Fern Ave. Public School Blog

The Broadway Arts Centre will be offering exciting new dance and theatre classes at Fern starting in the New Year. They have extended the registration to January 11, 2013 . FERN 10 WEEK PROGRAMS - starting Jan. 14, 2013 Musical Theatre - Monday 3:30-5:00pm - Grade 1-6 - $165 Hip Hop Dance 1 - Tuesday 3:30-5:00pm - Grade 1-4 - $150 Hip Hop Dance 2 - Wednesday 3:30-5:00pm - Grade 5-8 - $150 Creative Movement - Wednesday 11:45-12:30pm - JK & SK - $130 (Please note the time for Creative Movement has changed to 11:45-12:30pm.) To register please fill out the registration form and return to the school office or email: info@broadwayartscentre.com For any questions please contact Meaghan 647-294-3211.

AY CARAMBA! MAGNIFICA FELIZ NAVIDAD FIESTA! Thanks to everyone who came out to make the Maderaz Feliz Navidad Party a grand success! The band was amazing and everyone was moving to the beat. As someone mentioned, it was the youngest mosh pit they had ever seen! The Latin treats were delicious and were all gobbled up with great delight. The decorations were bright, cheerful and festive. Thank you to the kindergarten kids for the lovely tree ornaments. The pinatas, birds and kites were beautiful - thank you to the grade 1-4 classes who participated in these projects and very kindly loaned their beautiful artwork for the occasion. Thank you to Sweetpea for the beautiful Christmas tree! It not only looked beautiful, you got a wave of that lovely Christmas scent when you walked through the front doors. Thank you to all of the Arts Collective members who orchestrated the whole event and also provided beautiful decorations and lights. The foyer and stage have never looked so fabulou

Dear Parents/Guardians, Our school HPV vaccination clinic for grade 8 female students will be held on Thursday, January 31, 2013 sometime in the morning. Please note that the 3rd clinic for HEPATITS B-dose 2, and HPV-dose 3 will be scheduled between April and June 2013 and the scheduling dates will be provided in March 2013. Please feel free to contact me should you have any further questions. Thank you, Vera

      Please consider making a voluntary donation to help support enhanced programming for our children at Fern. If you did not receive a copy of the letter that was sent home, a PDF version of the Direct Donation letter and Parent Appeal Donation form is available  here . This is the most efficient, cost effective and practical ways to raise funds. If you would like a tax receipt for 2012, please return to the Main Office by Thursday, December 20th. The Parent Council, the teachers and especially the students appreciate your support!

The minutes for the meeting of the School Council that took place on November 22 are now available for download from the School Council Minutes folder on Google Drive. The School Council will next meet on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 , from 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. in the school auditorium.

Most of the Grade 8 students were introduced to myBlueprint today. Students now have an account with myBlueprint. We went through the website and practised setting goals, looking at high school choices and planning their futures. Here is the website: http://www.myblueprint.ca/tdsb Please ask your child about it and have fun with it. More news about myBlueprint coming in the New Year! Dara Schwartz Elementary Itinerant Counsellor Fern Avenue PS Swansea PS

FTC is now launching its next campaign "We Create Change." This is Canada’s largest penny drive for clean water. We are asking the Fern families to please collect those pennies and send them to school. Each class will receive a penny bag or container for collection, plus a poster. The drive runs from December 3rd to the 19th . All proceeds go to Free the Children’s Adopt a Village communities.

Once again, the Fern Community is having a food drive for the Daily Bread Food Bank. Unfortunately, the use of such food banks is on the rise with over 1,100,000 people in the GTA last year, compared to 950,000 4 years ago. The reasons for Food Bank Use can vary widely from person to person, family to family, with needs stemming from reasons such as lost income, disability, newly immigrated, being a single parent, or being caught in a cycle of constant poverty. Donations of non-perishable foods, such as canned goods, pasta, dried grains (ie. rice, beans, lentils) and baby food will be collected from Friday, Dec.14 to Friday, Dec.21 each morning. Please do not donate peanut/nut products (ie. peanut butter) to help keep all students with allergies at Fern safe. Thank you very much for sharing on behalf of the many in our community who use Food Banks.

Information regarding the teacher walkout can be found on the main TDSB website ( http://www.tdsb.on.ca ) and will be reported in the general media.

The Early Years Sing-along has been moved to Monday, December 17th, at 10:45am in the auditorium.  Kindergarten children, Parenting Centre drop-in children and Jr/Sr Preschool children from Ferncliff daycare are invited to join-in for a morning of singing and fun! Afternoon Kindergarten children who wish to attend must be accompanied by an adult. Thank you!

Dear Parents, There appears to be some inadvertent confusion around Thursday night’s Feliz Navidad School Council event and the letter I sent home yesterday referring to our historical concert in December involving classes and teachers. I apologize for creating this confusion. The Feliz Navidad event is going to occur tomorrow night, in the auditorium, exactly as the advertising has indicated with hired musicians, beginning with food treats at 5:30 pm. There is no change with this. There will not be any other concert involving classes and teachers this month. Again, I am sorry for accidentally causing confusion. Thank you. Mr. A. Moy Principal

FELIZ NAVIDAD HOLIDAY PARTY! - featuring MADERAZ Bring the entire family for an energetic, action-packed performance by Maderaz, an amazing Latin American band. Feliz Navidad highlights the varied musical traditions that take place around December in Latin America and Caribbean cultures. Don't miss the party! Thursday, December 13 in the Fern Auditorium 5:30pm - Pre-show Party with Latin Treats - Mexican hot chocolate and churros! 6:30-7:30pm - Amazing Latin Music Show! Tickets: $6 or 4 for $20 Available at: Fern Ave. P.S. Office Scooter Girl For info and/or tickets contact: Katrina.Fern.Arts@gmail.com MADERAZ LINK: http://www.maderaz.com Come and see all the brightly coloured decorations the students made - pinatas, birds, kites and Christmas tree ornaments! AWESOME FLASHMOB! Congratulations to all the students of Fern Ave. P.S. for doing an amazing job in the surprise after school FLASHMOB on Thursday, Dec. 6! The whole school united as a team to crea

Dear Parents and Caregivers, Please note that on Thursday and Friday last week, a revised TDSB Media Consent form was sent home with the children. It was on a yellow coloured paper. If you have not already sent it back to your child’s teacher completed, could you please do so as soon as possible? Thank you very much. Mr. A. Moy Principal Fern Avenue Junior and Senior Public School Toronto District School Board

Get your holiday shopping done and help support our community! Our friends at Scooter Girl Toys have offered to donate 15% of your total purchase on Saturday, December 8 (only) to the Fern Parent Council Fundraising team. Remember to mention that you are a Fern Parent. See you there! Scooter Girl Toys 187 Roncesvalles Avenue Toronto

We have extended the due date for the QSP Magazine drive to Wednesday, December 5th as some classes received their packages late. Please hand in your order forms to the main office or support us online at www.qsp.ca. Magazines make great gifts, promote literacy and are fun to receive every month! Remember a portion of your purchase will help support enhanced programming for our young people at Fern. All students that participate in the QSP Fundraising Campaign will be eligible to win one of our customized Grand Prizes. The top three sales people will have a chance to win a $50.00 Gift Certificate from Scooter Girl Toys, Sweet Thrills, or a $50.00 iTunes Gift Card. The classroom that sells the most subscriptions will qualify for a special, catered lunch celebration! Who want to win? Please send in your orders. Thank you again for your support!

This month we have a surprise for you…. This invitation is for every parent, caregiver or friend of our students. Please join us at pick-up on Thursday December 6th @ 3:30pm in the junior yard! November was an amazing month for Art at Fern. We had everything from drummers to polar bear costumes to clay animation. We had artists in 17 classrooms this month alone! The senior students who took part in our Rodrigo Chavez drumming workshop put on a fabulous show for the primary students. With only one week of instruction the students did an amazing job. Trash Theatre and 3 senior classes put on a performance for over 250 students and parents. Trash Theatre also did a one day workshop with our grade 1 students and the seniors combined. The seniors helped each grade 1 make their own animal mask to wear to the show. This interactive show about what we can do to stop pollution, global warming and endangered species was well received by all. The students costumes, masks and acting was very i