Congrats to our Boys' Intermediate Basketball Team!

On Thursday, our Intermediate Boys Basketball team made it to the quarter finals in the tournament at Red Maple PS.  Congrats to our boys for games well played.  Thank you to coaches Mr. Sean. Myers and Ms. Jane Sawchuk for your time and commitment to the team.

Congrats to the Intermediate Girls' Basketball Team !

Congratulations to our Intermediate Girls Basketball team who made it to the finals yesterday! The girls played so well and pushed the game into overtime. Thanks to Ms. Kerry Myers and Ms. Raquel David for coaching our girls.

Student Council says "THANK YOU"

THANK YOU BAYVIEW HILL FAMILIES

The Student Council at Bayview Hill would

like to thank all the students and families 

who helped support the Valentine Cookie Gram 

Sales.  As a result of your support $904 was raised.  

The money raised from this initiative will go towards 

purchasing goats for "Free the Children," as well as

to our local Children's Aid Foundation.

Say NO to Bullying @Bayview Hill ES

Many thanks to our grade 6 students who have provided morning announcements and put up  posters around the school to remind us of  Pink T-shirt day!   Teachers have used a variety of resources (video clips, books &websites) in their classrooms to discuss bullying behaviour.  Ms. Sluser's Grade 6 students led the way today with some Daily Physical Activity using dance routines while visiting each classroom in the school with a PINK T-shirt.  After completion of the dance moves, every classroom signed a t-shirt as their pledge against bullying.  The t shirts will then be placed in the display cabinet in the front foyer of the school.   

Bullying is often a term that is misused.  Unfortunately sometimes children are mean towards others and make poor choices in how they treat others.  When this happens, it is an opportunity to support children in understanding perspective and acceptable, safe social behaviours.  Bullying is different.  Bullying is an imbalance of power in a relationship.  Bullying is repeated verbal, physical, social or psychologically aggressive behaviour by a person or group that targets a less powerful person or group.  The bullying behaviour is intended to cause harm, distress or fear. 

WEAR PINK and SAY NO TO BULLYING on Wednesday

School Council Family Skate ~ RSVP needed

YEARBOOK CONTEST extended to MARCH 9

The deadline for submissions for the yearbook cover contest has been extended to March 9.  The contest is open to all grades from Kindergarten to Grade 8.  Information about the contest is posted on a bulletin board outside the gym door.  

Speaker for Gr 6s

Last Friday, as a connection to the curriculum in Social Studies (Heritage and Identity: Communities in Canada, Past and Present) and as an authentic learning opportunity, a speaker from Passages Canada spoke to our students.  Mr. Parsai is an author and immigration consultant. He is a Canadian citizen originally from Iran who has delivered several public speeches in Canada. the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran.

Here are a sampling of some of the questions that students asked the speaker:

1.  What influenced you to immigrate to Canada instead of another country?
2.  Do you think Canada is a good place to immigrate to and why?
3.  How long does it take to become a Canadian citizen?
4.  How do people get selected to be able to immigrate to Canada?
5.  How did you feel when you first immigrated from Iran?
6.  Why are you so passionate about Canada?
7.  Did your role as a consultant help you when you immigrated to Canada?
8. Can immigrants successfully retain their own culture, while embracing the ways of Canada? How would this be different if you'd immigrated to the United States?
9.  How do you think the points system for immigrants could be improved? 
10.  As an Iranian in Canada, how do you think diversity improves our country?
11.  In your opinion, what is "Canada"? 
12.  In your biography, you said you strive to be a better Canadian. What does that mean? What are some examples of being a better Canadian? How can I become one? 
13.  You've visited many countries as a speaker. In places as different as UAE and the UK, how were you received? 
14.  What do you gain by volunteering?

Pink Day is on Wed Feb 25

Yearbook Cover Design Contest

Yearbook Cover Design Contest

Are you an artist? Help us design the 2014 - 2015 Yearbook cover!  If your design is selected you will receive a free yearbook for yourself and your teacher.

Requirements:

·         submit your design by Feb. 28

·         submit to either Mr. Grant in Room 109 or to your assigned yearbook classroom representative

·         hand drawn or computer generated

·         open to all BHES students - K to 8

·         “Bayview Hill Elementary School” “2014 - 2015” must be included in design

·         be creative - reflect what is great about the best elementary school in York Region

·         portrait length on a standard  8 ½ by 11 sheet of white paper

o    white card stock is available, upon request, from Mr. Grant in Room 109

Lunar New Year

To all those who celebrate Lunar New Year, the Bayview Hill ES staff would like to wish you and your families a very happy celebration.

CHANGE - REPORT CARDS go home Friday February 20

Due to a technical problem beyond our control, the report cards for Term 1 will go home on Friday February 20 instead of Wednesday February 18.  Thank you for your patience.

Diversity Night was a success!

Thank you to school council for organizing a wonderful sharing of cultures.  THANK YOU to all the volunteers who prepared and/or served the food and shared posters and artifacts from their country.  Students and their families tasted their way around the world, with many dressed in their traditional clothing of their culture/country.  Students learned a little bit about different countries, while stamping their passports and winning some great prizes. Others created special Valentine's Day crafts and our community made a significant contribution to the food bank thanks to the donations of food. Special thanks to Patricia Kitagawa for her key role in coordinating the event and to our students who performed.  A warm mingling of our community on a very chilly evening.  Enjoy your Family Day weekend!

Reminder ~ SCHOOL COUNCIL DIVERSITY NIGHT ~ Thurs. Feb. 12

Just a reminder that the school council DIVERSITY NIGHT is on Thursday Feb 12 from 6pm-8pm.  Please share in celebrating the cultures within our school and taste your way around the world. According to our school data, we have students from 13 different countries that attend our school.

WEAR YOUR TRADITIONAL/CULTURAL CLOTHING FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A PRIZE FOR BEST OUTFIT AND PARTICIPATION!

Admission: Please bring one non-perishable food item per person to be donated to the Richmond Hill Food Bank.  Donation boxes will be set up in the front foyer of the school on Diversity Night.  Please note they are also in need of toiletry items. (eg. soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, etc.). 

Thank you for your support!

Black History at York Region Police

Show your love for BHES on Friday February 13

 This Friday is a Spirit Day.  Students and staff are asked to show your love for BHES by wearing red or pink. 

Winter at the ROC

On Thursday, our Grade 4 students and today, our grade 8 students traveled to the ROC (Recreational Outdoor Campus) to engage in skating, tobogganing and tubing.  Our students have been fortunate to enjoy two beautiful sunny days and had the facility to themselves! Below are a few pictures to share the experience with you.  It's no wonder our grade 4's fell asleep on the trip home.
Coming up:  Gr 7's on Wednesday Feb 11
                     Gr 5's on Friday Feb 20
                     Gr 6's on Thursday Feb 26

 

Junior Boys (Gr. 4-6) Basketball Tryouts

Try outs for our Junior Boys Basketball team will begin on Monday Feb 9 at 1:10pm.  Thanks to  Ms. Sawchuk and Ms. Khorakchi for coaching.

Valentine Cookie Grams Feb 9-11

Student Council will be selling Valentine Cookie grams on Feb 9-11 during morning recess.  All funds raised will be donated to a local charity.  The charity chosen by our student council is the Children's Aid foundation of York Region.  One cookie is $2 or 3 cookies for $5.  Cookies are nut free.

Fairness in February

On Wednesday, many of our students received Bayview Hill Bengal character awards, recognized for their perseverance.  Students demonstrated this in several ways.  Some students were recognized for persevering to learn English as a second language, continuing to work hard at a challenging task, and to learn new skills in physical education that were then applied to a game.  In February, students are encouraged to think about FAIRNESS and how they can demonstrate being fair.  Fairness can be a very abstract concept for students to learn.  At school, fairness means that everyone gets what he or she needs and not necessarily what he or she wants.  Fair doesn't mean equal. Sometimes being fair and equal is easy, like when you are dividing up shares of a chocolate bar but other times, it is much more abstract and can be challenging, like when a student's needs dictate that he/she go first in line all the time.  Part of our conversations, announcements and discussions at school this month will focus on Black History.  We will focus on the fair treatment of people and celebrate their contributions to our world.  One of the most difficult concepts around fairness is explaining to our children that life isn't fair.  Disappointment is inevitable, and how our children handle disappointment sets them up for how to handle situations when life just doesn't seem fair.   Teaching our children to be resilient is one of the most important things we can do as parents and educators.  

Forest of Reading Program ~ Encourages Reading!

The Forest of Reading is organized every year by the Ontario Library Association, to showcase new books by Canadian authors and illustrators. There are book selections for all ages, from Kindergarten to adult. The program is run in school and public libraries. For each age group, ten books are nominated. At the end of April, participants are able to vote for their favourite book, and winners are announced in May. It's a great opportunity to have conversations with kids about why they like certain books more than others, and what authors and illustrators do to draw the reader into the story.

Thank you Ms. Livi (Teacher Librarian) for providing this opportunity to our students.  And thank you to school council for providing funds to support the purchase of the books. 

Kindergarten Teachers: Blue Spruce: Teachers will  plan individually with Ms. Livi about how best to implement this with the Kindergarten students.

Grade 1 - 3: Blue Spruce: Beginning in February,  classes will sign up to come to the library for a Blue Spruce introduction. The books will be available for teachers to sign out on a daily basis, and teachers can also bring classes to the library for Ms. Livi to read some of the titles to them.

Grades 3 & 4: Silver Birch Express:  Students were introduced to this program and are welcome to join the recess club to discuss the books. 

Grades 5 & 6: Silver Birch Fiction and Non-fiction: Students have two options: they can choose to read the fiction or the non-fiction titles.  They need to read 5 out of 10 books by the end of April to vote. They are required to come to the library every Wednesday to touch base with Ms. Livi, and to participate in discussions about the books they are reading. 

Grades 7 & 8: Red Maple Fiction and Non-fiction: Students have two options: they can choose to read the fiction or the non-fiction titles.  They need to read 5 out of 10 books by the end of April to vote. They are required to come to the library every Thursday to touch base with Ms. Livi, and to participate in discussions about the books they are reading. 

Gym closed Tuesday Feb 3

Students who have gym on Tuesday Feb 3 (DAY 5) will be going outdoors due to electrical work being completed in our gym.  It was hoped that the work would be completed in one day (today) but the contractors need to return.  Please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather and outdoor activity.

School Council Hosts Diversity Night - Please RSVP