In

BLOOM YOUR WAY INTO SUMMER! June 2020

JUNE 2018

The Reader is the quarterly newsletter of

People, Words & Change. We welcome stories

and articles by our learners.

People, Words & Change Heartwood House 202-404 McArthur Ave. Ottawa, ON K1K 1G8 Tel.: 613-234-2494 info@pwc-ottawa.ca www.pwc-ottawa.ca Bus #14 stops in front of the building and there is free street parking available.

Feedback on the manner in which PWC provides its services to people with

disabilities, and any other services, is encouraged and appreciated.

In this issue:

PWC News!

Other News!

Now I Can! PWC Learners Write

PWC Computer Corner

Thank You to Our Volunteers!

Fun Activity

Summer Word Games

PWC News!

2020 AGM

PWC will be holding its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, June 17, at 6:30 p.m. This will be a tele-conference meeting. Please email dee@pwc-ottawa.ca or call 613-234-2494 for more details.

PWC Summer Hours

PWC will be closed for summer holidays from Monday, July 6, to Monday, August 3. The office and computer classes will reopen on Tuesday, August 4.

Heartwood House Summer Hours To Be Announced!

Please check their website for the updated schedule: https://www.octranspo.com/en/our-services/customer-service/lost-found/

SAVE THE DATE!

PWC’s 10th Annual Power of Words Breakfast

Tuesday, September 8, at 9 a.m.

Celebrate International Literacy Day and the achievements of our learners with a first-ever

online version of this event!

We have a special guest speaker lined up to motivate your day, and several PWC learners will share their success stories. Stay tuned for more details in August!

Other News!

The mission of Twice Upon a Time is to give books to children—new and nearly-new books to

children from birth to twelve years, to support literacy and foster a love of reading at home. Since

2014, they have provided 28,751 books to Ottawa’s children. Twice Upon a Time / Il était deux fois

is a bilingual organization and registered charity.

Because of COVID-19, all regular activity in Twice Upon a Time’s service locations or with most

existing partners, has been temporarily suspended. But there is good news!

The Twice Upon a Time board of directors has voted to proceed with a Special COVID-19 Project

and effective now, Twice Upon a Time will work directly with seven community partners who can

get books into the hands of their young clients using health safety protocols and procedures. The

partners are:

· ALSO-Adult and Family Literacy · People, Words & Change · Carlington Community Health Centre · Somerset West Community Health Centre-Rosemount Branch · Somerset West Community Health Centre-Ottawa Newcomer Health Centre · South East Ottawa Community Health Centre · Van Lang Fieldhouse

Each year Twice Upon a Time chooses a fundraising and development theme. The 2020

campaign is Kids Today! - the most popular new children’s books. The campaign goal is to

raise funds for new books that are rarely donated to the program but for which there is a big

demand from its young clients. This Special COVID-19 Project will now be a part of the Kids

Today! campaign beginning in the month of June 2020.

PWC is extremely pleased to be a part of this program, and we look forward to getting these books

to the hands of our learners’ children and grandchildren!

For more information about this program, please visit Twice Upon a Time/Il était deux fois.

Thank you PWC Volunteers!

During National Volunteer Week from April 19-25, we celebrated the vital

component of PWC – our volunteers! As always, we are extremely grateful to

them for their time and dedication in touching the lives of the learners they help

and in giving back to the Ottawa community.

In normal times, we celebrate our volunteers with a live event with delicious

finger food and beverages, followed by tokens of appreciation and special

entertainment for our volunteers. However, given that this year was a little

different we were unable to do that and instead wish to extend our heartfelt

gratitude and appreciation to our indispensable volunteers. You make PWC such

a special program for the learners and staff and we really couldn’t do it without

you.

We look forward to celebrating with you again in April 2021!

Tutors, have you heard of the free Accessibility Training available from the Ontario

Government?

ACCESSFORWARD is a website that provides free training modules to meet the training

requirements under Ontario’s accessibility laws (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities

Act) developed in partnership with the Government of Ontario.

This training focuses on providing accessible customer service to our learners and how to

interact with people with disabilities.

A great module to complete is The Customer Service

Standard:https://accessforward.ca/front/customerService/

Please visit https://accessforward.ca/ for more details.

Now I Can! PWC Learners Write

Life during Self-Isolation

It has been two months since we started living through self-isolation

because of corona virus. I think that this situation taught us a lot about

ourselves, our relatives, and the world around us. At first it was very

hard to get used to new routines, and to learn how to handle jobs, kids,

and homework. For almost everyone life turned upside down. However,

as soon as things got settled and we adjusted to this new lifestyle, we

started seeing lots of advantages in this situation. Families spend more

time with each other. Nobody is rushed and people can finally slow

down. People started seeing beauty in simple things, kids smiles, parties

with friends on Zoom, etc. Now we have time for all of this. Soon self-

isolation will be over, but we will never be the same again.

-Pavel

Now I Can! PWC Learners Write COVID-19

I think I wasn’t the only one that thought “is this really happening right now” when I went to pick

up my toddler Rosebud from daycare on Thursday March 12th. That is when the Ontario Government

closed all publicly run schools and daycares, for two weeks after March break. This is the day our new

normal started. I just happened to be between construction jobs at the time, so I said to myself “I will

have a new role now, stay at home dad”.

The end of March came fast but we were able to get two cross country ski trips and two winter

walks in at Mer Blue Bog before they were shut down. April was a bit harder as the reality of this

pandemic grew and people were getting sick and dying close to home. It was clear that the schools

and daycares would not be opening any time soon. The days were getting longer. In order to pass the

time, it has been very important to keep a routine for both Rosebud and me. By the last week of

March, I noticed that I needed to also keep my fitness up. This was reinforced by the gasping for air

and the seemingly unstoppable sweat pouring from me after a 20-minute home workout video.

Rosebud also loved these videos as she laughed when she jumped on me lying on the ground or

copied me with her version of jumping jacks or running around and through my legs as the video went

on. We now have a new fitness schedule every other day during the week. We use the running/bike

stroller and go for a jog and now that the soccer fields are open we stop and kick a ball around. We

then go home to follow up with some standard sit ups and push ups. Rosebud loves the stroller rides

and jumping on my back and going for push up rides.

The days start around our house by me getting up before everyone as usual and I’ll do my

breakfast routine and catch up on news or cross things off my to do list. Rosebud gets up around 7:00

and she eats her breakfast then we’ll play colouring, stickers or puzzles then we’ll go and wake mama

up. We all pile into bed to greet her and then Rosebud will insist that we each read her some stories

that she will run and get from her room. This was normally just a weekend thing but now its every day.

Then mama will eat her breakfast and Rosebud will have her breakfast number 2! Mama will be off to

work that we are thankful she still has or she’ll work from home. Depending on the morning we may go

out for our run or outside to kick the ball around, play in the sandbox, play with the water table, go for a

walk or tricycle ride. Lately if we stay inside Rose has taken a liking to “helping” with the never ending

dishes. This typically ends up with us going back up stairs for a change of clothes and me a change of

socks. Somewhere in there we fit a snack in and make it to lunchtime. Habitant vegetable soup is the

go to around here! Then naptime otherwise known as “me time” is when I take care of the grown up

stuff like phone calls or doing a FaceTime meeting with my PWC tutor Andre.

When naptime is over we head outside to tackle one of our various activities. Rain or shine we

try to get outside. Then back inside where I’ll try to get Rosebud on to some self play, so I can get

started on supper. I’ll usually get it done when mom comes home or if she is working in the basement

when she is done her day, we all eat together. That’s a day in our COVID- 19 lives for now. Some

days are harder than others and I really can’t wait for life to get back to normal or a version of that, at

least until we get a vaccine. Until then we’ll just have to be patient.

-AJ

Now I Can! PWC Learners Write

An Email to My Tutor

Hello George!

Great to hear from you George, you are truly a creative and dynamic person. I wonder how

are the lives of those who do not know how to be creative in this moment that we live so

limited. This weekend I will write a little about art in my life. Thanks for remembering your

student. Here I leave you with a few words about my arrival in Canada on May 22, 2019.

Today, a year ago, an extreme change happened in my life, once again. I left my small

hometown, and said goodbye to my Brazil. On May 22, 2019, I landed in Ottawa, Canada.

I was shot down by different feelings in this process of change, emotional, psychological, and

physical adaptations.

Change the right for the uncertain?!

RESTART!

Now, here we are, my daughter Perle and I, building our lives in Canada.

I am so grateful for all of you, my faithful friends, who are part of my beautiful history and who

are witnesses of my dynamic journey. THANK YOU GOD for once again being my protection.

-Adriana

Now I Can! PWC Learners Write

PWC learner Megan did this research project after she read Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline

Briggs Martin. This was part of learning how to find information in texts. Always creative,

Megan made the snowflakes, picked the facts and laid out the poster!

PWC Computer Corner

Educational games can be a fun way to learn or review what you are doing in tutoring sessions. This can include activities such as word searches, crossword puzzles, bingo games, and flashcards, just to name a few. With so many tools available online, one creative option is to use Google Sheets templates from Flippity. This is a free website that provides a wide range of templates that you can download, fill in with your own content, and then play online through the Flippity site. Tutors can make these activities for review games for your learner. However, learners can also use Flippity to make their own activities, which could be a fun alternative project for those interested. For example, a student could create a set of digital flashcards for the content being covered in a particular lesson.

Begin by going to the Flippity website at: www.flippity.net. Once there you will see a

grid of thumbnails (small images) showing the wide variety of interactive games and activities you can create with Flippity. New ones are added from time to time. Enjoy and let us know how you like it!

Thanks to Rhonda for telling us about Flippity and how well it’s working for her and her

learner!

Fun Activity!

Are you wondering what to do with your free time?

How about trying a neighbourhood bingo activity? On your next walk, use the bingo card below to go

on a “scavenger hunt,” and try to find the items on the card.

Thanks to Manor Park Community Centre (on which this card was based!) and to Maura, PWC’s

Computer Instructor, for creating the PWC version!

We would love to hear from you on how it went. Let us know what you saw and any adventures you

had along the way! You can email julie@pwc-ottawa.ca.

Summer Word Search

Find the list of summer words in the word search below. The words will be found

across (left to right) or down (top to bottom). The answers are on the next page.

Summer Word Search – Answer Key

Summer Word Scramble - Difficult

Unscramble the summer words below. You can use the clues on the right to help you.

Then, try to use each one in a sentence or write a paragraph about a summer’s day by

using as many of the words as you can in your paragraph.

Summer Word Scramble – Answer Key