Fern Ave. Public School Blog

PLAYGROUND COMMUNITY MEETING Monday, April 2, 8:00 P.M. Swansea Town Hall, 95 Lavinia Avenue **ALL ARE WELCOME ** I want all of you to know that hundreds of local residents have contacted us to note the spirit and generosity of your pledged offers. On behalf of the larger community, we appreciate and thank you for your efforts to date. Over the course of today and the weekend, we will be turning around the microphone, such that the local community has an opportunity to provide input to the City. In holding this second facilitated design session, we intend to demonstrate the community's determination in honouring Jamie Bell's legacy, our respect for the City's defined processes with respect to gathering requirements from the most important stakeholders—its users—and finally, to remind the City that the value of any democratic process is defined by the exceptions it permits. Best regards, Jeff D. Derksen, PMP Chair High Park Residents' Association P. S. You can read the

The Spring Fling Fundraising party night is Saturday, April 21st down at the Toronto Sailing and Canoe Club on the Lakeshore! Book your babysitters now and get ready for a terrific night of music, drinks, laughter, auctions, fun and frivolity! Money raised will help bring additional programs in to our children’s classrooms, programs like; the new Robotics club, Get Caught Reading program, music and song writing workshops and athletic clubs. An enriched education and community makes Fern special and we need your participation to make it all work! So, here’s how you can help : 1. Come out to the event! You can buy tickets from the School Office or from parent volunteers in the school yard—it’s only $20/per person. 2. Invite your friends and bring your chequebook! 3. We would really appreciate if you can donate something to the auction. Maybe you know or have access to a service that could be auctioned off i.e. architectural or landscaping services, photography, art class, cooki

Click here to download the April newsletter.

We wish to invite all parents, students and staff to complete the following survey and share their thoughts and opinions on advertising in TDSB schools. Please go to http://www.tdsb.on.ca/advertisingsurvey to access the survey and to learn more about advertising in schools (e.g. fundraising and grant recognition, yearbook sponsors, athletic uniforms, etc). Surveys can be completed individually and/or submitted as a collective, on behalf of Student and/or School Councils. Results will be used to understand whether the Board’s Advertising Policy (P006) continues to reflect the values and needs of our students and school communities. Surveys (with available translations) can be completed and submitted online or printed and submitted via your school office.  The deadline is Friday, 6 April 2012 .

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that the mother of our school secretary, Vera Ciric, passed away early Sunday morning. The funeral will take place this Wednesday, March 28 at 11 am at the Turner and Porter Funeral home on Roncesvalles, followed by a procession to Beechwood cemeteries at Jane and Steeles. We extend to Vera and her family our deep and sincere sympathies and condolences during this especially difficult time. Mr. A. Moy Principal Fern Avenue Junior and Senior Public School

Beast Feast Video We hope everyone is listening to their Katherine Wheatley CD from her "Youth Songs" project with 12 of our classes in December. Now you can watch a video too!!! Mr. Roy Morra and Ms. Sonya Mably's grade 6 class made some beautiful illustrations of their song, and Mr. Morra put together a "Beast Fest" video of their work. We highly recommend you check it out and pass it on; it's amazing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah4hDPwfcIM&feature=youtu.be There are still CD's for sale — please ask at the Fern office if you'd like one.

In response to the high interest from our students for the Fern Avenue PS Athletics T-shirt, we are currently taking orders. The T-shirts are forest green in colour and have our school’s falcon logo on them ( order forms include a sample look). As a school we are also planning on using them at TDSB sporting events such as cross country and track & field, and possibly for some outdoor excursions. The ‘Athletics’ T-shirts are priced at $10 and the cut-off date for order forms to be brought in is Monday April 2nd . Please drop off your completed order forms in the box located by Vera in the office.

Join Roncesvalles' 3rd Annual Earth Hour Candlelight Walk on Saturday March 31st. The event is expected to start just outside the Revue around 8:15, and then the candle holding crowd will walk past the participating businesses, in a celebratory salute! Passing through the Village, the Earth Hour revellers will end up at the base of King/Queen/Roncesvalles to enjoy a post walk performance (or two). All may enjoy the magical starry night darkened-void, where hopefully the lack of ambient light will leave the participants with sense of pride. If the weather remains unseasonably warm, a large turnout is expected and appreciated. Cancelled if bad weather. Please bring a recycled container to carry a candle on the walk; a limited amount of candles will be available.

Our final vaccination clinic for our grade 7 and 8 student's will be held on April 23, 2012 in the morning. The following vaccines will be given: - Second dose of Hepatitis B vaccine to grade 7 students - Third dose of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to grade 8 female students - Catch up doses of the meningococcal, hepatitis B and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to students who missed their earlier scheduled doses For more information on the above vaccinations visit http://www.toronto.ca/health/immunization_children/index.htm

If you haven’t signed up your child for April’s lunch program, you still have a few days to provide your child with delicious, nutritious meals while enjoying the extra time you’ll save packing lunches. Download April's lunch order form and submit it into the secure mailbox outside the Ferncliff Daycare office (room 103) by Monday, March 19 . Hard copies of the menu and the order form are also available outside the office. We are still looking for volunteers to help serve Maggie’s yummy lunches. Your child does not have to participate in the program for you to be involved – it’s a great way to meet other parents, learn about the school community and help support healthy and delicious eating. If you are interested please contact Carole Angus at carole.angus@rogers.com . For more information, contact Tracy Kett at tracykett@rogers.com ; (416) 535-0205.

The TDSB Parent Involvement Advisory Committee (PIAC) has prepared a document on online supports available to TDSB students. Homework Help provides one-to-one math tutoring for students in grades 7, 8, 9 and 10. To register, students require their OEN (Ontario Education Number), which can be found on their report card, and an email address. The Ontario Educational Resource Bank houses over 22,000 resources, created by Ontario teachers for Ontario students and classrooms. Find lessons, interactive materials, assessments, and more. For more information, please download the PIAC Online Resources document .

The non-profit Wabash Building Society is reaching out to the Fern Ave PS community to let everyone know about exciting plans to expand Sorauren Avenue Park with the development of the new Sorauren Town Square.

It only takes a few hours and the rewards are great! Please join us on Thursday, March 22 from 6:30 - 8:30 in Room 216 for our March Parent Council Meeting. We will be discussing: English and French streams at Fern Spring Fling at Toronto Sailing and Canoe Club on April 21 Grade 7 & 8 Involvement Committee updates from Arts, Science, Food, and Eco Teams Following the council meeting we will be walking over to Fat Cat for a casual, social gathering and further discussion about the Spring Fling Fundraiser. All parents are welcome!

The minutes for the meetings of the School Council that took place on January 26th and February 21st are now available for download from the School Council page.

As the student that raised the most money for our annual Dance-A-Thon, one of our grade one students won the prize of being principal for the day. Her request to all students upon their return from March Break is to wear PURPLE AND YELLOW! As a wonderful way to start off our week back from our break we encourage all of our Fern students to participate! Enjoy your March Break and we look forward to your return on Monday March 19th.

Dear Grade 7 & 8 Parents/Guardians, It is almost that time again when we celebrate your child's graduation from Fern Avenue Public School. This year our students in grade 8 will be graduating on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. I would like to invite all grade 7 & 8 parents who wish to be on the Parent Graduation Committee to our first meeting on Monday, March 26th at 6pm at Vera's house. Please call the main office and Vera will give you the address. Thank you.

Vote for Perth Ave to win 1 of 4 grants from the Team-Up Foundation Fund. Thanks to Fern Ave PS community and other supporters, Perth is in the Top 10! The final round of voting starts tomorrow, March 7 and continues until Friday, March 16. The top 4 candidates from this round will win $50,000.00 to improve their athletic equipment. Perth would like to develop its schoolyard, which is presently a large patch of asphalt. Fundraising at Perth generates approximately $2000.00 per year and the Team-Up grant would be a vital contribution to their Schoolyard Project. For more information on how you can vote to support Perth Ave PS, please download their instructions document , which has been prepared in various languages. Remember, you can vote daily! Alexander Moy (on behalf of) Janice Robinson Principal Perth Avenue Public School

CONGRATULATIONS to the Grade 7-8 Fern Falcons Hockey team for their outstanding hockey season and for being the TDESAA Hockey Conference Finalists. On behalf of myself and Coach Miya I wish to thank all of the players for their awesome sportsmanship, dedication and teamwork. You make us proud coaches!!! A HUGE thank you to Coach Simon Cotter without him we would not have come this far and of course to ALL of our parent volunteer drivers who dedicated their time and effort to get us back and forth from Master Card Arena, THANK YOU! (same time same place next year) Cheers, Coach Vera

Please note that the date for the Grade 7 and 8 Career Day has been changed to Thursday, April 19 . Dara Schwartz Guidance

Calling all parents who would like to help on this FUN event! There will be a planning meeting for the Spring Fling on Wednesday March 7. Meeting Agenda * Details of the venue - room size, room set-up, etc * Contacting business on Roncy for donations * School donations for baskets * Date to start sending out notices, memos ... * Music provider * Ticket Sellers * Volunteers – who is doing ... Meeting Place Gabby’s Pub 155 Roncesvalles Ave 7:00pm – 8:30pm We require many hands to help make this event a spectacular success. It would be great if you can attend and take on one of the many exciting roles.

Spring is fast approaching and we will soon be able to enjoy longer daylight and more outdoor activities. If you haven’t already, you can sign up your child(ren) for Maggie's delicious, healthy food and spend less time rushing around to pack lunches and more time with your family. Favourites such as quesadillas, lasagna, pizza, oven-fried chicken and taco salad are being served, check out other mouthwatering items on the April menu . Both the menu and the April lunch order form are also available in hard copies on the bulletin board outside the Ferncliff Daycare office (Room 103). Lunch orders and payments can be dropped off in a secure mailbox just outside the Ferncliff office by Monday, March 19 . (The lunch program is volunteer-driven so late orders create more work for the parents who run it and also results in delays in food ordering and timely deposit of payments.) We are still looking for volunteers who can help serve lunch. Please contact Carole Angus at carole.angus@roge

Fern Avenue JSPS has been working gradually to upgrade our technological capabilities, in order to enhance our students’ learning opportunities. As such, we have installed a wireless network which renders Fern Ave. about 65 % WiFi accessible at this time. Students can access the TDSB wireless network with an individually assigned password. The network can be accessed by computers and a variety of personal electronic devices.

Information from the last Ward 7 Parent Council meeting held Tuesday Feb 28th; http://www.tdsb.on.ca/_site/ViewItem.asp?siteid=174&menuid=4645&pageid=3973 Includes information on the current TDSB budget deficit crunch , and solutions to the space problems facing Ward 7 Primary schools . Anyone wishing to attend the next Ward 7 meeting can contact Adam at adameizinas@gmail.com . Next meeting is Tuesday April 3rd.

Click here to download the March newsletter.

We've uploaded a new calendar of all the sports offered at Fern during the school year. You can click to download it , or look for it under the Pages menu at the right.