Welcome to the Allenby Parents site, where you’ll find everything you need to help you and your family have a fun and successful school year!
Find the latest news right here on the homepage, updated weekly.
Browse the tabs along the top to find out what the APA committees do or to find a volunteer opportunity.
Yesterday was Music Monday, a day when we celebrate music education. Music education takes place in many ways, in the Music Room, in the Dance and Drama class and in regular classrooms. This year, as you may have heard by now, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut and musician Chris Hadfield and Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson have co-written the song for Music Monday 2013; officially titled I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing). The song is being commissioned by CBCMusic.ca and The Coalition for Music Education to celebrate music education in schools across Canada. At Allenby classes gathered yesterday right after lunch outside in the amphitheatre and sang the song. We videotaped the event and hope to be able to send a link to the video in next week’s Allenbeat.
It is that time of year again, and we have all been enjoying the beautiful weather. Students will be getting a reminder of the dress code for school.I have including the updated Glenview Dress code. We are basing our guidelines on those that are enforced there, as that is where the majority of students will go in the long run. It is also similar to dress codes at other schools.
Hope everyone was able to enjoy the beautiful weather this past week. As you will see below, not only is the weather beautiful but Allenby is also enjoying a sense of renewal as we received the “approval in principle” to build at Allenby. The effort that went into that approval from parents, TDSB staff, MPP Mike Colle and our PART parent representatives Lisa Spiegel, Heather Stark and PART daycare representative Leanne Kaufman is noted and most appreciated.
As I said last week, watching the passion, energy and creativity of our community was amazing. I hope as we enter the last two months of the 2012-2013 school year with the news that our school will remain whole, that we can all take some of that energy and enthusiasm and continue to make Allenby the special place that it is.
What can you do?
Not sure? Contact me! I will help you figure it out!
with reports from Jafar Hussain and Andrea Payne
Exciting things are happening at Allenby in terms of technology! Within the last five years, Allenby, with the strong support of the APA, has made an unprecedented leap in its acquisition, mastery, and usage of technology in its classrooms. In 2006, SMARTboards, laptops, document cameras, iPads, etc., were non-existent in a school that now boasts almost one interactive whiteboard per classroom. We currently have 8 document cameras in the school, a SMARTboard in 20 classrooms, 10 iPads, an APA netbook cart with 30 netbooks and an accompanying WiFi hub. In addition, we have a TDSB notebook cart of 30 HP notebooks and many more. So what’s happening now at Allenby?
These carts are signed out regularly by teachers. The netbook cart is used for word processing, creating power point presentations and internet research. The notebooks have a wider range of software and can therefore be used in an enhanced way. For example, two French Immersion teachers have pioneered collaborative projects with two schools, JRR and Glen Park, in our Family of Schools (FOS). Messieurs Hussain and Scott are using the TDSB cart of 30 Mini-HP notebooks that are fully loaded with a bonanza of software. The students in these two classes are communicating with their peers via the internet, thus enhancing the French Immersion experience.
Mme. Linka and M. Hussain, two grade 5/6 teachers, participate in a Global Awareness program called “Global Partners Junior,” which is sponsored by Taking It Global Education (TIGEd). This program, based in New York City, brings international peers together to communicate via a centrally monitored site. It is a synergy involving the domains of literacy, global awareness and technology with a view of enabling students to work through a different theme-based curriculum each year. This year’s theme was International Theatre. This program necessitates frequent use of the computer lab and the notebook cart.
A professional learning project (TigEd) in partnership with the TDSB has sponsored this year’s Global Awareness courses for teachers across the NW3 Family of Schools. These courses are presented in a blended-learning format, partially online and partially in person. Allenby has 5 teachers enrolled in the Global Citizenship course. They are Mrs. Vangou, Mr. Roberts, Mrs. Sherman, Mme. Payne and M. Hussain. These teachers are developing guiding questions to kindle the curiosity of students which lead to the creation of projects with a global awareness perspective. This experience is then transferred into their classrooms.
iPads The 10 ipads we have are currently being used in collaboration with Mme. Payne, our Teacher Librarian. She has supported teachers in working on Literacy projects (e.g. procedural writing), science and environmental projects connected to non fiction storytelling, math thinking and communication, creating labelled diagrams in kindergarten, digital puppet shows, all with the goal of taking students beyond simply playing games using the software towards using it as a learning tool to enhance their thinking. They have also been used as
Allenby’s delegation to the WR3 Math Olympics went to a first session last week and moved on to the finals Wednesday May 1st. The Math Olympics involved some individual work but the big emphasis was on cooperative solving of challenging problems. There was stiff competition from John Ross Robertson, Summit Heights and Dublin Heights but our team won the trophy. Congratulations to the team, Dustin Yang, Avery Zeiler, Alexandra Morson and Cooper Schnurr!
For the lunchtime T-ball schedule, click here.
The members of the PART met this week in preparation for the Final Public meeting which will be held at Lawrence Park Collegiate on May 15th. At this meeting the PART recommendations will be shared and the community will, once again, be able to offer input. The recommendations concerning Allenby that will be shared on May 15th are as follows.
It is recommended that, to accommodate FDK:
It is recommended that, to accommodate projected future growth:
We continue to remain confident about the build. Once officially approved, more details about the location and design of the build will be determined and shared with our community.
As mentioned last week, we have been in touch with Trustee Shelley Laskin, who is standing in for Howard Goodman to represent our Ward. The recommendation is to hold back any lobbying of the trustees at this time given the positive reaction this build has received. We will continue to keep you posted.
We’ve heard great feedback about the trial Kid’s Kitchen lunch program! Just some reminders in order to make our trial successful, eco-friendly, and to possibly add more days next year!
1) orders to be made ONLINE ONLY by 10am PREVIOUS business day
2) cancellations to be made ONLINE by 10am the PREVIOUS business day with NO charge
3) cancellations can be made BY PHONE by 7am for same day orders (905) 944-0210 with NO charge.
4) if your child is sick and you cannot cancel before 7am that day, your child’s lunch will be available in cafeteria 11:45-12:45 same day; any lunch not picked up by 12:45 will be refrigerated for a max. of 24hrs. as space allows at school – please check with the school office.
5) any LIQUIDS leftover from your child’s lunch (soup liquid, juice, fruit juice etc…) can be drained in the BUCKET in the cafeteria. All other food wastes should be wrapped in food containers and sent home in the supplied brown paper Kid’s Kitchen lunch bag. Some kids are also bringing an additional lunch bag as an extra layer of leak prevention.
Thanks for helping to make this lunch program a success! Please send any feedback to Shannon shanphillips@rogers.com or call Kid’s Kitchen directly with any program related issues (905) 944-0210.
Please note: The APA will be charged a 3.9% service fee on each donation.
Thank you!
