Queen Victoria December2017 Principal’s Message Dear Queen Victoria Students and Families The month of December has arrived and with it comes the excitement and anticipation of winter and the holiday season. December is traditionally a busy time of year in schools, and this year is no different. The staff and stu- dents of Queen Victoria have been busy in the classrooms the past three months and are looking forward to car- rying that momentum up to the well- deserved Winter Break. A big thank-you goes out to all of our families who came out to attend our Parent Teacher Conferences. I cannot tell you how important it is to confer- ence with your child and their teacher in an effort to set and fulfill their aca- demic goals for the year. Our students and teachers are always thrilled to share their successes with you. The character attribute for the month of December is Kindness and Caring and it is especially fitting for this time of year. As we prepare ourselves for this joyous season our students are active- ly working to help our community through the Holiday food drive. Dona- tions of non-perishable food are being collected and will be donated to the Parkdale Food Bank. Thank you to our student council for organizing the event. The students and staff have been pre- paring for our winter concerts and we are all looking forward to some won- derful performances. The winter con- certs will take place at 6:30 PM on Dec 21th and Dec 22 nd . We look forward to welcoming you to one of our two Holi- day concerts. Have a Safe and Enjoyable Holiday Break! School resumes on January 8th, 2018 S. Borselli Vice-Principal Island School Experience My name is Aezekiel and I’m from Room 413. My class was one of the first classes to attend Island School. We accomplished many activities and did things for the very first time. It was my first time sleeping away from my parents, it was my first time building a fire, and it was also my first time going inside a dark and spooky maze. Yup! There were a lot of firsts. Travelling to the island took very little time. We had to take two school buses and a small ferry from Harbourfront. We dropped our luggage on the out- side of the ferry and enjoyed a nice view of Lake Ontario from within. When we arrived on school campus, we were greeted warmly by many friendly staff, supervisors and teachers. We went into the dorms and unpacked. After a while, all the classes and staff met in the common room/dining room to get sorted into groups and head out to our first activity. Be- cause I was sorted in the “Raven” group, I headed out with the other ravens to do some Goldsworthy art. Goldsworthy is an artist who makes all his art out of natural materials, like rock, wood, leaves and even ice! The “Ravens” and the “Dragonflies” went to the beach to look for materials to build sculptures out of. Some kids made castles out of rocks while others made towers out of stone. As for me? I made a mural using different coloured sand with my friend Bwaemoo. There was red sand, yellow sand, purple sand and even black sand. After the project, we came back inside to do more activities and games. I could go on and on about all the adventures I had at Island School but unfortu- nately, there’s not enough trees in the entire Amazon Rainforest to contain all my experiences. Fortunately, I will share some of my more important memories about being at Island School. On the first day of Island School, we went on a “night hike”. It was cool and misty so it really set the vibe. We wore long ponchos that looked like cloaks which made us look like “Death Eaters,” from the old Harry Potter movies. ) We walked along the beach and up on to a bridge. (continued on pg 2)
Transcript
Queen Victoria
December2017
Principal’s
Message
Dear Queen Victoria Students and Families
The month of December has arrived and with it comes the excitement and anticipation of winter and the holiday season. December is traditionally a busy time of year in schools, and this year is no different. The staff and stu-dents of Queen Victoria have been busy in the classrooms the past three months and are looking forward to car-rying that momentum up to the well-deserved Winter Break.
A big thank-you goes out to all of our families who came out to attend our Parent Teacher Conferences. I cannot tell you how important it is to confer-ence with your child and their teacher in an effort to set and fulfill their aca-demic goals for the year. Our students and teachers are always thrilled to share their successes with you. The character attribute for the month of December is Kindness and Caring and it is especially fitting for this time of year. As we prepare ourselves for this joyous season our students are active-ly working to help our community through the Holiday food drive. Dona-tions of non-perishable food are being collected and will be donated to the Parkdale Food Bank. Thank you to our student council for organizing the event. The students and staff have been pre-paring for our winter concerts and we are all looking forward to some won-derful performances. The winter con-certs will take place at 6:30 PM on Dec 21th and Dec 22
nd. We look forward to
welcoming you to one of our two Holi-day concerts.
Have a Safe and Enjoyable Holiday Break! School resumes on January 8th, 2018 S. Borselli Vice-Principal
Island School Experience
My name is Aezekiel and I’m from Room 413. My class was one of the first classes to attend Island School. We accomplished many activities and did things for the very first time. It was my first time sleeping away from my parents, it was my first time building a fire, and it was also my first time going inside a dark and spooky maze. Yup! There were a lot of firsts.
Travelling to the island took very little time. We had to take two school buses and a small ferry from Harbourfront. We dropped our luggage on the out-side of the ferry and enjoyed a nice view of Lake Ontario from within.
When we arrived on school campus, we were greeted warmly by many
friendly staff, supervisors and teachers. We went into the dorms and unpacked. After a while, all the classes and staff met in the common room/dining room to get sorted into groups and head out to our first activity. Be-cause I was sorted in the “Raven” group, I headed out with the other ravens to do some Goldsworthy art. Goldsworthy is an artist who makes all his art out of natural materials, like rock, wood, leaves and even ice!
The “Ravens” and the “Dragonflies” went to the beach to look for materials to build sculptures out of. Some kids made castles out of rocks while others made towers out of stone. As for me? I made a mural using different coloured sand with my friend Bwaemoo. There was red sand, yellow sand, purple sand and even black sand. After the project, we came back inside to do more activities and games.
I could go on and on about all the adventures I had at Island School but unfortu-nately, there’s not enough trees in the entire Amazon Rainforest to contain all my experiences. Fortunately, I will share some of my more important memories about being at Island School.
On the first day of Island School, we went on a “night hike”. It was cool and misty so it really set the vibe. We wore long ponchos that looked like cloaks which made us look like “Death Eaters,” from the old Harry Potter movies. ) We walked along the beach and up on to a bridge. (continued on pg 2)
Queen Victoria
December 2017
Island School On Wednesday, November 8, 2017, our class went on a trip to Island School.
We went there to learn about biodiversity and nature. We also talked about
what we could do to save the earth.
To get there we took a bus to the ferry and then we took another bus to the Is-
land School.
When we arrived at the Island School we unpacked our suitcases and had our
lunch. Then we made our beds and changed into our slippers to go to the Com-
mon Room. At the Common Room we got our group names; Spiders, Dragon-
flies, Ravens, Foxes, and Bears. I was in Spiders.
We did some really fun co-op games later on that day. The Spiders’ first co-op
game was called Ball Ring Golf. Our next game was called Acid River. Acid Riv-
er was my favourite game. The game included hula hoops. We all worked to-
gether to get across the river. We failed sometimes but we tried again and
again.
We also did really cool activities like a workshop on survival where we had to
build tents and a fire. The activity I liked the most was the biodiversity hike be-
cause we fed the chickadees. The chickadees were so fluffy and adorable. We
put seeds on our hands so they would come flying down and onto our hands.
We played a very exciting game called Predator and Prey. The owls were the
predators and the mice were the prey. In the first round, I was a predator. Being
a predator was easy for me. You only had to run away from the disease. When
I was prey, I found it much harder because you had to run from the owls and
the disease!
On the last night we went on a night hike. We saw the city view and we went to the maze. When we came out of the maze it
started to snow a little bit. It was very cold and dark. On the next day, we had our breakfast and thanked the staff. We also
thanked the chefs for the scrumptious meals we had each day.
I think Island School was an awesome and wonderful trip. It was a very fun experience and we learned a lot! By Woeser
Grade 5, Rm 409
The best part about the trip was the maze. We went inside and we had to try and find the exit. It took me a while to figure it out, but as it turns out, the maze is actually-oops! No spoilers! Another awesome thing we did was visit the light-house. After visiting the lighthouse, we were told a really spooky story about a man who may or may not have been murdered. It was really, really scary. My favourite memory was when we participated in the survival workshop. We made a fire using news-paper, sticks and rocks. We also made a shelter us-ing tarps, ropes, mallets, nails and large sticks. Addi-tionally, we had the opportunity to make bannock, a flavorless bread made out of flour and water upon an open flame. These are just some of the amazing things I had the chance to do at Island School. As a result of this ex-perience, I was able to make new friends and accom-plish many things off my bucket list. Over all, it was a fun bonding experience with my friends and fellow classmates. Hopefully, you will get to enjoy a lot more when you visit Island School. Maybe you will do things that even I didn’t get a chance to do. Either way, its important to keep your spirits up and just have fun. Until next time, I’m Aezekiel, reminding you to work hard, work smart and work together.
Queen Victoria
December 2017
Wind Explorations Rm 115 Inspired by the weather, kindergarten students in R115 have been busy investigating wind. We made art by blowing paint across the paper using straws. Students considered which size straw and blowing techniques were most effective: "This straw is best because it's fatter so it gets more paint." "You have to put your straw close and at the edge to make the paint move, or else it won't work." "I blowed so hard with my big breath I made it moving! It's so cool, right?!" We developed our inquiry skills by predicting if the wind could blow different objects. Students came up with ways to test their thinking, using their breath, a fan, a hairdryer, and by taking the items up the the third floor garden to be exposed to the wind. Students wondered where and how far the feather and pompom could have blown when they disappeared from the garden roof! Students measured how far objects moved, and used draw-ings, letters, words and numbers to share their experiments, including testing tools to try and blow objects off a ta-ble. They developed their thinking about why things do/don't move in the wind, and how wind works: "The rock won't work because it's too heavy." "The block didn't move because the wind was too light." "I think the rock is very strong and will stay there. The air will blow in the middle, but just go to the side." "If we use the hairdryer and the fan it will blow more good." "The pump will work best because it's tallest." "The feather and the pompom will blow up, up, up because they're so light in the air." Well done, scientists!
"The Beat of Your Own Drum Program" Vibe Arts and QV Collaborate on Artistic Legacy! A number of Queen Victoria students in grade 7 and 8 have been working with communi-ty organization, Vibe Arts, on "The Beat of Your Own Drum” Program. We were very for-tunate to participate in this unique grant funded program to support youth development with the arts. Working with professional musician and African drum maker, Saikou Sotu, and supervised by Mr. Hergott, students worked twice a week for 8 weeks to build 20 djembes and 3 djun-djun drums. The drum shells were carved from wood brought in from Africa for this program. The start of the program began with a trip to the Rouge Valley Conservation Centre, where they learned about the cultural, historical and spiritual tradi-tions of drum making in Africa. Vibe Arts provided all the materials for students to work on their designs and make their drums. We really want the kids to focus on making and creating the drums and the meanings behind it all, not just playing the drums. Students experienced every step of drum making, from carving their own designs into the drum shells, sanding and oiling the shells, stretching the skins over the drums, to stringing and tightening the ropes of the drums. They were guided along the way, and each student was mentored in their participation. Finally, students learned about playing, tuning, care and maintenance of the drums. The drums become the property of the school. Students can be proud of themselves! Their drum will be an artistic legacy of their craftsmanship and creativity. In addition, the student drum builders will receive drumming lesson workshops lead by a drum artist. Drumming lessons will also be provid-ed to three other classes of interested students in the school. Performances at the winter and Spring concerts are being rehearsed by Mr. Hergott and another drum teacher from Vibe Arts. Our school is very lucky to have received the grant from Vibe Arts for this unique and expensive program. Thank you Vibe Arts and to all our student drum build-ers. They will be learning and playing on the drums they have built! For more information on Vibe Arts and their 20 year history of working with youth, visit VibeArts.ca. -Hergott
Queen Victoria
December 2017
Hey Makers!!! … Hey What?? On November 27
th, Room 301, (Ms. Nadurata’s
class) took the TTC to our field trip destination called
“Makerkids”.
Karl says, “ I really liked the part where we pro-
grammed Arduinos to make annoying sounds. I
set mine to exactly 2000 hertz and they hurt my ears
– OOOOWWW!!!”
Norbu says, “It was fun because we could play with
the Arduinos. They are robots that have a brain.
The Arduinos are really fun to play with because you
learn about how to make the buzzers make high
pitched noises.
Sangpo says, “I felt excited because we actually got
to create a robot. I was happy that I got to go on a
field trip”.
Lhundup says, “What I liked about Makerkids is it’s
very fun, and I learned that if you put a pin in the Ar-
duino, it can make sounds.
Yigha says, “The thing I liked about Makerkids is the
colours in the robots brain when it lit up. They were
green and orange and those are my favourite colours
and my parents.
Milad says,” I felt happy and excited because I’ve
never been there before and we made robots and
the annoying sound it made was really funny. I liked
learning about the Arduino.
Nishant says, “ I liked going to the MakerKids pro-
gram because I want to become a Robotic Scientist
one day”.
Hasya says, “I thought it was really fun because
when we got there, they taught us all about robotics.
We got to learn that robots can be: computers, Tv’s ,
Smart boards, laptops and microwaves.
Anneela says,” It was fun and we could do some-
thing new. We got to code and learn how to program
the Arduino”.
Namdol says,” I liked that we coded and we got to
learn about Science. It was funny and fun riding on
the TTC”.
Alilyah says, “I felt excited to get to the Maker space
because it was my first time there and I couldn’t wait
to start working with the Arduino robot. It was lots of
fun. We learned that the positive side is like the
North side of the magnet and the negative side is like
the South side of the magnet. We also learned that
robots can be things like: TV’s, ipads, computers and
microwaves. We also learned how to code the Ar-
duino robots to make them sing.
Our class had lots of fun.
Liberty Grand
At Liberty Grand Entertainment, room 302
enjoyed picking two presents, playing in
the grand play room, and having lunch
together. We were surprised by a visit
from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. We
also had a picture with Santa, got henna,
had face painting, and balloons! AT LI-
BERITY GRAND WE LEARNED THAT
SHARING IS CARING! By Soji
On Monday we went to liberty grand to find the true meaning of
sharing and caring. First we chose two presents one to keep and
one to share. After, we went to the playroom. There was a bouncy
castle, soccer, henna, dance-a-thon, and more fun activities. Then
in the lunchroom we met our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. For
lunch we got veggies, burgers, mac and cheese, and hot dogs. For
dessert we got ice cream and jelly. After we went back to collect
our presents, we took a picture with Santa. My field trip was great!
By Kevin
We went to Liberty Grand to help us learn more about sharing &
caring. At liberty grand we got presents. Then we went to the play
room. In the play room they had RC drones, RC cars a soccer
shout out a bouncy castle. Then we went to the lunch room. For
lunch we got mac &cheese, hot dogs, mini cheese burgers, and
veggies. For dessert we got jello and ice cream. We saw Justin
Trudeau the Prime Minister of Canada! I had a fun field trip to liber-
ty grand!!!!!!! By Orso
Queen Victoria
December 2017
Boys Grade 5/6 Volleyball Congratulations to the Boys Grade 5/6 Volleyball team and thanks to their coach, Mr. Lumsden, for another great season. They played an exciting tournament at Parkdale Junior P.S. on November 29th and ended up in 2nd place in the round robin. Every set was a nail biter but the boys per-severed to the end. They narrowly lost in the semi-final round to Annette P.S. Thanks for trying your best and for always showing great sporting be-haviour.
Junior Girls Basketball
The Junior Girls Basketball team went on the tournament after around six weeks of practises. The tournament took place on No-vember 21,2017. Queen Victoria team played three games: against Gordon A. Brown M.S, Rose Avenue, and Orde P.S. Every game we played better and better: our defence was stronger and we got more baskets in. The girls gave their best, but the other teams were stronger. We learned so much and had a great time playing basketball. It was great to meet other teams from TDSB
Special thanks to Mr. Fontaine for coming with us.
Go Queen Victoria!
News from the
TDSB
Winter Weather and Student
Transportation
From time to time, it may be necessary to cancel student
transportation, classes and/or programs due to severe
weather. On rare occasions, severe weather makes it nec-
essary to close schools, administrative offices or sites.
With approximately 246,000 students in our schools and
sites each day, any decision to cancel buses, classes and/
or programs or to close sites can have a significant impact
on thousands of families across Toronto. This decision is
not taken lightly. When schools remain open on days with
inclement weather, parents/guardians make the final deci-
sion on whether to send their children to school and they
can keep children home from school if they so choose.
Should a cancellation or closure be necessary, information
will be posted on the TDSB website, TDSB social media
and provided to local media by 6 a.m. For more infor-
mation, please see the TDSB’s Procedure for Severe
The Character Trait for December is Kindness and Caring
Skate Fitting December 5th - 15th (Volunteers still Needed)
Huddle Up Kindness and Caring Assembly - December 13th
Pizza Lunch - Friday December 15th
Primary Concert - Wednesday December 20th starting at 6:30 PM
Junior/Intermediate Concert - Thursday December 21st starting at 6:30 PM
Winter Holidays - December 23rd to January 7th
School Resumes - January 8th
Dental Screening - January 8th - 29th
PA Day - No School - Friday, January 19th
Skating - January 16th to February 1st
Pizza Lunch - Friday, January 26th
To see all of our daily announcements and what is happening in our school go to our
school website and click where it says “CLICK HERE for our daily announcements
Calendar of
Events
From the R2Play
November Newsletter
Parkdale Food Bank
Student Council is launching a winter food drive to help the Parkdale Food Bank. The food drive started on Wednesday November 15th. The items you can bring are canned food, diapers, pasta, sauces and other non-perishable items. Here is the link to the wish list posted on the website: http://pcfb.ca/how-to-help/wishlist
Student council representatives will be coming to your class every Friday to pick up any items that have been donated. The amount of food will be tracked and there will also be online data which will be available for the teachers to view.
All the food that will be donated will go to the Parkdale Food Bank which serves up to 2000 people each month. The top 5 classes who bring the most amount of items will be entered in a raffle. The winners of the raffle will have a choice of having either pizza party or a dodgeball game with the Toronto Police Service!
Two years ago Queen Victoria had the greatest amount of food items donated in the area with 2300 donations! Let’s make that happen again this year by donating food for the benefit of our community!
Yangdon QV Student Council Volunteers Needed for Skate
Fitting: December 5 - 15
Queen Victoria students will be fitted with skates from December 5 to 15. Working in teams of 4 or 5 with the Fitting Room Coordinator, volun-teers are needed to:
escort students to/from the fitting room
assist students with selecting and trying on the proper size of skate
record skate numbers on class lists
pack and unpack class sets of skates.
Fitting takes place from 9:30 to 11:30 and from 1 to 3:15 each day. Volun-teers are asked to sign up for a mini-mum of 3 half-day shifts.
If you are interested and available to help with Skate Fitting, please pro-vide your name, phone number, email (if available) and the dates/times that you are available to [email protected]
Or bring a note marked “Attention Natalie Norris” to the QV School Office
![Queen Victoria[1][1]](https://static.documents.pub/doc/80x56/58aa35d61a28abbb108b63f3/queen-victoria11.jpg)
