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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1999-04-28, Page 4'le 4 Exeter Times -Advocate EMI FEI 501( Wednesday, April 28, 1999 EWS FROM OUR SCHOOLS Schools are a very integral part of our community _ the news from our local schools. Watch for this page The children in these schools are our future leaders. the last week of every month. The Times Advocate would like to share with you USBORNE SCHOOL NEWS April has been a very busy month at Usborne School. The choir at the Celebration of Arts on March 29 provided a glimpse of the spring concert being rehearsed. The production of The Farm Show celebrates agriculture in Usborne Township. The students plan to take this concert to the Plowing Match in September. The concert will take place on May 5 during Education Week. Much more Munsch has been one of the topics in tF '-1y Years clh.ss as they had the opportunity to )ot Theatre in London to see six Robert stories come alive. Earth week activities ..... u..e discussions on how to take care of the earth, planting seeds, and using recyclables as crafts, building materials and vehicles. Congratulations to the many winners of certificates and medals in the recent "Partners in Excellence" read- a-thon. Grade 1/2 went to see a Robert Munsch play in London and have been working on activities based on the Robert Munsch books. They are also doing lots of spring activities in science and art. We are watching for sings of spring and are studying ani- mals, insects and plants. We will be doing some special activities to celebrate Earth Day. Mrs. McConnell's Garde 2/3 class enjoyed a spe- cial soup lunch provided by the Parent's Council for collecting the most Campbell soup labels. The pupils are currently working on a Science unit about "Water". They are learning about the impor- tance and uses of water in our environment. They have studied the water cycle and are talking about ways we can take care of our water systems. Conservation of water is being discussed and the students are using various web sites on the Internet in order to research water facts. This topic goes well with our celebration of "Earth Day" at Usborne Central. The children had a wonderful visit to Talbot theatre in London where they viewed a performance entitled "Much More Munsch The play, based on six of Robert Munsch's books, was enjoyed by all. The Grade 5/6 class have been working on Guyana reports (and most of them are in!). The class researched on the Internet and wrote reports so they could get to know their penpals better and learn about what life is like in Guyana. The Internet has been a wonderful resource for finding informa- tion and pictures. The last set of letters was sent on March 15. A Canadian flag and a Canadian news- paper was sent as well. The Grade 5/6 class, along with the Green Club, will continue to plant and build the garden/natural- ization area. It's a dirty job, but we like it! Special thanks to Ms. Becker, Ms. Smith and Mrs. Hayter for organizing all the activities for Earth Day. Thank you grade 8's for monitoring all the activities. All proceeds from the Student Council hat day and the dance will go towards the Albanian refugees. Thank you Grade 7 and 8 for giving up their pizza award money to help those in need from Kosovo. On May 18 the grade 8's are going on a trip to Quebec. They hope to Learn about the history of Quebec, put their French skills into practice and experience first hand the Quebec culture. The grade 8's are also looking forward to graduating into high school and moving on to a further educa- tion. Lastly, this month, during Secretary's week, we extend thanks to secretary Mrs. Rideout who goes above and beyond the call of duty to attend to the needs of students and staff alike. Thank you Mrs. Rideout. ZURICH PUBLIC NEWS 1 Last month the Early Years Bear class reported that Peter Rabbit would be visiting our class and each of our families. Mrs. Rabbit sent a note saying Peter has been naughty lately, so he must stay home. Maybe next year. We did have Charlotte's Mom bring in three rabbits to visit our class. This month our class is learning about pets. We had a great tour of the South Huron Vet Clinic in Zurich. Michael's Mom brought in a Mommy cat and 5 baby kittens to visit. Also Natalie's Mom brought in their dog Kelly. She was very excited to meet our class. Stay tuned for more pet visits this month. We have had a great time learning about 2-D and 3-D shapes at various building centers in our classroom. Each child brought in a shape to share with the class and we graphed the items. Most items were rectangular prisms and cylinders. We had a few spheres, cubes and only one cone. Grade 3/4 enjoyed a visit to "A Slice of Huron", and are busy doing follow-up activities. We are also growing plants to put into our school garden. Mr. Brock's grade 5/6 class have been very busy with many exciting events in the Last month. We vis- ited "A Slice of Huron" in Seaforth where we learned about all aspects of agriculture. We are also up to our elbows in topsoil as our Earth Friendly Garden project begins to take shape. All we need are a few more spring showers to make things grow! Finally, we have just completed the practice unit for the upcoming Grade 6 testing, and will be preparing for the tests during the 3rd week of May. Grade 7's enjoyed participating in the 30 -hour famine. We raised $1635.14 for World Famine. We had fun raising money for a good cause. The best parts were "starving", "eating pizza", "sleeping over at the school", and "being with our friends". The 60's day was "rad" with lots of people dressing up with "digs" from the past. We are rehearsing hard for our '60's production "Groovy" which will be per- formed May 19 and 20. From the grade 8's: On April 16, , everyone. from Zurich P.S. participated in a 60's theme day and grades 4 and up had a groovy 60's dance that was totally out of sight. Everyone was groovin, on the scene with far out threads. It was streamline, baby. All the blocking for our 60's play "Groovy" is completed and we have a pretty good idea of where we are going to get our costuming. April 9 and 10 were 30 hours of fun and games here at Zurich Public School during our. 30 hour famine. Over 75% of the grades 7 and 8 students went 30 hours without eating and had a lot of fun doing it. We raised over $1600 to help those who need it. We had a glass of juice every hourto keep us from dehydrating and I think we all were VERY lightheaded. Most of us didn't get to sleep until around 2:30 in the morning and in the morning, a few of us were really cranky. Most of the . famine was videotaped and even when we were sleeping, our teacher had some fun videotaping us. We watched the video on Monday and we were very sur- prised by the way we were acting. At the very end of it, we had pizza for our first meal after the fasting. Mrs. Weigand's Early Years class is learning about pets. We visited the veterinary clinic in Zurich. We would like to say a big "thank you" to Dr. Caslik and staff. We have also been learning how to print our -numbers and some new alphabet letters. ritiCCURDY PUBLIC SCHOOL • Celebration of the Arts at South Huron District High School. Students from grades, five to eight took part in a one day program at the high school to end a week of activities at McCurdy. Students were divided int , three groups according to their interest in music:, drama or art. . • Bunny Bundle. Staff and students at McCurdy raised approxi- mately $381. Events included staff luncheons on Fridays and popcorn sales by Kindergarten stu- dents assisted by Student Council members. • Plowing Match. Students from Kindergarten to grade eight have created artwork for uisplay in September. • Spelling Bee. Students took part in a week of spelling activities that ended with a spelling bee at the school. Winners went on to compete at Mount Carmel. Shawna Forrester of McCurdy won first place for her grade level. • Nathan Scott has won third place at the provin- cial level in the Legion poetry writing contest. • Science Fair. Grades six to eight students participated in a school competition. Winners, William Boulom, Chad Smith, Nathan Scott and Pete Phouttharath went on to the Avon -Maitland -Huron -Perth Science and Inventors Fair. • Bus Safety. Students watched a video and listened to instruc- tion from an OPP officer. Students who ride the bus on a daily basis went through an evacuation drill. • Principal for a Day. Wendy Yamamoto -Chapman from Bluewater Recycling shared principal duties on April 14. • Chess tournament. Winners Millan Lawrence and Brad Robinson from McCurdy, went on to Hensall to play in a tour- nament. • A tnemorial service for Devonne Walker. a for- mer student at McCurdy, was held on April 20. A. tree was planted in his memory. • Earth Week. McCurdy students will clean up the area around the Bluewater Recycling plant on April 21 and the roadsides in Huron Park on April 28. Grade four/five students are taking part in an environ- mental quiz sponsored by the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority. Kate's Canine Corner The Times -Advocate is pleased to offer an exciting new column: Kate's Canine Corner. This is an opportunity for our readers to have their questions about dog behavior answered by a professional dog trainer. Why say "WRONG" rather than ".'VO" if your dog does something incorrect? If you holler "NO" to your dog when they make a mistake it will cause your dog to panic and want to run. Remember "NO" is normally used when your dog pees on the carpet, or chews a slipper. When they hear that word even though they are in an obedience class it usually means they are in big trouble and they think I better go and hide somewhere. But when your dog is doing obedience and they do something wrong you don't want them to run and hide but to understand that you are not happy with what they did, but you are not angry it is only that they did the command you asked "WRONG". So when your dog does a command incorrectly in a soft but firm voice tell them what it is you want them to do that will please you. Remember most dogs want to please their owners they just need to know how. For example if you say "SIT" then "STAY" and go in front of your dog and the dog moves, with out going back to the dog push your dog firmly back into a sitting position saying "WRONG" in a firm tone, then say "SIT" and "STAY" in a soft voice so they will know that is what you expect. Never let your dog get away with bad behav- ior if they won't say sitting then hold their col- lar and make them sit' until you count to 20 then step back beside them and count to five. You must always praise your dog when you return even if they made a mistake during the exercise. No dog is perfect all the time and they need to know that as long as they are trying it is pleasing you. You can praise them, even if you don't think they did well they need to be encouraged with praise that way they will try even harder to please you the next time. I have been asked many times what are some of the most important words to teach you dog? In my opinion here are five of the most useful words KATE FLETCHER KATE'S CANINE CORNER to teach your dog. "NO" - means Never Ever. ( Anytime your dog does something you say to yourself I don't ever want my dog doing that again its, "NO".) "OFF" - is used for anytime your dog jumps on someone or something. "LEAVE IT" - means to ignore something, ie. slip- pers, feet, food,. a child's ice cream cone etc. "BACK" - means to give way. (when you want your dog to move. away from a door, or to move away from an area you want to be in, then you say, "Back "WRONG" - means your dog has done something incorrectly, and it is now up to you to show your dog what you want him/her to do. .Mail, fax, deliver or e-mail (kmonk@ta. eedy. com) your questions to Kate Monk at the Times -Advocate. Please include your name and phone number. Your name will be kept confidential. Kate Fletcher has been the head instructor and owner of the South Huron Dog Obedience School for nine years. She is the owner of Bull Lovers Kennels nearExeter and breeds bull tele- ers. Kate shows dogs competitively in both confirmation and. • obedience. r