February 2012

Ryerson P.S.

749 Grand Valley Drive

Atte nd an ce Li ne : 519 -570 -812 3 Principal: Mr. Peter Berndt

X 3 726

S cho ol Li ne 519 -653 -5532 Office Manger: Mrs. Sandra Spurgeon

School Council President: Mrs. Amy Willard-Brow

Principals Message
February is a special month at Ryerson! Not because we have no snow and not because we will be celebrating Valentines Day like we never have before. It is because this is the month where every student, parent and family member of Ryerson can get into the school spirit in two very special ways! First, on Saturday Feb 11th I hope to see everyone out to the Galt Arena as Ryerson supports the Cambridge Winter Hawks for one of their home games. This annual event will see our grade 4 choir going out on the ice to sing the national anthem to start the game off right. We have been provided a special section of the stands to sit in together to cheer on the Winter Hawks. It is a great night out and the price is right with school tickets almost half the box office price! Still not too late to get tickets contact the school office ASAP! Second, on Tuesday Feb 14th every student in our school will have the chance to be involved in our Spirit Day celebration; everyone is encouraged to dress up in their formal wear to take part in the great activities our staff has organized. Also we will be able to take part in our School Council Fundraiser our first ever Dance-A-Thon. The dancing will be more like our Daily Physical Activity times that students take part in every morning. They will be bopping and hopping to the music in honour of all those friends and family members who sponsored them. The funds raised are going to support the greening of our school yard, by planting trees and creating sitting areas. The theme will be red that day, but we will be creating a lot of future green at Ryerson because of it! Hope you get in the spirit this month through these two events! Sincerely, Mr. Peter Berndt

Special Dates
Feb 8 Skating @ Preston Arena Primary Pod and Portables RMI Lunch 1st NB School Council @ 6:45 pm Dental Screening for Kindergarten, Grades 2, 4 and 6 Winter Hawks Game Report Cards go home Spirit Day Valentines Day Wear your formal wear! School Fundraiser: Dance-A-Thon Crossing Guard Appreciation Day Skating @ Preston Arena Junior and Primary Pods Family Day No School
Indoor Curling presentation to Juniors

Feb 8 Feb 8 Feb 10 Feb 11 Feb 13 Feb 14

Feb 15 Feb 16

Feb 20 Feb 21 Feb 22 Feb 24

RMI Lunch 1st NB Skating @ Preston Arena Portables and Junior Pod Character Education Assembly Voyageur Spirit Day

Mar 2 Mar 9

Mar 12 16 March Break No School Dance-a-thon Reminder!

Report Cards Monday February 13 The big excitement at Ryerson for February is sure to be around the Dance-a-thon. It will be occurring on February 14th, in conjunction with the Valentines Day Spirit Day. The Dance-a-thon will be one station on the spirit day, which will see the gym transformed into Professor Jamz Fun Lab. The Dance-a-thon is our winter fundraiser with a goal of raising $10,000, which represents $25 per student. As an incentive for fundraising, we are offering a number of prizes including prizes for highest fundraiser in Kindergarten, Primary and Junior grades. See below for all prizes. Make sure to get your pledges in for the chance to win great prizes! Highest Class Total: Class with 100% Participation Highest Kindergarten Fundraiser Highest Primary Fundraiser Highest Junior Fundraiser Pizza Party Pizza Party 2012 Grand River Conservation car pass Wedges and Woods family mini golf pass Putting Edge Mini Golf Passes Kindergarten Registration Mr. Berndt We had a great turnout of families come out on January 31st and February 1st to register their child for Kindergarten next year. We have almost 50 new little Junior Kindergarten Raptors joining our school in the fall, and this number seems to grow each week. If you have a child who was born in 2008 and have not registered them yet, NOW is the time to do so! Please register your child by Friday March 9th, before March Break. Please make a call to the school to set up a registration meeting time where we can collect the information we require about your child so that we can start to make plans to welcome them for the coming school year. If you know of a neighbour who does not have an older child already at Ryerson and will not receive this information, please pass this newsletter along to them so that they too can register their child as soon as possible. All classes from Kindergarten to grade 6 will receive their report cards on Monday, February 13. For Kindergarten, this will be their first report card of the year. For grades 1 to 6 this will be their second. The look and the format of the report cards will be a bit different than in the past, grades 1 to 6 will contain specific grade levels for each subject area and some very parent and student friendly language describing what was taught and how each child is progressing in that area. We look forward to communicating with you in this new format. There is no formal parent-teacher interview time scheduled like there was during the first reporting period in the fall. However, if you wish to discuss any aspects of the report with your childs teacher, you are welcome to contact the teacher and either discuss the concern on the phone, through email or arrange a meeting time to do so. A third report card will follow at the end of June that will use the same format as the one coming home in February.

If you have any questions or concerns about this event, please contact Amy Willard-Brown at ryersonschoolcouncil@hotmail.ca or by leaving a message at the school. Amy Willard-Brown School Council Chair

Ski Club
Though it may not feel much like winter, the Ski and Snowboard Club has enjoyed two exciting and successful excursions to Chicopee. The weather has been fantastic, and yes, there's been lots of snow! Many students have never skied before and everyone has now skied north! Congratulations on your courage and effort skiers and snowboarders! We love seeing all of your smiles, and look forward to our last two trips, happening Tuesday, February 7th and Thursday, February 16th! Mrs. Fox, Mrs. Kewley, Miss A. Bates, and Ms. Kiefer

Change of Address and next school year Mr. Berndt We have already formally started the process for Kindergarten and Grade 1 French Immersion registration for next school year and would also like to start to know if some of our Ryerson families will be moving to a new home now or over the summer. This new home may be within our city or in another country for that matter, but in either case it is important for us to know of your new address change. This information helps us to best communicate with you and to be able to plan for the number of classes and the sizes of those classes for this coming September. Please keep the school informed of any changes to your address as soon as you have finalized such plans. We have already started the process to determine the number of classes for next year and the number of teachers our school will need to support our students. Your information is vital. Thank you for your efforts to keep us informed.

Character Education at Ryerson

In January, we focused on the key of COMMITMENT. The following students were chosen by their classmates as the person who demonstrated COMMITMENT on the most consistent basis: Mrs. Haefling/Mrs. Shergill: Olivia S. Miss Fotopoulos/Mrs.Fowler/Mrs. Warburton: Ruhaab R. Mrs. Campbell/Mrs. Brown: Santoshi N. Mrs. Matches/Mrs. Sanderson: Misra S. Miss Munroe/Mrs. Gute: Haniya N. Mrs. Kewley: Manavdeep A. Miss A. Bates: Maya P. Mr. Hoyte: Jordan C. Mrs. McKinnon: Hannah B. Mrs. Fox: Jessica P. Miss Kiefer: Josh Ga.

BVL: Beach Volleyball League By: Miss Nichol, Mr. Grant & Ms. L. Bates
February 2 marked the opening of our newest junior intramural season, the BVL, or Beach Volleyball League. This league is composed of over 100 grades 4-6 students playing on 8 teams, divided into 2 pools. In Pool A we have the Marauders, Warriors, Gryphons, and the Badgers. Pool B is made up of the Mustangs, Golden Hawks, Lancers, and the Lions. Each team will have 3 round robin pool games. Students play with 10 players on each side of the court and we use a beach ball instead of a regular volleyball. After pool play, there will be 2 semifinals, followed by a championship game and of course, an exciting Staff vs. Grade 6 All-Star game. The league will conclude right before March Break. It is amazing to see so many of our junior students coming out to participate in intramurals to keep active - way to go Raptors! We are looking forward to a fantastic season! The BVL - Bring it on!!

Miss McMullen: Julia M. Mr. Wells: Aliza N. Mrs. Piraino-Crandon: Shawn W. and Gurleen P. Mr. Bernard: Arisa T. Miss. L. Bates: Alexa H. Mr. Grant: Arhum M. Miss Nichol: Natasha B. Miss Gill: Logan F. The focus for February is FAILURE LEADS TO SUCCESS, which means learning from your mistakes and not being afraid to fail. Keep trying, even when its really hard! Please refer to the Character Education page in your childs planner if you would like more information about the 8 Keys of Excellence.