PLOWMAN’S PARK P.S.

5940 Montevideo Road

Mississauga, ON L5N 3J5

905-821-4973 Attendance: 1-855-209-6155

Plowman’s Park Website: http://schools.peelschools.org/1556

Plowman’s Park YouTube Channel: https://goo.gl/umygLK Plowman’s Park TV Channel: http://bit.ly/plowmansparktv Twitter…follow us at: @PlowmansPS2016

At Plowman’s Park, we inspire success and hope

by empowering our community to strive for

personal excellence. #PlowmansEmpowers

February 2019 – RESPONSIBILITY

Message from Ms. Freemantle

January has been a great month at Plowman’s Park – it was so great to welcome everyone back after the holidays.

Our ECO Club had been working hard to collect textiles to donate to Bag2School to keep textiles out of landfill and

Plowman’s collected over 400 kg of textiles – amazing! I loved our Character Ticket Lunch with Cameron, Duha, and

Markus and I especially enjoyed playing Fortnite Monopoly…and winning! Ms. Piech took our Gr. ¾ Co-Ed Quidditch

Team to Osprey Woods and our players represented Plowman’s in a very respectful manner. The Gr. 3 classes created

arcade games and hosted the ‘Fun Arcade’ for families and all classes to visit and play – so much fun! Our

Responsibility Assembly was hosted by Ms. Heino’s class and focused on and brought awareness to how we can be

better global citizens by engaging in our ECO Club’s initiatives such as proper recycling, Walk and Roll Day, and

National Sweater Day. Students have been selling candy cane Rudolphs to raise money for a composter for Plowman’s

and after our Assembly one of our parents made a donation to purchase our first composter – thanks Mr. Boyter!

Student Voice has been busy planning activities for February and they have the theme of Kindness for February -

#ThrowKindnessLikeConfetti. They have researched and chosen an organization, Youth Without Shelter, to support and

raise money for in February. We will be supporting their Stay in School Program which includes providing residences,

food, clothing, social services, and support to homeless youth to support them in finishing school and accessing all that

comes after completing high school. Student Voice has planned Bake Sales, Guess How Many Jars, a Spirit Day, a

Random Act of Kindness day, and Change for Change where students can bring in any loose change to contribute. All

money from these efforts will be donated to Youth Without Shelter - #PlowmansCares. We kicked off February

Kindness Month with our Houses kindness craft activities. Every Plowman’s House made a different kindness or

friendship craft and on February 14th and 15

th every student in the school will receive a Kindness craft made by another

student in the school to keep.

I am so proud of our Plowman’s students and staff that truly act and lead with kindness to make our school and our

community a better place. #PlowmansPositive

Follow Plowman’s Park on Twitter @PlowmansPS2016

February 8th – PL Day – No school

February 18th – Family Day – No school

Principal: Sabina Freemantle Superintendent: Dr. Gale Solomon-Henry

Mississauga West Field Office

905-366-8800

Office Manager (Acting): Maria Nicholas

Trustee: Nokha Dakroub

Mississauga Wards 9 & 10

647-707-7320

Confidence

Achievement

Respect

Empathy

#PlowmansCaress

CHARACTER ASSEMBLIES

CARING RESPONSIBLE INCLUSIVE RESPECTFUL HONEST COOPERATIVE This year at Plowman’s Park we are continuing to hold our Monthly Award Assemblies to recognize our

students and also promote Character Education. Our January Monthly Award Assembly was held on

January 31st. Responsibility was the focus for the month of January and we recognized the following

students:

Tia N., Anastasia G., Sierra H., Avaneesh P., Evelyn C., Aaras S., Jack D., Ifra N., Sam C.,

Renee S., Alan H., Leia J-K., Sailish S-K., Pon M., Felicity P., Ghazal B., Huda F., Colton D.,

Isabella K., Nancy N., Eden V., and Naomi S..

January’s Phys. Ed. Awards were awarded to: Sean K. and Nishyah G.

January’s French Awards were awarded to: Isabella K. and Disha L.

January’s Kiss N’ Ride Award was awarded to: Azeem A.

CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE!

TWITTER

Join us and FOLLOW US on Twitter @PlowmansPS2016 to get updates and see pictures

of the great activities happening at Plowman’s Park as well as to find out about upcoming

events. Also, you can find many of our staff on Twitter and what they are doing in their

classrooms through @PlowmansPS2016.

SCHOOL COUNCIL

On Friday, March 22nd, 2019, School Council will be hosting a

second Movie Night featuring “Smallfoot” by Warner Bros.

Further details will come home soon.

Our next School Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 26th in the

Library Learning Commons at 6:30 pm. Everyone is invited and welcome to attend.

PLOWMAN’S PARK PANDACAST, PLOWMAN’S PARK YouTube CHANNEL

and PLOWMAN’S PARK TV!!!

Plowman’s February “PandaCast” is now available on our Plowman’s YouTube page

at: https://goo.gl/umygLK. While you’re there, click on “Subscribe” so you’ll always

get our latest episodes! The broadcast features videos of various events happening

at Plowman’s, important dates to remember, Math Talk provocations, ‘Unlearn’ poster prompts, and a

monthly school-wide S.T.E.M. challenge! You can also access the PandaCast by visiting our school

website at: http://schools.peelschools.org/1556/Pages/default.aspx

PLOWMAN’S PARK TV is LIVE!! Plowman’s Park TV station maintained by our students and it focuses

on all the awesome things they do! To tune in, visit http://bit.ly/plowmansparktv

Our Plowman’s Park “EML Newsletter” (Winter Edition) is now available, highlighting how we are

embedding Peel’s, “Empowering Modern Learners” elements into our everyday practice. The address is:

bit.ly/ppeml-winter2018

NEWS FROM MS. CRUZ IN THE LIBRARY LEARNING COMMONS (LLC)

Plowman’s Breakfast and Books is coming to the LLC! We are excited to invite you and your

child(ren) to come and have breakfast together and read some books in our Library

Learning Commons on Wednesday, February 27th. Please drop in between 8:30-9:30

am to cuddle up and read with your child.

The goal is to promote literacy and parental involvement. An adult must come and stay with the child as

there is no childcare provided by us. We will be providing a free breakfast and the books! All grades

are welcome to come! More information will be sent home soon. I hope you can join us in the LLC for

Plowman’s first ever Breakfast and Books!

NEWS FROM MRS. PIECH IN THE GYM

Follow me on my Twitter account “Plowmans Gets Active” to keep up to date with all of the

events going on in the gym.

The last quaffle has been played and the final snitch has been caught. Congratulations to Hufflepuff

for winning the Quidditch House Cup this year! House points were earned together from all grades to

determine the Quidditch House Champions. Thank you to all players for your sportsmanship and

dedication to the game. Hufflepuff team members will have a turn with the House Championship Trophy

on their desk for a day.

Good luck to the Plowman’s Park grade 4 and 5 Co-ed Volleyball Team. On February 7th they will

participate in a Volleyball Tournament hosted at Osprey Woods Public school. The students will be

playing a variety of schools from our neighbouring communities. The grade 6 Boys and Girls teams will

be challenging Settler’s Green to a fun Volleyball afternoon at our school on Monday, February 11th.

Thanks to all the players for their continued dedication to their team and efforts during practice.

Following the tournaments we will begin 3 on 3 Basketball games during lunch recess. Students in

grades 4, 5 & 6 are invited to create their own team of players and come up with a unique team name.

Good luck to all of the teams.

The Grade 4, 5 and 6 students have an opportunity to go downhill skiing and snowboarding at Hockley

Valley on Monday, February 25th. Students are reminded to dress appropriately for the weather; Snow

pants, jacket, thick gloves and warm layers underneath are highly recommended. Helmets are

mandatory and will be provided for students renting equipment. We hope all the participating students

enjoy their day on the slopes.

How you play shows some of your character. How you win or lose shows all of it.

BREAKFAST CLUB UPDATE

Our Breakfast Club area is a busy spot every morning! Each day children are invited to come and

choose something to eat before they start their day. Will it be cereal, a piece of fruit, a muffin, a mini

bagel, cheese or yogurt? Our Kindergarten children are also excited to see the breakfast cart come to

their room each day where they can make a selection if they feel they are hungry.

Throughout the year Snack Bins are provided to each class to provide food for children who feel they

need an extra snack during the day.

At this time, our funds for Breakfast Club and Snack Bins are running low. We are hoping that our

Plowman's Community will be able to help provide donations for these programs. As always donations

can be made through School Cash Online. We are also beginning a new donation program where we are

hoping families can provide food items for our snack bins.

To meet Health Guidelines we are hoping that families may be able to donate some of the following

items:

Apple Sauce - unsweetened

Fruit Cups - must be packed in fruit juice

Breton's Individually Packaged Mini Bite Crackers

Goldfish Crackers - Individually Packaged

Cereal Bars - must be peanut free (e.g., Quaker Brand –

Supergrains and Honey, Apple Fruit Crumble, Raspberry Fruit Crumble, Bumbleberry Fruit Crumble).

Nutri Grain Bars

Packages of Plastic Spoons

Thanks so much in advance for helping to support our Plowman’s Village!

STUDENT VOICE – FEBRUARY KINDNESS

#Spreadkindesslikeconfetti #PlowmansCares

Hello Plowman’s families! We hope everyone has had a great start to 2019:) For

the month of February, our Student Voice theme will be Kindness -

#SpreadKindnesslikeConfetti. We wanted to contribute in a meaningful way to

our community and fundraise for an organization that directly helps people who

are in need. We have chosen Youth Without Shelter - an organization that provides support to

homeless youth in the GTA who are in need of shelter, support programs, and community agencies. YWS

is open 24/7, and our fundraising efforts for February will be going to their ‘Stay in School’ program,

which provides safe housing, clothing, food, counselling, and services for youth to allow them to stay in

school. More information is available on their website www.yws.on.ca

Our fundraising efforts will be throughout the entire month of February!

February Kindness Month Dates to remember:

February 1st: Jersey Day! February 5th - Guess what’s Inside?! Jars

February 12th & 19th - Bake Sale! February 14th - Pink & Red Spirit Day - $1 if you want to have your name entered in a

draw for a special prize!

February 15th - Plowman’s Random Act of Kindness Day

February 22 - Change for Change - bring in any and all loose change that you can spare :)

Please look to your child’s agenda for updates and event details as the month goes on! Thank you for

your support!

Your Student Voice

#Plowmanspositive

THANK YOU FROM EDEN FOOD FOR CHANGE

Please see the thank you letter below from Eden Food For Change for the

donations that Plowman’s Park made throughout the 2018 year.

Dear Friend,

Thank you very much for all of your support for Eden Food for Change in 2018! With your help, we were able

to provide nutritious food to almost 500 low income families every month through our two Food Bank

locations. The number of people who use our food bank services continues to rise, and we do not anticipate

that this will change in 2019. Our Learning Kitchen programs continue to produce thousands of nutritious

meals for distribution through our food bank, and our Fresh Produce Box program allows everyone in our

community to access fresh fruit and vegetables at a reasonable cost.

We would not be able to serve our community without your help, and we are very grateful for your generous

support. We wish you and your families a happy and healthy new year! We look forward to your continuing

support in 2019—thank you again!

NEWS FROM MS. HEINO and the PLOWMAN’S PARK ECO CLUB

Well, we survived this first blast of actual winter and I know some may be thinking

“global warming??!” Believe it. Check this out: https://youtu.be/eRLJscAlk1M

I hope you were able to attend the January 31st Responsibility assembly, hosted by Ms. Heino’s grade

4 class. They did an AWESOME job! There was a definite ECO twist to the presentation and we were

told about the new posters going up in classrooms to encourage correct waste sorting, we were told

about the garbage audit that was performed in December and we saw some pictures from their visit to

the Peel Waste Management Facility. The father of one of our students was so moved by the

presentation that he graciously donated all the money we will need to purchase our first school

composter - thanks Mr. Boyter! We can’t WAIT for spring so we can get it purchased, installed and in

use creating compost for use at the school and in our community.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!!

The ECO Club initiative, Bag2School which helps divert waste and fundraise for the school was a

TERRIFIC success! The Plowman’s Park community diverted over

400 KG of used textiles from the landfill, sending these items to be repurposed. We were so pleased

with our achievement that we have decided that this will be an ongoing effort! Please continue to clean

out your closets (and those of your parents and your neighbours and your friends and so on and so on

and so on…..) and bring the items (any items, any condition) to the front foyer.

Our initial audit was completed and submitted on January 20, 2019 and we are well on our way to

becoming an ECO SCHOOL this year. On February 6 we are having our next Walk n’ Roll to school day! In March we will have Walk n’ Roll to school Wednesdays so this week will be the warm up. Leaving

the car at home helps us save gas, save energy and get exercise. We can all come up with reasons NOT

to do it, instead let’s JUST DO IT! February 7 will be turn down the heat and wear a sweater day. Not

to worry, we won’t even feel the temperature difference but we will be saving energy and money.

There have been a couple of groups of grade 4 students who have taken it upon themselves to make

something (reindeer candy canes and bookmarks) to sell to raise money to fund our ECO initiatives (the

composter, greening the school, a pollinator garden and others). THANK YOU and keep up

the FANTASTIC work! THIS is exactly what the ECO Team Leaders envisioned when

they created this club. Awareness and action from our students. We are proud.

We are still collecting all CAN TABS and used/dried up

MARKERS (ANY type). Please bring them to the front

foyer or to your child’s teacher.

Look to the March newsletter and agenda messages for upcoming

school initiatives as March will be a big ECO month for us.

Remember, one school at a time, we WILL make a difference!

PLOWMAN’S PARK PUTS THE SPOTLIGHT ON BLACK HERITAGE

In December 1995, the House of Commons officially recognized

February as Black History Month, following a motion introduced by the

first black Canadian woman elected to Parliament, the Honourable Jean

Augustine.

During Black History Month, students, staff and parents from across

Peel will participate in a number of activities that promote the

understanding of the many contributions made by black Canadians.

At Plowman’s Park, Ms. Cruz and Ms. Lee are accompanying four students to the ‘Spotlight on Black

Heritage’ – an event at the Peel District School Board that offers students and staff an opportunity to

learn and deepen their understanding of the rich cultural traditions and accomplishments of black

Canadians.

Also, at Plowman’s Park on Thursday, February 21st at 9 am we are hosting a Black History Assembly and

all families are welcome to attend.

Plowman’s Vanilla Heart Cookies Plowman’s Park will be selling Vanilla Heart Cookies on Tuesday, February 5th,

Friday, February 15th, and Friday, February 22nd for $2/cookie in the front foyer. All money raised will go towards school-wide presentations, the Library Learning

Commons, and Technology at Plowman’s Park.

Bus cancellation and closing schools due to bad weather During the winter months, we may need to cancel buses or close schools because of inclement weather. Information regarding details of cancellations or closures will be available on Twitter @Peelschools, Facebook at www.facebook.com/peelschools, www.peelschools.org and www.stopr.ca or by calling 905-890-1010 or 1-800-668-1146. It is usually also announced on the radio and television stations listed below VIRGIN RADIOFM99.9 BREAKFAST TELEVISION NEWS AM680 CFNY FM102.1/AM640 CJCL AM590 CHFI FM98.1 NEWSTALK1010 AM EZ ROCK FM97.3 CJBC (FR) AM860 FM Z103.5 FM93.1 FM Q107 CHIN FM100.7/AM1540 CBC99.1 CITYPULSE GLOBAL NEWS CITY NEWS CTV CFRB – (Bell Media) One of the following messages will be announced: Peel District School Board buses are cancelled This means that schools remain open for students and staff, but buses are cancelled. Bus cancellations could occur in all or parts of municipalities. Buses will remain cancelled all day. All activities that require busing will also be cancelled. Permits, night school classes, child care and other activities in schools will operate as usual. All Peel District School Board schools and board offices are closed This means that all schools and Peel board offices are closed to students and staff. All activities in schools and board offices are also cancelled, including child care, night school and permits. All evening programs and permits at the Peel District School Board are cancelled This means that all activities in schools and Peel board offices are cancelled, including continuing education courses and events. The buildings will be closed. All weekend programs and permits at the Peel District School Board are cancelled This means that all activities in schools and Peel board offices are cancelled, including continuing education courses and events. The buildings will be closed.

How to report absences when School Messenger is experiencing technical issues

Recently before the Winter break, the SafeArrival system, provided by School Messenger, experienced problems reporting absences through the App and website. While School Messenger works diligently to fix any technical issues, parents/guardians are reminded that absences can always be reported by calling the School Messenger toll-free number 1-855-209-6155 even when the App and website are inaccessible.

Annual Report to the Community Peel board’s 2017-18 Annual Report captures our commitment to #WeInspire At the Peel District School Board, our mission is to inspire success, confidence and hope in each student – each and every day. This year's Annual Report captures the incredible work that took place in Peel schools and work sites during the 2017-18 school year, and that continues to happen every day. View the annual report at www.peelschools.org/aboutus/annualreport

Offence Declaration required for returning volunteers Parents play an important role in the development and education of their children and in the success of the school community. At Plowman’s Park we welcome and encourage the participation of parents and community members, and are grateful for the countless hours our volunteers contribute throughout the school year. To volunteer at our school, you must complete a short interview and a criminal record check. A criminal record check is required for all school volunteers in Ontario. Even if you want to accompany your child on a field trip, you need this record check.

Once you have completed the process, you are on file with the Peel District School Board as being a school volunteer. All returning volunteers will receive an Offence Declaration form that must be filled out and returned to the board office each year. Completing the Offence Declaration will ensure that you can continue volunteering in the next school year. Forms will be mailed home in February.

What you need to know about head lice What is head lice? Head lice are tiny insects that live on the scalp where they lay their eggs. They have three stages: the egg (nit), the nymph and the adult. Head lice do not spread diseases and cannot be spread between animals or pets and humans, only through direct contact between people. Head lice spread easily, especially where people are in close contact. They are common among school-aged children or children attending child care, where they spread through direct hair-to-hair contact or directly by sharing things like hats, combs, hairbrushes or headphones. One of the first signs of head lice is an itchy scalp. However, children can have head lice for several weeks with no symptoms. If you think your child has head lice, check their hair for nits right away, then again after one week and after two weeks.

What to do if your child has lice If you discover your child has lice, notify the school immediately so that classmates can be checked. Parents must keep their child at home until they have been treated for lice and are nit-free. Students may only return to school if they are “nit-free” and will be checked by a school administrator before being re-admitted to class. If your child has live lice, ensure they avoid head-to-head contact with other children until the lice are gone. Children should not share combs, hairbrushes, caps, hats or hair ornaments. You should also check all family members for head lice. Be sensitive to your child’s feelings and let them know that having head lice does not mean they are not clean. Head lice can be treated with the following approved insecticides:

pyrethrin (found in R&C Shampoo + Conditioner)

permethrin (Nix Creme Rinse or Kwellada-P Creme Rinse)

lindane (Hexit Shampoo or PMS-Lindane Shampoo) Although head lice does not pose a significant health risk, it is highly contagious and very uncomfortable for children, therefore schools take precautions to prevent the spread. Your cooperation in controlling the spread of lice by keeping your child at home until they have been treated and are nit-free is much appreciated. .

Celebrating Faith and Culture - February 2019 DATE

CELEBRATION FAITH AND CULTURE

February Buxwlaks & Bear Moon Aboriginal Spirituality February 1 or 2 Imbolc Wicca February 3 Setsubun-sai Shinto February 5 Lunar New Year/Maitreya

Bodhisattva’s Birthday Buddhism

February 7 to 25 month of Mulk Bahá’í February 9 Vasant Panchami Hinduism February 15 National Flag Day Canada February 18 Family Day Ontario February 19 Lantern Festival/Magha Puja Buddhism February 26 to March 1

Intercalary Days Bahá'í