Join us for Meet the Teacher and BBQ !

Date: Thursday, September 28th

(Weather depending)

Time: 4:30-6:00pm

BBQ Location: WEJ School Yard

Come out to celebrate the start to another great school year with your school friends, and their families. The Original Souvlaki food truck will be providing the BBQ food for purchase. Grab a bite, see your child’s classroom, and meet your child’s teachers!

We hope to see you there!

Accountable Talk

We know that promoting classroom discussion and talk that have certain features can result in particular kinds of academic benefits, such as improved word knowledge. Rich teacher-student discussion also supports the development of students’ reasoning and supports their abilities to express their reasoning. Using discussion in the classroom also provides a mechanism for connecting new words to prior knowledge and experience.

Features of Accountable Talk:

1. Accountability to the Learning Community

• Careful listening to each other
• Using and building on each other’s ideas
• Paraphrasing and seeking clarification
• Respectful disagreement
• Using sentence stems

2. Accountability to Accurate Knowledge

• Being as specific and accurate as possible
• Resisting the urge to say just “anything that comes to mind”
• Getting the facts straight
• Challenging questions that demand evidence for claims

3. Accountability to Rigorous Thinking

• Building arguments
• Linking claims and evidence in logical ways
• Working to make statements clear
• Checking the quality of claims and arguments

4. When students engage in accountable talk, they do the following:

• Focus on the topic and purpose of the discussion
• Attend to the listener’s needs and what others are saying
• Seriously respond to and build on what others have said
• Give evidence to support their points of view
• Help each other to reach a common understanding, and share responsibility for the learning of the whole group

Accountable talk stimulates higher-order thinking – helping students to learn, reflect on their learning, and communicate their knowledge and understanding. To promote accountable talk, teachers create a collaborative learning environment in which students feel confident in expressing their ideas, opinions, and knowledge.

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(Please print the above attachment and post in your home for additional practice)

 

 

 

 

 

A Special Message From Me to You!

As sugar and flour come together to make

a wonderful cookie creation that you bake,

Parents and teachers join as one

to create an educated daughter or son.

It takes much love, caring and understanding,

but an individual will emerge who is special

Not withstanding.

We will work together to help each child bloom

So they can grow and prosper as they learn in this room.

So I share this school year with you as I say,

“I am committed to helping your child grow each

and every day”.

Yes, the road is long, but the journey’s begun

As I strive to educate your daughter or your son.

Sincerely,

Ms. Gaffen

*** Lunch Ordering Reminder ***

Ordering closes on Friday Sept. 22 @ 11:59:59
https://wejcouncil.hotlunches.net/
Access Code: WEJPS
WEJ School Council will be offering Jo Jo’s Pizza and Subway *New* lunches for all students in grades 1 – 6 this year!  Milk and Juice orders will be available for grades JK – 6.
Subway (Tuesdays): Fresh, healthy sandwiches are offered in a 6-inch that’s perfect for children.  Five tasty subs are available (Ham, turkey breast, cold cut combo, veggie and BMT), each with the choice of bread, cheese, toppings and sauces.
Pizza (Wednesdays):  Pizza slice choices are: cheese, veggie and pepperoni. Also offered; Gluten Free cheese, veggie and pepperoni pizzas.
Beverage (Monday – Friday):  choices are:  White milk, chocolate milk and orange juice.
The HotLunches Program is the main source of fund raising for the parent council.
IMPORTANT:  User accounts are purged at the end of the year, so system registration will be required each school year.
https://wejcouncil.hotlunches.net/
Access Code: WEJPS
Note:  Actual delivery of Subway, Pizza and beverage will begin the week of September 25th.
The Council is also looking for volunteers for the pizza or subway days. If you are available and would like to help out about an hour per month, then please send an e-mail with your contact info.wejcochair@gmail.com or wejlunches@gmail.com

 

 

 

The date for Meet the Teacher is Thursday, September 28th from 4:30pm- 6:00pm. You are welcome to visit the classroom in room 212. Please note that the purpose of this meeting is to familiarize yourself with the classroom and your child’s daily routines as well as to meet me! This evening is not to discuss your child’s progress in particular. If you have questions more specific to your child, I will be happy to make an appointment with you at the most convenient time. I look forward to meeting each and everyone one of you. Thanks for your continued support! It has been a pleasure meeting many of you thus far. If you are unable to attend, I have attached the documents that will be distributed to parents that evening. Please let me know if you have any questions.

All the best,

Ms. Gaffen

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Students at W. Erskine Johnston P.S. are continuing with our school-wide program called WITS. The WITS program brings together schools, families, and the community to create a responsive environment that helps elementary school children deal with bullying and peer victimization. The WITS programs have spread to more than 600 schools across Canada and the United States, earning endorsements from several authors and organizations.

WITS Primary Program (For K-3):

• Stands for Walk away, Ignore, Talk it out and Seek help.
• Teaches Kindergarten to Grade 3 children to make safe and positive choices about peer conflict.
• The program provides a common language children and the adults in their environment can use to talk about and respond to peer victimization.

• Stands for Look and listen, Explore points of view, Act, Did it work? and Seek help.
• Teaches problem-solving strategies to help Grade 4-6 children deal with conflict and stay safe.
• Provides developmentally appropriate strategies and resources to older elementary so they can become WITS Leaders in their school.

Look & Listen

• Develop an understanding of what can be learned about others’ feelings, intentions, and inner thoughts by carefully observing their behaviours and nonverbal expressions, and by listening to others

Explore Points of View

• Understand others’ points of view
• See how words, thoughts and feelings can vary for different people
• Look and listen to words, thoughts and feelings
• Learn to understand indirect or relational aggression

Act

• Identify conflicts that involve direct aggression (hitting, pushing, threatening) or relational aggression (excluding people, ignoring, spreading rumours, teasing) by looking and listening
• Brainstorm and act out solutions to identified conflicts

Did it Work?

• Identify the short- and long-term consequences of actions chosen to deal with a conflict
• Identify factors that suggest a solution has worked
• Demonstrate social responsibility by solving problems and resolving conflicts in peaceful ways
• Learn to exercise democratic rights and responsibilities
• Recognize different types of bullying and the roles of bystanders in refusing and reporting it
• Learn effective leadership skills

Seek Help

• Learn when to seek help from an adult and when to handle a problem independently
• Learn to use the WITS LEADS problem solving skills together
• Learn to identify and solve problems

Remember that telling is not tattling. If you’re faced with bullying and you walk away to get help, you are helping to make your school and your community a safe and fun place for kids to be!

Many parents express how they are frustrated when it comes to talking with their child about school. Specifically, you will ask, “What did you do at school today?” and nearly always, you’re told, “Nothing!” or “I don’t know!” Furthermore, asking your child if they had fun or a good day usually results in a simple “yes” or “no”. So, what’s the solution? You may find that you enjoy talking with your child more – and learn more about what they’re doing – if you ask questions that are specifically tied to literacy.

It’s a good idea to ask questions such as these:

• What did you read today? Tell me about it.
• What did you learn today that you could teach me?
• Tell me about your day. What did you do first? Next? Later?
• What did you discuss in class?
• What did you learn about yourself as a reader or writer?

Happy talk,

Ms. Gaffen

Good Morning!

In preparing for your child’s name presentation on Thursday, September 28th, I thought it would be helpful to attach the rubric I will be using to assess your child’s presentation. This is a helpful tool when assisting your child to prepare for his/her presentation. A friendly reminder that the written component needs to be written by your child.  If you have any questions, please send me an email. Have fun practising!

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Have a super Thursday!

Ms. Gaffen

Terry Fox is an important person in Canadian History. His Marathon of Hope has raised over $600 million for Cancer Research. This year, the staff and students of W. Erskine Johnston P.S. will participate in the Terry Fox School Run on Thursday, September 28 from 3:00 pm – 3:30 pm. The students will be running on a circuit around the school grounds. The goal is to raise $2400 to contribute to the Terry Fox Foundation. A donation of a loonie or toonie (or more) would be appreciated to help us achieve this goal. The students can bring in their donations starting Monday, September 25 through Thursday, Sept 28 (the day of the run).

In addition, we have online Fundraising. Our school is set up on to receive online donations. It’s fast, easy and you receive your receipt right away.

Our school url link is: http://www.terryfox.ca/WErskineJohnstonPublic

We are very proud to be associated with the Terry Fox Foundation and believe that our involvement will fit in nicely with our focus on character education. Terry Fox certainly modeled the following values: heroism, strength, perseverance, courage, determination, integrity and most of all hope.

Here are some interesting facts about the Terry Fox Run:

• The world’s largest Terry Fox Run is held in Cuba, which welcomes more Canadians than any other foreign tourists. More than 1 million take part in the Cuban Run.
• There are more that 45 runs in other countries around the world including China, India and Vietnam
• Every Terry Fox Run is organized and run entirely by volunteers, who have no budget.
• The Terry Fox Run is the longest-running fun run in Canada.
• The run doesn’t accept corporate sponsorship in keeping with Fox’s grassroots approach to the Marathon of Hope.
• More than 3 million elementary pupils and high school students take part in more than 9,000 school Terry Fox runs.
• There is no entry fee to join in the run, just a donation request.
• The run funds all types of cancer research including lung, brain, breast, ovarian and childhood cancers.
• The Terry Fox Run’s lung cancer study has led to an app that can detect lung cancer at its earliest stage.
• $750 million raised worldwide for cancer research
• 1980 – year Terry Fox embarked on his Marathon of Hope
• 5,373 kilometres he ran before he was forced to stop.

Litterless Lunches Please

At our school, we participate in the Litterless Lunch Program.  Please send your child’s lunch in reusable containers in order to avoid creating extra waste.  Any litter remaining from your child’s lunch will be sent back home in his/her lunch box. Don’t forget to include spoons and forks.  The office is not able to supply these items. Thanks for your participation!

Allergy-Smart School

Help to make WEJ an “allergy smart” school by creating a safe environment.  Please do not send nuts/nut products or other allergens to school if your child has a classmate with a life-threatening allergy.  We appreciate you taking time to read labels of items to ensure there are no “hidden” ingredients that are of concern.

Meet the Teacher

On Thursday, September 28th, there will be a BBQ and an opportunity to visit your son/daughter’s classroom. More information and details to come. Save the date!

WEJ’s Terry Fox Run

Terry Fox is an important person in Canadian History. His Marathon of Hope has raised over $600 million for Cancer Research. Once again, the staff and students of W. Erskine Johnston P.S. will participate in the Terry Fox School Run on Thursday, September 28 from 3 pm – 3:30 pm. The students will be running on a circuit around the school grounds.