The Parent Voice

From SchoolFamily.com By Emily Graham

What if you could help your child enjoy school more, get better grades, and reduce behaviour problems at the same time? Reams of research has shown that regardless of parents’ income and educational background, their involvement in education helps their kids do better in and out of school.

Parent involvement can be as simple as helping with math homework or reading a book together at bedtime. Going to parent-teacher conferences is important, but taking the family to the school spaghetti supper makes a difference, too. More involvement is better, but you don’t have to be president of the PTO or run the school carnival. As long as your actions show that you value education, your child is likely to respond. Read the full article here “Five Reasons To Get Involved”.

Grade 7 and 8 students at Howick Central Public School celebrated Monday following the announcement of $13,000 in funding toward a class set of 30 netbooks and a charging cart. Their teacher, Trevor Hammer (on twitter @trevorhammer) is excited to bring this technology into the classroom and connect with teachers and students across the country, as learning partners, through twitter and web based software such as Cloud and Skype.

By having their own netbooks in the classroom, scheduled time in the computer lab is no longer needed and that frees up more computer lab time for other students. Funding for the netbooks was made possible by a Farm Credit Canada Grant and by a generous donation presented by Aaron Harding on behalf of the Howick Optimist Club. Watch here as Howick Central Principal, Shelley Blackmore (on twitter @howickps) makes the exciting announcement to Mr. Hammer’s grade 7 and 8 class! Congratulations to everyone!

As meat is to the body, so reading is to the soul. — Seneca

“When children read well, they have a solid foundation for learning in every subject and they are able to open the door to possibilities and adventures that go far beyond their own experiences. From a recent report released by People for Education, International studies show that students with a more positive attitude toward reading tend to be more successful in all subjects. They are more likely to read more and to seek deeper knowledge and consequently develop deeper conceptual understandings of the subject matter.”

“Here in Ontario, literacy – alongside writing and math – has been at the centre of the educational agenda for more than a decade. And while Ontario students’ literacy scores have improved during that time, something unexpected has also happened: There has been a dramatic decline in the percentage of Ontario students who report that they “like to read.”

Read the full report from People for Education here: Reading for Joy

Congratulations to Listowel District Secondary School! Approval of Phase 1 of a multi-phase, multi-year, $4.1 million dollar upgrade is set to begin following the December 7th announcement by the Ministry of Education.

The Board received word from the Ministry on the overall project back in April 2009 under the Province’s Enrolment Pressure Funding. The Board then set about creating an overall capital plan in which renovations would be done in phases. Phase 1 is the first step in a joint effort between the Board and the Ministry to increase overall capacity and improve school facilities for LDSS students.

Sierra Construction, the general contractor for Phase 1, will be meeting with Board Facilities representatives and renovations will begin shortly. Phase 1 of the project includes alterations to the art room, music room and fashion design area. These renovations include mechanical and electrical upgrades at a cost of $686,305.50.

Read more…

What if your present self could go back in time and give you some advice? What would you say? Well, a group of students at Central Huron Secondary School had plenty to say!

After watching the viral video “Dear 16 Year Old Me“, students in the communication technology program at Central Huron felt they could use this concept to talk to grade eight students. They wanted to offer them some words of assurance regarding their transition to high school. Armed with a concept and equipment; Brandon Sallows and Tyler Mitchell; ICT SHSM students, went around CHSS looking for students to participate.

There was no shortage of students that had bits of advice to offer. No students were given a script or told what to say, these are all heartfelt responses when asked the question ” If given the chance, what would you have told yourself about coming to high school?” Everyone remembered something they were concerned about, something that made them nervous about leaving elementary school. Since they had gone through it, they wanted to assure other students in the same situation that things would be just fine, and in many cases simply wonderful!

The finished video is something we are all very proud of. We thank all students who participated, without them it would not have been possible. We hope that this video will make a difference for students in grade 8.

Here is a website chock full of links, stats, guides and a plethora of internet safety resources I came across recently from Joe Mazza (on twitter @Joe_Mazza). Joe is a Principal at Knapp Elementary School in Pennsylvania and you can read about his dedication and commitment to family & community engagement in education on his blog eFACE: Electronic Family and Community Engagement. Thanks, Joe, for sharing the notes and resources from your Internet Safety Night for Parents held in November 2011.

You can click on the image above or on the following link below and a new window will open and take you to the Internet Safety for Parents Website: http://efacetoday.visibli.com/share/Bdt6Lt