OCTOBER 2014

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

The school year is off to a great start at Herman Street!! September is behind us and fall is here! We

welcomed new students and their parents into our school community this year giving us a total of 248

students at Herman Street Public School. We have been very busy establishing and re-establishing

friendships, routines and learning habits. It is so great to see the students settled into their classrooms,

their routines and working and learning each day. The dedicated staff is working extremely hard to make the

most of every moment with the students.

Over the past several weeks, we have been working with our students to help them learn and remember

school routines and expectations. We have completed two fire drills already and we will be completing a lock-

down in the next few weeks and we will inform you of the date. Students are deep into the curriculum and the

staff are working on our school improvement goals with a focus on mathematics as well as improving the

conversations (accountable talk) that our students are having in our classrooms so they actively listening to

what is being said by everyone in the classroom and then adding to their thinking or changing their thinking to

create new learning.

I want to thank all the families for stopping by our Open House. It was so great to see so many families in

the school. If you would like to volunteer in the school or on our school trips, please ensure you have your

Criminal Background Check completed. Please drop by the school and pick up the form from the office.

Congratulations to all of our students, parents and staff of Herman Street Public School for the hard work

and dedication to the Indigo Adopt a School Program! We are so thrilled to be the winning school in Ontario!!

We are looking forward to our library being full of new books as well as making a few changes and improving

our library. We will be welcoming you in to see our new books and library!

With your help, we are continuing to build the best learning environment we can for our students. If you

have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. I am so proud and happy to be part of the

amazing Herman Street team!!

Sincerely,

Veletia Richards “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

**Indigo Love of Reading Foundation /Adopt a School Program**

I am not sure if all of you stayed up late to see if we won -- I know there was a few of us who sure did!! It was so exciting to pass 12:00 and see that we were over 1000 adopts above the second place school!!! We did it!! The Little School that Could!! (one of our Grade 5 students made this statement about our school in recognition of our success last week in second place) is now 'The Little School that Did!!' I would personally like to thank each and every one of you for going above and beyond the call of duty for the students at Herman Street!! This little movement started with Jen Young, who had a conversation with Kim, the assistant man-ager at Coles in regards to adopting our Herman Street Public School and then she brought this to the Staff and Parent Council and in turn, to our students, families, school community, Petawawa community, Renfrew County, extended communities (military communities throughout Canada) and beyond!! WOW! What a movement! You voted daily, had or helped your students vote daily, and passed it on to everyone you knew!! We sure had the passion that was needed!! The power we have in being connected is amazing (love technology) as well as being a community with determination and a mission for our kids!!! Words cannot express how happy and thrilled we all are at Herman Street Public School! The students will benefit now and beyond for many years to come because of you! I know many of you were consumed by this challenge -- (I know I certainly was especially in the last couple of days when we were between first and second place) --- so please thank your family and friends!!

Herman Street Hornets Herman Street Hornets

SAVE THE DATE!!!

Oct. 24—Hugli’s Trip for Kindergarten, Mrs.

Chisholm, Ms. Leggo, and Mrs. Francis

Oct. 25—PIC (Parent Symposium at

Fellowes—8:30-2:00

Oct. 29—Health Unit vaccines for grade 7 &

8

Oct. 30—School Council Meeting—6:00

Oct. 31—Picture Re-take day

Halloween Day & Pizza Day

Nov. 4—Bus Safety presentations for all

students

Nov. 5-11– Veteran’s Week

Nov.11 — Remembrance Day ceremony at

10:30

-Progress reports go home

Nov. 14—Parent-Teacher Interviews

Dec. 15 & 16 —Christmas Concert

HERMAN STREET PUBLIC SCHOOL

Terry Fox Run/Walk

This year’s Terry Fox Run was an outstanding success.

On Friday, October 3, 2014, our entire school

participated in the annual walk/run and we raised

approximately $1300.00 for cancer research.

Organized by Mr. Childerhose, he sent out the

challenge to the students to raise $1250 and if done

then he and Mr. Popke would stay on the school roof

all night. The morning of October 12, Herman Street

had not yet reached the challenge so Mr. C and Mr.

Popke did not come prepared, however by lunch the

challenge had been achieved! Mr. Childerhose and Mr.

Popke did enjoy their night on the roof with only a

little rain!!

Thank you to Mr. Childerhose for organizing this

wonderful event and thank you for your support and

donations!

Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) Symposium – October 25th

On Saturday, October 25th our Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) will be hosting its annual parent

symposium – ―Achieving as One: Resiliency Through Relationships‟

at Fellowes High School. Registration is FREE and a light breakfast starts at 8:30AM and the keynote speaker, Dr. Wayne Hammond, will be speaking at 9:30AM on Resiliency – developing key charac-ter traits in children to nurture their ability to navigate through life’s challenges. The day also includes a variety of workshop sessions from area experts on Elementary and Secondary Student Voice; Positive Discipline; Mental Health; Positive Self-Esteem; and Self- Regulation. Donations to the Food Bank will be gratefully accepted and FREE daycare is provided for registered parents/guardians by the Children’s Garden.

For more information and to register for this incredible FREE day dedicated to parent engagement, visit the

RCDSB PIC website at— pic.rcdsb.on.ca

Hope to see you there!

EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office)

Our 2013-14 results from the Assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics for the primary division (Grades 1-3) and junior

division (Grades 4-6) have been published by the Education Quality and Accountability Office. The numbers represent the percentage

of students that have met (level 3) or exceeded (level 4) the provincial standards on the assessments in Reading, Writing and Mathe-

matics. At our Staff meeting we were able to look at the results and at future meetings we will continue to analyze this information

to set learning goals for our students. This is an ongoing process as we work together to ensure student learning and success.

Below are the percentage of students working at the provincial standard (level 3) or higher (level 4) who wrote the assessment:

Grade Three: Grade Six:

Reading 71, Writing 76, Mathematics 86 Reading 71, Writing 54, Mathematics 36

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES DRILLS: FIRE DRILLS & LOCKDOWN

The safety and security of our students and staff is a top priority for Herman Street Public School and the Renfrew County District School Board. We are committed to keeping your children safe while they are in our care and one of the ways we keep them safe is to practice our emergency procedures.

We have currently had two practice Fire Drills—one in September and one in October—and we will have another one before the Christmas Break which will be unannounced to staff and students. We have also been reviewing fire safety procedures and the Fire Department was in for Grade 3-5 fire safety presentations.

We will also undertake a Lockdown Drill the first week of November. The date and time will be confirmed and sent to you. During a lockdown drill, classroom doors are secured and the students remain inside the classroom hidden until instructed by the principal and teacher to resume their activities. All exterior doors are locked and no one is permitted to enter or leave the building including volunteers and/or parents in the building during this time. Students are kept inside the school and classrooms when circumstances make it safer to stay in the classroom rather than evacuate. Just as we prepare our students to properly respond to a fire drill, they also need to be aware of the proper response during a lockdown drill. These drills are treated with the same level of importance as fire drills.

Please be assured that staff will spend time discussing the importance of this procedure with students prior to running a drill. We will also take time after the drill to remind them that it was only a practice and there was no danger. When possible, our Community Services Officer, OPP Constable Beth Ethier, may assist us in conducting the lockdown drills just as the Fire Department assists with fire evacuation drills. Please take the time to speak with your son/daughter about this procedure and reinforce its importance. We practice these drills to ensure our school remains a safe place for teaching and learning.

HERMAN STREET PUBLIC SCHOOL

Kinder Yard

Exciting news as we have been granted

some funds to improve our kindergarten

playground! In the near future you will

be see the playground enlarged as well as

some trees planted and new areas for

the students to play! We are very ex-

cited about this endeavor! We may need

some extra help so let us know if you

can lend a hand! Thanks!

HERMAN STREET SCHOOL COUNCIL 2014-2015

Chair Crystal Black Treasurer Paul Kramer Secretary Ingrid O’Connell Members Chrissie Clement Sheila Kramer Janet Lyttle Julie Maisonneuve-McMurray Cindy McKay Nicole Walters Principal Veletia Richards Teacher Rep Cindi Chisholm/Brenda Leggo

School Councils serve an important purpose in the day to day functioning of the school. Although fundraising is an important part of what school councils do it is not the only thing. Councils serve as advisory councils for administrators and provide feedback on policies and procedures of the school. I would like to invite new parents to the school council. We encourage you to attend and learn more about our council and to become more active within the Herman Street Public School community.

Yard Supervision

Please note that our yard is not

supervised until 9:05 am.

Students should not be arriving

on the yard until that time.

Thank you!

Halloween

This is a friendly reminder that we are a nut-sensitive school as some of

our students have severe nut allergies. It is a wonderful tradition to

bring treats for special occasions like Halloween celebrations, but we

need parents to please ask their child’s teacher prior to the event to see if they are

having treats and to ensure that there are no potential allergic reactions to nuts or other foods.

We remain a nut-safe school, even on Halloween. Please keep this in mind when purchasing

treats for your child to send to school or when wanting to send treats to share during classroom

functions. We would like to encourage you to consider providing healthy options such as juice,

fruit, cheese & crackers, instead. We want to ensure everyone is safe on Halloween!

School Council Help

The School Council is looking for

additional support for pizza

days, fundraising and other

upcoming events, please let the

school know as soon as possible if

you are able to help or join us at

our next meeting for a few

minutes! Thanks in advance for

your support!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PARENTS

When writing cheques for school activities/hot lunch or-

ders/fundraisers, etc please read carefully the notice that

comes home with your child. Some activities/hot lunch

orders/fundraisers are part of Herman Street Public

School and others Herman Street Parent Council. It is

important that orders are not paid together for different ac-

tivities/orders because monies are deposited into different

accounts. Orders that are combined together for payment

will be returned which may result in your child’s order, etc

not being processed.

Thank you for your cooperation!

HERMAN STREET NEWSLETTERS

Please check out our school website for information as well as our calendar of events for the month. We will also post the newsletters on the website. Check out Herman Street Public School at— http://hrm.rcdsb.on.ca/

Email Newsletters We would like to be able to send newsletters to all families by email. Please clip the section below and return it to the school. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1. _____ I would like to receive an e-mailed copy to: _________________________ 2. _____ I will get the newsletter from the school website: http://hrm.rcdsb.on.ca/ 3. _____ I do not have access to computers so I must have a paper copy

__________________________________ ___________________________________ (Student’s Name) (Parent’s Name)

HERMAN STREET PUBLIC SCHOOL

Terry Fox Walk

Fun on the

Playground

Phiabe was

the winner

of the Terry

Fox shirt.

Congrats!

Face painting fun!

Herman Street Heroes!

We are all heroes at Herman

Street and we like to

recognize some of them each

month!

“Even though I'm not running

anymore, we still have to try to

find a cure for cancer. Other peo-

ple should go ahead and try to do

their own thing now.” Terry Fox