Quarterway e-COUGAR
June 2013
Ecole QUARTERWAY School
1632 Bowen Road, Nanaimo BC V9S 1G6
(tel) 250-754-6845
(fax) 250-754-6871
www.quarterway.ca
— Help Stop Summer Brain Drain:
A recent Canadian study shows that children who don’t continue reading over the summer experience a significant loss of up to 60% of their skills. “Summer Learning Loss” can be very detrimental to elementary-aged
children. This July and August, if you encourage daily reading at home, it will ensure your child does not lose
any of the valuable reading skills acquired over the year: Family reading tips:
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Find age appropriate Crosswords or Word Search Puzzles and work on them together.
Routinely visit Libraries and Bookstores to browse and develop life long reading habits.
Sing songs together and let the kids have fun making up new words to familiar tunes.
Have the kids write the shopping list and fill in appointments on the calendar.
Read road signs and license plates. This helps develop quick thinking.
Have your child read recipes out loud when cooking or baking; this also involves math when
they figure out quantities.
Most of all, be a role model because children learn far better by example than by words .
To counteract “Summer Reading Loss”, children should read at least 10 books at their current level.
— School Climate:
It goes without saying that a positive school culture enhances its overall
performance. At Quarterway, we strive for respectful relationships and
productive days. Initiatives such as Action Schools!BC, Daily Physical
Activity, Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports PBIS and the
Virtues Project are valuable resources that help our students self-regulate
their behaviour, nutrition and physical activity. In the weeks ahead, your
child’s daily routine will change. With less structure and more leisure
time in the day, children need gentle guidance and encouragement to monitor their screen time and balance
sedentary activities with outdoor physical activity.
LAST DAY FOR STUDENTS is
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
o- H
Wo
OO
!!
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Final Assembly in the gymnasium at 9:30 a.m.
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Final reports will be distributed at 2:30 p.m. dismissal.
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Best wishes to all for a safe and happy summer!
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Stay active and, of course, read, read, READ !
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Quarterway e-Cougar
Grade 7 Farewell
Thursday evening, parents and staff gathered to
bid a Happy Summer and a fond farewell to all
our beloved
grade 7 students as they
continue
their education at
Nanaimo
District Secondary and
Woodlands Secondary. Best of luck to one and
all. Bon succès à l’avenir!
June 2013
PAC
Mark your calendar for the first
meeting of the Quarterway PAC on
Thursday September 12 starting at
6:00 p.m. in the library. Please
come on out and chat with your fellow parents and caregivers in a relaxed, social setting.
Thanks to the generosity of the PAC, every student in
the English program was given a school t-shirt and a
group photo to commemorate their Quarterway days.
“Forever Cougars”.
Enhanced Facilities for
Learning 10-year Plan
After 4 public forums and numerous written
submissions,
school trustees
are now in the
process of reviewing all
the input.
Thanks to
everyone who
made their
views known, thereby helping the Board of Education move forward in shaping the future in
Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools.
Special thanks to Mrs. Heather
Northrop for organizing a very successful U-Drop bottle drive at Quarterway last month and raising $500 for
our school. This event is to become a
regular twice yearly fundraiser, so
please save up all your returnable
drink containers over the summer.
“FOREVER COUGARS”
Quarterway Elementary first opened
its doors in 1950 as a K-7 school. In
1988 a Francophone program was
added to serve the growing number of
families whose first language is
French. The same year, the French
Immersion program at Brechin Elementary was moved to Quarterway,
and we became a triple-track school.
In 2004, the Francophone School District bought Princess Anne Elementary when it closed and they renamed it Ecole Océane. That same year,
Quarterway received 80 Immersion students from the former Ecole Harewood. Enrolment has declined
over the past decade and in 2008, Dufferin Crescent Elementary closed and 50 Dufferin students joined the
English program here. Quarterway has operated as a dual-track Immersion / English elementary for 15
years. In September, the Quarterway English program will be relocating to neighbouring schools, Brechin
Elementary and Forest Park Elementary. We wish all departing students and staff a smooth and successful
transition to their new school communities. Exciting times ahead. . . new friends . . . great adventures . . .
Quarterway e-Cougar
June 2013
Page 3
WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN
On Friday, June 14th over 50 families participated in a
morning orientation session for our incoming kindergarten students and their caregivers entitled Welcome To
Kindergarten (WTK). The children rotated through a
series of 5 stations focusing on literacy skills, fine motor
and gross
motor
skills and
culture.
Many
thanks to
all who
were able
to attend
as well as to the staff, parents and guests who helped
facilitate this year’s very successful WTK event. Happy
Summer. See you here in September!
SUMMER
LUNCH
MUNCH
CHALLENGE
Quarterway PAC is pleased to support Nanaimo
Foodshare Summer Lunch Munch program
which provides over 6,000 lunches during the
summer to children in need. Lunches are distributed at various Nanaimo Parks and Recreation
facilities, where summer recreation programs are
offered
at no
cost as
LES PETITS AMIS DE CELINE
Nanaimo’s only French Immersion Preschool / Childcare is opening a third class. Limited space is available
for children aged 2 to 5 years. Two minutes from
Country Club Centre. Open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Childcare subsidy is available for all programs. Also,
week-long summer camps (ages 3 to 5) from 8:00 a.m.
to 5:00 p.m. Includes 4 hours of French Immersion every day, field trips, crafts and games. Long Lake area.
For info e-mail: [email protected]
FRANCOPHONE ASSOCIATION
SUMMER CAMPS
French Summer Camp runs from July 2 to August 9.
Reserve your spot now . . . and please spread the word!
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L'Association des francophones de Nanaimo
30 - 1925 Bowen Road, Nanaimo, BC., V9S 1H1
Téléphone : (250) 729-2776
Télécopieur : (250) 729-2777
Click here to download the AFN
summer day camp brochure.
well. As a year-end thank you to your child’s
teacher (“not another mug!”) please consider giving the gift of nutrition. All donations are tax
deductible and your child’s name will appear on a
thank-you card sent from Nanaimo Foodshare to
that special teacher.
$60.00 provides a nutritious lunch for a child
for the whole summer.
Any amount you can
give will thank and honour your child’s teacher. Send cheques
(payable to Nanaimo
Foodshare) and cash donations to the Quarterway school office with
your child’s name and
teacher written clearly
on the envelope. If you
would like Nanaimo
Foodshare to send you a
tax receipt, be sure to
include your name and
mailing address.
Quarterway e-Cougar
June 2013
FUN SUMMER ACTIVITIES
Camps, Playground Programs,
Water Parks, Before-and-After
Camp Care. For
information and
registration,
please visit
www.nanaimo.ca or ireg.nanaimo.ca or telephone 250756-5200.
Youth Soccer
Registration in the Nanaimo
Youth Soccer Club is ongoing.
Registering your child by June
30th guarantees placement on
a team for the 2013-2014 season starting in September. To
learn more or to register, visit harbourcityfc.com
BCSPCA
One-Day Summer Camps.
Each day focuses on a theme
and features games, crafts,
guest speakers and a trip to the
Nanaimo SPCA to meet the animals. For info call 250686-1581 or e-mail [email protected]
Arts Alive
28th Summer School of the Fine Arts will take
place in July with classes in art, music, dance and
drama
for all
age
groups.
Registration and
course
descriptions are available at Nanaimo Parks, Recreation and Culture facilities or on-line at
www.ireg.nanaimo.ca or by phone at 250-756-5200.
For more information, visit
www.nanaimoartsalive.com
VIU Mariners
Summer Camps 2013
Basketball – Soccer - Volleyball
Registration Hotline:
250-740-6418
www.gomariners.ca
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NANAIMO SCIENCE AND
SUSTAINABILITY SOCIETY
In partnership with Vancouver Island University
(VIU), the Nanaimo Science and Sustainability Society (NS3) offers fun summer science camps
providing high-quality learning
through experiments, demonstrations, hands-on activities, group
challenges, ties to local science,
and more!
Get Set, Go! Explore things that
go - from helicopters, to birds, to
humans, to fish, to roller coasters.
Come discover how things move.
Junior Scientists (ages 5-9): July
15-July 19
Senior Scientists (ages 9-13): July 22-July 26
Dare to Design! Calling all inventors! Combine
your creativity and building skills to build bridges,
create machines, and solve engineering problems.
Junior Scientists (ages 5-9): July 29-Aug 2
Senior Scientists (ages 9-13): Aug 12-16
For information and registration visit
www.nanaimoscience.org
♪ I hear the MUSIC ♫
A group of 75 talented young musicians from
Brooks Secondary School (Powell River) —
including a former Quarterway student— visited
Quarterway while on tour to deliver a slick performance featuring a wide array of repertoire:
classical to jazz to contemporary. The following
week, Quarterway’s music director, Elizabeth
Lorenz, wowed the very same audience with our
own Band 6/7 students in their year-end concert.
Quarterway e-Cougar
June 2013
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THANK YOU, ROTARY CLUB!
The virtue of THANKFULNESS is not lost on 5 Quarterway students (Nyakeh David, Oceanna Fayant,
Bradley Maki, Ryan Stacey and Nicholas Williams)
who, on Friday June 7, travelled to the Coast Bastion
Hotel with teacher-librarian, Mme Dominique Sullivan, to attend a meeting of the Rotary Club and thank
its members for
their generous support of used books and a donation of $1750 towards
school laptop computers. School fundraising projects, alongside corporate sponsorships and the generosity of the Rotary Club enabled Quarterway to buy 15
new laptops for students to use. The availability of computers has fundamentally changed the way students
learn and increased their engagement. The Quarterway delegation to Rotary showed a short iMovie presentation entitled ‘The Gratitude Project’. Many students do not have access to computers at home so access at
school is critical. School laptops increase equity among students, enabling them to complete assignments
electronically and develop digital skills for a digital world.
Summer Reading@ Vancouver Island Regional Library
Summer vacation is almost here and you are no doubt dreaming about fun times and adventures! But in order
to keep your children’s reading skills sharp, it’s important to include reading as a part of their summer fun.
Like all skills, a little practice goes a long way.
Vancouver Island Regional Library invites future astronauts, superheroes in training, and kids of all ages to join the Summer
Reading Club and read their way to outer space. We encourage children to read a little every day by providing
fun tools, such as a colourful reading record, stickers, prize medals, and a web site game to help children monitor their reading success and challenge themselves. Chances to win cool prizes—the more they read, the
more chances to win.
Best of all, the Summer Reading Club is free. This year you can register online at: http://virl.bc.ca/kids/books
-stories/summer-reading-club or drop by your local branch. Children from Kindergarten to Grade 7 can signup for Summer Reading Club. If you have younger children, you can make it a family affair by enrolling your
pre-schooler in the ‘Read to Me’ program, which is open to any children who cannot yet read on their own,
regardless of age.
For more information, call or visit your local branch of Vancouver Island Regional Library or visit
www.virl.bc.ca. In remote areas, the program is available through our Books by Mail service. Please call 1877-415-8475 for information.
Planning a family trip or vacation? Don’t forget that children can borrow from and return books to any of the
38 branches of Vancouver Island Regional Library located on Vancouver Island (except Victoria), Haida
Gwaii, and Bella Coola on the central mainland coast. We make it that easy for you!
Quarterway e-Cougar
June 2013
Page 6
FUN DAY / SPORTS DAY
SPIRIT DAY (June 21st)
Quarterway Aboriginal Education Assistant, Emily
Mack, was recently honoured by an appreciative
group of noon
hour Craft Club
members and
their families at a
surprise luncheon. Emily was
the mastermind
behind the creation of the 10panel button
blanket project
that will be
proudly displayed through
the halls.