May is always an exciting month at École Dufferin and this year is no exception! We begin with our annual Education Week celebrations and Open House, which will be held May 1 from 6-7:30PM. This month will also involve Track and Field, EQAO assessments, and Fun Fair, to name just a few events.

Thanks to the Dufferin Parent Council for funding the Quincy Mack visit in April. Q-Mack entertained our students with his basketball tricks, while presenting a personal anti-bullying message. We would also like to thank the DPC for their continued efforts to revitalize our playground. The DPC’s most recent project involved the move of the kindergarten pen, to redistribute play space more evenly among our students. Your support of DPC fund-raising initiatives makes these positive changes at Dufferin possible. Thanks for your support!

We look forward to seeing all of you at the Open House May 1 and at Fun Fair on May 8!

All families will receive a voucher to use on May 5^th, 6^th or 7^th at New Orleans Pizza in Brantford, Paris or Simcoe. From 4pm until closing on these dates, 50% of your purchase will be donated back to the school. Last year, we raised over $400. This year’s profits will go towards our computer lab expansion. Please remember, you need to present a New Orleans voucher, stamped with our school name, in order for the school to benefit from your support.

This year, the Gr.4 to Gr.8 classes will be participating in their track meet on Friday May 23rd, with a rain date of Friday May 30th. The good news is that we don't need to take buses because Lion's Park is NOT available due to repairs being done. The bad news is that W. ROSS MCDONALD SCHOOL, where we are holding our event, does not have sites for field events, so we are working out the details of how we will complete the field events.

PARENTS ARE NEEDED ON THE DAY OF THE TRACK MEET TO ACT AS TIMERS AND OTHER EVENT OFFICIALS. Please contact M Yelle or Ms.Howey if you are able to help. IDEAS are being accepted for some additional "fun" events in addition to the traditional events. Frisbee toss anyone? Send your ideas to Ms.Howey.

BASEBALL and T-BALL - Our students could play baseball or t-ball at the park in June if we had a supply of child-size baseball gloves. If you are able to donate any ball gloves that would fit students from primary up to Gr.8, please send them in with your child. All contributions would be greatly appreciated! We have enjoyed t-ball in the past, but we could have a lot more fun and develop more skill if we had gloves to use.

Mlle Spicer and Mlle Whitham are very proud of the junior badminton team and their excellent efforts at the tournament in April! Congratulations to Harris and Sam for placing 3^rd in boys’ doubles. We look forward to seeing all grade 4, 5 and6 students out for next year’s tryouts!

The Spring Fling dance at Fairview on April 25th was a big success - thanks to the Gr. 6, 7, and 8 students for their enthusiastic participation. Teachers at Fairview commented on how polite and appreciative the Dufferin students were. They represented Dufferin very well!

As part of our school's focus on the environment, The Builder's Club will be presenting a Recyclable fashion show on Friday, May 9th at 1:30 p.m. Students from Gr. 1 through 8, will be designing, making, and modelling outfits made out of recyclable materials.

The Dufferin Choir competed at the Kiwanis Music Festival on April 15th. Thirty five singers from Gr. 1 - Gr. 4 were led by Mlle Mew, and accompanied by Mme Peters as they sang two songs (a French song and an English song) beautifully. The Dufferin Choir was awarded third place in the competition ~ Congratulations! Thanks to all the parents who managed to arrange transportation for their children after the performance. We couldn't do it without your support! The choir will be performing again at the Dufferin Education Week Open House on May 1st.

The Snack Program is in need of more volunteers who can help out for an hour or so once or twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. Many hands make less work for all! If you can help, please contact Mlle Mew or Mme Peters.

In addition to planned gym classes and Track and Field practices at the Spring St. Park, Mme McArthur will also be taking some students to the park occasionally at recess times, to reduce the congestion on our playground, and to permit students access to a large green space to play soccer. Safety is always the number one priority, so students cross the street together, and are always well-supervised at the park.

While we encourage the fitness benefits of roller blading, or riding bikes, scooters or skateboards to school, this is a good time to remind parents and students that we cannot be responsible for theft or damage to these items. Storage has also become an issue, since students must bring their scooters, roller blades or skateboards inside to their classrooms. We do not have many secure areas around the school for storage of these items, and it may become necessary to limit their use due simply to the number of scooters etc. coming to school.

Students must dismount and walk their bikes once on school property, and park them along the fence at the front. A good lock is strongly recommended. Scooters must be folded and carried.

Please have a look through our Lost and Found items during our Open House and Fun Fair. The box is once again full! We hope to have all items returned to their owners before June.

The grade three and grade six EQAO assessments will begin on May 26 and conclude on the 29^th. Please inform the school office if you anticipate an absence for your grade 3 or 6 child during these assessments.

Please note there are no kindergarten classes scheduled for Thursday May 08 in order for us to host an orientation for new kindergarten students in the morning, and hold teacher meetings in the afternoon.

New kindergarten students who have registered for Fall 2008 at Dufferin are invited to bring their parents to an orientation on Thursday May 8^th from 9:30-10:30 at Dufferin School. We will review the French Immersion kindergarten program, answer your questions, take a short tour of the school, and visit a school bus to hear about bus safety.

Our students have focussed on the virtues of Respect, Thankfulness, Tolerance, Compassion, Justice, Self-Discipline, and Forgiveness so far this year. In the month of May, we will learn all about Consideration. Students will be asked to think about what Consideration looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Students will also be recognized at assemblies for demonstrating Consideration.

Students will be showing signs of success in demonstrating Consideration when they:

• Respect other people’s needs and feelings
• Consider others’ needs as important as their own
• Stop and think how their actions might affect others
• Put themselves in others peoples’ shoes
• Think of little things to bring happiness to others

Each year, Dufferin School recognizes the contribution of our many volunteers at a Recognition Reception. This year, we will invite our volunteers to a reception on June 16^th from 4-5 PM. Refreshments and child care will be provided. Please watch for your invitation to come home later in May.

We continue to progress toward the total automation of our library. This has involved many volunteer hours to input data to the computer. Eventually, all our library books will be ‘signed out’ using bar codes and a scanner. This will speed up the processing of new books, streamline circulation, and permit research for projects and even partnerships with other libraries. Thanks to Mme Martisius and M. Maxted for implementing this program, and for their hard work in our library!

The final day for returning books to the school library this year will be Friday, June 13th. Please take the time to make sure that all books are returned with your child by that date. We are still looking for several overdue books, so please start searching around the house for school-owned text books, reading books, and library books. Thanks!

Over 50 Dufferin students practiced regularly with Mme Howey and Mme Gorecki over the past few weeks, in preparation for the Brantford Classic Run held on April 27^th. Managing a group of this size would not have been possible without parental support. Merci! One student, Silas Chinsen, completed the 10k run for the first time. Bravo! Congratulations to Mme Howey and Mme Gorecki for such wonderful participation by Dufferin students! Thanks also to Mme Senecal, a student teacher at Dufferin, for assisting with practices.