Administrator Update
Northlea is Proud to be an OPAL School
Newsletter Updates
The Administrator Update and The Dates to Remember sections have been updated with new information.
Stay Connected with Northlea
Be sure to follow us on Twitter @NorthleaTDSB. You can also check out our website at www.northleaschool.ca.
Topics Covered in This Newsletter
Happy Diwali
Polling Station Reminder
Cross Country: Grade 1/2 Races, Barrier-Free & Finals
Halloween Parade and Parties
Me to We Costume Drive
OPAL Loose Parts Drive
Northlea's Professional Learning Communities
Student Voice Symposium
Representing Identity @ Northlea * Request for Parent Involvement
Therapy Animal Program
Roots of Empathy
French Immersion Application Timelines
Home and School Meetings
French Immersion Bus Parent Breakfast @ Thorncliffe Park School
Parent Breakfast - ISP DD Program
Heathly ECO PALS Clothing Drive - Bag2School
Legislative Page Program
Pizza Lunches
Grade 8-9 Parent Information Evening @ Northlea
High School Open House Evenings @ Secondary Schools
Winter Concerts - Save the NEW Date!
Kiss & Ride Program Update
Parent Volunteers in the Library
Trustee Corner
Happy Diwali
Diwali (also called Divali or Deepavali) is a “festival of lights” that celebrates the triumph of light over dark and good over evil, and the blessings of victory, freedom, and enlightenment. The name comes from Sanksrit dipavali, meaning “row of lights.” Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world. To all observing wishing you and your family Happy Diwali!
Polling Station Reminder
A friendly reminder that Northlea is a polling station on Monday, October 21st, 2019. Voting will take place in the North Gym. Voters will enter and exit via the North Gym doors. Our accessible entrance will be via escort at Door 3. In an effort to support voters and students at Northlea, we have secured two additional staff to supervise the entry to the building.
Cross Country: Grade 1/2 Races, Barrier-Free & Finals
A special thank you to all the students, parents and staff who show up everyday with a winning attitude and commitment to this program. Hundreds of Northlea students participated this year and we couldn't be prouder.
Be sure to check in with our Northlea School website:
(https://sites.google.com/tdsb.on.ca/wearenorthlea) for updates about all co-curriculuar events.
Below are some photos from the runs at Earl Bales and 1/2 on site races.
Halloween Parade and Parties
We are excited to see all the great costumes this year. We welcome parents to the Primary parade. It's a highlight of the year. Teachers will also share opportunities for parent involvement in the classes. These opportunties vary from class to class and from grade to grade.
A few friendly reminders:
1. Please ensure that costumes are aligned with our committments to equity. Please avoid costumes with stereotypical representations of cultures.
2. Please keep all play weapons at home.
3. Please keep the needs of students with life-threating allergies top of mind when sending food to school. Our approach to food sharing can be found in the Parent Handbook and teachers will also review these standards with their class parents. Lootbags are not permitted at Northlea.
PRIMARY (K-3)
Parade: The parade begins at 1:00 PM . Classes will parade around block.
Route: Leave the front doors, left on Rumsey, left on Donlea, left onto Sutherland, and then through the back field (along the back and then into school).
Class Parties:- PM Parties - Teachers will communicate to each of their parent groups about class parties. Teachers will share class-specific instructions.
Supervision at the Corners: If there are any parents who wish to volunteer as parade supervisors at certain intersections, please let the school administration know.
Rain Plan: If it rains, we will have an indoor parade. More details about the indoor route and order will be shared.
JUNIOR (4-6)
Parade: Some classes may opt to come out to the field to watch the Primary parade.
Class Parties: PM Parties - Teachers to communicate to each of their parent groups about class parties.
INTERMEDIATE (7/8)
1:00 PM - Dance in the South Gym and alternate activity room.
Me to We Costume Swap/Drive
The ME to WE team is hard at work. They are looking to reduce Northlea's carbon footprint with textile waste. Please consider participating our Costume Swap/Drive
OPAL Loose Parts Drive
We are excited to be growing Northlea’s OPAL in the Kindergarten play area. We will be storing the loose parts in the Kindergarten shed and bringing them out for our youngest students to use for outdoor play and learning. As with the school age OPAL loose parts collection last Fall, we’d love to have the following items donated:
Kitchen items, which work well for creative play with sand:
- Muffin tins
- Baking pans
- Pots and pans (not too heavy)
- Utensils (without sharp edges) e.g., soup ladles, wooden spoons
- Baking trays
- Wooden cutting/cheese boards
Please no melamine or plastic items, as they tend to break easily. Items can be dropped off at our OPAL bin in front of the office. Thank you in advance,
Northlea's Professional Learning Communities
Our staff team is using a range of data sources to better understand our students strengths, interests and needs. Below is a summary of some of the work we have begun this year.
Achievement, Well-Being & Equity in Action @ Northlea
On October 11, 2019, we gathered together to discuss how to best serve Northlea students and families in alignment with the TDSB Multi-Year Strategic Plan. We identified a number of priorities including: enhancing student success with written output and open response numeracy tasks. We also looked at increasing opportunities for student voice and space. We reflected on how the classroom climate and instructional experiences afford opportunities to do so by offering engaging learning opportunities that infuse global competencies, differentiated instruction and culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy.
Below are a few tweets that reflect our time together:
Numeracy Grade Team Co-Planning
This year, all homeroom teachers will be preparing class profiles which identify the strengths, needs and interests of their students. Staff will work in grade teams to identify areas of focus to support enhanced achievement in numeracy. We will ask ourselves 6 guiding questions at numerous points in the year:
What do we want students to know and do?
How will we know what they already know?
What will we do if they already know it?
How will we know if they learned it?
What will we do if they haven’t learned it?
What are my next instructional steps?
Guided Instruction Focus Groups
This week our English K-5 met to begin our work on our Guided Instruction focus. Staff on the French team also have the opportunity to join this learning community. We have set a session with interested staff in the French stream for a later date.
We will begin our focus in the area of literacy. Together, we will be using:
The Lucy Calkins Units of Study writing program resources and philosophy to guide our instructional program.
Guided reading resources and programming.
Tracking student reading levels on a collaborative digital data wall.
Identifying and using measurable success criteria to track writing achievement.
The OISE Equity Continuum to underpin and inform our decision making (ie. programming, resource acquisition, etc)
Inclusive Learning Environments Focus Groups
Our special education team is working in partnership with homeroom staff to co-plan universally designed and differentiated programs (UDL & DI). The teams are co-writing IEPS, co-planning long range plans and co-learning in relevant areas. They had the chance to meet at the start of October and soon they will be meeting again with an assistive technology instructor. During their upcoming gathering, they will explore online tools such as Read and Write Gold. Over the course of the year, these teams will collaborate to offer a strong approach to inclusive programming.
At Northlea we offer an integrated HSP program, a blended resource model and an inclusive rotary model. One of our priorities is to grow our universal design and differentiated instruction toolkits so that our programming is inclusive and enables students to have access to useful accommodations across the curriculum.
Parent Voice
We invite you to join the conversation. Our next Home and School meeting will include a chance to unpack Northlea's data together. We will look at EQAO, progress reports, learning skills, report cards and climate surveys. We value your involvement in this process.
Representing Identity @ Northlea
At Northlea, we want to grow the ways in which we learn about each other and represent our diverse cutural backgrounds. We are inviting parents to help us meet this goal. Below is a sign-up for parents to prepare visual displays that represent different identity months and holidays.
Please consider sharing artifacts and images to display in our front foyer.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MW9LLKAwdaknt0SvVhVpTH_Y_b9VKufm_9v8dpY6sbg/edit?usp=sharing
Please also let us know if there are events that should be added to this list.
Student Voice Symposium
As part of our commitment to enhance student voice, we hosted our first Student Voice Symposium for students in Grades 1-5 in our English stream. We will host a series of these events for students in different grades and language streams. Students told us what they love at Northlea, what they would like to begin doing and they even shared some ideas about what we should stop doing at Northlea. We then joined together in OPAL fun.
We also discussed how we can collectively, care for our school building and grounds. Certain priorities were identified:
1. Take care of the washrooms - Do not misuse materials and vandalize the washrooms.
2. Boomerang your food - Whatever you bring from home goes back home - including items like banana peels, yogurt containers, etc.
3. Put recycling and waste where it belongs - no littering!
4. Notify an adult if washrooms have been damaged or are missing any supplies.
We ask that parents please review these priorities at home as well. It's helpful for students to hear these strategies for well-being at school from the adults in their lives.
Therapy Animal Program
We are proud to host a therapy animal program at Northlea. Each week, the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides visit with students in Rooms 207 and 208. A special thank you to Anne Wolfe for her contributions as the handler.
Roots of Empathy @ Northlea
This week 4F had their first session with Baby Ezra. This year is particularly special because Baby Ezra is M. Simms' first child. Once a month, the Simms family joins with the Northlea family to learn together. Thank you again to faciliator extraordinaire and Northlea parent, Allison Wesley.
French Immersion Application Timelines
For families interested in the Toronto District School Board's French Immersion or Extended French programs, TDSB uses an online process.
At this time, TDSB guarantees an offer of placement in the program (not a specific school) to all on-time applicants. The timelines for applying for these programs for September 2020 are:
• Applications for Early French Immersion which begins in SK (for a Junior Kindergarten aged child), must be completed online between November 4, 2019 and November 29, 2019.
• Applications for Junior Extended French which begins in Grade 4 must be completed online between January 6, 2020 and January 31, 2020. Please note that this will be the last entry class for this program as it will be transitioning out - Grade 4 Immersion Program will continue.
Offers of placement within your chosen program will be made to all on-time applicants in the weeks following the close of the application window.
Please note that families with an older sibling currently in a French program are still required to complete an online application for the new student.
Please also note that transportation for French programming is currently being reviewed and there may be reduced bussing offered for all in French programming from 2020 and onward. Please note there may be uncertainty at the time of the application.
For further information about French as a Second Language programs, the application process and important dates, please visit www.tdsb.on.ca/french.
Home and School Meetings
Please join us at our Home and School meeting on Wednesday, November 6th @ 6:30 PM.
Below please find our list of Home and School meetings for this school year:
- November 6th - 6:30 PM @ Northlea in the School Library
- November 8th - 9:00 AM @ Northlea in the School Library - ISP Program Parent Roundtable
- November 13th - 8:45 AM - post bus departure - Discussion with parents who bus their children to Northlea hosted @ Thorncliffe Park School
- November 25th - 6:30 PM @Northlea in the School Library
- February 6th - 2:30 PM @ Northlea in the School Library
- April 6th - 8:35 AM @ Northlea in the School Library
- May - Date TBD - 6:30 PM @ Northlea in the School Library
- Annual General Meeting - Time TBD - Post or pre volunteer breakfast perhaps.
We are working to ensure that there are many parents able to participate in these discussions. You will notice that we are introducing a few new meeting times (8:35 am and 2:30 pm) and even certain thematic meetings. We hope this approach will open up new opportunities for parent perspectives to be shared.
French Immersion Bus Parent Breakfast @ Thorncliffe Park School
DATE CHANGE: We invite parents who bus their children from outside of the Northlea catchment area (Maurice Cody and Thorncliffe Park) to join us for a meet and greet breakfast after the bus departs at approximately 8:45 @ Thorncliffe Park School on Wednesday, November 13th, 219
Please RSVP here: https://forms.gle/Bjhy5Ntnw8ejVGh7A
Parent Breakfast - ISP DD Program
We invite parents with children in our ISP DD program to join us for a discussion on Friday, November 8th at 9 am in the school library. We look forward to connecting with you and generating parent input for the program.
Please RSVP here: https://forms.gle/4XGUUyXMc7saTwjbA
Heathly ECO PALS Clothing Drive - Bag2School
Our Healthy ECO PALS are back in action and, just like Me to We, they are working to address textile waste. Below is a description of the Bag2School initiative. We will share more details soon. For now, we invite you to look through your homes to see what you may be able to share.
Legislative Page Program
Each year approximately 150 young students from across Ontario are selected to participate in the Legislative Page Program. This unique educational experience open to all Ontario students enrolled in grades 7 or 8, provides an opportunity to experience the provincial legislature in action, and to learn about the history and traditions of the Legislative Assembly. Application are open - September 16th to November 15th for the Spring Parliamentary Session (February to June of the following year). For more information, please click here. https://www.ola.org/en/visit-learn/programs/about-page-program
Pizza Lunches
The pizza lunch date for this school year are:
October 24
November 21
December 19
January 30
February 27
March 26
April 23
May 28
June 18
Grade 8-9 Parent Information Evening @ Northlea
Bianca Angheloni, our Elementary Itinerant Counselor, will lead an introduction to the “Beyond 8” program at a Grade 8 information evening at Northlea EMS on Thursday, October 24th in the South Gym from 6 to 7pm. It is highly recommended that all families of grade 8 children attend this very important meeting. Families of grade 7 children are also invited to attend. The session will provide information about: key dates, timelines, Secondary School programs and requirements, Secondary School Open House dates and times, Course Selection and much more. For those who are unable to attend, the presentation will be emailed to you the week of October 28.
High School Open House Evenings @ Secondary Schools
To help you make an informed decision when choosing a school, TDSB schools host open houses and information nights for parents and students each year between October and January. Learn everything you need to know about our incredible variety of schools, programs and courses. Please click here for the schedule https://www.tdsb.on.ca/OpenHouse. If you have questions about a specific school or open house, please contact the school directly for more information.
Please note that not all programs/schools are open to Optional Attendance if you do not live in the school's catchment area. Acceptance at these schools is subject to space availability and program suitability. The procedures, conditions and timelines relating to optional attendance are described in the Optional Attendance Policy and the Optional Attendance Operational Procedure.
Each year in December, schools are classified as limited or closed to optional attendance based on the space they have available for the upcoming school year.
Winter Concerts - Save the NEW Date!
Grade 4, the Grade 5/6 Choir and the Grade 8 Honour Band will be performing at the two Winter Concerts on Tuesday, December 10th in the afternoon and the evening. (An update about Grade 3 will be provided at a later date.) Please note that we have changed the date from December 11th to December 10th.
Grades 1 & 2 perform in the springtime and the Grade 7 Band will perform later in the year as well. Our Kindergarten students typically perform on site during an afternoon concert in December. More details on all of the above will be shared but for now, please mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 10th if you'd like to share in this Northlea event.
Kiss & Ride Program Update
Our Kiss and Ride program was back in action as of Tuesday, October 15th after the Thanksgiving long weekend. This program is an important part of our school safety plan and it relies on volunteers. For those with time at the start of the day, it is a very manageable commitment. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to date. Please also consider this email a formal request for more volunteers. We need to grow our roster of volunteers in order to keep this very valuable program up and running. https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/5080f4da9af23abf49-knrfall
Parent Volunteers in the Library
With the amazing flow of students in the library, we are looking for a few parent volunteers who are willing to commit to one or two days a week, to help with shelving books throughout the school year. Please contact Ms. Ivancic by email at gemma.ivancic@tdsb.on.ca should you be willing to assist.
Trustee Corner
Please visit Trustee Chernos Lin's website for updates about Ward 11: https://www.tdsb.on.ca/ward11/
You can also find the latest newsletter here:
Community Coffee Meetings . . . A Message from Trustee Chernos-Lin
"Community Coffee" meetings are informal gatherings where parents and constituents are invited for a round table-style discussion of information sharing, best practices and interesting conversation related to education in our ward. We often have superintendents and sometimes even principals who drop by, so these are fun and engaging events. These meetings are usually held at Longo's Leaside (93 Laird Drive), unless stated otherwise. I hope you can join us at one of upcoming dates below!
- November 12, 2019 at 9:15am
- January 15, 2020 at 9:15am