LARKSPUR PUBLIC SCHOOL growing together today, for tomorrow

111 Larkspur Road Brampton, Ontario L6R 1X2 Phone: 905-799-2952 Fax: 905-799-8109 Website: http://schools.peelschools.org/1477

APRIL 2016 NEWSLETTER DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR April 6th Early Society Workshop for Grade 4s April 11th PD Day – No school for students April 11th Healthy Parenting Workshop, 6:30-8:30pm April 12th Open House, Grade 1-5 April 13th International Day of Pink April 13th Community Fitness Night, 6-8pm April 13th and 14th Dr. B’s Science workshop for Grade 4’s April 13th - 15th Jingle Sessions Music Workshop April 18th - 21st Scholastic Book Fair April 19th Earth Day April 21st Open House, Kindergarten April 21st Evening Concert PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE It looks like spring is finally arriving, and we can soon exchange our winter boots and hats for rain boots and umbrellas. With the warmer weather fast approaching, many families are choosing to walk to school in the mornings. This is a great way for your children to start the day, since walking provides exercise and better prepares students for their busy day of learning! Consider walking your children to school whenever possible, and help them to have a healthy start to their day!

Walking to school also helps to lessen some of the vehicle traffic that occurs in and around the Larkspur parking lot. If you are driving to school, we ask that you use the Kiss ‘n’ Ride to safely drop off your children. This allows parking spaces to be used for staff members and visitors and keeps all children safe! A reminder, as well, that parking in the bus lane in front of the school is always prohibited, and bylaw officers will ticket offenders.

Looking ahead, we have many exciting events planned for the month of April. We invite you to join us in celebrating Education Week, as we have organized a variety of activities both during the day and in the evening. On April 13, we are hosting a Family Fitness Night where families can learn about health and wellness in the community. Our Open House will be held on April 12 for families of students in grades 1 to 5 and on April 21 for our Kindergarten families. In the evening of the 21st, we would like to welcome you to our Evening Concert, where students will ‘wow’ us with their performances. We look forward to seeing our Larkspur families at these events!

MOVE-A-THON SUCCESS On February 26, we held our annual Move-a-Thon fundraiser, where students danced and grooved to the music of Professor Jamz. Because of the hard work of our students and the generosity of family and friends, we were able to raise over $6,900 for Larkspur! We would like to extend a special thank you to the staff and to Parent Council for all of their hard work in preparing for this event and ensuring its success. Thank you to the Larkspur Community for all of your support! SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR

Add to your home literacy collection and help to raise money for more library books! Our Spring Book Fair will be held April 18 – 21 in the library. Students are welcome to visit the fair to purchase books throughout the day. On Thursday, the fair will be open in the evening, and families are welcome to drop by from 3 - 6:30 pm.

OPHEA HEALTHY SCHOOLS CERTIFICATION UPDATE The Playground Activity Leaders in the School (PALS) program, which will see chosen students in Grades 4 and 5 run physical activities and games for our primary students during nutrition breaks, is scheduled to start at the beginning of April. Training sessions for our Grade 4 and 5’s occurred throughout the month of March and focused on providing these students with instruction, coaching and practice opportunities to develop the skill set they will need in order to be great teachers, leaders and problem solvers on the playground. Several teacher and parent volunteers will be present to help guide or facilitate the activities and games being led by our junior students. On Wednesday, April 13th from 6-8pm, Larkspur Public School will be hosting a community fitness evening. This event will showcase our PALS program, provide a number of opportunities to get active thorough play and sport, provide a chance to learn new and/or important information as it pertains to recreational programs available in our community and give students and parents an opportunity to attend a health seminar led by a nurse who represents the Peel Region of Health. Booster Juice will also be on site to talk about the food products they offer in terms of healthy juices and snacks. More information regarding the community fitness evening can be expected in the upcoming weeks. LARKSPUR CLUB SPORTS Basketball Larkspur’s co-ed basketball team competed in a small, warm-up tournament at a neighbouring school on Thursday, March 10th. All of the games were close in score. Team members communicated well with one another and showed great spirit and attitude in working together to execute plays of offence and defend with intensity in front of their own net. The co-ed basketball team has a few more scheduled practices at the end of March before competing in a big tournament on Thursday, March 31st. We wish them luck. Go Lions!

Hockey Both the boys’ and girls’ floor hockey teams are busy practising in preparation for their tournament at Carberry Public School at the end of April. Players on both teams have demonstrated a strong commitment to learning and improving their individual skills and team game over the last couple of weeks. The boys’ team practises before school every Monday and Thursday, and the girls usually hold practices during 1st nutrition break twice a week. QUALITY PHYSICAL EDUCATION AWARD Larkspur’s gym program was recently recognized with the Quality Daily Physical Education Award given out by the Physical and Health Education of Canada. This award speaks to the exemplary instruction students are receiving every day in the gym, the number of extracurricular activities and club teams that students can join or try-out for and how committed our staff and administration is to ensuring health and physical activity is valued in the school. An award package that contains a variety of tools to promote and celebrate Larkspur’s quality gym program, including a certificate, a congratulatory letter from the Prime Minister of Canada and a banner to display, will be delivered to Larkspur before the end of June.

Peel board celebrates public education during Education Week – April 18 to 22 Peel public schools will host hundreds of special activities and events to celebrate Education Week 2016. To give schools plenty of time to hold activities, this celebration of education will be held from April 18 to 22. The theme for this year's focus on education is You Inspire. In addition to inviting parents and community residents to visit their classrooms during the week, Peel schools are hosting open houses, plays/musicals, storytelling, environmental activities, awards assemblies, talent shows and much more. One of the highlights of Education Week is the presentation of Awards of Excellence. The award recipients are students, volunteers, staff and community partners who have made outstanding contributions to public education in Peel. The awards will be presented to 26 deserving recipients at the Showcase of Excellence ceremony on April 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the board room, HJA Brown Education Centre, 5650 Hurontario St., Mississauga. More than 800 individuals will also be honoured during Education Week with Awards of Distinction for their contributions to their school or workplace.

Peel public schools celebrate Education Week Peel public schools will host hundreds of special activities and events to celebrate Education Week 2016 from April 12 to 22. The theme for this year's week-long focus on education is You Inspire.

LARKSPUR’S EDUCATION WEEK EVENTS

April 13, 6 – 8 pm Community Fitness Night: A night out for Larkspur families to learn about health and fitness, hosted by our gym team, Mr. Brophey and Mrs. Kannenberg. There will be a health session in the library, an active session in the gym and a meet and greet in the atrium organized by community sponsors.

April 13 – 15 Jingle Sessions: Julie Kryk will be facilitating workshops for our

students in regards to musical composition and recording. Each class will have an opportunity to create a new song and record it. They will learn about melody, pitch, form and dynamics.

April 18 – 20 Enviro Drum: Jeff Salem will be conducting powerful workshops on

community drumming with our students. Each session will experience two classes and they will learn about call and response

activities, rhythm, timbre and playing as an ensemble. April 18 – 21 Spring Book Fair: This is a wonderful event and fundraising

moment for the Larkspur Library department that advocates for literacy in the community. Students can purchase their favourite sequels, activity kits, posters and other fun paraphernalia. The Book Fair is open to students during the day from 8:50 – 2:30. Families are welcome to visit the book fair on the evening of Thursday, April 21, from 3:00 – 6:30 pm. Cash and credit cards are accepted.

April 21, 9:30 - 10:30 Kindergarten Open House: This is a great opportunity for Larkspur families to visit the school to see how their children are learning in a Kindergarten play-based program. Parents will be escorted to their children's classrooms by Grade 5 student ambassadors.

April 21, 6:30 - 8:00 Larkspur Variety Show: The entire act of Larkspur Variety Show will feature our very talented student population. There will be singing and dancing choreographed and initiated by the students.

April 21, 11:00 - 12:30 Larkspur Variety Show & Celebration Assembly: A small

selection of talent from our Travelling Minstrels will be performing for the school to commemorate Education Week festivities and new enlightenment. The Award Of Distinction will also be presented to a

member of the Larkspur family.

April 22, 8:50 - 9:30 Ashley Lawrence from the Canadian Women's Soccer Team will be visiting our school speaking to the children about the importance of the 6 Peel Attributes in her life and in her career: Care, Co-operative, Honest, Inclusive, Respectful, and Responsible.

Each year, more than 50,000 parents and community members across Peel attend activities and events during Education Week. We are looking forward to an equally successful week this year.

Larkspur goes pink on April 12 April 13 is Day of Pink, the international day to celebrate diversity and inclusion to work towards ending homophobia, transphobia and all forms of bullying and discrimination. This year, there are several bolded holy days taking place on April 13. In order to give all of our students an opportunity to be part of this important inclusion activity, Peel District School Board schools will recognize Day of Pink on April 12 this year. “Equity and inclusion is something that all Peel schools teach throughout the year and discuss with students daily—it is embedded in everything we do,” says Tony Pontes, director of education. “Day of Pink is just one more way for us to ensure students and staff learn, work and develop in environments that are safe, equitable, inclusive, respectful and nurturing for all.” Day of Pink began when a high school student in Cambridge, Nova Scotia, was bullied with homophobic language because he wore a pink shirt to school. The next day, hundreds of students at his school stood up to bullying and wore pink to school to show their support for equity and inclusion.

Tentative school year calendars for 2016-17

The Peel District School Board has approved the school year calendars for all schools, including Roberta Bondar Public School, Ray Lawson Public School and Roy McMurtry School for 2016-17. The calendars will now be submitted to the Ministry of Education for approval. The dates are not official until approved by the ministry. Visit www.peelschools.org/calendar/schoolyear to view the tentative school year calendars for 2016-17.

Register today for Adult ESL or LINC classes Do you know an adult that is interested in improving their English language skills for work, study or daily life? Through the Continuing & Adult Education department, the Peel District School Board offers a wide variety of English language classes that help parents experience success in Canadian English in both listening/speaking and reading/writing. Courses are designed for a range of basic, intermediate and advanced English (Levels 1 to 7) as well as the more experienced learner needing to prepare for an IELTS exam. Classes are ongoing - Register anytime. All learners that complete a session will earn a certificate of learning from the Peel District School Board. Classes operate from six locations in Brampton and Mississauga with three specially designed adult centres at:

Bramalea - Adult Education Centre - 25 Kings Cross Road, Unit 3

Brampton - Adult Education Centre - #300 - 7700 Hurontario Street

Mississauga - Adult Education Centre - 100 Elm Drive West, Room 117

To learn more or to register, call 905-270-6000

Also visit www.peelschools.org/adulteducation or follow us on Twitter: @PDSBLearnESL

Help us to encourage and enhance parent involvement in Peel

Apply for a position on the board's Parent Involvement Committee The Peel board’s Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) meets regularly throughout the school year to review the board’s plans for parent involvement as they relate to parent, family and community engagement, and to make suggestions to schools, councils and the board regarding additional parent outreach. As mandated by the ministry, the purpose of Peel board's PIC is to: support, encourage, and enhance meaningful parental involvement within schools and across the

district, including, outreach to parents who find involvement more challenging work collaboratively with the school board to support student success seek out the advice and ideas of school councils, and other parents and partners as they plan and

implement strategies to involve more parents at the regional level develop strategies for enhancing parental engagement and outreach Parent application packages will be made available on April 6 at www.peelschools.org/PIC. Forms must be returned by April 29, 2016.

School closed for PA Day on April 11, 2016 As a result of labour settlements with various federations and employee groups, the Ministry of Education has directed all school boards to create an additional Professional Activity Day this year and for each school year going forward. For the 2015-16 school year, the additional PA Day for the Peel District School Board will be April 11, 2016. All Peel board elementary and secondary schools will be closed to students on this day. The next day, April 12, will remain a Day 4 for students.

Summer School 2016 Secondary School full and make-up credit classes will be offered at 12 high schools throughout the Board this summer. Peel eLearning-Summer classes and two-credit Co-operative Education programs are also available. Please visit www.peelschools.org/summerschool for more details.

Parent resources help you support your child’s learning At the Peel District School Board, our mission is to inspire success, confidence and hope in each child. There is no doubt that families play a vital role in helping us achieve this goal. As our partner in education, we hope you'll stay connected to your child's learning throughout his or her entire school experience. In October 2014, the Peel board sought input from families to help guide the development of resources that help parents and caregivers support their children’s learning. The result is a new Help Your Child online resource centre on the Peel board’s website with the topics families said were important to them. Visit www.peelschools.org/parents/helpyourchild to explore all resources available to parents. There you will find easy-to-navigate buttons that connect families to tip sheets and web pages on a number of different topics, including math, homework, special education, EQAO and mental health.

Keeping children safe in and around storm sewers, waterways Rising and fast moving water in lakes, ponds and creeks is increasingly likely during spring. Children playing in and around storm sewers and watercourses, entering storm sewers through the outfalls, and entering storm sewers through access covers is dangerous. The following information will help keep children safe: water flows in storm sewers and watercourses are unpredictable and may change quickly toxic gases may be present in and around storm sewers and watercourses access is restricted, making rescue attempts are difficult tragic falls could take place Please review this information with your children and let them know how dangerous storms sewers and waterways are.

Earth Week – April 18 to 22, 2016 Earth Week encompasses the international celebration of Earth Day on April 22. This is the most celebrated environmental event worldwide. Initiated in 1970, this event has been considered the birth of the environmental movement. Each year, more than 6 million Canadians join 500 million people in over 180 countries in staging events and projects to address local environmental issues. In Canada, Earth Day has grown into Earth Week and even Earth Month to accommodate the profusion of events and projects. Here are some ways that you can celebrate earth week with your family:

create a backyard or schoolyard habitat

plant a garden or tree

start a recycling program at home

organize a carpooling campaign in your neighbourhood to reduce air pollution

pick up trash in your neighbourhood

read a book about an endangered species

make a visit to your local zoo, aquarium or museum

visit a local park, wildlife area or farm to provide a fun opportunity to learn about the environment and life

Celebrating Faith and Culture April 2016

DATE

CELEBRATION FAITH AND CULTURE

April Mmaal Aboriginal Spirituality

April 7 or April 8 Vasant Navratri and New Year’s Day Hinduism

April 8 Farvardegan Zoroastrianism

April 8 to 26 Month of Jalál Bahá'í

April 13 or 14 Vaisakhi or Baisakhi Sikhism and Hinduism

April 13 Saka and New Year’s Day Buddhism and Hinduism

April 15 Sri Ramnavami Hinduism

April 19 Mahavir Jayanti Jainism

Sunset of April 20 to May 1 Ridvan Bahá'í

April 22 Theravada New Year Buddhism

Sunset of April 22 to 30 Pesach (Passover) Judaism

April 24 (J) Palm Sunday Christianity

April 24 Zarathosht-no-Diso Zoroastrianism

April 27 to May 16 Month of Jamál Bahá'í

April 28 (J) Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) Christianity

April 29 (J) Good Friday (Holy Friday) Christianity and Canada

April 30 to May 4 Ghambar Maidyozarem Zoroastrianism