November

2009 From the Principal’s Desk

1. Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting
Evaluation of student performance is done in both formative and summative modes.
Assessment of students takes place in a formative manner when teachers assess what
students currently know prior to beginning a lesson or unit. It continues while lessons
are taught and students acquire and practice the knowledge and skills presented. It also
occurs when students complete class assignments and homework. Teachers review the
student progress to determine whether their pupils understand what has been taught
and demonstrate what is expected. It may require re-teaching or new strategies so stu-
dents can demonstrate the desired outcomes.
When teachers evaluate in a summative manner, they develop a number of culminating
activities where students demonstrate the knowledge and skills taught independently.
Education is “Central”

J. George, Vice-Principal

These summative assessments could be chapter tests, unit tests, experiments, written
assignments, projects or activities performed in the classroom. Report card marks are
primarily based on the summative evaluations of the learning outcomes over the term.
B. Morlog, Principal

In summary, daily work and homework are very important for students acquiring and
mastering the knowledge and skills required. Summative evaluation will form the major
part of the evaluation of our pupils reported on their report cards. They must inde-
pendently demonstrate the learning outcomes.
Report cards will be sent home on December 1 / 09. Personal interviews will
take place the evening of Thurs. Dec. 3rd and the morning of Fri. Dec. 4th. Please con-
tact the teachers if you wish an interview on either of those two dates. If these times are
not convenient, please arrange with the teachers an alternative date for a personal or a
telephone interview.
2. “No Homework” - That’s Not True!
In an attempt to improve communication with home, I am stressing to you and to our
students through announcements and information provided at assemblies, that home-
work is a daily part of school. You can keep “on top of” your child’s assignments by re-
questing they show you a completed agenda each day after school. Every class-
Phone (905) 627-3521 Fax (905) 627-3522

room has a homework board and teachers review what should be transferred from that
board into the agenda. In fact, students are to “fill in” the daily/weekly page along with
the month at a glance page for daily homework along with upcoming assignments and
Dundas Central School News

tests. This month at a glance page assists students and parents to meet deadlines yet
work around family functions, community sports, lessons etc.
Depending on the age level, every student should work 10-40 minutes per night on
homework. This homework should be assignments not completed in class, assigned
homework, completing assignment due at a later date, projects, test preparation and
Dundas, Ontario L9H 2A2

Inside this issue:

73 Melville Street

From the Principal’s Desk 2-3

Emergency Numbers for Inclement Weather 2

Keeping Our School Healthy—Update 3

Quebec Trip 3

Winter Clothes Closet 4

Home and School News 4

Parent Council News 4

 Twenty-two students represented
Dundas Central at the Intermediate
Cross country HWDSB competition
From the Principal’s Desk continued... on October 16th. All of the students
made us proud! We want to
reading (class novel, leisure reading) particularly mention the following
students who performed well in their
As a family, pick an appropriate time to complete homework. Many fami- grade categories: Callista Stavnitzky,
lies like the time immediately after dinner has been completed and prior 4th place Junior Girls; Nicole Brown,
to the “important” television programs starting. Don’t do their homework 5th place, Senior Girls; Graym
for them but assist with suggestions. You too are a teacher. It’s impor- Stewart, 13th place, Bantam Boys;
Quinn Shobbrook, 9th place, Senior
tant for parents to model the importance time management, solid work Boys. Congratulations all!
ethic, pride in accomplishment and the importance of academics. Organ-
izational skills are extremely important and students should know that
they need to work around extracurricular activities and family commit-
ments that occur during week nights or weekends. E.g., hockey, dance,
karate, etc.

Cross Country
On Wednesday, September 30, 57
students in grades 3, 4, and 5 took
part in the Primary/Junior Cross
3. Joint School Council / Home & School Meeting County meet at Christie Lake
On many occasions both organizations receive similar information so we Conservation Area. Congratulations
to all of the members of the primary/
are attempting to streamline the dissemination of school, Board and Pro- junior cross country team for their
vincial information. On Tuesday November 3rd (7 pm) both groups will dedication and determination.
meet in our staff room. At that time, the Principal’s Report will be given Everyone put forth an excellent effort
to all who attend. After the completion of this agenda and question pe- the day of the cross country meet.
riod, each organization will split to separate rooms and an administrator The coaches would like to give
will join each group to assist with their agenda. honourable mentions to the following
students: Mikaela Robinson-
I want to thank Jeremy Abrahams (S.C. Chair) and Michelle Chin (H. & S. Hubbert; Brent Thomas, gr 3; Olivia
Chair) for their foresight and cooperation in this venture. As stated previ- Ferney; Adam Lennox, Neil
O’Rourke, gr 4; Michelle Mouton;
ously, both groups receive essentially similar information in the Princi-
Liam Pugh-Martin, gr 5. Loran
pal’s Report and this permits parents to attend both organizations meet- Parcher wins the “Best Friend” award
ings if they so desire. Lastly, both groups have the same interests in for giving up her place in the race to
mind. They are here to support academic achievement, our students and accompany an injured friend over the
our school community. We in turn value their commitment, energy, ac- finish line. Thank you to all of the
tivities and support. Hope to see you there and bring a friend! team members from their coaches,
Mrs. DiDonato, Mrs. Gillis and Mrs.
Waller.

Emergency Numbers and Inclement Weather Situations

Please ensure the office has the most up to date
numbers for your household and your emergency
contact numbers. Please review inclement weather
situations with your children in case schools are
closed and buses are cancelled in the morning or
for the rare occurrence when students are sent
home early. To find out if transportation and/or
school is cancelled, please check the Board web site
and listen to the following stations:
K-LITE (fm) 900 CHML (am)
95.3 Y95 (fm) 1380 CKPC (am)
Page 2
820 CHAM (am) 1150 CKOC (fm)
CH television
Please check the morning weather fore-
casts to ensure that your children are dressed for the weather.
We will monitor the weather for wind chill by contacting Envi-
ronment Canada
Office at the Mount Hope Airport. Please remind your children
that toques, gloves, winter coats and boots are fashionable in
Canada “ the True North Strong and Free”.
73 MELVILLE STREET
 Umbrella Family and Child
Centres of Hamilton
Good care educates. Good education cares. There will be a parent information night
The Umbrella daycare still has spaces! on Wednesday Nov 4th at 7pm in room
201. A representative from Keating
For more information please call Linda
Tours will be here to speak about the
905.973.7472
trip and answer questions regarding the
trip.

Grade 8 Quebec City Trip

Junior girls volleyball team participated in a tournament on
Oct 27th and went to the finals. They lost in a close
Information Meeting
three game match to R. A. Riddell. Well played girls!!
Initial Deposit of $100.00 is due
All of our volleyball teams are in the middle of their November 11th.
seasons—stay tuned for an update on their play.
Trip Dates: June 14-17, 2010

Keeping Dundas Central Healthy!

The Dundas Central Public commu-
nity is working together to keep our
students as healthy as possible. Our
school is one of many schools that
are working closely with the Public
Health Department due to the num-
ber of students who have been re-
ported absent due to flu-like symp-
toms. Our
staff is follow-
ing their Regularly scheduled
guidelines events at and away ... For more information about
carefully will continue as
which include: planned.
ensuring rea-
sons for stu-
dent absences are carefully moni-
tored, daily communication with the
school board and Public Health, ad-
ditional caretaking staff hours to
keep the school as sanitary and
healthy as possible, and ensuring
that students who are ill are sent
home.
Parents and guardians, please con-
tinue to support our school by indi-
cating whether your child has flu-
like symptoms when calling in their
absence. We appreciate how you
have been allowing your children to
rest and recover from their illness by
keeping them at home.
Regularly scheduled events at and
away from the school such as inter-
school sporting events, tourna-
ments, and field trips will con-
tinue as planned.
H1N1 please call Public Health
at 905.546.H1N1(4161).
The best way to prevent or reduce the
spread of influenza and many other
illnesses is through personal protection:
•Wash hands well and often with soap
and water for at least 15 seconds.
•Students are encouraged to have a
travel-size container of alcohol-based
hand sanitizer for personal use at school.
•Cough and sneeze into your upper
sleeve or a tissue, not your hand.
dispose of tissues immediately.
•Clean commonly touched surfaces like
door knobs, light switches, phones and
computer equipment often.
•If you have a fever and influenza-like
symptoms, stay at home until you no
longer have a fever and are well.
• Shortness of breath
• Vomiting and diarrhea, which are
common in children.

NOVEMBER Page 3
 Parent Council News
I hope you and your family are staying relatively healthy during this
2nd Annual Winter Clothes most unusual fall season. I know that Mr. Morlog, Ms. George and
the entire staff are working extremely hard in dealing with the H1N1
Closet ~ Date Change! outbreak.

Due to the high number of families who are
ill, we have decided to postponed the 2nd
Annual Winter Clothes Closet to ensure that
all members of the school community who
want to donate, take, exchange, recycle
clothes can participate.
The date has been moved from Nov 5th—
to Nov 19th. If your family needs to access
the closet prior to this date please contact
Mary Gillis at the school. Thanks.
Home & School News
On October 19th, we kick-started
Phase 2 of our Food for Thought
Program - we sent detailed
information on that in a hard copy
home and it is also available on
the school website
www.hwdsb.on.ca/centraldundas/?
page_id=484 . We need people to
help for an hour Monday mornings
after first bell and an hour Friday
afternoons starting at 1:30, if you
can lend a hand.
Don't forget to participate in our
2nd Annual Winter Clothes Closet
on November 19th. Donate, take,
exchange, recycle - it's all good
for our school community. I'll be
there - both of my kids grew about
I just want to introduce myself as the new Chair of the Dundas Cen-
tral Public School Council. As many of you know, school councils are
mandated by the Ministry of Education and provide valuable input to
school administration regarding policies and procedures that affect
the learning and overall school experience of all our children. We
also support initiatives that allow parents to have a greater level of
understanding and involvement in the education of our children.
This year, our meetings will be held in conjunction with meetings of
the Home and School Association. Though we have different man-
dates, we look forward to working closely together on initiatives that
enrich the entire Dundas Central school community. Stay tuned for
announcements of upcoming meeting dates.
Please consider joining our School Council. I'm sure you'll find it to
be a very enjoyable and worthwhile experience. If you wish to join,
have questions about School Councils, or have issues that you feel
should be addressed at one of our meetings, please email me di-
rectly. jabrahams1@cogeco.ca
Finally, on behalf of School Council, I'd like to express sincere thanks
to Mike Downs for his many years of service to our community as
School Council Chair. His contribution has been immense. Though
he is stepping down as Chair, we'll definitely benefit from his contin-
ued involvement this year.
Jeremy Abrahams
Dundas Central Public School Council Chair
10 cm since last year! Council will be having a common
School Report time with Barry and
Our next H&S meeting will be held
Jenn, then moving onto our
on Tuesday, November 3rd from
separate activities. We will be
7:00—8:30 pm. H&S and School
looking to finalize our H&S Executive
and Event Leaders, so if you're
interested ... Child care is
available ...hope to see you there!
Michelle Chin
Dundas Central Home & School
www.hwdsb.on.ca/centraldundas/?
page_id=12

For more information about Food for Thought—please visit the

Home and School link at www.hwdsb.on.ca/centraldundas/?
page_id=484