Owen Online Newsletter: October

Reminder that Photo Day is on Friday, October 19th!

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Parent Only Math Night

Join us for a fun and informative hands-on session for parents/guardians to look at:

higher level questions
strategies for computation and
ways to help your child at home.

It's a great opportunity to see different types of questions, have discussions about the math curriculum and experience the math processes in your child's shoes.

Date: Wednesday October 24th 2018

Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

Location: Owen Library

To help us prepare for the evening we would like to get a sense of the number of parents attending. Please fill out the form at

http://bit.ly/owenmathnight2018

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NEW BOOKS WANTED FOR OUR LIBRARY!

Hello Owen families! Below you will find a link to our Owen Public School book donation registry. Please consider purchasing a new book to help enrich our school library. Thank you for your support! You can also find our registry by visiting the Indigo website, clicking on registry and search for registry Owen Public School.

Click here to go to our school page

Wear Purple on October 24!

On Wednesday, October 24 the TDSB will join with our community partners, child welfare agencies and the police to raise awareness about the rights of children and youth to safety and well-being in all aspects of their lives by wearing something PURPLE! This year’s theme is The Community that Cares for Kids.

It is important that children know they have a right to safety and that as caring adults we will help them. The Child, Youth and Family Act states that it is everyone’s responsibility to focus on the safety of children and youth under the age of 18. It is a legal obligation to report to a child welfare agency any disclosures of abuse, things we witness or reasonable suspicions that a child is being harmed. You are not alone. Every school has an assigned social worker who can answer your questions, provide counselling to students and training to staff and parents.

OSAC Update

Save the date - Thursday, November 8, 2018 is the Fall L'Affaire fundraiser evening. Details to follow soon!

There are many ways for parents to get involved at Owen. For more information, check out the school website:

http://www.owenpublicschool.ca/volunteer2/

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Early French Immersion Program:

The application process for the Early French Immersion program opens on Oct. 29 and the deadline is Nov. 26. Applications are made the year a child is in Junior Kindergarten (or is of Junior Kindergarten age) for entry in Senior Kindergarten. It is an entirely online process.

Information Nights have been scheduled and can be viewed here

Read & Write Gold @ Home

Read and Write Gold is designed to provide literacy support for students. It supports a Universal Design of Learning model which aids students in accessing the curriculum and completing reading, writing and research assignments. When used in conjunction with other applications, Read & Write allows students to experience greater independence and promotes inclusive classroom practices. This software incorporates the functionality of many pieces of software. As a result, it eliminates the need for students to train on multiple technologies.

Some features of Read & Write Gold include;

Speech Feedback
Research Tools and Graphic Organizer
Word Prediction / Phonetic Spell Checker
Talking Dictionary / Homonym Support
Audio File Creation
French Translator
Calculator: Standard and Scientific
Scanning Capabilities

To access it at home, instructions can be found here: https://sites.google.com/tdsb.on.ca/tdsbat/read-write/read-and-write-installs-at-home-for-ios-mac-and-windows-machines

Skate Drive

Need to replace your skates or helmets for the next season? If so, why not donate your gently used skates and helmets to help others learn to skate.

Grenoble Public School has a vibrant skating program for it's students. Over many, many years, used skates and helmets were donated and many applications for grant money were completed. The result is a vibrant program where students go skating at the Angela James Arena. For many, it is their first time on the ice. These skates and helmets are lent out to community families over the weekend as well, so that they can continue to participate in the free skate time at the arena with their children. It is such an incredible initiative.

Let's get Owen involved to help Grenoble replenish some of the skates and helmets that are now beyond their expiry date. Please bring any used skates and helmets to school and we will collect them in the office for a delivery to Grenoble PS.

Hot Lunch Program

Kids Kitchen will be providing lunches this year. To order lunches click here: http://www.owenpublicschool.ca/lunch/

TDSB Updates

Provincial Consultation on Education Reform: Parents, students, educators and community members are invited to provide feedback on several areas of the province’s education system, including updating the Health and Physical Education curriculum and improving student performance in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Closing date is Dec. 15, 2018. To learn more and how you can participate, visit fortheparents.ca.
New Ward Boundaries: On Dec. 1, 2018, new ward electoral boundaries will come into effect for the Toronto District School Board. Please note that the new ward boundaries relate to political representation and do not impact your local school administration. These changes do not affect where students attend school, access to school programs, optional attendance, busing routes or school boundaries. To view the new map and to see which schools belong to each ward, please visit New Ward Boundaries on tdsb.on.ca.
School Board Election: The next municipal election will be held on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018. This includes election for the office of school board trustee. Learn more about the election and the role of a school board trustee, and view the list of trustee candidates
TDSB Update: Sign up for TDSB Update and stay informed about recent Board decisions and district-wide news.

Lunch Milk Program

Did you know that your student can get milk at lunch? The milk program is going to start on Tuesday, September 18th. You can purchase tickets for milk at http://www.schoolcashonline.ca The tickets will be available for sale on a monthly basis.

September tickets - on sale now - Sept 13, delivered Sept 17th
October tickets - on sale Sept 28 - Oct 4, delivered Oct 8^th
November tickets – on sale Oct 26 – Nov 1, delivered Nov 5^th
December tickets – on sale Nov 23 – 29, delivered Dec 3rd

Would you consider helping with the milk program? We need two more adult volunteers to share the supervisory duties. We are looking for adults to fill the following spots:

alternating Tuesdays 11:20-12:00 or
alternating Thursdays 11:20-12:00

If you have any questions or concerns, please send an email to owenmilkprogram@outlook.com and please include your child's name, grade and teacher.

Thank you,

The milk team

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School Clubs and Committees:
Extra curricular activities are offered by teachers outside instructional time to enhance students' learning and to create opportunities for leadership and community building. Student clubs and committees are offered throughout the year. This chart will be kept up to date of any new clubs/committees added throughout the year.