Owen Online Newsletter: Owen Family Update

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We are very excited to share some things we have done in the past week and upcoming week. Last week we began the 10 week program by Peace by PEACE which is run by York University and University of Toronto, working with some of our classes. This is a unique non-profit conflict-resolution and community-based program for students. Some of the topics include:

- Peace by PEACE Foundations

- Exploring Conflict

- Communication & Empathy

- Inner Power

- Appreciating Similarities & Differences

- Skills for Resolving Conflicts

- Exploring Bullying Behaviour

- Responding to Bullying Behaviour

- Community Building in the Classroom

We also have our Marion Alvis who is a TDSB Itinerant Child and Youth Counsellor working with many of our classes on topics such as:

- Our Skin: Conversations about Race

- Anti-Racism and Allyship

- Consent for Kids

- Healthy Relationships

Both these whole class group sessions involving both staff and students are excellent ways to continue to build that caring culture in our school. Talk to your kids about what they are learning and how they can apply these skills at school, home and their community.

We were also fortunate to have Talia Wolkin and her little helper Briar share her expertise as a Speech & Language Pathologist during our Bedtime story reading session last year. She had modelled a story and questions to ask during the story for parents to use when reading to their kids at home during bedtime stories. Parents had an opportunity to try the techniques with their kids in our library and ask Talia questions too. We even had Gr 5 students attend to read to each other. For more photos of the evening see below in the Student News.

On Monday we have our Prologue Tribal Dance presentation of Visions of Turtle Island. We look forward to learning the history and significance of the dances and the cultural experience of First Nations peoples in Canada. This show is an introduction to the powwow culture of North American Indigenous people.

We really enjoy having these many opportunities for our students and parents to get involved and understand the culture and philosophy of our teachings at Owen. Stay tuned for more opportunities including our Mom's Fitness (listed below) and our Parent Network Group for parents with children with special needs including ASD, ADHD, anxiety, or any type of special needs (more information to come).

Happy Lunar New year and Happy Chinese New Year to all our families who celebrate!

~ Your Friendly Admin Team

________________________________

Call for Snacks

It's that time again! Our supply of snacks have run out and we are looking for any donations of snacks. Extra snacks in the office are helpful for when students forget snacks from home or students don't have a lunch at school. Many students and parents appreciate having these available.

If you are providing a donation, the following are helpful guides:

- all food must be peanut-free

- individual packages are useful

- healthy snacks

- less sugar

- non-perishables to last a few months

Please drop off any snack donations in the office with your child's name on a sticky note.

Thank you!

________________________________

Call for Cutlery

In order to maintain our status as an ECO Platinum school, the office has no longer supplied plastic cutlery. Remember to pack cutlery for your children's lunches.

At times, parents forget. Our ECO club is looking for spare cutlery for students to reuse. If you are changing over your cutlery and looking for a new home for them, we would be happy to take any spoons or forks. Used cutlery would be washed in our dishwasher and ready for the next day.

Any donations can be sent to the office. Thank you!

________________________________

Mom's Fitness is back!

We are excited to bring back our Mom's Fitness nights to have some mom's connect with other mom's and Owen staff to have great conversation and activity without kids. In the past we ran various activities such as basketball, volleyball, zumba and circuit training to offer a variety of activities. We will have more variety throughout the year. No experience or skill needed! Many moms are at various skill levels and we are all learning from each other.

This week - Mom’s Basketball!

Date: Wednesday Jan 25 2023

Time: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Any level, any experience welcome. Come out for a fun hour of play. This is for moms only, no children.

________________________________

Lunchroom Supervisors Needed

Join our great team of supply Lunchroom Supervisors. We are always looking for supplies to cover a day or two a week.

Please contact hella.richter-glinos@tdsb.on.ca to if you are interested. You can also go to this link to begin the application process.

________________________________

Tutoring Options Available

Online Tutoring:

"Online, flexible tutoring options are now available for TDSB students

through Brainfuse and Paper!

TDSB is not operating online tutoring services. This means that TDSB staff will not be present during tutoring sessions.

Parents/Guardians/Caregivers and/or Students (18 years or older) who wish to participate in one of these free online tutoring services should contact the company directly to learn more about their services and the registration process."

Community-Based Tutoring:

"The TDSB is working with the following agencies to provide free, community-based tutoring services to students in their neighbourhoods.

Parents/Caregivers/Guardians can contact the organizations directly for tutoring."

Arab Community Centre Toronto

BridgeTO Youth

BGC East Scarborough Club

Parents Engaged in Education

Rexdale Community Health Centre

________________________________

Lice Check - January 26 & 27, 2023

LIce Squad will be in the school to do a lice check. After breaks is a good time to check and to help prevent spread. The cost is normally included in the activity fees which we have not put out this year. Please go to school cash online to pay.

________________________________

Marvelous & Mind-Boggling Math

aka M&M Math

Also called "Othello", this game has millions of people addicted. We also have several different versions!

Instructions

Place your piece on an empty square so that one (or more) of the opponent's pieces are between yours.

Here Red is about to capture a Blue piece ...

... and it is now captured, becoming Red.

You must capture ... they are the only valid moves. If you can't capture, then you lose a turn.

You win by having more of your pieces than the opponents at the end of the game.

Try this game at

https://www.mathsisfun.com/games/reversi.html

Difficulty:

Red:Wins: 0

Blue:Wins: 0

________________________________

Fun Activities for the Whole Family

10 Family Friendly Activities in Toronto this Winter:

https://www.blogto.com/radar/2022/11/family-friendly-activities-toronto-winter/

Family Fun Toronto January Event Guide:

https://www.familyfuncanada.com/toronto/january-event-guide/

Parks and Recreatio Programs and March Break CampTO:

http://efun.toronto.ca/

Toronto Public Library Programs :

https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/programs-and-classes/kids-and-families/

Ideas for Science at home from the Ontario Science Centre:

https://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/science-at-home

________________________________

For Parents of Students with Special Needs:

Virtual Community Fair January 23rd

________________________________

French Immersion Application Process

Please note there are no extensions for applications.

________________________________

Hot Lunch Options

Hot lunches are back at Owen! Please refer to these flyers for more information on ordering. Please note the dates of your orders as some students are arriving at school without lunch on these dates. Any questions you have about concerns with the orders, please contact the vendors directly.

Kid's Kitchen flyer (For Friday lunches)

Hero Burger Flyer (For Monday lunches)

________________________________

Pizza Lunch - Thurs Jan 26th 2023

Please note that pizza's are pre-ordered and cannot be requested the day of.

If you have questions about School Cash Online, please contact nahid.vashghani@tdsb.on.ca.

________________________________

Please help with our Front Foyer Displays

Thanks to those who came forward to decorate our front foyer display cases to celebrate the various festivals in December. We would like to update them for the new year.

"Tamil Heritage Month is proudly recognized during the month of January at the Toronto District School Board since January 2016."

(https://www.tdsb.on.ca/News/Article-Details/ArtMID/474/ArticleID/1742/Tamil-Heritage-Month-at-the-TDSB---January-2023)

"During the month of February, the Toronto District School Board is proud to recognize and celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Peoples of African Descent to Canada and the world."

(https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/docs/Accessible_AfricanHMFeb2022_Updated.pdf)

If your family celebrates these days of significance or heritage months and you wish to lend some decorations that we could put on display, please send these in with your child's name on them (so we can return them) to the attention of Ms. Richter-Glinos. If you have time to help put together the displays please email hella.richter-glinos@tdsb.on.ca.

________________________________

Days of Significance

January is: Tamil Heritage Month

"Tamil Heritage Month is proudly recognized during the month of January at the Toronto District School Board since January 2016. It has also been marked across the province of Ontario since March 2004 with the implementation of the Tamil Heritage Month Act, 2014. Further, Tamil Heritage Month is also formally recognized nationally since January 2016..."

As mentioned above...

"We are always looking for families to create displays in our front foyer to share their special cultural holidays. If you would like to share your special holiday, please contact the office and we'll arrange a time for you and some students to help with the display.

Some Days of Significance in the coming week are:

If you have a particular day that you would like to bring our attention to, please contact hella.richter-glinos@tdsb.on.ca.

The list of Days of Significance that the TDSB recognizes can be found by clicking the link.

________________________________

Student News

See what our students have been up to lately.

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 hella.richter-glinos@tdsb.on.ca .

________________________________