Deadline extended – this is the last day to hand in your Fresh From the Farm order to the Essex School Office. Make sure you don’t miss out on fresh, local produce delivered to the school! Hand in your forms today!

Volunteers and Potluck Items Needed for our Monster Mixer

Friday, Oct. 27^th at 5:30pm

We need volunteers from both Essex and Hawthorne to ensure our annual Monster Mixer is another Spook-tacular success this year.  Volunteer Positions are as follows.  Please email lbacon6@gmail.com if you are able to help.  Kindly include your full name, contact number or email, and which position/time you can fill.

Volunteer Positions:

–       Help Team Set-Up:  3:30 – 4:30pm

–       Maintain Potluck Table: 5:30-6:30pm or 6:30-7:30pm

–       Supervise Children’s Toss Games: 5:30-6:30pm or 6:30-7:30pm

–       Supervise Children’s Craft Table:  5:30-6:30pm or 6:30-7:30pm

–       Maintain Photo Booth Area: 5:30-6:30pm or 6:30-7:30pm

–       Hand out Children’s Prizes: 5:30-6:30pm or 6:30-7:30pm

–       Distribute “Passport” Mixer Game:  5:30-6:15pm or 6:15-7:00pm

–       Help Team Clean Up:  7:30-8:00pm

Potluck Sign Up:

–       Visit www.bit.ly/monstermixer and RSVP with your email address and post what dish you are bringing.

–       Please remember, no nuts or traces of nuts.

Greetings Essex Parents and Guardians – this year we are organizing an online silent auction (end of November) to help raise money for parent council initiatives at the school!

Donations: Do you know someone who might like to display their company or product to our community? Would you like to give back to our school by donating an item to the event? This is an incredible opportunity to promote your business to the Essex Community and support our fundraising efforts. We will be showcasing items, promoting them on our blog and promoting it on social media! If you would like to donate please get in touch with Allison Venditti – Allison.venditti@gmail.com to organize a donation.

Virtual Volunteers: Interested in helping out at the school but just don’t have a lot of time? Want to help out at one of our biggest fundraisers of the year without having to commit to lots of hours? Join the virtual team that is organizing the silent auction. We have multiple options for you to help (virtually!) And all with the option of never having to leave your desk :) Tasks can include: picking up a donated item or two, photographing items, requesting donations via email or in person (we will provide the request letter and an email template) Contact Allison.Venditti@gmail.com to see if there is a way for you to give just a little!

School Council reps field questions on many topics, and we’ll try to find the answers and post them here on the blog. Today, the topic is school snack.

Who gets school snack?
The school snack is available to all children in the classroom, even those who do not pay money.

Why do we get a tax receipt for contributions?
Funding for the program comes from a charitable organization, parent contributions and school funds. Parent contributions are eligible for a charitable tax receipt.

Is it a morning snack or an afternoon snack?
Snack happens each day in the morning, right after morning announcements.

The form home had a sample menu, what is the actual menu at Essex?
(Note: This menu is subject to change without notice due to seasonal suppliers.)

How is the menu decided? What are the nutritional requirements?
The snack program at Essex is considered a morning meal, or breakfast, and so it includes 3 food groups. The TDSB’s Nutrition FAQ about school nutrition programs has lots of information you might find helpful, such as the Student Nutrition Standard, food handling procedures concerning allergy, contact information for the Nutrition Liaison Office and volunteer information.

Hi everyone!
Just a reminder that tomorrow, Thursday, October 5th, the school will have ‘Wacky Hat Day’. Along with it, we are asking students to donate a toonie for Unicef in Mexico. Please kindly remind your child today. Thank you.
Essex Staff

PHOTO DAY – Thursday, October 12, 2017
Don’t forget! Our photo day is Thursday October 12th. Edge imaging provides a wide selection of products to capture your child’s true personality. Your child should be bringing home a flyer containing all of the details. Feel free to visit Edge Imaging for answers to frequently asked questions.

Parents are you looking for a very rewarding way to volunteer for your school’s community? If so, please consider making a difference in a student’s life by helping them develop early reading skills.

Last year this program ran at Hawthorne and helped 14 Grade One students to improve their reading strategies and become comfortable, more fluent readers. Volunteers read 1:1 with their assigned student for thirty minute sessions approximately three to five times per week.  Word games and leveled readers are filed and available for you to choose from and together we would create a reading kit appropriate for your student’s interests. We find that many Grade One students just need a little boost of support (possibly just one 9-week session) to get them up to speed.

For more information or to sign up please get in touch with ERC Coordinator for Essex ASAP -Jessica Haber at jessica.haber@tdsb.on.ca.

Let’s get this terrific program up and running!

Dear Parents,

We would like to personally invite you to join us in making a difference in the lives of the children at Essex Public School by supporting us in the upcoming Indigo Adopt a School program.

There are three ways that our community can support our school online at adoptaschool.indigo.ca

1. Book Bonus: For every two books you donate to our school online, the Love of Reading Foundation will donate a bonus book, up to 100 books!*

2. Tell a Story, Give a Story. Every time you post a story to our Adopt a School profile, the Love of Reading Foundation will donate one book in support of our school library, up to 20 books!

3. Adopt a School Story Contest: “Heart” your favorite story to help a school for a chance to win* big! The five most-loved stories in each province will be entered into a random draw for a chance to win a $2,500 Indigo eGiftcard to purchase books for their adopted school. The remaining four top “hearted” schools in each province will win a $500 Indigo eGiftcard to purchase books! Choose wisely because you only get one shot to “Heart” a story!

* The Love of Reading Foundation values a book at $10. To learn more, see our Program Overview and Contest Details pages.

Our school is going to receive every dollar raised to support our library and a 30% discount off books when we shop at Indigo, Chapters and Coles using program donations.

As you may know, our current annual library budget is $4000 which is approximately $14.00 per student. Through the Adopt a School program, we are hoping raise enough money to put one new book in the hands of each and every one of our students!

Please visit adoptaschool.indigo.ca from September 16 to October 8 to show your support for our library! We look forward to surprising the staff and children at Essex Public School with all the new library books this year!

Sincerely,

J. Harry Quon, Principal

Leslie Tumangday, Vice Principal