Check out the video to see the Tennyson craziness that happens at the end of every assembly!

This video has many students dancing and is intended to show the fun the students have at the assemblies - please email blog@lordtennyson.ca if you would like it removed because your child is in it and we will remove it right away.  No harm intended ... just trying to show the Tennyson Spirit!

On Wednesday, Feb 27th, Denny’s will have a special offer for Pink Shirt Day, a day Tennyson will be participating in.

To encourage the rest of the community to take part, Denny’s will be offering FREE PINK PANCAKES to everyone that comes into the restaurant between 3pm-6pm wearing a Pink Shirt.

There is no purchase necessary, we want to encourage as many people as possible to take part in this great event.

I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of students, sibling & parents coming in for a great after school snack!

Thank you & Hope to see you soon.

Tony Tong, General Manager of the Denny's Restaurant at 1296 West Broadway
604-731-9033

Wednesday, February 27th is anti-bullying and homophobia day, better know as Pink Day. To celebrate, Tennyson will have two assemblies, one at 9:30 am and one at 11:10 am. You are invited to join us.

The Global Group will also be selling pink t-shirts ($6.00, available in all sizes) and bracelets ($1.50) from February 25th to 27th. Please join us in celebrating one of Tennyson's core values, respect of others by wearing pink to school.

As we are aware, the word bullying has been prevalent in the media as of late. Below is a helpful description of the difference between peer conflicts and bullying. Also, the Ministry of Education has launched a website entitled “Erase Bullying” which has a section for parents. “The goal of Erase Bullying is to ensure that every child in British Columbia feels safe, accepted and respected regardless of their gender, race, culture, religion or sexual orientation” (p.7 of Preventing Bullying & Ensuring Safe and Caring School Communities).

And lastly on this topic, “25% of Canadian children and teens have had mean, hateful and threatening things said to them over the Internet or on their cell phone." Ask your child if they are one of them. For information on cyber bullying, visit wiredsafety.org

When a child is having a problem with her or his peers, it can be hard for parents to know what is really happening – is it bullying? Or is it something else? Each type of behaviour must be handled differently, to keep children safe and help them learn how to get along with others.

Peer Conflict
Conflict between and among peers is a natural part of growing up. Children will have times when they disagree and can’t solve their own problems. They may even become so frustrated that they say mean things or act out physically by hitting, kicking or trying to hurt. If it’s peer conflict you will be aware that these children:

• usually choose to play or hang out together;
  
• have equal power (similar age, size, social status, etc.);
  
• are equally upset;
  
• are both interested in the outcome; and
  
• will be able to work things out with adult help (after calming down).
  

Adults can respond by helping the children talk it out, and see each other’s perspective. This is often referred to as “conflict resolution”.

Mean Behaviour
Children may try out behaviours to assert themselves – sometimes saying or doing mean things – such as making fun of others, using a hurtful name, taking something without permission, leaving a child out, or “budging” in line. If it is mean behavior, usually:

• it is not planned and seems to happen spontaneously or by chance;
  
• it may be aimed at any child nearby;
  
• the child being mean may feel badly when an adult points out the harm they’ve caused.
  

When adults see mean behavior they should not ignore it. Adults should respond quickly, firmly and respectfully to stop the behaviour, to let kids know that their actions are hurtful and to re-direct children to more positive behaviour.

This quick response stops children from developing a pattern of mean behaviour as their way of interacting with peers, and prevents mean behavior from escalating into bullying. It is a lot easier to correct a child for one nasty comment than to change a pattern of cruelty that grows over time.

Bullying Behaviour
Bullying is serious behavior that has three key features – all three must be present for the situation to be considered bullying:

• Power imbalance -- One child clearly has power over the other(s), which may be due to age, size, social status, and so on.
  
• Intention to harm -- The purpose of the bullying behaviour is to harm or hurt other(s) – it’s intended to be mean and is clearly not accidental.
  
• Repeated over time -- bullying behaviour continues over time, and gets worse with repetition. There is a real or implied threat that the behaviour will not stop, and in fact will become even more serious.

The effect on the child who is being bullied is increased fear, apprehension, and distress. Often by the time adults find out about what is happening, the child has tried many ways to stop the bullying but cannot do so on their own. Adults must address the bullying behaviour and ensure the safety of the student who has been targeted. They also need to reassure the children who may have witnessed the behaviour that adults are taking care of it.

When schools respond to bullying, staff will also help the child who has been bullying others to take responsibility for their actions, and change their behaviour. They will monitor the situation to ensure the bullying stops, and will support the child who has been bullied to regain confidence and a sense of safety. Staff may follow-up with the students who observed the behaviour to help them learn what to do when they see bullying.

The “conflict resolution” style of bringing the children together is not recommended in bullying situations, until considerable time has gone by and all children are feeling safe enough to talk about what happened so that relationships can be healed

Do you have an overflowing sock drawer at home? The homeless sure do not.

With the help of the Global Group, we are going to be participating in a sock collection program called Happy Feet. Happy Feet will benefit homeless people in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side who don’t have the luxury of putting on a clean pair of socks every morning. Lord Tennyson is one of six participating schools who are all working to collect new and gently used pairs of socks that will be counted, washed and distributed to homeless shelters in the Downtown East Side. There will be a collection box in every classroom. The program will run from next Monday, February 25th until just before Spring Break, on Thursday, March 14th. We are accepting new and gently used socks of all kinds (wool, athletic etc.) and all sizes (kids and adults). We will also be accepting cash donations that will go towards the purchasing of new socks, an added convenience for everyone! $1 is equivalent to one pair of socks. Think of the impact that even 500 pairs of socks would have – if every student brought in one or two pairs of socks. Happy Feet is being run as a competition between the six participating schools.

Let’s try and bring more socks/cash donations than all of the other schools!

The Spring 2013 Noon Hour Program schedule has been announced. Stay tuned for the After School program schedule, which is still being finalized. 

Registration will run March 1-15.

The Grade 7 students along with their teachers left for Quebec today.  The students will billet with students from a sister school close to Quebec City where they will have an opportunity to experience Carnival.  The week-long trip is a Tennyson tradition that is an experience not to be missed.

The Grade 7s were sent off this morning in true Tennyson style with a good-bye organized by the grade 6 students and parents.

Bon Voyage!  Have a wonderful time!

Next game is at Lord Roberts on Feb 21st. 

Thanks to Cristina Ionica for this report.

The PAC has announced an exciting line-up of speakers as part of it's Parent Education Speakers program covering the remainder of the school year.  The topics are:

• March 5, 2013  How to Support Your Child's Learning - presented by Suzanne Hall from the BCTF
  
• April 9, 2013    Parenting in the Cyber-age and Cyber-Bullying - presented by SOLOS
  
• May 7, 2013     The Quebec Trip: All You Need to Know from a Student, Teacher, and Parent Point of View
  

Much more information is available on our Parent Education Speakers page. We hope you can make it!

The Vancouver School Board is conducting an online survey regarding the school calendars for the 2013-2014. This includes 7 district closure days to meet budget shortfalls. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey.

VSB 2013 Calendar Survey