Up and Coming Events
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Opening Ceremonies of La Semaine de la Francophonie
2:45 – 3:30pm, Monday, March 5, 2012
Dear Parents,
You are cordially invited to the Opening Ceremonies of General Lake Public School’s first annual celebration of La Semaine de la Francophonie on Monday, March 5 at 2:45pm in the school gymnasium.
“La Francophonie” is an organization of nations with connections to French culture and the French language. From March 5-9, our Semaine de la Francophonie will celebrate countries as wide-ranging as France, Vietnam, Senegal and Canada through performances, workshops and a cultural fair.
At the opening ceremonies, students in junior-intermediate French Immersion will perform music and dance from Guinea, Tunisia and New Brunswick’s Acadian culture. We encourage you to come and enjoy the show!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Hats for Cancer Patients
Friday, February 24, 2012
March Hot Lunch Form
General Lake Hot Lunches
February 2012
Dear Parents / Guardians
Enclosed you will find an order form to purchase hot lunches at the first nutritional break. Please include payment in full by cash or cheque payable to General Lake Public School with the exact amount and return it with your child by Friday February 24, 2012. Cheques can be post-dated for February 29 2012.
Return this form to the school with your child in a sealed envelope or Ziploc bag, to avoid losing money. Please do not mix hot lunch money with other School programs. If payment is for more than one child, please fill out one form per child and send the forms together with one child.
No refund will be given if your child is absent from school on a hot lunch day.
** All Proceeds will go towards supporting programs in our school **
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact a member of General Lake School Council at 613-687-2404
Thank you for your continuous support!
* Due Date: February 24th *
Wishing you a safe and wonderful March Break.
General Lake Hot Lunches Form
March 2012
** Due date: Friday February 24, 2012 **
Child’s Name: _____________________________________________
Teacher’s name: _________________________________ Room Number: _________________
Friday March 2 # of cheese slices: _______________@ $2.00 = _____________(B day)
Friday March 9 # Chicken Pitas: ______________@ * $3.00 =_____________ (A day)
Chicken Pita Without lettuce ⃝
Friday March 23 # of cheese slices: _______________@ $2.00 = _____________ (B day)
Friday March 30 # of cheese slices: _______________@ $2.00 = _____________ (A day)
TOTAL $=________________
Payment may be made by cash or cheque payable to General Lake Public School. Cheque can be post-dated for February 29 2012. Please fill out one form per child, and return the form with your child by Friday February 24th. If payment is for more than one child, Please fill out one form per child and send the completed forms together with your child
Tales from the Valley Comes to General Lake
Boy Basketball Team Make Semi Finals
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Science Fair at General Lake
An outstanding project should have:
An original, creative question
A good hypothesis (answering your question)
Test all possible answers to your question
Do a real experiment, including a control
A working model of your experiment in your display
Good measurements and a great graph
Report on research/background information about topic.
Lettering sharp and clear. Big, bold title.
Beautiful, colorful, neat display
Return form below to Ms Legault to register your project by March 8, 2012
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Name: ____________________ Grade_____ Teacher _________
Science Fair Project ____________________________________
General Lake Celebrates Black History Month
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Legion Public Speaking Event
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Public Speaking Competition
CARIBOU MATH RESULTS FOR FEBRUARY
Congratulations to all the participants of our Caribou Mathematics Competition. In the Grade 7/8 division, in First place was Erin Stacey; in Second place Brianna Pomeroy; and in Third place Jada McInnis. In the Grade 5/6 division, in First place Gabe Layden; in Second place Jaden O'Connell; in Third place Mackenzie Carter-Gorin. Finally in the Grade 3/4 division, in First place Victoria McColeman; Second place Connor Stencill; and in third place Mackenzie Smith. Congratulations to all competitors. The next event occurs on April 18, 2012. Thanks again Mrs Stencil for all your hard work bringing this initiative to our school.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
News From Boys and Girls Club
Pembroke, Ontario K8A 6Y6
Tel: 613-735-1933
Fax: 613-735-1730
Email: bonnie.s@boysandgirlsclubofpembroke.com
Website: www.boysandgirlsclubofpembroke.com
MARCH BREAK CAMP!!!
We have already started planning for our March Break (March 12-16) Camp, out of Knight’s of Columbus Hall (170 Ellis). This year the theme will be “DOWN SOUTH” and the week will be filled up with fun activities, crafts, sports, games and more!!!! Cost for 2011/12 members is: $100 for the week for the 1st child, $90 for the 2nd child and $80 for the 3rd or $25/day. Hours are 8 am - 4:30 pm. Extended hours are 6:30 am to 8 am and then after from 4:30 to 6 pm. Extended hours are $5. per child per session. Campers bring their own lunch and snacks so please note we are a peanut sensitive organization. If you are not a member, but would like to enroll for this camp, please contact the office to register.
OPEN HOUSE
The Boys and Girls Club of Pembroke has been serving the children in our community since 1966 but still so many are not aware of all that we offer. On Wednesday April 25, 2012 at the Knights of Columbus Hall 170 Ellis Ave. from 6:30 to 8 PM we will have an open house with information about all our programs from the Before and After School Programs to our oldest program…Rec Night! IF you have school age kids and/or teens looking to do their volunteer hours….this would be a great place to start to get to know us better. Hope you can make it!
Monday, February 13, 2012
New Graduates of Yard Patrol
Peer Mediation Script
Hi, My name is _____________.
Hi, My name is _____________.
BOTH: And we’re your Yard Patrol.
Are you familiar with Yard Patrol?
We are students helping students solve problems.
We will not take sides
Everyone gets a turn to talk.
We are not going to judge or advise you.
This will just be between all of us in here.
So the mediation can work, we have some rules you need to agree to: (ask each person)
Do you agree to work to solve the problem? (yes/no)
Do you agree to tell the truth? (yes/no)
Do you agree that there will be no put-downs or name calling? (yes/no)
Do you agree not to fight? (yes/no)
Do you agree not to interrupt each other? (yes/no)
Do you agree to speak directly to us? (yes/no)
What happened and how did it make you feel? (Restate)
What happened and how did it make you feel? (Restate)
Do you have anything else to add?
Do you have anything else to add?
What would you like to see happen?
What would you like to see happen?
What can you do to solve this problem?
What can you do to solve this problem?
Thank you for coming to the Yard Patrol.
You did a good job. (Fill out agreement sheet & shake hands).
* If there is no agreement, say “You are not ready to solve your problem yet. Please come back when you are ready to work things out”.
Free French Club
Friday Movie dates: March 2, 2012; April 13, 2012; May 04, 2012
Time: 3:40 to 5:30pm.
Popcorn provided. Parents will be responsible for picking up their children promptly at 5:30pm.
Wednesday Centers dates: March 21, 2012, March 28, 2012; April 18, 2012 April 25, 2012 May 9, 2012; May 16, 2012; May 23, 2012; May 30, 2012.
Time: 3:40 to 5:00pm.
Snack provided. Parents will be responsible for picking up their children promptly at 5:00pm.
If you have any question regarding the French Club please contact the school at 613-687-2404. Thank you!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Sabrina's Story from 2004
Ian Macleod
The Ottawa Citizen
September 18, 2004
The day before she died, Sabrina Shannon rose early for a breakfast of bacon, toast and orange juice. Her mother was in the kitchen preparing a school lunch with a plain, milk-free English muffin and a slice of Maple Leaf ham. It was a Monday, the end of Sabrina's first month in Grade 8 at Pembroke's Bishop Smith Catholic High.
"Mom, I'm not eating that sandwich," Sabrina protested. "I can eat french fries" from the school cafeteria. "I ate them on Friday. It's OK, I checked. I can eat those french fries."
Sara Shannon resisted. Her only child had food anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic condition triggered by certain foods. In Sabrina's case, trace amounts of peanuts, soy protein and dairy products could kill her. She also suffered from asthma, which typically makes anaphylactic children far more susceptible to severe allergic reactions.
Sabrina had eaten french fries before, but because allergies severely restricted her diet, her mother wanted what she could eat to be nutritious. Fries had always been limited to a Friday-night treat at McDonald's.
But Sara Shannon also trusted Sabrina's judgment. Her daughter was a poster child for food allergy safety. Three years earlier, Sabrina produced a documentary about her anaphylaxis for CBC Radio. Since age two, she'd experienced a handful of anaphylactic reactions and emergency trips to hospitals. She was extremely vigilant and, if unsure of a food, would not go near it.
"With allergies, it's no --or you die," Sabrina told the radio audience. She giggled and said she'd love to be allergic to spinach, broccoli and cauliflower.
Her mother eventually gave into her daughter's demand for school french fries and the freckle-faced, red-headed Sabrina headed off that morning, Sept. 29, 2003, wearing a new pair of jean shorts and one of her mother's Gap T-shirts, with "Rescue Patrol" across the front.
Her knapsack contained her Epipen injector syringe with a dose of life-saving epinephrine (adrenaline) in case she suffered another potentially fatal anaphylactic reaction. She also carried a Ventolin puffer for her asthma.
Sabrina soon arrived at Bishop Smith, a pile of grey brick and blue glass overlooking an athletic field where the Crusaders girls' rugby team routinely rides off with the annual county championship. These would be the final hours of her life.
Almost one year later, the chief coroner for Eastern Ontario, Dr. Andrew McCallum, is about to launch a public awareness campaign about the dangers anaphylactic students face in high schools. His endeavour is part of Sabrina's story.
Sabrina was passionate about life: Harry Potter books, summer drama camp, writing short-story fiction, swimming, skiing, collecting Yu Gi Oh cards and anything else to do with Japanese anime art, which she had a remarkable talent at drawing. At her Grade 7 graduation dance the previous spring, she danced every song.
She didn't hold back at Bishop Smith either, seeming not to care what other people thought of her bubbly, talkative and sometimes off-the-wall personality. She took pride in her ability to be assertive. She even refused to hang around with the popular crowd because they wouldn't accept one of her friends, who was a bit overweight.
In some ways, Sabrina had found her voice at a very young age.
But the fall of 2003 was to be very different. The allergen-safe zone of her former elementary school was gone. Bishop Smith is a big, busy place, with a cafeteria and students as old as 20.
Sara Shannon spoke with school officials, including Sabrina's homeroom teacher, about her daughter's anaphylaxis. Sabrina also knew she now had to be much more responsible about her condition and had no intention of coming into contact with an allergen that would set off her defective immune system.
She may, in fact, have been more worried about being teased because of her allergies. Once in elementary school, a bullying student smeared butter on her face. In Grade 7, kids began teasing her about the red fanny pack she wore with her Epipen inside. She eventually stopped wearing it and kept her medicine in her desk. At Bishop Smith, she kept it in her knapsack, desk or locker.
Around 11:40 a.m., Sabrina and her best friend, Kelsey Gulliver, headed to the cafeteria for lunch. Sabrina checked with the cafeteria staff, as she'd done the previous Friday, to make sure the french fries were cooked in vegetable oil. Assured, she bought some, along with a Coke.
After eating, Sabrina and Kelsey headed to Ms. Sernoskie's 12:30 geography class in the Grade 8 wing on the second floor. Before class, Sabrina stood at Kelsey's desk talking. Then it hit: Sabrina started to wheeze. "I think I'm having an asthma attack."
Sabrina told the teacher, who sent her, accompanied by another student, to the ground-floor school office at the other end of the building. Because she thought she was having an asthma attack, her Epipen remained behind in her unlocked locker.
panic sets in
Vice-principal Clint Young popped his head out of his office when he heard Sabrina arrive. She was now struggling to breathe and panicking. "It's my asthma, it's my asthma."
An ambulance was soon called.
The other student said Sabrina was anaphylactic and Mr. Young, whose young son has anaphylaxis, asked Sabrina what she'd eaten.
"It's not my allergies, it's not my allergies," she insisted.
But inside her body, her over-reactive immune system was launching an all-out "systemic reaction" to repel what it believed to be a foreign invader. Mast and basophil cells in her blood stream and tissues were releasing a variety of defensive chemicals, including a massive amount of histamine, which dilated her blood vessels and sent her blood pressure plummeting. Her heart raced to keep blood flowing to her brain and other organs. The histamine also caused her respiratory muscles to contract, strangling her ability to breathe and further reducing the amount of oxygen flowing to her brain.
Within two minutes of arriving in the office, she lost consciousness and crumpled to the floor. She was going into cardiac arrest.
About 30 seconds later, her homeroom teacher arrived with Sabrina's Epipen. Mr. Young administered it in her thigh, followed by CPR.
She was taken to Pembroke General Hospital, then CHEO. She never regained consciousness and died the following night from food-induced anaphylaxis. She was just 13.
Laboratory tests on her blood were unable to determine what specific allergen was responsible. But Dr. McCallum suspects the cafeteria tongs used to handle her french fries may have been contaminated with milk products picked up from earlier orders of poutine.
"I don't see any single person who didn't do what they should have done," he says of the staff at Bishop Smith. "But I do think that there's a cascade of things that led to this."
As a result of Sabrina's death, this Wednesday, Dr. McCallum, flanked by Sabrina's parents and a panel of allergy and anaphylaxis experts, will hold a press conference at CHEO.
"We want to make sure people are aware of this and that we can, as widely as possible, distribute this information so we can prevent another child from suffering the same fate," he says. "We ought to, as a society, stop allergic children from dying."
The switch to high school is one of the most potentially dangerous points in the lives of allergic children emerging from the protective and highly controlled elementary system.
Dr. McCallum likens the move to high school to "handovers" in hospitals, when patients are transferred from one department to another or medical staff change shifts. It's a well-documented risky time for patient safety.
Because of their size and diversity, high schools can be allergen danger zones. Young teens mix with older teens. They're at an age when they take more risks. Students are not only far more autonomous, but want to fit in with their peers. Anaphylactic pupils may not want to carry their Epipens or even talk about their allergies with new friends for fear of being different or being teased. And most don't want their photographs posted in classrooms, cafeterias and the school office.
Yet the kids most likely to die from food-induced anaphylaxis are teenagers. The peak age for food-related anaphylaxis deaths in Ontario, and presumably the rest of Canada, is between 15 and 25 years of age.
But advice on how to protect themselves often falls on deaf ears, says Dr. Peter Vadas, director of the division of allergy and clinical immunology at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital.
Teenagers "don't want to hear what you've got to say. They're going to take chances as they often do with anything and that includes food allergies and anaphylactic sensitivity. They're also not going to carry rescue medication with them. With all of those problems that confront teenagers, that's why these things tend to happen."
Anaphylactic deaths in Canada, from all sources including food, stings, latex allergies and even vigorous exercise, are difficult to confirm, but estimates range from 12 to 50 annually. Between 1986 and 1991, up to three children a year died in Ontario from food-induced anaphylaxis. It's believed that the last school-related death in Canada before Sabrina's was in Ontario in 1994.
Though deaths are rare, Dr. McCallum and others believe food-induced anaphylaxis deaths in schools should never happen.
But in many high schools, even some where school boards have policies for dealing with anaphylactic students, there are few or no firmly enforced rules and protocols for preventing or handling an emergency such as Sabrina's.
In 2001, Anaphylaxis Canada, which promotes awareness and research, sent a survey to the more than 600 schools under the Toronto District School Board to assess how the schools were dealing with the threat. Only 200 schools replied and all but about 20 were elementary schools.
lack of response
The absence of responses, especially from high schools, "I think says something," says Laurie Harada, the organization's executive director. And even among school boards that have policies, "it's not translating into really good anaphylactic management plans at the school level," she says.
For example, the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board, to which Bishop Smith belongs, had an anaphylactic policy. Sabrina's death has resulted in a sweeping new policy, drafted with the help of Anaphylaxis Canada.
Dr. Vadas, who worked with the Canadian School Boards Association to draft a comprehensive guidebook for creating effective anaphylaxis management policies, says that while many boards are addressing the issues, there's no uniform approach.
"That's fundamentally where the problem is," he says. "Some are great in terms of handling food allergies, others are not so great.
"A lot of people equate what happens during food allergies to what happens during the ragweed season. Maybe a runny, stuffy nose, a little bit of itching, no big deal. They don't appreciate the fact that people can, and do, die from these things. So you run into resistance, you run into a lack of appreciation, you run into a lack of motivation to implement what are sometimes difficult types of policies."
Dr. Zave Chad, an Ottawa allergist and chair of the Canadian Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Foundation, believes the prime responsibility for safety should lie with the students.
"They have to realize that they've got follow the rules for themselves and if the schools can help them out by having less exposure to this stuff, fine. But in the end, it's the kids who have to" take charge of their safety.
Bishop Smith now has perhaps the most stringent high school anaphylaxis safety plan in Canada. Measures include:
- Parents must supply the school with at least one Epipen, which is kept in the school office. All staff have been trained on how to use them;
- The school has prioritized its list of students with medical conditions. The list singles out about 25 students with life-threatening conditions, including nine seriously anaphylactic pupils. The school's electronic student files automatically flash a red flag each time one of the at-risk student's files is opened. Another click of the mouse opens a detailed page on the student's condition and how to respond;
- Anaphylactic students are routinely stopped in hallways by administrators and asked to show that they're carrying an Epipen. They must also tell new teachers the location of their Epipens;
- Photos of anaphylactics are discreetly posted in the school office, the teachers' preparatory room and lunch room, and in a section of the cafeteria used by cafeteria staff. As well, the school is working with a company contracted to run the cafeteria to reduce employee turnover and increase the likelihood that food staff will better know which students moving through the lunch line are anaphylactic;
- Anaphylactic students have been paired with a student "buddy," usually a friend who is often around and who knows of their condition. The buddies have been taught about how to spot the early signs of an anaphylactic reaction and whom to alert;
- Part of the Grade 9 health curriculum this year will included lessons about anaphylaxis.
Ottawa's two main school boards also have anaphylaxis policies and protocols covering elementary and secondary levels.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board protocols, developed with the help of the City of Ottawa health department, include:
- Detailed records are kept about anaphylactic students, including where they store their Epipens if they don't follow the board's recommendation to carry them on their person, their bus route numbers and the typical reactions a student experiences during an anaphylactic episode. The record also includes a basic course of action for school officials to follow in the case of an emergency;
- Parents and physicians of anaphylactic students are asked to sign a form permitting school officials to inject a student with their Epipen in the event of an emergency and agree the board will not be held responsible for harm that might occur as a result;
- Parents and students are strongly urged to supply the school with a back-up Epipen, with a photograph of the student attached, to be kept in the office;
- At least one school staff member has a detailed knowledge of each anaphylactic student's medical needs;
- Mandatory, annual training for most school staff on how to administer an Epipen. All schools also have designed teams of staff members trained in emergency first aid;
- Signs posted in school cafeterias encourage allergic and anaphylactic students to check with cafeteria staff about ingredients used to make meals.
training considered
The Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board does not have Epipen training for its staff, but "that might be something worth us looking at," says Julian Hanlon, deputy director of education.
The separate board relies more on students and their parents to let school officials know what sort of precautions they feel are necessary. For example, schools will store a backup Epipen in the school office if asked.
"When the parent comes forward, and they are encouraged to do that, then we'll put into place, short of an allergy-free zone, whatever they recommend in conjunction with what the school has done in the past," says Mr. Hanlon.
"I'm comfortable with the approach we've taken, it has worked for us. Certainly, we're not saying to our (high school) principals 'Don't worry about it, they're old enough now, they can look after themselves.'"
Information Online
- On May 21, 2001, CBC Radio's Outfront broadcast A Nutty Tale, a documentary about food anaphylaxis produced by and featuring then 10-year-old Sabrina Shannon. It can be heard on the Web at cbc.ca/outfront/ webfeatures/sabrina/sab_shell.html.
- Other informative websites about anaphylaxis and schools include Anaphylaxis Canada (www.anaphylaxis.org) and the Canadian School Boards Association's Anaphylaxis: A Handbook for School Boards (cdnsba.org. Search for keyword "allergies".) Also the Calgary Allergy Network at www.calgaryallergy.ca
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
French Club Planning Meeting
Monday, February 6, 2012
Peanut Free School
Kindness Can Change The World
"Kindness can change the world."
February is 'Random Act of Kindness' month at General Lake. In the next few days, students will be given ideas as to some of the things they can do as 'Random Acts of Kindness'. The front entrance bulletin board will offer a range of ideas provided by Mme Bernardin's and Mme Katherine's classes. Once students complete one of the acts they may sign their name on the display hearts. Let's see the power kindness can have at General Lake Public School!
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.Leo F. Buscaglia