Farewell General Lake

It's been a great journey these past few years with the wonderful General Lake students, staff and parents. I would just like to give one last big thank you to the Lake community for their hard work, support and dedication to our school. I look forward to continuing to promote student success together at Valour. Have a great summer and be sure to check the Valour website at http://val.rcdsb.on.ca for regular updates on the progress of our brand new school as we anticipate the opening and walking through the doors to Valour in September. Have a great summer!

Sunday Night Message June22

Good Evening Deb Legault here with your last Sunday Night Update from General Lake Public School. We begin the week on Monday, June 23, Day 3. On Monday we have our Graduation for our Grade 8 students beginning at 12:15. Report cards will also be sent home on Monday and we ask you to return page three as soon as possible by Thursday June 26. On Tuesday we have our Senior Kindergarten Graduation beginning at 12:30. If you are attending the kindergarten graduation please let your teacher know on Monday. On Wednesday at 6:00pm we have a joint School Council meeting with Pinecrest at Pinecrest. On Thursday we will have a twin day spirit day and on Friday we end the year all dressed in red as we show support for our troops. The office will be open for the next week from June 30 until July 4 from 9:00 until 4:00. I will be around the school off and on throughout the summer. If you need to get a hold of me, I will be checking my emails regularly at legaultd@rcdsb.on.ca. We have our Summer Booster for the month of July for our Senior Kindergarten to grade 2 students registered in the program. On behalf of the staff, I wish everyone a safe and restful summer vacation and we look forward to seeing you at Valour in September. For those not returning we wish you all the best and hope our paths cross again soon. Good night and thank you to everyone for their support throughout this past year.

Talent Show 12:15 June 13

Talent Show List Introduction 1. Kamrie- singing- Defying Gravity- 7/8 2. Dara/Lauren- Dancing/Gymnastics- 4 3. Rebeca- Piano- O su sana- 5/6 4. Frozen Girls- Singing- Let it go- JK/SK 5. Bobbie/Amber- Dancing- Timber- 5/6 6. Meredith/Myla- Violin- 1/2 7. Treegan/Christopher- Singing- Goat Remix- 4 8. Emma- Bongos- 1/2 9. Emily- Tap- 5/6 10. Charles- Magic act- 7/8 11. Sky/Emma- Piano/singing- Say something- 5/6 12. Mme. Gibson’s Boys- Fox Dance- 1/ 2 13. Angelina- Singing- Roar- 5/6 14. Grace/Violet- Singing- Francais ABC- JK/SK 15. Chole- Gravity Falls theme song- 5/6 16. Tayler- Dance- 123- 4 17. Let it go- 1/2 18. The Rule Breakers- Gangnam Style- 1/2 19. Clare- Singing- Jar of Hearts- 5/6 20. Alyssa/Abbey- Piano/Singing- Titanium- 7/8 21. Samantha/Jess- Tango- 4 22. Alyssa/Eve- Dance- Human- 5/6 23. Skylar- Dance- 7/8 24. Maya- Piano- Ode to Joy- 5\6 25. Luella- Singing- Do you want to build a snowman- JK/SK 26. Erin- Singing- Stronger- 4 27. M.C.G- Dubstep- 7/8 28. Lauren- Singing- 3 29. Hayleigh- Gymnastic/Dance- 3 30. Fiona- Piano- Fur-Elise- 7/8 31. Liam- Drumming- JK/SK

Year End celebration

Sunday Night Update June 8

Good evening Deb Legault here with your Sunday Night update from General Lake Public School. Tomorrow June 9 is a Pa Day. Student begin the week on Tuesday June 10 Day 5. Our grade 6 -8 track and field team will be away for a meet. We will hold auditions for our intermediates on Tuesday. Any students missing their audition because of the Track and field can audition on Wednesday first break. We hope to have all performers selected and notified by Wednesday afternoon and I will post on the blog. On Wednesday our junior students will be participating in Student Vote. On Thursday we have our character assembly for courage. On Friday we have our Talent show rehearsal in the morning for the school and the parent show at 12:15 in the gym. Please mark you calendar for Thursday June 19 when we have our final end of year celebration from 4 -6. More information is posted on the blog. Enjoy the rest of your evening and we will see the students back on Tuesday.

Sunday Night Update for GLPS June 1

Good evening Deb Legault here with your Sunday Night message from General Lake Public School. We start the week on Monday, June 2 Day 5. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we have our EQAO assessment for our Grade 3 and Grade 6 students. On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday students in grade 6-8 have track and field practices. The Track and field meet is Tues, June 10th at Dundonald Hall. On Wednesday June 4 we have auditions for our Primary students. On Thursday June 5 we have auditions for our Junior students and finally on Friday we have auditions for our kindergarten. Parents of kindergarten students audtitioning should let the teachers know via a note. On Thursday evening at 6:00pm we have our School Council Meeting. Hot lunches are finished for the year. I would like to say thank you to our School Council Chair Lindsey for all her hard work coordinating the lunches. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time to help provide this valuable service for our school. On Friday June 6 our intermediates will be selling peanut free ice cream sundaes during the nutritional breaks at 11:20 and 2:00. If your child is interested in having one of these special treats please have your child bring $2:00 in a sealed envelope. Also I am pleased to announce that we have been given permission to use General Lake as a Summer Booster site for one last time. I know that many parents were worried that they would not be able to get their children to a different site. If you are registered for our summer booster I am happy to announce it will occur at General Lake. Finally it is my pleasure to announce that I have been officially appointed Vice Principal of Valour. My children and I have been with General Lake since 2010 and I am so excited that I will be part of the transition to Valour with my Lake family.

Sunday Night Update May 25, 2014

Good evening Deb Legault here with your Sunday Night Message from General Lake. We begin the week on Monday, May 26 Day 5. Monday evening from 6-8 pm the Grade 8's have their high performance testing at General Panet. On Tues and Thursday we have track and field and on Wednesday and Friday our intermediate students are practicing softball. It's a big week for our Grade 3 and Grade 6 students with our annual EQAO assessment. We remind all students to get lots of rest and ensure arrival on time. The assessment takes place Tues, Wed and Thursday beginning promptly at 9:20. On Friday we have our hot pita lunch. A reminder with the hot weather we do have a dress code for our grade 4-8 students. See the agenda for more details. Don't forget to return those library books and mark your calendar for the June 13 Talent show. Thanks and have a great evening.

May 22, 2014

As many of you are probably already aware our Community has suffered a tremendous loss with the recent accidental death of Dan Bobbitt in Wainwright during training. Student Support Counsellor Derek Tackney, from Herman Street, as well as our own Counsellor Angela Green were on hand yesterday to offer support for our staff and students today. The Base Padre, Sandra Davies, also visited the school to speak with some students. Over the next few days, and following weeks, we will continue to support our students in this difficult time. Our thoughts and deepest sympathy goes out to the Bobbitt family at this time.

Weekly Update May 19

Good evening Deb Legault here with your weekly update from General Lake Public School. Its a short week as we begin on Day 1 on Tuesday May 20th. Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8:30 Grade 6-8 students have track and field. On Wed and Friday at 8:15 intermediates have softball. On Wednesday evening at 6:00pm we have a joint school Council meeting with Pinecrest at Pinecrest. On Friday we have our hot lunch pizza. A reminder to parents and students in Grade 4-8 with the hot weather we do have a dress code. Shorts and skirts need to come mid way to thigh approximately at tips of fingers when arms are placed straight down at sides. Shirts need to cover body with straps being at least 3 fingers thick. Our Grade 3 and 6 EQAO assessment will be beginning Tuesday May 27 until June 4. We ask all parents to make sure their children are on time, and well rested for the duration of this assessment. Please avoid missing any school during this time period. In preparation for our move to Valour we will begin packing this week. We will begin with our library, so we are asking that all library books be returned this week. Although it is a very busy time with our move we are endeavouring to have our ever popular talent show. With the help of a student leader Kamrie Lavoie, we will be auditioning students beginning in June. Dates are posted on the blog. More details to follow. Hope everyone has had a great long weekend. Enjoy the remainder of your evening.

TALENT SHOW UPDATE

2014 Talent Show: BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND Grade 8 student Kamrie Lavoie has offered to take the lead on this years 2014 GLPS Talent Show. Tryouts: June 4 Primary 11:20-12:00 2:00-2:40 STUDENTS BRING LUNCHES June 5 Junior 11:20-12:00 2:00-2:40 STUDENTS BRING LUNCHES June 6 Kindergarten 11:20-12:00 2:00-2:40 STUDENTS BRING LUNCHES June 10 Intermediate 11:20-12:00 2:00-2:40 STUDENTS BRING LUNCHES Dress rehearsal for the school: June 13 9:30 am Parent Show: same day, June 13 12:15. Kamrie’s team of judges will narrow it down to about 20 acts…(2 minutes each that is about 40 minutes. Tryouts occur at lunch and recesses.

Sunday Night Message May 11, 2014

Good evening Deb Legault here with your Sunday Night update from General Lake. We begin the week on Monday Day 1. Students in grade 6, 7,and 8 have track and field practices at 8:30 on Monday and Wednesday. Booster continues for the final week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 8:15 for our Grade 3 and Grade 6 students. On Tuesday we have a special drumming presentation at 12:15 for our junior students. Our grade 8's are off to Pembroke for the career trades display. We have our volunteer appreciation event on Thursday, beginning with an assembly at 10:30. Friday is our hot lunch pizza. This is the last week for yearbook sales. Please get those order in this week to avoid disappointment. That is all for the week. On behalf of the staff, I wish all our Mother's a wonderful Mother's Day. Good night.

Lakers, Lakers

Lakers, Lakers Inside Petawawa We'll leave you in awe, awe Cause we are so awesome! Lakers, Lakers, inside Petawawa Pretty cool and pretty smart We are the school with heart We are moving to VALOUR So we will have more power Everyone is welcome here Let's all give a great big cheer Lakers.. We are Lakers Lakers.. We are spirit makers Lakers.. We are Lakers Lakers.....We stand up to bullying!

Sunday Night Message May 4,2014

Good evening Deb Legault here with you Sunday Night update for May 4. An exciting week at General Lake as we recognize both Mental Health and Education week. We start the week on Monday Day 1. Our Scholastic Bookfair will be open all week beginning at 9:00 until 4:00. Track and field is starting for our grade 6-8 students beginning at 8:15 on Monday morning Our purple Volunteer Appreciation RSVP's are due to the office on Monday. Please send in the form to the office indicating if you are able to make our up and coming assembly and lunch honouring our volunteers on May 15. Booster continues for our grade 3 and 6 students this week at 8:15 on Tues, Wed and Thursday On Tuesday Evening at 6:00pm all of our Lake community is invited for an informative evening with Principal Baird to give updates and take questions about our up and coming move to Valour. The Scholastic bookfair will be open and child care will be available. Check out the blog for more information On Thursday our junior intermediate students will take part in our Second Mini We day designed to promote awareness for social change and inspire action. The event will be filled with inspirational speakers, music and videos beginning at 10:50. All students in the school are asked to wear red as we show our support for our troops. At 2:45 all staff and students will assemble outside in front of the school for our last School Group photo. Parents, as always, are welcome and even encouraged to join us for what will sure to be a fun-filled day. On Friday it is our Pizza Lunch. A group of General Lake students have also been invited to represent our school in a parade at 1:00 pm the Garrison Petawawa Afghanistan Memorial for the National Day of Honour. This event is open to the public. Finally Year book orders are due to the office by May 16. Enjoy the rest of your evening

Valour Information Night

Please join us for a Valour Information Night with Principal Bryan Baird on Tuesday, May 6 at 6:00pm in the gym at General Lake Public School. Limited free childcare. Please register at//valourinfonight.eventbrite.ca. Scholastic bookfair will also be open for business beginning at 5:30. If you are unable to make this event Pinecrest is hosting a similar event on Wednesday, May 7 at 6:00pm.

May June Hot Lunch Order Form

General Lake Public School 1900 Borden Avenue Petawawa, Ontario K7H 2T6 Phone: (613) 687-2404 / Fax: (613) 687-2405 General Lake May Hot Lunches April 17, 2014 Dear Parents / Guardians, This is the final order period for the 2013/2014 school year. The School Council would like to take a moment to thank everyone for all of the support you've shown. Money raised from the Hot Lunch Program has gone to help support field trips, butterfly growth kits for primary classes, and many other school activities. Our Hot Lunch program has been such a success because of the continuous support our parents have shown. This order period begins with a replacement day for the Snow Day on March 28th. If you ordered for your child on that day, they will receive their pita on May 30th instead. Please remember to pack extra food to complete your child’s lunch. 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 April 25th, 2014. Please do not mix hot lunch money with other school programs (milk, Scholastic, etc). Return this form to the school with your child in a sealed envelope to avoid losing money. 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. Thank you for your continued support! ****************************************************************************************** General Lake May & June Hot Lunches Form **Due date: Friday April 25th, 2014** Child’s Name:__________________________________________________________ Teacher’s name:_________________________________Room Number:_________ Friday May 2nd # of cheese pizza slices: _________________@ $2.00 =______________ Friday May 9h # of cheese pizza slices: _________________@ $2.00 =______________ Friday May 16th # of cheese pizza slices: _________________@ $2.00 =______________ Friday May 23rd # of cheese pizza slices: _________________@ $2.00 =______________ Friday May 30th # of Chicken Pitas: __ Make-up for March 28th , please do NOT order__ TOTAL $=__________ Payment may be made by cash or cheque payable to General Lake Public School. Please fill out one form per child, and return the form with your child by Friday April 25th, 2014. If payment is for more than one child, please fill out one form per child and send the completed forms together with your child in a sealed envelope. No change will be given, so please send exact amount. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact a member of General Lake School Council at (613) 687-2404.

Prinicpal Report April 2014

Principal's report April 2014 General Lake Public School The school year is flying by as General Lake continues to be dedicated to excellence in teaching and learning, as well as a safe, caring and respectful environment. The school continues to grow and improve as we look towards moving into Valour. Teachers have been involved in a variety of Professional development activities related to our School improvement plan including math instruction, technology e-learning and IPAD use. During the last PD day, thanks to our Valour Principal Bryan Baird, staff was set up with google accounts and trained on google chrome from our ICT coach Oliver Gallery. Oliver has also been invited by staff to do further training with classes and individual staff members. Staff workshops have also been scheduled around our new Ministry sponsored full day every day kindergarten, as well as the new French as a Second Language curriculum document. Vice Principal Mrs Robillard and I continue to meet with teachers regularly about the school improvement plan and we continue to work together with staff aligning class goals to meet the needs of all of our students. One exciting development around our School Improvement Plan involves a focused intervention in Language and Math with our English classes. On March 24th students in Mr Blimkie's jk/sk class and Mrs Slepica Stewarts sk/1 class, were grouped into three classes to help support individual needs and provide a focused intervention. With the help of SERT teacher Mrs Conway and educational assistants Mrs Van Hoof, Mrs Charbonneau, Mrs Murphy and Mrs Moreau, the students are involved in various activities to meet their needs. Our other SERT teacher, Mrs Calver, has begun implementing a similar strategy involving an intervention with our Core English teacher, Ms Bennett, in the French Immersion kindergarten group. We look forward to celebrating their successes in the next 6 weeks. All grade 7/8 students were able to attend National We day in Ottawa thanks to the generosity of the School Council providing funds for the buses. Ms Hansen and her ‘WE team’ are now organizing a Mini We Day event for the school for Thursday, May 8 during Education Week. We would like to extend an invitation to all School Council Members to attend this event. The theme of Education Week is ‘Achieving Excellence in Education’. We will also be having our Spring Book Fair during this week. Mrs Robin Van Hoof will be organizing this event and will be looking for volunteers to run the Fair during the day. Our Annual General Lake Science Fair was extremely successful with a tremendous show of support from both our parents and our students. Intermediate students judged over 50 projects submitted by the Grade 2-5 students with Valour hats going to the first place students and certificates to the 2nd and 3rd place entries. Scientists from AECL came to judge the Grade 6-8 divisions. Winners Abby Jupp. Miranda Lockley, Sheridan Skanes, Paige Niles, Emily Norman and Clayre White continued on participating in the Renfrew County Science Fair on April 5, 2014 at the Civic Centre. Jump rope for Heart will take place on May 2nd at 11:00am. Students from each colour team will be invited to come down to the gym to participate in skipping activities for 30 minutes. The idea is that someone from the various Spirit Colour team will be skipping at all times during the time period. We will conclude with a character assembly at 2:45. The Teddy Bear Clinic provided by military personnel on April 17 for our Kindergarten to Grade 2 students was a resounding success. Students visited events both inside and outside of the school. Members of the media were on hand to take pictures of the fun-filled interactive event. Both students and staff were extremely pleased with the event. Our EQAO schedule for our grade 3 and grade 6 students has been finalized. Students will begin the Language portion of the test during Block 1 beginning at 9:30 on May 27, May 28 and May 29. The Math will follow the next week from June 2, 3, and 4 during the first block. Occasional teachers have been booked for the morning to provide programming for other students in the split grade who are not participating in the EQAO. We are hiring two tutors for the classroom to assist the teachers with the preparations. These tutors will also be supporting our Kindergarten classes during nutrition breaks. On Thursday, April 10, 2014 we honoured over 150 student Volunteers. Thanks to the School Council’s support we were able to provide pizza and drinks to all of our students in recognition of the valuable work they do as a volunteer in our school. Following the food, students watched a couple of inspirational videos and participated in some dancing in the gym. Our annual Volunteer recognition event has been set for Thursday, May 15 from 10:45 until 12:00. We are hoping all of our Parent Volunteers will be able to join us for that day. We will begin in the gym for a short assembly then enjoy a light lunch. As part of our school closing plan, General Lake Apparel and yearbooks have been made available for sale. Thanks to the support of the School Council we were able to keep the cost of the yearbook low at $6.00 each. Sales will continue until May. In the yearbook only Grade 8 graduates and staff names will be identified. We will also be looking at plans for a final assembly in June to officially close the school, as well as say goodbye to staff and students who will be leaving the school or retiring. We welcome any ideas or suggestions from the General Lake community. Our last day of classes is June 27, 2014.

May newsletter

Learn, succeed … etudier, grandir General Lake Public School May 2014 www.generallakenews.blogspot.com Principal : Ms. D Legault Vice Principal : Mme M Robillard legaultd@rcdsb.on.ca robillardm@rcdsb.on.ca Twitter@debbielegault **** IMPORTANT DATES **** April 30 Grade 7 Badminton Tournament May 2 Grade 8 Badminton Tournament May 2 Jump Rope for Heart Pizza Day Character Assembly May 5-9 Education Week-Book Fair begins May 5 Music Monday May 6 Valour Night 6:00pm with Principal Baird May 8 Mini We Day May 9 Pizza Day May 11 Mother's Day May 13 First Nation Drumming for Junior students May 15 Volunteer Appreciation Lunch 10:45-12:00-last day for morning booster May 19 Victoria Day May 23 Pizza May 27 EQAO first block language May 28 EQAO first block language May 29 EQAO first block language June 1 Armed Forces Day June 2 EQAO first block math June 3 EQAO first block math June 4 EQAO first block math School Council 6:00pm June 9 PA Day June 23 Grade 8 Graduation 12:15 Report Cards go home June 27 Last Day of classes Teddy Bear Clinic Visits Lake Teddy Bears Get Check-up at Lake The Teddy Bear Clinic provided by military personnel on April 17 for our Kindergarten to Grade 2 students was a resounding success. Medics were on hand to examine and treat boo boos from a variety of stuffed friends. Students from Kindergarten to grade 2 visited events both inside and outside of the school. Members of the media were on hand to take pictures of the fun-filled interactive event. Both students and staff were extremely pleased with the event. Special thanks to our troops for providing such a great event for our school. Special thanks to Grade 7 student Julie Deschambault for all her help coordinating the day as well as for suggesting Lake host. this event Reminder Re: Equipment on Bus Now that spring has arrived, we would like to remind students that any equipment they choose to bring with them during transportation to/from school must be properly secured. If not, it becomes a safety hazard for other students on the vehicle as well as the driver. Please see the following excerpt from our policy regarding equipment on vehicles: 7A.1 Equipment related to regular school programs may be transported by the pupil on the vehicle provided that the items can be held comfortably on the pupil’s lap and are encased or protected by guards. The driver may also designate a safe location on the vehicle for such items. The driver shall refuse to transport items deemed to be unsafe. For example, a basketball should be safely enclosed in the student’s bag so that it doesn’t roll around on the floor, etc. Thank you as always for your continued dedication to safe student transportation! Twitter @valourschool Valour News Join us ...May 6 Our General Lake parents are cordially invited to our up and coming Valour Information Night with Principal Baird at 6:00pm in the General Lake gymnasium. The night will include an update of construction, committees and timelines as well as a chance to ask questions. We encourage everyone to come out to hear about our great new school. Construction Update According to the minutes of the last construction meeting held on April 16th, 2014, completion date is on time and we will start our year in Valour. The construction meeting, held every second week, reviews the schedule of project finishing and reviews progress to date. All schedule projects are on time and the substantial completion date of August 4th, 2014 is on time. At this time the school then has the ability to schedule work inside the building to ensure that the move of equipment, delivery and installation of furniture, and the delivery and installation of IT equipment is ready for the first day of school in September. The move of teacher materials is scheduled to begin August 4th, 2014 with teachers having access to their rooms and the school beginning on August 15, 2014. Schools will have classrooms packed and ready to move when they leave in June. Our plant and IT department will begin the work of installing smart boards in our classrooms in early June. All of the existing smart boards in General Panet, Pinecrest and General Lake will be taken over to Valour and installed. Our IT plan has allowed for the purchase of more smart boards to ensure that every classroom will have a smart board for September. IT will also be moving over all of the needed desk top computers for each smart board. IT Devices at Valour Students at Valour will have state of the art devices to use in class as tools to enhance their learning. Valour will have 150 Google Chrome Books– lap top like device that connects to google via board servers to ensure safety when using the internet. Each student at Valour will have a board generated google account that will allow them to use all of the education aps available. Valour will also have 180 Ipad minis to use in the grades 1-12. The Kindergarten program will have 60 ipad minis dedicated to their unique inquiry based leaning. Each teacher in the K program will also have an ipad mini to capture pedagogical documentation that will illustrate the growth of their students and provide information to plan new learning activities to enhance learning. Valour Mission Statement At Valour, we take pride in developing the whole child. Education for our community has high academic expectations in a bilingual culture with character education embedded in all that we do. We provide a learning atmosphere that has entry levels based on student readiness with a focus on collaborative learning in an inquiry based classroom. Rich learning activities will support the development of higher order thinking skills in a 21st century technology environment. Staff collaboration and learning will guide the journey of each child toward the successful completion of a Secondary School Diploma. We will encourage our students to be creative, empathetic, compassionate and caring in all aspects of their life. We will model Valour as our core character trait and celebrate and nurture our community to live a life that is courageous. Valour as a name and character value will be the essence of all that we do each day in our school. It will guide and give purpose to our lessons, our spirit and our activities. Together, we will create citizens that will shape our community to be one of respect, care, empathy and activism. Together we will help all of our students meet success in our world. Together, we will create our future. General Lake School Closing Plan As part of our school closing plan, General Lake Apparel and yearbooks have been made available for sale. Thanks to the support of the School Council we were able to keep the cost of the yearbook low at $6.00 each or 3 for $15.00. Sales will continue until early May. In the yearbook only Grade 8 graduates and staff names will be identified. We will also be looking at plans for a final assembly in June to officially close the school. We welcome any ideas or suggestions for the closing ceremony from our General Lake community. Our last day of class is June 27, 2014. Parents, Staff and Students Enjoy Annual Science Fair Our Annual General Lake Science Fair was extremely successful with a tremendous show of support from both our parents and our students. Intermediate students judged over 50 projects submitted by the Grade 2-5 students with Valour hats going to the first place students and certificates to the 2nd and 3rd place entries. Scientists from AECL came to judge the Grade 6-8 divisions. Winners Abby Jupp. Miranda Lockley, Sheridan Skanes, Paige Niles, Emily Norman and Clayre White continued on to participate in the Renfrew County Science Fair on April 5, 2014 at the Civic Centre. Volunteering for the Year end School Trips A Criminal Background Check(CBC) is required for all parents to assist with different activities in schools.. If you are planning on helping in the school or assisting at the end of the year, please plan ahead. Forms are available at the front office Message from School Council http://www.generallakeschoolcouncil.blogspot.ca/ Please keep sending in your Moncion Receipts over $25.00. Moncion’s will donate 1% of sales to the school from the receipts. The receipts must be stamped at the time of purchase and be from the Petawawa Location. We are also collecting Canadian Tire Money to help fund new outdoor toys, every bit helps! Our next full Council meeting is scheduled for June 4 at 6:00 PM in the school library. All parents are welcome to attend. We will be finalizing plans for our End of Year Celebration!

Thank you to our Troops for the Teddy Bear Clinic!

A big thank you to our troops for providing an interactive and fun experience to our school on April 17, 2014. The Teddy Bear Clinic was well attended and enjoyed by all of our kindergarten to grade 2 students. A big thank you goes to the following people for all their patience and help providing this valuable experience to our school: Lt Marquis, Sgt Short, Cpl Butler, Cpl Tait, Pte Coughlin, Capt Vo, Cpl Wells, M Cpl McCutcheon, L S Woychyshyn, Cpl Stuart, Cpl Whalen , Cpl Pino, Cpl White, MCpl Jacobs, Sgt Morris, Cpl Dineen, Lt Grace, Sgt DeBlois, Pte Avery, Ashley Deschambault. Thanks to Richard and Lynn Deschambault for coordinating this event for the school. Special thanks to student helpers Julie Deschambault who brought the idea to the school and to Sarah Stacey and Abby Jubb for their assistance bringing the classes to the gym.

Weekly Update April 21

Good evening Deb Legault here with your weekly update from General Lake Public School. A big thank you to our troops for providing an exciting interactive learning activity last week at the Teddy Bear clinic. Pictures and a complete list of names of those that assisted with this opportunity are listed on the blog. Thanks again from both staff and students from Lake for providing this wonderful experience . This week we begin the week on Tuesday April 22 Day 2. Our intermediate students have badminton practice at 8:15 both Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday is also the last day to order General Lake clothing. On Wednesday we say a BIG thank you to Shirley and Karen in the office as we recognize National Secretary’s day. At 6:00pm our School council will meet in the library. All our parents are welcome to attend. On Friday Students in Grade 5, 7, and 8 will complete online surveys in the computer lab related to our Healthy school initiatives and all the great things we have done this year at Lake including our weekly intramurals, pal program, anti-bullying and healthy eating initiatives. We also have our hot lunch pita. Yearbooks are still available for sale for $6.00 each. Also the PMFRC is offering a Free Children's Divorce and Separation Group from May 6-June 24 from 6-8pm. More information is posted on the blog. Thank you and enjoy the remainder of your weekend.

Free Children's Divorce and Separation Group May 6-June 24

Are you are a parent going through a separation? The Children’s Divorce and Separation Group is available for your children. Through group activities, children will have an opportunity to explore their emotions, meet others experiencing similar feelings and learn ways to adjust to new lifestyle situations. This program will run May 6th to June 24th (8 weeks) from 6:00PM-8:00PM ***Register by April 29th*** For more information, contact Holly at 613-687-2104 ext. 222 or email psip4@pmfrc.org. http://bit.ly/pmfrc-child-separation

Sunday Night Message from GLPS April 13, 2014

A short week at the Lake as we gear up for the Easter holiday. But lots of excitement! We begin on Monday, April 14 Day 3 Grade 7/8 girls are scheduled for immunizations On Tuesday and Thursday we have Grade 7/8 badminton at 8:15 Thursday students in Kindergarten to Grade 2 are asked to bring their favourite stuffie for the Teddy Bear Hospital Event. Students will visit the medics set up in the gym and in the parking lot. Set up will be at 7:00am, so some of our parking lot will be roped off for the event. Thursday is also hat day, students can wear their favourite hat or Easter bonnet for Spirit points. Finally our We Team will be hosting a Vow of Silence. Students can donate $1.00 to Free the children and participate in being silent for the day to create awareness for children rights. Remember to get those yearbook orders in. Just so everyone is aware the yearbook will include full names of only our grade 8 graduating students, as well as the teachers. There will be pictures of all the students but their names will not be identified. If you have any concerns, please contact the school. Grade 5, 7, and 8 students need to return their propel Healthy Schools survey permission forms as soon as possible. Remember to check all food items to ensure they are Nut free. We need to be especially vigilant during these special times with many celebrations occurring in some classes. Finally our Lost and Found is overflowing. We ask parents and students to check out the items as we will be packing it up after the holiday. We will be off on Friday for Good Friday and I will be back on Monday with the weekly message from General Lake. I wish everyone a wonderful week and a restful fun-filled holiday.

Sunday Night Message April 6, 2014

Begin our week on Day 3 on Monday April 7 Grade 8 badminton Monday and Friday at 8:15 (Wednesday cancelled due to WE day) Grade 7 badminton practice tues 8:15 and thurs second break. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday is our Grade 3 and 6 booster program In Tuesday April 8 and Wednesday April 9th there are Borden avenue closures. Check out the blog for updates. Wednesday is We day for all of our Grade 7 8 students. Thanks to our School Council for their support which has made this possible for all of our students. It is also International Day of Pink against bullying. Students are encouraged to wear Pink to promote awareness against the problem of bullying. Thursday is our Volunteer appreciation lunch. Students who have volunteered their time in the school will be honoured at first break with an appreciation pizza lunch. Friday is our pizza lunch. Yearbook sales have begun. General Lake Clothing is also being offered for sale. Samples are available in Mrs Robillard’s office April 8 and 9th there are Borden avenue closures. Check out the blog for updates. "Mental Health Issues Facing Children, Youth & Families" - has been re-scheduled for May 14th at General Panet HS from 6:30 - 9:00 PM. To register check out the blog for more information about registration. Finally our Jump rope for Heart fundraising has begun. Students are encouraged to return their hearts to display on the front bulletin board. Pledge envelopes can be returned to the office before May 2.

"Mental Health Issues Facing Children, Youth & Families" May 14 6:30-9:00

Please see the attached flyer - "Mental Health Issues Facing Children, Youth & Families" - that has been re-scheduled for May 14th at General Panet HS from 6:30 - 9:00 PM. To register and submit questions in advance: http://www.cheo.on.ca/en/Petawawa MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES FACING CHILDREN, YOUTH & FAMILIES with particular relevance to Military families A FREE PUBLIC EVENT FOR PARENTS, CARE GIVERS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, TEACHERS Wednesday, May 14, 2014 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm GENERAL PANET HIGH SCHOOL, 14 YPRES BLVD; CFB PETAWAWA SPECIAL SESSION: 6:45-7:45 pm Please Choose One! · Parenting Under Pressure Dr. Phil Ritchie · The Teenage Brain – The Who, What, How, and Why of It! Dr. Peter Anderson · Anxiety in Children and Youth: When is it a Problem & What to Do Dr. Margaret Flintoff · Parenting Your Preschooler: What to Expect and How to Cope! Laura Goodman Jennifer Long

April 8-9 Borden Ave Road Closure

Re: Borden Ave closure April 8th & 9th, 2014 Due to the closure of Borden Ave to assist in the delivery of new residences in this area Tier 2 buses will not be able to access General Lake Public School lay-by effective April 8th and 9th for pick-up and drop-off. The route the buses will be taking to drop off and pick up students is as follows: Vehicles will need to access General Lake P.S. by turning onto Borden Ave off of Dundonald Dr. Once the vehicles are traveling on Borden Ave they will proceed to 2080 Borden Ave where they will make a left hand turn at the parking lot entrance onto a gravel road provided by the construction company connecting the PMQ lot and the teacher parking lot (a flag-man will be provided to assist in this detour). They will proceed into the teachers parking lot (which will be kept clear of parked vehicles) and drop off students at the school (where a staff member will be waiting) and then turn in the lot. We ask that you please advise staff that they will not be able to park in this parking lot and are to instead use the lot on the opposite side of the school accessed off Wolfe Ave. The construction company will keep this section clear for staff to access the lot. We ask that parents not drive on Borden Ave in front of the school to either drop off or pick their kids up on these days given the increase in bus traffic that they instead use the entrance at the back of the school by the play structure and parking lot numbered 1690-1711 Borden Ave accessed off Wolfe Ave. We also ask that you advise parents and guardians that there may be a slight delay in drop off times in the afternoon for all students getting bused from General Lake P.S. due to the detour on the dates specified. Our recommendations for walkers/ cyclists are as follows: • Students that are approaching on Borden Ave coming from the direction of Wolfe Ave should be advised that they are to use the entrance into the school yard at the back of the school by the play structure and parking lot numbered 1690-1711 Borden Ave. • Students that are coming onto Borden Ave from Dundonald Dr are to enter the school via the teachers parking lot and are advised to use extra caution as there will be more bus traffic on these days as the buses will be using this portion of Borden Ave to go to and from General Lake P.S. Please advise parents they may want to consider supervising walker/bikers on these days as there will be a lot of heavy equipment.

Sunday Night Message March 30, 2014

Good evening, Deb Legault here with your Sunday Night Message from General Lake. We begin the week on Monday, March 31 Day 3. We will be having our character assembly at 1:00. At this assembly we will launch our Jump rope for Heart fundraiser. Students will receive a skipping rope, pledge envelope as well as a jumpcredible booklet with challenges. Students are asked to complete the challenges and return the heart to display on our front bulletin Board. Our Jump rope for heart event will take place May 2. Grade 8 students have badminton both Mon and Wed morning at 8:15 There will be no badminton practice for grade 7s Tuesday and Thursday morning. Practices are changed to Tuesday and Thursday at second break. Our EQAO booster program for our grade 3 and 6 students continues Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 8:15 On Tuesday we are pleased to announce our Breakfast for Learning program will be providing Brown E’s for our food bowls. Last week the program provided fresh vegetables during the last nutrition break. On Wednesday we ask all our staff and students to wear blue for spirit points to create awareness for Autism. April is Autism month and April 2 is World Autism day. It is estimated that 1 in 80 children are diagnosed with autism. There has been a 78% increase in the rate of diagnosis over the last 6 years. Students will also be participating in a walk in our playground at 1:30. Finally Friday is our hot lunch Pizza. Students that missed their pita’s last week due to the snow day will have their pita replaced in May. The Renfrew County Regional Science Fair takes place on Saturday at the Civic Centre. Good luck to our General Lake finalists. Thanks and have a great evening

Sunday Night Message March 23, 2014

Good evening Deb Legault here with your Sunday Night message from General Lake Public School. We begin the week on Monday Day 3. Please remember to return all hot lunch order forms for March and April to the office. Tuesday is our Grade 6-8 Science Fair beginning at 10:00. We welcome staff from AECL who will judge the projects. Parents as always are welcome to attend and classes will be visiting the fair at 12:00. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning we have our Booster program at 8:15 for our Grade 3 and Grade 6 students. Also at 8:15 on Tuesday and Wednesday we have our Grade 7 badminton practices. On Thursday and Friday we have our grade 8 badminton practice. On Wednesday at 6:30pm parents are invited to attend the Joint Council meeting at Pinecrest to set election dates and possible fundraising ideas for Valour. All parents are welcome to attend. On Thursday it is our Grade 2-5 Science Fair beginning at 12:15. Parents again are encouraged to visit the Fair in the gym, as this always is quite a fun and exciting event at the school. On Friday we will mark earth hour by turning out the lights from 12-1:00, followed by our monthly character assembly for Perseverence. At the assembly we will kick off our Jump rope for Heart fundraising. Students will receive some information about this fundraising effort. Our School wide event will take place on May 2. More details to follow. Any parents interested in assisting with the event are asked to email me at the school. Friday is also our hot lunch pita . Thanks and enjoy the rest of your evening.

Annual Assembly of School Councils Meeting

Parent Involvement Committee will be hosting their annual Assembly of School Councils meeting as follows: Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2014 Time: 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM (Dinner will be served at 5:00 PM) Location: Fellowes High School (420 Bell Street, Pembroke) Please register online before March 28th at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1R6g9Y0h4qhUy4AfNKWEpWbirpSCku4MX3p1u8ud7reM/viewform PIC has extended the invitation to Principals, Vice-Principals, School Council Members and all parents. Visit both the Board and PIC website for all details. 1. Dinner: 5:00 – 5:45 (Location: Cafeteria) Pork medallions in a creamy mushroom sauce, whipped potatoes, green beans & red pepper slivers, coleslaw, dinner rolls & butter. Dessert - caramel apple cheesecake & cherry chocolate cake. Vegetarian selection is also available. 2. Greetings from the Board: 5:45-5:50 (Location: Cafeteria) Chairperson David Kaiser, RCDSB Trustees 3. 40 Developmental Assets: 5:50-6:15 (Location: Cafeteria) How Everyone can Empower Youth Tracy Somes, RCDSB PIC Chair & Oliver Jacob, MSAC Rep 4. Break: 6:15 – 6:30 5. First Carousel: 6:30 – 7:10 (Various Classrooms)  Participants will attend one 40-minute session.  Please see description of carousel sessions on the attached Registration Form. 6. Second Carousel: 7:15 – 7:55 (Various Classrooms)  Participants will attend one 40-minute session.  Please see description of carousel sessions on the attached Registration Form. 7. Feedback Form: 7:55 – 8:00  Please complete the Feedback Form, “Two Stars and a Wish”  Please leave completed forms with the Workshop Presenter Thank you for joining us!

March/April Hot lunch Orders-Due MArch 24th

General Lake Public School 1900 Borden Avenue Petawawa, Ontario K7H 2T6 Phone: (613) 687-2404 / Fax: (613) 687-2405 General Lake March &April Hot Lunches March 17, 2014 Dear Parents / Guardians, This order period begins with a replacement day for the Snow Day on February 21st. If you ordered for your child on that day, they will receive their pizza on March 24th instead. Please remember to pack extra food to complete your child’s lunch. 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 Monday March 24th, 2014. Please do not mix hot lunch money with other school programs (milk, Scholastic, etc). Return this form to the school with your child in a sealed envelope to avoid losing money. 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. If the buses are cancelled due to inclement weather, Hot Lunch for that day will also be cancelled and orders for that day will be postponed until the next order period. If sending your child on the snow day, please pack a full lunch. Thank you for your continued support! ****************************************************************************************** General Lake March & April Hot Lunches Form **Due date: Monday, March 24th, 2014** Child’s Name:__________________________________________________________ Teacher’s name:_________________________________Room Number:_________ Friday March 21st # of cheese pizza slices: ___Make-up Day for February 21st, Please do not order____ Friday March 28th # of Chicken Pitas: _______________ @*$3.00 =______________ No lettuce ⃝ and/or No sauce ⃝ Friday April 4th # of cheese pizza slices: _________________@ $2.00 =______________ Friday April 11th # of cheese pizza slices: _________________@ $2.00 =______________ Friday April 25th # of Chicken Pitas: _______________ @*$3.00 =______________ No lettuce ⃝ and/or No sauce ⃝ TOTAL $=__________ Payment may be made by cash or cheque payable to General Lake Public School. Please fill out one form per child, and return the form with your child by Monday March 24th, 2014. If payment is for more than one child, please fill out one form per child and send the completed forms together with your child in a sealed envelope. No change will be given, so please send exact amount. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact a member of General Lake School Council at (613) 687-2404.

Walk-in Counselling at Phoenix Centre beginning March 18th.

The Phoenix Centre for Children & Families will be opening a walk-in counselling service on March 18th 2014. This service can be accessed by children and youth from birth up until their 18th birthday and/or their parents. This will be a weekly service that will take place on Tuesdays from 3:00pm until 8:00pm. Clients entering the centre later than 7:00pm may not be seen (priority will be given the next week for those who cannot be seen). Unlike a medical walk-in clinic, this service will not require a health card. Participants must live in Renfrew County or go to school in Renfrew county. It is important to note that children who are younger than 12 years of age must be accompanied by a parent/guardian and in the case of a custody arrangement/dispute proof of full custody or written consent from the other custodial parent must be provided in order for the child to be seen by a therapist. If the youth is 12 years or older than he or she may be seen without a parent/guardian’s consent. The goal of the walk-in service is to provide families with immediate assistance focused on one specific topic in a single session of solution-focused therapy. One session will typically be enough for parents and youth however they may access the walk-in service up to three times in a period of six months. If a client has accessed the service three times in a period of six months or less they will be asked if they would like to go on our waitlist for more long-term services. Walk-In Therapy is not meant to replace longer term services. Walk-In Therapy flyer and Parental Consent Forms are available from the school. For more information please contact the Walk-In Therapy Coordinator, Casandra Edwards, at 613-735-2374 ext. 248 Casandra Edwards, B.S.W Family and Child Therapist/Walk-In Clinic Coordinator The Phoenix Centre for Children & Families 130 Rue Pembroke Street West, Suite 200 Pembroke, Ontario K8A 5M8 (613) 735-2374 ext. 248 [ mailto:cedwards@phoenixctr.com ]cedwards@phoenixctr.com

March Newsletter 2014

Learn, succeed … etudier, grandir General Lake Public School March 2014 www.generallakenews.blogspot.com Principal : Ms. D Legault Vice Principal : Mme M Robillard legaultd@rcdsb.on.ca robillardm@rcdsb.on.ca Twitter@debbielegault Have a Safe and Happy March Break **** IMPORTANT DATES **** March 10-14 March Break March 17 Happy St Patrick’s Day-Wear Green March 25 Grade 6-8 Science Fair 10:00am March 26 Healthy Snack Day 6:30pm Pinecrest School Council Meeting March 27 Grade 2-5 Science Fair 12:15pm March 28 Character Assembly: Kick off for Jump rope for Heart /Earth Hour: 12-1:00 April 05 Regional Science Fair April 09 We Day Ottawa Parent Volunteer Recognition Event April 10 Student Volunteer Recognition Event April 16 School Council 6:00pm April 17 Teddy Bear Hospital/School Wide Hat Day April 18-21 Easter Holiday April 22 Earth Day April 23 Secretary Day May 2 Jump Rope for Heart May 26- June 06- EQAO Primary and Junior Provincial Assessment Thanks to all families who came out to support our General Lake Birthday Party. Congratulations to the winner of the Petawawa Library book draw Juliette Fischer and Caleb Donihee A Wise Use Of Resources ________________________________________ Earth Hour At 8:30 PM on Saturday March 30th 2014, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour and people will commit to actions that go beyond the hour. General Lake will create awareness of this event by turning lights out March 29th from 12:00-1:00 SCIENCE FAIR Students who participate in the science fair have the opportunity to research, investigate, and exhibit a topic of interest in science. Projects can be completed at home or in class, dependent upon individual teacher preferences. Students interested in participating need to register their project with Ms Legault by March 20. Parents and family members are invited to attend the Grade 6-8 Science Exhibition on March 25th at 10:00am and the Grade 2-5 Science Exhibition on March 27th at 12:15pm. Projects completed by students in Grades 6-8 will be judged by representatives from AECL. Projects from Grades 6-8 students selected by the judges will have the opportunity to enter the District Wide Science Fair at the Civic Centre on April 5, 2014. Grades 6-8 student should consult guidelines located at www.rcrsf.ca/home./policies Twitter @valourschool Valour K-12 School Update: Construction is on schedule and we are looking forward to the September 2014 opening of our great new school. As cold temperatures persist, we find ourselves engaged in our second semester classes. This is our final semester at General Panet High School as we will be opening Valour in September. Valour construction is on track and the building will be ready to accept all of our students this fall. When we open our doors it will be a new and exciting time as we embark on the journey that will allow our talented teachers to work with a child from their very first day of school until their graduation day 14 years later. Our new building and JK-12 model will allow us to provide a unique educational experience to allow all children in our care to strive and reach all of their goals. Our new school will have all grades in one building and the unique facilities of a secondary school (fitness centre, science labs, art room, music room etc...) for all grades to access to learn and explore. We will guide all students through the curriculum of their grade with engaging lessons that focus on the acquisition of knowledge and skill through inquiry and problem solving. Valour will truly provide a rich and diverse environment. At Valour we will have two schedules working at the same time. Our high school students will begin classes at 8:20am and finish at 2:30pm. Our elementary students (JK-8) will begin at 9:20am and finish at 3:40pm. We will stagger lunches and breaks so that our elementary and secondary students are not in the halls at the same time. During nutrition breaks, some of our elementary students go outside while others are eating, they will switch after 20 minutes. This type of scheduling keeps the number of students playing on the yard manageable and providing more space to play. Our JK/SK classes will have their own dedicated play yard. Valour will be an exciting learning environment that will provide all of our students with everything they need to succeed and learn. The Valour website will be up and running shortly and will be used as a conduit of information as we get closer to opening in September. March is Nutrition Month START YOUR DAY RIGHT March is Nutrition Month: Students should begin their day with a healthy breakfast. Nutritious lunches help fuel your child’s body and give them energy to get through their day successfully. Studies have shown students who eat healthy perform better academically and have less behavioural issues. Breakfast is often called “the most important meal of the day” for good reason! A morning meal helps refuel the body after sleep and contributes essential nutrients important for children’s healthy growth and development. Eating a nutritious breakfast will help children pay full attention and promote a healthy body weight. • Have a balanced breakfast everyday. • Choose foods from at least 3 of the 4 food groups in Canada’s Food Guide for a nutritious breakfast; such as a bowl of cereal with fruit and milk or whole grain bagel with peanut butter or cheese and fruit juice. • Plan ahead by setting the table the night before and wake up a little earlier if you find you run out of time for breakfast in the morning. STAY OFF THIN ICE AND ICE FLOWS With the warmer weather comes the melting snow. The ice on your local rivers and lakes is also thawing and breaking up. You should never go out onto a river or lake when it's frozen without your parents! NEVER go out on the ice at springtime, because you never know how thin the ice really is. Stay off! Stay safe! Volunteering for the Year end School Trip A Criminal Background Check(CBC) is required for all parents to assist with different activities in schools. If you are planning on helping in the school or assisting at the end of the year, please plan ahead. Forms are available at the front office Message from School Council http://www.generallakeschoolcouncil.blogspot.ca/ The General Lake School Council would like to Thank all parents for their participation in the General Lake Birthday Celebration on Feb 27th because of your positive response, the evening was a wonderful success. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our parent volunteers: Stacey Fullard, Maria Borzyak, Karen White and Rowana Brown for their assistance in making this event run smoothly. A special thank you goes out to the staff and student leaders who were able to provide the extra support and plan all of the activities for the night. The School Council was able to offer the Lasagna Dinner at a low price because of the support of Moncion's Grocers in Petawawa and because of your Moncion's Receipts. Please keep sending your stamped receipts. All profits from the dinner will be donated to the Yearbook to help reduce the cost for all students. We are looking forward to a busy spring including a Mom-to-Mom Sale and the continuation of our Hot Lunches on Fridays. If you are interested in helping with any of these events, please contact a member of School Council. Please join us at our next School Council Meeting, Wednesday April 16th at 6pm in the school library. Pinecrest and General Lake will also be having a joint meeting 6:30pm at Pinecrest on March 26th . All are welcome to attend to discuss how we can combine our fundraising efforts for Valour playground structures. Cross Boundary Transfers Due Each Year Please note that all cross-boundary students must complete a new CBT each school year. The Ministry of Education has capped class sizes. Therefore, students attending a school out of zone may be denied if numbers in a specific grade are at their maximum number. Class numbers need to accommodate students who live within the Valour zone. Students who live outside our zone can complete a CBT online at www.rcjtc.on.ca, with the exemption of French Immersion students. Moving? Posted? The year is quickly coming to a close and we are beginning preparations for next year. It is important that we know which of our students will be remaining at Valour K-12 School and which students are leaving the area. If you are posted, plan to move, or know your child will not be attending Valour K-12 School in September please inform the office. Should your child not be returning to Valour, it is important to keep your child’s records with you-do not pack them. Most schools require proof of birth, immunization records, recent report card and the name, address and phone number of last school attended. Habit of Mind for April What is ‘Perseverance’? “Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.” Julie Andrews Basketball Teams Make us Proud Congratulations to our General Lake Girls and Boys Basketball Teams for demonstrating excellent sportsmanship during their recent Tournaments. Although the girls were not victorious, they played extremely well and held their own, losing by a narrow margin. The team players were Remi Lavoie,Sarah Stacey, Katherine Bobbitt, Jessica Parsons, Skylar Reed, Madison Liverance, Niomi Bowerman, Gabrielle McKenna. Congratulations to the Boys Basketball team, who despite their noticeable difference in height played their best and demonstrated excellent sportsmanship.The team players were Charles Osborne, MacKenzie Carter-Gorin, Kale Robbins, Aiden Baird, Connor Chalmers-Weins, Zach Reid, Samuel Shamess, Dante Hoffman, Ridge Chartrand, and Samuel Mahinpoor. Special thanks to their Coaches Ms. Hansen, Ms Bennett, Mr Blimkie and Mme MacPhee for dedicating so many hours to coaching both teams. You all make us very proud.!

MArch 5 -Mental Health Issues Facing Children Cancelled

Notice of cancellation of special event: The partners of the workshop presentation: Mental Health Issues Facing Children, Youth and Families scheduled for the evening of March 5, 2014 at General Panet School are announcing, with regrets, the cancellation of this event.     The CHEO experts will reschedule this event when the full team is available.  Notice of a new date will be made before the end of March.     Greg Lubimiv Executive Director Phoenix Centre for Children and Families

Sunday Night Message from General Lake

Good evening Deb Legault here with your Sunday Night Update from General Lake. Its been an exciting few weeks at the Lake as we wind down this week with a short week. We begin on Monday March 3 Day 4. Students interested in purchasing Me to We T-shirts are asked to have their order form and $20.00 in by this Wednesday to Ms Hansen. More information is available on the blog as well as the order form. Friday is a Professional Activity day and next week is the March break. During the break, students are encouraged to begin planning for our Annual Science Fair. Students from Grade 2-8 may design a project. Projects for grade 2-5 will be on display March 27 and projects for grades 6-8 will be on display on March 25. More information about the projects can be found on the blog. Deadline is March 20 to sign up. On behalf of the School Council and the staff of General Lake I would like to take this opportunity to thank our community for their tremendous show of support for our birthday celebration. What a great way to come together learn a bit about the resources available in our community and have some fun thanks to the initiative of our student leaders. I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday and I will be back on March 16 with your next weekly update.

Me to We t-shirts available- deadline Wed

National We Day 2014 is quickly approaching and whether you’re attending in person or joining us via webcast, we want you to share in the We Day spirit! Me to We Style, the official Eco-friendly, sweatshop free apparel supplier for We Day, has created a special offer on two exclusive t-shirts to help you stand out of the crowd. This limited time offer lets you personalize your shirts with your school’s name on the back to show off your school pride in style. LIMITED TIME OFFER: Choose the exclusive We Act Tee in Neon Yellow or the Power Tee in Black at the special price of $20/shirt (Minimum 10 shirts per order). This includes: Free Personalization! Get your school name printed on the back of the t-shirt for NO additional charge. (Standard font and size will be used to print the school name, and school name will be printed on the back of the t-shirt, between the shoulders. 1 set colour, 1 set location.) No Taxes Flat Shipping Rate: $20 for shipping/handling. (Additional charges may apply for express shipping if your location is out of our standard shipping areas.) Order form: Please return to Ms Hansen by Wednesday March 5 with cheque or money in a sealed envelope. Student Name:___________________________________ Number of shirts ________ Colour of T-shirt: (circle) neon yellow we Act black power Sizes: Womens (circle size) extra small small medium large extra large extra extra large Mens (circle size) extra small small medium large extra large extra extra large

Science Fair Information

Welcome to the 2014 Renfrew County Regional Science & Technology Fair Science/Technology fairs are a chance for students to work on a project related to some aspect of science, typically an experiment, innovation or study. The students' work is presented at a science fair and the students are evaluated on their scientific thought, originality, understanding, and the exhibit itself. General Lake School wide events March 25 Grade 6-8 10:00 Set up at 9:00 School viewing after judges from AECL judge projects approximately around 12:00 March 27 Grades 2-5 12:15 Set up at 11:20 School viewing throughout afternoon. Intermediate students/staff judge projects Grade 6-8 projects can move on to Regional Fair April 4th and 5th Registration and project setup will be from 6:30pm to 8:30pm on Friday, April 4th. Students will be informed during registration what time they must be at the fair on April 5th it will be between 9:00am and 9:30am. Be ready to be at the fair until 5:00pm The link below will provide information on policies and how to register. http://rcrsf.ca/documents Registration opens on Jan 30 2014 If you need further clarification of the rules please send an email to info@rcrsf.ca This years fair is the 4 - 5 April 2014 and will be held at the Petawawa Civic Center The best projects in each category are given awards and the best projects in the fair will move on to the Canada Wide Science Fair. This award is an all expense paid trip to the CWSF. Canada-Wide Science Fair 2014 will be held in Windsor, Ontario, from May 10-17.

Principal Report February 2014

Principal's report February 2014 General Lake Public School Our first term has been an extremely successful one with students and staff engaged in many exciting events, as well as learning opportunities. Term 1 report cards were sent home today. Literacy Day was extremely successful as students were excited to be receiving ‘new’ books. In total we raised over $260.00 for our Breakfast for Learning program between the donations for books and the raffle for the Brainy Smurf. Grade 2 student Chloe Reid was the winner of the raffle. Public Speaking went extremely well as always at both the school level and at the Petawawa Legion on Sunday Feb 16. Tyler Sparling came in 3rd place in the Primary, Fiona MacPherson came 3rd in the Intermediate and Bobbi Lavoie came in first in the Junior. She will be continuing in the next round in March in Eganville. Science Fair is scheduled for Grades 1-5 on March 27 and for Grades 6-8 on March 25. Intermediate students will judge the primary event. Scientists from AECL will be coming to judge the 6-8 division. Winners at this level will move on to the Renfrew County Science Fair on April 5, 2014. February 27 has been declared the official General Lake Day as it coincides with our namesake’s birthday. General Gerard Lake was born in 1744. Plans for the evening are shaping up. Valour Principal Bryan Baird will be on hand to showcase the new school. Superintendant Brent McIntyre has sent along his acceptance as has Board media person Jake Davies. Renfrew County Health Brian Brohart, Therapy Dogs and Children’s and Teen Services Technician for the Petawawa Library, Stephanie King have confirmed. We are awaiting other community agencies including piano teacher, Phoenix Centre, PMFRC, CPAN, Kamrie for Kenya, WE Care WEDAY, PALS program representatives. We will be setting up free books for students to take, as well as a display of the General Lake memorabilia. We also will have a prize table for students to claim a surprise on there way out. We have another staff change since the beginning of the school year. Mme Wagner will fill the itinerant ARTS position. Mme Wagner has been a Supply teacher many times in the school and she is quite familiar with both staff and students. We are really excited about having her join the team. Mme Yakabuskie continues on a modified work week. Unfortunately Mme Bessette was unable to continue with the class on Tuesday and Thursday, but Mme Martinell has accepted the position. Mme Martinell has worked extensively in our school and she is experienced in kindergarten. Graduation photos for our Grade 8 students have been scheduled for February 27. Graduation date for our Grade 8’s is Monday June 23 at 12:15 The Grad Committee will meet shortly to discuss the upcoming plans. We will be asking for funds to support the event, including cost of cake and disc jockey. WE Team has sold buttons for their global initiative of building schools in Kenya. They are looking to go to WE day coming up in Ottawa on April 9, 2014. WE day t-shirts will be available shortly for $20.00 each. They need at least 10 shirt orders to make an order therefore they will be opening it up to the school to take orders during our birthday party event. The WE team is also planning a mini WE day during Education week on May 8, 2014. There was a students bicycle stolen from our front lobby a couple months back. Police were called and unfortunately no leads. Board policy is not to cover stolen property, but as a school we feel we must help in some way. Students are organizing a plan to show that they care. More details to follow. We are still looking at dates for our Jump Rope for Heart Event. Looking into having the PALS possibly leading this event. Teddy Bear Picnic K-2 Event on April 17 for our Kindergarten to Grade 2 students. Military hospital personal will be on hand (either outside or in our gym depending on the weather) to give a check up to all Teddy Bears. . Our EQAO for our grade 3 and grade 6 students occurs this year from May 26 until June 6. We are pleased to announce we will be having a before and/or after school booster program to focus on the needs of our grade 3 and grade 6 students. A note will go home shortly with more details about this program. Also parents are invited to a regional parent forum in Ottawa on Saturday, March 1, 2014. The forum will take place 9:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. at The Westin Ottawa. The forum is composed of two sessions. During the first, the Outreach Team will deliver information about EQAO’s province-wide assessment program. Then, author and renowned educator from Queen’s University Dr. Lynda Colgan will talk about the importance of mathematics and how parents can encourage their children to see the value of mathematics in everyday life. Interested participants are asked to e-mail their name, role and board of education to ~ParentForum@eqao.com. Mme Ouellette, Ms Slepica Stewart and I have begun organizing our annual April Volunteer recognition event. National Volunteers Week falls between April 6-12, 2014. Date has been set for Wednesday April 9 for our Volunteer Recognition event. We are hoping all of our Volunteers will be able to join us for that day. During the week it is also customary for us to hold a pizza party for our student volunteers. We have set this date as Thursday, April 10, 2014. I would like to ask for Councils support in providing pizza and drinks to our students to recognize their valuable work for the school including our PALs Kindergarten helpers, Open House, General Lake Birthday, Character assemblies, We day Team, Committees, Playdays, Olympic Day etc. We would also need some parent volunteers to assist with distributing the food and supervising the students in the gym for their party. Finally there is lots of excitement is being generated as we look to moving to Valour. Mr Baird met with staff individually today and Thursday to get to know the staff members. Valour is still on track for the September 2014 opening. A partnership agreement resolution has been passed by the Petawawa Council paving the way for the construction of a new outdoor athletic stadium near the future Valour K-12 school. We have over 50 new junior kindergarten registrations for the new school with 41 of those being for our French Immersion program. You can follow the Valour school on twitter @valourschool

Sunday Night Update February 23, 2014

Good evening Deb Legault with your Sunday Night Update for February 23. We begin the week on Monday Day 4. Please return all hot lasagna order forms tomorrow for Thursdays birthday party. The Health unit will be around for dental screenings at the Kindergarten and grade 2 levels. On Monday and Wednesday the boys basketball team will practice around 8:00am. On Tuesday our Girls basketball team are off for their tournament. On Wednesday it is pink shirt day. Students are encouraged to wear something pink to show their commitment to putting a stop to bullying. On Thursday Grade 8's have their Graduation photo. It is General Lake birthday and we would like students to wear their General Lake colours of purple and yellow proudly for spirit points. After school everyone is invited out at 4:30 for our big birthday bash. Valour Principal Baird will be on hand to showcase our new school and your friendly neighbourhood spiderman may make an appearance. On Friday we have our character assembly as well as our hot lunch pita. Students can wear their favourite Hawaiian wear for spirit points as many missed the event due to the snow day. Another great week at the Lake. Don't forget to send in the bottom portion of the report card to indicate if you would like an interview. I look forward to seeing everyone on Thursday evening.

Transportation Cancelled

All school transportation service for the English speaking Catholic & Public District School Boards in Renfrew County has been cancelled due to very treacherous driving conditions, freezing rain is now or imminently going to affect driving conditions in some cases where rain is falling when it does hit the ground it is slowly freezing because of the frost still in the ground, it is noted that the driving conditions are deteriorating throughout the region presently. If you do have to be out drive with extreme care!

Borden Ave Closed February 19

Good evening. An important announcement from General Lake regarding the closure of Borden Ave on February 19. To assist in the delivery of modular houses guardians will not be able to access the main entrance to General Lake off of Wolfe Ave. Buses will be the only vehicles allowed access to the lay by in front of the school. We ask that parents not drive on Borden Ave in front of the school to either drop off or pick their kids. Instead please use the entrance at the back of the school by the play structure and parking lot numbered 1690-1711 Borden Ave. Parents should also be advised that there may be a slight delay in drop off times in the afternoon. Thank you

Weekly Update from General Lake February 17

Good evening. Deb Legault here with your weekly update from General Lake and wishing everyone a Happy Family Day. First I would like everyone to mark your calendar for Feb 27 4:30 -6:00 as we celebrate the birthday of our namesake General Lake. Families are invited to the school for an evening of fun and celebration. Valour Principal Bryan Baird will be on hand to showcase our new school. A number of our community agencies will be available to answer questions including Brian Brohart from the Renfrew County Health Unit. Birthday cake will be available for all at 5:00PM and a hot meal is available from our School Council for $5.00. Order forms are due back to the school by this Friday, February 21. Come on out for an hour, have some food and celebrate our namesakes's birthday. It is sure to be fun festive event. This week we start the week on Tuesday, Day 5 General Lake is off to the Olympics with our school wide Olympic adventure. Mme Bernardin and Mrs Martinat's class will be off to Shaw Woods Outdoor Education Centre for some snowshoeing. All students should dress appropriate for the weather with layers, as both the snow showing and Olympic events will take place outside. Students are also encouraged to wear their Canada colours to show support for our Canadian Olympic athletes. Also on Tuesday I am pleased to announce the Petawawa Library will be starting a homework support group from 5-6. More information on the blog Basketball continues every morning Monday through Thursday for our intermediate students. Wednesday report card will be sent home with the students. It is also our School Council Meeting at 6:00pm. On Friday students can dress in their favourite hula wear for spirit points. It is our hot lunch pizza and our Boys basketball Tournament. It is the month of caring and 'We care' pins will still be available for $2.00 from the We Team. Proceeds from the sales of the pins goes towards Free The Children organization supporting our Global initiative to build schools in Kenya. Another great week at the Lake

Programs available at Petawawa Library

Check Twitter and Facebook for updates. http://petawawapubliclibrary.blogspot.ca/ For more information or to register for events, call the children's and teen librarian at 613-687-2227 ext. 2204 or the children's and teen technician at ext. 2203.Registration Required Wild Card! Show up and vote on the movie we’ll watch – Feb 21st – 7 p.m. All Ages Storytime Sign your preschooler up for this 12-week program, full of stories, songs, group games, and crafts! Tuesdays – Jan 28th-Apr 22nd – 10 a.m. Ages 2-4. R eading Buddies We pair your child up with a high school volunteer and the buddies will meet for one hour per week at the library. You choose the time and they choose the books and literacy-based games. Feb. 3-Apr. 25th Grades K-8 Forest of Reading Book Club (Formerly “Page Eaters”) Read some of the best Canadian books of 2013 from Feb 3rd – Apr 11th and attend fun parties throughout. Register according to your age group: Blue Spruce – Gr. K-2 Silver Birch – Gr. 3-6 Red Maple – Gr. 7-8 Children’s Department News Petawawa Public Library Just Drop-In No need to call ahead for these programs and events! Simply show up and have a great time. Playdough – Jan. 29th & February 26th – 6-7 p.m. Homework Help Bring your homework to the library every Tuesday and get some help understanding those extra-tricky problems. Starts Feb 4th – 4-5 p.m. – Grades K-8

General Lake Birthday Celebration February 27, 2014

You're Invited to General Lake's Birthday Celebration Thursday February 27th 4:30-6:00 The whole family is invited to come out and enjoy classic party games complete with clowns. Our friendly neighbourhood Spiderman may be making another special appearance at his favourite Elementary School. Birthday cake will be available for all free of charge sponsored by our School Council. All proceeds to go towards General Lake's final yearbook. Order Form for Lasagna Dinner February 27th **Due Date: February 21st, 2014** Family Name: __________________________________________ Each meal will include your choice of Meat OR Vegetarian Lasagna, Caesar Salad, a white or whole wheat roll and your choice of drink (milk, chocolate milk, juice or water) # of MEAT Lasagna Meals _________ @ $5.00 = _______________ # of VEGETARIAN Lasagna Meals _________ @ $5.00 = _______________ Total $=_______________ Payment may be made by cash or cheque payable to General Lake Public School. Please return this form with your child by Friday February 21st, 2014 in a sealed envelope. No change will be given, so please send exact amount. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact a member of General Lake School Council at (613) 687-2404

Sunday Night Message Feb 9

Good Evening, Deb Legault here with your Sunday Night Message from General Lake Public School. We begin the week on Day 5 on February 10. Intermediate students ar reminded of the basketball practices early in the morning. Tuesday at 12:15 we will be holding our Annual Primary Public Speaking at 12:15. Students participating in the event will be notified by their teachers. On Thursday beginning at 12:15 we will be holding our Junior Intermediate Grade 4-8 Public Speaking. On Friday it is Valentine's Day and students are encouraged to wear pink, red and white to celebrate the day. It is our hot lunch pizza day. Just a reminder to those sending in treats that we are a Peanut aware school so please look carfully to ensure the food is labelled clearly peanut free. A reminder tomorrow is the last day to complete the survey about the before and after school program for Valour and Friday is the last day to complete survey about the French Immersion program. Both surveys located on the Board website. Remember to mark your calendar for our Big General Lake birthday bash on February 27. More information will be sent out this week. Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Solving the math-phobia problem – for both parents and kids

ERIN ANDERSSEN The Globe and Mail Published Thursday, Jan. 23 2014, 5:00 PM EST To read about Christopher Danielson’s math chats with his six-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son, is to immediately feel inferior as a parent. While grocery shopping with his daughter, a discussion about whether she can carry four cans of pumpkin to the cart becomes a lesson in two plus two. “What did we learn?” he writes of that exercise. “Decomposing numbers is fun.” A debate about how old his son will be when he can stay up to midnight on New Year’s Eve, turns into an algebraic algorithm based on the calculation that his bedtime gets later by half an hour each year. One morning, they guess the temperature, and then calculate how far they were off – presto, integers 101! In my home, the last thing that bedtime negotiations afford is an algebraic math conversation. (Although, it might put them to sleep.) “Decomposing” numbers, for many math-phobic parents, will raise the spectre of a gone-but-not forgotten nightmare, otherwise known as high-school calculus. Clearly, Danielson has an edge. He is a Minnesota college math teacher and curriculum developer with a PhD, whose online blog (talkingmathwithkids.com) is aimed at helping parents bring math into everyday conversations. For those less-credentialed, algorithms are often best consigned to class, or, only when necessary, the kitchen table, where the “new math” textbooks baffle parents who never really got the “old math” the first time around. (One late-night homework session at my house led to a humbling dispute with my 13-year-old about how to multiply mixed fractions; he was right.) Is it any wonder, under such duress, that so many families dread the subject? But while the half-dozen math experts interviewed for this article were sympathetic, they also make a logical point: Our math-phobic culture is a factor in our children’s falling scores in international tests. Parents worry about math marks – and are even petitioning for a return to basic skills and rote memorization – because, as research shows, knowing your numbers is linked not only to success in school, but also to good jobs in a high-tech age. A 2007 study, for example, based on U.S. longitudinal data, found that early math skills were a stronger predictor of future academic success than reading. Parents who would never trash talk reading, freely diss math, as a subject they either loathed or flunked. “If you are afraid of a spider and you run around talking about your fears of spiders,” says Jo-Anne LeFevre, a psychology professor who specializes in math research at Carleton University in Ottawa, “should you be surprised that your kid is afraid of spiders?” Starting even before their kids can speak, parents buy into the public education campaign that reading is an essential foundation for learning. But, she asks, how often does math enter into everyday life? “Some families even turn off the TV, and say, ‘Now we are going to have reading time.’ But do we do it with math?” Besides inadvertently passing down their own anxieties, parents also overemphasize the pencil and paper work, the root of so much tension at home. “We have trained rule followers, and some us become good at memorizing the rules, and some of us don’t,” says Danielson. “But that’s not what we want. That’s the equivalent of someone who can read words, but can’t understand the story.” A key to math success is what researchers call fluency – being able to work out calculations in your head, think critically about problems, make reasonable estimates, and assess whether the results on a calculator actually make sense. Surprisingly, perhaps, fostering that kind of thinking at home looks a lot more interesting – and easier – than trying to jam those seven times tables into an eight-year-old’s brain. Scrabble isn’t just a word game, it also involves adding and multiplying scores, and mental math. Your son builds a Lego house. Can he guess how many pieces he will need to build a fence – “a perimeter” – around it? Your daughter needs to get to a 7 a.m. hockey practice; what time does she estimate she’ll have to get up? A 2012 study published in the journal Psychological Science linked student success in high-school algebra to how well they understood fractions and division in elementary school – skills that can be developed by teaching your kids to cook . “Our job [as parents] can really be about talking about number relationships and the shapes we see in the world,” Danielson says. Thankfully, that doesn’t require always finding the answer – that’s where school comes in. Sometimes it simply means asking the questions. If you are already racing to hockey, or playing Lego, there’s a math story (time estimations, spatial reasoning) in there somewhere, waiting to be told. What four Globe writers learn when they try doing their kids’ homework for a week After being pushed to the limit herself, this author examines why moms get maxed out

French Immersion Survey

The Renfrew County District School Board French program is under review. Parents of current and potential French Immersion students are being asked to share our thoughts of the current program. Please take a moment to complete a short survey. You can access it from the link at the bottom of this page or by accessing the board website, clicking on “Programs”, then click on “French Immersion” and then click the link for the survey. It is a short survey and shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes to complete. The survey will only be available until February 15, 2014. Survey Link: http://www.rcdsb.on.ca/en/programs/frenchimmersion.asp

Sunday Night Update January 26, 2014

Good evening. Deb Legault here with your Sunday night update from General Lake. An exciting week at General Lake beginning with our school wide pyjama day on Monday. Monday, Day 1, is Family Literacy day and General Lake will be having a book swap. Students can still bring in there books at 9:00 am. At 10:00am students who have brought in books will come down to choose a book from the donations to bring home. Individual classes will have a chance later in the day and into Tuesday to visit the swap and 'buy' a book. All donations will go to our Breakfast for Learning Snack Fund. We also have an exciting raffle taking place for a Brainy smurf and books. Tickets will be on sale at lunch in the front entrance 1 ticket for $1.00; 3 for $2.00; or 5 for $3.00 until Thursday. The Petawawa public library will also be on hand to talk about an exciting reading opportunity called the 'Forest of Reading' Program. More details are posted on the blog. Throughout the week classes will take a break at noon for 15 minutes of school-wide reading. Monday and Wednesday we have basketball for our intermediate boys Tuesday and Thursday we have basketball for our intermediate girls. Thursday General Lake celebrates the Chinese New Year by wearing red or traditional Chinese inspired clothing. Students are also encouraged to bring fans, paper lanterns and noisemakers for our annual dragon parade through the school. We will also have our monthly character assembly beginning at 12:30. Friday is a PA Day as the staff will be working on assessment. Thanks to the wonderful group of parents that joined us for our School Council Meeting. Plans are underway for a big birthday bash for General Lake on February 27. More details to come. Please contact a School Council Member if you are interested in assisting with this party. Thanks and have a Happy Literacy Monday. We encourage all our families to spend 15 minutes of reading fun together.

January 2014 Principal REport

Principal's report January 2014 General Lake Public School Happy New Year to all of our General Lake community and welcome back. Our school is extremely excited to be back as we plan exciting school wide events and move forward with our academic, character and healthy school goals for 2014. Among some of the up and coming events planned we have our Literacy Day book swap and pyjama day next week on Monday, January 27th. We are also raffling off a Brainy Smurf stuffed toy and some books. Tickets will go on sale for $1.00 each or 5 tickets for $3.00. All funds raised will go toward our ‘Breakfast for Learning’ program. On Thursday, January 30 we will be having our Chinese New Year Parade where students will parade through the school with noisemakers. In February we are looking forward to our Public Speaking events and in March we anticipate our extremely popular Science Fair. We have also identified February 27 as the official General Lake Day as it coincides with our namesake’s birthday. We hope to have a fun filled activity on this day. Valour plans are coming along and Mr Baird has reported we are still anticipating a September 2014 opening. Next Friday, Lake staff has been invited over to General Panet for lunch and to preview plans for classrooms. The PA day has been designated for assessment purposes, with our TERM 1 report cards going home on February 19. New Junior Kindergarten Registration begins on January 27 and a survey went home looking for parental input regarding an extended day program. Surveys are due to the office by February 10 and are available online on the Board website www.rcdsb.on.ca under programs. Mr. Baird has sent over Valour hats for us to distribute randomly at our character assembly, as well as at various special events. Another survey also will be going home asking for feedback into the French Immersion programs and is also available under programs on the Board website. We have experienced several more staff changes since the beginning of the school year. Mme Bessette joins us in our JK/SK immersion kindergarten until Mme Yakabuskie returns and Mr. Blimkie joins us in the English junior senior kindergarten. Mme Butler has accepted a position in Renfrew and we are hoping to have her position filled shortly. We have added two new positions including .5 library and .4 special education resource which has been filled by Ms Conway and we have two more Educational Assistants working with our kindergartens Ms Moreau and Ms Charboneau. General Lake continues to make student safety its number one priority. We are happy to report people have got used to the locked doors and the front bell to ring in. Parents are signing in and wearing their passes when visiting the classes. We have had a couple of lockdown drills (November 8, 2013 , January 17, 2014) with the help of Constable Darcy Nicol from the OPP and MP Karen Renaud. Everything went smoothly. The police were impressed with how quickly the staff and students responded and how well protocol was followed. Our EQAO for our grade 3 and grade 6 students occurs this year from May 26 until June 6. The Education Quality and Accountability Office annually tests reading, writing and mathematics skills throughout the province and allows student achievement to be assessed in relation to a province-wide standard. Our new SERT teacher, Mrs Conway has begun working with our level 2 students at the grade 3 and grade 6 level to give them extra remediation to ensure their success. More information about the testing is available on the EQAO website at www.eqao.com. As part of our Champlain Healthy Schools initiative action plan, students were trained in December for the PALS playground leader program. Valour Principal Baird participated in the learning day with the students. Students have been scheduled for their duties and we are extremely pleased at the progress of the program. We look forward to expanding this training to Pinecrest and bringing this initiative to Valour. Fitness continues throughout the school to be a number one priority with Grade 3 students participating in swimming programs; junior students participating in skating; dancefit continues for students in grade 5-8 and a school wide 30 day fitness challenge for k-8. Intermediates are now involved in basketball practices. Mrs Green, Mrs Robillard and Ms Hansen have been providing intramurals to our grade 2-8 students. We are currently expanding this program to every day as we have seen a marked decrease in office referrals from playground issues on days the intramurals are taking place. Staff have also taken up the challenge and they are organizing staff walks, runs and dance fit after school hours. We are pleased to announce that the number of Kindergarten office referrals have decreased significantly, as we have adopted a number of strategies from the Calm, Alert and Learning book by Stuart Shanker. The school has purchased four more walkie talkies to ensure our Educational Assistants can be contacted and can respond immediately to an issue. We are using strategies including quiet areas in the classrooms as well as a large box to be carried to the office to give students a body break. As part of the Board wide plan to increase technology in our schools we are happy to announce we have 67 new IPADs in the school. Teachers can sign-out a class set of IPADS or they can sign out on an individual basis . We continue to train our staff in its use and find creative ways to use within the classroom. We have been doing a lot of work on triangulation of evidence when assessing our students. That is using conversations, observations and product to assess our students. The IPAD is proving to be beneficial when documenting the work of our students, particularly the conversations. Our Anti-bullying plan has been updated for the 2013-2014 school year and is available from the office or online. Our focus is on promoting positive behaviours, rather than focusing on the negative. We continue to be part of the Stop-A Bully online reporting system and we look forward to rewarding five of our students in February for their positive contributions as part of the True Colours initiative. We continue to have our monthly character assemblies and daily quotes promoting the character virtues of the month. Our overall theme for the year is RESPECT and we promote respect daily in our interactions with all. A focus for our up and coming anti-bullying week will be on respect and using online respectfully. During our work with the Stuart Shanker book we focused on the Indicators to Distinguish Play fighting from Bullying which we now have included in our anti-bullying plan, as well as in our conversations with students to determine if bullying is taking place: Play Fighting: Positive facial expressions (smiling); Voluntary participation; Alternated roles (being chased, then being the chaser); Tempered force; Children stay together after playing Bullying: Negative facial expressions (angry looks); Involuntary participation; Fixed roles (being either the aggressor or the victim); Aggressive force; Children separate after an encounter Finally we had tremendous support for our holiday concert as it was standing room only as parents delighted in the performances of our students. Plans are underway for another couple of school-wide performance based events including a Mini ‘WE’ day to occur during Education week in May and our Talent show in June, which we will be inviting our parents to attend. As always we welcome our parents into our school and we look forward to keeping everyone up to date with our blog, weekly synervoice and now our new Twitter Feed @debbielegault. Thank you Deb Legault

Link for Extended day program

Here is the correct link for the extended day program survey in pdf form (for Valour). http://www.rcdsb.on.ca/en/programs/resources/Extended_Day_Program_Family_Survey_-_Valour.pdf The link to the extended day website is here. http://www.rcdsb.on.ca/en/programs/ExtendedDayProgram.asp

Principal Report November 2013

Principal's report November 2013 General Lake Public School We have had a wonderful event-filled first term leading up to our Progress Reports that went home on November 12, 2013 A few changes in staff Mme Yakabuskie is on a Leave of Absence. Mrs Gratton is replacing Mme Yakabuskie and Mrs Martinell has been temporarily replacing Ms McKay. We also welcome Mrs Van Hoof as an Educational Assistant working in the English Sk-1 class. After looking closely at our school data using a variety of sources including triangulation of evidence (observations; conversations; product; EQAO data; our reading assessment data (PM Benchmarks K-3; Casi 4-8; and our mathematics assessments: Prime) we have developed our School Improvement plan. The plan focuses on oral language development at the kindergarten level; reading and writing development in the primary grades and math at the junior intermediate level. Team divisions have been involved in Professional Learning meetings and workshops to look closely at their student profiles and to explore strategies to inform their practice and improve student achievement. Using the ‘Tell Them From Me’ survey, the ‘Champlain Healthy School’ survey, our Learning Skills data from the report cards, and data from our behavioural reports we are focusing on increasing physical fitness levels of our students by providing a range of activities. We have met several times with the representatives from the Healthy Schools initiative to develop an action plan. This plan includes training in a Peer Mediation plan Grade 4/5 students (PALS program); increased physical fitness activities swimming, dance fit, and DPA challenges. We also look forward to participating in the Jump rope for Heart Challenge. Ms Robillard and Ms Green have begun an intramural program for students in all grades. Intermediate students have been practicing for the up and coming volleyball tournaments with Mme Malette and Ms Green. Finally one area of need reflected in our office referrals data is self-regulation in our kindergarten students. Students are presenting challenges including engaging in aggressive play; difficulty during transition periods or unstructured play; or adapting to changes in personnel. We are exploring ways to better prepare the students for Kindergarten; strategies to address some of the playground issues and finally strategies to assist parents at home. One change we are implementing is a change in the lunch and recess time for some of the classes to cut down on the number of students in out kindergarten yard. Therefore three classes will be eating lunch in classrooms while others are outside for recess. A new Concussion protocol has been introduced by the Board. In a case of a suspected concussion, parents will be called and instructed to pick up their child and bring immediately to hospital. We have a new tool to help us assess the likelihood of a concussion and a copy will be given to the parent in all suspected cases. We continue to have our friendly spirit days designed to create student engagement. We have had four motivational speakers Power of One Anti-bullying Speaker; We day Speaker; Right to Play Olympic Athlete and Ned show motivational speaker and yo yo performer. Craig Keilburger, founder of Free the Children, was the keynote speaker at the recent Parent Involvement Committee symposium. Some General Lake students were in attendance. General Lake continues to be inspired by the work of Free the Children as we participated in the We Starve Hunger collecting over 500 cans for St. Joseph’s Food Bank. One student, Grade 8 Kamrie Lavoie is looking to go on a humanitarian trip next year so she will be putting together a plan to fundraise for her cause. We will be supporting a raffle for a gingerbread house she will bring to General Lake beginning in December. Ms Hansen’s WE club have begun the We Make Change initiative designed to raise money to help build schools. As always, we continue to take bullying seriously documenting and investigating all reports and trying to find ways to address this issue. Parents, Staff and students are invited to meet next week Tuesday Nov 26 at 8:30 to examine our current plan and update. Jer’s vision came to the school today and addressed the classes. Jer’s vision is an organization designed to educate students on the issues of bullying and discrimination. We have also formed a partnership with Kelsey’s restaurant. They have given us 5 certificates to award to students for demonstrating both a positive attitude and making a positive difference in our school. Students who receive the award will receive a t-shirt and a free meal from Kelseys. Students will be able to nominate their peers for this award. Nominations will continue until January. Valour planning is on schedule. During the Joint Staff meeting September 21st the new mascot was unveiled. (‘Valour Voyageurs’) We also participated in planning activities as well as creating a common vision for the school. Many Committees have been formed and the excitement is building as we assist with the selection process of uniforms. Our celebration of General Lake is coming together as we plan a yearbook. We continue to look for other ways to honour the closing of the school. Finally thanks to our Parents and staff, the Scholastic Book fair was a great success. Fifty percent of all the proceeds go back to the school in product for the classrooms. Thanks to Educational Assistant Robin Van Hoof, Jen Gerroir, Lorrie Lavoie, Lindsay Allen, Angela MacKay, Molly Dempsey and Andrea Robb for their work and dedication bringing this to our school. We look forward to another sale in the Spring.