9188 Plank Road, Box 94 Straffordville, ON N0J 1Y0 Phone: 519-866-3021 Fax: 519-866-3268 Principal: L. Trewin Admin. Assistant: P. Vereecken Custodian: L. Broer Superintendent: P. Sydor Trustees: M. Ruddock & B. Smith School Council Chair: A. Harder

Please know that we are thinking about all our families and wishing you well.

Following April 27’s announcement by the Education Minister, Stephen Lecce, that schools will re-main closed until at least May 31st, the Learn at Home emergency teaching and learning will re-main in place for the next month. The school closure is extended to keep students, staff and fami-lies safe.

While the method of curriculum delivery has changed, expectations for educators have not in that they will provide feedback and assessment on the student work that is completed. Teachers will re-main in regular contact with parents/guardians in order to provide for continuity of learning and to aid in supporting the implementation of the educational plan. Teachers are expected to provide a “Week-at-a-Glance” to the families in their classes by 9 am on Monday morning. Weekly plans should include the learning assignments and associated time allotments. Teachers may also in-clude a wellness activity on Wednesdays.

We want your feedback! On April 27th, your were sent a link to complete a survey for each child. Please take a few moments to do so. The check-in will be available until May 1, 2020. We appreci-ate your input!

We wish everyone good health and well-being. Please stay in touch with us via email and phone.

Mrs. Trewin and Staff of Straffordville Public School

If you require information contained in this document in an alternate accessible format, please contact the school office.

Straffordville

Public School Straffordville.tvdsb.ca

The Ram Reader — May 2020

TVDSB personnel have put together a learn at home resource for parents/guardians and students that is now live on the TVDSB website at https://www.tvdsb.ca/en/our-board/learn-at-home.aspx. The Learn At Home Week At a Glance, for each grade, has a variety of activities for students to do with their parents/guardians over the week. These activities are intended to be supplemental to what teachers are providing. These activities will continue to be released each week. Families with students with special learning needs can visit the TVDSB website at https://www.tvdsb.ca/en/our-board/continuity-of-learning---special-education.aspx for suggestions.

TVDSB SUPPLEMENTAL ACTIVITIES

MESSAGE

To provide support for parents and guardians in learning more about Brightspace and

Google Classroom - two live learning sessions are being offered - Thursday, April 30th at

7:30 p.m. and Thursday, May 7th at 9:00 a.m. for parents/guardians to join and learn

more about these two platforms. After a demonstration has been provided TVDSB-

Program and I.T. team will be available to answer questions that parents/guardians

may have. These sessions will be recorded and posted for parents/guardians to view at

a convenient time if you were unable to join one of the live events. Below are the links

that you may use to join the sessions: https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?

url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tvdsb.ca%2Fen%2Fparents%2Fparent-

engagement.aspx&data=02%7C01%7Cr.kuiper%40tvdsb.ca%

7C939a4ee188f24829fde008d7e94fee8b%7C2024c5d6bed5470598acf83e64a78e99%

7C0%7C0%

SUPPORTS FOR PARENTS/GUARDIANS

HOME RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS AND PARENTS/GUARDIANS

HOME CONNECTIONS IN MATHEMATICS

VIRTUAL SPIRIT DAYS

Straffordville Public School is holding Virtual Spirit Days. These include:

Please remember to submit photos to straffordville@tvdsb.ca.

SCHOOL COUNCIL

There is a virtual Straffordville School Council meeting on

Monday, June 1, 2020.

Unfortunately, there is still no access to the building for parents/guardians and students. The building has been cleaned and sanitized and we want to keep it that way in anticipation of re-opening this school year.

PHOTOS OF STUDENTS DURING COVID-19

Please continue to send photos of what your child/children is/are doing during Covid-19 to straffordville@tvdsb.ca to include in the yearbook.

NO ACCESS TO THE BUILDING

PIZZA AND MILK REFUNDS

All of the pizza refunds have been made to families via cash

online or cheque. Most of the milk money has been refunded

by cash online or cheque. We still have a few families to

reimburse as we are waiting for new cheques to arrive.

May 1 — Spirit Wear or School Colours May 29 — Superhero Day

May 8 — Jersey Day June 12 — Pajama & Stuffie / Pet Day

May 15 — Wacky Hair Day June 19 — Beach Day

May 22 — Crazy Socks Day

Order Your Straffordville Public School Yearbook! Yearbook ID Code: 13522620 Please pay $17.00 at ybpay.lifetouch.ca by June 19, 2020. This yearbook includes all coloured pages of individual photos of students divided into classes, grade 8 grad photos and sayings, and many other photos. At this time, we are unable to include class, club or team photos as these photos had not been taken before the school closure. Please note that grade 8 parents/guardians do not need to purchase a year-book. Thanks to School Council who is purchasing a copy for each grade 8 stu-dent. If a grade 8 family would like to have more than one yearbook, then a second one does need to be purchased. The yearbooks will arrive at the school in September 2020 for distribution. Grade 8 grads will receive their yearbook in their grad envelope at the ceremony.

GRADE 8 GRAD CEREMONY

The grade 8 Graduation Ceremony is postponed until the

fall of 2020. The date is to be determined.

GRADE 8 GRAD PHOTOS

Parents of grade 8 students were sent an email via School

Messenger regarding grad photos (i.e., how to order).

YEARBOOK 2019-2020

What is mental well-being?

It includes feelings of contentment, enjoyment, confidence and engagement. Self-esteem is a part too. So is a feeling that we can do things we want to do. Having good relationships is part of men-tal wellness as well.

Good mental well-being does not mean that we never experience feelings or situations that we find difficult. It does mean that we have the resilience to cope when times are tougher than usual.

Five Things that We Can Do to Help Boost our Mental Well-being:

Connect with people around us. [At this time - virtually!]

Be active. Find an activity that we enjoy and make it a part of our lives.

Keep learning.

Give to others (e.g., smile, thank you, kind word, etc.).

Be mindful. Be more aware of the present moment, including our thoughts and feelings, our body and the world around us.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/Pages/improve-mental-wellbeing.aspx

WELL-BEING

A number of mental health resources have been pre-pared by both School Mental Health Ontario and by the TVDSB Culture for Learning Portfolio.

Up-to-date information about community supports for basic needs (food, housing, etc.) can be found on the front page of the Board website under the Mental Health and Well-Being tab.

The Ministry of Education, School Mental Health Ontario and the federal government have in-creased service and access to the Kids Help Phone, which provides 24/7 access to counselling and information. The number is provided here should you have a student who needs to connect with a professional. Students can call 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868.

SAFE AND ACCEPTING SCHOOLS — MENTAL WELL-BEING

NOTES FROM SOUTHWESTERN PUBLIC HEALTH

Fresh Food Delivery for PORT BURWELL & STRAFFORDVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOL families.

Organized by Elgin County’s Eat 2 Learn nutrition program and provided by Evan’s Wholesale.

Please provide identification upon pick-up.

Evans Wholesale is packing up food boxes (apples, oranges, bananas, potatoes, carrots, cereal, bread, pasta, canned items, etc.)

Quantities are limited at this time. Deliveries are to be alternate weeks with the truck arriving at the location and the driver unloading the boxes with individuals retrieving their own box while staying a safe distance from the driver.

Date: Friday, May 1, 2020

Time: 11:45 a.m. — 1:00 p.m.

Location: Port Burwell Legion, 40 Wellington St., Port Burwell

Families are also encouraged to contact the St. Thomas/Elgin Food Bank to register for a monthly food basket with all the nourishing basics: *fruits & veggies, milk, bread, eggs, cereal, soup, pasta, rice, pudding, toiletries, etc.

The contact number is: 519-633-5308 The Food Bank is located at 803 Talbot Street, St. Thomas. If you get the answering service, please leave a message with your contact number and you will be responded to promptly. Please reference “Charlotte" or “EAT 2 LEARN" when registering. As soon as registration is complete, your food basket will be assembled. Registration is simple and can be done over the phone by providing the following info: * names * address * dates of birth * phone number * any allergies * rent or own If you are hesitant about accessing these ser-vices, please remember that these are temporary solutions to a very unexpected situation and all information is confidential.

If transportation is a concern, one of our dedicated volunteers can offer a “porch drop” service to you. Should you need any additional details or assistance, please feel free to contact me. Stay well.

Charlotte McDonald, Community Coordinator 519-207-1040 eat2learn@gmail.

The next scheduled pick-up date is May 15, 2020.

FRESH FOOD PICK-UP