PE Students of the Month

Every month we celebrate one primary and one junior student who demonstrate living a healthy lifestyle and good sportsmanship. Past PE Students of the Month include:

September -- Lillian (Rm 200) and Alfonsa (Rm 201)
October -- Jordan (Rm 206) and Jacob (Rm 203)
November -- Erica (Rm 207) and Noah (Rm 202)
December -- Oscar (Rm 208) and Clara (Rm 300)
January -- Henry (Rm 202) and Neal (Rm 300)

The Golden Shoe Award

This school year was the beginning of a coveted new award – The Golden Shoe Award. Each month an activity is chosen for the students to perform. The award is presented to the classroom that performs the most of that month's activity per student. The past months have not been easy and the competition is fierce! The past winners include:

September -- Room 210 (1688 laps around the field – 58 laps per student)
October -- Room 100 (75,160 jumping jacks – 2,684 per student)
November -- Room 213 (4,930 burpees – 246 per student)
December -- Room 202 (222,200 squats – 9,258 per student)
January -- Room 300 (204,113 knee lifts – 6,584 per student)

Dental Screening and Black History Month

A reminder that this month is Black History Month! There will be an assembly on Tuesday, February 23^rd at 9:00 am to celebrate Black History.

Also, there was a note sent home recently about dental screening. This free screening is taking place at McMurrich from Monday, February 1^st to Wednesday, February 3^rd. It is performed by a dental hygienist with sterilized instruments to assess the need for topical fluoride, scaling, sealant and any other obvious dental needs. If you do not want your child to be checked, please inform the school at 416-393-1770. After the screening, only parents whose children are identified as requiring dental services will be notified with a note sent home. Be advised that this screening does not replace the dental examination done by a licensed dentist. More information can be provided by contacting Toronto Public Health, Dental & Oral Health Services at 416-338-8399.

Spirit Day - February 12th

In preparation for the Olympics, we are having a Spirit Day on February 12^th – the day of the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. Come to school dressed in red and white to celebrate Canada and to cheer on our athletes!

Lifeguards and Volunteers for Pizza Lunch, Dance-a-thon

Now that the Winona Pool is “back on deck” so to speak, Mr. Perretta is looking for any parents who may hold lifeguard and first aid certifications as the possibility of a swim team is being explored. Please contact the Home & School Chairs and they will forward your emails to Mr. Perretta.

Volunteers are needed for the pizza lunch on January 29 and the Dance-a-thon on February 5. We need folks for the pizza lunch between 11:15 am and 12:30 pm. The dance-a-thon runs from about 9:15 am to 3:00 pm so we will need volunteers for the morning shift, the afternoon shift and to count the money. Please contact Julia if you would like to volunteer.

Real Food Program Pilot at McMurrich

Real Food Real Kids is beginning a pilot hot lunch program at McMurrich starting February 9th until March 11th. If the pilot is successful it will continue after March Break. For your child(ren) to be involved in the pilot lunch program, you must sign up online at this link before February 3rd. Then get ready for two hot lunches per week! For more information please click here.

Winona Pool Saved!

(Excerpt from communications from Joe Mihevc)

Yesterday evening the Toronto District School Board voted to keep the remaining 9 pools that were on a list for possible closure open. This means that the Winona School Pool will be made available for use by the school and in the evenings/weekends/holidays for programming.

This is such good news for Toronto and for the community around Winona School. The saving of these school pools came as a result of hard work and good advocacy on the part of so many people. In our community, there was a spirited campaign that saw over 800 responses and questionnaires filled out and a new St Clair West Aquatics Club formed. The work around Winona Pool was singled out by Toronto Lands Corporation's Karen Pitre in her presentation to the TDSB as a great model of community development work.

Thanks to local Trustee Josh Matlow and MPP Dr. Eric Hoskins for their work and support. Thanks to everyone who wrote letters, encouraged creativity, and thought outside the box. In the end the solution to save the pools was a "ground up" solution which in the end will see the pools used more by the community. The Winona Pool is a wonderful local resource and needs to become better known and used.

The task ahead is now to develop the programming at the Winona Pool. The new board of directors of the St Clair West Aquatics Club has been selected, and they are busy putting together a set of programs based on the desires identified by you in the questionnaire. Program opportunities will be made available shortly. Their website is www.stclairaquatics.ca.

QSP Magazine Fundraising

Don’t forget that you can still continue to place orders online for magazine subscriptions at www.qsp.ca throughout the year – these subscriptions will continue to raise money for our school!

If you are wondering where your ordered subscriptions are, please contact QSP at 1-800-667-2536.

Upcoming January Events

As well as the Home & School meeting on January 19^th at 7 pm, we also have a Pep Rally on January 21^st at 2 pm for the Dancethon!!!! and our next Pizza Lunch is Friday, January 29^th.

Welcome Back from Holidays! Next Home & School Meeting January 19th

Welcome back from Winter Break and Happy New Year! A quick reminder that the next Home & School meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 19^th starting at 7:00 pm.