Fern Ave. Public School Blog

This year’s junior floor hockey house league was another highly successful sporting event at Fern Avenue P.S. with over 60 students participating from all skill levels. Our boys and girls had a lot of fun, and showed great team spirit, especially in the wake of our inspiring senior ice-hockey team’s performances and a string of convincing wins. All six junior teams played well in the house league, and going into the playoffs had recorded similar records, with the ‘Seismosaurus’ capturing top spot in the standings. The floor hockey games, played during lunch periods throughout the months of January and February, were watched by many of our junior students that came to cheer their friends and to be part of a fun atmosphere on the sidelines. There were many excellent plays in each game that got our students excited, especially with many games being decided in the last minutes of play. We have posted a number of pictures that show the excitement and great plays on our sports board outside

Our students on the junior boys’ basketball team had a lot of fun playing the game, and a great learning experience gained from their recent basketball tournament at Keele P.S. Our boys won their game with Howard P.S. convincingly and were able to develop many very exciting fast breaks and team plays throughout the game. Going against the teams of Keele and Parkdale was quite the challenge though as both schools had very strong and experienced teams this year. Despite our big losses at the tournament by these teams our students never gave up in the games, showing great poise and determination, a strong sense of school spirit, and significant growth in team playing. Our students had worked hard for two months in their practices and were able to demonstrate their improved basketball skills and plays in team scrimmages as well as in their tournament itself. They definitely succeeded in our original goals of becoming better basketball players and having fun playing the game. Furthermore

This year has definitely been a very busy and fun year of sports so far at Fern Avenue P.S. There have been many opportunities for interschool and intramural sports and students have responded by participating with enthusiasm. Consequently we believe our students have gained greatly by being physically active, as well having the experience of competing and being a part of a team. Many of our students have also been recognized for their individual and team successes, such as in making it to the finals in cross country, our senior girls being city finalists, our flag football team having a competitive team, and our senior ice hockey team making it to the playoffs and currently in competition to reach the finals. As we move on to the spring sports we will be offering many more sporting opportunities for our students at the junior and intermediate levels. Our school will have junior and senior teams for swimming, badminton, soccer, and for the first time we will also have a junior co-ed

We are having a Read and Write Gold session in the library for parents who want to learn how to download and use the program at home with their children. Date: March 1st 2012 Time: 6:30 - 7:30 PM Capacity: limited to 20 participants. Register by sending an email to : luc.gelinas@tdsb.on.ca Information about the software: Read and Write Gold is designed to provide literacy support for students. It supports 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. Some features of Read & Write Gold include;  Speech Feedback  Research Tools and Graphic Organizer  Word Prediction / Phonetic Spell Checker  Talking Dictionary / Homonym Support  French Translator Luc Gélinas Grade 3 French Immersion Room 206 Fern Avenue Jr & Sr Public School

A private tour designed by Mr. Parvatam, in conjunction with EF Educational Tours. Day 1 Monday, June 18, 2012 Depart for Montreal! Tour Director Led Sight Seeing Beaver Lake and Mont Royal Lookout Explore the highest point of Montreal with your Tour Director. This beautiful park was designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead who also designed Central Park in New York City. This is a great opportunity to photograph the sprawling cityscape of Montreal.

The Fern Eco Team are proud to announce the launching of our own FERN ARTS JUNK-tion. As you are all aware the teaching staff spend a lot of their own money buying art supplies.... Let's see what items we can recycle and send to the school. Buttons, Ribbons, Old paint, Beads, Material, Old pillows (washed so we can use the stuffing), and any other 'smallish' art and craft item that you don't want anymore but you don't want to send to LANDFILL! Donations can be delivered to room 112, Ms Chakungal's class on the main floor. Jo Somers, parent co-chair Eco team

There really is nothing quite like a good dance party – your favourite song blasted over a loud speaker, space to move and jump up and down if you want to, coloured lights swirling above your head and your best friend there by your side singing her heart out. It’s like a tonic for eternal youth, an injection of happy, a treasured memory... There is simply nothing quite like it. Thank you to everyone who made the Dance-a-thon on February 14th a memorable event. Heartfelt thanks to the Dance-a-thon Committee, DJ James Morrison, Alien Influx for supplying the lighting and sound equipment (wow!), Lori Charbonneau and her amazing dancers from Charbonneau Dance, parents who volunteered their time to help and teachers at Fern who supported our efforts. It is wonderful to see what can be accomplished when we all work together. We have lots of donation envelopes to open and contributions to count. 10% of the overall proceeds will be donated to Project Love and the remainder will su

We’re trying something new, meeting on a Tuesday evening instead of a Thursday. Hopefully, parents that wrote us and said that Thursdays are “not a good night for me” can join us this Tuesday at 6:30 pm in Room 216. We will be discussing: · How to keep Senior Students engaged in school activities · Playground enhancements · New Student “Honour Roll” · Club updates and Special Events · Fundraising initiatives Take an active role in your Community and join us!

CONGRATS to the Fern Avenue Falcons Hockey team who had an outstanding hockey season! Our team did an awesome job winning three out of our four games and will now proceed to the Western Semi-Finals on Monday, February 27th at Master Card Arena. (time TBA) On behalf of myself and Coach Miya we would like to extend our deepest thank to Coach Simon, Coach Roy and the incredible and devoted parent drivers who without you this would have not been possible. To our senior players a HUGE thank you for your dedication to the game, practices and sportsmanship. It is because of you that coaching is so rewarding! Coach Vera

Dear Parents/Guardians, GRADE 8 GRAD RE-TAKES will take place on Wednesday, February 22nd beginning at 9:00am. If you wish to purchase a graduating class composite please send $20.00 with your child and have them hand it to Vera in the office. Thank you.

This group is dedicated to all of those who have graduated or attended at Fern Ave P.S.  Many Class photos have been added to this group.  Have a look for a trip down memory lane:  http://www.facebook.com/ groups/2231147565/  

The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is accepting applications for summer jobs as part of the Youth in Policing Initiative. Application packages are available for students from 14 to 17 years of age who reside in priority neighbourhoods and are Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Students can go to any police station or visit the web site for an application package. TPS will also be holding information sessions that students are encouraged to attend. The submission deadline for applications is Friday, February 24, 2012. Visit http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/yipi/ for more information.

February 20 is a Statutory Holiday There will be no classes on Monday, February 20, 2012 to reflect the province-wide statutory holiday called Family Day. The holiday occurs on the third Monday in February of each year for the purpose of emphasizing and celebrating the importance of families taking time to be together. Because teachers are involved in professional learning on Friday, February 17 for the Board-wide Professional Activity Day, students will not be attending school on Friday, February 17 and Monday, February 20 which is the statutory holiday - Family Day. Visit the TDSB public web site at www.tdsb.on.ca to view the school year calendar.

Just a reminder, if you haven’t done so already, you can still sign up for March lunches.  There are delicious new entrees and also some old favourites. Check out the menu on the noticeboard's calendar or  click here .   Order forms  and payments should be deposited in the secure mailbox outside the Ferncliff Daycare office [room 103] by  Thursday, February 16  –  no extensions can be given!  Hard copies of the menu and the order form are also available outside the office.  Thanks for your support.

Kids love Maggie's taco salad, pancakes, vegetarian lasagna, Sloppy Joes and quesadillas, all of which are returning to the cafeteria this March! Now is a great time to sign up your child(ren) for delicious, healthy food and save yourself the chore of rushing around to pack lunches. Click here for the revised February menu. Download the  March order form  and deposit your order and payment in the secure mailbox just outside the Ferncliff Daycare office (room 103) by  Thursday, February 16  – no extensions can be given!   (The lunch program is volunteer-driven so late orders create more work for the parents who run it and also results in delays in food ordering and timely deposit of payments.) Click here for the March menu. We are still looking for feedback on the lunch program. Our  online survey can be found at:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/ s/3B2VJ7C . We would greatly appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to answer it by  Monday, February 6. And finally,   we are l

Hi Everyone, I am in the planning stages of our Grade 7 and 8 Career Day for the third week of April 2012. I am hoping to have Skills Canada come and do a presentation on skilled trades.  It would be nice to have a variety of workshops for the students to participate in.  The purpose of the workshops will be to introduce students to careers and the paths it took the presenters to get there and raise their awareness of career possibilities.  I am hoping to expose students to a variety of jobs within a career field from all 4 pathways (directly to work, apprenticeship, college and university). I want to start with the Fern community and then reach out to other people.  Please let me know if you or a relative, friend or acquaintance could be interested in participating.  I am easiest to reach through email.  Please pass on my email:  dara.schwartz@tdsb. on.ca .  Depending on the number of presentators, I will be able to determine how many and the length of the workshops.  I would say an

In support of the upcoming Asian Heritage month please view the attached flyer which provides details regarding the upcoming Mandarin Lions Arts Festival being held in April and May 2012.  The deadline for applications for scholarships totalling $8,000.00 is March 5 th , 2012 and is open to all students. More information pertaining to the events can be found at  www.mlartsfest.com