First term report cards

Dear parents and guardians,

First term report cards will be sent home on Wednesday February 12, 2014. The report card describes the achievement of the overall curriculum expectations for each subject. The report also outlines how well your child has demonstrated the development of learning skills and work habits essential to succeed in school and daily life. This report card represents evidence of student learning that has been gathered from September until early February.

We encourage you to review and discuss the report card with your child and take the opportunity to celebrate your child’s accomplishments. Space is provided at the bottom of pages three and four to identify steps for improvement together with your child.

The Ministry of Education and our school board both have some resources you may find useful attached here for your reference:

Ministry of Education publication on Supporting your Child’s Learning

YRDSB Parent Brochure_on the Achievement Chart

YRDSB Parent Brochure_Learning Skills and Work Habits

YRDSB Parent Brochure on Report Cards

Mr. Collins & Ms. Bongard

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Three months

We have now completed our first three months of the school year and already have much to celebrate thanks to excellent focus and initiative by our students, staff and community, including:

– welcoming our Elder’s Mills community to our team

– The launch of our school touchstone

– Sharing a redesigned Learning Commons

– Launching our Green Bin program through our school’s Eco Team

– Implementing new technologies into our classrooms and classroom programs

– Meeting with parents and guardians to review student’s Progress Report Cards

– Our staff exploring professional learning in many ways

– Starting to plan for the transition of our grade 8 students to high school

– Starting our Roots of Empathy programs

– Recognizing Bullying Awareness week

– Starting our Healthy Snack program

We have developed a focused start in our classroom programs in the areas of academics, athletics and the arts.

We have had the chance to recognise the work of various employee groups at our school including: our Designated Early Childhood Educators, our care taking team, Educational Assistants and our Administrative Assistants.

Our staff have provided several student leadership and extra curricular opportunities such as our Cross Country Team, The sign language club, library and office helpers, the student Tech Team, our Eco team, Student Council, Boys’ and Girls’ Volleyball, Floor Hockey intramurals, homework club, Lunch room helpers, and our Positive Climates for Learning Committee.

As school community we have given back through our Terry Fox Walk, The Count Me in Project, and our local food bank drive.

We also appreciate the work of our school council with our school this year. Their upcoming Dance-A-Thon will take place on December 13, 2013 and will surely be an enjoyable event. Remember that all parents and guardians are welcome to our meetings. Future meetings will be: January 14, 2014, February 20, 2014, April 22, 2014 and May 29, 2014.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Three short months…

…remember when it was only 3 short weeks?

Remember when I asked us to write our story?

How do you think we have done so far?

Onward.

Mr. Collins

Progression

Thank you to the families who joined us last night and this morning for Parent & Guardian/Teacher interviews. We appreciate this opportunity to discuss your child’s Progress Report Card. The evidence is clear: students perform better in school if their parents or guardians are involved in their children’s education. We thank you for your partnership now and for the coming months of school. Now is a time to celebrate the progress your child has demonstrated and set goals for future progress.

The Progress Report cards provide us a starting point in what should be ongoing conversations this year on your child’s progress. The learning skills portion of the progress report cards are an important starting point:

– responsibility

– organization

– independent work

– collaboration

– initiative

– self regulation

Our students should now reflect on these six areas and ask themselves: what areas can I commit to improving in the next few months of school?

Next, we should consider the academic areas of our programs and ensure our students set goals for themselves. We must look at our students’ strengths to help support them in the goals they set for themselves for improvement.

What is one subject area you want to support your child in to improve?

Thank you again for your partnership with us now and for the next important months of school.

Mr. Collins & Ms. Bongard

Progress Report cards

On November 12, 2013, Progress Report cards will be sent home to all parents and guardians. This first report card is an important document which will indicate the progress your child has made so far this school year. Below are some board and Ministry of Education documents which you may find helpful in understanding the report card, assessment and evaluation.

YRDSB Elementary Report Card brochure

YRDSB Parent Brochure_on the Achievement Chart

YRDSB Parent Brochure Assessment in Schools Today

YRDSB Parent Brochure_Learning Skills and Work Habits

Parent Brochure on Academic Honesty and Timely Completion and Submission

Reporting Student Learning: Ministry of Education

Ministry Parent Brochure on Assessment and Evaluation