep informed about what your child is doing in class! In

addition to newsletters, we load all kinds of information about Kindergarten registration,

extended French opportunities and more. Watch the site for stories about the great things

happening at HA Halbert:

http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/hahalbert

PEP FEEDBACK FUN:

These are just a few of the wonderful PEP feedback sheets we collected from the students in

Mr. Joyce’s class:

OH Spring! (A poem by Maryam in Mr Joyce’s class)

In the spring, flowers show their head.

Birds sing a recognizable tune.

The Yellow sun warms our skin and heart

Brings us outside to walk, jog or bike.

Threes are growing and so are new borns.

No more snoozing after a long winter break.

Raindrops collect and form large circles.

Away goes the snow and ice along with shorter days.

Riverbeds blossom and allow us to create footprints in the mud.

Goodbye winter!

VOICE CANADA – DRESS LOUD DAY Did you know that May is speech and hearing awareness month? To kick things off, H.A. Halbert is celebrating "Dress Loud" day to support students with hearing loss. On Friday, May 1st, wear your

wildest, wackiest, loudest outfit you've got! Pull out your funkiest shirts, socks, hats, shoes, etc.! Think about wearing bright colours and crazy patterns! So get creative everyone! This is your chance

to do whatever you need to do to GET LOUD! If you would like to participate, please bring in a

donation of $1 to give to your classroom teacher. All contributions will be returned to Voice for Hearing Impaired Children -- a Canadian charity that serves children with hearing loss who are

learning to hear and speak, and the families that support them. PLEASE BRING IN A TOONIE OR A LOONIE ON MAY 1ST TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!

THE DANES CAME!! Inspiring 21st Century Learning at Halbert!

This month we had an amazing opportunity to have 20 Danish Educators visit HA Halbert.

Denmark is undergoing a huge educational reform, based in part on the successes we are

seeing in education in Ontario and they are here to learn and share best practices! They had

three goals for their visits: to look at how we execute inclusion of special education students,

to explore parent engagement initiatives and how we innovate in the classroom.

We had a chance to share our amazing MaRs video that looks at some of the great things that

have happened to Halbert over the course of the last couple of years and where we are going

in terms of the future. Here is a link to that video – it is on a secured/locked youtube channel

and is only intended for parents/guardians of Halbert students. Have a peek at some of the

amazing things going on here in terms of innovation, engagement and working towards a

student-centred model of schooling: YouTube link: http://youtu.be/DpLeHrirA8w

As well, our INCREDIBLE Parenting and Family Literacy Centre Parents (and of course the

wonderful Margaret Megitt) put on an amazing Afghani luncheon. We are so appreciative as

everyone was raving about the amazing food and it was absolutely a highlight of the day.

Here are a few pictures! THANK YOU!!

JUNIOR BOYS SOCCER TEAM

Practices are underway for the junior boys soccer team! We have a stacked team this year with 18

hard working, talented individuals. We have been practicing twice a week in preparation for the big

tournament at the end of May. We will also be hosting a couple exhibition games and would love

some spectators. Dates are still to come so stay tuned so you can come cheer us on. We have a

competitive bunch this year so it's sure to be an exciting season.

The Two Boag Coaches!

CRICKET UPDATE

This year at H.A. Halbert is quite an exciting one! We are introducing the international sport

of Cricket, into our midst. This game is new to many of our team members however, they

are showing marked improvement with every practice. We practice every Tuesday and

Thursday after school in an effort to be ready for our tournament being held right here at

Halbert! The tournament is on Tuesday May 12th in our field. It would mean a lot if we had

a big community turnout! The team is excited to participate and so are the coaches. Go

Halbert!! Mr. Hill

A REQUEST FROM THE KINDERGARTEN CLASSES!!!

Happy Spring!! We are so excited to be spending more time outside now that the weather is

nicer. As we prepare our activities, we are finding a need for some outdoor items for the

children. If you have any used items that the children could use outside, they would be

greatly appreciated! For example:

sand toys and balls

small cars and trucks

old pots and pans for “cooking”

child size furniture

Heavy duty things like Little Tykes.

If you have anything that would be suitable and safe for our children, please let one of the

kindergarten or parenting centre staff know. Thank you!

From the Physical Education Department – From Ms Fromstein and Ms Panksep

Happy Spring to everyone! What a wonderful start we’ve had to this new season. We just

had our very first Playground Play Day this past Thursday morning and the weather couldn’t

have been better. Next is our Track and Field Day this coming Monday April 27, followed

by another Play Day in June to help promote the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, which are

coming to Toronto this summer.

Playground Play Day was a great success. The grade 5 and 6 students did a fabulous job at

showing the school the kind of leaders they can be. The purpose of this day was to teach the

students active games to be played during recess to improve their health, help develop

appropriate moral and social behavior, reduce bullying and to get out and enjoy the nice

weather together. The junior students were coached and taught some playground games

during their Phys Ed classes and at recess by Mrs. Panksep and Mrs. Fromstein, with the goal

of having them lead these games during the Playday. Other junior students helped to lead the

teams of students around to each station. Games that were played included: 4 Squares,

Jumpsies, Spud, Hop Scotch, Skipping Games, Wall Ball and Red Light/Green Light.

Student’s had a great day. We even heard one student in Mrs. Kryzanowski’s class be quoted

as saying “This was sooooo much fun”. The true test of success for us was actually seeing

the students continue these games in the playground afterwards. Congratulations to the

students on a job well done! Thank you also to the snack program volunteers for doing a

fabulous job of making sure that our students were well fed and to our Student teachers for

delivering the snacks and giving a helping hand wherever they could.

This Friday we will be having our school Track and Field Day. This is a day where students

can compete for a place on the Halbert Track and Field Team. These students will then be

heading to Birchmount Stadium where they will be competing against other schools from our

area. A big thank you goes out to all the teachers who volunteer to coach each of the 6

events. Events include:

Primary: 60m, Running Long jump and Standing long jump

Junior: Shot Put, Running Long Jump, Standing Long Jump, Triple Jump, 80m and 200 m

sprints and

400,800 and 1500m long distance running.

Finally we will be hosting our very own Pan Am/Parapan Am games in June. We are very

excited that these games are coming to this great city in July and August. The Pan

Am/Parapan Am Games is the third largest sporting event next to the Olympics and the

Asian Games. There will be over 41 countries from all over North and South America

coming to compete in 51 sports. 7,500 athletes in total will be competing in events such as

Track and Field, Swimming, Sailing and Gymnastics just to name a few. To get more

information on this event you can go to the official website http://www.toronto2015.org .

You can also have a look at our bulletin board outside of the office.

There is still a lot more information to come. Seems like we all have a little more “Spring” in

our steps these days

Camp Kearney Adventures 2015 are quickly arriving. Camp Kearney is a residential

summer camp set at the scenic Scarborough Outdoor Education School, north of Huntsville

and is owned and operated by TDSB. Engaging programs accommodate campers in grades

3 through 12. All of the programs incorporate a balance of environmental ethics, wilderness

experience and fun!! Camp Kearney is not only a great place to be for the summer but it can

also be a life changing experience.

Some of the great in-camp activities include, canoeing, kayaking, arts and crafts, high/low

ropes, swimming, archery, hiking and camping! The canoe and backpacking programs teach

the campers how to pack, plan and be trippers for life. The Camp Kearney programs run for

8, 15 and 22 days with camp starting on July 6, 2015. For registration and program dates

please visit our website: http://www.campkearney.com

School Advisory Council News

Our next Parent Council Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday May 12th

at 6:30 p.m. All are

welcome to join us in the Staff Room.

SUBWAY LUNCH! Our next Subway Lunch is fast approaching and orders must be

submitted by tomorrow, Friday April 24th

. I have attached the form for ordering again, in

case it did not make it home to you! Help support Healthy Lunches for our kids!

Math work at HA HALBERT! – A MATH PROBLEM FOR KINDY AND GR 1

Use words and pictures to solve your problem:

Some kids saw 11 bunnies.

Some of the bunnies were white and

some of the bunnies were brown and

some of the bunnies were grey.

How many bunnies of each colour could

the kids have seen?

WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN NIGHT @ HA HALBERT

Children who are registered to begin kindergarten in September of 2015 will soon be

receiving a postcard about our Welcome To Kindergarten evening on Tuesday May 5, 2015

beginning at 5:00 p.m. We will have a brief orientation and then a brief carousel of activities

to show parents and students of what kinds of activities they will get to enjoy at

Kindergarten. There will be a wonderful bag of free supplies/goods for parents who attend

that will include activities to help your child with their school readiness skills. And for all

parents who attend, we will be creating a personalized “welcome to school” book that we

will mail to you for fun summer reading about starting school!!

Dates to Remember: April 27 – Parent Engagement Evening at RH King for all feeder school parents. See

attached poster – all Halbert parents welcome and encouraged to attend!

April 27 – May 1 – KEARNEY TRIP FOR GRADE 6 STUDENTS

April 30 – Subway Lunch

May 5 – Welcome to Kindy Night @ 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

May 12 – Cricket Tournament at Halbert

May 12 – PARENT COUNCIL MEETING 6:30 P.M. All welcome.

May 25 – Spring Concert

May 25 – June 2: EQAO dates for Grade 3 and 6 students

June 5 – PA Day – No School