From the desk of Mr. Donnelly: It would seem that the days are getting longer and that spring is just around the corner. Forest of Reading is well underway and students and staff are counting the days to the March Break. Our character theme for March is Honesty. We will continue to emphasize our attributes through our morning announcements and Character assemblies.

Our next School Council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 3rd, at 7:00 p.m. in the library. As always, our meetings are open for any member of our community to attend, so come out and join in the fun!

The last day of school before the March Break is Friday, March 8th.

It has come to our attention that many parents and visitors have been walking into the school with their child or children without obtaining a visitor’s pass at the office. Parents and visitors are asked to sign in at the office when they enter the school. In the interest of the safety of our students, no parents or visitors are to enter the school building without a visitor’s pass. Parents are asked to say good-bye to their children at the school doors and not to enter the school with their child(ren). Please help keep Rogers P.S. a very safe school by honouring the visitor’s code and obtaining a pass from the office.

We have definitely had some winter weather over the month of February. With this weather comes some changing conditions in our school yard. We currently have two large mounds of snow. One at the North East side of the school and the other on the South West side of the school. Both of these areas are out of bounds during the school day and I would ask parents to support that decision before and after school as well. We have had some students injured after school on the snow hill as a result of sliding and pushing and shoving. Thanks for your support in this endeavour.

Finally, kudos to our School Council for hosting the Steve Chappelle session on street proofing your child from the internet. Although attendance was low, the presentation was one of the best that I have heard in quite some time. Steve shared programs that parents can download on their computers to help regulate and monitor the use and history of all the computers in the home. This software also filters content and allows for more parental controls. To learn more, check out the following link www.stevechapelle.ca

www.stevechapelle.ca

www.stevechapelle.ca or follow Steve on Twitter at @SteveChappelle

Attendance on Snow Days: For safety reasons, you may choose whether or not to send your child to school; however, if your keep him/her home and your child is NOT bussed you MUST call the school

and report the absence.

(see page 2 for further information)

Photos wanted for 2013 Rogers Yearbook! Attention all students and parents! Do you have photos of activities at Rogers PS in the 2012/13 school year? We are looking for group shots of students at work and play - classroom activities, sports, Breakfast Club, Good News

Assemblies, etc. Please send your photos or questions to: rogersyearbook2013@gmail.com. Thank you!

March 1, 2014 Edition #7 Rogers Public School (905) 895-5441 Fax. (905) 895-9708 Email Address rogers.ps@yrdsb.edu.on.ca Website: http://www.rogers.ps.yrdsb.edu.on.ca Trustee: Martin Van Beek (905) 830-6776 School Council Chair : Aileen Gore Superintendent: Paul Carew (905) 895-5155 Principal : Brian Donnelly (905) 895-5441

Honesty We behave in a sincere, trustworthy and truthful manner.

Our Mission

We unite in our purpose to inspire and prepare learners for life in our changing world community.

Our focus

Academics, Arts, Athletics and the Environment

From the desk of Mr. Donnelly: It would seem that the days are getting longer and that spring is just around the corner. Forest of Reading is well underway and students and staff are counting the days to the March Break. Our character theme for March is Honesty. We will continue to emphasize our attributes through our morning announcements and

Character assemblies.

Our next School Council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 5th at 7:00 p.m. in the library. As always, our meetings are

open for any member of our community to attend, so come out and join in the fun!

The last day of school before the March Break is Thursday, March 6th.

We have definitely had some winter weather over the month of February. With this weather comes some changing conditions in our school yard. We currently have two large mounds of snow. One at the North East side of the school and the other on the South West side of the school. Both of these areas are out of bounds and I would ask parents to support that decision before and after school as well. We have had some students injured after school on the snow hill as a result of sliding and pushing and shoving. Thanks for

your support in this endeavour.

Welcome back to Mrs. Lane and thank you and best wishes to Ms. Weatherston for doing a great job teaching French in her absence. We would like to wish Mrs. Weedon the best of luck as she has left for her maternity leave for her second child and

welcome to Ms. Cataldi who is now teaching our grade 1/2 class.

Attendance on Snow Days: For safety reasons, you may choose whether or not to send your child to school; however, if your keep him/her home and your child is NOT bussed you MUST call the school and report the absence. (see page 2 for further information)

Reminder - Elementary School Front Door Security

As of February 3, 2014, elementary school doors are locked 15 minutes after morning bell, and stay locked for the remainder of the school day. Visitors, including parents/guardians, couriers, Board staff, etc., are

required to use the buzzer at the front door and to sign in at the main office.

To access before and after care programs, parents/guardians will continue to access the

program through the designated door and use the buzzer located by the door.

Remember to please send your child prepared for the day. This will help minimize the number of people requesting to be buzzed into the school.

If it is still necessary to drop off lunch/es, forgotten items, etc. for your child(ren), you will need to ring the buzzer, face the camera and wait to buzzed into the school. Please leave the clearly labelled items on the table outside of the office. The office will try to get them to your child during recess or lunch breaks. Parents are still responsible for coming into the building to sign out your child/ren for any appointments taking place during the school day. Any efforts to make appointments outside of school hours will be appreciated. Also, when

volunteering, please ensure you sign in at the office.

Our school continues to be a safe place where we welcome and encourage parent and

community member involvement.

Important Dates March 3 Skating 9-12pm Pr./Jr.

March 7 PA Day

March 10-14 March Break

March 20 Hep B - Grade 7

March 24/27 K’s to

SafetyVillage

March 25 Pancake Breakfast

-Breakfast Club

March 29 Earth Hour

March 28 GNA

April 18 Good Friday

April 21 Easter Monday

April 25 Jump Rope for Heart

Kick-Off Assembly

April 30 GNA

April 30 Spirit Day -

Denim & Twin Day

School Council Meetings Wednesday, March 5, 2014 Wednesday, April 2, 2014

at 7:00 pm

E.Q.A.O Notice All grade 3 & 6 students in publicly funded schools through-out Ontario will be participating in Language and Mathemat-ics assessment activities during a two-week period. The sub-tests are to be completed in a specific order so student ab-sence during the testing period is challenging. We respectfully request that parents make every effort to avoid absences or arranging medical and dental appointments during this time.

The assessments must be conducted from

May 26th - June 5th

KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION If you have a child who will be registering for kindergarten in the fall of 2014, registration

started as of January 17, 2014 and is ongoing. All children who were born on or before

December 31st, 2010 are eligible to attend Junior Kindergarten beginning September 2014. We

ask that you inform any friends or neighbours that do not presently have children attending Rogers Public

School and do have an eligible aged child. Please pass this information on to them where possible,

or have them call the school.

At the time of registration, a parent must provide

Birth Certificate

Proof of Residency i.e. current Municipal Tax Bill, Offer of Purchase or Rental Agreement.

Note: Students new to Ontario must first make an appointment to visit the Board’s Reception Centre before

registering at our school. Please call them at: 905-883-5241

Inclement Weather - Buses and Lunch Programs are cancelled A reminder to listen to your local radio/television stations to find out if school buses are running when severe weather conditions are experienced. Information is also posted at www.schoolbuscity.com and available on the Board’s Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/#!/YRDSB . Regardless of the weather, the school is always open. Parents are reminded it is your decision whether to send your children. However, should buses be cancelled and you choose to drive your child/ren to school, YOU ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR PICKING THEM UP AT 2:45 p.m. When buses are cancelled in the morning, they are cancelled for the whole day (even if weather improves), all special events, field trips and all lunch programs are always cancelled. Attendance on Snow Days: For safety reasons, you may choose whether or not to send your child to school; however, if your keep him/her home and your child is NOT bussed you MUST call the school and report the absence. Our Safe Arrival Program dictates that we know where all ab-sent students are - if we cannot reach you, we will contact your emergency contact person. If we cannot reach that person, we are obligated to contact the police. Once students arrive, they are expected to stay.

Community Corner See what’s happening at the Newmar-ket Public Library for March Break at www.newmarketpl.ca.

Bucs Football - House League for players 6-12 years of age. AAA OVFL for players 8-19 years of age. For more information and to register visit: www.bucsfootball.ca

Royal City Soccer Club - Soccer Summer Camps. To register or for more information visit: www.royalsoccer.com or call 1-800-427-0536

PEANUT AND NUT BAN Numerous students attending our school have life threatening aller-gies and will experience anaphylac- tic shock if they are exposed to even a tiny amount of peanut oil, peanuts or nut products. Therefore, Rogers PS MUST be a PEANUT AND NUT-FREE ZONE. What this means is that no peanut or peanut products of any kind may be brought into the school. Thank you.

Parking Remember - Rogers Public School is a no idling zone.

Please assist in reinforcing our green message to our ecologically

aware students and help reduce our carbon footprint. Thanks

Milk Milk tickets are on sale every Monday and Wednesday for the first 10 minutes of morning recess in Room 112. Six milk tickets for $4.00 or $0.75 each.

Emergency Information

If you have a change in home phone number, work numbers or emergency contact informa-tion, please be sure to let the office know, so that we can update our records accordingly.

From The Office Wherever possible, please try to reduce the number of calls to pass on messages to your children. If possible, we urge you to make arrangements ahead of time and if necessary, send a note to the teacher. Rogers Public School Website: Be sure to check out our website for all the latest and greatest happenings at Rogers as well as our Newsletter, rogers.ps.yrdsb.edu.on.ca

Indoor Shoes/Outdoor Boots Now that it is either snowy or muddy out-side, we would like your assistance in try-ing to keep our halls and classrooms clean. Please have your child wear boots to school and have a pair of shoes to keep at school just for indoors. If for any reason he or she does not wear boots, we ask that a second pair of shoes be worn for inside so that mud and snow are not being tracked into the classrooms and the gym.

Moving? If your child currently attends Rogers,

but you anticipate moving between now and

the new school year, please let us know

your plans as soon as possible. Although

it may seem early, we are

already working on student

numbers for next year.

REMEMBER ! Daylight Savings Begins March 9th. Spring forward ! Turn your clocks ahead an hour. Don’t forget Earth Hour is March 29, 2014

Cell Phones & IPODs Casual use of cell phones is not permitted at school. If parent(s) wish that their child(ren) carry these at their own risk, for communication purposes going to/from school, then students must turn off their phones once at school and store them in lockers/other safe place. Phone calls and texting from cell phones are not permitted during the school day. Any calls to par-ents/guardians during the school day, must be made with permission, from phones housed in the classroom or our main office, under the supervi-sion and knowledge of school personnel. Pictures with personal cam-eras/cell phones are not to be taken. The school has cameras for picture taking purposes with permission of staff. As well, students in Grades 4-8 only are allowed to bring IPODs at their own risk. These are to be used at recess only and under teacher discretion.

Newmarket Cares for Kids

Is a local non-profit organization whose aim is to promote and facilitate the participation of children ages 3-18 in physical and cultural activities, re-

gardless of their ability to pay for services. Opportunities with local groups featuring drama/musical theatre, karate, music and dance, are offered (subject to availability). In some cases, transportation through a local taxi company may be available. Call (905) 716-1447 for infor-mation.

Printer Cartridges

In keeping with the environmental priority of our school, Cartridge World

offers a free pick up service for recyclable printer cartridges. Please

continue to take advantage of this service and drop off your recyclable

printer cartridges to the school. Please note that toner cartridges from

photocopiers are not part of the recycling program.

Spring Cleaning As March Break approaches, let’s make a special effort to return lost and overdue library books. Misplaced books seem to get harder to find the longer they are lost!

Photos wanted for 2014 Rogers Yearbook!

Attention all students and parents! Do you have photos of activities at Rogers PS in the 2013/14 school

year? We are looking for group shots of students at work and play—classroom activities, sports, Breakfast

Club, Good News Assemblies, etc. Please send your photos or questions to:

rogersyearbook2014@gmail.com.

Healthy Schools Snack--Lunch Ideas for March

Remember, we are what we eat! Let’s eat the best to be the best that we can be!

Let’s take initiative for our bodies and create health and vitality!

**Thank you to all those who supported our fundraising efforts at

Boston Pizza. Your generosity has made it possible to take part in

special days like the Big Crunch coming up on March 6th! We are also looking for-

ward to enjoying a St. Patrick’s week Green Smoothie on March 19th!

Latest from the Library

Students are voraciously reading this year’s titles from the 2014 nominated Silver Birch (Gr. 4-6) and Red Maple (Gr. 7-8) books. The Blue Spruce readers (K-3) are halfway through their 10 nominated titles, reading one per week with Mrs. Parker. Did you know that your child has access to Tumblebooks at home? For younger students: www.tumblebooklibrary.com, username: rogersps, password: books For older students: www.tumblebookcloud.com, username: rogersps, password: login There are hundreds of books on these websites that your child can listen to for both enjoyment and to improve their reading. Our library pays for this subscription. Check it out!

Avo Dip

2 large avocados

½ head of cauliflower

¼ cup of lemon juice

¼ cup sweet onion powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

**Blend all ingredients in a

food processor. Use as a dip

or main course.

**Fun to use as a dip for cut

up veggies (cucumber,

zucchini, red pepper,

carrots, celery…)

Sweet Purple Seed Spread

5 cups soaked sunflower seeds

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup fresh blackberries

¼ cup agave nectar (or yummy

maple syrup)

1 apple, sliced

** Blend the sunflower seeds in

a blender until it makes a nice

paste.

**Mix in the remaining

ingredients.

**Serve on apple (or pear)

slices.

Green Smoothie of Wonder

3 generous handfuls of

spinach

3 peaches

2 cups apple juice

1 mango

**Blend in blender until

smooth.

**Be in joy!!

Chess Team … Optimist Tournament

Rogers P.S Chess Team attended a Chess Tournament on February 26, 2014 at the Optimist Club. Our team did extremely well against a very strong field. Congratulations to the following 7 students who will be going to the qualifying tournament for the Provincial competition; H. Safri, M. Skyba , B. Dong, J. Shreeve, N. Cheung, J. Fallows, A. Litow-Daye. Our next tournament is on April 9, 2014.

GR. 7 & 8 SUMMER SCHOOL Applications will be available shortly for students in grade 7 & 8 to attend summer school programs in English and Math at Newmarket H.S. Students/parents may request these, although applications will be sent home with specific students who we believe would benefit from this opportunity. Find out more at yrdsb.ca under Summer Programs.

Jr. Volleyball The Jr. Coed volleyball team participated in the Area Volleyball tournament on January 28th at Newmarket High School. It was a great day of volleyball where 16 teams from the area battled it out on the court. The team played hard & had their best results of the season. Great Job team! Con-gratulations to J. Bowker, R. Gilles, P. Murray, C. Kwong, L. Fraser, M. Gelinas, D. Koruni, K. Gastis, R. Babcock, L. Bauer, J. Porter & A. Ramrattan. A special thank you to the fabulous par-ents who supported the team by cheering them on and by helping out with transportation to our games. We really couldn't have done it without you!

Board Launches New Mission, Vision, Values and Slogan Mission: To advance student achievement and well-being through public education, which moti-vates learners, fosters inclusion, inspires innovation and builds community. The York Region District School Board is celebrating the launch of its new Mission, Vision and Val-ues statements and slogan – Inspire Learning! The Board last reviewed these statements in the late 1990s. Since that time, education in York Region has been influenced by a number of significant changes, including changes in technology, in our communities and in our learning environments. Community members, parents/guardians, staff members and students had the opportunity to pro-vide input and share ideas about the ideal future of public education in York Region. Thank you to everyone who participated in the process. For more information, visit the Board website at www.yrdsb.ca.

Advertise Your Business in the Yearbook Rogers Public School is offering local businesses the opportunity to sponsor the 2014 Yearbook through a business card ad. A sponsor ad is an inexpensive and effective way to promote your business to the Rogers community, including parents, teachers and administration. In addition, sponsor ads help to offset the cost of producing the yearbook, which allows us to offer it to our students at an affordable price. Business card ads for the 2014 yearbook are available for the low price of $25.00. Larger ads can also be arranged. If you would like to place an ad or would like more information, please contact Liza Mallyon, Volunteer Yearbook Coordinator at rogerscouncil@yahoo.ca or rogersyearbook2013@gmail.com.

Thank you for your support!

Me to We The Me to We Club would like to thank all the students and staff who supported our candy-gram fundraiser. It was a great success with nearly 1,200 candy grams sold! All profits go towards build-ing a school in Africa. Thanks for your generosity.

PARENTS - PLEASE REMEMBER TO SUBMIT YOUR BOSTON PIZZA RECEIPT FROM OUR RECENT CELEBRITY SERVER NIGHT, TO THE SCHOOL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THANK YOU!

Dance-a-thon

Wow! Thank you to our parent community for supporting our Dance-a-thon fundraiser which raised over $1,700.00. Our draw winner was A. Beaven who was thrilled to win a $25.00 gift card for ToysRUs. A big thank you to our D.J’s! We hope you all had fun!

February 21, 2014 Dear Members of the York Region District School Board Community: As you may be aware, our current director of education will be retiring as of July 31, 2014. The important responsibility of selecting his successor now becomes the task of the Board of Trustees. We have engaged the services of Laverne Smith & Associates, a leading Canadian firm that has worked extensively with school boards and other public sector organizations across the country. Dr. Laverne Smith, our consultant, will be assisting us by gathering input from you, the educational com-munity. Your input into the qualities and characteristics that you would like to see in the new director of edu-cation is critical. Please take a few minutes to complete the linked online survey which comprises four questions. The survey results will be submitted electronically directly to Laverne Smith & Asso-ciates. All responses will be held in strict confidence by the consultant. Please submit your response by Tuesday March 18, 2014. If you require more time to complete the survey, responses will continue to be accepted after this deadline. Thank you in advance for your time and input. Yours truly, Anna DeBartolo Diane Giangrande Co-Chairs of the Search Committee for Director of Education York Region District School Board