Owen Family Update - Week of April 26th, 2021

Hello Owen Families,

We are now into our 2nd week of remote learning and into a routine for school.  If parents have questions about their child's program, feel free to contact either the classroom teacher, prep teacher (Physed, French, Music, Drama) or Special Education or ESL teacher.  They will be able to explain the purpose of the lessons or assignments given to students.

Just a reminder that if you need if you need to pick up items at school, please contact Ms Rosenbloom or Mr Parkes to arrange a pick up time.  The school is closed, doors will not be answered.  All phone messages will be picked up by Ms Elizabeth and Ms Mary and redirected as needed.

We are getting questions as to how long we will be remote.  Or if next year will be like this year.  Or will there be a Virtual School?  Our guess is as good as yours.  Keep watching the news and check your emails.  Once we hear officially from the board we will let you know.

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National Sovereignty and Children's Day in Turkey

April 23 was National Sovereignty and Children's Day in Turkey.  It is one of the most beautiful manifestations of importance and value given to children by the Turkish nation, the president said, adding that they are the most valuable treasure of the country.  This video explains more about this important Turkish holiday.

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Thank you Parent Council!

Thank you to those parents who joined us for the parent council meeting.  We had our budget vote and are thankful for the support from our parent community to support our programming needs.  Our last parent council meeting will be on June 9th, 2021. 

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Read and Write Chrome Extension

Read and Write and PDF Reader are available for all TDSB staff and students. These tools provide a range of reading and writing tools, including text-to-speech and speech-to-text.

Read and Write provides literacy support to users in completing reading, writing and research tasks. All teachers, staff and students have access to the full suite of Read and Write tools in Chrome, Windows and Edge. Read and Write can also be used with Mac, iOS and Android devices. 

You can access resources for Read and Write at https://sites.google.com/tdsb.on.ca/tdsbat/programs/read-and-write-chrome-extension?authuser=0 

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New Owen Spirit Wear

We have new Owen Spirit wear we are excited to offer our Owen Community. Thank you to our Owen parent Krista Koteff for organizing our spirit wear. You can purchase these items through Owen Cash Online.

You can view the sizing specs and larger pictures in the attachments through the email.

We have our dri-fit blue t-shirts for only $10. It is a great shirt for team sports like Cross Country and Track & Field. It's also great to wear during field trips and of course during any of our Spirit days!

Order through Owen Cash Online by May 3rd, 2021. YWe also still have our Owen water bottles for sale.

Owen Spirit wear will be handed out early June. If you have any questions regarding ordering, please contact Ms Elizabeth at erzsebet.balint@tdsb.on.ca.

Go Owen Lightning!

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Summer Programs in TDSB

TDSB offers a variety of summer programs.  Please visit the site at https://www.tdsb.on.ca/About-Us/Innovation/Summer-Programs for more information. 

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Spring Programs via Explore It!

Explore Online! All new Spring Programming and Workshops start now through April 30! For students in JK through Grade 8, Explore It! has programming in the areas of Yoga, Digital and Fine Art, Dance, Science and even Babysitting Certification - there’s something for everyone. Let’s Explore online together! 

Join us for:

Disney Dance Crew for Grades 2+

The Art of Drawing for Grades 3+

Magical Magicians for Grades JK - 3

Babysitting Certification for Ages 12+

So You Think You Can Dance for Grades JK - 2

Nature STEAM Explorers for Grades 1 - 5

Creative Kids Yoga Fun for Grades 2 - 5

Technology in Art for Grades 4+

Creative Drawing for Grades 1+

Register today!

http://www.exploreitall.ca/spring-programs/

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 Asian Heritage Month at the TDSB:  

Invitation to attend the Virtual Launch

Asian Heritage Month is recognized formally throughout Canada through an official declaration that was signed in May 2002.  The Senate of Canada accepted this motion originally proposed by Senator Vivienne Poy in December 2001.  Subsequently, the Province of Ontario passed the Asian Heritage Act (2005), which states:

Asia is the largest continent in the world both in terms of size and population.  It includes people from many regions such as East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and Southeastern Asia.  Peoples from these regions who have immigrated here over the past 100 years and longer have significantly contributed in the settlement, growth and development of our province.  Specifically, Asians have helped to shape Ontario culturally, economically and politically.  It is appropriate to recognize and pay tribute to the contributions that Asians have made and continue to make to the development and general welfare of Ontario.

We are proud to celebrate the numerous achievements of Asian-Canadians and their significant role on the global stage. 

This year our theme is Discover. Share.  Celebrate our Resiliency! 

An invitation by the TDSB Asian Heritage Month planning committee is being extended to all TDSB staff, students, and the TDSB community to attend the Virtual TDSB Asian Heritage Month Celebration.  Please see the details below and on the attached flyer.

TDSB Asian Heritage Month Virtual Celebration 

Date:   Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Time:   1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Link: https://www.tdsb.on.ca/stream/LiveWebcast-Asian-HeritageMonth.html

We hope you’re available to join us!

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Audible amazon is allowing free access to story listening through their app.  

Kids everywhere can instantly stream an incredible collection of stories, including titles across eight different languages, that will help them continue learning, dreaming, and just being kids.

All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet.

https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

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Moving out of Owen? (Including Grade 5 Grads)

If your child will be moving schools, please fill out the form below to help us know where to transfer your child's information. Please fill this out by the end of March so we can estimate the enrolment for next year.

This includes Grade 5 graduates who are moving onto Middle School.

http://bit.ly/MovingOutOfOwen 

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STUDENT NEWS

Thank you parents and students for planting our tulips.  They look beautiful!

If you have photos, student work or family activities you would like to share on the Owen Online for next week, please email them to jamie.parkes@tdsb.on.ca.

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Please click here for the latest updates and newsletters.

Owen Family Update - Week of April 19th, 2021

Hello Owen Families,

We hope you enjoyed the Spring Break and kept healthy and safe.  Staff are ready to start today and will be continuing the school schedule as we did in January.  A few things to note:

School Closure: 

The Ministry has closed all schools in Toronto.  There won't be anyone available to answer the front door.  If there are items you require that are urgent, please send an email to Caroline or Jamie to arrange a pick up date and time.  Phone messages will be retrieved by Ms Elizabeth and Ms Mary.

Attendance: 

Attendance will be taking every day immediately after morning announcements and then after lunch.  If your child will be late, they will be marked absent.  Once attendance is taken, it is entered.  Please do not email administration or the teacher as we may not get your message in time for the call out.  Please email owenps@tdsb.on.ca. or call the school at 416.395.2740.

Requests Not to Participate in Synchronous Learning:

Parents are allowed to choose a Program of Study which would require students to log in once a day for attendance and have access to google classrooms to access the work.  You can submit work to teachers for assessment and evaluation.  If this is what you would like to do, please go to https://www.tdsb.on.ca/In-Person-Learning/Learning-and-Instruction/Exemption-from-Synchronous-Learning and send a copy to Ms Rosenbloom.  Everything goes through the superintendent's office.

Technical Support:
If students are having difficulties with tech, please go to https://www.tdsb.on.ca/In-Person-Learning/Student-Virtual-Learning-IT-Support .  They are best equipped to support you.

As we navigate through our remote learning schedule, if you have any questions about the school routines or program, please email your classroom teacher.

WIshing you a healthy and safe start back to school.  Please remember to follow the Stay at home order to help get us back to school soon!

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Read and Write Chrome Extension:

Read and Write and PDF Reader are available for all TDSB staff and students. These tools provide a range of reading and writing tools, including text-to-speech and speech-to-text.

Read and Write provides literacy support to users in completing reading, writing and research tasks. All teachers, staff and students have access to the full suite of Read and Write tools in Chrome, Windows and Edge. Read and Write can also be used with Mac, iOS and Android devices. 

You can access resources for Read and Write at https://sites.google.com/tdsb.on.ca/tdsbat/programs/read-and-write-chrome-extension?authuser=0 

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New Owen Spirit Wear

We have new Owen Spirit wear we are excited to offer our Owen Community. Thank you to our Owen parent Krista Koteff for organizing our spirit wear. You can purchase these items through Owen Cash Online.

You can view the sizing specs in the attachments through the email.

We have our dri-fit blue t-shirts for only $10. It is a great shirt for team sports like Cross Country and Track & Field. It's also great to wear during field trips and of course during any of our Spirit days!

Order through Owen Cash Online by April 28th 2021. We also still have our Owen water bottles for sale.

Owen Spirit wear will be handed out beginning May 31st. If you have any questions regarding ordering, please contact Ms Elizabeth at erzsebet.balint@tdsb.on.ca.

Go Owen Lightning!

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Ramadan

Many of our Muslim families will be observing Ramadan this month.  Here is a video to show you what Ramadan and Eid, the festival of breaking the fast, is about.

    

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Yearbook Cover Contest

If you have photos of your class, please upload them to your google classroom.

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Parent Council Meeting 

Please join us for our next Parent Council meeting on Wednesday April 21st from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm.  

We will talk about class models and update you on Owen's Health & Safety status.  We will also have a budget vote that evening. 

The school will be requesting the following to be voted on for this school year:

• Subsidy for t-shirts to bring the cost down for Dri-Fit T-shirts to $10.00/shirt

• Forest of Reading program - The Forest of Reading is Canada's largest recreational reading program, made up of eight programs and run by the Ontario Library Association (OLA).^[1] The programs are geared towards readers in kindergarten to grade twelve, with several programs targeting adult readers, ESL learners and French speakers. The Forest is unique in that it is the readers themselves who choose the winners of each category by voting for their favourite books. Every year, the Forest of Reading programs culminate in an action packed event run in Toronto, called the Festival of Trees. The Festival of Trees is Canada's largest annual literary event for children,^[2] attracting over 10,000 youth every year.^[3] The winners of each program, as chosen by the young readers, are announced at the Festival of Trees events, and many authors and illustrators are in attendance, delivering hands on workshops and mingling with their young fans. 

• 30 Chromebooks - Our supply of devices have all been distributed to our Owen Community.  We are having more parents request devices, particularly for families who have multiple children. The virtual school recommends chromebooks for Grade 1+.  Unfortunately we do not have enough to support a device per person but the extra chromebooks will provide more devices for the primary grades both in school and during remote learning.

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April Heritage Awareness Month

• Latin American History Month
• Sikh Heritage Month
• World Autism Month

If you have photos or videos of how your family celebrates, please send it to Ms Rosenbloom or Mr Parkes and we can share it with our Owen community.

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Moving out of Owen? (Including Grade 5 Grads)

If your child will be moving schools, please fill out the form below to help us know where to transfer your child's information. Please fill this out by the end of March so we can estimate the enrolment for next year.

This includes Grade 5 graduates who are moving onto Middle School.

http://bit.ly/MovingOutOfOwen 

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STUDENT NEWS

If you have photos, student work or family activities you would like to share on the Owen Online for next week, please email them to jamie.parkes@tdsb.on.ca.

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Please click here for the latest updates and newsletters.