Engagement

Our focus for February and March is Engagement:

As learners we demonstrate engagement when:

• we are curious, and wonder ‘why’
• we are interested, excited, enthusiastic
• we listen, think, question, and respond
• we create, plan, solve problems, evaluate
• we perform, explore, explain

Introduction

Hello Northern Lights community

My name is Jennifer Burt and I'm thrilled to be starting as the new principal today. I look forward to working together with families to create an engaging, enriching and healthy environment for your children where they can thrive, learn academics and how to be successful citizens.

Look forward to meeting you soon.

January Value:  Responsibility

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We are individually and collectively responsible for creating the best possible school community to support the achievement and well-being of all individuals.

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RESPONSIBILITY FOR LEARNERS

We demonstrate responsibility when:

• we understand that our words and actions can have positive and/or negative consequences
• we consistently make positive choices
• we accept responsibility for our own behaviour

RESPONSIBILITY FOR LEARNING

We demonstrate responsibility when:

• we consistently participate in learning tasks
• we follow classroom and school norms and routines
• we use class time effectively

RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR ENVIRONMENT

We demonstrate responsibility when:

• we take care of personal and school materials and use them appropriately
• we keep our indoor and outdoor spaces clean and tidy
• we respect our school (indoor and outdoor spaces)

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Students made commercials for this year's Book Fair!

Ms. Puglisi's class have been creating commercials for the upcoming Book Fair at Northern Lights from December 19th - 23rd. A new commercial will be added to this blog thread each day, showcasing all of the commercials that were created.
Thank you too all the students for their hard work!


Thursday's Commercial

Wednesday's Commercial

Tuesday's Commercial

Monday's Commercials

NLPS is Reaching Out to the Community and Beyond!

Annual Food Drive

Thank you to all families for participating in our Annual Food Drive thus far. We have been asking that each grade focus on a particular type of non-perishable item to donate this year, which will help ensure that we are donating a variety of items that are of need. We will be collecting items until December 22nd. so there is still time to bring items into the school.

Letters to Soldiers

NLPS is participating in a local initiative to write letters to soldiers who are overseas and whom will not be coming home for the holidays this year. Letters have been collected from various institutions throughout the Town of Aurora. NLPS was able to contribute over 200 letters towards this great cause, which were written in both French and English,

Student Council Corner

By: Madeline T.

Spirit Days

Student Council has been busy at work. We held a great Halloween Dance for grades 6-8 students and collected over 170 non-perishable food items for the Aurora Food Pantry.  Our first spirit day-Twin Day-was held in November. We have a full week of spirit days from December 19- 23. Spirit days are a fun way for children to embrace the holiday season.  

Monday Dec. 19: Crazy Hair/Hat Day

Tuesday Dec. 20: Ugly/Crazy Sweater Day

Wednesday Dec. 21: Backwards Day

Thursday Dec. 22: Winter Clothing Day

Friday Dec. 23: Pajama Day  

Candy Grams

Since we are in the holiday season, we also will be handing out Candy Grams. A candy gram is a candy cane and a note saying a special message to a friend a son/daughter or maybe even a favourite teacher!  

Candy Grams will be sold Monday December 12-Thursday December 15 at morning recess in the front foyer for 75 cents each. They will be delivered on Friday December 23. All proceeds from this fundraiser will go directly back to students to be divided evenly amongst the divisions by student council.

Food Drive

Student Council, with the support of the Parent Council will be holding a school-wide food drive in support of the Aurora Food Pantry in December. Donations can be sent to school with your child or can be placed directly in the labelled boxes in the front foyer. In order to help collect the items that are most in need, we are asking grades to bring in specific items. Please check expiry dates before donating. We thank you in advance for your contributions, which will greatly help families in our community!

FDk- baby food, formula, diapers, wipes, baby care items

Grade 1 & Grade 8 - personal hygiene items  (toothpaste, floss, toothbrushes, shampoo/conditioner, body wash, feminine products, deodorant, lotion)

Grade 2 & Grade 7-pasta, crackers, cereals, granola bars, nutritious school snacks

Grade 3 & 4-canned goods, chili, soup, sauces, soups, jams, lentils, beans

Grade 5 & 6-paper products (toilet paper, paper towels) & diapers, juice boxes, canned fruit & vegetables

Healthy Schools Student Cookbooks

In addition, the Healthy Schools Committee will be selling student created Cookbooks at the same time as our Candy Grams (December 12-15). All proceeds will also go to the Aurora Food Pantry.  These cookbooks make great gifts!

Fundraising Drive is in full swing!


We are almost halfway through our fundraising drive and have had a good start with the donations brought in so far. Every student was given a donation envelope in which families can record their donation that they made online or they can . We still have a ways to go toward our school goal so keep them coming in! 
As a reminder, the money raised will contribute to a Modern Learning culture at NLPS by setting up innovative spaces for our students to create, connect, communicate, and share:

• Primary, Junior, and Intermediate Learning Pods/Discovery Pods/Inquiry Pods (students will help with the name!)
• Library Learning Commons & Makerspace
• Technology Lab

We would like to set up Modern Learning spaces to spark innovative thinking and tap into students’ interests.  Student voice is essential - students will be involved in designing the spaces - from dreaming and reasoning, to implementation.

Cross-Country Running is alive and well at NLPS!

Last week NLPS sent over 90 students to represent our school at the Area Cross-Country meet. We had over 110 athletes training during the month of September! What a great sign of effort and perseverance by our students.

We had 4 teams qualify for the Regional Cross Country Meet on October 19th:

Grade 4 Girls finished 1st overall

Grade 5 Boys finished 2nd overall

Grade 7 Boys finished 3rd overall

Grade 8 Boys finished 2nd overall

Thank you to Mr. Higgins, Mr. Hughes and Ms. Allen for dedication their time to coach this time. Good luck at Regionals!

Upcoming Events

October 18th - Picture Day - entire school

October 19th - Regional Track and Field Event 

October 19th - Junior Author Visit - Shane Peacock 

October 26th - SK Vision screening 

October 28th - PA Day