Together in Education
November/December 2019
Lancaster Drive Public School and Parent Council
Email: lancd@limestone.on.ca
Website: http://lancaster.limestone.on.ca
Location: 1020 Lancaster Drive, Kingston, ON, Canada
Phone: (613)634-0470
Twitter: @LancasterPSLDSB
UPCOMING EVENTS
Nov 26 ~ Wind in the Willows - LTTC play for K-6
Nov 26 ~ Hot Lunch - Pasta
Nov 28 ~ Grade 6-8 to Queen's Volleyball, Walking Tour and Bowling trip
Nov 28 ~ Queen's Brain Presentation - Grade 5
Nov 28 ~ MOVIE NIGHT! 6pm - PJs & Popcorn at our very own Lancaster Cinema!
Nov 29 ~ PA Day - No School for Students
Dec 2 ~ Girls Volleyball Year-End Tournament
Dec 3 ~ Superintendent Silver visits p.m.
Dec 3 ~ Hot Lunch - Grilled Cheese
Dec 5 ~ Boys Volleyball Year-End Tournament
Dec 5 ~ Gould Lake Summer program presentations Grade 6-8
Dec 5 ~ Grade 7 and 8 Quebec Trip Parent Information session 6:00
Dec 6 ~ Bus Safety Presentations for K-3 and 4-8
Dec 9 ~ Dental Screening - JK/SK & Gr. 2
Dec 9 ~ Sharing Assembly
Dec 10 ~ Hot Lunch - Subway
Dec 10 - Coffee Time 8:00 a.m., Parent Council Meeting 6:00 p.m.
Dec 11 ~ Grade 6 to Bayridge SS for Coding Trip
Dec 17 ~ Hot Lunch - Panzarotti
Dec 21 - Jan 5 ~ HOLIDAY BREAK!!!
Jan 6 ~ First Day back for staff and students
Lancaster Family Movie Night - Thursday November 28th!!
Enjoyed reading this book with our Grade 1 students and everyone got their own copy from The TD Great Book Giveaway
Our Girl's Volleyball team shared smiles and tons of Lancaster spirit at their weekend tournament!
"I message" iMovies about resolving conflicts were created by Grade 2 students and shared with other classes
Karate students talk about helping others in need this holiday
Grade 5/6 students have been working hard on their Book Talks this month
Our table tennis club has been a hit, ping-ponging away!
MESSAGE FROM YOUR ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM
PARKING INFORMATION
A compilation of "Did you Know" insights from staff and students at Lancaster.....
- we are all guardians of school safety and student conduct in our building
- the athletic ministry has established an intramural program for students across grades 1-6, promoting physical activity, developing a sense of fair play...volunteering their time and building their leadership skills at the same time
- Our intermediate teachers hold a study hall for intermediates to finish homework and get learning support at recess
- teachers choose novels, mentor texts and read alouds selectively to tackle big issues like tough emotions, family dynamics, social justice issues, racism and discrimination, human relationships, and we talk about how all of these can enter our lives at home, at school and out in the community
- students support each other when facing hardships on the school yard every day
- we celebrate our parents as you support your children and work alongside staff to grow greater independence, student accountability, and emotional regulation
- all classes, and the school staff work hard to set clear expectations and build a caring community for all students. we have community circles in classrooms to problem solve, share our thinking, resolve conflicts, and remove barriers to learning and feeling safe at school
- our staff often take their lunch or recess time to invest in students - offering a listening ear, holding round-table discussions, mending friendships, resolving conflicts, and generally building students up
- our Ministry of Caring meets every Thursday after school to work on community outreach projects, school events, and promoting positive support of students at Lancaster. Their efforts have met the criteria for an invitation to We Day this year!
- A significant portion of our fundraising at Lancaster goes toward charitable causes: Terry Fox, Local Food Banks, Youth Shelters
We use teamwork and have a lot of fun creating our snow structures!
We were allowed to do one jump each!
Winter = Good Vibes! Those smiles say it all!
Setting a Positive Tone for Winter Yard Play (Snow Fort Woes are here!)
YARD PLAY
Keeping student safety at the forefront in all seasons is essential. At first snowfall staff have taken time to review elements of outside play in terms of both safety and conduct to establish a positive tone for winter yard play. Our staff know that their decision to shut down an area of the yard on any particular day or for any particular reason will be supported. Rough play, students needing too many reminders, or just too much volume in that area for overall supervision to work effectively are all possible factors. Access may also be restricted for individual students or groups of students if more appropriate.
Reminders about safe play while out in the snow are often shared on morning announcements and are frequently reviewed by school staff and yard supervisors. Families can help reinforce these messages when students are playing both before and after school. Please take some time to review these with your child and reinforce that after school play still needs to abide by these guidelines. While it is at a parent's discretion to allow their child to stay after school there is no school supervision. If your child is reporting being involved in continued challenges it may be advisable to have students head home where there is parent supervision at the end of the day.
- Snow stays on the ground, no throwing or kicking of snow at others
- Hands off - it is even more essential in slippery conditions that students are in control of their own bodies. Pushing or shoving others can put them at great risk for injury as they are not able to brace their fall when they are not prepared for the loss of balance. When pushing or shoving occurs staff will often shut down a snow hill.
- When sliding students must go one at a time and wait for the path to be clear before sliding, no lingering or playing at the bottom of a hill that is being used for sliding. Sliding is always on knees or bottom.
- Be respectful of the creations of others. While there is no ownership of snow it is not polite or caring to purposely destroy the work of others, or steal snow. The fields have an abundance of snow available, taking other's snow is not necessary.
- No snow forts on top of the hills or tunnels at the bottom - this creates unsafe situations with access to forts and the use of the hill for all. Digging tunnels at the bottom of the hill is not permitted.
- Supervision before school starts at 8:15, students should be arriving at this time and are allowed on the pavement area or soccer field (not in the back field or junior climber area).
- It is inevitable that structures will not stand the test of time for various reasons. Role-playing or talking through the potential emotions and reactions to this may be helpful for your child. We often remind students that part of the fun of snow is to rebuild something new or add on to make structures even better the next time.
MESSAGE FROM YOUR PARENT COUNCIL CHAIR
New Parent Council Facebook Group
Dear Lancaster Parents,
Thank you to all the members of our parent community who came out for our last meeting! We have a full Council, who have wonderful ideas on the horizon, and we look forward to working with them throughout the year to help support initiatives and activities, in partnership with the school, for our students. The elected Council for 2019-2020 is below. Anyone is welcome at the meetings and we encourage you to come out to lend your voice and your support to this dynamic group of Council Executives. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, December 10th at 6:00. Childcare is provided. Join us for Coffee Time on the primary yard at 8:00 that morning.
Improving communication is just one of the prime objectives of Parent Council this year. We have created this closed Facebook group to keep the parents up to date with Parent Council activities. I hope this group would also help improve your participation/ involvement in council meetings as well as continue to build our parent community allowing for networking and collaboration to support the efforts of our school. We look forward to seeing our families come out to our Movie Night to be held on November 28th!
Please click on the link below to join the group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2497663423888404/
Thank you and I look forward to working as your Parent Council Chair this year,
Ammar Rashid
Chair, Lancaster Parent Council
Volleyball teams getting ready for their season end tournament
Making "cents" of math, demonstrating our numeracy thinking in many different ways
We love when parents visit our classrooms!
Primary Students lining up for scooter basketball at recess led by our Athletic Ministry and supervised by school staff
Our Remembrance Day Service: A truly impactful assembly well attended by our local and parent community
Grades K-6 thoroughly enjoyed the dramatic LTTC performance of "The Wind and The Willows", a story of friendship to support our school goals
Our Caring Ministry "Kindness" shirts are popping up everywhere - each colour supporting a different area of our focus - a rainbow of Kindness
Finding meeting spots to connect with friends
Pink Shirt Day smiles!
Students exploring winter wilderness at Little Cataraqui Conservation Area
Grade 2 students created "I message" movies and shared with primary classes their messages around Kindness and Anti-bullying on Pink Shirt Day
Our kinders hard at work! Routines in place and ready to practice our literacy skills
Music is alive at Lancaster!!! Mrs. Dowker has students engaged in very creative learning experiences as our Music teacher!
Primary Choir meets weekly to share music together - a wonderful song selection
A sliver of time when they are standing still - captured!
NEW THIS YEAR: Parent Reporting of Student Absence on Inclement Weather Days
In past years when school buses have been cancelled due to inclement weather, parents/guardians of bused students were not required to report their absence. Only parents/guardians of walkers who chose not to come to school were to report absences.
NEW FOR 2019-2020: All parents/guardians are asked to report their student’s absence regardless of the reason including during bus cancellations. Often, bused students find alternative ways to school and we want to ensure we know a student’s whereabouts to ensure their safety and well-being. Knowing who is supposed to be at school will allow school office staff to best ensure all students are accounted for. Students will report to their classroom teacher for attendance at 9:15AM where they will take attendance within the first 10 minutes as they do on a regular school day. This allows school office staff to quickly determine who isn’t at school that should be and launch SafeArrival calls to a student’s designated contacts. We appreciate your support and understanding as we work to enhance practices that ensure students’ safety always.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MINISTRY OF CARING
Areas Where we Focus our Caring
Ministry of Caring "Friday Chats" are student-led and give students a safe place to talk about issues that are important to them
Ministry of Caring Mission Statement
See Yourself in Limestone: Student Census
The Limestone D.S.B. will be conducting an Identity-based data collection in early Spring 2020 for elementary and secondary students in Limestone called “See Yourself in Limestone: Student Census”. Information & sharing sessions are being held with Advisory groups, Community groups, families, and student focus groups during November & December in preparation for the survey.
Kingston Gets Active’s Grade 5 ActivPass is a unique opportunity for students to enjoy physical activity at participating recreation centres, during designated times, free of charge until August 31, 2020.
The schedule can be found at www.KingstonGetsActive.ca
Homestay
The Limestone District School Board has a rich tradition of hosting students from different countries around the world for over 20 years. Ontario, and specifically Kingston, is seen as a learning destination. Our city is safe, accessible, has great services, is friendly and perfectly sized for students to study in. For September 2020, the Limestone District School Board, is expanding the number of International Students that we host each year. These are high school aged students that are looking to spend 5 months or more learning English and studying at our schools.
We need your help! Please consider hosting an International student in your home. The most important part of a student’s journey to Kingston is their home away from home. We have many families around the District that already host students and find it rewarding. We have a professional staff within the Limestone District School Board that with help you with the process and provide support. As a host family, you will get paid per month for hosting an International student.
Students come from countries including Brazil, China, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
If you are interested or have questions, please contact the International Education Department at 613-544-7745. You can also fill out an application on-line at www.studykingston.com By filling out an application, there is no commitment to host. One of our Homestay team will get in contact with you.
School Day - Cashless Schools is now at Lancaster
Lancaster is now one of several schools to launch a new secure online portal, School-Day, that will allow families to complete payments and permission forms online. Parents and guardians will be invited via email to view their student’s school-related events such as field trips, sporting
events or activities such as hot lunch, agenda/yearbook purchases, event attendance, etc. Parents/guardians will be required to complete the required permissions and complete payment (if applicable) via credit card or electronic funds transfer from their bank account.
Instructions on how to register for this new system were sent home on Monday, October 21st when the system went live for our site. Please let your child's teacher know if you did not receive a second copy and you need one.
The first phase of the use of this system is parent sign-up. Staff will receive training relevant to classroom events, field trip permissions, and use for coaching or club purposes at our November 1st PA Day. You will then begin to see events and items added to your child's account and recieve notifications of these events via email. School Day is also set up to work well for dual-home families as accounts are separate but both parents can see the events attached to their child. Parents will be required to sign up for this service as it will replace other methods of permission and payments.
This new portal will remove the risks associated with sending money to school with students, the frustration of lost or missing permission forms, and significantly reduce the amount of paper our school consumes.
Parent Council 2019-20
FOR OUR PARENTS: COMMUNITY SUPPORTS, PROGRAMS, EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS
Lancaster Parent Council Fundraising
Mabels Labels
Cobb's Bread
Love tasty baked goods from Cobbs Bread?? Every time you visit Cobbs Bread Bakery at 770 Gardiners rd. in Kingston simply let them know you are supporting Lancaster School’s Fundraiser and they will donate 10% of your sale to us!
Let’s “Raise some Dough”!
FlipGive
You can now shop online at your favourite stores and fund raise for Lancaster! As part of our 2018/2019 Fundraising efforts, Parent Council is putting a 3 year plan in place to raise funds for schoolyard improvements for all divisions - primary, junior and intermediates. This is a significant project and will require a lot of hard work and dedication from our Parent Council, Staff and Community.
FlipGive allows us to earn cash back for our school for shopping online! There are dozens of retailers to shop with including Indigo, Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks, Old Navy, Sport Chek just to name a few. You can even earn cash back for the school when you purchase gift cards - great teachers gifts or stocking stuffers! Going out for dinner? Order your gift card online through FlipGive ahead of time and use it to pay for dinner....So easy & something you were going to do anyway!
How it works
- Join our Lancaster Team at Flipgive.com or download the FlipGive App from the app store
- Go to https://www.flipgive.com/teams/164409 and click on "Join This Team"
- Enter code CFKGRP
- Happy Shopping!
Feel free to also share the link and code with family & friends - anyone can join our team! Every little bit helps. We appreciate your support.
- Indigo - Gift Cards gives 15%, Shop Online gives up to 3%
- Amazon - Shop Online gives up to 10%
- Walmart - Shop Online gives up to 1%
- Starbucks - Buy Gift Cards gives 2%
- Old Navy - Buy Gift Cards gives 2%, Shop Online gives 5%
- Sport Chek - Shop Online gives 10%
- Ultimate Dining Gift Card - gives 7%
- Jack Astor's - Buy Gift Cards gives 10%
Music Lessons
Piano
Tanya Bezanson
613.539.8342
Piano
Maria Boston
613. 384.1057
Useful Links
Sign Up for the Parent Council E-mail List
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