April 2015 Newsletter

APRIL
2015
École E. J. James
338 Cairncroft Road
Oakville, Ontario L6J 4M6
We Value Students
Telephone: (905) 845-2015
Their thoughts, their feelings– their troubles and triumphs.
Absence Check: 1-877-409-6310
We promise to do all that we can– to prepare them for the future.
Website: http://ejj.hdsb.ca
Did you know that/Savez-vous que ...
▪Grade 3 and 6 EQAO testing will take place on May 28, June 1 and June 3. We
ask parents to avoid scheduling appointments and activities during these days to
minimize disruptions to the classroom and to ensure students have the opportunity
o complete each section of the test. Students are preparing for EQAO, using
practice books and exemplars; ask to see what your child is working on!
▪Many of our Junior and Intermediate teachers have recently adopted Google
Month’s Reminders
April 1 Grade 8 Grad Photos
April 3—Good Friday — No
School
April 6—Easter Monday—No
School
April 23 Social Media Fitness
MasterClass at 7pm
May13-15—Gr. 7s to Camp
Muskoka
June 23 Gr 8 Grad
Classroom into their practice. Google Classroom is a means of communicating with
students and parent in an online environment, post handouts, assignment criteria,
lesson plans, rubrics...and pretty much anything! Students are also able to “handin” assignments through this online environment, review marked assignments and
read teacher feedback. Students and parents access Google Classroom through
the student HDSB login. Check it out!
▪Chris Vollum will be hosting a seminar on Social Media Fitness MasterClass for
students in Grades 5 through 8 on April 23 during our first two instructional
blocks. He will also host parent seminar at 7pm on April 23. He will teach parents
and students about how to use social media for a positive impact, how to minimize
risks and be savvy digital citizens. Please join us on April 23 at 7pm! See attached
flyer for more information.
Spring Pep Rally
It was a very long winter, but it is finally time to celebrate spring’s arrival! We will help welcome the warmer
weather at our Spring Pep Rally on Thursday, April 30th. Students and staff will gather with members from
their House to kick off the last 3 months of the 2014-15 school year. Spirit points will be awarded for the
most enthusiastic House, so students, be sure to come dressed in your House colour and bring your excitement!
ÉCOLE E. J. JAMES
Adults’ Night Out
On Tuesday, March 24th, parents and school staff gathered for a night of fun at the Ontario Racquet Club for
our Adults’ Night Out Fundraiser. It was a great opportunity for parents and staff to meet one another in an
informal setting and support the school’s IT and Athletics programmes. Activity at our Silent Auction tables and
raffles generated over $10,000.00! Thank you to everyone who supported this fundraiser, including those who
made generous donations directly to our school. Congratulations to our many winners and a big THANKS to the
parent volunteers who organized the event and the families / businesses who donated items. Please see the
thank you letter attached to this newsletter from the EJ James Fundraising Committee.
Spring has Sprung
With the warmer (and often wetter!) weather, a friendly reminder about appropriate attire for the outdoor
break. Please ensure your child is dressed for weather forecast, including a raincoat and boots. We do make
every effort to get outdoors during almost all weather conditions!
Please also be reminded that students who are well enough to be at school are also usually well enough to participate in our nutrition breaks. Under exceptional circumstances, a student may stay in the office at recess; however the parent must make special arrangements in advance with Ms. Ruddock or Mr. Poitras.
"Kids Helping Kids" Fundraiser May 4th. to the 6th.
Our MeToWe "Kids Helping Kids Team" of students will be having a fundraiser for Sick Kids Hospital. They
will be running this event the first week of May. The students have been working very hard making a variety of
items to sell to the students. They are supporting a little girl who is in Sick Kids Hospital right now. Please look
for more updates in the May newsletter!
Student Blog Update
This month, we are excited to announce that we have updated our blog and posted all the articles to a Blogger
account. Blogger allows for increased functionality and a more interactive experience for users. When you read
an article you can post comments and respond to the great things that are happening around E. J. and the broader community.
We hope you will take some time to read all the articles that students have worked on this year and encourage
you to keep coming back to see the new content that our students are eager to share. Our new account is at
http://ejstudentshare.blogspot.ca/ or you can link to it via the E. J. James Home Page.
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Music Notes
Save the date(s)!
1. Wednesday, June 3 at 7:00
PM is our annual Spring Concert,
and you are all invited! The concert will feature our Junior Choir,
Concert Band and Stage Band (and
possibly another group or
two...stay tuned!) and will include
jazz standards, TV show themes,
movie music, a few current "pop"
hits and some brand new music for
concert band...just to name a few.
Musicians will need to arrive 2030 minutes ahead of time dressed
in their uniforms (black bottoms,
solid white tops for Choir and Concert Band, solid black tops for
Stage Band).
APRIL
Monday, June 8 from 7:30-5:30
- Canada's Wonderland School this
year's celebration. Parents are
welcome to join us for this special
event.
2. Music Festival! Students from
the Concert Band and Stage Band
will be performing for an adjudicator at the Kingswood Music Theatre in Canada's Wonderland, then
enjoying the rest of the day in the
"Music Monday", the first Monday in
May, is a special day designated to celebrate music education in Canada. Our
entire school will be meeting in the gym
at around 11:30am on May 4 to hear
performances from some of our E.J.
musicians. Then at 12:00 noon, E.J. students will join students from schools
across Canada in singing the song "We
Are One" which was specially written
for this year's celebration. Parents
are welcome to join us for this special
event.
park. We will be leaving the
school at 7:45 AM and leaving
Wonderland to return to E.J. at
4:30. More details to come as we
get closer to the date.
A Note from the Library
Encouraging Reading in the Primary
similar, easy-to-navigate format.
BookFlix is another great place to
Grades
Each article includes pictures and
start. This program pairs a text so
sometimes multi-media samples as
that students can hear a fun story and
well. One of the biggest highlights
learn more about the topic in the story
of Pebblego is that students can
through the non-fiction book. If your
choose to have the text read to
child is a really keen reader, you might
them, which is great if your child is
want to check out Trueflix as well,
beginning to read.
which has non-fiction texts with excel-
One of the many exciting aspects
of early education is watching your
child learn to read and understand
text. Perhaps you are noticing an
increased excitement around reading and a desire to learn more than
lent illustrations, layout, and infor-
ever! If you are looking for some
Britannica School is an online ency-
new ways to inspire reading activi-
clopedia. When you log on, click on
ty, consider some of the following
the Elementary Link and you will
To access any of these resources, stu-
databases available at
encounter a kid-friendly platform
dents need their Halton user name and
www.hdsb.ca/library and select
that students will enjoy. If your
Elementary Internet Tools.
child is expressing an interest in a
password, which they have received
PebbleGo is an interactive database that includes Science and Social Studies topics. Each page has a
new topic, Britannica School is a
great place to get information to
inspire their curiosity.
mation.
from their teachers. If you try out any
of these programs and need help,
please feel free to contact me at the
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school via email at [email protected].
Bridge Club
A big shout out goes to our 8 bridge competitors who competed in their first inaugural bridge Tournament at
the Plaza International Hotel on Monday March 30th.
All the boys did a great job preparing for this day! We would like to thank our Bridge coach June Strachan
for taking this on, and teaching us how to play bridge.
Congratulations to Zachary W. and Riley F. for their second place, silver medal finish in their section at the
tournament! Go Hawks!
Transportation Survey: We Heard You!
A big thank you to everyone who completed the EJ Council Transportation Survey. Your time and effort was
very much appreciated. The purpose of the survey was to capture a picture of how students get to and from
EJ every day. It is hoped this survey would start a conversation about how vehicular congestion around EJ
could be reduced.
We are received responses from 151 EJ families. This represents a solid response rate of 45%. Thank you!
(detailed results can be accessed through EJ’s website).
Key summary points of the survey...

The statistics demonstrate a moderate use of bussing services for those students who are eligible (of
the 60% who responded that they were eligible for bussing approximately 44% are actually using the
bussing services.)

Interestingly, no respondent answered that they carpool with other families.

Parent comments highlight the desire for more crossing guards, and this is a subject School Council continues to discuss with the Town.

In the survey comments, parents also voiced their appreciation for the lay-by and the volunteers who
assist drop-offs in the morning.
However, vehicular congestion at the lay-by was an issue raised by several survey respondents.
Vehicular congestion at the lay-by and around the school could be diminished if more children walked to
school, took the bus or if there was carpooling amongst families. For those children being driven, dropping
off your children slightly earlier in the morning or picking up them up slightly later might also be helpful.
Families who are not eligible for bussing yet would like to be considered a "courtesy seat" should contact the
school office for more information.
EJ James Parent Council
Les Sports
Good luck to the girls and boys volleyball teams who are competing in tournaments this
month!
Senior Girls Basketball Team - Grd. 7/8
Our girls team have finished their regular season strong! We are 4 wins and 2 losses. The girls are
moving on to the playoff round next week. Even with all the injuries we've had, the girls continue to
have a fighting spirit and have an incredible drive to succeed. The girls have improved immensely over
the course of the season and are a real threat to their opponents. What a great group of girls to
coach, it has been a wonderful experience for all of us. Thanks for our commitment and team effort.
We wish the girls all the best in the very near future! Go Hawks!
Boys Basketball Team- Grd. 7/8
Written by: Al Saplys (Head coach)
The boys fought hard and competed strongly right to the end of the season. There was no giving up on this
team. Most importantly the team ALL became better basketball players and showed good sportsmanship and
upheld EJ's excellent school reputation.
Thanks for making it fun for me and coach John as well!
Big thanks to our EJ teachers and team supporters Nicole Mainville, Sandra Howarth, Mary Lafleur and
Rosemary Tough for their time and advice.
Keep hooping - it's a great game - invented by a Canadian.
Thank-You Coaches!
A big thanks to both coaches! We really appreciate the (many!) hours you have dedicated to the boys and to
their development as athletes. We couldn't have done it without your expertise.
Senior Track and Field
Tryouts will be starting soon! As the weather heats up, be prepared to go over to O.T. H.S. for our track
competition for grades 6, 7 and 8.
In the next week you will be receiving permission forms to compete. See you at O.T.H.S.
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