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The following streets are within the attendance area of Brookside P.S. Boulderbrook Drive Canoe Crescent Cricket Mews Culver Lane Dusk Owl Drive Glacier Crescent Grackle Trail Grapevine Circle Grosbeak Crescent Hepatica Street Hummingbird Drive Hyacinth Crescent Mac Frost Way Morningside Avenue Oasis Boulevard Pinoak Street Pitchpine Drive Quietbrook Crescent Raponi Circle Rivendell Trail Seasons Drive Sirius Crescent Solitude Street Solstice Drive Staines Road Staines Road Starry Crescent Steeles Avenue East Steppingstone Trail Trefoil Court Turtledove Grove

All All All All All All All All All All All All All odd 2851 - 2889 All All All All All All All All All All odd 311 - 635 even 320 - 636 All odd 6429 - 6433 All All All

List of addresses eligible for transportation to Brookside P.S. (J.K. - Grade 5 students who live more than 1.6 km from the school ) Boulderbrook Drive odd 39 - 99, even 42 - 92 Glacier Crescent All Hepatica Street All Mac Frost Way All Quietbrook Crescent All Rivendell Trail odd 35 - 69, even 36 - 70 Solitude Street All Solstice Drive All Staines Road odd 465 - 635, even 472 - 636 Starry Crescent All Steeles Avenue East odd 6429 - 6433 Steppingstone Trail All Turtledove Grove All ***All Grade 6-8 students live within 3.2 km of Brookside P.S. (as per TDSB policy P.020 TRA) ***Distance to be measured from closest public thoroughfare of the residence of the student to nearest public access to the school building.

http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/brookside Ms N. Smith, Principal Ms R. Coulter, Vice-Principal

January News Dear Families, Happy New Year to all of you! I hope that you all had a relaxing holiday and enjoyed the extra time you had to socialize and have fun with family and friends. May this coming year bring you much joy and success. As I’m typing this newsletter, I’m watching out my window as a work crew is busy working on the new flashing light crosswalk at Pinoak St. and Oasis Blvd. Unfortunately, they have had a few glitches along the way, however, hopefully, it will be up and running very soon! We will continue to have safety patrollers assist our students crossing the road in the morning, at the beginning of lunch, and after school. Students are reminded that when they are crossing without safety patrollers, they need to wait for all cars to stop, after pushing the button. Only when all cars have stopped, should they proceed with caution, walking across the street. Please remind your children that cars should stop when the lights are flashing, but some won’t, and not to assume that all all cars will. Thank you to all families and guests who were able to join us on the evening of December 18, 2008, for our “Brookside Gives Back” holiday concert. Such fabulous entertainment would not have been possible without the tireless dedication and hard work of many staff members, who spent weeks preparing with your children. We are very fortunate to have such a talented and giving group of staff members. Brookside families really care!!! A special thank you goes to the Global Citizens Club for organizing our Surrogate Santa Program, and all the students and families for donating items. With your kindness and generosity, we were able to give three families a special holiday.

Ms N. Smith Principal

Winter Weather Watch Severe weather conditions may require the TDSB to cancel transportation or, in extreme conditions, close schools. The decision to close schools is made by the Director of Education. In the event transportation is cancelled or schools are closed, the local media will be informed before the beginning of the school day. Tune in to your radio and television news stations for the latest information. If weather conditions become extreme after students are in school, elementary students will remain in the school until they are picked up by a parent or parent designate. As the weather gets colder and the snow begins to fall, we urge you to leave home sooner and use caution when driving your child to school. Snow banks will get higher, roads and driveways will become more slippery, and more children will be outside enjoying playing in the snow. Encourage your child to walk to school to avoid congestion in front of the school. Safety always comes before convenience. Please ensure that your child comes dressed appropriately for the weather wearing a hat, mitts, scarf, boots, snow pants, and a warm coat. An extra pair of indoor shoes is also needed. As some items may eventually end up in the lost and found, you are strongly encouraged to label all items. For safety reasons, please remind your child that snowball throwing is not allowed and playing/sliding on icy patches in the yard is dangerous. Your child should have a specific meeting place for parent/sibling pick-up at lunch and after school, so waiting time outside is reduced. Exercise, socializing, and fresh air during the school day will enhance concentration and student success, however, weather conditions sometimes warrant that indoor recesses, shortened lunch periods, and preentry periods be considered necessary for student and staff safety. Conditions warranting indoor recesses (TDSB Operational Procedure PR.519 COM): 1. Rain, thunderstorms, lightning, hail, extreme winds, and extreme cold. 2. Cold weather: When temperature and/or windchill factor indicates -28C or lower children will remain indoors due to risk frostbite. When the temperature and/or windchill factor indicate –20C to –28C, recesses may shortened to 10 minutes and lunch recesses to 20 minutes depending on local conditions. 3. The yard/pavement area poses a safety hazard to the students (e.g., ice)   

Weather conditions change during the day. When necessary, and if the weather is questionable, the principal will consult the Environment Canada’s website for information Any staff member may voice weather concerns to the principal for consideration prior to the next scheduled recess During extreme weather conditions, students may wait between the entry doors up to 15 minutes prior to the entry bells

Partners with Brookside P.S.

The next time your family eats at Boston Pizza (25 Cinemart Dr.), located at Morningside Ave. and the 401, please write Brookside P.S. on the back of the receipt and deposit it in the “Brookside P.S. drop box.” Boston Pizza will donate 5% of the total of all food items purchased back to our school, at the end of the year. Thank you for supporting Brookside fundraising efforts 

Snowball Throwing Policy The safety of our students is our first priority. Therefore, students are prohibited from throwing snowballs on school property (or near the school) as it could result in our students getting seriously hurt. We will remind our students on a consistent basis about the importance of keeping the snow on the ground. Students are encouraged to build “snowpeople” and other characters. Students who throw snowballs will have two detentions and a phone call home will be made. If it happens a second time, five detentions will be given, and a phone call home. A student will be suspended if snowball throwing happens a third time. We are asking for your cooperation by discussing the above policy with your child. Help us make Brookside a safe place to play.  Uniform Reminders Many uniform items are being left in the gym and around the school. Please ensure that all items are labeled with your child’s name, therefore making it easier to return lost items to their owners. There is no formal gym attire to be worn during physical education classes. However, students are asked to change for gym, into loose bottoms (e.g., sweats/shorts) and a plain-coloured (with no logo) t-shirt. All tops worn in school must be official Brookside P.S. issued uniform tops (as decided by the parents. If students would like to wear a short-sleeved t-shirt under their short/long sleeve polo shirts or oxford shirts(only), they must be plain white, with no logos or coloured borders. With the colder weather, please remind your child that only turtlenecks that are Brookside issued should be worn. Announcements are made reminding students of the above. Please help us implement the uniform policy that the community voted in. Brookside Students Have Spirit! The staff and students at Brookside have participated in two successful spirit days this year. In October, we held Pajama Day and collected donations for Free the Children. We raised close to $400 to help villagers in Sri Lanka. On November 21st, there were many weird, wonderful, and wacky ties worn all around the building. We raised $373.93 for Sick Kids Hospital. Your generosity and support is greatly appreciated! Our next Spirit Day will be held on January 21st. We will celebrate Wacky Shoe Day. Start planning your footwear now! Add some sparkles to your sandals. Trick out your trainers. Bedazzle your boots. Students who choose to participate in Wacky Shoe Day are asked to bring in a $1 donation for the United Way. The United Way remains focused on three priority areas—strengthening neighbourhoods, creating opportunities for youth, and helping to fulfill the potential of newcomers. Ms Scavuzzo

Your child cannot learn to read alone. To become a real reader, you’re child needs you! Children need parents who will:  Read to them  Help them with the struggles of early reading  Listen to their reading when they are young  Talk to them about their reading when they’re older  Organize a quiet time so reading can happen  Buy or borrow books and other reading material  Serve as a model of adult reading and interest in books

(Kropp, P. How to Make Your Child a Reader for Life) Scented Product Awareness Program Scented products have an impact on everyone. For most people, perfumed, scented or fragrant products are enjoyed, but for those who have asthma, allergies or environmental sensitivities, exposure can result in illness, absence from work and even hospitalization. Using fragrances is a personal choice, however, by their very nature, they are shared. The chemicals vaporize into the air and are easily inhaled by those around us. Today's scented products are made up of a complex mixture of chemicals which can contribute to indoor air quality problems and cause health problems. We are trying to increase the awareness within our community about the impact of fragrance on health, well-being, and productivity of those impacted by scents. What can you do to help? Be considerate of those who are sensitive to fragrance chemicals Avoid using scented products and use scent-free alternatives, instead If you do use scented products, use them sparingly. A general guideline for scented products is that the scent should not be detectable more than an arm's length away from you. Do not apply scented products in a public area. Avoid using laundry products or cleaning agents that are scented. Air out dry-cleaned clothing before wearing. Global Citizens Give Back! With the winter holiday approaching, Brookside P.S. students have been getting into the spirit of giving. The Global Citizens Club, arranged to participate in the Surrogate Santa program through the Children’s Aid Society. Ms Butson came to our club and talked to us about families who get help from the Children’s Aid Society (CAS), and how some are in need for the holidays. We were ready to make a difference! What an extraordinary way to start getting into the spirit of giving! The plan was put into action with Ms.Butson contacting the CAS and having Brookside P.S. “adopt” three families, one for each of the divisions! We met weekly with Ms Schofield, Ms Butson, Ms Brittain, Mr Altay, and Mme Easton to brainstorm ways that we could get the word out to the classrooms and to keep track of the donations as they came in. We took the lists provided by CAS and reviewed what each family member was wishing for. The lists were sent home and starting Monday, November 24th, presents started pouring into each classroom! Members of the Global Citizens Club made announcements and visited each classroom daily to collection donations. At the end of the two weeks, we had everything from action figures, to Barbies, to Gift Cards and cash donations, and even warm winter jackets, socks, and sweaters! The mountain of gifts for each family was endless! Some classes raised money and purchased items too! The teachers used the money collected to buy the remaining items and some gift cards. We were able to give each family $250 in gift cards for food stores, and $100 per family of other gift cards including Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Future Shop and more! It was nice to know that because of Brookside’s generosity, three families we barely knew would be celebrating a festive and happy holiday this year. We were all very amazed with what a great difference just a couple of kids and some teachers could do if we put our minds to it. The Global Citizens club continued to show the holiday spirit by organizing December’s spirit day. Everyone was asked to wear festive holiday hats, and to bring in a donation for the Free the Children Foundation to help contribute money towards the village we adopted in Sri Lanka. For more information, keep reading our sections in the newsletter each month or visit www.freethechildren.com to find out more about the adopt a village program! Banusha Mahendren, 8B

Pedestrian Safety – Safety Tips for Parents Children under nine should be accompanied by adults or older children when crossing the street. At this age, their judgment and perceptual skills are still immature, yet they often eagerly try to cross streets on their own in order to demonstrate some independence. Teach your children the rules of the road – start when they’re young. Think of it as gradually training your children about safety until all the connections are in place. By the time your child reaches age nine and can act independently, the road safety rules will be second nature. • Teach children how to cross the street safely. Teach them to stop (before stepping onto the road), look left, right and left again, and listen for traffic before stepping out into the street. Teach children to wait until the street is clear and to keep looking until they have crossed the street. They should also look the driver in the eye before crossing. • Teach children to recognize pedestrian crossing signals but not rely on them. Before crossing, children should also be sure the traffic has stopped. Remind them to continue across if the light changes to “Don’t Walk” while they are in the crosswalk. • Teach children to be extra alert when crossing at a corner with no traffic lights. • Teach your children to stop at driveways, alleys and areas without curbs, and to never run out onto the street. • Teach children about the dangers of crossing the street between parked cars or when not at a corner. Children should cross only at corners and pedestrian crosswalks, not diagonally or between parked cars. • Teach children to respect the role of the crossing guard and to understand his/her signals. • Teach children that wherever possible they should walk on the sidewalk. In areas without sidewalks, teach children to walk as far away from the road as possible, facing approaching traffic (when there is no choice but to walk on the road). • Teach children that playing games at railway crossings or around trains can be deadly. • Teach children that playing games at railway crossings or around trains can be deadly. Teach children that the only way to cross railway tracks is to use designated railway crossings. Follow the same rules that you want your child to follow. You may want to cut across the street in the middle of the block, but you want your child to learn to cross at the intersection. Be a good role model. Reprinted with the permission of Safe Kids Canada. Visit www.safekidscanada.ca for more safety tips on keeping children safe.

Parent Council News Welcome to 2009! Let me begin by saying what a bunch of cookie monsters our children at Brookside are! Parent Council's cookie sale in December was a huge success-in fact, we sold out before the day was through. Thanks to all those who enjoyed them, and another big thanks to those who purchased the Entertainment Values coupon book; Parent Council has managed to raise more than $500! We're thrilled! With this money, Parent Council has been able to help with the purchase of new Brookside athletic shirts for students to proudly wear when representing Brookside's sports teams. Thanks for all your support, and keep watching out for our meetings (the next one is Jan.14 at 6:30 p.m.) and our future cookie and popcorn sales. Karen Elmnini, Parent Council Co-Chair

Internet Safety – Monitor Your Child’s Use!  

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Keep the computer in an area of the house that is busy and well-monitored, allowing you to “check” on activity from time-to-time. Teach children and young people never to share personal details with anyone they have met on the Internet, including when they register for free e-mail addresses or when they visit chat rooms, bulletin boards, and web sites. Personal information includes name, address, school, photos, year of birth, credit card information, or passwords. Sit with your children when they register for instant messaging or e-mail accounts to ensure that no personal information is given out. Set clear rules about the kinds of sites your children are allowed to visit. Bookmark favourite sites so that they can be accessed quickly and easily without needing to “surf the web” to find them again. Talk to children about predators and potential online dangers. Young children should not participate in chat rooms. As they get older, steer them towards well-monitored and age appropriate chat rooms. If teens participate, find out what chat rooms they are visiting and who they talk to. Encourage your children to tell you if anyone says or does anything online (such as posting pictures) that makes them feel uncomfortable or threatened. Remind your children never to post anything on the Internet that they wouldn’t want the whole world to read. Report any incident of online harassment, physical threats, or ongoing solicitation of personal information to the local police or your Internet Service Provider. Teach your children to only open e-mails from people they know and never to open attachments unless they have specifically requested them. Viruses most often enter your computer system through an e-mail attachment. Use kid-friendly search engines or adult search engines that offer filtering. Disable Java and JavaScript in your browser preferences. This will prevent your children from getting caught in a cycle of pop-up inappropriate windows. Use e-mail filters. Most e-mail programs offer some filtering options and there are many software products on the market that can be used to control spam (unwanted and continuous e-mail) Reinforce that your children should never respond to spam, even if there is an “unsubscribe” option. Responding to unwanted messages or e-mails increases the risk of viruses and leads to more unsolicited e-mail.

News From the Library An exciting Robert Munsch Partnership with Ms. Butson’s Grade 1 class, Ms. Warren’s Grade 2/3 class, and Mrs. Peck, was the focus for reading activities in the library during the month of November. The students were prepared for our trip to the George Brown Theatre to see a live performance of Murmel, Murmel, I’m So Embarrassed, From Far Away, No Clean Clothes, and Stephanie’s Ponytail….as they had all of these Robert Munsch stories read to them. The students read many other Munsch books and recorded them on their Very Hungry Munscherpillar Tracking sheets. Payal Dass shared… “On our Muncherpillars we had to read Robert Munsch books and colour them in. We got to read stories with Ms. Warren’s class. I was excited to read with kids from the other class. In the theatre, it was fun watching the actors who wore blue and yellow clothes chase each other across the stage. I liked all the cats and dogs in Murmel, Murmel, Murmel.” “When we were reading,” said Rohun Baxi, “ We got to pick our reading partners in Ms. Warren’s class. We went to the theatre and I liked looking out the window from the bus. We went downtown and I saw lots of cars and buildings. My favourite story was ‘I’m So Embarrassed’ because there was lots of hugging and kissing. It was funny.” Tracey Chaitra revealed that, “I liked all of the stories. They were funny and had lots of details. Even before the show started the actors were talking to us and making us laugh.” I’m So Munsch” had 20 actors and it was like teamwork,” exclaimed Prasanna Rajhmohan. “They were all helping each other tell the stories. The actors all had different colours of clothing. My favourite part was when Saoussan from ‘Far Away’ had an accident on the teacher’s lap.” “All of the students from both classes loved reading and hearing the Robert Munsch stories. They agreed that his stories contain bizarre, wacky ideas, have repetition, patterns, and definitely use exaggeration to promote humour,” summarized Mrs. Peck! Ms Peck