Centennial Connection Nov. 27, 2022

Dear Families,

Thank you so much for your support of the Dieleman's Fundraiser! We raised just over $700 which will help to support experiential learning opportunities for students, and enhance some of the technology in the building. The Dieleman's orders will be sent home next week with students, or for those with large orders, the school will contact families for pick up.

Classes participated in many Bullying Awareness & Prevention Week activities this past week. Students read books, put on skits, had kindness day celebrations, and took extra time to develop a better understanding of empathy and kindness. We will continue to focus on kindness, respect and standing up for each other all year long! Our Centennial Comets will Show Up! Stand Up! Never Give Up!

Grade 5/6 students participated in "Beyond Classrooms" all week where they attended "class" at City Hall in downtown Kingston. The class heard from various speakers - including the Mayor! - and learned about how local government works, as well as the various services the City of Kingston provides.

The LDSB continues to provide free tutoring options for students: detailed information can be found using the following link: https://www.limestone.on.ca/cms/one.aspx?pageId=27481883

Last Friday was a PA Day for staff at Centennial. We spent the morning together with the other elementary schools in our "Family of Schools": Polson Park, Winston Churchill and Lord Strathcona. The focus of the day was "We are all teachers of reading" and various workshops were offered for teachers in all teaching divisions, for both English and French.

These next few weeks in school are a great time where there is so much learning happening, and where there is a lot of consolidation of learning. Centennial PS is a great place to be! Check out the many photos below in this week's newsletter!

Have a great rest of the weekend and a wonderful week ahead!

-Deborah Thompson & Centennial PS Staff

Upcoming Dates

NOVEMBER

November is Indigenous Education Month and Hindu Heritage Month

Monday November 28

Fire Safety Presentations

Junior Classes to Mamma Mia at LCVI

School Council Meeting 6:30pm

Tuesday November 29

Girard's 5/6 class to Agnes Etherington

Friday December 2

Graham & Girard Grade 5/6 Classes to Gould Lake

DECEMBER

Monday December 12th - School Photo Retake Day
Sunday, December 18th - Monday, December 26th: Hanukkah
Sunday December 25th - Christmas Day
Monday December 26th - Kwanzaa
Friday, December 23rd-Sunday, January 8th: Winter Break

School Day

Many families are signed up for School Day! If you haven't yet, please sign up as soon as possible as moving forward all permissions and payments will be done using this online system.

Each student has received a notice that has a code specific to them, for sign up. Just a reminder that an O with a line through it is actually the number and not the letter.

If you need any help signing up for School Day just let the office know!

School Council

School Council will meet on Monday November 28th at 6:30pm in the school gym.

Meetings will be 75 minutes in length and child care is provided.

All parents/guardians are welcome!

Entering Absences

Students who are absent from school will be marked absent. Parents/guardians must either enter a student's absence into the Safe Arrival App (see detailed instructions including a video below) or call the toll free number at : 1-855-257-9349

Please do not call the school phone number to report an absence as you will be directed to the app or the 1-855 number. Students whose parents/guardians do not report their absence will receive automated calls from the Safe Arrival system until there is a response about the absence.

While we would like to call each family directly when a child is marked absent, the automated system allows for many calls to be made simultaneously which is an important step in ensuring student safety. Thank you for using Safe Arrival to report a child's absence. This can be done for multiple days and in advance. Please see more detailed information below about how to use the Safe Arrival system. Students who will be late need to be marked absent and then we will sign them in when they arrive at school.


Mr Gillespie and Ms Hetherington	Ms Z and Mrs Lalonde	Ms Berry and Mrs Fraser

Mr Gillespie and Ms Hetherington

Ms Z and Mrs Lalonde

Ms Berry and Mrs Fraser


Mrs Murphy, Ms Scott & Mrs Schukei	Mrs Joannette & Mrs Pharoah	Ms Graham

Mrs Murphy, Ms Scott & Mrs Schukei

Mrs Joannette & Mrs Pharoah

Ms Graham

Virtual Tutoring Opportunities

The links for the afterschool virtual tutoring have been updated.

UPDATED Links for MS Teams Virtual Tutoring (beginning November 14)

Virtual tutoring for LDSB students in Grade 1-10 is available through MS Teams from 4:00 to 6:00 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from October 11 until December 15, 2022.

Tutoring will not be available on PA Days or holidays.

**Students must be logged in their Limestone Microsoft account to participate**

Grade 1-3 Literacy

Grade 4-6

Grade 7-10 Homework Help

Gr. 1 to 3 Link 1

Gr. 4 to 6 HW Link 1

Gr. 7 to 10 Link 1

Gr. 1 to 3 Link 2

Gr. 4 to 6 HW Link 2

Gr. 7 to 10 Link 2

Gr. 1 to 3 Link 3

Gr. 4 to 6 Literacy Link 1

Gr. 7 to 10 Link 3

Gr. 1 to 3 Link 4

Gr. 4 to 6 Literacy Link 2

Gr. 7 to 10 Link 4

Sign up for Triboard notices

This week one of the Centennial PS buses was cancelled by TriBoard Student Transportation. Families can sign up to receive notifications about delays and cancellations by going to the TriBoard website at: https://triboard.ca/

Indigenous Self Identification

Please see the link below for more information and to self identify, if you wish.

https://ldsb.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9U2iaUl9GIFILb0

Tutoring Supports Available

LDSB will be offering virtual learning support for students in Grades 1-10 this Fall. Virtual literacy support will be available to students in Grades 1-3 and virtual Homework Help will be offered to Grade 4-10 students. After-school drop-in sessions will be offered through MS Teams to students in specific grades from Monday to Thursday each week until December 2022. Please continue to check your school website and the LDSB website for more details and information about this program.

In addition, TVO continues to provide curriculum-based, free digital learning resources for all Ontarians this year. This brochure provides an overview of TVO’s Digital Learning Resources (2022). Included in the resources available are:

Mathify Online Math Tutoring for Grades 4-12 https://www.tvomathify.com/students

Free 1:1 online math tutoring support with Ontario Certified Teachers. Available Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 9:00 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays, 3:00 to 9:00 pm. Students/families can sign up, select a tutor and start immediately

TVO Learn https://tvolearn.com/

Over 2,100 curriculum-aligned, grade and subject-specific learning activities from Kindergarten to Grade 8 (including for the new Science and Technology curriculum
Grade 9 to 12 searchable high school content for over 140 secondary school courses

Students, Illness & Masking

A reminder for staff, students, and visitors in our schools to continue to self-screen every day before attending school using the COVID-19 school and childcare screening tool. Staff and students should stay home when sick. In addition, for a total of 10-days after the start of any illness symptom or positive Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), students and staff are expected to wear a well-fitted mask in all public settings (including schools and childcare, unless under two years old) and avoid non-essential activities where mask removal is necessary. Public Health continues to encourage people to mask in indoor, congregate settings like schools. We continue to work very closely with KFL&A Public Health as it relates to health and safety, and absences due to illness. KFL&A Public Health has created a helpful resource for school and childcare screening for families to use. If COVID-19 protocols change, they will be communicated directly with families and updated on Limestone’s COVID-19 Protocol Update webpage.

Olivers Labels

Do you need a way to label your things that stay labelled? Do you need a way to show what's yours? Need a way to label your child's things so they don't get lost or mixed up? Support Centennial Public School Council by purchasing through the link. The school receives 20% of your purchase! All funds raised go to support School Council initiatives including student activities. Thank you!

http://www.oliverslabels.com/Centennial

E-Store

Want to look spiffy and show off your pride in being a Centennial PS Comet? Check out all of the clothing and accessories available at the Centennial Public School e-store at: https://specialtytrophies.ca/centennialps/

Safe Arrival - How Do I Report An Absence?

Please use the Safe Arrival system to report your child's absence; do not call the school to report an absence. If you child is going to be absent from learning, please ensure you use the Safe Arrival system to report the absence. If your child will be late, please report a full day absence and then we will sign them in when they arrive. You cannot indicate a half day absence.

How to report your absence:

1. Toll-free telephone

Call 1-855-257-9349 toll-free to report an absence using the automated phone system.

2. School Messenger App

Use your mobile device to download and install the free SchoolMessenger blue app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, the SchoolMessenger website portal, or from within the LDSB mobile app.
The first time you use the app, you must select Sign Up to create your account. Please ensure you use the same email address your student’s school has on file. If you do not use that same email address, you will not be able to create an account, or may not be able to see the "Attendance" option. You may have already created an account when we introduced the Communicate broadcast system.
Select Attendance, then select Report an Absence and follow the prompts.

3. SchoolMessenger SafeArrival Website Portal

Visit the SchoolMessenger website portal.
The first time you use the app, you must select Sign Up to create your account. Please ensure you use the same email address your student’s school has on file. If you do not use that same email address, you will not be able to create an account, or may not be able to see the "Attendance" option. You may have already created an account when we introduced the Communicate broadcast system.
Select Attendance, then Report an Absence and follow the prompts.