Text:

Curriculum Night

HAWTHORNE II BILINGUAL ALTERNATIVE JS
&
ESSEX JR. & SR. P.S.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Join us to meet your children’s teachers, hear from
School Council and find out more about school
programs

Essex: Introductions and Welcome in East Gym at 6:00 pm with
visits to classrooms from 6:15-7:00 pm

300 Essex

Text:

International Languages Elementary and African Heritage Programs

Essex Junior Public School

50 Essex Street, Toronto, ON M6G 1T3

This fall we will be offering the following languages at our school:

American Sign Language

Cantonese

Portuguese

Spanish

Classes run every Wednesday from 3:30 – 6:00 pm

Minimum of 23 registered students are required to open a language (new or existing) class.

Registration Information:

Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018 from 3:30-6:00 pm in School Foyer

Please bring child’s OEN number (on student’s report card), health card number, emergency contact name and phone number.  The $20 materials fee may be paid by cheque (payable to ‘TDSB-Int’l Languages’) or Credit Card (VISA or MasterCard only)

First day of class:Wednesday, Sept  19, 2018

Contact number: 416-788-2180

My heartfelt thanks to all parents and guardians who volunteered their time toward Essex School Council initiatives this past school year. We had many amazing events, pizza lunches on Fridays, a fabulous Spring Fling, awesome new Spirit Wear, exciting gardening and landscape improvements, new grants and fantastic fundraising initiatives that have raised money to improve the school for students, teachers, parents and the whole community. Way to go, team!

I look forward to remaining involved as School Council Treasurer next year and seeing many returning and new faces. Until then, have a wonderful summer!

Debbie
Essex PS School Council Chair

Essex PS School Council Meeting

June 12, 2018

Minutes

Principal’s Report

Class placement meetings have been completed. The model is similar to this year but now we have a 2/3.  Erin Corcoran is moving to the MART Role. Elise Greenberg will be returning from parental leave to fill the JK/SK position.

Wizard of Oz was a huge success.  All classes participated including the ISP classes.  Primary concert is tomorrow night.

Mr. Quon is on a leave and Bob Pelletier is filling in in the office for the next two weeks. At this point there are no changes in administration for next year.

Air conditioners have been installed in the library so we now have an operational cooling station.

Teachers are finishing up report cards and planning end of year trips etc.

We were accepted as an OPAL school and the lead team is meeting with EarthPlay on Thursday July 21st at 3:30pm

There will be a talent show on the last day of school.

Ideas for next year:

Work on a calendar with parent council meetings, pizza lunch dates and school assemblies etc.

Have a student from Grade 7/8 as a parent council rep who brings ideas/report to council

Next year we need teacher rep for council, have one teacher sign up each month

Safe and caring schools committee needs a parent rep to meet once every month or two to discuss school climate, discipline etc.

Yoga for next year

We want to see about other options for next year

There may be a TDSB list of approved vendors, we can look into

We are looking for a similar price ($2 per kid)

Kate will do some research and let us know the options

Spring Fling

We counted money today – cash plus credit card $ from the square and sponsorship money from Hawthorne and then there will be a few expenses. Net amount will be announced when it is final.

We need to get a cheque from Hawthorne for sponsorship- email Naakai

We need to confirm plans for the money.

One idea is to purchase four more picnic tables, two for the primary yard and 2 for the front yard.

Treasurer Report

There is $12,000 in the bank, minus expenditures approved for this year.  We should have some balance at the beginning of the year in order to make spending decisions early next year rather than waiting.

Pizza Lunch

Form is done

Allison is going to arrange the orders, allergy stuff in the fall

Deb will take care of the cheques/$ end

We need 3 volunteers per lunch and a coordinating team

Jessica will make a google doc to arrange volunteers and try to approach specific people to find a coordinator for the year

PRO Grant

PRO grant for next year is done, Harry has signed it

This year $500 went to the math night and $500 went toward the Pow Wow Experience

Next year look into a social media/screen time workshop

Roles for Next Year

Deb is going to act as Treasurer, nominated by Melissa and seconded by Jessica

Melissa is going to take on the chair role, nominated by Debbie and seconded by Jessica

Darci will continue with spirit wear

Jessica/Allison will start pizza lunch and try to pass on role

We need a secretary for next year

Carla, a new parent, has volunteered to be the blog person

Look for people to run book sale next year and for Spring Fling committee

Kate and Allison will do silent auction again next year in November

Snack Program for next year

We have the snack grant from Toronto Foundation for Student Success for next year

Ideally someone who comes in for 2 hours each morning and then has a lunchroom supervisor role to try to prepare snack fresh

Right now Nancy does the job, we would like to find out if she wants to continue

Rephrasing the snack form so parents do not feel it is optional and see the benefits for all kids in the school, Kate will work on re-branding it

Food and Wellness activities for next year and other new ideas

For next year it would be great to do some cooking with classes, perhaps a call out to volunteers for parents who are chefs or home chefs and could run workshops

We could offer individual teachers money to run community lunches once a term

Also we would like to support Wellness Days once per term

Maybe a dance party for next year sponsored by parent council

Melissa will do a coffee and treats for the first day of school in September

Lemonade party the week before school starts in the kindy schoolyard, Mrs. Costa has offered to be here, August 28th after school from 4-5pm

Allison usually arranges a meet up the week after school starts in the park

Jessica can do book sale and Bag2School in the fall

Jessica will do Early Reading Club again to try and get volunteers for next year

Kate wants to do a mentoring group for girls next year, this year we used Big Brothers and Big Sisters and Leslie would like to do it again for Grades 6-8

In addition:

School Council approved a small fund to purchase thank you gifts as a token of our appreciation to lunchroom supervisor staff and a contribution to refreshments for teachers as a thank you for all of their hard work this year.

First parent council meeting next year will be Oct. 2nd at 6pm in the library

Hello Gardeners!

Summer is approaching and once again the Garden Committee is looking for parents to sign up for a week of summer watering.  By signing up for the summer watering schedule your job is to make sure the front gardens (outdoor classroom garden boxes, new shade perennial garden beside the bike rack, blue canoe) get watered as needed (probably 2-3 times per week depending on rain).It would also be helpful to do a bit of weeding when you are in the garden.

When you get to the garden, open the storage box and find a bag with the hose and the water key (it looks like a tool more than a key). Hook up the hose, turn the key and the water should be flowing. During the week from 7:30 am-6:00 pm the daycare is open so you are able to find the caretakers if you have any difficulties with the water hook up.

For those of you who are new to summer watering, we will hold a brief orientation from 8:15-8:45 am in the front garden/outdoor classroom on Tuesday June 26th. Please feel free to forward this schedule to any other parents you think would be interested in helping out.  It is a fun way to stay connected to the school in the summer and get your kids involved in caring for the school grounds.

SIGN UP LINK:

Thank you very much,
The Garden Committee

P.S. You are free to help yourself to peas, greens, herbs, cucumbers and any tomatoes that may come to fruition, and don’t forget the Saskatoon berries!

Please join school council on June 12th for our final meeting of the year. We’ll be discussing plans for fundraising and school spending for next year, so this is a great chance to get involved and support your child’s school.

Tuesday June 12th, 6 p.m., School Library

We are looking to fill the positions of secretary (meeting minutes, creating forms), pizza lunch coordinator (no meetings required, availability Friday on pizza lunch dates), and general members (come with ideas, get involved as you can).

If you are interested and can’t make the meeting, please email debbietoronto@hotmail.com and let me know.

Thanks and see you then!

Debbie

Essex School Council Chair

The Wizard of Oz production is coming up. We’re so excited for you to see what we’ve put together. The students have been working so hard and we’re looking forward to sharing it with you.

We are hoping to capture all the magic and that’s where YOU come in!! We are urgently seeking a video camera and/or videographers for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night. Please email Tanya at Tanya.bates@tdsb.on.ca if you might be able to help with this. Thanks so much!

—
Tanya Bates
Grade 1/2 Teacher
Hawthorne II Bilingual Alternative Junior School

Please join us in the school yard on June 4th from 10:00-11:30 for our annual Pow Wow Experience, to celebrate National Indigenous History Month. Our Pow Wow will be performed by the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto “Indigenize Our Minds” educational outreach programme, or IOMEOP.

This is a not for profit program committed to providing an Indigenous perspective to Indigenous history, culture and language in North America to the Toronto community. IOMEOP delivers the understanding of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people by engaging our audience with cultural academic educators through experiential, interactive and holistic learning. All of the presentations meet the requirements of the Ontario Ministry of Education Curriculum and provides Indigenous Cultural Sensitivity training and customized presentations based on the requests of Organizations, Agencies & Businesses.

There will be 4 drummers, 4 dancers, and an opening presentation.

We hope you can come and take part in this Indigenous cultural experience!

We are currently looking to hire 3 lunchroom supervisors, to start immediately or in September.  You must enjoy working with students.  Time: 11:20 to 12:35 each day.  Must be available at least 3 days a week, and you will need your police clearance if you do not have it currently.

Please contact leslie.tumangday@tdsb.on.ca if interested.