Centennial Connection May 26, 2024

Dear Centennial PS Families -

While a short week it was filled with fun and learning and laughter at Centennial! Students have been working diligently in their classes to consolidate skills and to demonstrate their learning. Students have shown so much progress especially in the areas of literacy, numeracy and responsibility. We are so proud of them!

This coming week student athletes are scheduled to participate in the Regional Track & Field meet. Due to the impending weather on Monday, the Track & Field meet is postponed from Monday May 27 to Thursday May 30th. Huge thanks to all of the volunteer coaches!

This week we will participate in some emergency procedure practices. Fire drills will take place as a practice for staff and students. We hope never to have to use these procedures but it is good to practice and know what to do. Classroom staff will go over the procedures and students will have a chance to practice them during the week.

We continue to have some near misses in the parking lot with parents/guardians trying to enter or drive through the parking lot. A reminder that the parking lot is for staff use only. Please do not use the parking lot at any time between 8am-4pm and please do not drive through it as a turnaround for Norman Rogers Drive. If you are dropping off your student after an appointment or are coming late, please park on Norman Rogers and walk to the front door. Please help to keep students and staff safe.

This is National Accessibility Week and the LDSB will be recognizing it throughout the week. Staff and students are encouraged to wear red on Wednesday in support.

The week ahead is another short week for students, as staff engage in Term 2 Achievement Report writing on Friday. Staff continue to collect student work and data to inform these achievement report grades and comments. As a reminder, Term 2 Report Cards will go home on Wednesday June 26th.

We hope all families are enjoying the beautiful sunny weather. A reminder that students go outside for 2 recess breaks and sometimes also for outdoor learning. A sun hat and sunscreen are strongly recommended.

See you tomorrow!

-Deborah Thompson, Principal & Centennial PS Staff

May is Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month, Jewish Heritage Month, Speech & Hearing Month, South Asian Heritage Month, Apraxia Awareness Month, Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month

Week of May 27th - LCVI Puppet Shows for Kinder & Grade 1 students

May 27th - Region 3 Track & Field Meet for Centennial POSTPONED!!!

May 27 - Evans/El Haj & Lalone/Sharpe Kinder classes to library

May 29th - Red Shirt Day (for National Accessibility Week)

May 28th - Murphy Grade 1 and Beardall Grade 2 to Gould Lake

May 29 - Cahill'Grade 5 class to Queen's for Brain Reach

May 30 - Region 3 Track & Field Meet - NEW DATE!!!

May 31st - PA Day

June 3 - School Council

June 4 - District Track & Field

June 5 - Welcome to Kindergarten (4-5pm) for students new in Sept 2024.\

June 7 - Calvin Fun Day for Grade 6 students

June 10 - Grade 5/6 Blair & 6 Girard to the Queen's Observatory

June 10 - Farndon/Aylesworth Kinder to Pumphouse Museum

June 11 - Grade 6s to Calvin Park

June 12 - CPS Junior Track & Field (Grade 4-6)

June 13 - CPS Primary Track & Field (Grade 1-3)

June 14 - Rain date for CPS Track & Field if needed

June 19 - School Celebration of Dance

June 20 - Raindate: School Celebration of Dance

June 20 - School Council Family Barbecue

June 21 - National Indigenous People's Day - various classes to City Park

June 21 - Fruition Farm Trip - Joannette, Beardall, Hetherington

June 21 - Evans/ElHaj & Lalonde/Sharpe Kinders to Lakeshore Pool

June 21 - Primary Water Day

June 24 - Kindergarten Celebration (PM)

June 25 - Kindergarten Celebration raindate

June 25 - City Park Trip for Joannette, Beardall & Hetherington classes

June 26 - Byers Grade 4 class to Wolfe Island (sometime this week weather dependent)

June 25 - Grade 6 Celebration (after school)

June 26 - Report cards go home

June 28 - PA Day

Please mark your calendars for the School Council meeting dates. Meeting begin at 6:30pm and are 90 minutes in length. Child care for school aged children is provided for those who register by the Sunday before. If you require childcare, please notify the council of your need by emailing councilcentennialps@gmail.com

All parents and guardians are welcome to attend!

Monday June 3rd

The School Council is also organizing an end of year Family Barbecue. Stay tuned for more details!

Since the start of the pandemic, we have noticed a marked increase in the number of student absences.

When children miss a day they miss important literacy and math learning, and can fall behind on lessons that build from day to day. Students who are regularly late, even if it is only 10 minutes, often miss critical reading instruction, which often happens first thing in the morning.

We know that children need to stay home when they are sick, and the rules for staying home have changed throughout the pandemic. The most recent guidelines on staying home can be found beneath the chart below. Please contact the school if you need support with attendance issues. Let's work together and get every student here every day!

Please help us spread the word! The parking lot is for staff only. Parents/guardians are welcome to park in designated locations on Norman Rogers and on neighbouring streets. Please help to keep all students, staff and families safe by ensuring the parking lot remains for staff only, including at drop off and pick up. Thank you for your help!

We have had some "near misses". Please DO NOT enter the bus lane or the staff parking lot, and please do not use the exit as an entrance. Parking is available on neighbouring streets. Thank you for your help!

Once again this year we are using LunchBox to provide families with some options for hot lunch, should they wish to participate. Orders are due by NOON on Sunday for orders being delivered the following week.

Just a reminder that should buses be cancelled, hot lunches are also cancelled and credit will be provided to account.

LunchBox is looking at more varied choices for hot lunches moving forward, and those will be reflected in the menu options, if it is possible.

To create an account and order hot lunches, use the guide below and linked here: Get The Guide

Due to the prevalence of peanut and tree nut allergies, we do ask that all parents refrain from sending products that may contain nuts to school, even if there is not a specific nut allergy in your child's classroom. We appreciate your efforts and support to ensure that all of our students are safe at school. If your child has any allergies or medical conditions of which the school is not aware, please inform your child's teacher immediately, so that we can ensure that we have all of the information required to keep children safe at school. If in doubt about ingredients, please do not send to school. Thank you for your help to keep all students safe!

All school supplies that students need for their learning and work will be provided by Centennial Public School. Sometimes students prefer to have their own pencil case with pencils/markers, but it is not a requirement.

Students do need to come to school with:

- Indoor, non-marking athletic type of shoes

- Water bottle with child's name clearly marked (we have bottle filling stations, not fountains)

- Nut-free snacks and lunch

Please label all items!

Sometimes students want to bring items to school to show friends, or have things stored in backpacks that need to remain at home. This is just a reminder that students should not bring the following items to school:

- items of value (sentimental or monetary)

- any kind of weapon (for example, a Swiss Army knife)

- any kind of toy that could be a replica weapon (for example, a toy gun)

- electronics of any kind

- jewelry

- make-up

- anything scented

- anything with nuts (please ensure all lunches and snacks are nut-free)

- toys, stuffies, Pokemon cards

Thank you for keeping these items at home. Sometimes a quick check of a backpack can ensure that treasures do not come to school. Thank you for understanding that we are not responsible for lost, broken or stolen personal items.

School Day is an online platform that families can use for providing permission and payment for school events.

Each returning family has a School Day account that you would have used last year. The user name and password you used last year continues to be active for this year.

Families new to Centennial will receive a paper information sheet this week with a unique user name and password (which you can change). Please keep this information handy as we use School Day for various permission forms, school trips, consents and payments.

Returning families who are not sure of their School Day information can contact the school office and a new form can be sent home to you.

Please note that we are not able to accept verbal or written permission generally and that School Day is to be used. Cash and cheques cannot be accepted at the school due to safe money handling procedures and as such, the much more secure method of School Day is used.

This platform may be new to some families (and to us too!) and we are here to work through the process together. Don't hesitate to reach out to the office if you are experiencing any challenges.

Some students may bring a cell phone to school as a way to communicate with parents before the school day begins and after the school day ends. When students bring a cell phone to school they place it in the lockbox that each teacher (grade 3/4 to 6) has in their classroom and it remains locked for the day.

Should a student need to make contact with home throughout the day, they are welcome to let their teacher know and the school can either contact home or the student can use the phone in the main office.

We have devices at school such as ipads and chromebooks that are available for student learning, and as such, cell phones are not needed during the school day. At recess students play and have time for social interaction face to face.

Please see the link below for more information and to self identify, if you wish.

https://ldsb.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9U2iaUl9GIFILb0

Do you need a way to label your things that stay labelled? Do you need a way to show what's yours? Need a way to label your child's things so they don't get lost or mixed up? Support Centennial Public School Council by purchasing through the link. The school receives 20% of your purchase! All funds raised go to support School Council initiatives including student activities. Thank you!

http://www.oliverslabels.com/Centennial

Want to look spiffy and show off your pride in being a Centennial PS Comet? Check out all of the clothing and accessories available at the Centennial Public School e-store at: https://specialtytrophies.ca/centennialps/

Please use the Safe Arrival system to report your child's absence; do not call the school to report an absence. If you child is going to be absent from learning, please ensure you use the Safe Arrival system to report the absence. There is a new function in Safe Arrival if your child is going to be late.

How to report your absence:

1. Toll-free telephone

• Call 1-855-257-9349 toll-free to report an absence using the automated phone system.

2. School Messenger App

• Use your mobile device to download and install the free SchoolMessenger blue app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, the SchoolMessenger website portal, or from within the LDSB mobile app.
• The first time you use the app, you must select Sign Up to create your account. Please ensure you use the same email address your student’s school has on file. If you do not use that same email address, you will not be able to create an account, or may not be able to see the "Attendance" option. You may have already created an account when we introduced the Communicate broadcast system.
• Select Attendance, then select Report an Absence and follow the prompts.

3. SchoolMessenger SafeArrival Website Portal

• Visit the SchoolMessenger website portal.
• The first time you use the app, you must select Sign Up to create your account. Please ensure you use the same email address your student’s school has on file. If you do not use that same email address, you will not be able to create an account, or may not be able to see the "Attendance" option. You may have already created an account when we introduced the Communicate broadcast system.
• Select Attendance, then Report an Absence and follow the prompts.

Stay Up To Date! Please check the following regularly...

Centennial PS Twitter https://twitter.com/centennial_ldsb?lang=en

Centennial PS Website https://centennial.limestone.on.ca/

LDSB Website https://www.limestone.on.ca/

LDSB Twitter https://twitter.com/LimestoneDSB

LDSB Facebook https://tinyurl.com/wbhjtku

LDSB Instagram https://instagram.com/limestonedsb?igshid=1epyma6c0g5qd

"We treat others the way we want to be treated"

"Show Up! Stand Up! Never Give Up!"

Email: cente@limestone.on.ca
Website: https://centennial.limestone.on.ca
Location: 120 Norman Rogers Dr, Kingston, ON K7M 2R2
Phone: 613.546.5517
Twitter: @Centennial_LDSB