Karen Kain School of the Arts Canvas March 2010 Principal’s News Contents Principal’s News 1 Principal’s News 2 Parent Council 2 Grade Level News 3 School Happenings Principal: Helene Pfeiffer Superintendent: Jim Spyropoulos Phone: 416-394-7979 Chairperson: Bev Bonk Trustee: Bruce Davis Fax: 416-394-3892 Office Admin: Charlene Erley Email: [email protected],ca School Council Co Chairs: Eva Ballentine, Carolyn Rasiuk Thank you for your contributions! Thank you to our wonderful KKSA community for all your contributions during our Winter Concert on January 28 th . We collected $548 from the entry fee, water bottles, KKSA bottles and jean purses! $209 will go to ESA towards the purchase and maintenance of the AV and stage equipment we were so happy to use during the concert. Thank you KKSA…..well done! Help 4 Haiti KKSA Breakfast – Thursday March 11 Our Help 4 Haiti committee would like to invite you to attend our breakfast fundraiser here at KKSA. This fundraiser is one that our student led Help 4 Haiti committee has initiated and they have been working tirelessly to plan and organize this event. To date, this committee has raised $92 from the pajama/crazy hat day and $38 from lunchroom sales. The KKSA Breakfast will be our major fundraiser and our student committee certainly looks forward to seeing you for breakfast! Our students, staff and parents have been working diligently to prepare for this wonderful fundraiser which will allow us to sit down as a community and at the same time, support those who need our help in Haiti. Order forms are attached to this newsletter. Please select the number of individuals attending, the time best suited for you and return the order form to school with your payment. Tickets will be sent to you through your child. We look forward to seeing all our parents/guardians along with your families on Thursday March 11 for breakfast! Reporting to Parents/Guardians Report cards are scheduled to go home on Tuesday March 2. Conferences are scheduled with teachers for the evening of March 4 and the morning of March 5 (PA Day). Students are strongly encouraged to attend the conferences! Interview request forms went home on Wednesday February 24. First KKSA Masquerade Ball The first KKSA Masquerade Ball was held on Friday February 12. It was a resounding success!!! Students prepared for weeks as they made masks over lunch hour with parents and organized their costumes at home. There is no doubt that this was a most special event at KKSA, one that was completely directed by the students, and one that will live on in their memories for many, many years to come! This event however, would not have been possible were it not for the extremely dedicated group of
Transcript
Karen Kain School of the Arts Canvas
March 2010Principal’s News
Contents
Principal’s News
1
Principal’s News
2
Parent Council
2
Grade Level News
3
School Happenings
Principal: Helene Pfeiffer Superintendent: J im Spyropoulos Phone: 416-394-7979Chairperson: Bev Bonk Trustee: Bruce Davis Fax: 416-394-3892
Office Admin: Charlene Erley Email : [email protected],caSchool Council Co Chairs: Eva Ballentine, Carolyn Rasiuk
Thank you for your contributions!
Thank you to our wonderful KKSA community for all your contributions during our Winter Concert on January 28th. We collected $548 from the entry fee, water bottles, KKSA bottles and jean purses! $209 will go to ESA towards the purchase and maintenance of the AV and stage equipment we were so happy to use during the concert. Thank you KKSA…..well done!
Help 4 Haiti KKSA Breakfast – Thursday March 11
Our Help 4 Haiti committee would like to invite you to attend our breakfast fundraiser here at KKSA. This fundraiser is one that our student led Help 4 Haiti committee has initiated and they have been working tirelessly to plan and organize this event. To date, this committee has raised $92 from the pajama/crazy hat day and $38 from lunchroom sales. The KKSA Breakfast will be our major fundraiser and our student committee certainly looks forward to seeing you for breakfast! Our students, staff and parents have been working diligently to prepare for this wonderful fundraiser which will allow us to sit down as a community and at the same time, support those who need our help in Haiti.
On Thursday March 11, from 7:30-9:00, we will be serving pancakes, fruit, coffee, tea or juice for $5.00. We are looking to you, our parents/guardians, students and community to come and support this most worthwhile cause. If you feel that you would like to make a larger donation to either Red Cross or Free the Children, please do so and your donation will be forwarded through KKSA in your name!
Order forms are attached to this newsletter. Please select the number of individuals attending, the time best suited for you and return the order form to school with your payment. Tickets will be sent to you through your child. We look forward to seeing all our parents/guardians along with your families on Thursday March 11 for breakfast!
Reporting to Parents/Guardians
Report cards are scheduled to go home on Tuesday March 2. Conferences are scheduled with teachers for the evening of March 4 and the morning of March 5 (PA Day). Students are strongly encouraged to attend the conferences! Interview request forms went home on Wednesday February 24.
First KKSA Masquerade Ball
The first KKSA Masquerade Ball was held on Friday February 12. It was a resounding success!!! Students prepared for weeks as they made masks over lunch hour with parents and organized their costumes at home. There is no doubt that this was a most special event at KKSA, one that was completely directed by the students, and one that will live on in their memories for many, many years to come!This event however, would not have been possible were it not for the extremely dedicated group of parents who supported this venture on many levels. From all the organizational details, to running the mask making workshops, to decorating the gym, to soliciting for prizes…..the list goes on and on! A huge KKSA thank you to all parents/guardians who pitched in to realise this first Masquerade Ball. And, a very, very special KKSA “High Five” goes to Sunnie McFadden-Curtis, 6A parent, who brought the idea to me, spearheaded the
The CanvasWe are thrilled to announce that grade 6 parent, Susan Meyler, has stepped into one of the Vice-Chair positions and will become one of the Co-chairs for next year's Council. We are all so excited to have such a dedicated and thoughtful person to hand the reigns to in the fall. We are still looking for one more grade 6 parent to work with Susan. Please keep your eyes open for more info coming soon from our Past-Chairs, Jan and Susan, about how you can get involved and hopefully become Vice-Chair. It's a great way to transition into the job of Co-Chair.
Just a reminder that we are still working on our By-laws with special thanks to Ian for his input and insight. Anyone interested in reviewing what has been done so far, offer ideas, suggestions or ask a question, please email us at [email protected] . We continue to work with the TDSB to follow the ever-changing procedures that dictate how parent council's need to operate to maintain transparency and accountability.
Our next council meeting will be held on Monday March 8th at 6:30. Hope to see you there.
All the best,
Eva and CarolynCo-chairs Dance-a-thon
I am very happy to share with you that our first Dance-a-thon raised over $4,500! The money will be used to support teaching and learning digital media initiatives. Yesterday students used their raffle tickets on various prizes. These prizes were open to all KKSA students.
We had additional prizes for those students and the one class who raised the most funds.
4th prize ($50 Sherway gift card) went to Skyler in 6B
3rd prize ($50 gift card to Sherway and $25 gift card for iTunes) went to Sydney in 6B
2nd prize (4 Box seats plus drinks and snacks) went to Max in 6B
Grand prize (iTouch) went to Emily in 6A The class pizza lunch went to Ms. Cohen’s class,
6B.
A big thank you to everyone at KKSA (parents, students and staff) - without your help and participation we could not have exceeded our goal! Sunnie McFadden-CurtisOn behalf of the KKSA Council Fundraising Team
The Volunteer Committee would like to thank all parents who are generously donating their time to various activities. If you think you can volunteer for a specific event or you would like to be “on call” with various opportunities to “pick-and-choose”, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected]. Even an hour of your time could really make a difference and hopefully give you an opportunity to meet other parents and see what goes on at KKSA.
Council Update
Not surprisingly, February has been a busy month at KKSA and for the School Council. We're happy to announce that our application to the TDSB for the $1000 Parent Reaching Out Grant (Pro Grant), has been successful. This money is designated to help with outreach to families and communities that might not otherwise have easy access to information about KKSA. Details can be found on the website.
At our Feb Council meeting we heard about a Commemorative Quilt project spear-headed by Ms. Cohen and artist Johanna Mashko. More details will follow about this student-driven work of art. (Don't throw away your fabric scraps!)
We also heard a presentation from TDSB's Risk Management Specialist, Noemi Jenei, led by Karen Bourne our Health and Safety Committee lead. The issue of liability insurance and risk was discussed and the full presentation, including questions and answers, is available on our website,http://kksac.wordpress.com/ Hopefully you've heard from your kids that the 1st Masquerade Ball/Dance-a-thon took place this month. The kids made beautiful, one-of-a-kind masks in a workshop lead by parent Marie and paired them with fun and creative costumes. Thanks so much to Sunnie and her tireless team of parents who put together a great event. Thank you to all the parents, guardians and family members who generously donated to help raise money to purchase tech equipment for the teachers to use with our kids. Stay tuned for final amounts raised.
A special thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who made yet another event fun, successful and better than imagined. It is truly what helps make KKSA so special.
This month we went to the ROM. When we got to the ROM our teacher led us downstairs to where we were going to put our coats. Then we got a ROM helper to show us where the First Nations exhibit was. The woman who was working at the ROM told us more about First Nations Art. Then we looked around and got information. The woman who was helping us brought us into a room that had lots of artifacts that the First Nations used. Then the woman gave us a green piece of paper to write down what the artifact was that we were looking at. We wrote down things about the artifact.
My favorite artifact was a doll. It had long black braids. After we looked at the artifacts we went for lunch. There wasn’t room for all of the class to eat in the cafeteria so we ate on the floor in a big hallway. After we ate lunch, the class started to clean up and get coats on to head to the library. Jade, Molly and I were in the front of the line so it looked like we were downtown with just Ms. Patterson. When we got to the library the librarian had set up a little part of the library just for us.
We were invited into the library to go to the two round tables. The librarian started talking to us and showing us maps that we could use for research. Then she showed some people how to use the library and the library cards before we started our research. Then we started to do our research for the tribe groups that we got put into. I found a book that was named The Cree; I started to read the book to see if I wanted to take the book out of the library. So I went to the corner of the back of the library to read the book for research. Then it was time to go. Everyone had to pack up and get ready to get on the bus. We all had a
wonderful time and are busy finishing our research and mind maps.
Jade, Kaisha, and Molly from 6B
February's Munch n Chat:Forest of Reading
February's Munch n Chat was very successful as we had lots of readers involved for this month. A new part of the program is to put post-it notes on parts of the books you liked and you write a note on the post-it note for the next reader of the book. This way we can communicate with each reader that reads the book. Students can go to the library section of the school website http://www.kksa.ca to visit both the Silverbirch and Red Maple official websites. Here students can get a synopsis of each of the Forest of Reading books. Finally, today we heard that we were able to get tickets for the Festival of Trees to meet some of the authors of the Forest of Reading books. There will be performances and a full day of exciting activities for participants in the Forest of Reading. The winners for Forest of Reading will be presented on that day. For Silverbirch, the date will be May 13 and for Red Maple, the date will be May 12. If students are interested in going, they need to read five books from either the Silverbirch or Red Maple selections.
-Molly S 6B
Literacy Live
Last Thursday The Boys’ Book Club and a group of Urban Voices participants went to Humberwood Downs JMS to take part in Literacy Live. We listened to a variety of authors tell their unique stories. Kathy Kacer moved the audience with captions from her novel The Secret of Gabi’s Dresser as well as other appealing short stories. We also heard
form the Me to We organization. The Me to We books reflected world issues such as poverty and child labor and what we can do to help resolve those problems. Literacy Live provided a very nutritious lunch after which we heard from Award winning author Eric Walters. Eric Walters gave a very inspiring presentation on the struggles in third world countries. He showed us that one person can change the world. Eric Walters clearly demonstrated the true meaning of story telling in a very creative way. Literacy Live was a very interesting and a truly inspirational experience. By: Laura M 8B
The Masquerade Ball
On Friday, February the 12th KKSA had a big event that took place in the gym. It was the Masquerade Ball planned and run by the parent council of Karen Kain. The Masquerade Ball was initiated to raise money for some certain funds including “Techno Dreaming”. The ball was a hit and everybody enjoyed dancing to certain music and just simply having fun. There were many creative decorations put around the gym’s ceiling and colourful paper hanging everywhere. The theme for this ball was to dress up in a costume with a colourful mask, and if you wanted, you could find yourself a partner to dance with. Before the dance students had an opportunity to go to a workshop and design their own masks.
We danced to several types of music and the DJ was hyper and fun. I was surprised when we danced to 60’s music and everybody started to do the twist! The best part was the contest in all of the classes. The teacher had to pick the best costume that was most creative and was made by the owner mostly by himself/herself. When the winners of the classes were picked,
they all received prizes and they were excellent. Trust me I know because I got a prize and I don’t know about everybody else but I received some goodies and two night outs with a free popcorn tray coupon for the Cineplex. Overall the masquerade was magnificent and everybody enjoyed it.
Vlad M 7B
Girl’s Volleyball In early December, this year’s KKSA girls volleyball team began. After many tryouts, the team consisting of grade 7s and grade 8s began to take shape. At first we struggled to work as a team, but pulled together after many after-school practices. With high hopes, the girls along with their coaches went to compete in the regionals. Beating all the teams, we won the tournament and were sent to the next round. This time, we played only one game against Norseman Public School. After winning the first set, we lost a very intense second set 30-28. We were able to get back on our feet breaking the tie and winning the third set and match. Not only was this rewarding for the volleyball team itself but also an accomplishment for our whole school. This year’s volleyball team was the first sports team to make it to the semi-finals, and if we win, we go to the finals to play for the Championship!! We hope that in the future our school will not only be seen for its artistic side, but also its sporty one. Thanks for the support and thanks again to the volleyball team nicknamed “The Whales”; Olivia Janus, Gena D, Valentina P, Kailie S, Candice C, Nicole L, Heileen, Jessica T, Nicole B, Matea R, Cassie R, Katrina M, and Alexandra D. And a big thank you to our coaches Mr. Villamil and Mr. Bates
Page 4 of 4 The Canvas Grade Level News
for such a successful volleyball season. You guys rock! SAVE THE WHALES!
Ms. Cohen is in need of donations of latex paint (house paint). All colours but most importantly white. Thank you.
