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2018-19 Ward 8 Highlight Edition - Part 1 Schools A-H
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Below please find highlights from the schools in our ward (A-H) provided by the Principals.
I know you will enjoy reading them and join me in thanking all staff in our schools and parent/caregiver volunteers who support student well-being and achievement.
And that wraps the 2018-19 school year! Will be back to you in August! Have a wonderful summer!
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Allenby Junior Public School - Tracey O'Toole, Principal; Deborah Zamin, Vice-Principal: Lisa Parker and Gillian Uy, School Council Co-Chairs
The year 2018-2019 has been another incredible journey of learning at Allenby Jr Public School. We embarked on a school-wide water inquiry from JK to Grade 6 culminating in our STEM showcase in June. Through rich, cross-curricular projects aimed at building awareness and stewardship, we observed our youngest students building their own water tables out of wood which they sawed themselves, the cultivation of a green living fence and the organization of our inaugural Water Documentary Film Festival for the community to name a few. Our Junior Water Walkers explored the water bodies in our community such as Otter Creek and learned how we can be active in addressing pollution and destruction of habitat in our immediate community. Through our school’s affiliation with Global Scholars (@GlobalCitiesOrg), our grade 5 and 6 students broadened their grasp of water issues worldwide through active collaboration with schools around the globe.
As part of our commitment to STEM and Mathematics, this year we initiated our first ever staff-led EdCamp 1.0 at Allenby in October. Staff developed and led specialty workshops for peers connected to Math practice and the meaningful infusion of digital tools aligned with the curriculum. We also had the opportunity to invite Dr. Marian Small to work with us this year to further our school-wide teaching practice around rich, open-ended problems that evoke curiosity and foster skills application and inquiry in mathematics.
As a staff, we also dove deep into the transformation of our own classrooms resulting in a thoughtful school-wide implementation of learning spaces designed to reflect global learning. This was a massive team effort of reorganization. From bulletin boards, to flexible and adjustable-height seating, to intentional use of digital tools and the innovation lab, the infusion of loose parts and rich and nature-based learning materials, our classrooms and shared learning spaces attempt to reflect and optimize the power of the third teacher and the development of global competencies from JK-Grade 6.
During Mindfulness May, we had the unique opportunity to welcome parents, wellness experts, authors, musicians, artists and specialists representing many wellness disciplines to bring their expertise through over 80 specialty workshops throughout the Month of May and a culminating event of school-wide Tai Chi on the Turf. We launched a new student-led Allenby Wellness Academy in collaboration with Public Health. In the fall, our grade 5 mindfulness leaders will begin partnering with classes in leading mindful Monday programming throughout the year. Mental health, well-being and fostering a sense of belonging are important foci at Allenby..
We have an active Twitter presence and invite all to share our story and our passion @AllenbyPS_TDSB. Wishing a great summer to all!
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Armour Heights Public School - Corey Birnbaum, Principal; Laura Berry, School Council Chair
Armour Heights’ focus on STEAM - The Cardboard Challenge
Inspired by the short film, “Caine’s Arcade” cainesarcade.com the Global Cardboard Challenge is an annual event presented by the Imagination Foundation to celebrate child creativity and the role communities can play in fostering it. In September, kids of all ages were invited to build anything they can dream up using cardboard, recycled materials and imagination. In the past kids have made everything from marble mazes in pizza boxes and human whack-a-moles to robots, miniature dunk-tanks and life-size podracers. Then on Thursday, October 4, 2018 the Armour Heights P.S. community came together to play.
Making our community more accessible for all with StopGap
Students at Armour Heights have partnered with the StopGap foundation to help make our community a more accessible and inclusive place to live (http://www.stopgap.ca/). Over the course of the school year, our students had taken several walks, surveyed Avenue Road for inaccessible entry ways, wrote persuasive letters, practised and delivered sales pitches, measured and painted the ramps. On Friday, June 14, 2019, we delivered seven beautiful ramps to business owners across Avenue Road. We were warmly received by all of the business owners who congratulated our students for their efforts and desire to make our community a more accessible and inclusive place to live.
Irrigation System for Pollinating Garden
Armour Heights students, in partnership with students from John Polanyi CI, collaborated to design and build an irrigation system to water our pollinating garden over the summer. Last year the school designed and created a pollinating garden under the guidance of Bee City to help bring back the bees to urban landscapes. This year the plan was to build an irrigation system to help maintain the garden over the summer months by planning, designing, building and installing a system that collects rainwater and then disperses it automatically based on an algorithm that can keep track of the water in the cistern.
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Baycrest Public School - Lois Stewart, Principal; Lorie Brodie and Nicole Peters, School Council Co-Chairs
As one of over 15 different Sports, Wellness and Achievement Network (SWAN) events and programs for 2018-19, students at Baycrest Public School took part for the first time ever in the TEAM UNBREAKABLE 5K Challenge.
Over 50 Baycrest students gradually built up their stamina beginning indoors in February and transitioning outside as the weather slowly improved. Training sessions consisted of 15-20 minute workouts combining both running and walking, with the goal of having students eventually be able to run up to 15 minutes without having to stop and walk. On the June 8th Challenge Event Day, 18 students (with the support of 11 parents and 3 teachers, most of whom ran as well) completed the outstanding TEAM UNBREAKABLE 5K held at Coronation Park on Toronto's Lakeshore. Even though it was something well beyond what many students (and some parents!) thought they could ever do, all students who went to the 5K event were able to successfully complete it, and had a wonderful time doing so! Baycrest and SWAN will definitely be partnering with the TEAM UNBREAKABLE organization again in the Fall of 2019!
On May 15, 2019, during Spring Concert our Kindergarten to grade 6 students presented a variety of items to the school community. From the Kindergarten rendition of It’s a Small World After All, to the whole school rendition of The Impossible Dream, it was a successful and enjoyable evening for everyone. This year we had to acquire a permit for the auditorium at St. Margaret’s to accommodate the number of families in attendance. We were also asked by the school administrator at St. Margaret to perform our concert as an assembly for their school. With the resounding consent of the staff and an excited, enthusiastic student body, we reprised our efforts for their student body on June 11. We were gratified by the performances, audience responses and interactions between Baycrest Public and St. Margaret Catholic schools.
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Brown Junior Public School - Andrea Goldfarb, Principal; Dafna Jalon, Vice-Principal; Dimitra Kappos and Rachel Silber, School Council Co-Chairs
Thank you to our incredible students, staff and community for another awesome year of learning, questioning and growing together.
This year, we had a focus on problem solving. This was across all areas of the curriculum. We strived to ask good questions, explore problem solving strategies and really understand how to communicate our thinking in a variety of ways. We participated in a math problem of the week. This rich math problem was posted each Friday and students displayed their work on the bulletin board outside the main office. The problem was also shared each week with families through our weekly newsletter. We encouraged the work that families did together to also be displayed for all to see. It was very powerful to see Kindergarten and grade 6 solutions to the same problem!
A new tradition here at Brown - an annual art show to highlight visual arts and invite families and the community to celebrate our work. Each class worked together to create a collaborative piece that was set up in our gallery. Families were invited to view the art, and purchase raffle tickets to bid on their favourite pieces. Students also signed up to provide entertainment by singing, playing piano and dancing while the exhibit was open.
Encouraging student leadership and student voice has been another priority for us this year. We had many examples of this but chose to highlight 3 in particular:
1. What an impact the group of grade 4 students had on our entire staff and school after they led us through mindfulness workshops. These students embraced the notion of well-being and taught us practical strategies to incorporate it into our everyday lives.
2. Our Eco Cucumbers are a small but mighty group of dedicated, passionate and committed individuals who worked together to affect change within our school and broader community. They were responsible for so many eco initiatives, including transforming the way our pizza lunches are run to reduce waste. We no longer use paper plates or napkins - our students bring reusable containers each week.
3. Another dedicated group of students are our World Changers. They continually educate us and open our eyes and minds to what is happening around the world and in our very own city. They truly spread the WE Movement mission that believes, “when we come together we can create an even better world.”
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Cedarvale Community School - Sooky Crljen, Principal; Melissa Grossman and Samara Bleiwas, School Council Co-Chairs
Learning Portfolio Sharing Day
The IB Primary Years Program emphasizes the importance of reflection for meaningful student learning and growth. One of the ways to support student self-reflection of learning is through curating work samples for their portfolios. Teachers support students to self-assess work artifacts throughout the school year for their learning portfolios. The celebration of their learning took place with IB Portfolio Sharing Day when parents and guardians were invited to share in the process by observing the work and listening to students present their work artefacts and provided feedback about their children’s learning journey this year. This interactive and event gave students and their families an opportunity to participate in a celebration of learning in a meaningful and personalized process.
Eco-Olympics
Where Fun Meets Eco-Learning! All students from Grade 1-7 are on a team that represents an endangered animal species. The Grade 8's provide leadership in facilitating the activity stations
has its own environmental twist. The students rotated between stations like sorting garbage into their proper bins to learning about organic food. The three winning teams were presented with an award during a school wide assembly. The students were excited to participate, learn, and share their team cheer throughout the day long event.
Eco-schools Crate Garden
For nine consecutive years, Cedarvale has achieved platinum certification through the Eco-schools audit through a whole school community approach and commitment to fostering environmental sustainability. Students in grade 1 through 8 actively participate on the school’s eco-team to educate, monitor and to take action at home and school to protect the planet. The crate garden is just one example of an eco-school green initiative that bridges the eco-action between home and school. Student tend to vegetables and herbs in crates in the spring and families volunteer to take the crate gardens to look after over the summer enjoying the bounty that grows. The crates will be returned when school starts and the process repeats itself the following spring and summer. Think Green! Take Action!
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Cottingham Junior Public School - Gina Christakis, Principal; Corey Dias, School Council Chair
Our Legacy accomplishments at Cottingham Public School 2018-2019
Mental Health and Well-Being Initiatives
Metis Artist, Chantal LeBlanc (La Muse Art Studio), helped our students create our Mosaic Legacy Wall at Cottingham P.S this year. Our students had the opportunity to submit drawings that best represented their fond memories of our school and Chantal incorporated those drawings into this fantastic piece of mosaic art adorning our front entrance wall. Everyone enjoyed tiling and working together.
Phase 2 of the project happened in June. A garden theme that ties into our Bee Garden and Outdoor Classroom was chosen and the results were bloomingly beautiful. Students designed flowers that represent our Native plants of Ontario. These art pieces can be seen on the north wall of our school facing Birch Ave. Phase 3 of our project will continue in the new school year. This project will honour and acknowledge our presence on the Traditional and Ancestral lands of Indigenous peoples.
Our Outdoor Classroom was built in the fall of 2018. Our students enjoyed the outdoor classroom throughout the winter and warmer days of spring and summer. We are grateful to the Toronto District School Board planning staff for helping us create this space for our students to enjoy for years to come.
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Davisville Junior Public School - Shona Farrelly, Principal; Cathy Macina-Ciardullo and Brandon Culakovski, Vice-Principals; Heidi Kerney, School Council Chair
There are so many wonderful things to say about Davisville Public School. This year was quite a challenge moving us all over to a new location and to experience bussing every day. We have often said that the 4 walls of our building is not who we are. It is the caring people inside the building who make us who we are. Davisville PS was proud to host our 4th annual Diwali celebration. Parent volunteers, along with students shared information on the history of Diwali. It was an amazing day filled with dancing, treats and friendship.
We continued our friendship focus with a school wide Pink Day celebration. Students wrote anti-bullying messages and wishes for kindness on pink shirts for all to see for the remainder of the day. Staff and students wore pink to show solidarity to those who have suffered at the hands of bullies.
Our entire kindergarten department enjoyed a full day woodworking workshop run by a third party provider. JK and SK students had the opportunity to use hammers, nails, glue guns and measuring tape to create a moving dinosaur, a butterfly with wings that flap, a helicopter with moving parts or a balancing scale. We are so thankful to our amazing school council for helping sponsor this activity. Parents had a chance to come in and work with their children and help others as well. It was a wonderful bonding day.
We look forward to creating more social events for our families next year as we continue to be located at 529 Vaughan Road. Have an excellent summer and don’t forget to do something great for Mother Earth.
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Deer Park Junior and Senior Public School - Carmelo Nanfara, Principal; Nadine Clarke, Vice-Principal; Elizabeth Macllachlan, Irene Lim & Alice Taylor, School Council Co-Chairs
WE SCHOOLS: Me to We
Deer Park is in their twelfth year as a WE Action School. This year a group of dedicated student leaders took part in a variety of awareness-raising campaigns on both local and global issues. Meeting weekly the students were able to plan and organize a variety of events and activities. The We Scare Hunger campaign collected over 300 items for donation to a local food bank. The We Rafiki campaign raised over $250 for global women’s empowerment initiatives. The We Are Silent campaign gave the entire school an opportunity to learn or talk about and reflect on Human Rights issues. The message this entire year is that every one person can make a difference and student leaders are ready to Be the Change the world needs.
P.A.C.K.
The P.A.C.K. (Participation, Action, Caring and Kindness) Playground leaders are out at recess weekly to organize and encourage safe, fun games for our younger students. They play games aimed at getting as many students physically active. The students also model good sportsmanship and positive play.
ECO-SCHOOLS
From being an un-certified school two years ago, to achieving a Silver Status in 2019, our Eco-Team has been busy doing our part for the Environment. Some of our highlights this year include a tree and shrub planting event at Claireville Conservation Area. Students had a chance to plant a variety of species from White Cedar, and Nannyberry Shrubs to the Staghorn Sumac. The team was able to plant over 50 trees and shrubs.
Me to We also partnered with Eco-Schools to participate in the Fashion Impacts Challenge. Students learned about the impact that fashion has on the planet. In workshops, students learned about the 7R’s of fashion (Rent, Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse, Repair, Research and Reduce). They helped organize Clothing Drives, A Clothing Swap, led a workshop with the Grade 4 class on how to repurpose t-shirts into bags, researched the impacts of Fast Fashion and presented to their peers in Me to We. The students also attended the Fashion Impacts Leadership Summit at City Hall. Congratulations to this special group of activists as they won $500 for the school and won the Fashion Impacts Challenge.
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Eglinton Junior Public School - Ian Wilson, Principal; Elizabeth Aiello, Vice-Principal; Lindsey Walton, School Council Chair
Our Kiss and Ride program started this year! The program runs every day between 8:45 am and 9:00 am and is staffed entirely by parent volunteers. These amazing volunteers work in rain, snow or sunshine to support our school community. The Kiss and Ride helps 20 – 30 parents daily as they drop off their children and then head off to start their day. That’s 20 – 30 cars not parking or idling on Brownlow Avenue for 10 – 20 minutes each.
This year we focused on a number of school-wide, anti-racism initiatives that support making Eglinton an inclusive, equitable and anti-oppressive school community. Our teachers worked with our social worker to plan and present in-class activities and discussions to build a collective awareness and understanding of the importance of having an anti-racism stance. We shared anti-racism resources with our families so they could continue anti-racism work together at home. We invited an educator into classes to deliver workshops on the relevance of Indigenous culture, heritage and history. Our Remembrance Day assembly focussed on highlighting and honoring the participation of Black, Indigenous and Asian soldiers in Canada’s military. All students participated in our school-wide anti-racism, anti-oppression mural. For this each class created and decorated large puzzle pieces which highlighted how everyone has a place or fits in at Eglinton. The pieces then became part of a school mural, which celebrated love and differences as one whole.
We plan to continue our anti-racism work next year. At the year-end staff meeting on June 28, our 2019-2020 staff reflected on and discussed the following two questions:
1. How does our school’s data support an equity-focussed school improvement plan?
2. What does an equitable, inclusive and anti-oppressive classroom look like?
Turf Field Installation Starts in July
We are very excited about the installation of our Turf Field! The field will change the school yard and make it tremendously more usable and child-friendly. The construction starts on July 2 and is expected to be completed by the start of school.
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Fairbank Public School - Cassandra Alviani-Alvarez, Principal; Camille Mantadee and Lisa Elliot, School Council Co-Chairs
We have had a fabulous year of learning at Fairbank Public School!
ROTMAN Integrative Thinking- iThink Initiative
This past May we celebrated our school wide initiative of Integrative Thinking and hosted our second annual evening for parents! Our students and teachers showcased their creative problem solving skills by coming up with creative solutions to real world issues and problems. Our students are thinking about stakeholders and the impact the issue has on them. Common language/vocabulary of Pro Pro Charts, Causal Models and Ladders of Inference is developing school wide! Students are using accountable talk to demonstrate their learning and knowledge!
Entrepreneurial Adventure- A BMO partnership through the Learning Partnership
We had a gym filled with various products and services for sale during our Fairbank Market Day! Our student entrepreneurs has a fabulous time creating and pitching their ideas to parents, other students and BMO executives. We had many buyers and a portion of all profits went to support a local charity. Our Kindergarten students created their own Lemonade brand! Several students also attended Market Day at the Learning Partnership Day! Our students absolutely love this initiative!
ECO Symposium
Daily learning at Fairbank PS includes students learning about how to keep our world ECO friendly. Students learned about the Indigenous Water Crisis, Biodiversity, to Why Trees are Important. We once again received Gold ECO Schools status from the TDSB ECO schools initiative. Our students continue to learn about waste reduction, a solar future, heat in the environment, and what goes in the Green Bin! We our educating our students to support a healthy world!
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Flemington Public School - Cherylann Samuel-Graham, Principal; Stephen Scott, Vice-Principal; Tenisha Anderson, School Council Chair
The community presence at Flemington’s Curriculum Evening set the tone for a positive school year! Community members, parents/guardians/caregivers and family members, were greeted by ALL staff members at our Annual Corn Roast. After which they visited classrooms to learn about the rich activities their children would be exposed to and engaged in during the upcoming year.
Throughout the school year students, supervised by staff members, engaged in a plethora of sports events and festivals including: tennis, basketball, flag football, hockey and track and field.
Our Jump Rope for Heart was a special event. It was such a joy and a proud moment to see our Junior student leaders mentoring and teaching our Kindergarten students how to skip!
Our Family Literacy, Numeracy and Wellness Event offered families with additional strategies and tools to support their children at home enhance the skills learned at school.
Our final community event was our Movie Night. Families joined to share a meal, eat popcorn and watch the LEGO Movie.
Hockey Rookie Camp
For the past eight weeks, 12 students from Flemington have participated in the GTHL’s (Greater Toronto Hockey League) Rookie Camp. This program teaches children the skills needed to play hockey and be treated to expert coaches.
Our first day a large coach bus pulled up in front of the school and our students were treated like NHL players from the very beginning. When we got to the Scotiabank Pond, we went into the dressing room where the students had their names on individual stalls and brand new equipment waiting for them. Our first lesson was learning how to put on this new equipment.
Over the course of the eight weeks, the improvement was phenomenal. For some students, this was their first time on ice and learning how to skate both forwards and backwards as well as shoot the puck was a great learning experience. For others, they had had developed some skills and were now able to improve. No matter what, everyone succeeded and had fun.
One of the highlights for me was one day on the bus where we were being interviewed and students were asked what advice they would give to others learning to play hockey. Some of the responses included that “it is OK to fall down, all you have to do is get up again”, “it was hard at the beginning, but now it is easy” and “keep on trying”. When students demonstrate the character traits of co-operation, teamwork and perseverance, shows us how successful the program was.
I would like to thank the SWAN program and the GTHL for their support in helping our children.
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Forest Hill Collegiate Institute - Reiko Fuentes, Principal; Joseph Ghassibe and Agoristsa Papdopoulos, Vice-Principals; Beth Rossen and Tracy Kowal, School Council Co-Chairs
The Year of the Arts – Student work has been at the forefront throughout the year. Exceptional music performances, the first annual Blur Digital Arts Showcase, successful Coffee Houses, live performances at our annual Hillstock have showcased the incredible talent in the school. The school entry in the National Theatre School Festival won the District competition, the Regional showcase at Hart House and students went on to the Provincial level competition in Brantford in May. The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet brought joy to all who saw it; thank you to the students and staff that made this adventure possible!
Athletics – Forest Hill Falcons had a strong year on many fronts! Of special note this year was the Boys’ Soccer team, winning the Tier 2 South Region Championship and the Junior Boys’ Volleyball team winning silver at the Tier 1 City Finals. Additionally fielding teams in Ultimate Frisbee, Track & Field, Cross Country, Swimming, Ice Hockey, Ski and Snowboard, tennis and badminton, our athletes performed exceptionally well! None of this would have been possible without our Teacher Coaches and our Student Athletic Council!
Student Voice – Throughout the year, the school has been witness to an ever growing student voice. This has been the year of “new”; new course offerings, new fundraising events like the United Way CN Tower Climb and the Inside Ride, strong student led assemblies (African Heritage Month, Holocaust Memorial, Asian Heritage Month, Dance Fashion Show) and a growing sense of school community including our Friday Morning Breakfast Program. So much to be proud of! Be sure to follow the school’s events on Twitter (@ForestHillCI)
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Forest Hill Junior and Senior Public School - Paula Dodick, Principal; David Sonenberg and Denyse Stewart, Vice-Principals; Toni Wharton, Jennifer Harper & Robyn Berman, School Council Co-Chairs
Forest Hill students from our Junior and Senior school were able to audition to be a part of our annual Forest Hill’s Got Talent Show. The theme of this year’s show was “Connection.” Students were brought together from our extended French program, the gifted program and our regular stream. Being able to connect with peers in different programs within the school and stay connected during the show rather than being plugged in digitally, allowed our community to enjoy a special showcase of talent! This was a joint collaboration between our School Advisory Committee and our staff. Members of the SAC Talent Show committee auditioned our students who were then paired with a mentor staff member to rehearse and fine tune their performances. The end result was a fantastic collaboration of parents, teachers and students putting together an entertaining evening that highlighted the many talents of our students.
Forest Hill’s Junior Choir Sings O’Canada at a Toronto Marlies Game:
This year our junior choir got to take their talent on the road and were featured guests at the Toronto Marlies game one Sunday in late November. With a strong showing of Forest Hill families to cheer on the Marlies, the choir felt at home as they opened the game between the Toronto Marlies and the Cleveland Monsters. The choir members were incredibly excited to have this opportunity and the Forest Hill fans were very proud of the junior choir and their choir leader Ms. Chuang. Our choir were definitely winners, but sadly the Toronto Marlies were not.
Snuggle Up and Read:
In early June, our kindergarten teams worked in collaboration with our teacher-librarian to hold a “Snuggle-Up and Read,” evening. This was a great event that highlighted some strategies to use to help with self-regulation, a read aloud by author Phyllis Bordo who shared her book “Lilly Esther Conquers the Worries,” and an opportunity for our primary students to snuggle up and share a book or two with their families. It was very sweet watching some of our kindergarten students, model mindful breathing as their families practiced several different mindful breathing techniques. A number of picture books that addressed topics related to self-regulation were highlighted and a very relaxing evening was had by all!
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Glen Park Public School - Adam Thompson, Principal; John Travaglini, Vice-Principal; Allison Weaver, School Council Chair
Glen Park had a tremendous 2018-19 school year. There were many highlight events that took place where staff, students, parents and community came together.
Over the course of the year, we have been working through our Making Trees Count initiative.
After receiving a grant to plant 15 new trees on our Glen Park property, our students and community have been working to name, water, mulch, learn about and care for our new trees. Each class has adopted a tree and we look forward to our community watering events throughout the summer as we continue to care for them and help them grow. We believe that caring for the environment is part of developing overall wellness. A signature event for this initiative was when all classes came out to mulch and water the trees throughout our school grounds.
At our X-Movement Dance Night, Glen Park put on their running shows and came out for an exciting evening where we got active and moving, celebrated different types of music and gave our students the opportunity to lead us through what they had been learning all week long. It was a fun and healthy time had by all!
Once again, our annual Fun Fair was a resounding success! Our community came together for an evening of events that included so many things including live music, bouncy castles, face painting, meeting our community officers and much more. It was great to see so many current and former students, parents and staff come together for this opportunity to build community and have fun.
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Glenview Senior Public School - Mario Sirois, Principal; Maryam Hasan, Vice-Principal; Robin Conliffe & Zillah DaCosta, School Council Co-Chairs
First Lego League - We'd like to congratulate all the members of the rebooted, Glenview Lego Robotics Team for their amazing preparations and performance at the Regional Qualifying Competition on Saturday, December 15th. Although they did not move ahead to the provincial round, they won first place, Project Award for their innovative design of a space suit that can prevent astronauts from experiencing muscle atrophy and bone density reduction while traveling in space. Well done team!
Ontario Band Association Concert Band Festival - On February 11th, 2019, 67 of Glenview’s Grade 8 Concert Band musicians travelled to Thornhill, to perform at the OBA (Ontario Band Association) Concert Band Festival. This was a competition open to all schools in Ontario, being the lead-up competition to the national concert band competition later on in the year.
It was also a workshop opportunity for developing performance skills and understanding of certain playing concepts such as dynamics and articulation. We also got the chance to work with a guest clinician who gave us many tips as to how we could improve our performing skills. To prepare for this, the Glenview concert band practiced twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, to practice two pieces for this competition; Northpointe Fantasy and Earthscape. We
practiced these pieces for four months and with plenty of assistance from Mr. So and Mr. Rosetto, we were able to develop our pieces to become performance-ready, as well as grow our musical
capabilities in various ways. We practiced our pieces many times so we could be ready to perform at the festival.
The festival was an amazing chance for the Glenview band to perform in front of some of Ontario’s best concert bands, as well as having the chance to listen to some of the other bands play. Through this experience, we were given an amazing opportunity to listen to some outstanding music, as well as show our skills to the judges. We were given many tips from experts on how to improve as musicians and as a band in general. Luke M., Glenview’s lead tenor sax player, received the OBA student leadership award.
After this experience, every student in the band came back as a more experienced and a better
musician than before the concert. We developed in many ways, both performance-wise and technique-wise, and as a result, our band is now a ore improved and refined band than we were before the performance.
Performing Arts Festival - On Wednesday, April 3 Glenview hosted its 24th annual Performing Arts Festival. Students from all classes went through an audition process to showcase their unique and enchanting talents. Those who advanced participated in three extraordinary performances. These performances included breathtaking dances, melodic singers, skilled musicians, clever comedians, passionate actors and actresses. Additionally, there were some one of a kind acts such as skip roping and beat boxing. Students brought their cultural background to the show. Many of Glenview’s special clubs took part in the performance, including drama club, ukulele club, acapella, and rock band. All the individual acts intermixed for a grand finale to “Burning Down The House”. Every student worked tirelessly to develop their acts and the show could not have happened without their strong commitment and dedication. A special thank you to Mme Charlesworth, Mrs. Diniro, Mrs. Sullivan, Mr. Chalmers, Mr. So, and Mme Oreiro without whom the spectacle would not have been possible. Students in the stage crew worked tremendously hard to ensure that the show ran smoothly. An extra special thank you to our sound and lighting genius, Dan, who added an element of professionalism to the show. Overall, the festival was a smashing success and a wonderful experience for all that took part.
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Hillcrest Community School - Anthony Levy, Principal; Kaleigh Starritt & Katy Bell, School Council Co-Chairs
Authors Week
This is an annual week-long event that takes place in late April. This allows students time to work on a piece of writing all year, going through the writing process, resulting in a published book. The Hillcrest Publishing Centre is an important motivator for young authors. Stories, after editing, are typed up and bound for students to illustrate. Each year there is also a logo contest; students design logos for the Publishing Centre and the winners are made into stickers for students to put on the backs of their books. The books are donated to our library for circulation. During Authors’ Week, this year, we had a variety of guest speakers for the first four days, including authors, illustrators, graphic novelists, storytellers and poets. Each year the parent council provide the funds for this exciting event. There was a balanced mix of presentations and hands-on workshops. Unique to this year, prior to the week, students worked in various cross-grade teams to cut up plasticine in preparation for creating art with our visiting plasticine illustrator.
Aside from our guests, the grade 5s and 6s participate in Hillcrest Reads, which is an adapted version of the CBC Canada Reads program. Beginning in October, students select books from the Silver Birch nominated titles and read several titles, in order to defend them at a debate-style presentation during Authors’ Week. This has also become an annual event. Grades 3 and 4 vote on the books they would most like to read, based on how well the grade 5s and 6s debate. The younger grades also get to see what they will be expected to do once they reach that grade level.
Each year we have additional workshops, which are teacher-led, created by the librarian. This year, students were asked to create fashion (pieces of clothing, accessories, hats, etc.) using book covers which the library usually discards. Classes also have scheduled time to share their published books with other classes. Grades 5 & 6 perform their speeches for an audience.
Another highlight is the culminating assembly. Students are invited to come dressed as their favourite book character. Each class has a mat placed on the periphery of the gym, upon which all their student-published books from the year are displayed. Music (with literary-related themes) is played, while classes mill about and read each others’ books. The assembly usually includes those published in TDSB’s Student Voices reading their published poems and a Character Parade around the gym. Parents were invited to join us.
STEM
Dash and Dot Robots
We began with a borrowed Science kit of 6 Dash and Dots from the Board office in December. At year end, we now have 10 Dashes and 7 Dots. From K-2, all students know how to independently work the xylophones, and accessories, as well as the apps Xylos, Path and Go. In grades 3, they know how to use the launchers, and the controller on Wonder. In grades 4-6, students also know how to use Wonder and Blockly, working through a number of curriculum-related challenges. In order to incorporate Student Voice, Hillcrest had a Naming Dash and Dot Contest.
Challenges covered the following areas of the curriculum:
Math - Dash was used in transformational geometry, fractions, decimals, perimeter, area, probability
Science - beam, suspension, arch bridges were created using cardboard and Makedo, in order to withstand the weight of Dash and allow Dash to enter and exit the bridge independently
Social Studies - Dash acted as a tour guide (with recorded facts) of an artifact in the Ancient Civilizations unit
Language - Dot was programmed to supply words that students had to rhyme with in order to create poetry, as well as adjectives to be used in their poetry
Drama - using Lego connectors, Dash and Dot were used to recreate Fairy Tales, as well as original heroes and villains, complete with costumes, sets, dialogue, props
Ipads
We have increased the number of Ipads to a class set this year. Teachers used Epic, the e-book app to motivate reading, as well as the Osmo app for reasoning and geometry.
Health - Health objectives for grade 1 were covered through learning Toontastic, Draw & Tell and Seedling Comics; students had to show their learning through the apps (i.e. make a short animation about safety rules)
Several classrooms took up the STEM challenge. Grade 1s designed cars with cardboard wheels and axles, to see which one went the farthest. They designed boats to explore how many cubes each boat would hold in water. The grade 5s made Rube Goldberg machines. Grade 2s created a simple machine to capture a runaway meatball, using levers, pulleys, gears. The grade 6s had an ongoing maker space in their room.
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Humewood Community School - Julie Whitfield, Principal; Avinash Mani, Vice-Principal; Lori Litman & Jordana Joseph, School Council Co-Chairs
“At Humewood, we are all Changemakers!” This school theme was the perfect platform for our students to explore their own leadership and advocacy skills. Teachers integrated the theme into many different curriculum areas, including: language, social studies, science, and visual arts. In April, we had our Changemakers Fair—an opportunity for students to showcase what they had learned throughout the year about social justice and making our school and world better places. Once again, through the generous support of our School Council, we were able to invite performance and visual artists to Humewood to supplement classroom programs and help our students create dances, paintings, sculptures and written work on the importance of being a Changemaker. Thank you to all of the families who came out to the Fair!
This has been an outstanding year for Humewood as an OPAL school! Aside from the exciting introduction of large spindles, burlap sacks and wheelbarrows, we were awarded OPAL Platinum Status by Earth Day Canada! Our students truly know what it means to play safely, respectfully, and inclusively. In May, Humewood hosted an OPAL Open House, where about 100 teachers and administrators from across the TDSB spent the day learning about all the wonderful play-based initiatives that we have implemented at our school. As part of the OPAL program, we have a shed in which all of our fun loose parts are stored. For their legacy project, the graduating grade 8 students have been working hard with artist Elly Dowson (and their teacher, Mr. Singbeil) to paint the shed. In just a short time, they have transformed it from a giant yellow box, to a beautiful, personalized art piece!
Once again, Humewood had a strong presence at the Track and Field Conference Finals. We had students excel in the 1500m, 80m and 200m races and our relay teams (grade 6 boys, grade 5 girls) did an amazing job! Our badminton and ball hockey teams were also very strong this year and brought home some new banners. This year, Humewood also welcomed its first cheerleading team! Our students came in 1st place at the Ontario Cheerleading Federation’s competition at Canada’s Wonderland. Thank you to all of the Humewood teachers who have devoted time to coach and support our students in athletics. Go Humewood Huskies!!
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