Important Safety Reminders
Yard Supervision
Yard Supervision for Grades JK to 6 begins at 8:35 AM and ends at 3:45 PM. Afternoon Kindergarten supervision begins at 12:45 PM. Parents are responsible for their children’s safety and conduct in the yard before and after these times.
Visitor Sign-In Book
Visitors are requested to sign in at the main office and wear a ‘visitor sticker’. This is a safety measure to ensure that visiting adults are recognized and encouraged to feel welcome in our school. Thank You!
Visitors are requested to sign in at the main office and wear a ‘visitor sticker’. This is a safety measure to ensure that visiting adults are recognized and encouraged to feel welcome in our school. Thank You!
Kiss N' Ride
Do not use the Avenue Road driveway as this is the school bus pick up and drop off area for our students.
Please pick up and drop of your children at the Kiss N’ Ride designated area on Poplar Plains.
Do not use the Avenue Road driveway as this is the school bus pick up and drop off area for our students.
Please pick up and drop of your children at the Kiss N’ Ride designated area on Poplar Plains.
Community Issue
Our neighbours have recently been concerned about cars blocking their driveways during drop off and pickup times. Please ensure that you are not parking in front of anyone's driveway, as they need to be able to get in and out of their own driveway safely and promptly.
There is one-hour parking on Balmoral in the event that you have to come into the school. We do everything we can to cooperate with our neighbours and would appreciate this is taken into consideration.
Safe Arrival Program
Our neighbours have recently been concerned about cars blocking their driveways during drop off and pickup times. Please ensure that you are not parking in front of anyone's driveway, as they need to be able to get in and out of their own driveway safely and promptly.
There is one-hour parking on Balmoral in the event that you have to come into the school. We do everything we can to cooperate with our neighbours and would appreciate this is taken into consideration.
Safe Arrival Program
The Safe Arrival program is used by parents/guardians and schools to account for any student’s unexplained failure to arrive at school. Please call the school safe arrival number 416-393-1557 before 8:55 AM or 12:30 PM (for an afternoon absence) if your child will not be attending school or plans to be late. This line is available 24 hours a day with voice mail. If your child is absent and we have not heard from you, we will make every effort to contact you using the information provided on the Emergency Form. The name and telephone number of an emergency contact is absolutely essential.
Preserving the Learning Environment - from the Office Staff
Preserving the Learning Environment - from the Office Staff
In the event of an emergency, we always do our utmost to relay messages to students; however, we will not disrupt classes and interrupt instruction time to give messages to individual students. Our Office Administrator, Dorothy Hunt and Clerical, Lisa Burk are very busy during the day. To minimize the numerous phone calls they are currently receiving, we kindly ask for your cooperation to Please make arrangements for special pick-ups prior to your child’s coming to school. The agenda is an excellent tool for communication between home and school for dental and medical appointments when your child needs to leave early.
Letters are required to our office staff to notify us that your child is leaving the school early for an appointment or other matter. Parents who are picking students up must sign out the student at the office. Please help us with this process and make this a best practice at Brown P.S.
Swim Attire
Many students are forgetting their swim gear and having to call home. This is another disruption for the office staff and to instruction time. Please check your child’s timetable and ensure they have their swim attire on a regular basis. Possibly send the swim attire a day before the actual swimming class.
Hallway Safety
We kindly ask that parents and caregivers drop off their children in the school yard as a best practice and allow the students to go to their classrooms on their own upon the entry bell. Our hallways are narrow and when too many people congregate in the hallways, it creates a great deal of congestion. To ensure the safety of our students, please help us make this a best practice also.
Reminder
BRRR! It's COLD outside! With the arrival of cold weather, we are requesting that parents ensure that children are dressed properly for the weather, which means wearing hats, mittens or gloves, scarves, snow pants and boots. We also request that you take a few moments to review the reasons for wearing (not just bringing to school!) warm clothing in winter. Please make sure that all clothing and belongings are labeled with your child's name, as this allows us to identify clothing that has made its way to the Lost and Found. Also, please make sure that your child has a pair of shoes that can be worn inside (but that are not worn outside) while boots are left outside the classroom to dry. This ensures that carpets in classrooms stay dry, and helps to eliminate slippery floors.
Lost & Found
Parents, please check our lost and found collection. There are many items currently in the Lost and Found area that need to be recovered before the holidays. Remember to label items (esp. lunch bags) with a permanent marker.
Principal’s Message from the Office of G. Christakis & S. Litner
Thank you to all for an incredible Fall Fling. Big thanks to the organizing committee, parents, staff and students who participated this year in making the event a true community success. Our staff and students are currently working with our Outreach Committee to create holiday hampers for families that need some help during this season. We kindly appreciate all the donations and generosity from our community to help those who are less fortunate.
December is a busy month at Brown P.S. The TDSB has invited students to the Q- Mack presentation The Ultimate Class Trip on December 14 at the Ricoh Coliseum- It's all in the name of paying tribute to the TDSB's Character Development initiative and the important issue of tackling bullying head-on. The Ultimate Class Trip is open to all students from Grades 2 to 8 and will feature Q-Mack , Canada
This month’s Character Trait is Kindness and Caring. We held two assemblies for our students last week discussing school expectations and the character traits. For every act of kindness and caring, students will be given a piece of construction paper to help create chains of kindness and caring throughout the school. Our goal is to be able to link these chains of kindness and caring from the third floor all the way to the first floor. Each link will have a student’s name on it representing their act of kindness and caring.
Empathy certificates were given to Alexander Wise and Foster Smith for their radio announcement contributions in educating our students about EMPATHY during the month of November. Congratulations to both boys for their fine efforts.
Every Month I will include a short article offered by our TDSB guidance department about various topics. Last month I included information about Bullying Awareness. This month‘s topic is Children and Stress.
Children and Stress
“Stress can infect and affect the physical, emotional, social, intellectual and academic well-being of children. It can interfere with their motivation, attention, perception, memory and the entire learning process.” Dr. Harold Minden, York University suggests, children experience stress much like adults do, but we often do not recognize the contributing factors or signs. Family situations, health problems, and an overly busy lifestyle can all cause stress in our children.
Some clues that your child may be stressed are:
- Recurring headaches or other physical symptoms
- Lethargic behaviour or lack of energy
- Nervous habits such as nail biting
- Restlessness
- Strained facial expressions or frowns
Here are some ways parents can help children learn to manage stress:
- Be patient. Allow extra time for activities and preparation.
- Physical contact helps. Hugging helps a child to relax and builds self-esteem at the same time.
- Listen to your child when he/she tells you about his/her feelings. Ask questions to encourage openness and honesty.
- Promote physical activity. A healthy body is linked to a healthy mind.
- Allow for quiet time. Be sure not to over program your child.
- Prepare healthy meals, as a balanced diet gives children needed nutrients.
- Be consistent with your child so there are few surprises.
- Teach your child relaxation techniques such as deep breathing and stretching.
For more information, visit the Canadian Child Care Federation website at: www.cccf-fcsge.ca.
Happy Holidays!
The staff and I wish you all a safe, restful and joyous holiday season with your family and friends.
School resumes after the holidays on Monday, January 9, 2012 at 8:50 AM.
Sincerely,
G. Christakis-Principal S.Litner-Vice Principal
