What’s Up Next At DCPS - Issue #15 - May 26, 2026

Message from Administration

As we finish up the final week of May and prepare for a busy June, we want to share some updates on our recent community events and student activities.

Earlier this month, our school participated in Children’s Mental Health Week under the theme "Come Together," focusing on building strong connections with self, families, peers, and the wider community. This focus on connection was reflected in our Eco Team's spring-cleaning donation drive, which culminated in our first DC Pop-Up Thrift Shop on May 22, offering families an opportunity to source gently used clothing at no cost. Additionally, our ongoing Food Drive continues until May 28 in support of the Markham Food Bank, helping to provide relief to local families experiencing food insecurity.

We would also like to recognize our students' recent efforts in the arts and athletics. The Spring Concert on May 7 showcased excellent student musicality through class performances and our Concert Band and Primary and Junior/Intermediate choirs, while our Battle of the Books team demonstrated great teamwork and dedication during their competition on May 6. In athletics, our Intermediate Badminton team participated in the Area East Tournament on May 4, with one of our mixed doubles teams placing 5th out of 22 teams. All of the doubles teams (Boys, Girls and Mixed) represented DCPS well, demonstrating effort, teamwork and sportsmanship. Our Intermediate Soccer tryouts and practices have also been well underway throughout the month, with student-athletes recently moving their practices outside to the back field to prepare for their upcoming season. Speaking of the field, we hosted our Junior and Intermediate Track and Field days last week, with all students in Grades 4-8 participating. 

Looking ahead, sixty of our students are currently participating in our newly launched intramural volleyball league, an eager group of runners meets at school at 7:30 am for the Running Club, and performers are busy preparing for our upcoming Talent Show. We are also bringing back Treat Tuesdays and Thursdays this June, with ice cream sandwiches available for pre-order via School Cash Online.

Of course, none of these activities and events can take place without the support of staff who volunteer their time before, during and after school hours to coach, organize, and support these diverse student activities. We appreciate the efforts of our staff members, including Ms. Quach, Ms. Channa, Ms. Tang, Ms. Kameka, Ms. Ducheck, Ms. Bouroukis, Mr. Varma, Mr. Mueller, Ms. Lung, Ms. Hetherington, Ms. Saxton, Mr. Wills, Ms. Mah and Ms. Grant.

Finally, we encourage students to participate in Bike to School Week from June 1st to June 5th. Whether travelling by bike, scooter, or skateboard, please ensure your child wears a helmet to keep safety a top priority. As always, please reach out to the school if you have any questions or concerns, as we value our continued partnership with our school families.

Sean Yao                        Joanne Trim

Principal                        Vice Principal

DCPS Library Learning Commons

It’s been a busy month in the library!

We have continued to have Makerspace activities available for students to use when they visit the library. 

We had a special contest to learn more about the nonfiction Dewey Decimal system. Students had to find the secret book and write down the call number.

We also participated in the Battle of the Books in the month of May!  This friendly trivia competition celebrates the joy of reading as more than 10 schools face off to answer questions about 30 popular books. Each school team is made up of six enthusiastic readers in Grades 4–6 who work together to test their knowledge and teamwork skills. The students worked very hard and tried their best! Great job, team!

Thank you for your continued support!

- Ms. Channa

Bike to School Week is June 1 – June 5

Let’s get wheeling! The annual Bike to School Week rolls in from June 1 to 5, 2026.

Bike to School Week provides an opportunity for students to try riding a bike to school for the first time, learn new skills, connect with others, or have fun exploring the neighbourhood and nature.

When cycling, remember to:

1. Wear a properly fitting helmet. Every cyclist under 18 must wear a bike helmet.
2. Air Brakes Chain – Check your bike’s tires, brakes and chain before you start riding.
3. Ensure your bike has a working bell, white light or reflector at the front, and a red light or reflector at the back. For information and to learn more visit the Government of Ontario’s bicycle safety information.
4. Cross at crosswalks, if there is one. Walk beside your bike when crossing the road.
5. Watch for cars backing out of driveways and turning at intersections.
6. Lock your bike in bike racks.
7. Be visible and dress for the weather.

 For anyone who can’t walk or cycle to school every day, we encourage you to try choosing an active mode of travel two or three times a week, or consider parking and walking a block to decrease the pollution around your school. 

 Benefits of Biking to School

• Promotes physical and mental health
• Students arrive energized and ready to learn
• Improved safety in school zones
• Good for the environment
• Convenient, bicycling is often faster than sitting in traffic
• Good for the community, encourages social interaction
• Promotes life-long habits that foster independence and active lifestyles, preparing children for their future
• Just plain old simple fun!

More information can be found at York Region Cycling education webpage.

Equipment required by law

• Bell or horn
• Lights and reflectors:
  • a white light mounted on front of your bike
  • a red light or reflector on the back at night
• Reflective tape:
  • white reflective tape on the front forks
• A bicycle helmet is legally required if you are under 18
  • Helmets should fit properly, be worn correctly and meet strict safety standards

Mabel’s Labels - Keep track of your child’s belongings at school!

Our school continues to fundraise with Mabel’s Labels! If you’re not familiar with Mabel’s Labels, they are personalized, durable, waterproof labels. They are great for everything from shoes, clothing tags, water bottles and backpacks. You can customize them with your name and a design, and they are dishwasher, laundry and microwave safe.

Mabel’s Labels also offers clothing stamps, silicone bands for water bottles and medical alert labels. This is a great way to ensure your items don’t end up in the lost & found or mixed up. To reduce the spread of germs, we highly recommend labelling but they are also useful for everyday life.

To support our fundraiser, visit campaigns.mabelslabels.com and enter DONALD COUSENS PUBLIC SCHOOL. You can pick out whatever labels or product you want, and it will ship for free directly to your house! Thank you for supporting us!

There is currently a 20% off sale on summer camp labels. If your child isn’t attending a summer camp, these are also perfect labels to use for their belongings that come back and forth from school to ensure that they aren’t lost.

Hot Lunch Program

School Mental Health Ontario

As part of our continued commitment to supporting the well-being of our students and families, we encourage parents and caregivers to explore the wealth of evidence-based tools available through School Mental Health Ontario (SMHO). Their dedicated parent and caregiver hub, "By Your Side," offers practical, everyday resources designed to support student mental health and overall family well-being. To support our diverse school community, many of these high-quality resources are available in multiple languages. The website provides free webinar series, informative blog posts, and expert guidance on highly relevant topics, including stress and anxiety management, navigating digital technology, and promoting positive mental health at home. We invite you to visit the School Mental Health Ontario Parents and Caregivers Page to access these valuable materials and learn more about how we can work together to nurture our children's emotional health. 

For each newsletter, we will choose a resource to highlight. In this issue, we would like to bring your attention to:  Helping Your Child Manage Digital Technology 

Sparking Joy through Outdoor Math Adventures

Welcome, families! As the weather gets warmer, let's take our math conversations outside! This month, we're exploring Math in the Outdoors and discovering how the natural world around us is filled with rich mathematical opportunities. From counting pebbles to measuring shadows, bringing math outdoors makes learning hands-on, engaging, and incredibly joyful.

Connecting it Back to the Classroom

Using math to directly observe and interact with nature can help students to understand concepts in measurement, spatial sense, number sense and patterning; all concepts they are exploring in the classroom. Students can engage with the math at home and outdoors by estimating the height of trees, measuring the perimeter of a garden using standard and non-standard units of measurement, finding patterns they see in nature, within buildings structures, or having them identify properties of shapes (edges, vertices, diameters, circumferences) in natural objects. Students can even collect and organize data about observed animals, plant types, or weather patterns, and then display that information in a graph or table

Engaging in Outdoor Math Conversations at Home

The great outdoors is your ready-made math classroom! Here’s how to spark meaningful math conversations:

• Counting Collections: 
  • Ask your child to collect a certain number of natural items (e.g., "Find 10 smooth stones," "How many dandelions can you count in this patch?"). Practice skip counting by 1s, 2s, or 5s.
  • Sort or organize some items found in nature in different ways
• Measurement Adventures: 
  • "How many steps from the front door to the big tree?"
  • "Can you find a stick that is double the length of your shoe?", 
  • “Can you determine the distance around the tree?”
• Geometry in Nature: 
  • Challenge students to find different shapes in nature (e.g., circular spiderwebs, shapes in leaves, rectangular brick patterns, archways in buildings). 
  • “Can you find an object with a line of symmetry?”
  • “Where might you find some examples of parallel lines and perpendicular lines in your surroundings?” 
  • “ What angles might you see in the branches of the trees?”
• Pattern Detective: 
  • “What patterns can you see on this bug’s wings or this flower?
  • Looking for repeating or growing patterns in plants, or even the arrangement of seeds in a pinecone. Challenge students to determine what might come next in the pattern.
  • Can you find a pattern in the way the tree branches grow? Describe the pattern using numbers or a rule
• Estimation Games: 
  • Look at larger numbers and ask, “How many leaves do you think are on that branch?" 
  • “Estimate how long it will take us to walk around the block." , 
  • How many trees might there be in the forest?”

A Fantastic Resource for Families: Canadian Outdoor Learning Resources

(https://treebee.ca/)

This website helps students (and adults!) learn about trees in Canada through interactive tools and games. You can use it to identify different types of local trees, review diagrams on how to help forests grow, or use the interactive map to help you find the trees you are interested in. You can also visit this website: https://www.york.ca/environment/forests/outdoor-education to learn more about outdoor education in York Region and to download printable nature‑based activities that are ideal for family nature walks. 

By embracing math in the outdoors, you'll be fostering mathematically curious and capable thinkers who appreciate the beauty and order of our natural world.

Happy outdoor math adventures!