Dear Parents/Guardians,
We will be celebrating La Semaine de la francophonie (French Language and Francophonie Week) from March 20-24. All the French Immersion and Core French classes at Owen will be participating in online workshops celebrating Francophone culture through music and dance. Students will also learn about French culture and Francophone communities by acting out an interactive canoe story and learning about the French influence in chocolate! We are excited for this French opportunity!
Our March Break is here and it's great family time whether you are skiing in the mountains, playing on the beach or hanging out with family and friends here at home. Take this special time to be present, technology free and filled with lots of laughter with your kids.
Staff will be off email and using this time to recharge and spend time with their families too. Staff will respond to emails on Monday March 20th when we return.
On behalf of our Owen Staff, we wish you a Happy March Break!
See you back on Monday March 20th 2023!
~ Your Friendly Admin Team
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African Showcase
This week, all classes at our school, enjoyed learning about African heritage through our African showcase.
It was a great opportunity for students to share their projects.
It was also a great professional learning opportunity because teachers got a chance to see what’s going on and other classes and ask questions of their colleagues about the lessons that led to such incredible student work.
There were biographies celebrating the achievements of people of African heritage.
There there was so much beautiful artwork, drumming, a cozy reading area, a hair braiding table, important information about micro aggressions, a photo booth and much more!
And many genre of music from the 50's to present playing in the background for all to enjoy!
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Kindness and Caring Assembly
Assemblies are an important way for us to address topics to help students learn and improve our school culture. The junior team and Grade 1s presented in English and French about Kindness and Caring towards one another. They demonstrated many drama skits on what do to to spread kindness. Thank you Gr 2s for the beautiful artwork as well!
Safety Update
This is a reminder that we only have one Kiss and Ride. The back loop is for buses only.
Thank you to those who are following all the rules at our Kiss and Ride in the mornings.
- No passing
- The driver must remain in the car
- Students must exit on the school side of the vehicle
- No parking in the loop, especially from 8:45-9:15 am.
Thank you to the Toronto Police Parking Authority for helping us by ticketing drivers who aren't following the rules. There is absolutely no parking allowed directly in front of the school. Please read signs carefully as not doing so can be quite costly.
Please mark your calendars. Our Safe and Caring Schools Committee will be meeting over the lunch hour on March 27th. A link to a google form will be posted in the Owen Calendar. Only registered participants will be sent a link.
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Grad Cookie Sale
Pre-order your child's cookie so you don't forget on the day of the sale. Go to Owen's School Cash Online or look for the email sent from School Cash Online for the cookie sale. Limited cookies will be available on the day of for cash purchases.
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Next Meeting - Monday March 27th 2023
We had an amazing turn out last meeting despite the bad weather.
If you have a child with ASD, ADHD, anxiety, or another type of special needs this session is for you. Meet other parents to share stories, hear about others’ successes and struggles, learn strategies and find out how to access resources to support your child.
Where: Owen PS - StaffroomWhen: Monday March 27th 2023Time: 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm.TOPIC - Learning About Social Communication with Talia Wolkin, Speech & Language Pathologist
Do find your child is having difficulties making friends, resolving conflicts or communicating with their needs with others? We are very excited to have our school Speech & Language Pathologist, Talia Wolkin share her expertise and talk about how we can help develop children's' social communication. This is a great opportunity to ask questions and learn different strategies for your child.
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TDSB’s OT/PT’s Virtual Office Hours for Parents/Caregivers
TDSB's occupational therapists and physiotherapists are hosting our third professional development and virtual office hours for both parents/caregivers as well as educators of students with special education and inclusion needs for the 2022/2023 school year. The session will focus on support for students in ISP-DD/DK/PD classrooms, but the information is also relevant for students in other settings.
Our upcoming session will occur on March 29th, 2023 with a lunch session for parents/guardians/caregivers (12:30-1:30pm) The format of these sessions includes the provision of a brief education session from our TDSB OT/PTs followed by an open forum where attendees may ask questions, receive generalized strategies to support their student(s)/child(ren), and connect with one another.
This month's discussion will focus on Finding Calm: Supporting Yourself and Others During Stressful Behaviours. Translated versions of the parent/guardian/caregiver flyers are accessible in the March 29th virtual office hours’ folder; translation services may be made available by request by March 15th, 2023 – please refer to the flyers for more details. We look forward to seeing you there!
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Next Mom's Fitness - Wednesday March 22nd 2023
Our moms had a great volleyball scrimmage last time. It's always full of excitement and laughter. All skill levels are welcome. Due to popular demand, we will be running another volleyball scrimmage for our next Mom's Fitness.
Next Session - Mom’s Volleyball!
Date: Wednesday March 22nd 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. Wear comfortable clothing and bring a water bottle.
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Spring Fling - Thursday May 25th 2023
We are very excited to bring back our family fun Spring Fling event! This will be the biggest event of the year! A carnival that has always been enjoyed by our students, their siblings and families.
Save the date. Come join us for games, crafts, food, dance and special activities. More details to come. Volunteers are needed to help make this a fun and successful event!
Where: Owen PS school yard
When: Thursday May 25th 2023
Time: 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
WE NEED YOU! These events can only run when parents are involved as this event is run by our Parent Council. You can help in many different ways and donate your time based on your own schedule. You can be a lead to organize a segment or be a helper to put things together or run an event the day of Spring Fling. Here are some areas we will need help in:
- games
- food - pizza/freezies/juice/popcorn
- body stickers/tatoos/henna
- ticket sales
- bottle bonanza/bake sale
- volunteer organizer (parents and/or MS or Highschool students)
- sponsorship coordinator
These are just to name a few. If you are able to help out to make this a successful return of our Spring Fling, please fill in the form below.
Need more information? If you have more questions about Spring Fling, please contact Parent Council Co-chairs Yassamin and Evelyn at OwenPSParentCouncil@gmail.com.
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Marvelous & Mind-Boggling Math
aka M&M Math
Puzzle Playground is a new breain-training site from the publisher of Math Playground. Math Playground has been trusted by teachers and parents since 2002.
- free to play
- safe site for kids
- smart, engaging fun
- game-based learning
- problem solving skills
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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 March flyer (For Friday lunches)
Hero Burger Flyer (For Monday lunches)
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Pizza Lunch - Thursday March 23rd, 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.
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Please help with our Front Foyer Displays
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.
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Days of Significance
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.
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Student News
See what our students have been up to lately.
Co-Teaching Session in Ms Yu's class
Ms Buchanan's The Big Crunch with Ms Moreau
Mario Day Math Challenge with Mme Balaban's class
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 .
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