McCordic Monthly Number 1 October, 2018 Produced by the staff of W.J. McCordic; Edited by Deborah; Printed by Cathy Learning about the past to make a better future By Colin during their residential school experiences. The offi- cial date for Orange Shirt day – Sept. 30th – was cho- On Friday, Sept. 28, we encouraged our students and sen because this was the time of year that Indigenous staff to wear orange shirts to school to show support children were often taken away from their families for the victims of residential schools in Canada. and sent to school. Along with wearing orange shirts, students created art pieces in the Work Ed. Program. The school also gathered in the Open Area to watch a video presenta- tion. Orange Shirt Day grew out of Phyllis’ story. Phyllis was a young girl at St. Joseph Mission School in BC who had her orange shirt taken away upon arrival at her school. The orange shirt came to symbolize all the things that were taken away from Indigenous students Inside this issue of McCordic Monthly The wheels on the bus go 'round “Music gives a soul to the uni- and 'round, all through the verse, wings to the mind, flight to town! ...2 the imagination and life to every- Upward and Onward for Everyone thing” ...8 in 207!...3 Many sites and sounds for the students in Room 207...3 senses...9 Morning Exercises...3 Snack?...that will be Hey! Is that me in that book?!?...4 one dollar, please...10-11 Room 208: Busy and Bustling...5 Math is Fun!...11 Upcoming events...5 A Message from the Principal and Autumn Stories...6 Vice-Principal...11 Did you know?...7-8 So much to see and do at the Fair...11 The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round, all through the town! By Tirzah Just in time for Thanksgiving, room 109 went to Pine Farms Orchard with room 209 and 110. We drove to King City, Ontario to pick apples and enjoy the beau- tiful leaves starting to change. The trees were just the right height for us to pick the Courtland, Gala, Macintosh, Ambrosia and so many other apple varieties. We walked and wheeled up and down the beautiful hills, eating some of the apples and enjoying lunch underneath the shade of a tree. The next day, we enjoyed a piece of apple pie that we bought at the farm bakery and we planned to bring some of our apples home to our families. Happy Thanksgiving! Below, Here, a student is picking from a Courtland Apple tree. It's just the right height! Above, Here is the entrance to Pine Farms Orchard where you get your apples weighed and you can buy all of their yummy baked goods. Below, In this picture, our students and staff are enjoying some apple pie from the farm! McCordic Monthly October, 2018 Page 2 Upward and Onward for Everyone in 207! By Colin with support from staff. Our class has had a great start to the 2018-19 school Highlights of the school year thus far include: year! The students and staff were all very happy to Field Trip to Markham Fair see all the familiar faces, as well as the addition of a Terry Fox Walk new student and staff member. The students quickly Orange Shirt Day got back into their familiar routines and individualized programs. We are all looking forward to more great events around the school and in the community throughout The students are regularly provided with opportunities this school year! to further develop communication and self-help skills Morning Exercises By Deborah morning exercises as an au- Students in Room 214 take an active thentic cue to get up retrieve part in morning exercises, as so much their flag and stand by their about education at McCordic is about tables. building independence into routines. The morning exercises start Our students’ way of participating in with an acknowledgement that the Morning Exercises is by getting a our school is situated on the flag from the designated spot in the traditional territories of indige- room and holding it during the playing nous people. Next, our nation- of our national anthem, O Canada. A student gets his flag when he hears that al anthem, is announced. For many of our students, this is We started the year with an art activity O Canada is going to be played. where the students painted the flags the cue, to get up and get their that they would use during the playing of the national flag. For other stu- dents, a prompt is anthem. required to go get After the students painted the flags, the flags were their flag and stand laminated and by their desk. then mounted on- to a stick. We continue to be impressed with the The morning ex- growing independ- ercises at ence that our stu- McCordic begin A student paints dents demonstrate at 9:20 am. This a flag which will in following this predictable time be used during routine with re- really helps our A student holds up her the playing of duced prompts. class to use the flag during the playing of O Canada. O Canada McCordic Monthly October, 2018 Page 3 Hey! Is that me in that book?!? By Helen The lite (free) version allows you to make one book, This year in the library and the paid version ($6.99 on one device) allows you we started to use an app to make unlimited books. called Book Creator. It Other ideas for using this app: helps us to make our own customized books Procedural retell by using our own au- Recounting personal experience thentic pictures, photos, videos, audio and captions. Social stories Students can see themselves and their peers being See below for a few pages that we have created so far. represented in the book and also learn to read the sim- ple captions. A student A student A student McCordic Monthly October, 2018 Page 4 Room 208: Busy and Bustling By Matthew Below, Looking at some exhibits Above, walking around the fair Room 208 has been busy and bus- tling so far this year. We had a field Above, Glueing orange paper to make a pumpkin trip to Markham Fair where we got Left, Watching a sample pumpkin being made to walk around the grounds, eat lunch and see many exhibits. Re- Left bottom, putting orange paper on a pumpkin cently we started a pumpkin unit and have worked on decorating pumpkins. Upcoming Great work everyone! Below, Using a dabber to make a pumpkin Events Monthly Dance and Orange Day— October 31 November 9—Grad Photo/Photo Re-take November 11—Remembrance Day Assembly November 12—Report Cards go home November 24—Monthly Dance December 5—Raptors 905 Game Check out our website at: http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/williamjmccordic Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WJMcCordic McCordic Monthly October, 2018 Page 5 Autumn Stories By Laura It’s been a busy Fall for us here in 104 and 107. We’ve worked on many projects including Red Apples, Terry Fox Day, Orange Shirt Day, Thanksgiving Turkeys as well as Autumn Leaves. And now, we are embarking on a ‘Secret Path’ journey and are curious to see where it will lead us! Although we did not go on an apple picking trip this year, our nurse Lucy did and she came back with exciting photos to share. She let us know what her favorite apple was; Red Delicious. We sampled some apples in our classroom and voted that the Jersey Mac and the Liberty apples tied in first place. Last week we were excited to participate in the annual Terry Fox walk. Just before we departed the school we read some inspiring quotes by Terry Fox and our favorite was: “...Even if I don’t finish, we need others to continue. It’s got to keep going without me.” An amazing thing happened just as we left the school gate to go on the walk. A student’s wheel decided to pop off and we had to cut our walk short. Upon returning to school, we reflected again on Terry’s quote and were sure pleased that all our McCordic friends kept on go- ing ahead despite our wheelchair set back. We also celebrated orange shirt day by creating orange beaded t-shirts for art and by attending a school wide assembly which focussed on the significance of Orange Shirt Day. Big thank you to all the parents for supporting this day by sending their children to school wearing orange shirts! Our class believes in Inclusive Design whereby the students enter the “circle” from wherever they are. With this mindset, we’re looking forward to our school-wide initiative of the ‘Secret Path’ which explores the story of Chanie Wenjack. McCordic Monthly October, 2018 Page 6 Did you know? McCordic goes back in time By Anthony Green ger on C deck discovered smoke coming from under a locked linen closet. He alerted a bellboy Did you know that the SS Noronic was one of and several attempts were made to extinguish the largest passenger steamships that ever the fire, but the crew realized that the fire was out sailed the Great Lakes and made more than a of control. thousand voyages during her 37 years of ser- vice? On that fateful night, 118 passengers perished. th There were many heroic attempts to save the In the early 20 century, sailing the Great Lakes passengers who were trapped in the inferno.