Fern Ave. Public School Blog

Two highlights of the STEM Event every year are the Grade 7 Spaghetti Tower competition, and the Grade 8 Boat Race. Congratulations to the winners of the Grade 7 Spaghetti Tower competition whose respective towers (using two packages of spaghetti and a lot of hot glue in under two hours) survived the weight challenge up to 24 pounds: Shout out to the teams of Amir, Andrew and Lukas, and of Sally, Jason and Zach! While the Grade 7’s built spaghetti towers, the Grade 8’s were busy designing and building boats from cardboard and duct tape, and then racing them across the pool . Congratulations to the team of of Jim & Sebastian who finished first with a time of 40.38 seconds! Finally, the winner of the MakerKid Raffle was Maisie C.! Thanks again everyone for making this event such a huge success! School Council Exec and STEM Committee

Monday, April 1st Day 3 * Junior Badminton Practice * Lunch – HL- Basketball –Sarantos Tuesday, April 2nd Day 4 * 8:00-8:50 a.m. – Junior Track and Field * Senior Badminton Practice * Lunch-Chess Club * Lunch –HL-Sr.-Volleyball – Josh/ Sarantos * International Children’s Book Day * 3:30-4:30 – Senior Track and Field practice * 3:30 – 4:30 – Junior Boys’ baseball tryouts Wednesday, April 3rd Day 5 * Junior Badminton Practice * Lunch – Senior Quiet Space-Room 306 * Lunch-Primary Choir-Room 008 * Lunch – HL- Basketball * 12:40-2:00 - Passion Project * 3:30 p.m. – Folk Dance Thursday, April 4th Day 1 * 6:45 a.m. leave Fern - Grade 7/8 Qualifying Swim Meet – destination Harbord C.I * 8:00-8:50 a.m. – Junior Track and Field. * Grade 8 Badminton Tournament at Forest Hill * 9:30- 11:30 a.m. – Room 202-High Park Nature Centre for Biodiversity program * Lunch – Skipping club – Gym – Grades 1-3 * L

At the end of April, the Kindergarten classes will be hosting a ‘Friends of the Earth’ art gallery walk that showcases art using recycled materials. The art projects will commence during Earth Week (April 22-26) , so donations of recycled materials can be dropped off in the collection boxes situated in the front foyer anytime between now and Friday, April 19th. If your child is in Kindergarten, you can give your donations directly to the teacher. Recyclable Art Materials needed include: -toilet paper or paper towel rolls -newspapers -cardboard boxes -juice cartons with lids -plastic bottles with caps *** -large plastic containers e.g. laundry detergent bottles -straws -pop can tabs -plastic spoons -plastic pop cans / bottle rings Please rinse all containers and do not include any items with sharp edges (i.e. tin cans, pop cans, etc.) Thank you on behalf of the Fern’s Eco Team and Kindergarten community! Questions? Email: Laura.gilmore@tdsb.on.ca

Hello! With the arrival of Spring, many of you will be cleaning out closets and purging items you no longer need. Fern’s Eco Team will be happy to take any textiles off your hands during Earth week April 22-25th . You can drop off the following items in the school front foyer: -All men’s, woman’s and children’s clothing -footwear -outerwear -hats -mittens -scarves -belts -towels -purses -handbags -backpacks -soft bags -linens All items are to be placed in plastic bags. Donations will be collected and weighed by Bag2School on Friday April 26th and the school will receive $$ towards future eco initiatives! Thanks, Fern’s Eco Team! Questions can be directed to larissa@mohan.ca More information: http://www.bag2schoolfundraising.com/bio

Dear Parents/Guardians, Track and Field Permission forms for Junior Students were handed out today. In the event your child wishes to participate and did not receive a form, please come into the office and ask the office staff for a form. Thank you, Vera

Next week, the Junior Badminton team will practice on Monday and Wednesday mornings at 8:00 am. The 7/8 team will practise on Tuesday and Thursday morning . This is to accommodate Junior Track and Field practices, which begin next Tuesday morning, April 2nd . Thank you, Madame Hall

It is hard to believe, but spring has arrived, and at Fern P.S. we are setting up our outdoors athletics and sports program, with track and field once again becoming a focal point. Our students will be practising various track and field events during their gym classes, while division practises outside school hours are also starting next week. Our first track and field meet will be on May 3rd this year for both seniors and juniors, at U of T track. The junior track and field team (grades 4-6) will have practises on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the mornings (8:00am-8:50am) , starting on Tuesday, April 2nd , with coaches Sarantos Katsihtis and Katerina Hall, at our school’s track. Our teams will be selected from a combination of records during our track and field practice/try-outs, and gym classes. The primary purpose of track and field events in gym is to challenge each of our students trying for their personal best, and enjoying the participation in athletic events with their peers. O

A huge thanks to all the parents and grade 7&8 students who volunteered in classrooms during the day and the evening. Additional thanks to the administration and the teachers for supporting this event. We could not have done this without you. It was great to see so many teachers and their families stay for the evening event to help out or to enjoy the celebrations. We are grateful to have such a team of enthusiastic staff and admin. A special thank you to parent volunteers Laura, Carol, Dorothy, Stephen, Rick and John for the hours and hours they poured into the STEM Event over the last weeks and months. They designed the projects, collected and organized materials, wrangled volunteers, scheduled classes, worked with the teachers, organized the STEM displays in the Auditorium, along with a million other details. Finally, thanks to all of the Fern families who participated in this event. It was special to see everyone from daycare families just starting with our school commun

Congratulations to the winner of the Classroom Pizza Challenge for the most money raised from the Dance-a-thon: Mrs. Nitsis' Class (English Grade 1/2) who raised $742! Across all thirty classes, we raised close to $6000! To put that into perspective, $6000 will pay for Artists in the Classroom for every class at Fern next year, or Scientists in the School (science facilitators in every class), or our STEM Clubs, STEM Day, and our subsidy of the Food Program. It goes a long way to fund extra programs in our school! Thanks so much to all the Fern families and friends who donated to the Dance-a-thon, to the parent volunteers who made it happen, to the teachers for their enthusiasm and dance moves, to the Administration for their enthusiasm and support, and to the grade 7&8 volunteers. We are already looking forward to next year! School Council Exec

Monday March 25th : Grade 7s will build weight bearing Spaghetti Towers, and Grade 8s will build and race Cardboard Boats across the pool! Tuesday March 26th : Parent facilitated science projects in every Fern class, JK to grade 6. Then, 5:30-7:30pm Tuesday evening, the STEM Night Showcase! Pizza for sale (including vegetarian and vegan options). There is still time to volunteer Monday or Tuesday during the day, Tuesday evening, or Wednesday morning (to help with the wrap-up). Go to our sign up page to volunteer for a half day, or for an hour. https://signup.com/mobileweb/2.0/vspot.html?activitykey=137639510023#anonymous_invite_page A huge thank you to everyone who has already signed up for a volunteer spot, and to the parent volunteers, teachers, and grade 8 students who helped us organize STEM Day supplies last Friday afternoon. We. Cannot. Wait. Questions? Email the STEM Committee at: fernstemcommittee@gmail.com . STEM Committee and School Council Exec

Thank you Fern for a successful Dance-a-Thon! I’m not going to lie, we’re all exhausted, but it was a great time. The winner of the Classroom Pizza Challenge is TBD depending on the donations to school cash online that we are still calculating. A huge shout out to all the parents who donated, the kids who got pledges and danced their hearts out, and the parent volunteers (especially Madame-Mix-a-Lot, our DJ Trish Bentley). A special thanks to the squad of Grade 7 and 8 volunteers who helped the day run smoothly. It was great to see the big kids take a leadership role! They helped decorate, bring children from their classrooms, lead in a few dance moves, organize and ration glow sticks, and...they nailed the auditorium clean-up in no time flat. It was also reassuring to know that they play like kittens with balloons the same way that the JKs do. Thank you to everyone for the great day! Now, take a deep breath, and get ready for the next adventure: the epic STEM Event next

TOMORROW -- Thursday March 21 -- IS THE ANNUAL DANCE-A-THON! As of this afternoon, certain kindergarten classes -- who have the 5 and 6 year old cuteness advantage -- are in the lead for the Pizza Classroom Challenge: Ms Heller, Mr. Ciric, and Mme Hulsman are neck and neck in ticket sales. However, Ms. Nitsis' class has some strong cash donations, so I wouldn't count them out yet! And who's to say - some of those Junior and Senior classes might pull in some big numbers. Mr. Nikolajevic's class is currently leading the Big Kid pack, so you just never know! Please buy your child's dance ticket online at School Cash Online https://tdsb.schoolcashonline.com/Home/SignIn , or, if you want to donate more than $10, either send cash with your child tomorrow, or go to the School Cash Online Donate button. Please remember to provide your child's classroom number for online donations. Only donations made before the end of the day tomorrow will count towa

Dear Parents/Guardians, As many of you have already experienced, Public Health has notified you by mail of your child's incomplete immunization record. Parents are now responsible for directly reporting immunization records to Public Health. Our office is no longer collecting immunization data forms, and ask that parents report directly to Public Health through one of the following ways: Online: toronto.ca/studentvaccines Or mail a copy (include child's name and date of birth): Toronto Public Health-Immunization | 235 Danforth Avenue, 2nd Floor | Toronto, Ontario, M4K 1N2 If you need an exemption please call: 416-392-1250. Unfortunately, many of our parents have attempted to report online or to reach a Public Health Rep without success. Please keep trying as it is important that your child's vaccinations are up to date and recorded. Any prior records which were submitted by the Fern office staff to PH were not successful and must be reported by the pare

Dear Parents/Guardians, The final school vaccination clinic for our grade 7 & 8 students is scheduled for Friday, May 3, 2019. The following vaccines will be given: *Second dose of hepatitis B and human papillomavirus vaccines to Grade 7 students *Toronto Public Health nurses will also immunize Grade 7 & 8 students who missed their    hepatitis B, meningococcal, and human papillomavirus vaccines at earlier scheduled clinics. Please feel free to contact Vera in the main office if you require any further information.

Our 3rd Annual STEM Event is almost here! We still need loads of volunteers for classroom activities on Monday/Tuesday and for the main event on Tuesday night. The list is pretty big so be sure to scroll down to see all the available spots: SIGN UP HERE Again, thank you for your time and support. STEM NIGHT Tuesday, March 26th 5:30-7:30 Come see the classroom STEM activities on display and participate in even more STEM fun for the whole family. Pizza Available for purchase (vegetarian and vegan options) Please welcome our special guests this year: Google Take a VR adventure with Google Cardboard. Experience a Google expedition where VR lets you explore the world virtually while AR brings abstract concepts to life— through collections of 360° scenes and 3D objects, with interesting sites and artifacts along the way. MakerKids Empowering the makers of tomorrow. MakerKids is a makerspace that offers educational classes in coding, robotics, Minecraft and more! Mak

Fern’s Dance-A-Thon is coming up this Thursday, March 21st ! This is a reminder for the kids to get their pledges in AND to get pumped for a super fun time. Parents: we are lacking volunteers for the afternoon 12:45 - 3 pm and we could really use the help of parent volunteers. Please sign up for either a 12:45 - 1:45 pm shift and/or the 1:45 - 3 pm shift. You get to watch or dance with the kids, hand out glow sticks and just hang out. It really is one of the best daytime volunteer positions around! If you have any further questions please contact Trish at trishbentley@gmail.com .

Spring is on it's way and the Fern Friends UMOJA soccer classes still have spaces left. Get your kids running, improve coordination, learn to be a team player and have some fun after school. Sign up here !

Fern’s musical “Lestat Private High” is seeking parents to help build a standalone wall with a door for the set. If you have any experience in renos, construction, etc., please contact the Director, Mr. Brooks, at: geoffrey.brooks@tdsb.on.ca as soon as possible. Thank you in advance!

See what the Me to WE team has been up to for the last few months here .

A message from Mr. Nano and Mrs. Heller. Fern is starting a Primary Choir and students in grades 1, 2, and 3 are invited to join. Practices will be held every Wednesday after lunch, in room 008. Our first practice will be Wednesday, March 20th . If you love to sing like we do, we hope you will come out and join us!

Hi all, it's that time of year again for our awesome FERN STEM Event and we need you to make it all happen. Absolutely no STEM experience is necessary. STEM Volunteer sign-up list HERE (Please make sure to click the "show more spots" button to see them all). STEM Day(s) - Monday, March 25th & Tuesday, March 26th 9:00 am - 3:30 pm We need many volunteers to support STEM activities, during the school day, in all classrooms from JrK-Grade 8. The volunteer list is divided into morning and afternoon shifts for each activity, and are also listed by grade/teacher if you would specifically like to join your child(s) classroom. STEM Night - Tuesday, March 26th 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm This is the big night, where the whole community is invited to participate and see what the kids were up to. We need volunteers to help set-up, tear down, run activities and generally help out to make our STEM evening event run smoothly. If you've joined us before you know how a

Thank you so much for coming to our first ever Pancake Dinner! Over 200 people braved the snowy night and a long line to join us. We are so happy you came! Thank you, too, for all the kind words of enthusiasm and encouragement. Such an incredibly warm and positive event! We will be better prepared for the crowd next time: buy fewer oranges, less butter, and buy more strawberries and sausages. Many more sausages. A huge thanks to our parent volunteers who displayed their mad kitchen skills, and to Paula, our dedicated Cafeteria Cook who stayed all evening to Captain our kitchen squad. So lovely that our parent community got to see her in action. She runs a tight ship, and was very patient with the amateurs. We are so lucky to have the kitchen, the cafeteria, and the wonderful folks who work there. We are still doing the math, but it looks like we made close to $900! I can assure you that up to the minute the doors opened we were worried we wouldn't break even (I mean, two 10l

Learn more about the TDSB budget process. Information on the upcoming Ward 7 and 9 Budget Meeting can be found here .

Spring Registration starts THIS Thursday for after-school Art and Soccer  Programs. Registration will open at: 7:00 am on Thursday March 7th. To register you must fill out the form at https://tinyurl.com/fernfriends at 7 am sharp! You will be contacted with confirmation and payment details after registration. * The first week back from March break will be make-up classes for this years SNOW DAYS* see below. * Spring Term classes will START the second week back from March break. * Please see form for more details and programs offered.

Monday, March 4th Day 3 · Graduation Photos – Retake – Morning Only · Lunch – Junior Book Club – Boys · Lunch - Student Council Meeting · Lunch – Lestat Scene 4 and 10 Madame Hall, Madame Mably and Mr. Dibon-Smith -- Island Natural Science School Tuesday, March 5th Day 4 · Lunch-Intermediate Book Club · Lunch-Chess Club · Lunch – Lestat dance rehearsal · 3:30pm - Junior Stem Club · 6- 7:30 pm – Pancake Dinner – Parent Council Wednesday, March 6th Day 5 · 7:45am- Sr. Badminton – Mr. Cross · Lunch – Senior Quiet Space-Room 306 · Lunch – Lestat Scene 5 and 7 · 3:30 pm – Folk Dance – Tara Ms. Tse, Madame Reimer, and Ms. Ashforth - Island Natural Science School Thursday, March 7th Day 1 · 7:45am- Jr. Badminton – Ms. Hall · 1 pm. - Primary Movie hosted by Me to WE Friday, March 8th