Fern Ave. Public School Blog

Please click here for the June blog update for Free the Children.

Happy Summer Holidays from the Fern Eco team. This year has been a quiet one for the team but the students were busy over the last few months planting and looking after the Fern Children's Garden. We hope the team will be back in full swing at the start of next year. I am stepping down as the Parent Chair of the team after 5 years and look forward to working with Jan Hoard who will be taking over. As usual we are asking Families of Fern to sign up for the Summer Watering Schedule to help water (if needed!) and weed the gardens for a week over the summer. Also please harvest any veggies that are ready to enjoy with your family, there are lots of Herbs too. Jo Somers Fern Eco team

The gerbils are in urgent need of a summer home. They have their own cage and bedding and food. If you are interested in looking after the Library gerbils this summer, please contact Ms. Douglas at ellen.douglas@tdsb.on.ca Thank you. Ms. Douglas

Photos from the Fern Fun Fair are now on display in front of the main office. If you would like to place an order for photos, please complete an order envelope and place the envelope in the office. Payment must accompany all photo orders. Orders without payment cannot be processed. Thank you.

1. We received an update that Trustee Atkinson is recovering and has moved into a facility to focus on rehabilitation. 2. The primary focus of the meeting was to discuss the TDSB budget. The board is facing a funding shortage primarily due to the funding formula and declining enrollment. In the past, the board has overtime attempted to address this issue by closing underutilized schools, reducing maintenance and utility costs, reducing administrative costs and increasing revenue from charging fees. Budget shortfall for this year is $55 million. Plans to reduce budget shortfall: Reduce central staffing Reduce service contracts for facility services Use technology to operate more efficiently Reduce reading recovery lead teachers Reduce spending for travel, furniture and equipment Review partnership criteria Savings in Continuing education programs Reduce school and central discretionary budgets by 4% Reduce Itinerant Music Program (note that this was defeated at the TD

Please join us for our Fern Volunteer Celebration We want to acknowledge the contribution you have made in helping to make our school a special place! Tuesday, June 18, 2013. 8:00 – 8:45 a.m. Fern Avenue Public School Auditorium Childcare will be provided in the primary playground. We hope you can join us! Please call Vera Ciric in the office to  RSVP at 416-393-9130

Just a reminder (if you haven't already done so) that your family can sign up for the 2013-2014's lunch program right now. A letter with all the details and an order form were distributed to SK - grade 7 students at the end of May. If that got lost somewhere between Fern and your house, you can download the order form and submit it by Friday, June 21 . Full details can be found in our letter outlining next year’s program and at http://fernavenuepublicschool.blogspot.ca/p/lunch-program.html . Hard copies can also be found on the bulletin board outside Ferncliff Daycare’s office (Room 103). We thank the Fern community for supporting this program and wish everyone a happy, healthy summer. Fern Food Committee

Our Grade 8's have received information on Community Hours as a requirement for their Ontario Secondary School Diploma. You can also access this information through this link : Both our Grade 7's and 8's are learning about MyBlueprint and will be receiving material on this online education tracker. You can visit the website . Our Grade 8's have accounts on it and we are in the midst of setting up our Grade 7's too. This tool will be used for course selection for secondary school, goal setting and career exploration. Dara Schwartz Elementary Itinerant Counsellor Fern Avenue PS Swansea PS

The minutes for the meeting of the School Council that took place on May 21 are now available for download from the  School Council Minutes  folder on Google Drive. The School Council will next meet on  Thursday, June 20, 2013 , from 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. in the staff room on the second floor of the primary wing.

BALLET JORGEN First we would like to thank everyone who came out to our bilingual Ballet Jorgen Canada show on May 2nd. We had a smaller than usual turnout but it was absolutely worth it. Everyone felt so lucky to have seen such a high quality, beautiful show. Exceptional dancers, costumes, props, a moving stage, an audio and visual screen and a lovely story made it a memorable show for everyone. The audience was taught how to experience the story through movement, costume, music and expression. Many of the audience kids were taught and performed a small dance at the end. It was an inspiring event! The Arts Collective feels very fortunate that we have been able to bring such amazing shows to our kids. We want to give special thanks to the Prologue to the Performing Arts for helping us make this happen. CHAIR AS ART This years Spring Fling was very successful and we are so proud of Mr. Carrasco's two grade 6 classes that worked on our decoupage chairs that were auctioned off.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Click on image above to enlarge.

We are hosting two concerts, a Primary one on June 11th, from 6:30 to 7:30pm and a Junior and Senior concert/ media exhibition evening on June 12th, also starting at 6:30pm ! Both events are will take place in the auditorium. For the Primary evening, the classes involved are: Gelinas, Kertesz, Archdekin, Desilets, Gaudet, Nitsis, Cline, Whalen, Eyre, Dibon- Smith, and Carpenter. We are still waiting for final confirmation from the Senior Division participating teachers and their classes, however, both the Band ensemble and the Strings ensemble have confirmed that they will be performing as well. Thank you. Mr. A. Moy Principal Fern Avenue Junior and Senior Public School

Attention Grade 7 Parents!!   As in previous years Grade 7 parents have offered to lend a hand on the day of the Grade 8 Graduation.  This means that the Grade 8 parents – who have been working hard all year to prepare for this day – can enjoy it with their graduate and their families.   We are looking for grade 7 parents to volunteer on Tuesday June 25, 2013.  The ceremony starts at 4:30 pm and usually lasts about an hour.   Here are some of our needs:   Donations : -           Cases of water bottles (it can get pretty hot in the auditorium!) -           Bags of ice -           Large coolers to loan for the day   Volunteer : -           Selling water outside the auditorium before and after the ceremony -           Clearing decorations from the stage after the ceremony -           Dropping off decorations at Fern Ave PS office the following day   If you think you can help out in any way, please contact Vera in the school office at 416-393-913

Just a reminder.... FERN AVENUE PUBLIC SCHOOL STAFF APPRECIATION LUNCHEON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 05, 2013. IF YOU ARE ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE YOUR FAVOURITE DISH AND/OR HELP WITH SET-UP OR CLEAN-UP PLEASE CONTACT EVANGELINE ADAMS (416) 532-2000 OR Evangeline.adams@hotmail.com

Please click here to access the Fern June newsletter.

Don’t miss out on a delicious lunch the first day of school in September (and then you can forget about finding your child’s lunchbox on Labour Day night!) Thanks to strong support and participation by students and parents, plus dedicated volunteers and staff, Fern’s lunch program continues to be a strong lunch model within TDSB. If you’d like to sign up now for 2013-2014 school lunches, fill out the order form . The deadline is Friday, June 21 for lunches starting on Tuesday, September 3. Full details can be found in our letter outlining next year’s program. Families have the option of paying either a monthly fee based on the number of meals served per month; or $65 per month for those who wish to commit their family for the whole school year with post-dated cheques for 10 consecutive months. (By handing over the year’s lunch duty to Fern’s program, the latter saves parents time, money – a savings of $55 per child over the year – and the stress of having to pack a lunch that t

Please click here for the latest Free the Children Newsletter. Also note that on June 13th , Fern’s FTC will be holding its second annual bake sale “SWEETS for the STREET” in support of our local initiative, Light Patrol. This outreach program responds to the needs of Toronto’s homeless and street-involved youth. All proceeds are going to Operation Good Thing street packs which will be provided to street youth during the winter months. Cupcakes and lemonade will be sold for $1 each.