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Playground Update

So as of today we are just under $27 000 dollars raised for the playground. 

Here's what the School Council has been working on for this campaign:

Most recently Cowan's Country store ran a great promotion over Christmas by offering eco-friendly gift wrapping with donations going to the playground. 
The Listowel Independent sent 6000 flyers with the paper to homes in Listowel.  I have been so impressed with the donations that have come from this effort -- it is very rewarding to see how many people in our town feel a connection to Eastdale and have made donations to support us.
The Listowel Banner is going to help us with a campaign in February -- it will be "unveiled" soon!
School Council members made presentations to the Town of North Perth requesting financial assistance as so many North Perth Parks and Rec programs that use our school would benefit from the playground.  This request was recently turned down.
School Council also made a presentation to the Listowel Kinsmen, and we are keeping our fingers crossed on this one!
We recently received a grant from the Carnegie Family Fund through the Stratford Perth County Community Foundation.
We've applied for another grant, and are working on the forms for another.
The chair of the fundraising committee has been busy soliciting businesses for their donations.
Our students have also been regularly visiting my office with ideas for fundraising.  The recent Gr. 4/5 Pie in the Face contest raised $400 and saw Ms. Martin wear a pie!

This playground will come, and it will be an awesome addition to the school and neighbourhood!
If you are interested in donating, or if you have ideas to support the campaign, please call the school.  Donations are tax deductible through the Foundation for Enriching Education.

Celebrating our Achievements!

Staff took time on Friday’s PA Day to review our school goals from last year and to set new ones for this school year.  We are proud to share our results:

Literacy Goals:

Our reading goal was for 45% of primary students and 70% of junior students to reach level 3 or 4 in Making Connections in reading (measured by EQAO results).  We exceeded our goals here significantly.  67% of primary students and 85% of junior students achieved level 3 or 4.

Our writing goal was for 65% of primary students and 83% of junior students to achieve level 3 or 4 in knowledge of form and style in writing (as measured by EQAO results).  82% of our primary students and 81% of our junior student reached  level 3 or 4. 

These are great academic results!  They show that focused teaching strategies, targeting expectations and specific students reap great rewards.  I am proud of our students and teachers!

Community, Culture and Caring

We set other goals last year that will continue this year as well.  For Community, Culture and Caring we set a goal to become a bronze level eco-school with a reduction in waste by 10%.  In fact we achieved a silver level Eco School designation and reduced waste by 41%!!

We set another goal to participate in Me to We Haiti  project by raising $1000.  Our Me to We student leaders helped us raise $1519.01. 

Our healthy school goal was to focus on intramural programming with 75% of students taking part.  For most activities in most grades participation approached 100 % throughout the year.

We are working on setting goals for the 2011-2012 school year.  Our focus will continue to be on Literacy, specifically reading, and on Community, Culture and Caring, specifically EcoSchools project, Me to We, inclusion and safe schools. 

As we set those goals and work to achieve them we will share our progress with you.  We hope you will continue to support our efforts.

TV stars!

This anniversary is creating big excitement here at Eastdale! 

Today we had Steve Howe, the communications director here to interview some members of school council, a former teacher, myself and some students about the history of Eastdale and how we feel about the school.  Steve is going to create a video of the interviews to put on the school board's website; it will also be sent out to the board's media contacts.

I have to admit I spent some time this morning thinking about what to wear, and wishing my hair was different...
The students were the most calm and self-assured of the bunch of us. 

I will post the link to the video when I get it.

I'm also going to call my mom and tell her "I'm in a video!"  Cool!

Back to School

I've been officially back to school for 4 days.  My summer holiday is over, but I am excited about the new school year.

Some things to mark on your calendar:

September 6 is the first day of school.  Students meet at the back of the school, and then follow staff into the gym to find out which classes they will be in.  Parents are welcome to join their students in the gym.

September 13 is the first School Council meeting of the year.  It's from 7-8:15pm in the library.  Babysitting is provided.  We encourage everyone to come out and learn more about the "behind the scenes" of Eastdale.  Don't worry -- your presence does not commit you to a year of committee meetings or obligations!

September 20 is Meet the Teacher BBQ 5-7pm. 

September 24 is our Eastdale Annivesary Celebration.  I am pretty excited about the events the school council has planned.  Check out the Anniversary "page" above for details.

September 30 is a Professional Development Day for teachers.  We'll be working hard on setting and planning school goals for the year.

See you soon!
K

Giant Cookie Recipe for Fun Fair

    Recipe
Cream together: 1 cup softened butter – 1 cup packed brown sugar – ½ cup white sugar
Add: 2 beaten eggs – 2 tsp vanilla
In a separate bowl, stir together:
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture
Add: 2 cups chocolate chips
Bake at 300F at least 25 minutes or until done
When cool, decorate as you wish

RULES
1.  Make the cookie recipe below and bake the cookie in a round greased pizza pan.
2.  Decorate it with whatever you want (icing, candies, cereal, marshmallows, paper, etc.).  Let your imagination go wild!
3.  Put the decorated cookie on a cardboard circle.
4.  Cover your cookie with plastic wrap
5.  Have your cookie to school by 10:50am on Friday, June 3 for judging. 

Cookies will be displayed at the Fun Fair and will be used as prizes at a Fun Fair game called THE COOKIE WALK (Therefore, your cookies become the property of the Fun Fair game committee.) 
    Play THE COOKIE WALK game at the Fun Fair...If you win you choose one of the Great Big Cookies as a prize.

Aprilmayjune

Principals often joke that after March there is only one month of school left -- it's called Aprilmayjune.
This is such a busy time of the year because while there is still plenty to do for the current year, we are simulatiously working on the next school year. 

Here's a few things currently on my "to do" list:
-Primary and Junior EQAO tests at the end of May for Grades 3 and 6-- there is quite a bit of organization and coordination of time and tasks to get ready
-board staffing processes -- this means a number of meetings
- class and grade organization for next year (once staffing is complete in mid May)
-timetabling for next school year (also starts mid May)
-Track and Field, School Council meetings, Jump Rope for Heart, 3-pitch tournament hosted at Eastdale, class trips, Gr. 6 JUMP, Gr. 6 graduation
-Mentoring workshops -- I will be a member of the board's administrator mentoring team
-Fun Fair!!
-Professional Learning Community meetings and School-in-the-Middle meetings
-as well as the usual "stuff" that piles on my desk and inbox every day.

I love being busy and I love the excitement of preparing for a new year. 
But -- time flies in Aprilmayjune.