As a leader in the school, I

reflect daily on how to create a

culture of excellence within all

aspects of school life.

One area that we spend a large

amount time reflecting on is

our practice as teachers.

This term we are focused on

looking at Self Regulation

which is the foundation of all

learning skills (the first page of

the report card). We look at

data (report card marks) from

previous years to see how our

students have done, year over

year. This informs our practice

and we adjust our teaching

accordingly to build our prac-

tice.

We’ve also been considering

how we give feedback to stu-

dents, and in particular the

messages that we give to stu-

dents about their own potential

as learners. We’ve come to

realize that parents and teach-

ers can occasionally give into a

fixed mindset. Research tells us

that children who believe that

some people just have “good

math brains” or “bad math

brains” have less resiliency and

don’t do as well as students

who believe that brains and

ability can grow and change

over time. So how do we en-

courage our children to have a

growth mindset?

The first is to show children that

we value improvement or

growth and not simply encour-

age or reward performance. We

should praise children for their

learning, and their ability to

stick with and overcome chal-

lenges.

We should also not shield chil-

dren from challenges, making-

mistakes and struggles. We

need to embrace so-called mis-

takes and see occasional failure

as an integral part of the learn-

ing process.

Finally we need to stop praising

children for their intelligence.

This is a fixed mindset. Re-

search has shown that this un-

dermines students’ motivation

and learning. Students who are

told how smart they are often

don’t want to risk making mis-

takes because this may reflect

badly on them. Parents and

teachers should instead praise

the process, the effort, persever-

ance and improvement.

When we assume this growth

mindset, we are always learning

and never afraid to make mis-

takes. This is what we want for

all our children!

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset

From the Withrow Public School Staff, Teachers and

Students

October 27, 2014

Withrow Bulletin

Special Dates

October 29 -

Photo Retake Day

October 31—Halloween

November 6 – French Im-

mersion Evening for new SK

parents—6-7 pm—Library

November 11 –

Remembrance Day

Assembly—Gym

November 12 – Progress

Reports go home

November 14 – PA Day—

No school

November 13 pm and 14 am

– Parent Teacher Confer-

ences

December 3— Next Home

and School meeting—7—9

pm

Inside this issue:

Safe Arrival Automat-

ed System

2

Épouvantail –Salle

227

2

Enterovirus 2

Community Dance 2

The Pit Update 3

Safe and Caring

School

3

Terry Fox Run 4

Athletics 4

Room 220 & 223 4

Leashing Your Dogs

to the Fence I want to start off by thanking

everyone for the hundreds of

emails I have received regard-

ing Coco and support in why I

brought her to school.

People have very strong opin-

ions on this matter and it can

be quite divisive.

As the School Principal I am

asked to abide by and enforce

Board Policy and therefore

Coco will not be coming back

to Withrow. I also don’t want

to encourage community di-

vide.

Along those lines, there has

been concern that some mem-

bers of our community are

letting dogs run around the

school yard while children are

around. Although I have never

seen this myself, I am told

that this has happened and am

reminded that some children

are afraid of dogs.

I encourage you to continue to

leash your dogs at the fence

and I thank all the parents and

neighbours in the community

who tie their dogs to the fence

while coming on to school

property.

This helps maintain our safe

and caring playground for all

our children.

Thank you!

In many Native American cultures, corn is the most

important food crop. An

Iroquois legend, The Spirit of the Corn reminds us not

to take anything for grant-ed, including bountiful

corn harvests. Creating scarecrows out of corn

husks was one way Room

227 acknowledged the arrival of Thanksgiving

and gave thanks for the blessing of the corn.

the dance steps to all the great

dances they have been working

on in class!

A big thank you to Ms. Cum-

ming for organizing this event.

Thanks go out to Mr. MacMillan

and Ms. Macdonald for their

contributions. Also a big thank

you for the Home and School for

supporting this event.

The gym was jumping last Thursday

night at Withrow. Over 200 members

of our community came out to dance

the evening away to the calling of

Hannah Naiman and her band.

Thanks to the Parent Council, and the

dance teachers for making this annual

event such a success!

It was great to see the children teach

their parents, friends and neighbours

Épouvantail

The Enterovirus and Children’s Health

has been associated with an

enterovirus, a very common

cold virus found throughout

our community in the fall

months. Of course, this is a

rare complication, but the virus

is common and acts as a re-

minder that we should all work

together to keep our communi-

ty healthy.

One of the easiest

ways to avoid the spread of

common viruses among our

children is by hand washing,

particularly before eating with

their hands. I talked to my kids

about the lunchtime routine at

Withrow and I know that ac-

cess to easy hand washing is

challenging. So, I ap-

proached Serge Parravano

about making alcohol-based

hand sanitizer available for

use in the classrooms. I was

very pleased to learn that my

suggestion was supported by

the school administration. I

hope that other parents will

join me in encouraging their

children to clean their hands

and stay healthy. Let’s all

have a flu-free year! Elizabeth Donner is a

Withrow Parent and a physician at SickKids. Mr. Parravano asked

Elizabeth to share her thoughts on

the addition of hand sanitizer to our classrooms this fall.

As you know, cold

and flu season is upon us.

Some of you may have al-

ready gotten your flu shot

and have been thinking about

how to stay healthy. While I

am aware of this every year

around this time, keeping our

kids safe from viruses seems

even more important this

year. Recently there have

been a number of children in

Toronto and dozens across

Canada and the US who have

developed paralysis, breath-

ing difficulties and severe

complications that have been

likened to polio. In some of

these children, this condition

Page 2

Withrow Bulletin

Safe Arrival

As per the letter we sent out re-

garding our automated system

regarding safe arrival—there was

concern that 10:30 was too late.

Rest assured that our OA and

secretary will personally call out

soon after attendance. Our 10:30

system call out is designed for

those parents whom we have not

personally been able to get hold of

—the automated system calls out

thoughout the day until an answer

has been received.

Winter

Concert

Our Winter Concert is

scheduled for Wednesday

December 17 at 7 pm. It

is the first night of

Hannukah. Therefore we

will start our concert with

the lighting of the

Menorah and start the

celebration of Holidays!

Community Dance

Voici quelques épourvantails

faits de feuilles de ma-ïs. Chacun a sa propre

personalité. (Salle 227)

As you may know, each year at Withrow we convene a Safe and Caring Schools Committee. This committee is made up of

staff, parents, and other community members and our goal is to ensure that we have a comprehensive, proactive plan to en-

sure that Withrow is a safe place to be for everyone. This is a big task and our planned approaches include everything from

partnerships with the Toronto Police, PD for staff, and extracurricular opportunities for students. From experience, we know

that our needs in this this area may change year over year and that a wide variety of interventions and approaches are needed

in order to create the sort of school culture and climate that we all want. Please visit our school website at the address below

in order to view a copy of our plan for this year, and feel free to approach your Safe and Caring parent reps Donna Palmer,

Laura Richler-Peterdy, or Michael Riley if you have questions or suggestions.

http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/withrow/Home.aspx

The PIT Update!

Safe And Caring Schools

for part of the winter. Only

the planted slope will be

fenced off for new plantings

to take.

This is exciting news as chil-

dren will have part of the Pit

open to them for play during

the winter.

We are looking forward to

enjoying our new play area

this spring!

Attached are site photos of

the work in progress on Mon-

day morning.

The excavation was in pro-

gress and water was being

pumped from the manhole.

All of the Redi-Rock wall

units are on site.

We are really excited to see

the changes that occur eve-

ryday in the PIT.

So far, the work continues to

proceed as expected, with an

anticipated completion date

of late-November.

We have been notified that

not the entire Pit will have

to be closed and fenced off

Page 3

Phoenix Construction is tar-

geting to have the retaining

wall installed by this week,

weather permitting .

The team is now awaiting the

City to replace the catchment

on city property.

We will keep you posted...

Withrow Avenue PS

25 Bain Avenue

Toronto, Ontario

M4K 1E5

Phone: 416-393-9440

E-mail: Withrow@tdsb.on.ca

Growing Minds (and Plants) in Room 220

The Grade 2s and 3s of Room 220 would like to share with you the amazing work we've been doing with Phaseolus Vul-garis, the common bean. We started with hard, dried kidney beans from the back corner of Mr. Pakert's tiny kitchen and we provided them with a moist en-vironment just perfect for germination. We then gave our germinating seeds rich soil, fresh water and plenty of sun-light and now we have living, breathing bean plants adorning our room. For pictures of this amazing transfor-mation, as well as info on all of the work going on in Room 220, visit our class website at mrpakert.wix.com/

Withrow HPE and Athletics News for Oc-

tober

The site is one-stop shopping for all things

HPE and Withrow Athletics. Updates on all

athletics, including Cross Country and Slo-

Pitch, can be found in the news feed. Visit

the events page for info on a special at home

fitness challenge, The FITNESS SHOE.

INDOOR SHOES: All students will be re-

quired to wear indoor running shoes in the

gym. Muddy and wet shoes will not be al-

lowed for safety and cleanliness reasons.

INTRAMURALS:

Primary Kickball at lunch on Wednes-

day, Thursday

Junior Basketball at PM recess on Mon-

day, Wednesday, Friday

Cheers,

Mr. T

Mr. T’s HPE and Withrow

We are on the web! Check us out: http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/withrow/Home.aspx

WEBSITE: ajtarvit.wix.com/mrtarvit

Terry Fox Run Our 12th annual Terry Fox Run on

Septermber 24th was once again a success. I'd like to express a special

thanks to the dozen parent volun-

teers who worked as Safety Mar-shalls along the route at Withrow

Park. This year, the Withrow Com-munity raised $6,495.50. To date,

$61,383.08 has been raised for can-

cer research.

John MacMillan

Mlle Wong's class (salle 223) went to the Textile Museum of Canada, where they "discover[ed]

how art and math unite to create beauty for our everyday lives" (http://

www.textilemuseum.ca). The students examined carpets that came from countries around the world, some of which are

centuries old. They determined that all these carpets have something in common: the artists

used patterns and symmetry to create the beau-tiful designs. The students further explored

these "math concepts" by designing their own carpets using repeating patterns and symmetry and made bookmarks by creating patterns with

strings of yarn. In addition, the workshop lead-er (Susan) demonstrated how patterns come

into play when using a loom to create a tex-tile. Salle 223 got to create their own class pattern too.

The trip to the Textile Museum gave the stu-dents a fun opportunity to discover how math is

not just something we do at school, but that it exists and is useful in so many areas of our daily life including the arts.