Fern Ave. Public School Blog

Hello Fern Families. We hope that you are all staying safe and enjoying a restful break! As communicated on December 21st, 2020, the Ministry of Education has mandated that in conjunction with the province wide shut down, all schools in the province will be closed to students from January 4th - 8th , 2021 . Buses will not be running during this time. Students and staff will be engaged in remote learning from home during the closure. Currently Fern P.S. is scheduled to re-open for face-to-face learning on January 11th, 2021 .  The following information is being provided to our Fern families to outline basic expectations during the r emote learning period of January 4th - 8th , 2021: Virtual School:  For our students enrolled in Virtual learning, online instruction will resume on January 4th according to previously established schedules.  Kindergarten to Grade 8 In-Person School:   Families can expect that their child's teacher will connect with their students using their onli

This school year we have continued with our focus on character at Fern P.S.  Each month our staff and students focus on a character trait, culminating with a class presentation and recognition of students who have exemplified the trait. We hope to resume our monthly assemblies to recognize our students virtually in the new year and hope that some of our student leaders will take on the responsibility of preparing and presenting at our Virtual assemblies.  For December our focus is on Kindness and Caring.

Fern has a great history of Winter concerts that we will miss this year.  As visitors to the school and field trips are not possible during this time, we are happy to stream a live concert from Casa Loma on Tuesday Dec. 15th at 9:30am for the whole school to participate. Christian Overton is a well established jazz trombone player, arranger and composer in Toronto. It will be an educational seasonal concert geared to students where they will be talking about aspects of music and instruments as well as information and images about historical Casa Loma.  The performances are geared to all grades from JK to grade 8 with activities and questions regarding the performance and about Casa Loma. This 90 minute performance will feature the Casa Loma Orchestra, a 12 piece orchestra consisting of strings, brass, and wind instruments, featuring some of Toronto's best musicians playing festive selections from the Nutcracker, A Christmas Festival, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and many more

We completed our successful Toy Drive to support the Parkdale Food Bank and Community Centre. On Friday, our amazing Grade 8 students from Ms. Cameron's class and Mme Kertesz's class paraded down to Roncy United Church to deliver all the toys.  Thank you to all of our Fern community for your generosity! Your kindness will make many children happy this holiday season!

 

Ms. McGovern and the senior staff will be planning a Student Parliament for the new year. Please encourage your child to get involved!

Thank you to all our Fern Families who have donated new and unwrapped toys for our Toy Drive that supports the Parkdale Community Centre. Please drop off this coming week in the front foyer bins. On Friday, December 11th at 2pm our wonderful grade 8 students will deliver the toys to the United Church down the street for their distribution to the Parkdale Community Centre.  Thank you, your generosity and giving spirit is evident!

If there have been any changes to your contact information, please update your contact information with the school office.  Up-to-date information is important if your child becomes ill at school and needs to be picked up, or in the case of COVID-19, contact tracing needs to occur.  If you have not been receiving emails from the school or TDSB, please check first with the school office to ensure your email contact information is correct.

To request a change from Virtual to In-Person School or vice-versa, please contact Principal Sardella directly by January 29th 2021 for the Feb 16th 2021 start date ( day after Family Day Holiday). Thank you.

Our lost and found will be sorted and displayed in the front foyer. Parents will have an opportunity to stop in before or after school the last week of school December 14-18, from 8:30 am - 9:15 am and from 3:45 pm-4:30 pm when students are not in the building.

While the holiday season can be a fun and happy time of year, it can also be a stressful time for families. With all the preparations, it can easily become overwhelming. Some families may also find this time of year difficult due to change, loss of uncertainty about the future. Knowing how to minimize stress can be helpful this holiday season, to make it more enjoyable.  Tips to help deal with Holiday Stress:   Remember to pace yourself. Set realistic goals about what you can achieve. We all have ideas of what would make the "perfect" holiday season but remember-change can be good. Every holiday will inevitably be different so remember to be flexible.  When you are feeling stressed, take the time to sit back and evaluate why you are feeling this way. Be aware that holidays can be stressful for the whole family- including children.  Try to find a balance, remember the importance of healthy eating, staying active and getting enough sleep.  Make time to relax, laugh,

Monday, Dec. 14th - Merry Monday Morning - wear your Favourite PJ or PJ's  Tuesday, Dec. 15th - Candy Cane Day - wear Red and White  Wednesday, Dec. 16th - Favourite Winter Sports Jersey Day  Thursday, Dec. 17th - Inside Out Day  Friday , Dec. 18th - Festive Friday - wear your Favourite Festive Sweaters, Socks, Hats and /or Accessories

In years past, Fern families have come together to thank our teaching, administrative and caretaking staff for all their work on our kids' behalf with a delicious year-end breakfast get-together.  This year the traditional event won't be possible, but we don't want to miss an opportunity to let our school staff know how much we appreciate their energy and dedication, especially in the current climate.  We are still hoping to offer them a delicious breakfast or coffee break treat as a small token of our collective gratitude, and would love to partner with a local business to make this happen safely and tastily.  We welcome your ideas, volunteer time, or financial contributions to help make this happen. As the use of School Council funds is expressly forbidden for such events, we need to raise funds separately in order to do this. We regret that we cannot accept homemade food items at this time due to COVID safety concerns. Questions or ideas? Contact phillips.adrienne@gmail.

Hello Fern Families:  Toronto Public Health announced today it has updated its COVID-19 student screening tool to prevent further opportunities for virus spread.  The TDSB follows direction from Toronto Public Health and the new screening tool will be effective starting Monday, December 7, 2020 .  As part of this guidance, if a child has one or more new, or worsening COVID-19 symptoms, parents will now be required to:  -Keep their child home.  -Keep sibling and other children home, even if they do not have symptoms.  -Arrange for the child to get tested or,  -Contact their health care provider.  Without testing, the child must stay home for 10 days. Monitor the family for symptoms. Adults must stay home if they have one or more symptoms.  In line with this new direction, the COVID-19 Decision Tool for Schools has also been updated.  Here is the updated TDSB Student Health Pass . The TDSB Health Screening App  also reflects the new guidance for Monday.  Yours in partnership,  R. Sarde

Hello Fern Families,  Fern is collecting new toys and/or cash donations to buy new toys locally until noon on Friday, December 11 .  We've spoken with Parkdale Community Food Bank (PCFB) and have revised our position on cash donations. If you prefer to give cash, please get in touch with Cortleigh Teolis at: cortleighteolis@gmail.com who will accept cash donations on behalf of Fern School Council, and in turn buying gifts, and then donating the remainder to the PCFB.  If you would like a tax receipt, please contact PCFB directly.  More information on the Toy Drive is in the link below.  Thank you,  School Council Exec https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wOiudUbGrZRt1mIDz_FBW1AiYRd6tAtJ/view?usp=sharing

Hello Fern Families, This has been a strange eight months. We know for some families it has been especially challenging financially. Your School Council wants to find a way to support families in this difficult time to find winter gear -- coats, boots, hats, mitts -- in a stigma-free way. However, because of COVID we don't have the space to do a big collection and clothing sort. We've wrestled with this idea, and hope that the following is a solution that will work for people.  If your family, (including adults), need winter clothing or boots this year, AND/OR you have items to donate, please complete the google form below .  The completed form will go to Admin who will provide the information to the School Council, and we will work to match the need to the donations. It will be confidential. Some of us got lucky -- our industries found a way to continue during the pandemic -- and some of us didn't. Our kids keep on growing out of their clothes and boots no matter

Channel your inner sunshine and dress like you are headed to the beach!  Find your best beach wear: sunglasses, beach hats, grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts and leis..

It's been a tough year for a lot of people. Fern School Council, with the support of our fantastic Administration, is helping the Parkdale Community Food Bank with its Toy Drive.  We will be collecting NEW and UNWRAPPED toys for kids aged 1-14 in the Fern Ave P.S. foyer between now and Friday, December 11 .  If you want to make a cash, gift certificate or food donation, please contact the Parkdale Community Food Bank directly at info@pcfb.ca   The toys will be made available in a "Toy Bank" to any families at the  Parkdale Hall, 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. December 16th to 19th.   Thank you and stay safe.  School Council Exec