Lady Evelyn Alternative School Council

This is your chance to buy FROZEN BERRIES and support Lady Evelyn Alternative!

Why a Berry Fundraiser?
Frozen berries are commonly purchased by families over the winter.
These berries are high quality and I.Q.F frozen with a freezer shelf life of at least three years.
They’re just in time for winter school lunches and breakfasts and for holiday baking.
And, they’re a great price, convenient, and nutritious!

Please see the attached form for further details.

The school council's October newsletter is now available, along with the council's annual report and financial summary for the 2007/08 school year.

Highlights:

Potluck Dinner: Friday, October 17th, 5pm. CANCELLED

Workshop Day (scheduled for Friday, October 24th): POSTPONED

Parent Resource Centre Opening Soon

JUMP Math Program Looking For Volunteers

Join us on Friday morning for our first Family Breakfast of the year.

Please bring a nut/sesame-free food to share (and don't forget your reusable dishes/cups/cutlery!).

Coffee will be provided.

Hope to see you there!

What do we want out of homework? What does it teach our kids, and at what cost?

References

Let's start with some references:

• There is a good interview with Alfie Kohn on American University Radio about his recent book, "The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing"
• An interview with Nancy Kalish entitled, "Building a hate for learning", by Rebecca Traister. Her book is called "The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It"
• Alfie Kohn's web site has a page "Rethinking Homework" from the winter of 2007.Also on the site are links to other articles on Homework under the Articles section.
• Good podcast from the CBC on two Colorado teachers who reverse the lecture and the homework by sending home video taped podcasts and doing the "homework" in school.
• Some other articles can be found at:
     * CBC: "Ontario school boards should review homework policies: minister"
     * Toronto CITY: "New Homework Guidelines For Toronto Public School Students"
     * CBC Homework search
     * ASAC links
     * Adoption.com research review on homework
     * BBC: "Homework causes family arguments"
     * Education World: "Help! Homework Is Wrecking My Home Life!"
     * OCDSB Homework policy

Questions

The French-Focused Class is a grade 3/4 pilot program taught by Allison Wood and Mary Sylvester which offers 80 minutes per day of French (double the French instruction time of Core French, but less than French Immersion). If this pilot program is successful, the goal is for this class to evolve into a program for grades 3 to 6. The Alternative Program philosophy continues to be in the very fabric of our children's learning with innovative educational strategies, integrated curriculum, an educational experience that is cooperative and child-centred, and a multi-age class setting with significant parental involvement.

Photo Caption: Jennifer Dawson helps Juliana Rhead, 10, in the Children's Garden, alongside Jordan Sneyd-Dewar, centre, 9, and Zachary Nevin, 11. Photo by Julie Oliver, The Ottawa Citizen

 From September 22nd's Ottawa Citizen article,"A garden by children for all to enjoy" by Katie Holtz.

A snippet from the article:

The busy intersection at Main and Clegg streets is an unlikely spot for Ottawa's first Children's Garden, but by lunchtime today, this former small city park will have been transformed into a Community Children's Garden.

At 9 a.m., 12 students from Lady Evelyn Alternative School were to lead more than 100 volunteers, including the CEOs of some of Canada's biggest companies, such as The Home Depot and UPS Canada, directing them as they build fences, lay pathways, construct an amphitheatre and dig flower beds.

The first school council meeting of the year will be on Monday, September 22nd from 7 to 9 pm (in the staff room on the 3rd floor). Along with our regular business, we will be discussing our budget for the coming year.

All parents/guardians are welcome to attend.

Questions? Comments? Email info@ladyevelyn.ca

Three more forms were sent home today (September 18th) or will be sent tomorrow.

*Workshop Day

*Pizza Fridays Order Form

*Salad Bar Order Form

They are all available here for download.

Questions, comments? info@ladyevelyn.ca

The kids at Lady Evelyn (with a bit of help from teachers, parents and the Health and Ev\nvironment Committee) started a couple of gardening projects last spring:

• A garden in the schoolyard
• The Community Graden down Main Street in Legget Park

Their work has certainly flourished. More pictures can be found here.

Update: The citizen has posted an article on the garden, including the attached picture.

The school council's newsletter for September (paper version) should be arriving home today or tomorrow but, if you can't wait, here is the electronic version. Also posted here are copies of the forms attached to the newsletter.

*Student Directory Consent Form: Each year the School Council produces a student directory grouped by class with phone numbers. If you wish your child(ren) to be included, you must sign and return the consent form.

*Volunteer Form: Please indicate your interests and availablities and return.

*Paper Reduction Form: Sign up for electronic-only communication from
the School Council.
*The Letter of Understanding, which explains the alternative program, was NOT attached to the paper version of the newsletter (despite what it says). It will be going home with other papers from the school in the next few days. The electronic version, however, is available below.

Questions and concerns should be directed to info@ladyevelyn.ca